Abstract Art Project Tutorial

The tutorial is here, DIY abstract art painting. What a fun art project to do with family! We plan to try this with form core poster board, just one dollar at the dollar store. I might try to copy a Rothko painting with my daughter.

DIY Fabric Wall Art

I've done this project before, and the results are really professional looking. See here for a tutorial. It's just a matter of stretching fabric over a frame, and stapling it to the back. We used a staple gun.

I love her choice of fabric(Moda). Here is a favorite fabric collection for a children's room. I may try one of these in my daughter's room.

Rustic Homemade DIY Twin Platform Bed

We made this twin bed platform today in about two hours. Using the measurements of the twin bed mattress, we took these to find wood at a big box store. Three 2x12x8 rough pine lumber boards for about $7.00 each worked, and with two feet in length to spare for a shelf. We were going to add sections of one foot tall rough pine posts for the legs, getting the cuts at the store, but I spied some lumber in the trash bin at the end of the lumber aisle. They were thick packing pieces, very roughly cut with a bit of the tree bark still attached. All except one were even cuts of 18 inches. I thought we could work with this, so we chose the free lumber in lieu of the post. We also picked up a small box of drywall screws.


We pieced the bed together, three feet across and eight feet long. The middle support leg(pictured) has not been attached. The power drill ran out of juice, so we'll add middle support legs(double thick) later, probably hidden ones, further under the bed. I had some felt adhesive dots, left over from another project, that I added to the bottom of the legs so that they would not scrape the floors.
This was so inexpensive and easy! I like that we didn't need to do any cuts and got free wood for the legs. This could still have been done inexpensively with the purchase of two thick posts from the lumber section. The big box store would have done the cuts for us free of charge.

This bed would have made a nice couch as well. All it needs is some foam, fabric, cushions, and oversized pillows, or even easier, a twin bed mattress. A back support would be easy to screw into the back.

Add longer legs and you've got a table! I'd add an apron of wood and possibly a trestle for stability though.

It's very sturdy. I sat on this bed while reading a story to my young daughter, and it held nicely. There is plenty of room underneath for storage, or for a little play cave area. It was easy to sweep/vacuum under as well.

Free Download: C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia Audiobooks

See here

HT to Southern Savers

Vintage Curriculum Guide, Baby to Early Childhood

Excerpt from The Mothercraft Manual By Mary Lillian Read, 1922(downloadable and free):

For the child under six years, and possibly under ten, the most educative environment, in every sense, is in the country with hills, valleys, woods, water, plants and trees, wild and domestic animals, other young children, the freedom of the kitchen, the necessity for personal physical care, and elders who enter sympathetically into his life, not obtrusively but intelligently, ready to give assistance when it is needed. With good library facilities, wholesome neighborhood recreations, and occasional trips to a city for its opportunities of art galleries, great music, wholesome plays, industrial activities, the simple home life and rural surroundings, even with mediocre teaching in a rural school, provide through early adolescence the environment most favorable for developing richness of life, greatness of personality, social efficiency.

Intellectual and Play Interests. 2 to 6 years.

Sensory and motor stage: Range of active sensory experiences, — tasting, touching, hearing, seeing

Interest in color, sound, tasting, strongest at 4 to 6 years

Constant sensory experimentation and exploration

Experimental science; taking apart; finding source of motion or noise Nature interest; animals, birds, insects, flowers; watching actions, noting striking characteristics of appearance

Interest in experimenting with material (2 to 4 years); in making for use (4 to 6 years)

All work crude; materials large, coarse, utilizing fundamental muscles; periods short, to avoid strain of eyes or nerves

Handcrafts:

(a) Building, digging, sand play (from one year)
(b) Carpentry, drawing, painting, modeling (from two years)
(c) Cutting, pasting, heavy paper construction (from 4 years)
(d) Coarse weaving, cardboard construction (from 5 years)

See entire curriculum here, baby to early childhood. Some ideas are obviously outdated, but others are still relevant.

"Knowledge has little or no intrinsic value in and of itself. Like light, knowledge is good not to see but to see by. . . . Ignorance is doubtless better than knowledge that does not make us better."
— G. Stanley Hall.

"Where children are fed only on book knowledge, one fact is as good as any other." . —John Dewey.

"If we seek the kingdom of heaven, educationally, all other things shall be added unto us — which, being interpreted, is that if we identify ourselves with the real instincts and needs of childhood, and ask only after its fullest assertion and growth, the discipline and information and culture of adult life shall all come in their due season." — Ibid.

...developing character, — the ideals and the realization of noble living, — which has its roots deep in the feelings and the soul, and depends upon these far more than upon mere thought, knowledge, and reasoning.

"Play is the highest phase of child-development — of human development at this period (childhood); for it is self-active representation of the inner, from inner necessity and impulse."

"The plays of childhood are the germinal leaves of all later life; for the whole man is developed and shown in these."

"Come, let us live with our children."

— F. Froebel

August Grasshoppers

We got beaned by these today on a nature hike through some wetlands . They were everywhere along the path, and I dared not open my mouth until we got to the forest at the other side of the wetlands.

An interesting and very detailed book on grasshoppers which I found free and in public domain at Google Books:

Grasshopper Land by Margaret Morely, 1909. There is an interesting section on Eastern Locusts with Biblical references to locusts - locusts of the Old Testament.

Low Calorie Baking Substitutes

From Baking Your Way to a Slimmer You:

1). Cut the butter – ...replace about half of the butter in cookies, biscuits and pie crusts with reduced fat cream cheese. Light cream cheese (also known as Neufachtel) has a similar texture to butter, reacts similarly in baking, but has a fraction of the fat and calories.

2). Utilize egg whites – When baking cakes, custards and cookies, replace some of the whole eggs with egg whites or Egg Beaters. Every egg yolk contains about 5 grams of fat and 213 mg. of cholesterol. By replacing some of the yolks with additional egg whites, you can cut down on the fat in many desserts.

3) Add orange juice – Relying on fruit juice to provide some of the sweetness in a recipe, rather than just using sugar, is a great way to cut back on the empty calories you often find in desserts.

4). Substitute sugar with a natural sweetener - ...use Truvia® natural sweetener, made from the Stevia plant. It is a natural, zero-calorie sweetener... a good rule of thumb is to replace ¼ cup of sugar in a recipe with 1/8 cup Truvia.

5). Replace the oil – ... oil gives the cake a nice texture, moist crumb, and about 900 extra calories per ½ cup! Thankfully fat free, or reduced fat, plain Greek style yogurt does the same trick with only about 85 calories per ½ cup. I replace 2/3 of the oil in my cake recipes with reduced fat Greek style yogurt..

I use apple sauce to replace oil. This past week I used mashed squash in some sweet bread with great results. I'm going to try the orange juice or other sweet juice as a sugar substitute.

Recent Children's Academic Library Book Selections

Someone(Eva) asked if I wouldn't mind sharing a list of our academic readings. Listed below are a few summer favorites from our public library. Mostly, I browse the stacks and pull books that look interesting, books that are a good review of topics covered(studied) in past years. My son is going into the eighth grade, and some of these books are below his reading level, but were selected for their coverage of a particular area.

Son(age 13):
Ten Kings: And The Worlds They Rule by Wilton Melzer.
Inventions that Made History by David C. Cooke
Cradle of Civilization Series(broad coverage): The Assyrians (The Cradle of Civilization),
The Sumerians (The Cradle of Civilization), and The Babylonians (The Cradle of Civilization) by Elaine Landau
Ten Saints by Eleanor Farjeon
1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up by Julia Eccleshare. HT to Untrodden Paths(Eva).


Daughter(age 5), Picture Books:
Peter the Cruise Ship by Hans Mateboer(geography, cooperation, manners, social studies)
Daisy and the Egg by Jane Simmons(nature science, family)
A House for Hermit Crab (World of Eric Carle) by Eric Carle (nature science, months)
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes (directional words, a bit of science, sequence)
Old Shell, New Shell: Coral by Helen Ward (nature science)
Where the Forest Meets the Sea by Jeannie Baker (ecology, geography, family)
Caribbean Dream by Rachel Isadora (geography, family, poetry)
The Little Island by Margaret Wise Brown (nature science, the seasons, faith)

Chocolate Squash Cake

I used the below recipe, slightly altered, tonight with super results! I also made one with homemade apple sauce and one with pumpkin. I used an almond, vanilla, cinnamon icing made with powered sugar, and a little white and brown sugar. My daughter(age 5) helped make these cakes and drizzled the icing over the hot cakes.

I had no chocolate chips, so used a bit of chocolate milk mix and extra cocoa powder instead. I deleted the butter for the recipe, adding apple sauce instead.

See recipe here.

Ingredients:
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. sifted flour
1/2 to 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. buttermilk (or regular milk with 1 1/2 tsp. vinegar)
1/4 c. cocoa
1 3/4 c. shredded zucchini(or other squash), drained

A Few Veggies From the Garden Today

Our little garden has not done well this year with the very hot weather, and my soaker hose sprung a leak. The plants are twisted around it, so there is no removing it this season. Something new this year - green peppers, and they have done well. I'll be planting this again next year.

Some years are more prolific than others, but the garden always offers up something.

Paper Roll Art

Búhos y un gato(Owls and a Cat)

Vintage Children's Poetry for August

Printable and in public domain. Found here. To Copy and print at link, right click on the image of the pages.

Printable Vintage Paper Doll Set - Mary Had a Little Lamb

Click to The Paper Collector for entire set.

Contact with Soil Can be Beneficial

HT to Tea at Trianon.

"...A strain of bacterium in soil, Mycobacterium vaccae, has been found to trigger the release of seratonin, which in turn elevates mood and decreases anxiety. And on top of that, this little bacterium has been found to improve cognitive function and possibly even treat cancer and other diseases. Which means that contact with soil, through gardening or other means, is beneficial. How did this discovery come about? "

Read more here.

No wonder gardening makes me happy!

Easy Butterless Pie Crust

I made apple pie last night and used this recipe for the crust. It was so good with my filling made from our early season garden apples. I like a sweeter crust, so I changed the recipe by adding a handful of sugar and a bit more oil for workability. The subtle taste of salt in the crust is a delicious contrast with the sweet filling, and the extra sugar added to the crust recipe. I'd keep the salt despite reviews which suggest otherwise.

Open Wallet, Flying Dollars

When one thing wears out and breaks, more is sure to follow. My computer has meet the end of the road. I still have a big clunky HP PC, purchased about seven years ago. My old printer is shot as well. So I've ordered an Asus Mini-PC(Acer AspireRevo AR3700-U3002 Slim and Compact Desktop) and a HP Deskjet 3000 Printer. I can't wait to get them set up.

On a whim, I looked into prepaid wifi service. Last time I checked it was just at the cusp of being developed, and I have discovered that now it's readily available; the selection of service providers and coverage continues to grow. I went with T-mobile(good coverage in our area) prepaid high speed wireless service . I chose 30 days for $30.00(no contract). We already use T-mobile for our prepaid cell phones. By canceling our land line, we'll actually be spending less than we are now with dial-up which is $12.00 a month and phone service which runs about $30.00 a month. Our dial-up service has been relatively good, and it's been very reliable; however, it has limited us to web surfing and very slow downloads. If the prepaid wifi works out for us, we'll be saving about $120.00 per year.

I'm hopeful that all of these changes will be a good fit for us. And I think we got some good deals, but I always wish that things would last longer - technology marches on. Computer replacements tend to be a surprise expense, especially if you tend to use them up and squeeze out every last nanobyte.

One Step Tile, Stone, and Grout Cleaner & Resealer

A salesperson at Ace Hardware recommended TileLab's One Step Cleaner & Resealer for my tile floors in the bathrooms. Our tile work is relatively new, and I wanted to keep the grout looking new. In the past, I've used bleach or bleach based products and a stiff brush on grout, but this product is much easier. I looked up the toxicity, and it's made with non-hazardous materials(low VOCs). All I had to do was spray it on and wipe up. It was easy on my hands as well. This was a great find and really delivers.

Amazon carries it, but unfortunately, there is no free shipping. Amazon customer reviews are five out of five stars for performance. This product may be available at the big box stores. I know the Ace and True Value hardware stores carry it.

Children's Summer Ebook Reading: Classic Tales and Old-Fashioned Stories

Young Folks Treasury, 1909.

Free and in public domain, short and long children's old fashioned stories and classics with color illustrations. I like these free public domain Project Gutenberg books because you have the option of copying and pasting only the stories that you want to print. There are a good number of download options as well: Kindle, EPUB, HTML, etc.

Making Coffee in a Cast Iron Pot

A month ago my glass coffee pot broke from my electric coffee maker. I thought about purchasing a new one, but I am trying to do more with less. I like to maximize my space on the counters. The next morning in desperation for coffee, I tried making coffee in my cast iron tea kettle, and it was very good! With a little experimentation, I discovered that the grounds sink to the bottom when the water is left to come to a rolling boil, taken off the heat immediately, and then left to sit for a minute or two. I don't even need to strain the grounds. The tea pot is well seasoned, so clean up is very easy, just a rinse and quick scrub.

I cook two cups of coffee with half a pot of water and two heaping spoons of grounds. So easy! And I've got more counter space now, not to mention no glass coffee pot and coffee maker to clean.

Free Printable Children's Sewing Cards

See here.

Free MP3 History Drama: Signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776(Limited Time)

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."


MP3 description: "July 4th, 1776 Philadelphia" from March 21, 1948 You are there for the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, 1776 in Philadelphia. The heat is unbearable and even worse is the horseflies. The Founding Fathers are interviewed as well as some of the dissenters who are against Independence—who will win?

See here. Simply right click on the arrow to save, and the download will begin.

And yes, July 4th may not have been the actual day of the signing, just pretend.

Student History Supplement: Old Time Radio WWII Collections on Sale

Live broadcasts from WWII and other original programs from the era. Most MP3 CDs are $4.50 and include over 10 hours of recordings. Patriotic and Fourth of July collections are included. Check them out.
When you click through to a specific collection there will be a full review of the contents and a free MP3 sample.

Image source.

Free Children's Guide to Systematic Readings in the Encyclopedia Britannica

Bored children this summer? Have them read the Encyclopedia. Heh, heh, heh.

A Guide to Systematic Readings in the Encyclopedia Britannica by James Baldwin, 1897 Free and in public domain. The book is downloadable, and pages are printable. To print pages, right click in the image of the page. Text can also be switched to plain text for copy and paste; however, some words do not transition well, and editing will be needed.

Encyclopedia Britannica here.

"Now, my young friends, this habit of reading is your pass to the greatest, the purest, and the most perfect pleasures that God has prepared for his creatures. But you cannot acquire this habit in your old age ; you cannot acquire it in middle age ; you must do it now, when you are young. You must learn to read, and to like reading now, or you cannot do so when you are old." —Anthony Trollope.

DIY Carpet Dry-cleaning For Wool Rugs

Today, I tried a dry carpet cleaning product called Capture by Milliken on our large Persian wool rug. This is an older rug(ebay) with low pile - easy to clean if I could use water. I was concerned that the colors would run with wet extraction cleaning, and getting the extra large room sized rug to dry would be nearly impossible. Not to mention, wet wool smells pretty gross after 24 hours. Someone at a local hardware store recommended Capture to me. Reviews online for Capture were very positive. The price was good as well, under $20.00($17.94)for the kit. So I thought I'd give it a shot.

I found a Capture carpet dry clean kit at Lowe's which contained a spray and powder. The spray goes on first followed by a lemon scented powder. I used a stiff broom to spread it around into the rug fibers, waited a half hour, and vacuumed with my heavy duty Rainbow vacuum. It worked quite well. The dirt from my bagless vacuum's water capture bowl was like mud! I had no idea the rug was that dirty. Tomorrow I'll use the Capture on two bedroom rugs, also Persian wool. I'd recommend this product for wool rugs. You do need a very strong suction vacuum to pick up the fine particulates. My bagless stick vacuum could not handle it(clogged), so I had to lug out my heavy beast vacuum.

Six Steps to Reducing Water Usage in the Garden

See here.

I like her homemade rain barrel; however, we'd need a closed top system in our area due to mosquitoes. A window screen over the top might work.

Back From the Shenandoah Mountains

More later...

Picture taken at the end of a hike as we stood beneath the Dark Hollow Falls at the Shenandoah National Park.

Coming Up Daisies and Other Kindergarten - Early Elementary Flower Lessons

Cute 1898 flower lessons(violets, daisy, cherry, shooting star, wild roses, clover blossoms, pansy, and more) for early elementary, see pages 1005-1059 to print out/read lesson plans. Simply right click on the images of the pages to save and/or print. Free and in public domain.

A few sections from the daisy lesson:

The Daisy

Where does it come from? Does it grow in sunny or shady places? How high does the plant grow? How many blossoms on one plant? What are the leaves like? Are daisies ail alike? Compare the white and yellow daisy, as to form, size, color, etc. What does the white daisy look like? What do we call the yellow center? (The disk.) What do we call the white flowers around the yellow center? (Rays.) They make the daisy look like a star.

If you do not look very carefully at the daisy, it will fool you. You will think that the little green leaves underneath the flower head make up the calyx and the white leaves above the corolla. You will believe, as many other people do, too, that the yellow center is made up of a number of stamens. But this would not be true, and we will need to look again more carefully. What you hold in your hand is not one daisy flower, but a great many flowers.

The yellow center of the daisy is composed of a great many little tube-shaped blossoms, and the circle of white flower leaves is really a circle of flowers. You will find one pistil. The pollen is brought from the yellow flowers in the center to this pistil.

Do you know why it is called a daisy? Because it awoke so early in the morning? What month of the year does it bloom? How long can we gather daisies?

1 LITERATURE.

Read one of the poem by Robert Burns' "To a Daisy."

"The Daisy and the Lark," Hans Anderson.

DRAWING.

Draw a daisy plant as it looks growing in the field.
Draw or cut and paste a daisy border.
Make a silhouette of daisies with grasses

THE DAISY.
I'm a pretty little daisy,
Always coming with the spring;
In the meadows green I'm found.
And my stalk is covered flat
With a white and yellow hat.
My stalk is green and very tall,
At night I am a yellow ball;
But in the morning when I wake,
A lovely little cup I make.

THE DAISY.
The daisy is the meekest flower

That grows in wood or field;
To wind and rain and footsteps rude,

Its slender stem will yield.

In spring it dots the green with white,

And blossoms all the year,
And so it is a favorite flower, .,

With all the children dear.

Before the stars are in the sky,

The daisy goes to rest,
And folds its little shining leaves

Upon its golden breast.

So children when they go to bed

Should fold their hands in prayer,
And place themselves and all they love,

In God's protecting care. —Set.

Convert a Coffee Table to a Desk

See here for the "before" and "after'' pictures. It's hard to believe this used to be a coffee table. Nicely done conversion.

Easy DIY Cement Planter Tutorial

This looks like a really fun summer project! I think I'll add sea glass to my planters, or shells. See here for detailed tutorial with pictures.