Cheap Finds of the Week

Today Grandma and I packed up some sandwiches and snacks, loaded the kids in the van and purposely drove to some neighboring towns to visit their thrift stores. It was nice to get out of the house, and the weather was decent so we made a day of it.



The kids don't mind shopping through the thrift stores. They grab a book off the shelf and sit in a corner to read. They usually make a pile of things they're interested in and then I get final say as to whether or not it goes home with us.



Today we found:



A huge stack of books! I won't bore you to tears with the complete list. But some of the highlights were:

• The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
• Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
• King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle
• Home Style Teaching by Raymond and Dorothy Moore
• Next Door Savior by Max Lucado
• Several Magic Schoolbus books, a puzzle book, Read About.... books, dinosaur, bug and snake dictionaries, a couple of Jodi Picoult books for me, and some other odds & ends. This stack is already missing a couple the kids snagged out of it before I took the picture.

Now, this whole stack of books, including the one in the following picture only cost me $24.56. The book in the picture is Munschworks by Robert N. Munsch. If you're familiar with Love You Forever, which is a favorite around here, then you know what a wonderful storyteller he is. Apparently this is the 2nd of 4 books of his collections. Anyway, this book has a retail price on the jacket of $29.95, and sells on Amazon for $16.47. I wouldn't have paid either price for it because, well because, I'm cheap. My husband doesn't call me Mrs. McFrugal for nothing! But when I found it for $2.99 I snatched it up.

I had never seen this magazine before and since I won't pay full price for a magazine that's going to just get tossed or used as fire starter, these were definitely in the budget. They are Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion. At 29 cents each I thought they'd make for good light reading.

Lulu found a puzzle for 59 cents to keep her entertained.

The best thing, in my opinion, that we found, was this game, Gone Birding, for $3.99. I'm sure you know how expensive games are, so I only buy them second hand. Even at $3.99 it was a stretch for me because I'm used to finding them for under $1.00; however, this seemed like a good addition to our nature study. It's a video bird identification game. In summary, the players map out their travel routes on the game board, then watch a video "trip" and try to identify as many birds as they can when the trip is over. There are cards to be played and points to be tallied according to how many birds you identify correctly. It seemed like a unique and fun way to expand our bird study.

The kids were really excited about the next find. It's a large backpack chuck full of playdough tools. Conman was quick to combine these with the ones we already had and start sculpting. This was $4.99, but it was 50% day at that store, so we took it home for $2.50!

We made a stop at the dollar store and picked up a Spiderman puzzle for Conman. It's waiting on the kitchen table for him to work on when he gets up in the morning. I also found some cute rub-on stickers to add to my scrapbooking stash.

Those were our fun finds this week, now we just need to get to reading! Leave a comment and share some of the great buys you came across in the week.

Wednesday Nature Study

When I first read about Charlotte Mason's teaching method, I was very enamored with the idea of nature study. What better way to get the kiddos outside, paying attention to their surroundings and learning at the same time! I've scheduled nature walks for Wednesday afternoons, and we've been hit and miss about taking them for about two years now. You can read more about Charlotte Mason and nature study at these websites:

• http://www.simplycharlottemason.com/
• http://www.amblesideonline.com/

At the beginning of this school year I found the blog at handbookofnaturestudy.blogspot.com. Harmony Art Mom has put together a great online "Outdoor Hour Challenge" using Anna Botsford Comstock's "Handbook of Nature Study". She has links to some great nature journal notebooking pages, coloring pages, nature identification pages, etc. She has also created e-books containing her challenges if one wants to purchase them. We've been slowly working our way through some of her challenges, with some periodic breaks in between.

Last week we were to pick a focus area to study and the kids picked birds; there's not much else out and about this time of year. The only bird they saw last week was the crow. We were hoping to see something else this week.

This week we were on challenge #6-Collections. (See, I told you we were slow) The weather was decent today, so armed with our binoculars, camera, and field guide, we went outside to see what we could find. They kept their eyes and ears open-most of the time-and were able to identify some additional birds:

• Yellow Billed Magpie
• Western Scrub Jay
• Turkey Vulture (they think-it was too far away to really tell)
• American Crow
• Anna's Hummingbird

They also discovered a nest and alot of little birds flitting around so fast that we weren't able to identify them.

Conman took the collection part seriously and carried his plastic baggie along to collect specimens. He found:

• A feather (in keeping with the bird focus)
• A Douglas Fir Cone
• What appears to be an Austrian Pine Cone-however my i.d. skills are lacking!
• A White Pine Cone
• A Prickly Ball from a Sweet Gum Tree

About the only speck of color we saw was this little yellow flower (weed?) It remains unidentified at this time:

When we got home they listed their finds on their running list of birds. They list the date, location, bird name, Latin name & any comments they want to make. If they want to they can draw and picture in their nature journal or color a coloring page.

The only other unusual and interesting thing I came across on our walk was this:

He also still remains unidentified.....

Random Ramblings-life with ADHD

My youngest son, Conman, has ADHD. Or at least that's what the Dr. predicted, when at the age of two, she observed him climbing all over the exam table, running around the room and pretty much swinging off the light fixtures. OK, well maybe not swinging, but pretty close.

He was sensitive to light, and would sometimes wake up screaming uncontrollably from naps that his eyes hurt and he couldn't see. That will definitely freak a mom out. Today he sneezes alot the first time he goes out of the house into the sun. Sunglasses are a necessity! Tags on clothes bothered him; his socks bothered him. He had a bad habit of picking at his little thumbs until the skin around the nails was ragged. Getting his nails trimmed and hair cut or washed was torture. For both him and me. Even today I feel so sorry for the ladies when I take him in for a haircut. He is much better about washing his hair now, since he's old enough to wash it himself.

At the age of three, the Dr. confirmed her prediction and so off I went on a journey of research. We decided not to use medication. I scoured books written by parents who had been there; I searched websites.; I read (and still do read) every Christian parenting book I can get my hands on! I found the feingold diet which we diligently followed. Although, being a large change in our shopping & eating habits, it proved to be an invaluable tool in controlling behavior. He went from a little boy who would pull all the books off his shelves or the clothes off his hangers just because he could, to one who would settle down for a nap in the middle of the day with a story.

When he did not eat properly, we could see a dramatic difference in his behavior or schoolwork (he attended preschool for about a year). I was scared to send him to preschool, because I did not know if the teachers could handle him. He was not a "bad" child, just very busy, always moving & always talking. And it took a lot to get his attention! We were lucky because the two teachers he had were no nonsense and able to deal with him. They allowed me to bring in appropriate treats for him and worked well with me. But not everyday was a picnic.

He would cling to me when I dropped him off, and worry ,if because of errands or other plans, I was later than the usual time that I picked him up. He used to ask his teacher if she had a cell phone to call his mom, because I should have been there by that time. I did have to go retrieve him early one day because he wasn't behaving during nap time. It was shortly after that when I decided to pull him from preschool and teach him at home with the others. Since he learns quickly he was already past what his class was learning. I'm pretty sure he'll never attend a public school!

When I brought him home from preschool, I read the book "How do I get my Child off the Refrigerator and on to Learning?" by Carol Barnier. I laughed hysterically throughout the book. I thought she might have been hiding in our closet and chronicling our life story. She mentions that her son used to fall off chairs and that made no sense to her. Conman had a habit of falling off our kitchen chairs. For no good reason. I had the pleasure of attending a workshop given by her last summer, and she asked how many people in the audience had kids that fell off their chairs-over 1/2 of the room raised their hands. Boy, was I ever relieved!

I know today that using the diet and behavior modification works best with him. I am thinking I need to go back to the full Feingold diet for him, as we have veered off some. I can tell by whininess, noncooperation in schoolwork, and complete defiance in some areas of obedience. I am also thinking maybe I need to drop a lot of the schoolwork and work mostly with him on character issues. And limit the Wii & TV. All of these things contribute to aggravating his behavior.

So why am I rambling about this?

This has been a difficult morning. He is not following instructions. He won't sit down at the table to join in group time, and when he is there, he's hopping between two chairs and yelling out answers, which then irritates his brother & sister. I have him sit in the other room to do copywork so now he's yelling answers from afar, which irritates the siblings even more. Instead of working on his math worksheet, he twirls the office chair in circles, and states he's not doing the math because I didn't tell him, "It was a test". He's written his own "to do" list, which consists of legos, playmobiles, snacks & visiting grandma. When I remind him schoolwork has to be done, he says, "It's not on HIS to do list".

Getting him to complete his morning jobs is like pulling teeth. Speaking of teeth, he has a loose front one which he refuses to brush or have brushed. And he won't wiggle it so it'll come out. Did I mention he's sensitive to things like that? Maybe I'll pull it out in his sleep....

Even with all of that, I wouldn't give this up for anything. I feel we're doing the right thing in homeschooling. I feel that is what's best for our children. And I do get compliments on their behavior in public...hmmm.....I guess I just needed to vent. I don't think I told you that my oldest is ADD. Hers is more just an attention issue.....

Why, oh why, is it so difficult to parent some days!

Our Curriculum

I know the date says Monday, since that's the date I started this. But really I finished it today, Thursday!

Since I've shown you our schoolroom, introduced you to my "students", and described our group time, I wanted to give you a rundown of our curriculum outside of group time.

Lulu, 7th grade, is working on the following:

Math-U-See Pre-Algebra-we really like Math-U-See's program. The teacher's guide makes it simple to teach new concepts and the DVDs are great because the kids can listen to someone else teach it as well. If the parent is unsure about something, watching the DVD can help, also. One of the main reasons we chose this program was because of the capability of using their manipulatives through Algebra. We plan on sticking with this curriculum with all the kids throughout the high school years.

Apologia Exploring Creation with General Science (We use the notebooking/lapbooking/lab forms from Knowledge Box Central.)

Beautiful Feet Ancient History Study Guide and the books suggested that go along with it.

Easy Grammar 6 and Daily Grams 6-we do this during group time with Blakester. They are really liking it. I'm pretty sure this will be what I use from now on with the oldest two.

Critical Thinking Company's Building Thinking Skills-Book 3 Figural-this is one of her favorite things to do. She usually wants to work ahead. I guess because it's more fun than work.

Dover Coloring Book-Human Anatomy-She does one page a week. Each page gives a diagram of a part of the body, a detailed description and a color key to follow. The kids enjoy this brand of coloring books because the drawings are more realistic and include written details about the subject.

For literature she's currently reading Watership Down by Richard Adams. I assign certain books to read each term, but they also are able to pick books from their book list or off the shelf for free reading.

Blakester, 4th grade, is working on the following:

Math-U-See Delta-he is only about 8 weeks away from completing his 4th grade book and then we'll move right into the 5th grade book.

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the 6th Day by Jeannie Fulbright. This is from their elementary science program. We use the notebooking pages printed from the website along with it. Again, this is a keeper. We'll use Apologia Science throughout high school. Next year, I plan on teaching the boys together for science.

He is also reading Christian Liberty Press' Nature Reader 4.

For California History I'm using the workbooks from Starline Press. They integrate a character trait in each book. This is not the curriculum I started with. We used a different company for his westward expansion study at the beginning of the year; however, I did not care for their California History after I received it. Sooo...I found this on the Homeschool Reviews swap board for a really decent price. So far, so good. It starts out by explaining our universe and solar system and where California is in relation to it all. In addition, he's reading some historical fiction/non-fiction on pioneers. His current book is The Journal of Douglas Allen Deeds-The Donner Party Expedition from the Dear American Series.

Critical Thinking Company Building Thinking Skills Level 2

Rod & Staff Handwriting 4

His current literature assignment is Gentle Ben by Walt Morey. I feel blessed because all of my children are readers.

I also have each kid read aloud something of their choice to me once a week.

We use the workbox system to keep things in order and add some fun to the day. Here's some items he had today in his workboxes. (I was going to post pics, but it's late & I haven't loaded them):

• Owl Pellet Biology Kit from Rainbow Resource. His assigned experiment was to dissect owl pellets, and it's very handy that you can purchase a ready-to-go kit! So far, in one pellet he found 3 skulls and a bunch of teeny-tiny bones. He has to finish that pellet and then he has a second one to work on and then he can try to identify the bones.


• Mazes on Mars book. A fun maze book with facts about space and Mars.


• Blast Off! file folder trivia game I found a while back at the dollar store.

Conman's day is structured as follows:

Math-U-See-Beta-I've discovered if I take the worksheet out of the book he's more likely to complete it without complaint. There's something about having the whole book sitting there that intimidates him.

I'm doing a little science with him from Guesthollow.com. She's put together a science lesson plan that I've condensed & tweaked that covers the human body, five senses, etc. Each week we read some books about what we're studying, maybe do an experiment or online activity and then add that body part to an outline we drew of Conman on butcher paper.

He's also reading through Christian Liberty Press' Nature Reader 2.

We're not really doing a set history lesson right now. We've worked on continents, oceans, states & capitals, and he listens in on Blake's readings. When this year is through, hopefully he'll be more ready to sit for a set history lesson.

Critical Thinking Company Building Thinking Skills Level 1

For handwriting and grammar we use Queen Homeschool's Copywork for Little Boys and Language Lessons for the Very Young. We alternate days on these. Each book will probably last us longer than a year. I sometimes have him do other copywork such as Draw Write Now or just copying his address. Copywork is something that Charlotte Mason believed strongly in, and I feel it's a good way for him to practice handwriting without continually doing worksheets.

His current literature reading is My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett. He reads at least one chapter a day, sometimes more if he's in the mood.

His workboxes today had a few fun things:

• A Telling Time Bingo Game-again, games are better than worksheets for him.
• An alphabetizing robot file folder game that I downloaded from filefolderfun.com. This week he's discovered he loves learning with file folder games, so I need to load up on them! The other kids were working on some alphabetizing this week and he was struggling with the basics on paper. Being able to manipulate those little robots around seemed to really help!

I think I've covered all the bases. There's always something new and fun waiting out there for us to try-I'll keep you posted!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

I came across this weekly meme and wanted to give it some thought today.

For Today....January 25, 2010
Outside my window... is dreary and cloudy.
I am thinking... that my life is controlled chaos!
I am thankful for...the fact that I'm able to be home with my kids.
From the learning rooms...I think I need to have Conman work more on his handwriting.
From the kitchen... oatmeal for breakfast, something simple for dinner.
I am wearing... workout pants, t-shirt and tennies. Dressed and ready for exercise later.
I am creating... mini-offices for the kids.
I am going... to start on my taxes tonight.

I am reading... Anne of Green Gables, The Bible
I am hoping... for a little sunshine this week.
I am hearing... the hum of my computer & Conman talking to the cat outside while he feeds him.
Around the house... there are stacks of projects I need to complete.
One of my favorite things... sitting by the fire with hot chocolate & a good book.
A few plans for the rest of the week: Maybe some thrift store shopping after errands & library Friday. Husband comes back on Saturday:)
Here is picture for thought I am sharing.....I couldn't resist. I went into my room the other night and Conman was sleeping with one hand on the cat curled up next to him. He looks so little and innocent asleep!

Till tomorrow-

Book Review of "Before Green Gables"

This is a book well deserving of a glowing review. Since I have never written a book review before, and am taking it upon myself now to write one, I shall do my utmost best on this one.

A few days ago I finished reading "Before Green Gables". This is a prequel, authored by Budge Wilson, to "Anne of Green Gables". This is not the same woman that penned the first books, L.M. (Lucy Maude) Montgomery. But that does not detract from the quality of the story at all. Ms. Budge writes in the same manner as Ms. Montgomery did, keeping up with the characters and setting extremely well, and giving you a wonderful introduction to Anne's personality.

I won't bother to introduce you to Anne (with an e), herself, as most people are familiar enough with her already, either through the original books or the movies. I will tell you that this is the first book I've ever read about Anne. I have watched some of the movies with my daughter, but never picked up the books. I know, gasp!!, since I'm such a book lover. Lulu, after cleaning out her closet and coming across the book, told me, "Mom, this is the best book. You have to read it!" So, I did.

The story starts out by introducing you to Walter and Bertha Shirley-Anne's parents. They have a loving marriage and a great respect for each other. They are both schoolteachers and well-liked in the community. Having schoolteachers for parents plays a great role in Anne's future years.

Not far into the book, chapter 7 to be exact, Anne is born. We are told she is skinny, long, and pinched-looking, with a headful of bright red curls. She is screeching, but has a very wise look about her. She has a voracious appetite and grows quickly. But her mother never does gain her strength back after the birth.

When Anne is three months old her mother and her father pass away within days of each other, from "the fever". Thus begins Anne's journey as a red-headed orphan girl whom no one wants.

She is taken in, raised by a neighbor and at the tender age of five has to start earning her keep. Over the course of the next few years, she takes care of the children, cooks, cleans, washes diapers for four little ones and contends with less than desirable living conditions.

Just as most little girls do, she longs for a doll, a cat of her own, a friend and the chance to attend school. She's able to make do with an imaginary friend, and does receive a cat. But her one true passion is to attend school. This is truly what makes her "happiest in all the world." She is allowed to attend school off and on, but only if she walks the mile there and back.

After tragedy strikes this family, she is sent off to live with another family. Once again, she proves a hard worker, watching after six children, cooking, cleaning, washing, even fetching 13 buckets of water each night before bed, so that she may attend school. This school is two miles each way, so she can only go during good weather.

Another family tragedy follows and this time there is no one to take her in. She is driven to an orphanage where she stays for four months. A lady comes one day to fetch two girls, "A pretty one about five and an able one about eleven." The orphan director chooses Anne as the able one.

The book leaves off as Anne is disembarking the train to wait for the adoptive couple. The ending of the story allowed me a very smooth transition into reading the first "Anne of Green Gables", which I immediately picked up. There was nothing noticeable about the fact that this was written by a different author.

Throughout this book, you get to enjoy Anne's vibrant imagination, her eloquent speech and her pert manners. Reference is always made to the fact that she is not an attractive child, but there is something in her eyes and her countenance that makes her enjoyable. And as a positive, she is also extremely bright, with an incredible thirst for knowledge!

I am thoroughly hooked on Anne and will probably finish the rest of the series rather quickly. She reminds me somewhat of my daughter, who also has a great imagination, loves to read and is a constant talker. The book is very engaging and hard to put down. I highly recommend it. You can purchase the book here if interested.

I hope you've enjoyed my review!

Cheap Finds of the Week

Today on our weekly library trip, I just had to stop back in at the Friends of the Library bookstore. I didn't find anything new and exciting on the shelves, but tucked back in a corner I did find 4 boxes of books waiting to be unpacked! For me that is like discovering a hidden treasure!

I dug through the boxes and came up with some great finds! My total cost today was only $3.25. Just for fun I added up the retail prices on the back of the books and came up with $88.33! And that would have been before tax!

Here's my list of goodies for the kids:

• An Acceptable Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
• Jo's Boys by Louisa May Alcott
• Rose In Bloom by Louisa May Alcott
• Julie by Jean Craighead George
• Julie's Wolf Pack by Jean Craighead George
• When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr
• Eleanor's Story-An American Girl in Hitler's Germany by Eleanor Ramrath Garner
• I Have Lived a Thousand Years-Growing Up in the Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson
• Cut it, Fold it, Glue it-Bible Story Paper Crafts-This is a reproducible that has patterns for bible crafts. Great to have them in one spot rather then searching the net.

And for me:

• Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
• The Gathering by Anne Enright
• Gap Creek by Robert Morgan

My next stop today was a thrift store with my mother-in-law. Here I found a few items:

The books were a total of $1.86. Again, I added up the retail prices on them-$43.30. The Pit game was $1.00. It's an older version, but if you've ever played it, you know how much fun it is!

• The Journals of Lewis & Clark by Frank Bergon (This one Blakester picked out for himself) Love it!!
• A Child's Garden of Verses Coloring Book A Dover coloring book for Conman
• Counting is for the Birds by Frank Mazzola, Jr.
  
• Manners by Aliki
• Rain Forests by Anna O'Mara

So my cheap finds for the week added up to $6.11. Full retail price would have been $131.63 not including the game. Not bad for a little digging!

Why so many books, you might ask? I have a life-long love of books and reading. Curling up with a good book is what I would rather do than anything else. My husband and I wanted to build up a home library that our children would be able to use regularly. So when I find something good, I just can't resist! We still use the local library for some reference or short readers, but want to be able to go to our own shelves for first choice.

By the way, I've finished "Before Green Gables" and have started on "Anne of Green Gables". More on that tomorrow...

Petco Field Trip

We braved the driving rain and 60 mph wind here in California yesterday to join our homeschool group on a field trip to the local Petco. Our tour lasted about an hour and we were introduced to some very interesting creatures.

First off we visited the aquatic department. Our guide told the group a little about the fish they have on display and then allowed the kids to pet a water turtle. Most were ready to get a feel for it, but as you can see if Lulu's picture, she was not too keen on it. (I've tried to crop out the faces of other students to protect privacy).




Next we were introduced to a small tortoise. When our tour guide asked for the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, Conman was the first to raise his hand!


We headed down the reptile aisle which most of the boys were excited about. The girls, not so much.

Here is a Water Dragon. We were also told he's called a Jesus Lizard because he can run so fast using his back two legs that he appears to be running on top of the water.




This cute guy is a baby corn snake. Conman was fascinated by the way he could twist around so quickly.

Here is a New Caledonian Crested Gecko. He appeared to be smiling at us.

One of the most fascinating animals was the Chinchilla. It looked like a cross between a squirrel, rabbit and mouse. It's not the best photo, but he was a squirmy guy, so the helper had to hold him tight.

And, lastly, here is Blakester playing with one of the kitties for adoption.

We have a great group of homeschool kids and it made for an enjoyable way to spend the morning inside and learn a few new things.

Our Day

We started a unit on the Food Pyramid and healthy eating last week. It's a downloadable e-book simply called Nutrition and New Food Pyramid Study. I purchased it through The Old Schoolhouse Store. It has some writing activities, comprehension questions and vocabulary for each section. I'm supplementing with some additional activities I found at enchantedlearning.com. It seems to be a fairly simple, straightforward unit study that is good for all ages. I did take the libery of teaching them the old food pyramid that I grew up with, instead of the new one. I think it's easier to understand.

Today the kids created a large food pyramid. Lulu (the artistic one) drew the pyramid on poster boards and labeled it. Then the kids, assisted by my niece who was home sick from public school with me today, cut out food from magazines and placed them in the correct areas. A very easy, but effective way to make sure they know the groups.


Blakester and Conman each took a turn playing a Lewis & Clark Adventure game at usmint.gov.

Conman also added a thousand grains of rice to our count at freerice.com. This is a very neat website that donates 10 grains of rice for each question you answer correctly. You can choose from art, math, english, geography, chemistry and language learning and set the level to where you want to start. A good way for the kids to brush up on old skills or practice new ones. Today Conman did math and had me help him up to level 10. When I missed an answer, he said, "Your brain is too old for this!" I think he may have been right on that one.

At dinner tonight we turned off the lights in the kitchen and opened the blinds to watch an amazing thunder and lightning show put on for us by God. This led to an interesting discussion about weather. The kids were still learning at the end of the day.

Lastly, I just wanted to post this picture of our fluffy one. We went out to get wood from the garage and he was sitting on the wood piled in the wheelbarrow, kind of like king of the mountain.

Till tomorrow-

Random Ramblings

I was going to try another "Not me Monday" but couldn't come up with anything real witty tonight, so hopefully I'll have something for you next Monday.

But, I'm going to make a confession.

Hi, my name is Shannon, and I'm addicted to blogs.

There, now it's out in the open!

I'm having so much fun deciding what to blog about each night, finding fun little links & pics to add to my page and reading other people's blogs to see what they're up to. I'm especially enjoying reading other homeschoolers blogs! It is so refreshing to read what other families are doing in their schools, and hear about their day-to-day trials & triumphs. I get such inspiration from some of them and some really creative ideas for our school, as well.

I have a few that I've found, and that I try to read on a regular basis, linked on my sidebar. You can click on any of them and explore the homeschool blogging world.

One neat thing I stumbled across last night was the Homeschoolbar. It is a free toolbar you can download that is perfect for homeschoolers. There are links across the bar to other homeschool blogs, top homeschool sites, children/education sites, social sites, a weather bar, to do list, quotes, holiday sites, games and just one click away is KLOVE radio for you to listen to while working on the computer. It doesn't get any better than that! There are more buttons & more options to add than what I've listed.

I wish I had found this before, since my favorites & bookmarks are filled w/tons of homeschool pages & sites that I need to categorize.

But, I digress. Back to my addiction-I'm currently wishing for a laptop so I don't have to fight my husband or kids for blogging time on our computer. I also can't wait to log on each day and see if anyone has left comments or is a new follower. So, pleeease feed my addiction and leave a comment. It would make me really happy!

Weekend Crafting

For the past three days Conman has been bugging me to make baking clay. I'm not even sure where he got the idea for that, because I have never made baking clay!

I do have a handy book titled The Stuff That Fun Is Made of: A Comprehensive Collection of Recipes for Play & Learning by Selena Laporte. I purchased this at a homeschool convention I attended last July, and hadn't used it yet. So out it came and we found a recipe for basic modeling dough:

• 5 cups of flour
• 1 cup of salt (yes, you read that right-1 cup!)
• 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of hot water

We mixed it all together, kneaded it really well and the boys dove in! You can add food coloring if you want to seperate out some dough and then color it. I chose to avoid that and have the boys paint their creations after they had baked and cooled.

This was actually a two day process. Yesterday they crafted and baked; today we painted. We baked them at 200 degrees and it took several hours for Blakester's pieces since they were larger than Conman's. After painting them, I sealed them with clear nail polish. This is a suggestion from the book's author for sealing smaller pieces.

Here's some pics of them working diligently modeling their clay and painting it:

Conman made what he calls "lego guys". You can tell from my previous posts he has a huge fascination with these. Blakester made a snake and a replica of Conman's head:

Ah, brotherly love! At least they worked quietly together during the process.

More Cheap Finds....

While we were at the library yesterday, I found these books at the Friends of the Library bookstore:

Now, I know they appear to be old & ratty; the inside & outside covers have been written on in some places and the covers are frayed. But that's ok. They are well-worn, well-read classics bound in red cloth published in 1937 by Spencer Press. "The Last of the Mohicans", "The Count of Monte Cristo", "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin", and "Ben Hur". I like to think they might have been part of someone's well-loved library.

There's something about an older book that appeals to me. In this case, not only was it the look, but also the price. For only 50 cents a piece I was able to add these to my library. I was rather excited!

I also picked up some children's books for a quarter a piece:
The Moffats by Eleanor Estes
Esio Trot by Roald Dahl
My Apron Book by Eric Carle

More later....