Staring at the Sun

 I think I was in the first grade when I watched my first solar eclipse.  I can't remember what we used to look at it with, (I vaguely remember camera film or something) but at some point I decided that I didn't need eye protection and just looked directly at it.  Ooops.  I suppose it should have been common sense not to do that, but I was really young, impulsive, and the sun was surprisingly easy to look directly at at that point. It didn't take long to figure out what a bad idea it was.  I had a blind spot and a burn mark on my retina for YEARS.  So, few years ago, when my kids wanted to watch an eclipse, I wanted them to experience it, but I also didn't want them to hurt themselves.  With the another solar eclipse coming up in a few days, I thought I'd share some things I did to ensure a safe viewing experience. The first thing I did was share my experience with them, and made sure to stress the importance of not looking directly at it without eye protection.  Sometimes, kids just need to be reminded about common sense stuff.  I also thought it would be fun to explore all the possible ways to view it.  We experimented with different things, but this pinhole projector worked the best.  Here are a couple different ways you can do it.    

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/box-pinhole-projector.html

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/project/how-to-make-a-pinhole-camera/#.WZXDhmhgokg.facebook

 As fun as these are, I still think there is something about being able to look at it through glasses, so, we will be viewing it that way as well.  If you want to do the same but are worried your littles will be tempted to peak around them, this might be worth a try.  :)

Happy viewing!

Tea Time

I may or may not have a slight obsession with tea parties.  I love that I have a daughter who also loves them.  My sisters also love them and we try to have one any time we get together.  Last year for my daughters birthday, I let her invited a friend and her mom and we went to high tea at a local "castle".  (It was actually more of a mansion.  But it's as close to a castle that we were gonna find in our little part of the world.)  They had fancy hats and a waitress dressed in authentic servant attire.  We were served tea and scones with cream and jam, petite fours (Lulu got the fanciest pb&j's you've ever seen), little cakes, fruit, and our own individual fancy pots of tea with fancy tea cups.  

I think it's safe to say that all 4 of us had a great time.  This year, she wanted another tea party for her birthday.  I thought it would be fun to incorporate some of the fun we had at the castle into the tea party.  If I had the funds, I would have bought a bunch of fancy teacups and pots, but I was limited as far as what I could afford, so I opted for fancy hats.  I ordered 10 or so hats straight from China.  (I found the same hats on Amazon for twice the price.)  Lulu chose most of the other activities.  She wanted to stack sugar cubes, and play pin the tea cup on the plate, and most of all, she wanted a fishing booth. I was kind of stumped on how to incorporate a fishing booth into a tea party, but that was the one she wanted most of all, so I couldn't leave it out.  I searched the web for ideas, and came up empty.  So, I called my sister and she came up with the idea of just calling it something different.  She's great for thinking outside the box like that.  Just off the top of her head she came up with "mystery boutique".  I went with that, cause I thought it was genius. We have a little puppet stage that ended up being perfect to transform into a little boutique. Here's the end result.

         


I glued two poster boards together and painted stripes on them to look like a shop awning and taped it up where the stage curtains usually are. Then I purchased some clipart from etsy for the boutique items and just taped them on the front. I think it turned out perfect.

My favorite part of this party was the photo booth.  It was the most time consuming, but it turned out so cute.  The backdrop was pretty tedious and a bit of a challenge to assmeble, but it was totally worth it.  The only thing I'd change if I could, is lowering it on the wall just a bit.  I feel like it was a little too high.  I just brought in the iron bench from my front porch and centered it underneath.  That was the most simple part.  :-D  

We did the photo booth very first.  As people got there, they came in, dressed up and we took pictures.  We figured it would be the best option, so people wouldn't just be sitting around waiting for everyone to get there. This was our dress up station.  I ordered faux pearl necklaces from oriental trading and mardi gras beads, fans, and boas from Amazon (though they would have been a lot cheaper from Aliexpress, which is where I ordered the hats.) The umbrella is also from Amazon.  It was the most expensive item, though I later found a really cute pink parasol from Amazon for about $8.  This was the dress up station.

The other activities were all pretty cheap and simple.  Pin the teacup was made out of poster board, doilies and free clipart.

Since there was kind of a wide age range for people she invited, we did the sugar cube activity two different ways.  For the younger girls, we just had them stack them on the table and whoever stacked the highest won.  For the older girls, we did it minute to win it style and had them hold a Popsicle stick in their mouth and stack them.

 The food was pretty simple.  "Fancy" cookies from the grocery store, veggie tray, fruit tray, chocolate fondue, cheese and cracker tray, chicken salad sandwiches on croissants, and crustless pb&j's cut into triangles and of course, cupcakes.  We washed it all down with pink lemonade.

We also made paper fans similar to the fans I used in the backdrop.  They ended up being a bit too advanced for most of the kids, so I don't think I'd include that again.  Hands down, the dress ups and photo booth were the funnest part.  We got soooo many fun pictures.  Now that I have hats, for the next tea party we have, I'll invest in tea cups and pots and serve tea with scones and cream and really make it authentic...ish.  :-D

For anyone interested, I am going to add some links for the super cute disposable stuff I used.  The cutest stuff I found was from a company called talking tables.  The doilies, paper plates, and serving trays/stand were all from them, through Amazon. The paper straws were also through Amazon, but I don't think they were talking tables.

Paper straws
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IZ5O430/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Doilies
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BLN57DU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Paper cups
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IZJ60K2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Paper plates
https://smile.amazon.com/Talking-Tables-Scrumptious-Plates-Parties/dp/B004Y6GA9Q/ref=pd_bxgy_229_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B004Y6GA9Q&pd_rd_r=VPB8S0MC53HW5M19KPMV&pd_rd_w=rRm5T&pd_rd_wg=esR72&psc=1&refRID=VPB8S0MC53HW5M19KPMV

https://smile.amazon.com/Talking-Tables-Frills-Frosting-Party/dp/B00BXOM4U6/ref=pd_sbs_79_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00BXOM4U6&pd_rd_r=MSV62375ZVV56PFHFV3Y&pd_rd_w=c0Nkq&pd_rd_wg=4fe1c&psc=1&refRID=MSV62375ZVV56PFHFV3Y

Napkins
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LTNST32/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s03?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Paper serving tray
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SWRGAPM/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cake stand
https://smile.amazon.com/Talking-Tables-Scrumptious-Cakestand-Multicolor/dp/B0088GU792/ref=pd_sim_79_10?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0088GU792&pd_rd_r=W7BV7M7MH0C1ZY3P3XCB&pd_rd_w=PZAJF&pd_rd_wg=s8r0K&psc=1&refRID=W7BV7M7MH0C1ZY3P3XCB

Summer Reading

I wanted to do a summer reading program with the kids, but couldn't find any charts that fit what I needed for the kids.  Plus, sticker charts have just not worked or us in the passed.  Not sure why.  My kids just don't find them motivating.  I happen to see a link for punch cards for completing school work and though, hey, we could do reading punch cards.  So, I made some.  They get a punch for every 10 minutes of reading they do. They can redeem each completed punch card for a reward.  Each card has more minutes than the last, so the rewards get bigger as they go.  While I was at it, I decided to try it out for potty training as well.  So far it has worked wonderfully.

December Bucket List

Every December I attempt a Christmas activity countdown.  I always have such great expectations.  I print activities out on little slips of paper and put them in the pockets of our advent calendar.  Then, we forget or just don't have the time most days, and end up just doing whatever we want anyways.  So, this year I decided to do a bucket list instead.  Things we can just cross off the list when we do them.  I figure it should be a short list, since realistically, we only have time to do one or two activities a week anyways.  So, here are our most favorite things to do during the Christmas holiday, along with some new things we'd like to try.

Decorate Christmas tree
Make ornaments to add to tree
Make and frost cookies
Draw  names and make gifts for siblings
Deliver treats to neighbors
Decorate gingerbread houses
Watch Polar Express in cardboard train, drink hot cocoa.  (In pajamas)
Make friend gifts and deliver
Read Christmas books
Read about the nativity in the scriptures (Christmas Eve)

I may or may not include some of the kids friends in the Polar Express activity.

Can you tell I'm excited for the holidays?

Pinterest Inspired Idea

We go on a lot of road trips.  Long road trips.  So, I'm always looking for fun knew ideas to keep the kids occupied in the car...besides movies.  Movies while traveling are a lifesaver, but I do like them to do things that work their imaginations.  I found this idea on pinterest.

 http://ifonlytheywouldnap.wordpress.com/2013/12/04/handmade-gifts-for-boys-lego-lunchboxes-for-on-the-go-building/


When we travel we like to get the kids a new mini lego set.  The problem is, peices frequently fall on the floor or under carseats, which ends in either me having to find it or deal with a crying kid.  So, this was a pretty brilliant idea.  Normally I do legos for Lou as well.  But lately she has been really into Polly Pockets.  So, I decided to look for a little travel dollhouse.  I found a couple on the internet, but they were WAY more than I wanted to pay.  I ended up finding really cheap lunch boxes and thought, why not make my own travel dollhouse, and since I'm using lunch boxes for the boys, why not use one for Lou.  So, I googled free furniture clip art, and kitchen clip art and printed it out.  I also found website that has really cute free printable dollhouse wallpaper.    I printed it up, glued it in with glue dots and voila!  Travel doll house.  :)  Easiest project I've ever done.

Wow.  Trying to explain to my children why this day is so significant is harder than I thought it would be.  They are a little confused about why I get choked up trying to explain.  I'm also finding it a challenge to teach them about it without instilling fear.  I have the kinds of kids who would develop a fear of planes after hearing the details.  (Not that we fly...ever, [for other reasons] but still.  One day they will and I'd like for them to do so anxiety free.)  I still feel the need to teach them about this day.  About the lives lost and sacrifices made, and still being made.

So, in honor of 9-11, here are some resources that I found helpful.

Never Forget Notebooking pages
September 11 A Day to Remember Coloring Book
The Heroes Among Us & Remembering September 11th

Here's a basic rundown of our day.  We start out with scripture study and family prayer.  Once a week we do the pledge of allegiance (We'd do it every day if I could get myself to remember.  Working on that one.) Then we do chores. 

Here are some things that help me get through my homeschooling day.  Anyone with children with ADHD will understand the frustration of trying to get your child to pay attention and "JUST LOOK AT THE PAGE AND READ THE WORD!  Is that too much to ask?!?  We could have been done HOURS ago."  This year I did my research and these are some things I decided to incorporate.

On days we do laundry, I read something science related to them while they work.  When we are done with chores, we eat lunch.  The kids take turns making it.  Then the kids go out and play for a half hour while I clean up and get everything set up for our stations.  The rest of the day consists of these stations and then some quiet reading time and read aloud time.  Stations consist of hands on manipulatives, math, reading, handwriting and draw and narrate.  They get a play/potty break after 4 rotations.  

Trifold boards to do "stations".  This way, they are not distracted by what the other person is doing or what is going on in  the room in general.  I also give the one I'm not working with at the time, headphones so they can't hear us, and will do their activity without wanting to come see what we are doing.  I work with one child at one station, while the other is at a station doing a work alone, hands on activity.  Usually, something like, matching words to objects.  Things like that.  We rotate around the table spending 15-20 minutes at each station.  I put this timer where both kids can see it.   So they know exactly how much time they have left.  It makes it easier for them to stay on task, knowing they are not going to be there forever.

Fidgets and a stability ball are also must haves.  When Jacob has something in his hands, it is easier for him to focus on what he is doing.  Same with the stability ball.  It's amazing how much better he pays attention when he is able to bounce.  

I also let the kids chew gum, drink water, and have snacks.  If I can see he just does not want to focus on something, I have him get up and do some jumping jacks.  Then have him come back and give it another try.  Some days, he just gets to the point where he's done and nothing I do is gonna get him to focus.  So, those are the days we get out our magic school bus, or whatever.

We've only just got started for the year, so it remains to be seen how long these tactics and tools will work.  I will keep you posted.  :)