Sunday, December 09, 2012
DIY Disposable Stick Branch Christmas Tree
The branches can be held in place with large rocks in a bucket. We took our rocks from the garden.
Here's a pretty one that has been painted white:
Saturday, December 08, 2012
Make an Easy Sparkly Cat Ornament - Free Cat Outline
Use this outline as a template for a glittery cat ornament. I plan to cut it out on black paper, glue to recycled cardboard, and cover with glitter. I'll add a pretty pink bow and hang it on the tree with my pet's name on it.
Friday, December 07, 2012
Some Simple Vintage Christmas Designs for Drawing, Cuttings, Etc.
From The Kindergarten-primary Magazine, 1914
Free Pearl Harbor Day Educational Printables for Children
Activity ranger book from the World War II Pacific National Monument(USS Arizona). PDF here for younger children and for older children here(answers could be looked up on Google).
Pearl Harbor Day printable here.
Monday, December 03, 2012
Poor Grammar in Modern Educational Items
It is getting more and more difficult to find educational freebies(and paid) that use proper grammar. I am not a gifted grammarian. In fact, I often have to look things up. Going through my son's Rod & Staff English with him for eight years helped a lot! Mostly, I am punctuation challenged. So if I notice mistakes, it's moderately obvious. Anyway, I was browsing a teacher authored curriculum site for first grade freebies when I came across some really nice packets for language arts. It was disappointing to see run-on sentences and incorrect grammar(colloquialisms) such as confusing "was"and "were" - "If I was a cat" instead of " If I were cat" . You can never be a cat, so "were" is correct." I feel badly for the children whose teachers are purchasing these items.I wonder if the parent's notice?! What's weirder is the perfect feedback from almost a hundred buyers. I guess if Justin Bieber says it in a song, it's okay?Educational items offered by individuals, even if they are certified teachers, should be reviewed thoroughly before purchase. If you are poor at proof reading, I'd avoid these and go for professionally edited curriculum. There can still be mistakes, but they correct them upon notice, and errors are less frequent. While content is very important, it is also crucial that children are challenged with learning proper English.
Sunday, December 02, 2012
Saturday, December 01, 2012
DIY Modern Lumber Furniture
We seem to making a lot of lumber furniture these days! The more pieces we make, the more we like it. As furniture wears out, we are replacing it with homemade lumber furniture. I liken the style to be somewhere between IKEA style pine and rustic pallet furniture. You certainly can't beat the price! Rough pine lumber is very inexpensive.
Here's what we've made so far. I hope this inspires someone to try this for themselves. It takes very little skill. We are complete amateurs, and yes, it is not fine carpentry work, but we weren't going for this, nor did we expect this.
My daughter's bed with room for storage underneath.
Tall table...we are using this as a kitchen island now.
Young children's pallet book shelf
Cat ladder and sleeping box
Pallet/scrap wood toy shelf
Entertainment center or bookshelves
Platform bed and DIY mattress
Sectional sofa
Not lumber, but free - stump side table/stool
Free standing kitchen(full pictures will come later...we are still putting on the final touches.)
12/9/12: Okay, here is the rough unfinished version of our DIY kitchen:
My husband recently made a child sized computer table with bench for my daughter which I'll add here later.
Here's what we've made so far. I hope this inspires someone to try this for themselves. It takes very little skill. We are complete amateurs, and yes, it is not fine carpentry work, but we weren't going for this, nor did we expect this.
My daughter's bed with room for storage underneath.
Tall table...we are using this as a kitchen island now.
Young children's pallet book shelf
Cat ladder and sleeping boxPallet/scrap wood toy shelf
Entertainment center or bookshelves
Platform bed and DIY mattress
Sectional sofa
Not lumber, but free - stump side table/stool
Free standing kitchen(full pictures will come later...we are still putting on the final touches.)
12/9/12: Okay, here is the rough unfinished version of our DIY kitchen:
My husband recently made a child sized computer table with bench for my daughter which I'll add here later.
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Dollar Store DIY Bookends
These are items from the dollar store: two acrylic picture frames and cut plastic animals. She spray painted them with Krylon paint in rubbed bronze. Tutorial here.
DIY Plastic Bag Storage
It's a coffee can! Great idea. Paint can and cut a hole in the lid. I plan to use this for plastic grocery bags which we recycle as garbage bags. I think it will work if I tie each bags together, so that they come out the hole to detach without getting lost in the can. I could tie each one by a handle and roll together inside the can. I think this will make a more compact storage option than what we currently have which is a cardboard box with bags thrown in..
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Huge Collection of Children's Educational Videos
She has over 1000 children's videos listed on her Pinterest page here! There are read-alongs, music, and educational videos. I didn't see any math, mostly English and language arts. I only got past the second page though, so there may be some math videos there somewhere. I'll be adding some of these to my YouTube educational channel. What a great resource to supplement learning.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Cooking a Turkey in a Tabletop Halogen Convection Oven
I cooked a 13 pound turkey in my Secura halogen convection oven(see Reducing Energy Useage in the Kitchen) for the first time last night. It came out moist and juicy. I think 13 pounds might be the limit for this oven. It just fit. The cook time was on the low side, 3 hours at 400 degrees, but still within the recommended range for an unstuffed turkey of this size. With this oven, you do have to flip it over at the halfway mark to make sure both sides get cooked evenly.
I referred to this YouTube video before I tried cooking the turkey. She has a different brand than I have, a Nuwave oven, but it is similar
to my Secura.
Clean up was very easy...just dump the cooled grease away in the garbage, and clean the glass bowl and wire shelf in the sink . The meat just slid off the bone, so I had the carcass cleaned off in no time. I froze the meat in separate baggies for future meals. I figure I'll keep doing this while the turkey prices are low.
Clean up was very easy...just dump the cooled grease away in the garbage, and clean the glass bowl and wire shelf in the sink . The meat just slid off the bone, so I had the carcass cleaned off in no time. I froze the meat in separate baggies for future meals. I figure I'll keep doing this while the turkey prices are low.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Wednesday, November 07, 2012
Free Interactive Game for Learning Temperature
We are learning temperature in first grade math today. Here's a very simple cute interactive online game to reinforce learning.Circumventing Impulse Buying at the Dollar Store
I love the dollar stores, but I always seem to end up with more than I absolutely need, and my daughter comes with me every time, which means she wants things. It all becomes a struggle that I would altogether rather avoid.
So, I tried the Dollar Tree online and got 3.5% off my order by clicking through the Bigcrumbs.com shopping portal.
Sunday, November 04, 2012
DIY Straw Mattress
Click on source link above for directions.
We did this! It is actually very comfortable. I used a thick zippered futon cover purchased on ebay and stuffed it with clean straw. Over top, and underneath the bed sheet, is a homemade bed topper(old quilts sewn together) for extra comfort. It's a heck of a money saver and the straw smells wonderful. I mixed a small amount of boric acid powder into the straw to sanitize and bug proof it.
I've had my straw bed since August. I think the straw should be changed out every so often. I'll probably wait to see how long it lasts before replacing it. I will definitely replace mine when new straw comes back to the garden centers.
The first few weeks the straw did shift around, but shaking and flipping it over every few days solved this problem. Now it stays in place and is great if you like a firmer mattress. It helps my back quite a bit. Ours is on a homemade platform bed which is long pine lumber over three attached large beams...very Modern Rustic/Oriental. The lumber is open spaced, rather than fitted tightly together, for air circulation. We got the supplies at a big box store, so the whole bed was very inexpensive!
Our platform bed looks a bit like this:
Thursday, November 01, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Dutch Bedtime Stories
The Last Radicals:Homeschoolers
"There is exactly one authentically radical social movement of any real significance in the United States, and it is not Occupy, the Tea Party, or the Ron Paul faction. It is homeschoolers, who, by the simple act of instructing their children at home, pose an intellectual, moral, and political challenge to the government-monopoly schools, which are one of our most fundamental institutions and one of our most dysfunctional. Like all radical movements, homeschoolers drive the establishment bats..." Read more here.
All my life I've been told I'm too independent. :)
All my life I've been told I'm too independent. :)
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Free Children's Burgess Bird Book Companion Resources
"I’ve put together a list of resources to complement this fantastic book. This companion document is not affiliated with the Burgess Bird Book for Children, it is simply a handy reference to list related links. I’ve linked to the top bird identification sites and to free coloring pages. I couldn’t resist looking up the Audubon plush birds with sound calls, we have a few in our collection."
See here.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Building Vocabulary: Online Vocabulary Quizzes
I just signed up for Vocabulary.com, a free site that gives you quizzes adjusted to your knowledge levels in a game type style with scores and rounds. If you get an answer wrong it provides the definition and allows you to hear the pronunciation. Vocabulary is taken from major news sources and classic literature. You can click on the source of the example sentences for further reading.
I enjoyed it! I worked one round missing the word "legerdemain". I took Spanish in school, and not French. If I had taken French I'd have recognized this word!
This is a great homeschool resource for building vocabulary.
I enjoyed it! I worked one round missing the word "legerdemain". I took Spanish in school, and not French. If I had taken French I'd have recognized this word!
This is a great homeschool resource for building vocabulary.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Free Lecture: Introduction to Logic
See here by professor, Gerard Casey of University College, Dublin." Professor Casey has been teaching logic and other courses in philosophy for over 30 years."
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Advanced Science Opportunities: Citizen Astronomers
According to PCmag.com, "The Planet Hunters citizen science website proved its mettle in a big way yesterday with the announcement of its first confirmed planet discovery, which also happens to be the first planet to be found in a quadruple star system.
Citizen Astronomers
The Planet Hunters website, which was launched in December 2010, lets the public search for exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—in data from NASA’s Kepler planet-search project, which images a star field containing some 160,000 stars, measuring each star’s brightness every half hour. The volunteers look at light curves—graphs showing fluctuations in a star’s brightness over a period of roughly a month—looking for transits, brief dips in a star’s brightness that could indicate the passage of an unseen object, possibly a planet, in front of the star. Public response to this project has been overwhelming; more than 170,000 people have registered at the site."
Citizen Astronomers
The Planet Hunters website, which was launched in December 2010, lets the public search for exoplanets—planets orbiting other stars—in data from NASA’s Kepler planet-search project, which images a star field containing some 160,000 stars, measuring each star’s brightness every half hour. The volunteers look at light curves—graphs showing fluctuations in a star’s brightness over a period of roughly a month—looking for transits, brief dips in a star’s brightness that could indicate the passage of an unseen object, possibly a planet, in front of the star. Public response to this project has been overwhelming; more than 170,000 people have registered at the site."Readable/Printable Online Short Classic Children's Stories
I read this(The Happy Prince) Oscar Wilde story to my daughter last night. It was so nice to snuggle up in the dark by the light of the laptop and read this online before bedtime.Friday, October 12, 2012
Free Educational Quizzes and Lesson Plans
I just added Free Rice to my sidebar. There are quizzes for English, geography, science(chemistry and anatomy), math, foreign languages, and SAT test prep. Ten grains of rice are donated for each correct answer. Free Rice is an educational website run by the World Food Programme, a United Nations program which is funded voluntarly by world governments, corporations, and private donations,. See here for overview at Wikipedia.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Free Online Newspaper for Children
Art History Elementary School October Picture Study, French 19th Century
Features:
HARVEST TIME — LEON AUGUSTINE L'HEEMITTE
THE BALLOON— DUPRE
THE HAY HARVEST— JULES BASTIEN-LEPAGE
RETURN TO THE FARM— TROYON
HARVEST TIME — LEON AUGUSTINE L'HEEMITTE
THE BALLOON— DUPRE
SHEPHERDESS KNITTING — MILLET
Click here. Free and downloadable.
More for THE HAY HARVEST— JULES BASTTEN-LEPAGE
More for RETURN TO THE FARM— TROYON
More for THE BALLOON— DUPRE and and here(younger children's composition lesson)
More for SHEPHERDESS KNITTING — MILLET (parent or older child resource: Jean-François Millet, peasant and painter)
More for THE HAY HARVEST— JULES BASTTEN-LEPAGE
More for RETURN TO THE FARM— TROYON
More for THE BALLOON— DUPRE and and here(younger children's composition lesson)
More for SHEPHERDESS KNITTING — MILLET (parent or older child resource: Jean-François Millet, peasant and painter)
Tuesday, October 09, 2012
Monday, October 08, 2012
Shopping Dollar General Online
Every few months I shop Dollar General online for their discounts and free shipping. Right now online orders are 10% off, and there is free shipping for orders totalling $40.00 and above. I ended up getting $5.00 off my order, which would have been the same as using the printable $5.00 off printable coupon($25.00 minimum in store only). The difference was that I saved time and gas.
If you don't have a Dollar General store nearby, this is a great way to take advantage of their low prices. The best buys for us have always been the dishwasher detergent, off-brand cold and allergy medicines, and other toiletries. Items that are $1.00, comparable to a dollar store, are a good buy as well.
Check often, as the discounts vary. Sometimes online orders are 20% off.
If you don't have a Dollar General store nearby, this is a great way to take advantage of their low prices. The best buys for us have always been the dishwasher detergent, off-brand cold and allergy medicines, and other toiletries. Items that are $1.00, comparable to a dollar store, are a good buy as well.
Check often, as the discounts vary. Sometimes online orders are 20% off.
Tuesday, October 02, 2012
Managing Large Single Payment Bills
How to Budget for Irregular Expenses
Manage large single bill payments like semi-annual or quarterly bill payments with a regularly funded reserve account. We started doing this with our insurance and property tax bills which can be rather large single payments, but manageable if paid with a fund that we have paid into every month. It's much easier if these accounts are funded automatically, so you don't forget. Simply total your irregularly occurring bills and divide by twelve, then add this monthly automatic withdrawal from your checking account to a specially designated savings account to fund your large single payment bill or bills.
This has really helped us to better budget our money month to month.
Manage large single bill payments like semi-annual or quarterly bill payments with a regularly funded reserve account. We started doing this with our insurance and property tax bills which can be rather large single payments, but manageable if paid with a fund that we have paid into every month. It's much easier if these accounts are funded automatically, so you don't forget. Simply total your irregularly occurring bills and divide by twelve, then add this monthly automatic withdrawal from your checking account to a specially designated savings account to fund your large single payment bill or bills.
This has really helped us to better budget our money month to month.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Free Classic Young Children's Fairy Tales for Bedtime Reading
The Rainbow Book of Fairy Tales for Six-Year-Olds by Lisa Ripperton
This is a compilation of vintage stories circa 1924, not dumbed down, full of rich language for children's ears, but also easy to comprehend for a young child, especially if read with affect.
Last night, I was able to read three as bedtime stories without my first grader getting antsy, although she did fall asleep during Rumpelstiltskin, and what better way to drift off to sleep! The font is nice and large for tired momma eyes. You can turn down the lights and read this book on a laptop. There are no pictures, just text.
There are many more free ebooks to browse at this site as well.
This is a compilation of vintage stories circa 1924, not dumbed down, full of rich language for children's ears, but also easy to comprehend for a young child, especially if read with affect.
Last night, I was able to read three as bedtime stories without my first grader getting antsy, although she did fall asleep during Rumpelstiltskin, and what better way to drift off to sleep! The font is nice and large for tired momma eyes. You can turn down the lights and read this book on a laptop. There are no pictures, just text.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
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