Homeschooling A Houseful

The common saying, the Luck of the Irish, isn't something I want to teach my children. SO instead we made 3 leaf clovers with the saying, I am Grateful for..... in the middle. Instead of it being luck, we are greatful for things in our lives!   We cut out our own clovers, making heart shapes for the leaves and connecting to a stem. Very simple. Then we wrote different things we were thankful/grateful for. I got the idea off pintrest, it's on my  holidays-St. Patricks's Day, board. The one on there says LUCKY ME in the middle, so I changed it to thankful.   Here's some more ideas, I love this GODHEAD idea, maybe next year. from Pegs Academy.   We read the story of St. Patrick, and we discussed the differences of the Trinity and the Godhead. However this is a wonderful idea to show it. ENJOY!

Merry Christmas!

You know it seems every year as holidays come around I get all excited to make cookies, and goodies, with lots and lots of sugar, and white flour, and chocolate. Then of course we eat them, and eat them, and well eat some more. The next step in the process is a stomach ache and a headache and most likely we get SICK!!!! So if you are like me you are on the hunt for a few good healthier alternatives to the Holiday Junk Food! Here's a few ideas for a healthier alternative to the holidays that our family enjoys. Healthier Peanut Butter Cookies . A Holiday tip to make these special is to make them smaller and after they bake take them out and push 1 Hershey's kiss into the middle. Now I know Hershey's kisses are not on the healthier list. We can not afford to use the healthier chocolate chips so I just use the healthiest ones I can find and afford. I am sure there are healthier options for Hershey's kisses too. I guess we allow alittle cheating! I also make this supe...

last year is the first year I saw these ads Hobby Lobby {the ultimate craft store} puts out in local newspapers for Independence Day. They run a full page add {take about some serious bucks} all about the Constitution, patriotism, and God and our country! The above picture was for the 2010 Independence day. If you go to this website, Hobby Lobby Holiday Messages, you can see all of the ads they have done, along with downloading them. I have a feeling we will be adding a few of these to our decor, especially in Noble's room. He loves all things Constitutional!! I had no idea they also had Christmas and Easter ones too! They all have a Christian/Godly appeal to them. I figure if Hobby Lobby can spend their money on such a wonderful {and I am sure over looked} item. That is so important and giving.... well then I will definitely support them. They are "throwing out" their hard earned cash, for a wonderful cause, and they deserve our support!!

Have you read the Declaration of Independence? If not I challenge you to do it! Not just read it, but learn it, ponder it, pray about it, and understand it. This is real His-Story... it is what has made us free.... and yet where is our freedom? We should learn, not just what was said, but who said it. These are the true hero's our children need. Why are we so excited that our children love the princesses, or the new toy story characters.... and yet do they even know why we celebrate Independence Day? We asked the older A's, and I was surprised how much they didn't know! How much they never connected... we have studied and learned about it, but they never connected it. Except NOBLE who tends to love His-story. Once NOBLE said the correct answer the others followed right behind. There was just never that connection. This is one of the most important holidays, in my opinion. It's a time to bring the history of America, alive and "real" for you and your children. ...

Here's what I made for A1... a burlap pillow ! Instead of a Monogram, since all the kids are A's {it might get even more confusing!!!} I decided to use one of our favorite hymns... "Savior Stay this night with me..." I simply went onto a my windows works, and typed it, found a cool "boy" text, and made it the size I needed for the pillow I wanted. Then I used an exacto knife and cut out the letters, painted it and sewed! He loved it. And A4 got a new fleece blanket. Nothing "special" there, I came up with some ideas, way too late to accomplish it before Christmas, so I am going to do one for his birthday. His blanket was one of the no sew ones. I took fleece, two different pieces, and cut out the corners. I cut 7 inch squares off the corners, and then every one inch you cut a 7 inch strip, then simply tie together. He didn't even notice, he only got a blanket!!!! Actually I must add a big thank you to Papa Bear, he stayed up the night before ...

and I am almost sure I won't be doing these for Christmas this year! I thought I'd make a quick post, to remind myself about them later. And I don't know maybe there will be someone else out there, who can do this now! I know my older daughters would love to help me do these, maybe a fun birthday gift!??!! Sorry I can't post a picture, because I haven't made them!!! Also this blog has it so you can not use her pictures. {Smart lady} I will try to explain, they are wooden very small pegleg dolls {the old fisher price kind of people} with small circle screws in the heads to make into necklaces, or you could make them into cute ornaments...okay go look at the blog, it's much cuter than I explained!

We are doing these today.. check out the link here. Check out all her great ideas, the artist woman . Thanks Isabel, I got this from your blog.

and now for what Mama Bear {aka Melinda!!} is making for A2 and A3.... CLOAKS!!! I have wanted to make these for these two girls for some time now, and what better time than Christmas! I do have a feeling I will be making 2 more after Christmas for the 2 younger girls!! oh and I should mention, that once I am all finished with all these gifts... I'll post some pictures!! I accidentally, okay wasn't thinking, and wrapped a few already, so we will have to wait until after Christmas, there's NO WAY I would ever unwrap an all ready wrapped gift!

busy, busy, busy....man do I ever feel busy!!! I thought I'd drop in for a quick post about another fun Holiday Memory we have here. Around Thanksgiving, all the A's names go into a hat. Then the A's choose a name, and make a gift for the chosen A. We started this a few years back, and it's been one of the best memories for the A's. A6 will be making a present for A5, and I thought a Homemade Tutu would be great!! She will help me by choosing a pattern, and handing me the next strip to add to our tutu! Here's a great clip, instructions, and photos, of what we will be making! Now back to my cutting, I am hoping to get this all prepared, so we can finish it in the next few days.

Hop on over to Chocolate on my Cranium, for an awesome {looking, please note I haven't read the entire unit, yet} unit on Christmas Symbols . Then make another hop, skip and a jump to Spell Out Loud, she has posted, and linked up to a Christmas Around the World unit , offered on homeschool share! Let the planning begin!!! {for 2010, that is!!}

Well I haven't been around my blog much over the holiday weekend.... I have a good excuse honest!!! Papa Bear had the week off, and since we don't get advantage of having Papa Bear around very often.... we took full advantage of him. I had him hang some much needed shelving in the new learning area, and we made a semi-sewing area in my bedroom. I want to make some homemade gifts for everyone this year. {We will see how this works}. Here's a few ideas I am pondering over for some of my A's..... A7 a jingle bell ball I saw this posted on homemade by Jill, she got the idea from grand revival. {as a side note, I just finished making 2 of these, in about 1 hour to 1 hour and 20 mins} LOVE these Black Apple Dolls again, saw these on homemade by Jill. The pattern is on Martha Stewart. These are a must, for A5 & A6 I have seen tons of cute ideas for A2 & A3, now for the older boys....hmmm Any suggestions?? I've seen some cute matchbox car cozies, but A4 is probably...

I am working out all the details on our Thanksgiving Lessons for next week, yes I know procrastination!!!! I came across this, and actually I used this once, a few years back and forgot about it. If you ever need a free map, go here ! You can even print a wall size map, I just wonder how fun it would be to put it together??!!?? I printed a world map, in the 4 page size. We will be cutting out the continents, and gluing them to a poster board, to make a map of the world, to chart the Pilgrims Route. I found the inspiration for this fun activity here . We will also be making the mini boats.

Remember when I was talking about our Christmas Advent Chains ? Here's a link to a very nice one, very similar to mine. Though ours also has a hymn each day...which would be very easy to add.

Go on over to Spell Out Loud, and see her Christmas Nativity Sets Post . I love little people, and this is too cute! She also listed tons of links of cute Nativities online. I also wanted to add a few fun things we have and do with nativities. I wrote another post with ideas, earlier. I wanted to add a few other things. We have two kid okay nativities, one is not available from the site I purchased it from, I bought it around 9 years ago! It was only $3-$5 and it's very small, and porcelain. I like it because they do have to handle it carefully! I also just purchased this one from oriental trading company. My good friend Andrea, at Dean's Academy does something I love. She has purchased each of her children their own nativity , she looks for cheap ones or nativities at thrift stores. Her children, pick the perfect place for their nativity, and can set it up as they choose, they can change the positions as they want! Last year, one of her children was sure someone was messing ...

I have heard of a holiday book basket idea , such as was posted on the Spell Out Loud website. I did this one year!!! I think it will be a nice addition to our holiday school routine. Hopefully I'll remember and post a list of the books when I gather them for our basket! This year two weeks before Christmas and at least 1-2 weeks after Christmas we are going to attend Holiday School. I got this idea from my friend Andrea, at the Dean's Academy . Basically all "book work" will be put away. We will still be learning and attending school, but it will be in a more relaxed and holiday themed way! I am going to use the book, A Christ-Centered Christmas , as our base. I also thought now would be a great opportunity to use our book, family math . This is something I was so excited to purchase, and still haven't found the time to implement it, like planned. We will be working on traditions, and fun learning together! Along with some fun service projects we do each year, an...

I am in the midst of planning our Thanks Giving School Week. I haven't bothered with doing fun holiday school themes for the past few years. I have made it a goal this year to start adding to our school memories.... and holiday units is one way. Here are a few online, free gems that I am planning on using. Audrey's Thanksgiving Page Annie's Thanksgiving games and activities page Learning Treasures~ Pumpkin Candles My little Gems~ Coffee Filter Turkey , and Storytime~Turkey with a terrible temper Learning Treasures~ Thanksgiving Themes Christian Preschool Printables~ Thanksgiving page Oriental Trading Company ~ A few thanksgiving activities, not free but all ready to go!! {I also saw many other fun things to consider for our family store !} I also joined the Live and Learn Press Yahoo group ... they have an awesome Thanksgiving Lapbook, and many more too! {some free some not!}

I am somewhat joining....more so stalking the new Spell Out Loud Making Christmas Meaningful thread. I do not have a lot to add to this, because this is an area I am looking for ideas and getting organized myself. However, since I have been thinking about this, since....well last August or so!! {Seriously!!} I have found a few ideas, and come up with some plans, that I will try to share. First treasure I found, at the Aussie Pumpkin Patch . These great holiday planning sheets , scroll down they are there, along with tons of other free planners. I have these all printed and sitting, nice and BLANK on my desk!!! She also has tons of Christmas Crafts, under the Christmas link. Now I have a cute planner cover and sheets to add, thanks to Spell Out Loud I also like the idea I got from my good friend, at Dean's Academy , about Christmas School We will be doing this for about 3-4 weeks during December and January. I am thinking 2 weeks before Christmas into the first week of January. Oth...

Cocoa at Chocolate on my Cranium , just posted these Thanks and Giving Tree's. I love this idea, Here's the PDF files and here's another post about it, along with other great fall ideas! I am actually printing while I share! Tomorrow I will be headed to the copy shop, and getting the trees enlarged. I want to make family trees to hang on our wall. Enjoy