Crafty Monday: Time Machine Study: 1975-2000 & My First Big Peg Doll February 5, 2013

In this Post: The 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. Also, my first big Peg doll “Sophie” for my lil friend Sophie. Crafts include: Lava lamp, volcano, Super Mario craft, and picture from Hubble Telescope painting. Activities include: learning Disco dance moves, chocolate fondue, and playing Pogs.

Hello dear ones :). Last week we finished our Time Machine study of the 20th Century. I’m sure we could’ve used the “time machine” for other lessons but it was time for it to go. We threw the machine out yesterday and put something else in it’s place.

First, I want to show you my first big peg doll. Her name is Sophie because I made her for my friend Sophie. You’ll remember her from Sunday’s post. She’s my best friend Julie’s daughter. I put a lot of love into this lil doll and I had a hard time parting with her.

Front

Back

side

standing up

She rode on the dash

Waiting to meet her new owner

Sophie with her new doll “Sophie”

Now, on to the Time Machine studies. The last quarter century was a bit depressing but we found some fun moments amidst the history.

We began with the 70’s and it was the most pleasant decade of the week. We actually began our week with a party. The theme of course was disco.

But before the party we had Happy Meals for lunch because…you guessed it….the Happy Meal came out in the late 70’s.  We watched The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Mysteries TV show while we ate. It came out in the late 70’s. It gave Michael a great idea of how people dressed back then. The Hardy Boys had some hair alright lol. You can watch the show on Netflix.

Come to my page to see this youtube link of The Hardy Boys & Nancy Drew Mysteries (warning: some mysteries may be too scary for lil ones):

70’s Disco Theme Party

I found this neat  bowl at Party City….also the disco light.

I got a chocolate melter to make fondue. Then I got several foods to dip: a fruit tray, pretzels, biscotti, wafers, and banana chips.

Mom got talked into another party lol. She’s a super kewl Nana. You can tell she’s always coming from work.

The decor was very simple and didn’t matter since most of the lights were off. You can see I have a colorful banner and the disco light. This was our dance area.

I also had a black light. It was hard to get pictures but the black light and Disco ball made things groovy.

This was a neat picture.

We watched this video to learn our dance moves (remember to come to my blog page to see it):

Mom and Michael “mowing the lawn”.

Point to the exits……going all John Travolta.

I also got into the moment.

The Bump ~ yeah Mom relived her teen years. Ha!

So after dancing and eating too much I recruited Mom and Michael to help me make pigs in a blanket for supper. Michael’s not possessed. He just thinks that horrible face is silly.

And before bed we made a lava lamp as a family. Yep, homeschool is an all day event around here. Even Daddy helped. We just used part water part, part vinegar, and food coloring. Then we dropped in alka seltzer to move the blue blobs around.

You can kind of see them moving around.

I got The Sims3 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s stuff pack to show off the fashion trends of the day.

Inside the Time Machine on the 80’s side. We learned about the Challenger exploding in 86. We watched “Jem”, a cartoon that came out the year I was born, 85.  I developed a love for the show because my older sister passed on her dolls and cassette tapes with the music.  We learned about the Berlin Wall “falling”.

Jem intro on Youtube:

Nintendo’s Super Mario came out in the 80’s so we had to incorporate it.

80’s style was easy: sideways pony tail and bright colors. We also watched Napoleon Dynamite since it has some 80’s stuff in it.

Michael trying to figure out the Rubiks Cube

Chris trying to figure out the Rubiks Cube

We had a tornado warning one day and we spent our time in and out of our make shift shelter (behind the bunk bed).

Michael reading to Chester. Poor kitty in his Elizabethan collar.

It’s uh Mario!

So we watched several news videos about events of the decade. I’ll post the link at the end. Mt. St. Helen erupted so we made a mini volcano out of playdough, a pill bottle, and of course baking soda, vinegar, and red dye.

You know you have a boy when…..

The 90’s…

Honestly, I was depressed when I looked at world news in the 90’s. Many sad things happened. Princess Diana died, Aids was on the rise, the World trade Center was bombed and there was the Oklahoma bombing,the Gulf War (Desert Storm),  the Rodney King Riots, the Columbine shooting, Dolly was cloned, and the Y2K scare. The two good things were the Hubble Telescope coming out and Nelson Mandela being released from prison.

A picture of me and my Dad in the 90’s. I was born in 85 so I grew up in the 90’s. Thankfully I don’t remember the bad things that happened in the world that much. I remember TV, toys, and video games. I thought it was a fun time to grow up. I do however, remember Princess Diana dying. I believe I was a Freshman in Highschool when the Columbine shooting occurred. I grew up in a small town and it was not that eventful.

I only learned about the Rodney King riots last year. Michael and I re-read “Smoky Night”. It’s about a little boy during the Rodney King Riots, his cat befriends their Asian neighbor’s cat during a fire. It is a sweet story about how hardship can bring different people together.

We watched several videos about 90’s events. We saw an inspiring interview of Columbine students ten years later. I’ll put the link at the end. Chris used the globe to teach Michael about the Gulf War.

I ordered some pogs off of Ebay. Most of them are from this millennium but there are a few from the 90’s.  They have a Marvel comic theme. I really liked the Iron Man slammer. I remember playing pogs when I was a kid. I don’t know what I did with mine but they were fun to collect. I wish I could’ve gotten a Furby and a Tamagotchi to show Michael. They cost too much.

Michael sporting his 90’s look, a backwards cap.We really had fun playing pogs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pogs

Michael taught Chris how to play. Chris was born in 84 but surprisingly he never played pogs.

Silly husband….Trix are for kids!

Michael watched several 90’s cartoons in between work. He had a 25 question test about the 20th century. As a bonus question I asked him what his favorite 90’s cartoon was. His choices were Bobby’s World, Rugrats, Auuug! Real Monsters, Angry Beavers, and Hey! Arnold. He chose Auug! Real monsters. The cartoons were not as kewl at age 27. I found them a little weird.

We went to the Hubble Telescope‘s website: http://hubblesite.org/

and we found a picture of the core of the Whirlpool Galaxy. We thought it was super kewl so Michael and I tag team painted it for Chris.

We used the pastel resist method. First it was colored black.

Then Michael painted it blue. We watered down the blue to help it.

The black wasn’t dark enough so I took black paint and we went over it. Voila!

Here is my Pinterest link with all the 80’s and 90’s news videos (the link may not show up in email but come to my blog site to watch):

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

PS: This month the crafts etc should be easier. We are learning about God’s love and then Esther for Purim & Daniel. So there may be a royalty theme going on…

Time Machine Study 1950-1975:

A Late Crafty Monday: Time Machine Studies:1950-1975

Time Machine Study 1900-1925:

A Late Crafty Monday: The Time Machine:1900-1925

Check out our Story of the World history study (Creation through the 1800’s):

First post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/crafty-monday-creation-the-flood-and-personality/

The Renaissance (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/the-renaissance-week-1-the-reformation-great-artists/

The Middle Ages (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-1-celts-anglo-saxons-king-arthur/

Rome (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/crafty-monday-our-julius-caesar-party-rome-week-1/

Greece (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/crafty-monday-greece-week-1-down-at-the-farm/

Egypt

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/crafty-monday-part-1-ancient-egypt/

Last post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/the-1800s-week-6-heading-west-the-final-week/

A Late Crafty Monday: Time Machine Studies:1950-1975 January 30, 2013

In this Post: The golden age of the 50’s, the 60’s and being hippies, and a Hawaiian party. Several crafts and fun ideas.

Hello friends! I hope you are well :). Last week we did our third quarter study of the twentieth century. We set the time machine for 1950 thru 1975. I was very excited about this era because it has some of my favorite music.

It just so happens that segregation ended and the civil rights movement occurred during this time. Also, we were able to study this during Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. So they went hand in hand. Michael watched “Perfect Harmony”, a sweet family movie about civil rights. This week Michael read a “Star Trek” book since it came out in the 60’s.

One of my Mom’s favorite cartoon/claymation characters became popular in this era, Gumby.

We bought a Gumby model and Michael made his own Gumby with play dough. He also watched the cartoon.

This is Gumby on the Moon. He was given to Mom (Nana).

I made a timeline of Disney movies. Michael stacked the movies in the order they came out from the 50’s.

Chris used the globe to talk to Michael about the Korean war.

We ate at a diner and then Michael and I put together this classic fast food sign. We used tissue paper for the lettuce and rice for the sesame seeds.

I may frame this. I love it!

We watched videos of Elvis and listened to 50’s music all day. We talked about the history of Rock n’ Roll and the pros and the cons. Michael drew this guitar with my instructions.

Michael listened to this video of my grandmother (Dad’s mom…my Mema). She talks about when her Dad came home from the war and also when she met Elvis after winning a dance contest. Remember Email subscribers, please come to my blog to see the links 🙂

Video of Mema and her life in the 40’s and 50’s

So “The Cat in the Hat” came out in 1957, the year my Mom was born.  Pardon my scary morning face. I  just had to read the book in my hat.

So then came the 60’s! Michael watched clips from the movie “Hairspray” (newest one) because it showed how people marched for civil rights.

video- “Welcome to the 60’s” from Hairspray

Chris and Michael put together this model car.

I stayed up late the night before Tye-dying Michael’s shirt.  He made our beads that morning. I think we looked far out :).

To show Michael hippies, I let him watch “The Wonder Years” season 2 episode 14 “Bright Wing”. It’s about Kevin’s sister who is a flower child. Michael and I discussed what the hippies stood for (some good and some bad). We also learned that hippies were called Flower children because they sometimes would hand out flowers for peace.

Speaking of flowers….we listened to and discussed the song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”  It shows the cycle of war. We talked about Vietnam and why people protested it.  We listened to another protest song “Hey stop, what’s that sound?”  We watched The Wonder Years season 2 episode 10 “Walk Out” about students protesting Vietnam.

Wednesday we talked about the founding of N.A.S.A. and the first man on the moon. So we did this trick I’ve seen on Pinterest. It wasn’t as glorious as we thought it’d be. Michael colored a paper into a rainbow. I painted it with black paint and then when it dried Michael scraped a picture into it.

It’s a rocket ship on the moon.

The Big Mac came out in 1968 so we split one. I think it was Michael’s first one. He said it was awesome lol! In 1969 we got the first man on the moon. We took a trip to the Space and Science Center. It just so happens that Sesame Street also came out in 1969. We had planned on watching it and by providence the Space Center was playing a Sesame Street movie in the Omnisphere theater. Big Bird and Elmo taught us about the Moon and Stars! 🙂

Pics from the Space Center

Our “groovy” Scooby Doo tattoos…

Hawaii became a state in 1959. So for our party we used a Hawaiian and Rock n’ Roll theme. Michael made a Hawaiian flag which was actually his idea. We found Hawaii on the map.

The decor was easy. I bought Luau & 50’s stuff from Party City. I just hung up these plastic pictures and Michael was impressed :). Mommy score!

I had no idea what to use for the party until that day. But I thought Hawaii is tropical so something fruity would be good. So I bought what we needed to each make our own banana pudding. I prefer to do the pudding this way (pudding cups, vanilla wafers,whip cream & banana slices). Then I got Hawaiian Punch and V8 Splash Smoothies Tropical Colada . We got into the 50’s & 60’s candy we got from Cracker Barrel. The boiled peanuts just looked good so I figured they’d add something salty.

Michael, Mom (Nana), and I cut out flowers for leis. Michael wore a straw hat and Mom got to wear the grass skirt. She didn’t know that when she stopped in from work that she would be drafted for a party lol.

I just found a flowery skirt to wear.

Me and Mom.

Boiled Peanuts and banana pudding with whip cream….yummm

Michael and Nana enjoying the dessert.

So we put on 50’s music. I tried Hawaiian radio first but it wasn’t fun enough. Michael is doing the “Monkey” and Mom is doing….ummm I’m not sure what it’s called….swimming? surfing?

I’m doing the “Monkey” and Michael is doing the “dive”.

Don’t you just love crazy hair moments!

Michael was SO hyped up on sugar!

Nana caught sneaking more pudding!

After dancing I pulled out a glass coke bottle. We played “Spin the Bottle” first by blowing kisses or kissing on the cheek. Then Nana changed the rules and whoever the bottle landed on had to answer a question. I threatened Michael if he ever played the real spin the bottle with a girl lol! I like Nana’s version better.

Then we got bored and tried a new bottle game…who can toss the dime in the bottle. Yeah, Michael cheated and it was hard…so we moved on.

Limbo!

Limbo!

If you want to see our time lines and craft inspirations please check out my Pinterest at this link:

Next week please come back to see our last Time Machine study 1975-2000.

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

Time Machine 1925-1950:

Crafty Monday: Time Machine Studies:1925-1950 & Italy Country Study

Time Machine 1975-2000:

Crafty Monday: Time Machine Study: 1975-2000 & My First Big Peg Doll

Crafty Monday: Time Machine Studies:1925-1950 & Italy Country Study January 21, 2013

In this Post: We craft and learn about the Great Depression & WWII, our homeschool group learns about Italy, and my Tinkerbelle peg dolls. Also, a tutorial on how to make a pretend t.v.

Hello dear ones and chin up :). We started a Time Machine Unit in January. It is a study of the 20th century broken into quarters. I built a time machine for us to use. The links don’t always show up in email so please go to my actual blog to see them.

First, here is a pic of my Tinkerbelle and Terrance peg dolls that I promised a friend. I have them set up in my kitchen window. I hope to add other fairies. Click on it to see a larger pic.

Pics and info from the first quarter, 1900-1925 is found here at these two links:

amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/a-late-crafty-monday-the-time-machine1900-1925/

Crafty Monday: Snowflakes, the Teddy Bear Jazz Ball, & the Homeschool Room Mural

My Pinterest Ideas are found here:

I decorated the Time Machine with old news articles and a WWII map Chris colored for me. The links are here:

WWII map:

Click to access 1576901009_225-226.pdf

WWII alliances:

http://www.proteacher.com/redirect.php?goto=5588

WWII Newspapers:

http://www.archives.com/genealogy/newspaper-genealogy-world-war-2.html

http://www.grahamcounty.net/vetweb/newspaper/np01.htm

http://www.grahamcounty.net/vetweb/newspaper/np02.htm

WW II Ration Books:

http://www.grahamcounty.net/vetweb/newspaper/np18.htm

So this week we studied the second quarter, 1925-1950. We didn’t do much from the late 1920’s. But we did take a trip to Cracker Barrel to look for old candy. They had tons of nostalgia candy from 1960 and on but little from our time period. We did however find Bubble gum that came out in the late 1920’s. On the day of our party, Nana (my mom) came over and we attempted to blow bubbles. We had several pop in our face but I decided not to post those pictures :).

Bubble Gum was invented in 1928

Mom’s Bubble

Michael and Mom reading the comics that come in the gum wrapper. Do you remember those?

Michael began reading an American Girl book about the 1940’s (Molly). So my American Girl doll, Molly came through the time machine.

We watched the Kitt Kitredge Movie as we learned about the Great Depression. We didn’t stay in the Depression long because….well it was depressing.

We  dressed up as Hobos the best we could and played pretend.

We learned about Hobo code and used chalk to draw the symbols everywhere.

We also had a Depression store with 1930’s prices. I had Michael calculate how much change he owed me and also he checked if I had given him the right money. A few times I asked him what I could get for a certain price. Chris visited the store too.

Then we moved on to the 1940’s and WWII. I was super excited about this study but I had a lot to relearn. Thankfully Chris had just taken a semester of World History. So my hubby explained to me exactly the why’s and the who’s. I had to do several hours of research just so I could simplify it for Michael.

I read “Number the Stars” to Michael each day. I was happily surprised to find that Lois Lowry, who wrote “The Giver”, also wrote “Number the Stars”. She is one of my favorite authors. “The Giver” changed my life.  Anywho, by the end of the week Michael finally remembered that Annemarie was the blond danish girl and that her friend Ellen was the dark haired Jewish girl. He kept getting mixed up. Each day Michael drew and colored a picture under where I had written a summary. I got the summary from someone else.

We did a Winnie the Pooh craft because it was written in 1926.

We ate at the Steak n Shake which came out in 1934.

Homeschool on the move

We also went to the museum and looked at old inventions and toys from the time period.

A painting symbolizing the struggles women went through.

Old Toys

Old Army tent

We watched a video about Amelia Earhart. She was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean (1932) and she disappeared in 1937. We still haven’t put together the Wright airplane model that we got. Hopefully I can show you a pic of that next week or two.

Here are the time lines I made. One goes from 1900-1950 and the other one is a 20th century time line of movies (mainly Disney and Cartoons).

Michael had fun with these puzzle boards my sister gave him.

I explained to Michael who the allies and the axis powers were. We used pins to see where everyone was on the globe and how the Nazis invaded Europe and then how later the Allies liberated Europe. I also explained how the Soviet Union switched to our side after Germany attacked them.  And how we went to war with them afterwards (The Cold War)  and only worked with them during WWII because we had a common enemy. It really made sense seeing it on the globe. I finally know and remember what D-Day stands for and Michael remembered too when I asked him (Dooms Day). I also explained that we, the Americans, were fighting a war on two fronts because we were also fighting Japan.

This interactive map helped me a lot. The link is here:

http://c3.ort.org.il/Apps/WW/page.aspx?_item=0e45a1be-144c-4dee-b919-4e2ba98c7aad&_pstate=item&box=e4b8e529-3402-411d-bb44-57b80f06af12&page=c1133131-9b1b-469e-a08e-0ae9eb685f98&ws=496fe4b2-4d9a-4c28-a845-510b28b1e44b

Red pins for the Nazis, blue & purple for the Soviet Union, and Green for the Allies. A yellow pin on Japan.

The Allies liberate Europe!

We were able to pin point Denmark to go along with our book, Number the Stars. It was great to be able to see how close Sweden was to Denmark, since the Jews escaped to Sweden. Afterwards we pinned Afghanistan and Iraq so Michael could see where his Dad went years ago (Iraq) and to remember to pray for Uncle Wesley in Afghanistan.

Rice Krispies came out in 1927  so Michael had them for breakfast. We also did a War Ration Book for the week. Michael had three meals a day, a snack, and an extra sugary drink each day. I stamped and stickered each time he had a meal. If  he had extra snacks then that would take away from the next day. This helped a lot with him whining every 5 minutes for food even after big meals (growth spurt?). There were times that I let snacks slip just in case he was feeding someone he was hiding from the Nazi’s. Michael thanked me for being secretive lol.

Wednesday Michael became a British child during the war when the children were being evacuated to the country. Don’t praise me yet. I didn’t come up with the idea. I got it here at this link:

http://www.proteacher.com/redirect.php?goto=1040

So we watched the first part of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe when the children are being bombed and have to go into their bomb shelter. Then the children are sent on a train to stay with the professor in his big country house.

Michael wrote a list of what he would need for his train trip. He made sure to include a gas mask.

Then he packed his bags.

We made a propaganda sign for sending children to safe homes. I explained to Michael that there is good and bad propaganda and how governments try to influence people by using the media. We looked at pictures of real WWII propaganda for the poster ideas.

Michael made himself a name badge. He had to put something nice about himself on it so the foster family would pick him.

Our couch became the train. I was the conductor and we made several stops before a foster mom picked him. Sadly some kids were not picked in real life and some of them were abused by their foster parents. There were many children though that saw the journey as an adventure and enjoyed their stay during the war. I know it had to be heart breaking for the moms to send their children off.

Thursday we did an Italy Country study with our homeschool group. That was great because Italy was one of the Axis powers in WWII, though they later joined the allies when we invaded and liberated them.

Everyone made an Italian dish. I made spaghetti. A mom asked if it was homemade. I use canned sauce but I spice it up with fresh basil, garlic, onion, red wine, and sugar. Usually I add diced tomatoes and squash but was out. I’m glad she couldn’t tell it was from a can :).

Hannah showed us a map of Italy. We learned about Venice.

Then we made a gondola in a diorama. We found a gondolier online and set him up in the gondola.

Michael was such a gentleman. He helped Maggie, Rachel’s daughter, with her chair.

Maggie’s diorama was awesome. They used a scrapbook paper image. By the way, these pictures are courtesy of Rachel. I left my camera and craft stuff at home so she took pics for me. We had to do our diorama at home.

We also forgot our passport. We will have to get it stamped next time.

When we got home we finished our diorama. Then we read a few books about the Holocaust. Two books were ones we had read during our bug study of Butterflies in May. “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” is a collection of poems and drawings from children at the Terezin Concentration Camp. “The Butterfly” is based on a true story of a girl and her mother that help a Jewish girl to freedom. It’s such a sweet story and with great pictures.

Michael watched a clip from “Life is Beautiful” since it is about an Italian Jew during the Holocaust. So lil man learned how to read subtitles. Then he watched all of “The Sound of Music”. I caught a picture of him smiling and laughing during the song “Favorite Things”.

We ended our studies with an army or “war” party. Nana came over to hang out. I had bought army stuff at Hobby Lobby.

Michael and I got fake military tattoos. Mine still hasn’t come off.

We enjoyed Subway sandwiches on army plates with tank tooth pics in them. My AG doll, Molly, also attended.

I finished reading “Number the Stars” to Michael and Mom. Then Michael finished the drawings. We used the drawings and summaries to make a pretend T.V.

I was surprised by how many people that had not made these t.v.’s. So I will give you a short tutorial.

1. Gather supplies (an old box the shape of the t.v. you want. We used a skinny cereal box to be like a flat screen, tape, glue, and/or staples, 4 old pencils, paper, and writing utensils.)
2. Cut your writing paper to the shape of your t.v. screen. Then write and draw a story on each page. Number the pages to keep them in order.
3. Attach each page to the one above it. It will be like movie film.
4. Then you cut out the screen size (a bit bigger than your paper) in your box.
5. Then you put a pencil on each side at the top and then each side at the bottom.
6. Tape the pencils at the top together and then the same with the bottom ones.
7. Now, tape your first page or title page to the top pencils.
8. Tape your last page to the bottom pencils
9. Now you can use the top pencils to roll the film forward and the bottom pencils to rewind.
10. You have a pretend t.v.!

I gave Michael a code to decipher “from” Sir Winston Churchill. I addressed him as a soldier. We have been learning about the Resistance all week so this activity went with it. I filled in the cipher key to make it easier and helped him on a few lines. He is only six. I briefly told him about the Navaho code but we didn’t learn any.

The Code is found here:

Decoding Nazi Secrets

http://www.proteacher.com/redirect.php?goto=1577

Answer Sheet:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/education/activities/2615_decoding.html#answer

I stamped Michael’s ration card for the last time, we took Molly back in the Time Machine, and we were thankful the War was finally over! Hmmm I wonder what will happen this week?

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

PS: Join us next week for 1950-1975 Lord willing.

Time Machine 1950-1975:

A Late Crafty Monday: Time Machine Studies:1950-1975

Crafty Monday: Snowflakes, the Teddy Bear Jazz Ball, & the Homeschool Room Mural January 14, 2013

Hello friends! I hope you are well :). We took a break last week from our Time Machine studies. We did however finally have our Teddy Bear Jazz Ball (for the 1920’s) Friday. We also learned about snowflakes at our homeschool group where my bestie Hannah hosted. I painted a mural in the homeschool closet turned nook. Meanwhile, our family rested and healed from sickness. I am doing so much better…hardly any nose issues. Michael hasn’t coughed and the cat’s foot is great.  The kitty is just miserable being inside. We have to get him fixed. He’s driving me crazy with his whining. Chester is part Siamese and VERY vocal.

Here is a video with proof. This is just a taste of what he does morning and night. Email Subscribers: you’ll have go to my actual blog site to see most links.

Chester, my vocal kitty

So last year I did a post on converting Michael’s (recalled) crib into a school desk, magazine rack, and shelf.

Said post here:  https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/crafty-monday-new-use-for-that-recalled-crib-pom-pom-sundaes-homemade-welcome-rugs/

That worked for awhile but Michael outgrew the desk and it became a place for clutter. We still have the magazine rack but the desk and shelf (which was falling down) were thrown out.  So I had to rethink the closet corner. I wanted it to become a nook where Michael could put his headphones on, sit on his beanbag, and do school. Thus came the mural of faith and comfort.

I noticed that there was a crack in the wall that made a cross. So I drew an outline with crayon and painted the wall with kid paint. I used a permanent marker to write the verses. After that, I bought rolling plastic drawers, threw out old craft stuff, workbooks, and papers, and then set everything up leaving the center open. Now I like to stay in that area!

Enjoy the pics 🙂

This week was laid back with just our regular workbooks and Michael played math apps. My buddy Hannah hosted our group and taught the kids about snowflakes. She read a cute story about how we are all different, like snowflakes.

She also told us about Snowflake Bentley, a man (with my birthday Feb 9th) who was the first person to take magnified pictures of snowflakes.

We then looked at pictures of snowflakes up close.

Hannah showed the kids how to make a snowflake mobile.

We finished ours at home.

Then we ate these lovely snowflake cookies Hannah made.

I decided to make Borax snowflakes and sugar crystal candy.

The borax snowflake came out good. The sugar crystals haven’t formed yet. I think it takes longer….unless I did it wrong.

Michael was so excited to get his first mp3 player. I put several Christian kid songs on it.

Friday we finally had our Teddy Bear Jazz Ball that goes with our Time Machine Study of the 1920’s. We dressed up a bit…sort of. I made a few invitations. My symmetry is off lol. Michael said they looked like mice. Michael got the big one and the rest went to teddy bears and dolls.

Michael helped me set up the china. We had cookies and lemonade while the dolls and Teddy Bears had chicken, steak, and a mix of things. We had extra food so more “people” were invited.

Apparently Sheep eat chicken. Tiger is hungrily staring at the other guests. Uh Oh…

The mood was set with 20’s music (mainly jazz). We conversed with our guests then had dancing.

Samantha got to stay in the 21st century a bit longer. After the Ball she went back in the time machine and to the early 1900’s.

Barbie had to use a stepping stool to dance with the army doll.

Michael and I attempted to learn the Charleston. I got the hang of the first part but Michael was frustrated. So we danced freestyle most of the time.

Charleston tutorial here:

By the way, all the videos that I talked about in last Monday’s post can be found on my Pinterest here:

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

Time Machine: 1900-1925 Part 1:

A Late Crafty Monday: The Time Machine:1900-1925

Time Machine 1925-1950:

Crafty Monday: Time Machine Studies:1925-1950 & Italy Country Study

A Late Crafty Monday: The Time Machine:1900-1925 January 8, 2013

In this post: A homemade time machine and studies of the early twentieth century. We are breaking the twentieth century into quarters.

*Note: This is a 5 part series with links to the next post at the bottom. Parties are on the other links.

Hello dear ones, it’s a “late” Crafty Monday. As you know, we’ve been recovering from illness at the Dover household. Last week I unveiled our Time Machine, hand crafted by myself. We took a trip to the early twentieth century and we are still there. We didn’t move on this week because we needed a break to get well and to organize the homeschool room.

I wish I could say that I’m doing well with my bucket list….that I’m simplifying school and de-stressing life. Maybe I am this week but I over did it…again last week…to start this project. My mom, who is usually right, told me it wasn’t worth my health but I pushed ahead with our studies anyways…though I knew I didn’t have time to get it together.

You see I’ve been planning our studies on the twentieth century for months. I’ve did a lot of research and I spent hours preparing during the holidays too. So when I told Michael that we would have a Time Machine last Tuesday I was determined to see it through…even if it mean’t stressing myself and those around me out….then staying up all night and falling asleep on the school room floor. It’s not a surprise that I got sick after that and barely enjoyed the whole week.

I would’ve been wise to stick to our normal studies last week and to have given myself an extra week to work on things. So please learn from me and my wise mother…..almost nothing is worth stress and bad health. I think Michael would’ve rather me be in the moment than have a time machine and an ill mom.

Moving on, I learned my lesson and we did have some fun moments last week anyways.  It may not look that fancy but I had a hard time figuring out how to make a “time machine” that felt and looked real. This is what I came up with.

I took the cardboard poster thing that people use for science projects and I folded it to make a little nook. Then I glued a foam poster to the top. I added our dry erase clock and set it to 1900:1925. Chris had several wires sitting around so I punched holes and looped them through to make them look useful. I added a jug to the front and put the wires in it. The jug is labeled “plutonium”. The popcorn box is to hold tickets. Michael had to finish his normal school work before taking a ride on the time machine. Each work book was worth a ticket. There’s a colander on top with wires running to it.

You can see the colander more here. I added Christmas lights. Inside I pinned up old news articles from that time period. They were really neat to read. The center has a window where I put a picture of a city in the early 1900’s. I also pinned pictures of the presidents at the time and listed the inventions of the time, toys, and vehicles. I got the great newspaper articles here:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/

Chris lent us his sound board so Michael could have switches to flip.  The foil was extra :).

Monday the time machine wasn’t ready so we prepped. Chris was still home. We took a trip around town to find things for the different time periods….a disco ball….party stuff etc. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey came out in the early 1900’s. So we celebrated with a circus party. Michael made a paper circus and we ate animal crackers off circus plates. This is when the tickets came in to play. Michael and I went to see “Cirque Du Soleil” in 3D. It was very interesting. Surprisingly it kept Michael’s interest though there was little talking and mainly music & circus tricks. It was very unique visually. We geared up for our Time Machine by watching “Back to the Future”. I gotta say, I was very disappointed. The movie was not family friendly like I thought it would be.  Anywho, now Michael knows what a Delorian is….which our Time Machine does not imitate. We do have the plutonium.

Tuesday Michael finished his school and earned enough tickets to ride on the time Machine. I had it covered.

I told him the machine was dangerous without a teacher. He didn’t want to accidentally get lost  with dinosaurs or something ;).

So for the first day I dressed the part the best I could. I pretended to be from the 1920’s and Michael had to dress the part to travel with me. He was cracking up and loving how I was pretending.

We were limited with our outfits.

We cranked up the machine and I turned on the lights. The first day we found out the Titanic had crashed. We also learned about the Wright Brothers and the death of the Russian family (Anastasia & the other Romanovs). We later watched “Anastasia” for fun but I told Michael the real story about her.

Michael watched one of the first films, a silent black and white movie. He also watched one of the first cartoons.

Here’s Michael reading about the Titanic and he also watched a video showing the actual people. I acted like the events were really just happening. So we both read the book in that way….like we were discovering current world events.

Michael and Chris had some fun with a styrofoam airplane. Over the weekend they went to Warner Robins Aviation Museum but I did not tag along. I was feeling bad. I’ll post pictures from that, Sunday.

I had planned on having a scavenger hunt at a toy shop that claimed to have old toys. The shop was very limited and my nose would not stop running. So we ended our trip with Sweet Frog’s yogurt (taste like ice cream!) and Gigi’s cupcakes. So it wasn’t time machine related but still very neat. Sweet Frog has a row of levers on the wall where you can sample the many flavors. I’ve never spent so much on a cupcake before but Gigi’s makes special cupcakes ;).

My American Girl Dolls have finally found purpose. We brought Samantha back on the time machine one day. Michael has been reading “Meet Samantha” which talks about women’s rights etc….the way it was to live in 1904.  We left Samantha to guard the time machine. I told her not to touch it but low and behold! she brought back a dinosaur while we were gone! Michael had to return the dino. You can see Samantha in the back pretending to innocently read.

We didn’t do too much for math that week. Honestly, I’m still figuring that out. Michael has already went through two second grade math books and we’ve done a lot of hands on. I’m praying about where to go from here.  We did however do some early multiplication and easy addition. Back in the day, it cost 10 cents to go to the movies. Our discounted modern movie ticket was $8.50. We figured out that we could go to the movies 85 times in the early 1900’s for what it costs to go these days.

We later learned about the roarin’ twenties and World War I. We didn’t get a chance to learn the Charleston but hope to this week. We did take a trip to the infantry museum. Michael is only six. I don’t expect him to learn all the facts yet. He’s simply getting an overview. Unfortunately, the sad truth he learned at the museum is that every time period has some kind of war.

Picture of the soldier statue beckoning “Come, follow me!”

The words of the infantry.

The values of the military. Most of the pictures were too fuzzy to post. We were not allowed to use flash.

There was a section dedicated to military families. It was very touching and meaningful….esp since Chris deployed twice to Iraq. Michael probably doesn’t remember much from that time.

The Trenches

You can see a picture from the 20’s to the left.

So as I said, we are taking it easy this week…just doing our normal studies. We may finally have our Teddy Bear Jazz Ball. The Teddy Bear came out in this time period and of course jazz was big. So maybe we will learn a few dances and have our 20’s ball. Next week should be interesting with The Depression and World War II. I pray that I’ll be healthier and prepared. My American Girl doll Molly will get to come out. I just need to find her books. I have a few crafts in mind and  a museum or two.  Michael can’t wait for us to have our disco party but that will have to wait. The nineties are going to be fun for me :).

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

The Time Machine: 1900-1925 Part 2:

Crafty Monday: Snowflakes, the Teddy Bear Jazz Ball, & the Homeschool Room Mural

Check out our Story of the World history study (Creation through the 1800’s):

First post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/08/27/crafty-monday-creation-the-flood-and-personality/

The Renaissance (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/03/06/the-renaissance-week-1-the-reformation-great-artists/

The Middle Ages (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/02/08/middle-ages-week-1-celts-anglo-saxons-king-arthur/

Rome (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/crafty-monday-our-julius-caesar-party-rome-week-1/

Greece (start here):

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/10/21/crafty-monday-greece-week-1-down-at-the-farm/

Egypt

https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2013/09/16/crafty-monday-part-1-ancient-egypt/

Last post: https://amberdover.wordpress.com/2014/07/21/the-1800s-week-6-heading-west-the-final-week/