Pentecost & Bike Safety June 23, 2015

Hello dear ones! We made a special dove painting for Pentecost this year. I’ve also got pictures from the Bike safety class our homeschool group did with the Columbus cops. Enjoy.

• Pentecost Dove Painting ~ I was inspired by this similar painting on Pinterest:

Michael painted a sunset on canvas. Then we modge podged a dove silhouette, a Bible verse about the Holy Spirit, and words about the Holy Spirit on top.

Pentecost in the New Testament is the time when the Holy Spirit came to live inside Jesus’ believers. Sometimes the Spirit is represented by a dove. He is our comforter, counselor, and healer. This was a special time because in the past only a select few had the Spirit visit them. No one had the Holy Spirit live inside them permanently until Pentecost.

• Bike Safety~ One of our homeschool moms is married to a park cop. He rides a bike through the parks. So her husband and his buddies visited our group and gave a bike safety course. It was great.

The guys showed the kids the proper way to wear a helmet. One cop demonstrated what happens when you don’t wear a helmet and get in an accident. He used a cantaloupe to show this. We have Crazy Carl who doesn’t wear his helmet and gets smashed all over the floor. Then we have Careful Carla who always wears her helmet. She does fine in an accident.

Then the kids watched a video on bike safety. They learned hand signals for riding in traffic. Michael volunteered to come up and show the signals he learned.

Lastly, the kids got to hear the sirens on the cop car.

Leeland hanging out.

Well, that’s it. God bless and remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Purim 2015 March 10, 2015

In this post: Crafts, treats, and Purim celebrations.

Hello dear ones! This is how we celebrated Purim this year:

• A Queen Esther craft~ I found this template for a Queen Esther puppet but our brown bag got thrown away. So instead we pasted it onto a paper plate and made it a centerpiece.
• Decor~ We brought out the Haman and Esther shakers from years ago, the Haman ears cookie crafts, and a lovely vase of flowers with ornaments on it (a peacock, dragonfly, and butterfly).

Link:https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/crafty-monday-dinosaurs-purim/

• Peacock drawing~ Michael and I made this Purim sign using a peacock tutorial. Peacocks were special to the Persians. They believed peacocks were guardians of royalty. King Xerxes was the king of Persia.

Link:http://luntiks.com/topics/kids-drawing-painting/74.html

 

• Baking Haman Ears or Hats~ This is a beloved tradition of ours. This year we used raspberry jelly in part of the cookies and Nuttella in the others.

• Watching “One Night with the King”~ an embellished version of the Biblical story of Esther. It’s based on a fictional book.

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives!~ Amber Dover

Purim pinspiration: https://www.pinterest.com/doverette/purim/

 

Easter Week & Jesus, Our Passover Lamb Easter Drama May 11, 2014

In this post: Easter crafts, lapbooks, and snacks. Also lots of pictures from an interactive Easter Drama I wrote for our homeschool group, after the main picture. 

Hello dear ones! We took a holiday the week before Easter. We hung out, went to the library, etc….

• We did a two day study/lapbook on the History of the Chocolate Bunny (links after the collage).  Michael ate a chocolate bunny and I made him a felt “chocolate” stuffed bunny. I read the story of the Velveteen Rabbit.
• Michael made several foam crafts that I got from Michael’s Craft store.
• We did an Easter lapbook about the passion of Jesus.
• We watched The Gospel of John almost every day as we celebrated Holy Week and followed Jesus’ passion journey in the Bible. You can see our Holy Week calendar from last year.
• I hosted an Easter celebration for our homeschool group. The pictures from the Easter drama I wrote are at the bottom of this post, after the links. I put our snacks in the first collage. I made cauliflower sheep in a veggie plate and bird’s nest with malt eggs. We colored and made several tomb crafts.  The ones in the first collage are what I sent home. The craft we did at the group are in the second collage.
• We made a Peep banner.
• Lastly, Michael painted a bird feeder. We researched which colors certain birds like.

Easter snacks

Easter crafts

Below are the pictures from the Easter drama I wrote. It’s actually based on the Passover drama my family does every year. I “Disney Jr-ed” it, so to speak. I made it interactive for the kids in our homeschool group and I added the Resurrection.

Here’s past posts when our family used the play.

This is our first year using it, with a set and all: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/maundy-thursday-passover-the-lords-supper/

Last year we made puppets and read the play at the table: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/crafty-monday-passover-the-lords-supper-and-the-resurrection/

Here’s how we did it this year:

• We began with the story of Moses. I played the narrator and God. The other moms played Egyptians. The kids played the Hebrews. We imagined that we were slaves. My friend Stacie made one mean pharaoh lol. I just love her faces. Rachel played Pharaoh’s daughter and took pictures for me. Erin was the slave driver.
• The kids took strips of orange and red tissue paper so they could be the burning bush. Michael played the grown up Moses (we forgot his staff by accident).  The kids helped Michael with telling Pharaoh to let God’s people go. They had a blast shouting out. I used red and blue plastic cloths for the river turning into blood. I felt like a magician pulling the cloth away lol.
• Then the kids helped with the plagues. They threw fake locusts, paper balls for hail, paper frogs etc… They made buzzing noises for flies. The kids pretended to be Hebrew and Egyptian cattle. The Egyptian cattle pretended to die. The kids put a black blanket over the Egyptians for the plague of darkness. We got really serious for the last plague, as the Egyptians lost all their first born . The “Hebrews” put the blood of the Lamb over their door post. We used cotton swabs and red paint.
• Now this is cool and was a complete accident on my part but a God thing: I forgot to bring the door post so I had to use the paper for the cross bar. It was perfect because the kids put the blood of the lamb on the door post and then during the Communion, Erin taped it onto the cross. So it looks like blood for the cross and really went well with the theme of Jesus being the Passover lamb.
• So the second part is about how Jesus is our Passover Lamb. God passes over us and our sin because He sees the blood of Jesus. When we believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that Jesus Christ is Lord, then we accept the Passover Lamb. We’re saved just like the Hebrews were saved from death.
• Michael played Jesus. He came out and quoted John 14:6. Then the kids sat at the table around “Jesus”. They got to be the disciples. It was so funny because one kid asked if he could be Peter and then a smaller boy asked if he could be God. We acted out the Lord’s Supper and the kids took communion. The kiddos cracked me up all day. A little boy named David asked if we were having beer, when I brought out the sparkling grape juice. Oh way a day!
• David played the Roman soldier and “nailed” Jesus to the cross. Michael really got into the part  here. I was proud of how serious he was. Then Michael was put into a cardboad tomb. I called the kids to the tomb and we counted down. We imagined an earthquake. Meanwhile, Michael crawled out the back of the tomb and Erin played the Angel of the Lord. So the tomb was empty and the angel talked to us. Then Michael walked out and held up his arms. I pointed to the scars still visible. We shouted and clapped that Jesus is alive.
• Then Michael stood in a chair with a white quilt on it for clouds. The angel then told us that Jesus would be coming back.
• So after the play we ate lunch and ate our Easter snacks, cauliflower sheep and veggies and bird’s nests.
• Then the kids made their tomb craft. They also took home a Resurrection coloring craft. The pictures are in the collage above.

 

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Purim 2014 March 29, 2014

Hello dear ones! Last year we had a big Purim celebration. This year we were able to use crafts from last year. So we had a very laid back Purim. If you don’t know, Purim is a Biblical feast that celebrates how God used Queen Esther to deliver the Jews from genocide in Persia. It is an amazing story of faith and bravery. If it wasn’t for Purim then Jesus would not have been born on this Earth.

Our favorite tradition is making hamentaschen (Haman ears or hats). Haman is the man who tried to have all the Jews murdered. In the end, Haman was hung on the gallows he had made for Mordecai, Queen Esther’s cousin.  Hamentaschen are very good cookies with various fillings. We used raspberry jam.  We usually watch “One Night with the King” for fun but this year we watched the Veggie Tale’s version of Esther.  We got this great Purim board game at the Holocaust museum last year. We finally got to play it and it was really fun. It’s called : Queen Esther: Dancing Dreidels.

http://www.amazon.com/FVQE-0810-Queen-Esther-Dancing-Dreidels/dp/B006ISXK8C

We didn’t use the noise makers this year but usually we read the story of Esther in the Bible and we cheer for Mordecai and boo for Haman. You can see that we have paper haman ears for decor. I also like decorating with peacocks and bright colors to feel like we’re in Persia.

Here’s last years post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/03/02/my-family-rocks-sunday-purim-princess-bride-date-night/

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Purim on Pinterest:

 

Crafty Monday Part 2: Forcing Autumn September 9, 2013

In this post: A Fall centerpiece, a personalized Fall wreathe, and Autumn decor. Homeschool fall craft links at the end.

Hello dear ones! I wanted to split up today’s post between fall crafts and what we’re doing in school. I’ve got several awesome Fall in the works. It may still feel like Summer…and technically be Summer but dog gone it I’m ready for Fall! So my house has already had the Autumn make over.

I started with this Autumn centerpiece. I got the idea here: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080619698749/ & here:

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/82824080620624050/

I filled a glass vase with popcorn kernels and then put a candle inside. I hot-glued cinnamon sticks around the smaller candles and tied them together with twine.  The orange cloth was on sale at Joann’s fabric store.

The Fall Biblical feasts have started and I’m so excited :). I love Sukkot! I put out our shofars for Trumpets. The real shofar was chewed up by a dog we had. So it doesn’t work anymore.

The craft stores were having Labor day sales. I got several owl mugs. I really like owls :).

Our kitchen window all ready for Fall. The owl picture frame is new. I still need to put a picture in it. The ceramic owl and small black cat were painted by Michael at a pottery store. We made the acorn picture frame last year.

It just feels warm and comforting to have the color orange in my bedroom. I added an owl pillow to my Fall covers this year. Orange is my favorite color…for now.

I replaced my porcelain doll with a scarecrow on top of the piano. I also have a pumpkin basket with fake corn in it, a vase filled with pumpkin potpourri, mini scarecrows, & fall flowers, and there’s a fake pumpkin that I may carve later for a diorama. I even have Fall lights. You’re getting the picture. I love Fall :). The lights are new and they have leaves, pumpkins, and corn on them. It’s perfect for celebrating the harvest.

This tall lady scarecrow is new. I plan on sitting her in the doorway once Chris’ tools get moved to the new shed. She’s an indoor scarecrow and as tall as a child.

Time to bring out my Autumn paintings. The one to the left is a painting I did of a farm.  I got my inspiration somewhere else but the work is my own.  On the right is a painting of our cat Chester when he was a kitten.  Our couch actually has a fall throw on it but I took a picture before hand. I have a couple of fall pillows. This one is of a turkey but I have one of pumpkins as well. I bought those pillows the morning before my Dad died. Yeah…bitter sweet.

Personalized Fall Wreathe

I browsed several wreathes to form this idea. I took a styrofoam circle and wrapped it with orange ribbon. The ribbon says “Harvest blessings” or something like that. I made a brown bow and stick it on with a diamond pin. I wrapped a wooden letter “D” (for my last name) with brown and white ribbon. I hung it with twine from the center.

I thought I’d have more to show you but I didn’t finish some of my crafts. I’ll have to show you my homemade signs next week and hopefully I can make fall pillows for the couch. I’m not good at sewing but I want to try.

Last year in homeschool, we did some really fun fall themed crafts. I hope you check them out.

• Pumpkin Celebration ~ pumpkin crafts, games, and a homemade scarecrow! You’ve got to see the pumpkin diorama 🙂 https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/08/crafty-monday-pumpkins-sukkot/
• Candy corn, crows, and homemade root beer. The Fall inchies are too cute! https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/crafty-monday-candy-corn-and-homemade-rootbeer/
• Apple Week~ apple crafts, math games, & treats! https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/crafty-monday-apple-week/
• Owl week~ everything you need for a study on owls…crafts, treats, books, & a math game.  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/crafty-monday-owls/
• Bats & Falling leaves~ several fall crafts: acorns, bats, pumpkins, spiders, & also World Pasta Day. https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/crafty-monday-bats-falling-leaves-world-pasta-day/

We’re not as seasonally focused this year because we’re doing a lot of world history and geography. That makes me a bit sad. Michael is growing up and the crafts have to as well. I miss second grade :(. But at least I can do my own Autumn crafts and I’m sure I can sneak in a few fall crafts during homeschool before the season is over.

Yeah, we named one of our almost adopted twins that died, Autumn Grace. I wrote a story about the twins awhile back, Anywho, my daughter in Heaven (if she’s a girl) is named Autumn. So yeah…I’m kind of obsessed with this season. Most of my friends are too, so happy times are comin’ :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Crafty Monday: Pentecost, Fruit of the Spirit Lapbook, & Lego Illusions May 20, 2013

Hello dear ones! I hope you’re week has started well :).  We celebrated Pentecost this week by doing a study on the Holy Spirit and mainly the fruit of the Spirit. Also I’ve got a bug study link at the end of this post.

Fruit of the Spirit Lapbook

Resources here: http://www.lapbooklessons.com/FruitoftheSpiritLapbook.html

Inside I had Michael trace Galatians 5:22-23 in cursive.

^“22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”

Each flap has a fruit of the spirit on it. On the inside of the flaps, Michael wrote out a verse dealing with each fruit and I wrote the definition.

Game cards were put in the middle pocket for the Fruit of the Spirit game. The board is on the back. The cards each have a scenario on them in which a certain fruit should be used.

We watched “The Fruit of the Spirit” song on Psalty’s Praise Party Two video. Yep, it’s on VHS. We still have one of those.

We also did a study on Honesty found here:

http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/blog/2011/11/10-days-of-character-studies-day-4.html

We then talked about the gifts of the Spirit since at Pentecost we celebrate when Jesus sent the Holy Spirit.

This dove craft went nicely. http://catholicicing.com/holy-spirit-craft-make-a-dove-from-a-paper-plate/

Later, we talked about the parable of the ten virgins and how their lamps were not ready with oil when the Bridegroom came. So they missed out on the wedding. This story represents people that are not ready when Jesus comes back. We talked about how we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit by having a relationship with Jesus.

Then we did this lamp craft: http://www.jennysmith.net/lds-clipart/paper-plate-lamp

Chris had his 29th birthday May 13th. We celebrated with his favorite dessert, a dirt pudding “cake”.

Michael had too much fun licking the plate! 🙂

May’s Lego Club was all about Optical Illusions. The teacher gave a short lesson on optical illusions. Then they got to building a couple. We were not prepared as you can tell from the Legos dumped everywhere. We managed to pull enough of what we needed. By the way, if you are new to this blog; Currclick.com has great online classes and clubs for homeschoolers.

The Arch Optical Illusion. It’s supposed to look like the columns are on the same row. This would work better if it was flat.

The Penrose Triangle. It’s only possible on paper. I had to turn it at an angle to get the picture.

This is what it really looks like.

Science

Pipe Cleaner experiment~ cut up several pipe cleaners and put them in a glass jar. Use a magnet to manipulate them.

Michael should finish “The Hobbit” this week. We didn’t do any Hobbit crafts last week but maybe we will this time. We made a “pond” for our tadpoles in the back yard and set them free so to speak. We also let our earthworm go and planted his dirt near the “pond”. I never saw him/her but the soil looked like he/she had been working in it.

Our homeschool group made airplanes last week and we learned what makes them fly. It was good fellowship and fun.

Last May, we did a bug study unit by Danielle’s Place and also a couple that I made myself (spider & butterfly). We had lots of fun as you can see below. Check out the first bug study. Each post has links at the bottom to the next post. I just did that with a lot of my crafty posts.

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/crafty-monday-bug-studies-painting-the-front-door/

You can also see all of my crafty posts on my Pinterest page. Email sub. please come to my blog to see this link:

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Crafty Monday: Passover, The Lord’s Supper, and The Resurrection April 1, 2013

In this Post: A mock stained glass Passover painting, a Jesus in the Garden diorama, Lego club, a the Lord’s supper diorama,Passover lapbooks, Passion week calendar, the 10 plagues on Egypt, empty tomb craft, resurrection rolls, continent crafts, Bunny music, and more!

Hello dear ones! I hope you’re having a lovely day. I’m going to show you snippets of what we did last week. Enjoy the pics! 🙂

First off, I wanted to give you a glimpse of our online Lego club that meets once a month. By the way, if you don’t remember from my last post, http://www.currclick.com/ offers online classes and clubs for homeschoolers. Some of the classes cost but I think all the clubs are free (?).  Michael joined a Lego club and we may take a few classes this year.

I didn’t think I would need to help Michael but we were not prepared. We ran out of Legos and next time I should bag all that he needs for that project. The teacher that we saw on live video, talked Lego talk….like using 2×4 etc. I had never taken the time to count how many dots were across the pieces vertically and horizontally. I should’ve had these labeled and in baggies….next time.

So while Michael chatted with other homeschoolers (ranging from 6 to 12) and watched his teacher, I frantically dug through his box trying to find the next piece. My Mom was there to supervise and cheer us on lol. We had to substitute many pieces, so Michael’s castle looks a bit different from the picture (there were about 80 steps!). It’s nice though and unique. The teacher gave a lesson on medieval times I guess but we had to get off before she did. Just building took an hour! The whole thing is recorded so maybe we will watch the lesson part this week.

My buddy Rachel over at http://www.homeschoolingmom2mags.blogspot.com/  gave me a bag of transportation vehicles pasta (trains, planes, and cars). You can barely tell because of the Alfredo sauce but it was good.

Our brown bird (Brown Thrasher?) came back to sing to us. I don’t know why but I get so excited when he/she shows up.

Passover Crafts

Stained-Glass Passover Picture

First, Michael drew a picture of Moses and the burning bush. Then I copied it onto wax paper with a sharpie. I only did the outlines. Then I took another piece of wax paper and used markers to color in where the lines would be. Afterwards, I taped the outline on top of the colors and then taped that on top of foil and corrugated cardboard.

Voila! I will put the link where I got this idea at the end of this post.

Ten Commandments and Passover/Easter Lapbook

I combined a few lapbooks to make this one.

Plague Puppets for Passover

I believe this idea came from Creative Jewish Mom but you can check on the link at the end. We used these during our Passover/ Lord’s Supper celebration.

I just wanted to show you this Lent tradition we got from here:

http://www.aholyexperience.com/2012/02/how-to-prepare-a-family-for-lent-printable-create-a-forgivness-fresh-start-place/

It’s a neat way to practice forgiveness…and to play with flour ;).

Cooking

For cooking we made Resurrection rolls, recipe here: http://eatatallies.com/2011/04/resurrection-rolls/

These were SO good! I wanted to eat them all!

The white “pure” marshmallows represented Jesus, who is without sin.

The butter and spices represent how he was prepared  for burial.

Then it is wrapped in a crescent roll to show how Jesus was wrapped in a linen cloth.

Then the oven represents the tomb. We read the verses suggested in the blog that inspired this.

When they come out the marshmallows are melted and it looks like an empty tomb.

I love it when Mom comes to visit. Her and Michael do mailbox club lessons together. I grew up on these Bible lessons through the mail. They are free so check them out!

https://www.mailboxclub.org/index.php/sign-up-for-bible-lessons

Science

Forgiveness Experiment

Our project involves a coffee filter, pencil, and red food coloring. Super simple but it did not work like it did on the inspiration blog. You’re supposed to write “sin” with pencil on the coffee filter that you’ve cut into a heart.

Then you add red food coloring to represent how Jesus’ blood covers our sin.

Well, the food coloring didn’t eat away the pencil like it was supposed to. If you look close you can still see the word. This is Michael’s. Me and Mom’s hearts didn’t look as good.

By the way, here is one of our rock candy sticks. The crystals formed on top but not on the stick. One day we are going to get the hang of this!

Typing on Tuesdays 🙂

Michael’s learning that he needs to type fast if he’s going to chat online during Lego club.

Math

Hand less clock

We drew numbers on the trampoline and both tried being the clock hands. I called out times and Michael tried to point to them.

This is what happens when you roll around on a trampoline! 🙂

Me attempting…

This next concept from: http://pinterest.com/pin/82824080619619543/   did not work at all for Michael. It went over his head. But I have an idea (involving wax paper) that can teach this same concept in a way Michael will get. Lord willing, I’ll show it to you next week.

Music

We finished off the Easter music sheets from Susan Paradis. I hope you check out this awesome site.

http://www.susanparadis.com/catalog.php?site=piano-teacher-resources&type=Worksheets&section=3&level=x&subtype=x&subtype2=x

Thursday we prepped for Passover. Michael watched “!Hero: the Rock Opera” while we crafted. We didn’t do as many workbooks Thursday and Friday.

Jesus’ Passion diorama

I found this picture of Jesus in the garden, online. We only have black and white so I painted some of it.

Then we pasted it into a box.

This is one of the dangers of crafting…

Then Michael added moss and a rock to give it a 3D effect.

He is Risen paper plate tomb

Geography ~ We brushed up on the Continents & oceans song then did…

Continent Rubbings

I cut  the shapes out of foam.

Paper plate globe

Lord’s Supper Diorama

Michael and I cut out the 12 disciples from brown paper and put them in white robes. We made Jesus yellow so he’d stand out.

I formed bread, a plate, a goblet, an oil lamp, and a wine pitcher from salt dough. After it baked I painted them.

Chris painted the inside of a box grey. We used cardboard to make a table and put plastic cloth over it. We sat every one down and voila! The Lord’s Supper :).

We got this neat Good Friday idea from Mustard Seeds. I put a red dot on Michael’s wrist to represent the blood of Jesus and then I wrote his name on top to show that Jesus was thinking of him when he gave his life. We know Jesus died for our sins because God loves us.

Crown of Thorns Craft

Michael fashioned this crown of thorns out of playdough and tooth pics.

An army man tried it on. It looks painful. We’re thankful that we don’t have to go through what Jesus did.

We started this “Passion Calendar” last week but sadly didn’t finish. I guess we will finish it next year. Every day represents something Jesus did on the days leading up to His crucifixion & resurrection(Passion Week).  The inspiration blog is on the link at the end. I’ll show you our family celebrations next Sunday, Lord willing.

Remember email subscribers to come to my blog to see the links.

Easter Crafts~

Well, time to get to NaNoWriMo camp!

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

PS: check out our neat Passover play:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/04/05/maundy-thursday-passover-the-lords-supper/

Crafty Monday: Dinosaurs & Purim February 25, 2013

In this Post: Several Purim crafts, dinosaur crafts, cinnamon germs, a bird journal, and math with fruit loops & goldfish etc…

Hello friends, as you know we’ve started majoring in one or two subjects each day along with our every day book work. So I will break up our projects in that way. Last week, we continued learning about the Biblical story of Queen Esther and the celebration of Purim. We also studied dinosaurs. Enjoy the pics and my Pinterest link will be at the end :).

By the way, here is our Purim post from last year. Funny, we studied dinosaurs then too…

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/crafty-monday-dinosaurs-purim-the-best-burgers-ever/

Artsy Monday–  Michael made these toilet paper tube crowns.

This hand print Peacock.

Haman ears or hats out of paper plates and tissue paper.

I made this royal scepter with a wooden dowel and a golden egg (both from Michael’s craft store).

Puppet theater out of a file folder and scrapbook paper. Michael colored and cut out the characters (Esther, Mordecai, the King, Haman, & Jews praying).

There’s a pocket inside to hold the puppets. We simply pasted the puppets onto Popsicle sticks.

Cooking is on Mondays but rarely happens then. I actually decided to do cooking on Saturday so I could teach Michael how to make Haman ears. You can see the finished project Sunday on my complete Purim post ;).

Typing and Science Tuesdays–  Michael studied fossils in his science book and we did a couple of dinosaur crafts.

We read a book on http://www.wegivebooks.org about a greedy dinosaur called the Mine-o-saur.

I got the craft ideas from thatartistwoman.org

Dinosaur silhouette

Pastel resist T-rex fossil

Math & Music Wednesday

We made noise makers for Purim. I forgot to take a pic.

Math ideas found here: http://www.lessonplandiva.com/2012/02/freebies-ideas-and-science-activities.html?ref=nf

Then we played greater than and less than with an alligator and goldfish.

Michael practiced estimation with fruit loops.

Geography/social studies/history Thursday

Michael found Persia (now Iran) on the globe

We watched the video below on Purim. Remember email subscribers to come to my blog to see the links.

I used the dinosaur land form idea from: http://www.msjennifers2ndgradeclass.blogspot.com/2011/10/landforms.html

I drew it with blank labels and made a copy for Michael. Then I labeled and colored mine so he could copy it.  What a great way to remember what a peninsula looks like!

Nature studies/language arts/ health Fridays

Cinnamon germs–  http://www.thecraftycrow.net/2009/02/handwashing-and-germs-experiment.html

Look what happens when we touch the door. Germs (cinnamon) gets all over it. Michael learned it takes at least thirty seconds to properly wash his hands.

Bird Journal– Michael cut out bird pictures from a magazine to put on the cover of his journal.

I printed off twenty Bird of the Day papers for the inside. Link here: http://www.spelloutloud.com/2013/02/learning-about-birds.html

Voila! Now we’re ready to go bird watching!

Purim Pinterest link:

Well, God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Crafty Monday: Pumpkins & Sukkot October 8, 2012

Hello friends and I hope you had a lovely weekend. I’m posting this from Helen. Last week, we celebrated Sukkot. Our homeschool week was a bit different. Tuesday we went to the pottery place to paint things for Sukkot (a family tradition). Thursday I hosted our homeschool group. Michael got to stay up later during the week because he slept in the living room under our camo net sukkah lol. We made a homemade scarecrow.

Fall ideas here: http://pinterest.com/doverette/fall-crafts/

I took the apples off the apple tree in our school room and now we have a fall tree with pumpkins at the bottom. We still have to make the leaves for it.

Michael made a fingerprint fall tree.

The first night of Sukkot my true love gave to me, a partridge  we made a scarecrow.

Basically we stuffed pillow stuffing into burlap and Michael’s old clothes (Chris’ socks). It’s held together by staples and it’s sewn with fishing line.  Button leaves for eyes and felt for the nose. He’s wearing my sun hat.

Chris and I put together this dryer tube pumpkin.

Chris cut the tube into three pieces

We put them together to make the pumpkin shape and I sewed them together with fishing line.

Chris sprayed the pumpkins with orange paint and I added a stem (just a stick from the yard) and a curly vine (floral wire)

This is a 3-d paper pumpkin made of construction paper and a pipe cleaner.

I made these acorn candles for our pumpkin diorama. Michael helped me find the acorn caps. I cut some wicks and used a spoon to get the hot wax from my candle warmer. They really work!

Here they are with my pumpkin diorama

I carved a large circle in the front of a styrofoam pumpkin (from Dollar Tree). I also carved a square in the back of it for a window. I took contact paper that looks like wood and cut enough for the floor. I used tooth picks for the window panes. I cut a bit of fabric for curtains. Then I took an old ribbon spool and covered it with fabric to make a tiny table. I took a small wooden bowl (from the craft store) and glued beans in it. Then I glued the bowl to the table. I made a tiny banner of paper and glued it across the front. I glued bows on each side. Inside are two peg dolls: a squirrel and an owl. The little barrels are from the craft store too.

At the homeschool group we had a pumpkin/Sukkot celebration at the park.

I asked everyone to bring fall desserts. I showed the moms my three pumpkin crafts above.

I made this pumpkin toss out of cardboard. The pumpkins are supposed to look friendly but I had a hard time cutting the cardboard.

After lunch the kids played pumpkin toss. My homemade bean bags came apart after awhile but thankfully Hannah had some bean bags in her van.

I spoke to the kids about Sukkot.

I showed the moms and kids how to make paper bag pumpkins. I did this last year too.

Our pumpkin this year……not as orange as last year. Maybe I will make bigger pumpkins later.

The idea comes from:  http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2008/09/how-to-make-paper-bag-pumpkin.html

Last years pumpkins~

Hannah’s on the left, mine on the right

Mom making a big pumpkin

The kitty trying to help us. He was such a cute kitten!

We have cable in the hotel and I was watching “The Munsters”. Chester looks just like the Munster black cat lol but he is WAY too sweet to ever roar like a lion ;).  Btw it is freezing up here in Helen but amazing.

If you try any of these crafts or have your own pumpkin ideas please share in the comments :).

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover

Owls Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/crafty-monday-owls/

Apples Study: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/crafty-monday-apple-week/

Bats, Falling Leaves, & World Pasta Day:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/11/05/crafty-monday-bats-falling-leaves-world-pasta-day/

Candy Corn, Crows, & Homemade Rootbeer:

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/10/15/crafty-monday-candy-corn-and-homemade-rootbeer/

Crafty Monday: Preparing for Fall & Crafts of Fall Past September 24, 2012

Hello friends 🙂 I hope you are well. Michael and I had a bit of a rough week so we did not do any body crafts. We did do some crafts for trumpets at our Homeschool group. My buddy Hannah taught our group about the feasts.  Here are a few pics. Then I want to get into fall decor and some of the fall crafts we did last year. Enjoy 🙂

Hannah showing off her talit and my shofar (that a dog we had chewed. It was from Israel too 😥   )

Michael working on his shofar. You can see the flag he made too.

I LOVE fall! My house isn’t that big and it’s cluttered but just a few special touches can make it cozy. It’s amazing how much candlelight can hide a multitude of sins dirty dishes. Scented candles and splashes of fall colors give my home a warm feeling. My Mom says my house feels and smells like fall.

I had fun painting this fall plaque last year 🙂

Theses are the scents I used: Simmering Apple Cider, Fresh Baked Cookies, Gooey Marshmallow S’more, Spiced Pumpkin Pie, and Pecan Pie. Apple Cider & Fresh Baked Cookies are my favorite scents. They aren’t too strong. The S’more candle is great in the bathroom. (I purposely left the Once dvds in the pic. New episodes this Sunday. Yaaa!)

I painted this picture of Chester (Winchester) last year when he was a kitten.

Here is the inspiration for the painting.

Here is Chester now. Still sweet and you can tell he has Siamese in him. He’s so vocal. He didn’t want to pose though.

I saw this painting idea on a blog and decided to make my own version. This was also done last year.

We will be celebrating Sukkot in a week. This will be our fifth year. We’ve had a family tradition of painting fall plates for the fall feasts. One year we made a t-shirt instead and last year we painted a Sukkot mug. Chris was with us and he really wanted something with pirates. So on the outside I painted pumpkins/leaves and on the inside I painted it black and red for pirates.

The saying is “to err is human. to arr is pirate!”

Michael likes to put fall stickers all over the windows 🙂

Can you believe this owl kitchen towel was only a dollar. I love owls.

The scarecrow centerpiece is actually a fall version of the yarn cardholders I do at Christmas. My grandma taught me how to do these.

I got this lovely basket at Michael’s. The pumpkins (all but one) and the corn are real. I found the scarecrow at Goodwill. He looked like he needed a home. The basket says “autumn”.

Now for old pics. Last year when we made the mug we also painted a black kitty in honor of Chester. We were (well I was) obsessed with black cats because of our own kitty. He looked so picturesque with the fall colors!

I made this child like banner with felt and craft sticks. It’s in Michael’s homeschool room now.

Michael and I both worked on these pipe cleaner fall trees. We glued them inside styrofoam cups. I hated to throw these away. They look like Dr. Seuss trees.

When Chester was a kitten he was narcoleptic. He fell asleep while Michael was playing the piano!

I don’t remember where I got all these ideas. It was before I found Pinterest. I love this cardboard kitty.

I LOVE inchies :). I got this idea from thatartistwoman blog (on my blogroll)

Okay last Chester pic. He’s just sooo cute!

Paper Bag pumpkins- I did these for our homeschool group last year. I loved them so much that me and mom made more at home.

Wow, last year was so much easier math-wise……

Oh wait….Chester shows up again lol. I made these fall peg dolls last year. I hope to make a better version this year.

Mr. Scarecrow, Mrs. Pumpkin, Mr. Pumpkin, and Chester

The tile pumpkin was a fail but I still like it.

Fall Sensory Box

Michael painting fall leaves and he also did a still life painting.

Fall Owl in the moonlight 🙂

This is a poster I made for the Book It program with Pizza Hut. We will be doing it again this year. Michael won free pizzas for meeting his reading goals.

Last September we focused on farms. I love this barn silhouette. Michael just painted the sky and pasted the silhouette.

This was too cute and really simple. Just print a pig on pink construction paper and use brown paint to have a muddy piggy.

Fingerprint cows 🙂

Michael as a farmer with his tractor. T for tractor :).

Wow, we are finally at the end. That was a lot of pictures. I hope to start fall crafts this week and to have some fall adventures with little man. If Summer has a bucket list then Fall definitely deserves one. I’m getting so excited about what’s coming (Lord willing). I hope you have a lovely fall week. May it be crisp and full of spice 🙂

God bless & remember the High King lives! ~Amber Dover