Happy Christmas :)

Teaching the Natives
a gift says
I thought of you
down to every last detail.
It doesn't have to be big or extravagant
Just a small something
with a lot of heart
<3

sewing a pennant

This quarter part of our schooling was

learning to sew.

My eldest has had a little experience with some of this 

so her first project was to hand stitch some pennants 

and then attach them to some binding by machine. 

We were both super happy with how they turned out! 

fingerless gloves from old socks.

The annual "break out the knee socks"

 weather has arrived!

And so once I again I go through my sock basket and

see whats too worn to wear.

I had a few pairs on the verge of becoming hole-y

I loved the patterns from these

So instead of just tossing them I decided to make some fingerless gloves!

re-use, re-cycle

win win!

This time I did a little different then in the past. 

I cut the top (or toe) part straight off

then I cut the heel part out. 

you can see in the pic above

 I ran some embroidery thread up the middle section. 

And then hand stitched the edges of the top

and thumb hole myself

making sure to stretch out the fabric as you go.

(otherwise your fingers may have a hard time fitting through)

 tada!!

Fingerless gloves!

Great for keeping the arms and hands warm

and still giving you access to all your fingers

You can even layer them over shorter fingered gloves for added warmth 

:)

setting personal goals...

 At the beginning of our school year I asked my natives if there was anything

 in particular that they wanted to learn about. 

My sweet Bell spoke up and announced she would like to learn cursive!

So I printed out and copied some practice sheets for all the letters

capitals and lower case.

I told her this was HER goal. 

She could work on it whenever she chose to 

it was up to her how fast or slow she go

This being my most driven child at times

She set right out to practicing.

I caught her in her spare time practicing and

trying to encourage her younger sibling to do the same.

Before the end of first quarter she had written her first cursive letter..

of coarse it was to Dad. haha Lucky guy ;)

Her handwriting (even being left handed) is probably one of the best in the house! 

I was so very proud of her and made a HUGE deal

about setting her own goal and achieving it!

This has been a bit of an encouragement as well to her other siblings

to set goals of their own to meet.

I do love the structure certain curriculums have to offer

But I also love the idea of them getting a chance to CHOOSE!

They have their own strengths and interests

and I feel like as a homeschooling family

we have the opportunity to hone those skills

and encourage self teaching.

Sitting kids in front of a book and giving them problems over and over 

has its teaching ability

however giving them the opportunity to dive in at their own speed 

to something that truly interests them 

is something I find quite nice. 

What do you think?

Do you have a preference of strict curriculum 

or a free range kind of learning.

I think between my Logical and artistic side like a balance of both.

beauty berries...

 Ever seen these beauties?

I found them growing in our current back yard

when we moved in last year.

So very pretty!

I wanted to eat them..

but of coarse I first had to figure out what they were.

Then how I can use them.

 Turns out these amazingly gorgeous berries are not so tasty

But they make a great jam.

The only problem is they lose their color 

*sad face*

Has anyone ever used these for any other purpose?

There has to be some sort of recipe to find a use for them.

Even holistically speaking.. 

Let me know what you think?

A little fun with those plastic bead thingies..

Yes these plastic beads things!

We have a giant plastic container

So the natives sat around the dining room table

and got a little creative

So they designed their shape

Then we throw a little wax paper over it

and heat up the iron

And tada!! We had lots of sweet little shapes 

We decided to give as gifts and make into ornaments 

for some folks.

Telling time... analog style

 So the youngest native is working on 

TELLING TIME!

dun dun dun....

I got these four little clocks (they all were the same) 

from the dollar store.

I then cut paper and covered the numbers 

I had enough clocks to make one

"normal"

one I wrote the minutes, one roman numerals, and one military time

What I normally do is I randomly ask my youngest throughout the day

"what time is it?"

She then runs to the digital stove clock to tell me

then I have her go into the office

and set the analog clock to that time.

The minute one is next to the normal one so we can be reminded of how we count minutes.

If you want to make a game out of it

you can always write different times out on a sheet of paper

 have them pick one

and then see how fast they can get to it. 

Learning money values..

So we call this "The Quarter Game"

or Dollar game

whichever you would like to play to 

and depending on the level

of money knowledge

First step

someone gets to be the banker

Next step

One of the natives rolls the die

They banker pays out that many pennies

And then its the next persons turn

When it comes back around to the first person 

they can trade in their pennies 

for a nickle

or nickles for dimes

ect.

First person to a quarter wins!

As our youngest natives progresses 

we will work our way up to playing to a dollar!

Shelby...

We found her while doing some yard work

the natives watched her closely

and the littlest brave carried her around a bit.

Homemade granola

Dry Ingredients:

3 cups Quick Oats

1 cup slivered almonds (or cashews)

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut 

1/2 cup brown sugar

mix seprately

Wet ingredients :

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 maple syrup 

mix seperately

Mix dry & wet ingredients together

then spread out on baking sheets 

and bake at 250 degree oven

 Stir every 15 minutes till golden brown

It usually takes @ an hour

Once done you can add in raisins

cranberries or any dried fruit bits.

We like to mix in Blueberry flavored Craisins

This makes a great snack & super yummy cereal! 

stuffed peppers

  Got a bit of extra veggies you want to use up before they go bad? Stuff them into a pepper :)

We have made variations of this before.. but its always a crowd pleaser. Even for our picky eater.

Couscous, beef, corn, kale ...etc. all stuffed into green peppers and sprinkled with cheese.

Even the as leftovers. yum! 

Squirrel feeder...

  We have a little apple tree

Its quite blooming with fruit this year

We couldnt not eat them all

So we decided to share

     

  

        The squirrels seem to like them

      They are almost gone already..

Monday nights dinner...

So my youngest native wanted to make dinner

we happen to have a bowl of feta cheese 

ready to be stuffed into shells.

We had some super large pasta shells

And boiled them for about 2 minutes..

 

We then drained the shells and she began stuffing them 

full of cheesy goodness

This was quite fun for her

and easy enough

  

A little time consuming

but she made conversation

and had herself some

serious concentration going on

while she filled each shell 

as full as possible

She placed each shell

carefully into an oven safe dish

Once done she covered the shells in a pre-made pasta sauce

And a LOT of mozzarella

Then we put it in the oven for about half an hour 

and tada!!

A delicious meal 

and a very proud little native!

win win

Coloring in our organs...

 We have traced their lifesized bodies onto paper

in the name of science

we are slowly filling them in

Today we learned about our digestion system

It is fun to learn together

and see their faces

when they hear what happens to all that yummy food ;)

We get to look at these awesome bodies

God has given us

and the youngest native was happy to share

she already knew

why we poop.

our days are hardly lacking in color...

Getting into our groove

a space

a place we can learn

and sit

together

<3

Family day at the beach

AKA

{Friday's field trip}

The man was home early today..

So after some quick lessons on how to properly clean house

We headed out for a day at the beach!

It was still a school day

so we had the natives search the shoreline for

biotic & abiotic items

(that covered science)

Then we worked on our history

We have been studying Ancient Egypt

the Pharoahs Tombs

and how they built pyramids

So we had them do just that!