Indoor Winter Gardening: Cucumbers

This is an experiment, so I don't know if I'll have cucumbers anytime soon, but my potted indoor cucumbers are blooming in a sunny window with southwestern exposure.

Fabric Scrap Softie Doll Tutorials

See here.(Image at left is from tutorial)

Super thrifty sources of fabric:

Thrift stores
Old clothes
Old sheets
Socks
Towels(bath and dish)

Some other favorites:

Mr Seahorse softie doll
Frog softie
Terry cloth cat softie
Sock kitty(easy)

Readable Online: Vintage January Editions of Boys' Life Magazine

Boys' Life is the official youth magazine for the Boy Scouts of America. Published since 1911, it contains a proven mix of news, nature, sports, history, fiction, science, comics, and Scouting.Published by Boy Scouts of America, Inc.

Jan 1913

Jan 1914

Jan 1915

Jan 1916

Jan 1917

Jan 1918

Jan 1919

Jan 1920

Browse more here.

Easy Homemade Sculpting Clay

"In a salad bowl (or non-stick pan) mix 3 cups of white glue and 3 cups of cornstarch. Add one tablespoon of white vinegar, one tablespoon of glycerin*, 2 tablespoons of canola oil." See here for remaining instructions. The results are called cold porcelain. Image from esprit cabane site.

The link mentions that glycerin can be found at crafting stores; however, I get mine at Walmart or drugstores in the vitamin aisle. The store brand or off-brand is very inexpensive.

HT to Tipnut for leading me to this site.

Repost from 2009.

Vintage Children's Winter Paper Cutting(Advanced)

Found at Google Books from a January 1912 copy of Primary Education. Free and in public domain. Just click on image to enlarge and save or print.

Vintage Blackboard Calendar for January

This 1910 calendar is free to use. I found them at Google Books. Click on image to enlarge and save, or download(right click on image) the original at the link.

Another from 1910 which has the same beginning day of the week as January 2011:









And another(blank):










And an Eskimo calendar:

Classic British and American Essays and Speeches Online

Classic British and American Essays and Speeches

I saw this at About.com Grammar & Composition. Available free online "from the works of Francis Bacon and Daniel Defoe to those of Virginia Woolf and Martin Luther King, Jr., are more than 150 of the greatest essays and speeches composed by British and American writers over the past four centuries."

Each are easy to copy and paste - great reading and copy work examples for students learning essay writing.

~ Of Studies, Francis Bacon (1561-1626): "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."

Downloadable Calendar: Best Months To Buy Things

A downloadable monthly calendar of the best times to purchase items inexpensively:


Found here. Full size is available at link.

Printable Informational Resources for Student Essays and Reports

See vintage texts from my Google Books library. I've collected over 5000 vintage educational texts from which to draw homeschool curriculum. It has been really helpful for books reports, research, lessons, and other homeschool materials. I use the search box at the link; however, I also use the general Google Book search to expand my searches.

All books in my library are free to download(PDF). Some of the magazines like Life and Boys Life are viewable online only, and not available for download.

Printing individual pages used to be very simple, but they no longer have a button to switch the text to HTML. You can still do it though. Simply use the Plain Text button on the top right of any page in the book, then scroll to the end of the web address, delete the "text" after output=text, which will be at the end of the address. Type in "html" in lieu of the word "text", load the page with this address, and you'll have a page which can be right clicked to save or print.

Pages can be copied and pasted in plain text, but sometimes there are problems with the conversion at Google Books - missed words, gibberish, etc.

Here are some pages my son(age 13) will be using for an essay on How Bees Make Honey. They cover the topic of bees more broadly if you click back to previous pages, or go forward within the section. I've saved these links in HTML, so you don't need to change them. To save or print, right click only on the image of the book pages at the links or you'll get the entire screen.

THE ANATOMY OF THE HONEY BEE.

Do Bees Make or Gather Honey?

A Manual of Natural History: Bees Contradicts above contention that honey is made.

Compare and contrast: modern answer to this question here - How Do Bees Make Honey? About.com

Lessons in Nature, Volume 1: Bees(plain text - copy and paste) or HTML(several pages).

Short essay on bees with fill-in-the-blank prepositions... just for fun. ; )

Observations by Apiarists(Best nectar producing plants)

The Kitchen Table, Honey and the Honey Bee

A Dictionary of General Knowledge: Honey

The Bee-keeper's Guide(very scientific with detailed anatomy)

• Illustration of tongue
• Illustration of bee head and tongue
• Illustration of glands for digesting nectar
• Illustration of honey stomach
  

More on bees in my library here(405 general references to bees). Nice illustrations too.

How to Draw a Hen(Easy)

My daughter(age five) asked me how to draw a hen on a nest today. We found a helpful printable online with several steps for drawing a hen, eggs, and chicks. It turns out she wanted the hen to sit on some of her oval shaped blocks. So I cut out a stand of folded cardboard(dry food box) for her, she then decided to tell me a story about the hen. : ) She is getting good at using scissors; however, I still need to store them away because she'll cut her hair(and who knows what else) if left unsupervised with scissors.

Original here.

Free Printable Math Toys

Multiplication and skip counter here.

Clever Jeans Repair Idea for Torn Knees

See here for tutorial.

Cute Children's Felt Sewing Crafts

Many more ideas, tons of them for the holidays and beyond, here at Craft Gossip.

Children's Short Story: How the Poinsettia Came to the United States and the Origin of its Name

The Flower of Christmas, Boys' Life magazine, 1967. Readable online only - one page article.

Abstract Three Kings/Wise Men Printable Coloring Page

Click to enlarge and save/print.

Original

Printable Victorian Children's Color-Cut-Paste Christmas Tree

My young daughter and I finished this today. Black and white templates here. Free and in public domain. The ornaments and tree are on separate pages. We used water colors and glitter glue from the Dollar Tree.

Recycled Craft: Make Your Own Snowflake Ornaments

This one is made with toilet tissue or paper towel rolls. See here.

Vintage Reindeer Coloring Page

This high quality black and white reindeer image printed out beautifully using the 8x10 cropped to fit page setting with Google's Picasa image editor. The image was a freebie offered at The Graphics Fairy, and was painted with brown water colors.

Creative Gift Wrap - Recycled

 See here from the Country Living magazine.

We are using fabric bags as gift wrap this year. I found a good number of them ready-made at the thrift store this week! Someone had donated a bucket full of drawstring gift bags made from vintage sheets and fabric.

Feast of Saint Lucia(Sweden) Unit Study Freebies

"Saint Lucia, with her bright shining candles, reminds us to be the light in the darkness. And her offerings of food and drink remind us to be giving and kind to others. The white gown symbolizes the young woman's purity and the red reminds us of her martyrdom." See the "Ultimate Saint Lucia Day Post" at The Paper Dali with a paper doll, history, and a unit study(Sweden).

I had a childhood friend whose father was Swedish, and we were always invited over to their home for the Saint Lucia Day festivities. It's quite beautiful, and I loved to watch her father beam with joy when his eldest daughter wore the candles and white dress, singing traditional song with cakes in hand.

"Around Christmas time in Sweden, one of the biggest celebrations is St. Lucia's Day (or St. Lucy's Day) on December 13th. The celebration comes from stories that were told by Monks who first brought Christianity to Sweden.

St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD. The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name.
December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old 'Julian' Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden was turned into St. Lucia's Day.
St. Lucia's Day is now celebrated by a girl dressing in a white dress with a red sash round her waist and a crown of candles on her head. (Normally electric candles are used for safety!) The crown is made of Lingonberry branches which are evergreen and symbolise new life in winter. Schools normally have their own St. Lucias and some town and villages also choose a girl to play St. Lucia in a procession where carols are sung." Read more here.

"A newer theory, requiring more research is that St. Birgitta (1303-1373), during her stay in Rome (1349-1373) in her effort to get papal approval of the Bridgittine Order for women, probably wrote home to Sweden telling of the Lucia legend which was widely known in Italy. As Lucia Day comes at the darkest time of year, the candies of the ministering Santa Lucia portend and witness to the True Light-the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. On the morning of the thirteenth of December, the strains of 'Santa Lucia' are heard everywhere in Sweden as the white-robed maiden comes out of the night with her burning crown of candies dispelling the darkness. In honor of her martyrdom, It has long been the custom to donate money on Lucia Day to institutions working for the blind." Read more here.

Printable Early Elementary Short Story: The Legend of Saint Christopher and the Christ Child

From Kindergarten Stories and Morning Talks, Ginn & Co., 1890. Free and in public domain.

Copy and paste to your own word processor, or print here. I've added it to Google Documents. Image is from Wikipedia Commons.

SAINT CHRISTOPHER.

Saint Christopher wished to do something to serve the King of earth and heaven ; and he went to the cave of a good hermit, who said : —

" Knowest thou a certain river, stony, and wide, and deep, and often swollen by the rains, so that many people perish who attempt to pass over ? ",

And Saint Christopher answered, "I know it."

Then said the hermit, "Go to that river, and use thy strength to aid and to save those who struggle with the stream, and those who are about to perish." To which Christopher replied joyfully, —

"This I can do."

So he went as the hermit had directed, and he dwelt by the side of the river; and having rooted up a palm-tree from the forest, — so strong he was, and tall, — he used it for a staff to support and guide his steps; and he aided those who were about to sink, and the weak he carried on his shoulders across the stream; and by day and by night he was always ready for his task, and failed not, and was never wearied of helping those who needed help.

Christopher one night heard a voice which called to him from the shore; it was the plaintive voice of a child, and it seemed to say, " Christopher, come forth and carry me over!"

And he rose and looked out, but he saw nothing : then he lay down again ; but the voice called to him in the same words a second and a third time; and the third time he sought round about with a lantern; and at length he beheld a little child sitting on the bank, who entreated him, saying,—

" Christopher, carry me over this night."

And Christopher lifted the child on his strong shoulders, and took his staff and entered the stream.

And the waters rose higher and higher; and the waves roared, and the wind blew; and the infant on his shoulders became heavier and heavier, till it seemed to him that he must sink under the great weight; and he began to fear. But nevertheless, taking courage, and staying his tottering steps with his palm-staff, he at length reached the opposite bank; and when he had laid the child down, safely and gently, he looked upon him with astonishment, and he said, —

"Who art thou, child, that hath placed me in such peril ? Had I carried the whole world on my shoulder the burden had not been heavier! "

And the child replied : —

" Wonder not, good Christopher; for thou hast not only borne the world, but Him who made the world, upon thy shoulders. Me wouldst thou serve in this work of charity ; and, behold, I have accepted thy service and thee; plant , thy staff in the ground, and it shall put forth leaves and fruit."

Christopher did so, and the dry staff flourished as a palm-tree in the season, and was covered with clusters of fruit; but the Christ Child had vanished from sight.

Printable Chinese Paper Dolls and Homeschool Curricula Giveaway

Jimmie at Jimmie's Collage is giving away some interesting China homeschool resources from Currclick as a part of the Christmas Around the World Series. The giveaway closes on 12/12/10. I thought I'd post these cute Chinese paper dolls which I found a while back. Click on images to enlarge and save. Originals here and here.

Mary Queen of Scots Paper Doll

Since today is Mary Queen of Scots's birthday, I'll share this paper doll of the queen which I happened upon some months ago. See here to download free, an 1890's McLaughlin Coffee freebie.

From Wikipedia:
Mary was born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, Scotland to King James V of Scotland and his French second wife, Mary of Guise. She was the only legitimate child of James to survive him, and she was said to have been born prematurely. A popular legend, written by John Knox, states that James, hearing on his deathbed that his wife had given birth to a daughter, ruefully exclaimed, "It came with a lass, it will pass with a lass!"


The House of Stewart, which originated in Brittany, had gained the throne of Scotland by the marriage of Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert the Bruce, to Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland. James thus felt that since the crown came with a woman, a woman would be responsible for the loss of the crown from their family. This legendary statement came true much later, but not through Mary, whose son in fact became King of England. Eventually Sophia of Hanover, daughter of Elizabeth of Bohemia, became the heir to Anne of Great Britain and with her son George Louis of Hanover becoming King of Great Britain, replacing the House of Stuart in England.

Jean Plaidy wrote an interesting historical fiction series which covers the women of the House of Stuart, and King George's exiled wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle.

How to Make a Super-Simple Recycled Quilt

Repost from May 2010.

Check out this super tutorial for a fast and easy quilt using flat sheets. This is how I make quilts, only I use light batting(it never gets that cold here).

If you want to tuft it, here are easy directions for tied quilts.

Vintage 1909 December Children's Calendar/Blackboard Drawing

Click on image to enlarge and save. Free and in public domain. We print them out and use them as "classroom" calendars.

Overcharged

Ugh, I am still being plagued with incorrect charges on my store purchases. It has gotten much worse lately. Check your receipts. The past two weeks have been full of double charges, missed coupons, or phantom charges. I think it's a reflection of overworked, underpaid, stressed-out cashiers.

Pumpkin Flan Recipe

This pumpkin flan recipe would be great any time of year, but really shines around the holidays. This pumpkin flan uses low-fat milk for a much lighter version than the traditional cream-based recipes.

Makes 8 Individual Pumpkin Flans
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 50 minutes
Total Time: 80 minutes

Recipe here. Still fattening even with the low-fat milk, but so good! Flan is my daughter's favorite dessert.

Vintage Autumn Nature Art Tutorials

See here at Design Squish. There are a good number of clever ideas! This snake is made of an acorn and acorn tops. It looks as though the eyes are made of seeds.

Stocking Up with Holiday Sales

Tonight we had a simple dinner of baked potatoes(frozen in early November) with cheese, sweet potatoes, and homemade cranberry relish. Delicious! And all where from the freezer, gleaned from extreme holiday sales.

I've been having a great time stocking up the pantry with super inexpensive post-Thanksgiving grocery sales. Nothing makes my day like finding a tower of canned sweet peas and green beans for .29 cents each! I'll be returning to the Bottom Dollar grocery store to purchase more tomorrow. Sweet potatoes have been .39 cents pound, and yellow onions, a dollar a bag. I've been cooking and baking loads of onions and sweet potatoes every night for the freezer.

I also stocked up on canned pumpkin. It has been scarce at the grocery stores this past year. I found one good coffee deal at Save-A-Lot - .13 cents an ounce, where the usual price hovers around 15 cents an ounce for store brand coffee. Reportedly, coffee prices(among other foods) are on the rise. It may be a good time to stock up on sales while prices are still low.

Saint Nicholas Day is fast approaching, and the Dollar Tree didn't disappoint. I got some Christmas chocolates and glitter glue pens for my daughter's Saint Nicholas shoe which is put out the night before December 6th for Saint Nicholas to fill with treats. My son is at the age where he settles for an IOU or cash for his favorite books and games - easy. Also found at the Dollar Tree: six ounce jars of marinated chopped gourmet mushrooms, 28 ounce cans of chopped tomatoes, six ounce boxes of organic California raisins, 32 ounce box containers of all natural chicken broth, 6.5 ounces of cinnamon, and 2.5 ounce bottles of pure extracts of vanilla, lemon, and orange.

The sales and discounts have been much less prolific this year. Turkey and ham discount deals have been sparse or non-existent. Stores are being more conservative with their stock, but I can still find a few excellent deals.

Share and/or Make Your Own Flashcards

Quizlet is the largest flash cards and study games website with over 3 million free sets of flashcards covering every possible subject. It's the best place to play educational games, memorize vocabulary and study online.

Children's Winter Craft: Make Glitter Paper Houses

Cute! See here for directions and templates.

Classic Thanksgiving Poetry and Stories

Copy and paste at links:

Paul Laurence Dunbar writes: "The sun hath shed its kindly light, / Our harvesting is gladly o'er, / Our fields have felt no killing blight, / Our bins are filled with goodly store."

Rebecca Harding Davis writes: "On Thanksgiving morning a light flutter of snow fell on the woods and carpet of red leaves below. Jane stood at her window, looking into the bright, silent Heaven beyond."

Lydia Maria Child, Over the River and Through the Woods

and Louisa May Alcott's rendition on Thanksgiving.

Courtesy of
 About.com Classic Literature

Low Calorie Pumpkin Cookies and Muffins

I found this recipe for pumpkin cookies at DeeDee's Weight Watchers Recipes. Check out her other low point muffin and pumpkin recipes.

These pumpkin muffins are only 1.5 points if you leave out the oil, chips, and replace the sugar with artificial sweetener. I'll be making these today, and bringing some to my sister-in-laws home for Thanksgiving. I'm glad I can indulge and not break my diet! Pumpkin desserts are my favorite. Update: These were very good! I'm be making more. Cinnamon apple sauce would taste even better.

Pumpkin bread can be made lower calorie simply by substituting plain apple sauce(no sweetener added) for oil and using artificial sweetener. The bread is a bit soft and chewy, but still delicious.

Other oil substitutes: sour cream or plain yogurt.

Family Movie Night: Amazing Grace

I finally ordered Amazing Gracefrom Netflix. Someone had recommended this movie in the comments last year, and it lived up to its good review. Not overdone or overly dramatic, this movie lets the subject matter speak for itself in an artfully woven true story of the famous 18th century British abolitionist, William Wilberforce who spent twenty years in the British Parliament fighting to end the British slave trade. What's touching is his strong relationships with family and friends throughout his struggle, clearly a man who was well respected, despite his unpopular position as an abolitionist.

Review from Amazon:
In this inspirational costume drama, Michael Apted (49 Up) recounts a period in British history sure to be unfamiliar to most Americans. In fact, his eye-opening biography of 18th century abolitionist William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd)[Horatio Hornblower] is likely to come as a revelation to many Britons, as well...The title comes from John Newton's hymn "Amazing Grace" ("I once was lost but now am found"). Newton (Albert Finney) was a former slaveholder, who became a clergyman and spent his days repenting. While America had John Brown, England had Wilberforce, and Newton is one of many who helped the [ministers of parliament] MP to abolish slavery in the UK. The story begins towards the end of Wilberforce's mission when he's sick with colitis and addicted to laudanum. Apted continues to alternate between 1797 and 1789, when Wilberforce was fitter and more idealistic, and ends in 1807 as his efforts come to fruition. Apted and writer Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things) do right by their hero. Unlike Amistad, however, slaves are largely off-screen, with the exception of author Equiano (Senegalese vocalist Youssou N'Dour). Amazing Grace reserves its focus for the politicians who risked their reps for the greater good, like Wilberforce and Prime Minister Pitt (an excellent Benedict Cumberbatch), and those more concerned with the income slavery provided their constituents, like Lord Tarleton (Ciarán Hinds) and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones). --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Art History Study: Rosa Bonheur, 19th Century French Realist

Biography and Story Study(fifth and sixth grade), Good English, 1917

Famous Pictures(Animals), Saint Nicholas Magazine,1912

BONHEUR, Marie Rosalie (rosa), celebrated animal painter, died at By, near Fontainebleau, France, May 25, 1899. Mlle. Bonheur achieved a fame unsurpassed by any woman artist, and in her own department of animal painting is placed in the front rank of painters. She was the daughter of Raymond Bonheur, a drawing teacher living at Bordeaux, and was born March 22, 1822. At an early age she gave evidence of artistic ability. This was trained and developed by her father, so that when still very young she acquired a fine technique. Mme. Bonheur died in 1833, and the father and children moved to Paris, where Rosa improved her opportunity of studying the pictures in the Louvre. The family was poor and for a time the. girl was apprenticed in a dressmaker's shop, but she soon returned to her copying in the Louvre. Here she worked regularly, and not infrequently sold her pictures to advantage. More here.

The Art-literature Readers, Book 3(grade 3), 1903, Rosa Bonheur Biography

Great Artists, 1899, Biography(middle school and up)

Interview with  Rosa Bonheur, 1859:

"Have you given the Women's Rights question any attention?" we asked.
"Women's rights!—women's nonsense!" she answered. " Women should seek to establish their rights by good and great works, and not by conventions. If I had got up a convention to debate the question of my ability to paint "Marche au Chevaux" (The Horse Fair), for which England would pay me forty thousand francs, the decision would have been against me. I felt the power within me to paint, I cultivated it and have produced works that have won the favorable verdicts of the great judges. I have no patience with women who ask permission to think!"   

Stories of Famous Pictures(third - fourth grades), 1904

Lives of Girls Who Became Famous(fourth - fifth grades)

Historic Girlhoods, 1910.

Image gallery

Free Thanksgiving Children's Activity Print-outs and Stories

Vintage Children's Thanksgiving Poetry for Those in Colder Climates

Free Printable Vintage Children's Thanksgiving Poems and Stories

Free Notebooking Thanksgiving Pages

Free Thanksgiving ebook: Mary of Plymouth by James Otis

Vintage American Indian Thanksgiving Hiawatha Cut Outs

Another Children's Vintage Cut and Paste Thanksgiving Project and Coloring Page 

The above posts are from years past.

November Multi-grade Short Stories, Poems, and Clip Art

Thanksgiving, A North American Holiday

Bumped up from 2007

For my friends from other continents, a little about Thanksgiving.

How we celebrate:

It is customary to have turkey and dishes featuring North American autumn fruits and vegetables. It's a time when extended family gets together to share each others company and give thanks for God's abundance and mercy. There is a contemporary tradition to watch football, and fall asleep in an easy chair after making a glutton of yourself. We don't watch football here, ack, did I say that out loud! Sacrilege! My husband loved sports as a young person, and excelled at it, but curiously he doesn't enjoy watching it on television.

We usually have my out-of-town parents over, but this year they have other plans. Dh has to work Thanksgiving day, so we'll be going to the fire station for a tasty homemade meal over there. No cooking for me except a dessert dish.

Excerpted from Wikipedia:

"Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving Day, is an annual one-day holiday to give thanks for the things one has at the end of the harvest season. In the United States, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November. The period from Thanksgiving Day to New Year's Day is often collectively referred to as the "holiday season" in the United States."

The first Thanksgivings were celebrated by early settlers in the New World.

"The Pilgrims were particularly thankful to Squanto, the Native American who taught them how to catch eel and grow corn and who served as an interpreter for them (Squanto had learned English as a slave in Europe and travels in England). Without Squanto's help the Pilgrims might not have survived in the New World. The explorers who later came to be called the "Pilgrims" set apart a day to celebrate at Plymouth immediately after their first harvest, in 1621. At the time, this was not regarded as a Thanksgiving observance; harvest festivals were existing parts of English and Wampanoag tradition alike."

The story of the Pilgrims is a popular Thanksgiving tradition, and the children often put on plays, and make little crafty things related to autumn harvest and the Pilgrims.

Also check out this post at Laudem Gloriae, a small bit of history regarding the Pilgrims, Democracy, Thanksgiving, etc. HT to Tea at Trianon.

Free Thanksgiving and Pilgrim Paintings and Artwork

Click here, lots and lots of images in public domain.

Free Printable Vintage Thanksgiving Postcard Place Cards

Click here for more, so nice!