Helpful Home Economic Tutorials

Super quick housekeeping instructionals to watch and read. Although they are not made specifically for young people, I think they are helpful for tweens and up, who are just learning to do housekeeping chores.

Indira Fernandez with Cinderella's Cleaning Services in Houston, Texas(videos and transcripts):

How to Vacuum Efficiently

15-Minute Bathroom Cleanup

How to Do a 15-Minute Kitchen Cleanup

Maine Couple's Stylish Frugal Lifestyle on $17,000 a year

Mr. Fleming and Ms. Wurst are a couple with a talent for living and for furnishing a home stylishly on a budget. Their annual income these days is about $17,000, now that Ms. Wurst has stopped teaching to spend more time with their son, and Mr. Fleming is concentrating on his artwork and home-furnishings business, Designs Adrift.

They decorated their home for just under $4,000, and the furnishings in their living room came to $828: that includes the priciest item, a $150 sofa from the Brimfield, Mass., antiques market, slipcovered in an antique linen sheet; mirrors created out of discounted glass remnants for which Mr. Fleming made driftwood frames; and the plant stand, the small grass rug, the ottoman and the shelves.

Ms. Wurst’s favorite shopping site: a parked trailer at the Phippsburg dump.

“Some days it’s pure excitement, running back to the car to unload armfuls of stuff, only to go back for more!” she wrote in an e-mail. “It’s amazing what people throw out. I have found completely new (still in packaging) items such as my Bodum tea press/pot and even down throw pillows (still in packaging) and a fabulous ’50s-style wall-mounted can opener.”

She added, “It’s perfectly suited for the pantry in this house and we needed one and it was free. Read rest here.

Check out the slide show of their home at the link, just beautiful.

Extending the Table Cookbook: Ginger Tea

In the spirit of the More-with-Less Cookbook(eat better, use less), this book, Extending the Table: A World Community Cookbook covers recipes for frugally prepared food and drink from across the world, mainly from under-developed parts of the world. I'm working my way through this cookbook. Tomorrow I plan to try an African(Kenya) recipe for ginger tea.

Ingredients:
2 cups water
1 Tbsp diced ginger root
Simmer for ten minutes

5 tsp black tea leaves
Simmer for 3-5 minutes
Add: 2 cups hot milk

Young Children's Dice Math Game

ThinkFun Math Dice Jr.

My daughter actually picked this out at Barnes & Noble with some birthday money from grandma. This kind of shocked(that she picked it) and excited me at the same time! Woo-hoo, learning games that she actually enjoys. This is something you could make yourself with a few dice and a handmade number wheel, but for the price, it's an affordable option. Adding(and subtracting) is learned quickly with this set. The number die is twelve sided. Ages 6 and up.

Math Dice Game Ideas

Check Utilities for Discounts and Rebates

Recently, I checked all our utility websites for discounts. I found a few good deals like rebates for an October heating tune-up, free programmable thermostat, free rain barrel(make and take workshop), rebates on energy star water and HVAC units, $40.00 back on enrollment in energy saving program, discounted light bulbs, and a free energy audit. They also had some free .pdf printables and facility tours for children. Some years offer better discounts than others. It's worth checking out.

Vintage September Child Birthday Verse Printable

I found this in a 1910 teacher's magazine. To enlarge click on image, and then right click on image to print/save.

Vintage 1910 September Blackboard Calendar

I print out these old calendars for our homeschool. This one was found in a 1910 teacher's periodical. To print, click on image to enlarge and right click.

Someone is Turning Six

We had a pizza lunch and some fun at Chuck E. Cheese today for my daughter's birthday.

The cake was a simple low calorie white cake with a sour cream and vanilla pudding frosting. The butterfly was made with a cut-out of an image found here. The template was printed out in 8x5. All you do is cut out the middle, apply it to a frosted cake, and frost in a different color and/or add sprinkles. After you frost, just peel the template off carefully. In order to make room for the pink frosting, I ended up skimming off some of the bottom yellow frosting while the template was in place. Otherwise, the template frosting would have stood higher on the cake.

DIY Replacements for Velcro Wood Play Sets

This is a Melissa & Doug set which had a missing cookie top. I was able to reproduce the missing piece with some thin pressed board and some very sharp utility scissors(Friskars Shop Snip 8.0), both found at a big box store. The pressed board was free, discarded in the wood scraps bin.









Easy directions:

Trace the missing part, cut, sand, and paint. Apply the appropriate side of self adhesive velcro, also found at a big box store, to the back. I used some craft paint that we got from a thrift store, a big bag full of small individual paint pots in many different colors.I'm guessing it is acrylic. I think I've seen these sets at Wallyworld in the crafting aisle. The piece came out a bit larger, but passed muster with my daughter.

It's a bit hard on the hands to cut, but I was thinking about making a velcro pizza set - good for teaching fractions as well as pretend. A jig-saw(don't have one) would be much easier, but the snips do cut fairly well through the thin particle board. Circles are the most difficult to navigate, requiring numerous straight cuts in, and discarding sections before being able to work around.

Printable Vintage Paper Cut-out: Whimsical Squirrel Family Carrying Home Acorns

Completed today for an autumn unit study. We lightened the original before printing to make coloring easier. Not bad for a free printable from 1917. I had to made extra cardboard supports in the back to make it stand.

Click here for the free printable. Simply right click on the image at the link to enlarge and save. It comes with a little story and instructions.

Easy Squirrel Crafts to Accompany Any Young Children's Unit Study

These crafts were started with free online printables. The squirrel template is here along with other free squirrel printables. I added paper fasteners(split brads) with the help of a hole punch for the articulating parts.

Vintage Squirrel paragraph and tracks are from old children's readers(early 1900's). Click on images below to enlarge and save. These were fun to make today with my daughter(age 5). It's difficult to see, but the picture collage has a branch hanger. Baby acorns and a leaf were added to the right side. My daughter has to add glitter to everything, so this nature craft got glitterized. A vintage leaf and acorn cut-out would have looked nice as well.

I made the squirrel say "please" before he got the nut. ;)

Free Downloads for Movie and Book: Little Lord Fauntleroy by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Review from Internet Archives:

As the third screen adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's popular novel(click to free copy), it is an avalanche of sweetness and sentimentality only '30s Hollywood could pull off without having audiences run from theatres in search of insulin. One of the reasons why is this amazing cast of superb character actors (in order of appearance): Una O'Conner, Jessie Ralph, Guy Kibbee, Henry Stephenson, C. Aubrey Smith, Constance Collier, E.E. Clive, plus many more. The title role is played by Freddie Bartholomew, a child actor much loved by mothers and grandmothers, and thoroughly detested by us kids growing up on the lower west side of Manhattan. Delores Costello is his widowed, self-sacrificing mother. Mickey Rooney has a small but important role.

A nine-year-old Brooklyn boy living in genteel poverty, is told he's heir to a British earldom. This necessitates his move to England to live with the aristocratic grandfather he's never known. (Have the first hankie ready for Bartholomew's farewell scenes. Save the second hankie for moisture-inducing scenes to come.) A sudden turn of events puts everything in jeopardy. Nevertheless the plucky lad eventually triumphs. The large cast has no weak links. However the great (sir) C. Aubrey Smith turns in the outstanding performance as Bartholomew's misanthropic grandfather.

Excellent production values, thoroughly professional camera work and skillful direction designed to wring out every last drop of sentiment, results in industrial-strength schmaltz you will either love or hate. I love it.

See here for better quality movie download and viewing. Smaller sized download here. Free and in public domain.

Young Children's Squirrel Printables

The hurricane has brought a premature Autumn to our backyard - leaves and acorns litter the ground. My daughter(age five) has been collecting acorns and painting them, so I'm following behind with a squirrel mini-unit study. I'll add to this post as I find things that we are going to use.

Vintage how to draw a squirrel.

Squirrel "Ss" penmanship page.

Cut and paste squirrel

Squirrel maze

Sweet vintage woodland squirrel coloring page. A bit advanced, but fun to color together.

Squirrel dot-to-dot

Gussie the Ground Squirrel paper doll(vintage)

Cut and paste squirrel family(vintage)

I'm coloring this one for our school wall(printed in black and white).

Realistic coloring page with squirrels on tree, house in background

Squirrel tracks.

To print the following pages, right click on image of page(s). Free and in public domain. Entire book is free to download as well.

Handbook of Nature-study for Teachers and Parents, pages 233- 239.

Squirrel Finger Games and Story(2 pages)

For older children(for the older sibling who wants to join in): Fourth-sixth grades writing lesson, The Squirrel, pages 72-73. 1912 Lessons in English.

Vintage French cut out squirrel(stands up).

Library Finds: Picture Books

Two favorites this week for young children:

Water Hole Waiting

Ages 4-8. The Kurtzes, brother and sister, describe a dawn-to-dusk day at a water hole on an African savannah, citing the activities of the many animals that inhabit the ecosystem. At dawn, as a troop of vervet monkeys forages for food, a youngster attempting to take a drink is stopped by Mama, who notices a herd of hippopotami arriving for a swim. At midday the young monkey tries again, only to be deterred by zebras and a lumbering crocodile. Later, a lion and a giraffe come for drinks, and a family of elephants rumbles down for a splash. Only after dark, when the larger animals have gone, does Mama deem it safe for her baby to quench his thirst. Vivid artwork complements the elegant text, often extending it with additional details: the close-up views of thundering zebra hooves and snapping crocodile jaws are particularly impressive. The story will work well on several levels: young listeners will understand the frustration in having to wait for a cool drink; older children will appreciate the diversity of savannah wildlife.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Box Turtle at Long Pond

PreSchool-Grade 2-- A day in the life of a box turtle is rendered carefully in words and lifelike illustrations with a text that respects its subject, avoids any anthropomorphism, and is simple enough for very young listeners. It records the turtle's actions as, slowly but with perseverance, he drinks, searches for food, evades danger, and sleeps. The outstanding gouache paintings in borderless, horizontal two-page spreads are so realistic that one almost reaches out to feel the turtle's textured shell. Although at times the turtle seems to be camouflaged, blending into his surroundings, he stands out clearly once located. The animals he encounters are equally well illustrated--readers will almost hold their breath so as not to frighten the raccoon and chipmunk. The book's design is excellent; even the well-chosen type, superimposed on the illustrations so that there is no visual break from the scenes, is clear and easily read. This is superior nature study for young readers and listeners.
--Louise L. Sherman, Anna C. Scott School, Leonia, NJ
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Harvesting Squash

I am beginning to get more squash now. What really surprised me was finding spaghetti squash in my garden! I don't remember planting this, but it will be a much appreciated extra veggie to use with an Italian recipe. A lot of edibles have failed in my little garden plot over the years, but squash has been a winner this season. Next year I'll be planting more squash, cucumber, green pepper, and tomatoes. All of these vegetables do well for me with very little fuss. I did manage to get a few small carrots and radish early in the season; these I'll plant again too.

Although the bugs and slugs where not a problem this year, the weather was harsh for the garden with heavy rains followed by hot dry spells. My soaker hose sprung a leak, so I've been watering from above. It doesn't work as well, so garden yields have been a little sparse.

How to Plant a Victory Garden

Free download here. Better quality video at this location as well.

The War on Dust

Eight Strategies to Reduce Dust in the Home :

1. Keep closet floors clear for easy cleaning.
2. Upgrade your furnace filter
3. Rotate bedding weekly
4. Capture dust — don't just spread it around.
5. Beat and shake area rugs.
6. Take cushions out for a beating.
7. Clean the air while you clean house.
8. Match the vacuum to the flooring.
See entire article here.

I've begun vacuuming the beds as well. When possible, I air out the house while cleaning. What do you do to fight dust in the home?