Tissue Paper Silhouette Ornaments

One of my favorite things about Christmas is making ornaments with my children. Not only do we craft something pretty to hang on our tree, but we make some wonderful memories as well. I love it that these memories are unpacked and relived each year as we decorate our tree.

We made these tissue paper silhouettes a couple of years ago during our mini-unit on Christmas Symbols. They were simple and fun to make, and they turned out beautifully.

I found the idea and directions over at The Crafty Crow (one of my favorite craft sites). 

Before making these, we talked about ornaments being a symbol of Christmas and how they remind us of the beauty of God and His creation and all of the beautiful blessings He gives us.

A sweet story to read as a go-along with this craft is Mouse and Mole and The Christmas Walk by Doug Cushman. Our family has enjoyed this story for several Christmases now.

Mouse and Mole go on a walk through the woods in search of the perfect Christmas tree to decorate. Mouse wants to take the tree with them, but Mole suggests that they wait. They go to Mole's house to make some lovely ornaments, and when they return to the woods for the tree, Mouse is in for a delightful surprise. 

I'd love to hear about favorite handmade Christmas ornaments your children have made!

Blessings,

Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown: Homeschool Days

We recently returned from Virginia's Historic Triangle which includes Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown. I have to say that it was one of the best field trips/family vacations we've ever taken. It was fun, affordable, educational, and I highly recommend it!

Before I dive into the details of our trip, I'd like to use this post to give you some information and links that will help you to plan a trip of your own.

Planning your visit during a Colonial Williamsburg Homeschooler Experience Week gives you an extremely deep discount off regular admission there. Here's a quick comparison of regular admission with the prices we paid for the Fall 2011 Experience.

• Homeschooler Experience 1-Day Ticket: Adult - $7.50/Child - $5.50                                         Regular Admission for same ticket: Adult - $37.95/Child - $18.95                                                      

• Homeschooler Experience 5-Day Ticket: Adult - $15.50/Child - $13.50                                    Regular Admission for 3-Day ticket: Adult - $41.95/Child - $18.95    

• All of the above prices are advance purchase, and children 5 and under are free.

• Add-on programs for homeschoolers are also available at $5.00 per person (all ages).                                                We attended one of these called "Life of A Soldier", and it was well worth the price.

Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center also offer Homeschool Programs at huge discounts with dates that typically overlap Colonial Williamsburg's Homeschooler Experience. We enjoyed our visits to these locations just as much as we did Colonial Williamsburg.

The Spring 2012 dates for all three locations are as follows:

• Colonial Williamsburg: February 11-26
• Jamestown Settlement and Yorktown Victory Center: February 18-26

You can visit the following links for more information:

• Colonial Williamsburg Special Events for Homeschoolers

• Colonial Williamsburg: Fall 2011 Homeschool Event Calendar and Program Descriptions:     There are no programs descriptions available yet for Spring 2012, but browsing this 2011 link will give you a taste of what was offered when we attended.

• Jamestown Settlement & Yorktown Victory Center 2012 Information Flyer

• Historic Jamestowne - This is the original site of Jamestown, owned and operated by the National Park Service, and has no affiliation with Jamestown Settlement. I strongly suggest visiting both sites if you are able. You can visit Historic Jamestown for free by simply filling out an Entrance Fee Waiver Request - scroll down to "Homeschool Groups" for more information.

• Yorktown National Battlefield - This is the actual site of the famous siege and battle and, like Historic Jamestowne, is a National Park. There is no affiliation between this site and Yorktown Victory Center. I strongly suggest visiting both sites if you are able. Again, free admission is offered to homeschoolers who fill out an Entrance Fee Waiver.

I'll soon be writing separate posts about each location we visited, so stay tuned!

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Homeschool Blog Awards

Just got back from a wonderful field trip/vacation to Colonial Williamsburg, and this weekend I'm doing lots of laundry and getting things organized for our school week.

While I'm on a little coffee break I wanted to spread the word about the upcoming Homeschool Blog Awards at The Homeschool Post, the group blog I'm honored to be a part of with a bunch of fabulous homeschool Mom authors.

The prize page is already up, and nominations will be accepted October 15-21. Once nominations are posted you'll have a ball checking out all of the wonderful homeschool blogs that are out there.

So just click on the button below, and it will take you to a page with all of the details. (And feel free to grab a button yourself and spread the word!)

Have a blessed Sunday!

Checking In

Just popping in for a moment to say that I have not disappeared off the face of the earth.

It's been an extremely busy summer, and I haven't been on the computer much.

Some of our summer happenings included taking the kids to a fun art day camp, lots of playdates with friends, traveling to St. Simons Island, Georgia to visit with family, having the grandparents up for two birthday celebrations (Superman turned 10 and Giggly Girl is now 8!), going to a wonderful weekend of family camp with good friends, nursing our beloved kitty cat through his recovery from a rear-leg amputation, and managing to squeeze in some school between all of the busy-ness.

Hopefully I'll be able to elaborate on our summer a bit more in future posts, as well as share about our current study of Colonial America. (We're headed to Colonial Williamsburg in a couple of weeks for their Fall Homeschooler Experience, and soaking up as much as we can about this period of history in order to make our trip as meaningful as possible.)

I've also been trying to go to bed earlier than usual, so it's time for me to say goodnight. :)

Have a wonderful week!

Field Trip: Badlands National Park, South Dakota

In August 2009 we took a trip out west, which I never finished blogging about. (You'll find my five Western Adventure posts here.)

It was a wonderful vacation/field trip filled with history, science, and fun family memories that I want to preserve here on my blog, so over the summer you'll see a sprinkling of backposts retelling our Western Adventure.

First let's head out to the Badlands of beautiful South Dakota.

Just after checking out from our little cabin in Wall, SD. From here we headed out to drive through Badlands National Park. You might be able to tell that the kids are shivering in this photo. It was unexpectedly chilly and windy that morning.

This is what our first glimpse of the Badlands looked like.These pictures do not do justice to the beautiful bands of color that make up the rugged spires and pinnacles. We noticed that the muted colors changed hues as we drove through the park.

The Badlands are the largest protected mixed grass prairie in the United States. For the entire two-hour drive through the park we were surrounded by these beautifully rugged hills alternating with vast, flat praire-land. We made several stops to get out of the car and take in the scenery. (No, we did not see any rattlesnakes - very thankful for that!)

Extremely high winds are common year round, and it was indeed windy on this particular day. (Our jackets were in the car, and I can't remember why we weren't wearing them!)

This picture gives a little bit better idea of the multitude of colors found there. These geologic deposits contain one of the world's richest fossil beds. We did not have time to participate in one of the Junior Ranger programs here, but we did at other National Parks later in our trip, and I do recommend them. Be aware that during many of these programs the park rangers will allude to an old earth and evolutionary theory. We simply used these opportunities to discuss the truths of Creation found in the Bible.

Our first wildlife encounter...prairie dogs! These little fellows are difficult to see in the photo, but they were hilarious to watch in real life. They darted quickly from hole to hole in their "town", and when we rolled down our windows we could hear their calls. The Badlands' 244,000 acres are also home to bison, bighorn sheep, deer, pronghorn, and black-footed ferrets. We did see some bighorn sheep, but I couldn't get a decent photo. I imagine if we had been able to spend more time in the park we would have also seen some of the other wildlife.

A few more interesting facts:

• The Badlands National Park was first established as a National Monument in 1939 and became a National Park in 1978.
• Of the 244,000 acres, 64,144 is designated as Wilderness Area.
• The Park is co-managed with the Oglala Lakota Nation.
• Located in southwestern South Dakota, the park is a mixed grass ecosystem that is unlike any other on earth.
• For more information, check out the National Park Service website.

 Well that's it for this installment of our Western Adventure. Thanks for joining me!

Making Time for Hubby

Homeschooling moms everywhere know that we’ve got more than a full-time job. Teaching our children, caring for our family, managing our household, and doing everything else that life requires can make it easy to overlook a very important person in our life…our husband!

All too often I am guilty of falling into the trap of putting the kids (and other stuff) ahead of him. He doesn’t complain, but I know that he feels respected and loved when I make an effort to set aside time for him. And by time, I don’t mean a quick conversation as we pass each other in the hall or a few hasty thoughts shared over the cell phone as he drives home from work. I’m talking about intentionally carving out real, in person, sit-down-and-be-together kind of time.

Not only does this strengthen our marriage, but I am a better wife, mother, and overall person when I stay connected to my husband. We are both healthier parents for our children when we are regularly taking time out for each other. Bottom line…the whole family benefits when Mom and Dad are making their marriage a priority.

I am most definitely not a marriage expert, and believe me, my marriage is far from perfect, but I do want to share a few ideas for making time for your husband. These are things that have worked for our lifestyle and routine. Maybe some of these will work for yours too, but if not, hopefully they will at least be a springboard for you to come up with some ideas of your own.

I invite you to join me at The Homeschool Post if you would like to read the rest of my article. (Just click on the little button below.)

I pray that you find it helpful in some way!

Solar System Printables and Resources

Here are the online resources I used to pull our unit together....enjoy!

Preschool Printables

Homeschool Share unit and lapbook for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Man on the Moon: A Space Unit for preschoolers from Musings of Me.

A is for Astronaut Tot Pack from Totally Tots

Astronaut Preschool Pack from Homeschool Creations

Astronaut Letter Writing Practice and Poem from Spell Outloud - I printed out this poem and accompanying graphics, cut out, laminated, and glued felt to the back to use these as flannelgraph pieces.

Elementary Printables

Coloring page of the planets from Coloring Castle - This is my favorite planet coloring page because it is so versatile. I printed this out, let the girls color the planets, and then we made mobiles by taping them to fishing line and hanging them from plastic coat hangers to make mobiles. You could also have your kids color these, cut them out, and then affix to their correct orbit paths.

Homeschool Share's Outer Space resources - tons of great stuff here!

Jimmie's Squidoo Lens has tons of printables for a space lapbook.

Learning Pages A-Z - This is a great site with some really nice resources, and it's free to join. Check out their space theme for lots of printables. We used their Planet Cut-outs. The kids colored these, cut them out and attached them to a large piece of black butcher paper to make a space mural. Throughout the unit the kids will add things of their choosing to the mural - asteroids, comets, meteorites, rocketships, etc.

Cool Websites

Planet 10 - Choose the 1.0 Solar System option. It's a virtual fly-through of our solar system, complete with rotating planets revolving around the sun on their orbit paths. Fascinating site. (We haven't tried the 2.0 World Builder option but will eventually.)

NASA for Kids

• Main Kids Page 

• Picture Dictionary

• NASA Kids Club 

Fun and informative online Solar System game with Mrs. Frizzle from the Magic School Bus.

Spacesounds - very cool Solar System site (a must see)

Experiments, Crafts, Recipes

Scholastic: Ideas for Different Kinds of Solar System Models

The Relative Distance of Planets from the Sun

The Relative Size of Planets

Solar System Song

Make A Stargazer

Universe in A Jar

How to Make A Model of Saturn (using an old CD)

Build A Bubble-Powered Rocket

Taste of Outer Space

Make an Edible Spacecraft

If you have any Solar System resources that your family has used and enjoyed, please feel free to tell me about them in the comments. We'll be doing this study for quite awhile and would like to check them out!