Just Call Me Jamin

Girl's Book Club Movie Party

2011-12-10T12:07:00.000-08:00

My daughter and I hosted a movie party over the weekend for her book club. Since we are reading books that have been made into movies we figured a movie party was the perfect choice! The girls voted to watch the 1967 version of Dr. Dolittle, since that was the last book we read.

I thought it would be fun to have a craft to go along with the Dr. Dolittle theme. So we made these shilouette ornaments that would have been popular in that time period and looked like Dr. Dolittle!

I think they are adorable! You will find the directions for the ornaments HERE.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-22T05:53:00.000-08:00

I had to post a picture of the ADORABLE turkey dinner cake my 7 yo and I made. He entered it in a Thanksgiving baking contest and won most creative!

Cute, huh? We got the idea HERE. We changed it up a little bit. (You know me! LOL) Our cake is all chocolate. The "stuffing" is a cake donut cut up with some dried cranberries added. The "peas" are a candy called Sixlets. We got them by the pound at the mall candy store. The lemons and orange slices are jelly fruits. It was a LOT of fun to make and everyone loved it!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jamin

Homeschool Poem

2011-11-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

My 17 yo son wrote this for his English Comp II College class. I LOVE it! :^)

Homeschooling

Early in the morning I rise,

hoping to become more wise.

I eat another home cooked meal,

cooked by mother with love, and zeal.

Then I curl up with a good book,

and like that meal it starts to cook

up yet more knowledge in my brain,

for it has become those words domain.

These books are all great presenters,

and they all have become my mentors.

Learning math, science, grammar, history,

like unraveling some great mystery.

Then as the sun marches further west,

and I know that I’ve done my best,

I put away the books about great men,

so that next day I can start again.

Really Good 9/11 Resource for Kids

2011-09-12T09:02:00.000-07:00

We watched this video this morning to start our school day. It is a good explanation of what happened on 9/11/01 and why, for kids.

http://www.brainpop.co.uk/uk/humanities/historymodern/september11th/

There are other good resources here:

http://pjsallday.com/2011/09/911-resources/

God Bless America!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Christmas In July

2011-08-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

One of my FAVORITE things we did this Summer was having a Christmas is July party! But, this wasn't just any Christmas in July party, it was a party to benefit Operation Christmas Child! :^) If you are not familiar with OCC what they do is collect shoe boxes filled with fun items for kids and then send them around the world, along with a comic book tells them in their own language about how to have a realtionship with Jesus Christ.

My family has made these shoe boxes and donated them every year at Christmas time for years and years. But, this year we decided to make it a service project that our homeschool community could do together. So we put out an invitations. We asked for everyone to bring 20 of the same item to go in a box, and most of us brought 20 of 2 or 3 items. (Crayons, paper, glue sticks, flip flops, wash clothes, etc. You can learn all about packing boxes HERE.) We also asked each family to bring a Chirstmasy snack to share and for everyone to come dressed in red or green. The night before the party we went in and decorated to make everything look festive. My kids made a ton of decorations, which was a lot of fun on a HOT Summer day!

The day of the party we had each child write a letter to put in the boxes. Then we sang Christmas carols, read the story of Jesus birth from the Bible, watched a couple videos about OCC, prayed for the kids who would get the boxes and then packed our boxes! I was VERY pleased that we put together 40 boxes! When all the boxes were packed we ate our wonderful treats and just enjoyed a special time seeing each other over the Summer. (Which we don't do enough of!) It was a GREAT party and it was super easy to host. The church is storing the filled boxes for us and the sweet lady that is in charge of OCC at our church even came out to help!

Here are a few pics from the day...

Kids writing their letters.

Praying for the children who will receive the boxes.

Watching the OCC video.

Singing Christmas carols.

Teens getting the boxes set up and ready to fill.

Listening to the story of Jesus birth.

Cookies! I am SO impressed with the mom that went the extra mile and made these! (It wasn't me! My food contribution was pathetic. I thought it would be "cute" to drizzle red icing on top of rice crispy treats and then sprinkle with green sugar. Well, the icing looked like KETCHUP! Let's just say, they tasted fine if you closed your eyes! LOL The kids ate them without complaining! :^)

Filling boxes! (The boxes themselves were donated by OCC.)

My littles filling boxes.

The whole festive gang!

It was an awesome day! We will be doing this party again next year for sure! I can't wait!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Nook Case

2011-08-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

My daughter saved up her money and bought herself a Nook. Once she had the Nook there was no money left for a case. So we made one...

It's amazing what you can do with cardboard and Duct Tape!

She has been carrying it in her purse for over a month now. It is holding up really, really well!

:^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Back to School Wreath

2011-08-23T07:48:00.000-07:00

I saw the idea for this wreath HERE and I HAD to have one!

So here is my version...

I LOVE IT! It makes me feel like Fall is right around the corner! :^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Change O' Plans....

2011-08-17T11:30:00.000-07:00

So, I was so excited about doing Book Club with the Heroes Then and Now Series with my 9-11 girls...then I started reading them. Sigh....I had read Glady's Aylward many years ago with my older son. We LOVED it! I had always wanted to read more. What I didn't think about is the fact that a lot of these books will be dealing with a lot of behavior that I just don't want to share with 9-11 year old girls! (The books say 10 and up, but I say High School for many of them!)

So...Plan B...

My new plan for 9-11 Girls Book Club is to read classic books that have been made into movies. I am calling it:

From the Page to the Stage!

The books I have chosen are:

Sept. - Pollyanna (1913) Eleanor H. Porter
Oct. - The Story of Dr. Doolittle (1920) Hugh Lofting
January - Gladys Aylward (1930) Janet and Geoff Benge
Feb - Mr. Poppers Penguins (1938) Richard and Florence Atwater
March - Charlotte’s Web (1952) E.B. White
April - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964) Roald Dahl
May - Nims Island (1994) Wendy Orr

I carefully chose these to span from 1913 10 1994. This way we can still do a timeline of what else was going on in the world at each time period. And I will have a World map for them to mark the ones that take places in "real" places. As far as the lapbook, I have changed it to a notebook. The girls will be filling out a sort of movie poster each month. (You can see it HERE.) This will be printed on card stock and then on the back we will do a few lapbook pages for each book.

Lot's and lot's of ideas! I am jazzed about the new plan, even though I am bummed that we are not studying Missionaries. My daughter and I will still be reading a few of the others that I had already bought.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Reving Up For the New School Year

2011-08-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

WOW, I can't believe I didn't post at all in July! What a crazy, fun, busy Summer we have been having! I guess I have been having SO much fun with my kids there just hasn't been time for blogging. :^)

We are only 3 days into August, but already I am in full prep for school mode! LOTS of prep to do! The main things I am working on right now are organizing Book Club, Young Writer's Club and a Lapbooking Class I am teaching. Yep, I like to be BUSY...

Now that American Girl Club is finished this opened up time for me to put together a Book Club for kids of all ages. Our homeschool group will be hosting 7 groups of kids who will meet once a month all at the same time, in the same place. I am leading the 9-11 Girls. I have chosen to use the Christian Heros: Then & Now books. The ones I have chosen for this year are:

Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar (1848-1915 Africa)

Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts (1870-1960 India)

Lillian Thrasher: The Greatest Wonders in Egypt (1887-1961 Egypt)

C.S. Lewis: Master Story Teller (1898- 1963 Europe)

Gladys Aylward: The Adventure of a Lifetime (1902-1970 China)

Corrie Ten Boom: Keeper of the Angels Den (1892-1983 Holland)

Elisabeth Elliot: Joyful Surrender (1926- Present Ecuador)

My thinking is that we will do a BIG lapbook over the year and add booklets for each of the Hero's we read about as we go. That is as far as the plan has gotten as of right now! LOL I am about to read the first book and am hoping I have lots more ideas once I am through that.

The Young Author's Club I will write more about soon. It's a new idea I had and think it's going to be a lot of FUN! Time will tell.

In the meantime I am off to do more and more prep!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. I just realized I never posted about my 16 year old finishing his first College class. (English Comp I) He did GREAT! He got an A! YAY!!! There were a possible 95 points he could get in the class and he got 94.38! I am one proud mama! He will be taking English Comp II and Public Speaking starting at the end of the month. :^)

Cub Scout Cool Scarves

2011-06-27T19:56:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I have been making Cool Scarves to sell to raise money for my little man's Cub Scout Pack. (Yes, I am trying to get out of selling popcorn! LOL)

Here is what we came up with...

This one is still dry, and the one below has been soaked in water for 30 minutes. They will stay wet for days and feel great on a HOT day.

The little white piece of twill tape is so a name and pack number can be written on them. They are filled with non-toxic water storing crystals you can buy at the plant nursery. It runs about $10.00 a pound, but you only need 1 tablespoon of it in each scarf! It absorbs 400 times it's own weigh in water! I made a bunch of these years ago when we had a Summer VBS that was all outside, The kids and I wore them to Cub Scout Camp earlier this month and everyone wanted one. So I figured it was a good fund raiser to make some out of Scout fabric and sell to the people in the pack.

If you would like to make your own you can get the pattern here: http://soldiersangels.org/uploads/CoolScarvesHowTo.pdf

You can also make these as a service project to send to soldiers fighting in the HOT, HOT desert! I would like to make some more later to send overseas. That information is here: http://soldiersangels.org

I just LOVE all the projects we can get done over the Summer!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Chalkboard Math Clock

2011-06-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting a clock for the school room for quite some time. Then a few months ago I saw THIS ONE in a museum gift shop. I really, really loved it! But, it was around $40.00 and I thought the math problems might confuse my littles since they were pretty advanced. So I decided that if we made our own we could even change the math problems every once in awhile.

Here is what we came up with...

This is what we used to make ours...

The lid from a round box, clock kit and chalkboard paint.

The kids had fun painting it. (Make sure to follow all the directions on the container.)

And then my husband found the middle and poked a hole in the middle for me with a nail. I used a pencil to make the hole big enough to fit the clock works through. Then all we had to do was figure out what math problems we wanted to write on with chalk.

The kids love it and it looks really cute on the wall in our school room! (Oh, and our total cost was $15.00!)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Another Jean Bag

2011-06-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

I know, I know I am obsessed with making jean bags! LOL but, they are so CUTE and sturdy and fun to make. This one is a gift. For a very sweet friends 30th birthday. (Yes, I was 16 when she was born! But, who's counting?;^)

For the bottom part I strip pieced it. There are 2 quilt fabrics and chenille. I cut a butterfly out of one of the fabrics and appliqued it with a piece of chenille under it to give it some body. Then I made a belt to finish it off. I am very happy with it! As a matter of fact my daughter and I BOTH want one just like it! :^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Monster Knees!

2011-06-20T11:53:00.000-07:00

I tease my 7 year old that I think he has razor blades hidden in his kneecaps! He blows through the knees of jeans like nothing I have EVER seen! So when I saw THIS idea a few days ago I knew I had a project to do!

So here it is...MONSTER KNEES!

LOL My little man LOVES them! His teenage brother even wants a pair! I did mine with polar fleece instead of felt. (I thought it would wash better.) But other than that I (actually!) followed the directions at the link above. It's all done by hand, but it's pretty simple. Which is GOOD because I have about 6 more pair to make! :^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Rag Flag Wreath

2011-06-19T19:31:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I made this fun wreath over the weekend. It's SUPER easy. All you need is fabric, a wire hanger and scissors.

Basic directions are HERE.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

June

2011-06-16T16:06:00.000-07:00

June is passing like a FLASH! I can't believe we are already half way through the month! Life here has been busy, busy and BUSY! My oldest son is already half way through his first College class! (You can read more about that HERE.) My youngest son has completed a week of Cub Scout Camp! My daughter and I hosted our very last American Girl event with a family night. We have made quite a few trips to the water parks and a few trips to the lake. Yep...busy, busy BUSY!

Here are a few picture that sum up our Summer so far. :^)

My with the girls at American Girl Family Night.

The littles swimming.

Shooting BB Guns at Cub Scout Camp.

My little man shooting archery at Cub Scout Camp.

My oldest getting some love from some little Cub Scouts!

Our garden is looking good!

And it's starting to feed us!

Yep, we are enjoying Summer so far! It is going TOO fast though!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Hard Times For An American Girl - The Great Depression

2011-05-30T10:48:00.000-07:00

My husband recorded a show this weekend on HBO Family called Hard Times For An American Girl - The Great Depression. Our whole family watched it Sunday afternoon. It was a really great mix of

Girls talking about Kit and the Kit books
Kids talking about what they have learned about the Great Depression
Film footage from the Great Depression
Interviews with elderly people that lived through the Great Depression

It was great for both boys and girls! I am hoping they are going to do a show like this for all the different American Girls!
Here is a link where you can read more about the show.

http://www.hbofamily.com/apps/schedule/ScheduleServlet?ACTION_DETAIL=DETAIL&FOCUS_ID=649205

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Sun Tea To Go!

2011-05-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

I am trying to drastically reduce my diet soda intake. Honestly the biggest draw to soda for me is that it's easy to grab and go. So in an effort to have something else to grab and go I have been making individual bottles of sun tea.

It seems every time I take one of these somewhere people ask me how I made them. So, I thought I would share here. It's super easy....

Open up a bottle of water.
Insert 2 tea bags. (I use one Lipton Decaf and one Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy™ Herb Tea - Caffeine Free.)
Set in the sun until it brews! I usually put 6 bottles out every night when I start dinner. Then in the morning I throw them in a small cooler along with water and juice pouches for the kids and a LOT of ice.)

Now when we head to the park, pool, lake I have plenty of flavorful decaf drinks. I still allow all of us to get soda when we eat out or stop for drinks when we are out driving around. But, this has really helped to cut the soda AND to reduce our grocery bill.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Last Night To Teach American Girl Club!

2011-05-20T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tonight was my last night to teach American Girl Club! Over the last 3 years we have met 61 times and gone through 54 books! It's been awesome! I can't believe it is coming to an end! I was thinking about continuing next year and doing the friends books, but then I realized that is just going to be more of the same. It's time to let it go...

In 2 weeks we will meet one last time to have a family night. Each family will be hosting a table on a different American Girl. Then it's all over.

Don't worry though...I am already planning a new book club for next school year! :^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Finished Tye-Dye Shirts

2011-05-11T11:38:00.001-07:00

American Girl Club - Week 5 - Julie

2011-05-10T20:29:00.000-07:00

So tonight was week 5 of Julie. In this book Julie travels across the United States in a covered wagon as part of the Bicentenial Celebration. So for our craft we HAD to do something RED, WHITE and BLUE! Believe it or not after SIXTY SEVEN nights of American Girl Club we have NEVER decorated t-shirts until this week! So this week we TYE-DYED!

So here are the girls waiting in line (sort of! LOL) to dye their shirts.

We had them tie them up in rubber bands inside before they came out to get in line. One of the mom's volunteered to be in charge of the actual dying process. (Thank goodness!) The dye we used is called Tulip One Step. I bought it at JoAnn's and I must say it was super simple! It already comes in a sqeeze bottle and you just add water and squeeze the dye on. There are good instructions, rubber bands and plastic gloves in each package. (We used 6 bottles to make 20 shirts. I would have liked to have had 2 more bottles. But I bought all they had in red in blue.)

Here is one of the girls dying her shirt. I got them ahead of time and washed them all before I brought them.

Here are a bunch of the shirts sitting in ziploc bags ready to go home. The mom's will have to let them sit overnight and then wash them before the girls can wear them.

The only casualty of the night was the hands of the sweet mama that helped with all the dying! LOL

Yeah, we should have put those gloves on her first! But, it was starting to rain and in the rush to beat the rain she forgot to put on the gloved! LOL

Another thing we did that went along with the book is I had all the girls signa Pledge of Rededication like they did in the Julie book. Our pledge said...

Pledge

Rededication

To commemorate the completion of three years of studying American History together at American Girl Club we hereby dedicate ourselves anew to the precepts of our founding fathers: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

We affix our signatures this day – May the 10^th Two Thousand and Eleven

__________________________________ ___________________________________

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Before I had the girls sign it I told them that it is my hope after all these weeks and weeks of studying American History together that they have developed a deeper love, understanding and appreciation for our Country. I hope that they will be very patriotic Americans and that they will never take for granted and always value our country. I plan on framing the original they signed and hang it in my office. All these girls mean the world to me and I will always treasure having something they signed. I also will be scanning it and emailing it to the mom's to make copies for the girls too.

After all the tye-dying we also had a special speaker! One of girls grandmothers came and talked to us about what it was like to be an adult in the 70's. She also brought a lot of clothes and misc objects from the 70's. the girls and the mom's loved this! It's always fun to have a special guest, and this one was super!

Here she is showing the girls a mini skirt dress she wore in the 70's

Showing us a rotary phone.

More MOD mini dresses and a GROOVY pantsuit! (The one on the far right side is a maternity dress!)

A crocheted vest and a coat we all LOVED!

Bell bottoms! (We noticed on these that the pant legs were actually wider than the waistband!)

She did a great job telling the girls what the 70's were like and also telling them about the contrast of how the 50's and 60's had been. She talked to them about a lot of inventions that came out of the 70's like the post-it note, velcro and the Apple Computer.

We are almost to the end of all the books! If week 3 of Julie hadn't been postponed for bad weather next week would be our last week! But, we will still be meeting for week 3 and we are having our first ever family night in a couple weeks too. So, it's not quite over yet! I have also decided I am not quite ready to give it up! So next year we will be meeting once a month to go through all the American Girl friends books. (Elizabeth, Ivy, Ruthie, Emily and Nellie.) This will give the girls a chance to still get together on a regular basis and me a chance to hang on to them all for one more year!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. Tonight one of the girl told me she thought we should start going through all the "Dear America" books next year. I said "There are a zillion of those! We would never get through them all!" She looked at me, smiled and said "Exactly!" There are no words to say how much she blessed my heart! :^)

American Girl Club - Julie - Week 4

2011-05-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

Theme - Earth Day/Save the Eagles

Craft - Woven Tree

Snack - Sloppy Joe's

So this week since the theme is Earth Day and the environment I wanted to do something very earthy and very 70's. Enter That Artist Women! That Artist Women is a website I frequent a lot because I love the creative art projects she comes up with. I came across months ago and I knew right away we would have to make this when we got to Julie!

The hardest part about this craft was cutting 20ish sticks that are just the right size and fresh enough to bend into a circle. I highly recommend you don't put this off until the night before you need them, especially if there is a thunder and lightening storm! LOL Otherwise these were fairly easy. The girls liked making them and they came out really cute! You will find the instructions HERE.

We also did our geography worksheets this week for Julie. I gave them the map and two coloring sheets one about California and the other of the Golden Gate Bridge.

USA Map
http://www.coloringcastle.com/pdfs/us_states/united_states_state_names.pdf

California Coloring Pages
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/california-coloring-page/

Golden Gate Bridge Coloring Sheet
http://www.crayola.com/free-coloring-pages/print/golden-gate-bridge-coloring-page/

During the discussion time we talked about the book and read the Peek Into the Past in the back of the book. Then I also read them the Julie's Cooking Studio book and we talked about the food, new kitchen equipment (Like crockpots, microwaves and fondue pots!) and the kitchens of the 70's.

My daughter also made a Eagle shirt based on the shirt Julie had on the front cover of the book. She drew the Eagle and then we cut it out of fabric and she reverse appliqued it on the front of the shirt. I just love it!

And that was it for Julie week #4!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Sign Language

2011-05-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

The kids and I have been taking a Sign Language class for almost a year now. A friend of ours at church is a Sign Language Interpreter and so I asked her if she was interested in teaching us. At first it was discouraging. I really thought in the beginning that I was just too old to learn a new language. But after about 9 months or so I started catching on! LOL

The kids are MUCH quicker at picking it up than I am. My daughter is especially good at it. She is the "go to gal" for all of us when we can't remember a sign and we want to sign something. The boys are both getting very good too. My 7 year old is really funny because he doesn't appear to pay a bit of attention in class. (He sits on the side, fidgits, wiggles, etc.) Then she will call us forward to sign a sentence and he just signs like it's no big deal! LOL

It's fun and amazing now that I am "getting it" how I see sign language all around! I notice people on TV or out in public signing. It's fun to watch and see what words I can pick up and try to put together sentences.

One of our favorite online resources is the Captain Valor channel on YouTube. This guy is amazing! He signs to popular songs and does an amazing job with not only signing, but with the using the proper facial expressions, which is a big part of the language. My oldest son found him online because a lot of the songs he signs are video game songs. HERE is the link to his channel.

Another online resource I use often (And the kids tease me about! LOL) are the Sign Language videos at Sprout online! They can tease me all they want! This lady is a good teacher! HERE is the link.

There is also a free online ASL dictionary that I use alot. It frustrates me a bit because for some reason all the translators keep a stern, sad expression on their faces. So this is just useful for the hand part of sign language! But it literally had thousands of words signed. So it's a great resource! The link is HERE.

The books we have gone through are:

Signing Fun: American Sign Language Vocabulary, Phrases, Games, and Activities (Click HERE)

Signing for Dummies (Click HERE)

It has been a lot of fun! I have loved taking an actual class with my kids. It's fun being a student WITH them instead of the teacher or mom for a few hours a week. When I was waiting for my son to take his test the other day at the College I picked up a brochure about their Sign language Interpreter Program. Who knows? Maybe I will enroll in the program in 10 years when my youngest graduates from homeschooling!.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I Have A College Student!

2011-04-29T11:33:00.000-07:00

WOW! I just paid for my first College class for my 16 year old son! Yesterday he took his Accuplacer test and passed with flying colors! So today we signed him up for his first class, which he will take over the Summer. It is an exciting time at our house!

Getting him into College at the age of 16 is something we have always worked towards. When he was in grade school we knew several homeschoolers who were going to College at 16 and we thought that would be a great advantage for our son. He is a very cerebral kid! We have always had to stay on our toes to keep up with him educationally! The last couple years he has worked VERY hard to get the bulk of his high school requirements completed. At this point we could probably graduate him if we wanted to. But at 16 that isn't something I am ready for! So having him dual enrolled is perfect for us. He can get the last few credits he needs for high school as he is getting College credit too!

Since the dual enrollment only allows him to take 2 classes at a time we are planning on having him work on "clepping" classes at the same time he is taking the dual enrollment classes. I haven't figured out all the details on clepping yet. But, I do know that there are books we can buy for him to study for the tests and then for $75.00 he can go take the test and when he passes it he gets full credit for the class. This will not only be a huge time saver, but a BIG money saver too! So if all goes according to plan when he graduates from homeschool at 18 he will have enough credits to begin his Junior year of College! The next 2 years he can basically devote to working on College credits.

So yesterday was an exciting day! I couldn't help but think of all the "naysayers" over the years who have sternly warned me that my poor children would never get into College because we homeschooled them! I never believed that for a moment! But, those nagging words were always in the back of my mind. (What is they were right?) But, in my heart I have always known we are following God's plan for our family. It was good to put any nagging thoughts to rest! I must add here that for the most part we have been really blessed with very supportive people around us for our homeschool journey. But, it still felt really amazing to have accomplished a goal we have worked towards for SO long! (My son and I had to do a little victory dance!) Truly it was an awesome day that we will all remember forever!

Of course we can also see God's hand all over this! One of the things that is not lost on me is that our unexpected move a year and a half ago put us in the right County for the College he will be attending. We only moved ONE MILE! But, if we were still at the old address we would have had to pay quite a bit more for him to go to this same school! God is in the details!

Praise God!

Mom

For more info on clepping click HERE.

This is a duplicate post from the blog I am writing with my 16 year old son called I Can Do It With Mom's Help. You can read more about our journey from homeschool to College HERE.

Clean Green Party

2011-04-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

For our homeschool group meeting this month we hosted a Clean Green Party! This was a fun time to get together with friends and make our own household cleaners from simple items we could buy at the store. Not only do these end up being A LOT cheaper, but they are not loaded with unnecessary chemicals and fragrances. I have a really hard time being around fragrances and perfumes. They give me headaches. I don't even walk down the cleaner aisle at the grocery store if I can avoid it. By the end of the aisle my head is aching! For years we have used as little chemicals as possible. We are on our third Shark Steam Mop. (Each one has lasted about 3 years.) I love the steam mop because I can clean and disinfect the floors using just water! I also use a lot of vinegar and baking soda for cleaning. But at the party we learned a few new "recipes" for cleaners.

My favorite "recipe" is for a soft scrub.

2 cups baking soda
½ cup liquid castile soap*
4 teaspoons vegetable glycerin (acts as a preservative)
5 drops antibacterial essential oil such as lavender, tea tree, rosemary or any scent you prefer (optional)
Mix together and store in a sealed glass jar, shelf life of 2 years.

We made ours using the lavendar castile soap. It smells GREAT! I used it today to clean sinks, toilets and to scrub dishes. LOVE IT! (I will be making more soon!)

You can find the rest of the recipes HERE.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Cub Scouts

2011-04-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

So, I was looking over my recent post the other day and I realized...there are a whole-lotta posts about my daughter! LOL It's not that we are not doing things with the boys. We are for sure. And one of the things we are doing with our youngest this year is Cub Scouts!

Cub Scouts is something all new for me! I have to tell you it's not something I ever really thought about or checked into. My oldest son has always been the more cerebral "indoor" type and I just never thought about Cub Scouts for him. Our youngest however is the quintessential little boy. He likes bugs, dirt, sweat and especially loves anything that combines the three! So at the end of last Summer my husband announced that we were signing the little man up for Cub Scouts.

Being the naive newbie to Scouts that I am I thought..."This is perfect. Something for him and his daddy to do together that doesn't involve me." (Stop laughing!) What my husband found when he went to sign our little guy up was that there was no Den Leader. So guess who signed up to be the Den Leader? MY HUSBAND! I was still naively fine with this.....Then reality set in. My husband wanted me to help him. He has done a GREAT job, but there are just a lot of things that are out of his comfort zone. (Like coming up with crafts and shopping for all the supplies.)

So being the Den Leader has pretty much become a shared job. And you know what? It's been a LOT of fun! (Even though we have butted heads a few times trying to figure out who should do what!) We are just about to finish up his first year. Our little man LOVED being a Tiger and can hardly wait to be promoted! My husband and I still have a lot to learn. Next year I am going to be the official Assistant Den Leader. Why not? LOL So hopefully as we go along I will be posting about some of our adventures. This Summer we are hoping to do a lot of planning and prepping to make next year easier. (I am all about getting things ready over the Summer for the next school year.) And of course we have Summer Camp (Which my daughter can come to as a tag-along since my husband and I are both volunteering.) and we have family camp outs planned too for the Summer.

It's all a new adventure. Just as we are wrapping up American Girl Club we will be winding up Cub Scouts.
It's going to be an adventure!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Easter Egg T-shirt

2011-04-21T01:04:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I made this together. It's a great beginner sewing project, with a little help from mom. The egg part is all straight sewing. So she was able to sew the entire egg by herself. Then I reverse appliqued it onto the t-shirt. (Sewing on t-shirt fabric is a little unforgiving because the fabric likes to stretch as you sew. So I just did that part for her.)

Here is the egg while my daughter was working on it. It's actually harder to cut out an egg shape than I had imagined. We finally ended up printing THIS ONE and then just making it bigger.

This is the finished shirt. Cute, huh?

You will find the directions HERE.

The perfect shirt to wear to see the Easter Bunny!

HOPPY Homeschooling! ;^)

Jamin

Black, White and Pink Quilt

2011-04-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

So American Girl Club got canceled this week because of a BIG storm. It was a bummer...but, I decided to make the best of it! I have been designing this quilt in my head for a few months now. A friend is adopting a little girl from Ethiopia and the nursery is all black and white. (It's ADORABLE!) I have never made a black and white quilt before. So I have been really, really excited about it! Meanwhile another friend gave me a HUGE box of quilt fabric this weekend. All of the fabric for this quilt was in the box....so I with a few hours on my hands and fabric just asking to be cut into....I present....My latest creation!

I LOVE IT! I saw the rickrack on some quilts at the quilt store awhile back and immediately knew I needed to incorporate it into this quilt. I hope she doesn't mind that I added some pink. Every little girl needs some pink! But, this is not really for the nursery anyway. This is more of a throw on the floor or over the car seat type of quilt.

If you need a quick and fun quilt, this is it!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

70's Bandana Outfit!

2011-04-19T10:22:00.000-07:00

We are just having TOO MUCH fun dressing up for the 70's! LOL

The bandana "skort" we found at the Goodwill. Then top we made from 2 black bandanas. It is the same basic idea as a Bandana Dress (CLICK HERE for tutorial.) except I turned the bandana on angle. This gives us a little more fabric for a bigger girl and we get the GROOVY pointed hem!

LOVE IT!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Julie - Week 2

2011-04-13T14:51:00.000-07:00

First off I have to show you what my daughter and I wore to week 2 of Julie!

Here is an up close shot....

And a full length shot...

My daughters outfit is basically the same as she wore for week one except we found CLOGS! LOL

They are a tiny bit big for her. But, she loves them! It's funny to watch her clomp around in them. She has decided shoes are much more comfortable in 2011! My shirt we found at Goodwill. I also added a hemp choker (And WOW is it itchy! How on earth did we survive wearing things like hemp and polyester?) and I got some cool owl earrings. Add a head scarf and WELCOME TO 1974! LOL

So as the girls arrived we started out the night playing BASKETBALL!

They actually just played HORSE. But, they really liked it! After about a half hour we headed in for book discussion time. On the way in we had to laugh at ourselves and all our matching minivans! LOL

So I guess even though we think of ourselves as nonconformist homeschoolers...we still conform! ;^)

For discussion time I read the girls the Peek Into the Past in the back of book 2. Then I also read to them from the book Don't Know Much About the Presidents. Since there is such a big time just from Molly (1944) to Julie (1974) I started back in 1944 and read about all the Presidents since. There is a good timeline at the bottom of the page. So it gave the girls a good idea of what happened from the end of WWII to the end of the Vietnam War. I also read to them from the DK book of Presidents the section on Richard Nixon.

For snack we had Tuna Noodle Casserole and Herbal Sun Tea.

I always try to tell the girls why we eat the snacks we do. This is what I learned about Tuna Noodle Casserole...Casseroles became popular in the 1970's as more and more women joined the work force and had less and less time to cook. The economic recession also made tuna a popular choice because it was much cheaper than most other meat options.

After our snack we worked on our MACRAME Keychains!

These are the 2 samples I made up before hand. The link for the Macrame Video I watched to remember how to do this is here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBHnJhcwfQo

My daughter and a friend working together on their macrame.

All the girls working on their macrame.

The girls took to it very quickly. The mom's thought it was harder than the girls did! I thought they were going to kick me out of the building for a few minutes! LOL But, after a bit the mom's caught on. ;^)

After craft the girls worked on a report similar to what Julie did in book 2. At the end of the year we are going to have an American Girl Family Night and their reports about themselves will be on display. HERE is the worksheet I gave them to get them started.

Here they are working on their writing.

So that's it for night 2! I can't believe we are already through night 2! I have looked forward to getting to Julie for 3 years and now it's going tooooooo fast!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. Oh, and as you can tell I happened to find head kerchiefs for all the girls this week! They looked adorable in them!

American Girl Club - Julie - Week #1

2011-04-12T10:00:00.001-07:00

Welcome to 1974!

For night one of American Girl Club for Julie we started out the night by listening to the song Gladrags and Handbags. (CLICK HERE for lyrics.) In the book Julie's mom owns a hip craft and resale shop in San Fransisco called Gladrags, which is named after the song. After we listened to the song I gave them a little tour of my own little "Gladrags" store.

In my "store" I has...a fuzzy foot rug, jean purse, smiley face balloon, Disco shoes, mini bean bag chair, melted plastic snowman, macrame tree wall hanging, pillow from some pants I wore in the 70's and some Bonnie Bell Lipsmackers. (My favorite invention of the 1970's is Lipsmackers! LOL)

And in case you missed it when I said Disco shoes! LOL

It's funny how things like this find their way into my house! LOL Some friends in Las Vegas gave these to my oldest son years ago to wear to crazy shoe night at AWANA. The girls thought these were hysterical! They all had to try them on and clomp around in them! :^)

On the table I also had pictures from the 70's and a Felicity doll. After I went through all the items with the girls I asked them what Felicity had to do with Julie? It took them a few minutes and a little coaching from me to realize that their stories take place 200 years apart! (1774 and 1974) Then I talked to them a little about the Bicentennial of the United States. We will be getting back to that celebration again in a few weeks.

I also had my daughter stand up and I showed them her outfit...

Doesn't she just look adorable in her halter, head scarf and jean purse?

So finally it was time for our craft...And what else could be possibly have made? LOL

Oh yeah baby...I present the 1970's Fuzzy Foot Rug!

This was another thing that is just too crazy. My daughter and I went out Saturday and bought the fake fur to make these. I was going to ask my husband to draw out a foot for me. Then that night we walked into the dollar store and they had this...

Can you say "perfect pattern"? LOL So each of the girls traced this on the back of their fur and then they cat it out. Super simple and SO cute!

One of the girls cutting out her rug.

My daughter with her rug.

Since we only had one pattern to trace around the rest of the girls worked on the second craft...PET ROCKS!

The girls had a lot of fun making their pet rocks. I explained to them that "real" pet rocks in the 70's were just plain rocks that came in a cute pet carrier type box. (CLICK HERE to read more about pet rocks!) But, then of course kids would just find rocks and decorate them. (I still have my pet rock! His name is Herbert! LOL) So the girls decorated their rocks with Sharpies and stick on googley eyes.

For snack we had zucchini bread!

Yummy!

My vegetable hating daughter giving her opinion of zucchini bread! LOL

I looked online to find out why zucchini bread was so popular in he 70's. Basically what I read was that during WWII when people planted Victory Gardens everyone realized how easy Zucchini is to grow. As time passed people became more and more creative with the recipes they developed to cook the zucchini. In the late 60's early 70's as women started entering the work force they were looking for easy and nutritious recipes. Zucchini bread, carrot bread and banana bread were thought to be healthy breads/desserts since there was not icing. And it was much easier to make than yeast breads that had to be kneaded and raised. I thought all this was really interesting!

One last picture! It is not that often that we line them all up for a posed picture! We just had to get a pic with all of them with their crazy rugs!

I love these girls!!!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Kit - Weeks 1 - 6

2011-04-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

For Kit I am just going to do one post for all 6 weeks. Not because we didn't have an amazing time with Kit, but because I just waited toooooooo long to post about it. We met for Kit 3 weeks in November and 3 weeks in January. (We took December off.) So it's been 5 months since the first time we met for Kit and my memory is just failing me when it comes to the details.

So here it goes...

KIT WEEK 1

Theme:

The Depression hits Kit's house. Kit's dad loses his job. Mom starts a boarding house

Craft:

Felt Sport Banner - I pre-cut white felt into the shape of a sports banner. (About 8"X20") Then I had a tons of felt and felt stickers for the girls to decorate them with. They could make them for a sport team or just to decorate their rooms. (Most ended up being very pink and girlie! LOL)

Paper Suitcase - In week 1 of Kit we talked about what it would be like to live during the depression and lose your home. We talked about how many people would run into a boarding home and the whole families would move into one room. So I made up a little template for the girls to make a little suitcase. Then I had pages inside for them to fill in what they would have taken with them. There are 2 printables. You will find them HERE and HERE.

Snack:

Sponge Cake and Iced Tea

During Book Discussion Time:

Have chunks of ice for the girls to lick. Talk about what an icebox is as opposed to a refrigerator.

Other Ideas:

Borrow an old typewriter if you can and let the girls experience typing on it. (To see old typewriter we borrowed CLICK HERE.
Split the girls up into groups and have them work on publishing their own newspaper about the depression and the 1920's.
Talk about the song "Pack up your trouble in an Old Kit Bag." talk ab out how the meaning of words change over time.
Read excerpt from Robin Hood and His Adventures.

KIT WEEK 2

Theme:

Thanksgiving during the Depression.

Craft:

Make a cornucopia using torn magazine pages to make a mosaic.

Do geography sheets on Ohio. CLICK HERE.

Snack:

Oatmeal with a sliced of canned peach on top.

Ideas:

Book discussion and read from In Kit's World book.

KIT WEEK 3

Theme:

Christmas during the Depression

Craft:

Scottie Dog Hair Clips

To make these the girls traced 2 Scottie dogs onto black felt with white chalk. They they cut them out. Then they added a bead eye to the top one and cut to vertical slits in the back one to slide the clip barrette through. Then they used black thread to sew them together around the edge. Then they added a red bow.

Learned how to finger knit

The girls LOVED this! For weeks everywhere I went I saw girls wearing their creations! The directions are HERE.

Snack:

Popcorn and Oranges in a Christmas stocking. (With a pencil too. I read this was typical of what a lucky child would have gotten on Christmas morning.)

Ideas:

Have girls sing Christmas Carols
Read about Amelia Earhart

KIT WEEK 4

Theme:

Penny Pincher Birthday Party!

Craft:

Paper Lanterns, newspaper hats and flower necklaces

For the necklaces the girl took a little stack of 3 pieces of tissue paper and pinched it up into a flower. Then they tied them on their piece of yarn to make a necklace. For the paper hats they folded them with these instructions. CLICK HERE. HERE is how we made our paper lanterns.

Food:

Mock Apple Pie, tea sandwiches, Depression Cake

Other:

Read about William Shakespeare

Kit Week 5

Theme:

Kit learns about the Hobo lifestyle.

Craft:

SOCK MONKEYS! - I will do a separate post just on making these! FUN, FUN, FUN!

Food:

Hobo meal...boiled potatoes, beans, slice of bread

Ideas:

Learn the Texas Two Step
Decode a Hobo Code

Kit Week 6

Theme:

Kit learns to have hope even during hard times.

Craft:

Make mittens

For these I had the girls trace around their hands on polar fleece and then they sewed these on the machine. We had several machines. They were VERY excited to use the machine since all the sewing to this point has been by hand. :^)

Snack:

Soup Kitchen (Vegetable) Soup and a slice homemade bread

Ideas:

Read about the start of WWII
Read about News Correspondent
Play checkers and dominos

So there you have Kit!

70's Fashion!

2011-04-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

My daughter wanted something 70's looking to wear for American Girl Club while we are studying Julie. So I came up with the idea of a halter top! After Googling a bit I found THIS PICTURE as our inspiration.

Here is our version...

This picture REALLY takes me back to the 70's! The bad paneling, the jean purse, the halter top, the head scarf! LOL (Although in the 70's there wouldn't be a t-shirt under the halter.)

Oh, and while I was making her top, my daughter made one for her doll!

If imitation is the truest form of flattery then I am flattered! :^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Molly Week 4

2011-04-07T10:00:00.000-07:00

The theme for week 4 of Molly was that it is Molly's birthday. In the book Molly's family has a little girl from London that is staying with them because of the war that is going on in London. So Molly is sharing her birthday with her new friend. The girls decide to have a Princess Tea Party. So we did the same. :^)

For craft the girls made crowns to wear at the tea party. They also made jump ropes from clothesline like the girls did in the book. They really we enjoyed getting to go outside and jump rope!

For snack we had margarine sandwiches, lemon tart and tea with sugar. (We also did a taste test between butter and margarine. I was surprised that almost no one, including me, could tell the difference! I am still a faithful fan of butter though! LOL)

I meant to do a blackout drill with the girls. But, with all the tea party festivities I totally forgot. Apparently I forgot to take pictures too!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Molly Week 3

2011-04-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Week 3 of Molly is the Christmas story. So even though it was March we celebrated Christmas!

Now that we are getting closer to our own time period many of the things we are reading about are much closer to how we celebrate today. Of course WWII was going on in the story and Molly's dad was away at war. So as we discussed the book we talked about what it would be like to have dad be away for a long period of time. My daughter has experienced that when we last moved and the kids and I spent a year at our old location trying to sell the house. Three of the girls in our group are also in a position where there dad is in the Army and is about to be deployed. So there was a lot we could relate to! One of the things we talked about was how grateful we are for the technology we have now in situations like these. Molly would only get letters from her dad and sometimes they would take months to arrive! Since the concept of writing letters is nearly extinct I decided it would be fun to have the girls write letters to their dads! We pretended that their dad's are away at war and the girls wrote to them telling them what is going on in their lives. It was fun! Plus the girls got a lesson on how to address and envelope. I also talked to them a little about the history of the postal service, prices of stamps and the history of the zip code. After the letters were done I brought them home and put a little note in the envelope to explain to the dads why they were getting these letters. Then I dropped them in the mail. My daughter was very excited a few days later when hers arrived for her dad!

Our craft for the week was SUPER simple. In the back of book 3 there are instructions for making a pile cleaner ornament. So we made those. The girls liked it. They always seem to enjoy the craft that are very open ended so they can use their own creativity!

For snack we had Cinnamon Sticky Buns like they had in the book. We also read the Christmas story from the Bible and sang Joy to the World.

It was a very festive night!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

70's Style Jean Messenger Bag

2011-04-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

I loved my daughters jean purse so much that I had to make one for myself!

Can you believe I found mushroom fabric? I don't think more 70's inspired fabric exists! LOL

I made mine a messenger bag style because I need it to close. My husband has a pet peeve about me carrying a purse with an open top. So when I saw the idea of making this style HERE I fell in LOVE! I spent a LOT more time making this one than the one we made for my daughter. Which is kinda funny because if you look at it mine looks a lot more rough and unfinished. But, since I put my handbags through the wringer I knew it needed to be STURDY!

The jeans I chose were in a bag I have collected from other people for upcycling projects just like this one. I chose this pair mostly because it was a good size for a purse for me. The other advantage is that this pair is SUPER worn and possible date back to the 70's! LOL The first thing I had to do was patch all the holes. I cut my mushroom fabric and put it under each hole and then zigzagged around it. This really gave it a funky 70's vibe!

The Fabric

I wanted it to look very hand done, because that is how these looked in the 70's. Next I lined it with the mushroom fabric. I highly recommend a denim needle for the machine if you make one of these! I, of course, didn't have one and I broke a couple needles trying to sew through belt loops and seams putting in the lining. Then I used a piece of the leg to make the flap. I wanted to preserve the frayed bottom of the pant leg on the front. So I sewed the other three sides and then left extra fabric to fold up inside and let the fraying hang down. I also added rickrack to the front of the flap. I LOVE IT!

Here you can see the inside frayed part of the flap.

And here is the front of the flap with the fray peeking out like fringe.

For the strap I left all the seams on the outside and then cut the edges with pinking shears. I also tied it in a knot before sewing it on just to add a bit more funk! I am hoping the edges will unravel over time.

The strap.

Pretty far-out and groovy, huh? ;^)

I feel a bit like I have been time traveling!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Molly Week 2

2011-04-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

For week 2 of Molly we started out with the flag salute and singing America The Beautiful. Then I read the girls the War Message for Children on page 67 in book 2.

Then we had our book discussion and got ready for our craft. Our craft this week was a little different than anything we have done before. This week in the book Molly and her classmates competed in a Lend-A-Hand Contest. Molly's group ended up knitting squares and putting them together to make a blanket to donate. So we did the modern day version of this and made polar fleece blankets to donate!

Here are a few of the girls working on a blanket.These are made from kits I bought at JoAnn's. (The directions are included.)

Here are our finished blankets.

Our blankets were made to be donated to Project Linus.

For snack we had Boston Brown Bread with Raisins.

I also read to the girls from our Welcome to Molly's World book.

And that was night 2 for Molly!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Molly Week 1

2011-04-03T08:25:00.000-07:00

For week 1 of Molly we started out with reading about Pearl Harbor and WWII in the book Welcome to Molly's World, 1944: Growing Up in World War Two America. We also talked about the transition between Kit's time period (The Great Depression) and how WWII really brought an end to the depression. I also downloaded a radio news report about the attacks on Pearl Harbor and had the girls listen to it. To keep them quiet and focused I gave them Toostie Pops to eat while they listened. (This is one of the candies Molly gets trick-or-treating in the story.)

For our craft we made crepe paper hula skirts just like Molly did in the book.

For the waistband I gave each girl a long piece of white muslin they can tie around their waist. Then they stapled strips of crepe paper to make the skirts.

Cute, huh?

Of course our cat had to have a skirt too! LOL

And our youngest American Girl got a skirt too!

For snack we had popcorn balls and apples. Just like Molly got in the book for Halloween.

Another great night! :^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

70's Jean Purse

2011-04-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

More prepping to get ready to study Julie (1974) at American Girl Club! My daughter and I made her a jean purse!

HERE are the basic instructions to make one of these. HERE are directions to make a lined version. (Although we obviously used fabric for our strap and to decorate it!) Now I want to make ME one too!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

April Fool's Day Prank 2011

2011-04-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

:^) I love pulling April Fool's pranks on my kids! This is what they woke up to this year on April Fool's Day!

The littles doors...

All 3 of the kids doors...

My daughter peeking out...

Happy April Fool's Day!

Jamin

Crocheted Peace Signs

2011-03-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

Next week we start Julie (1974) at American Girl Club! As i have mentioned before, Julie and I are the same age! LOL Yes, it was quite shocking to me at first that there is a Historical Doll the same age as me! But, I it's also pretty FUN that I will be able to tell the girls first hand what I remember about this period of "History"! So, since Julie is special to me I want to make Julie special for the girls. One of the things I am doing is making these crocheted peace sign necklaces for all the girls to wear.

Pretty groovy, huh? LOL
HERE are the directions I used to crochet these.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

CLICK HERE to read about MY American Girl Doll Julie!

Fabric Fortune Cookies

2011-03-30T09:42:00.000-07:00

So here is another sewing project my daughter has been doing....

She made a bunch of these as valentines for her friends. Then she made more as little take home gifts for a baby shower. Now we have a friend who makes wedding cakes that is promoting them for her to make for weddings. Hopefully she will get a little business going and can start saving for College!

Here is the basics of how you make these:

First she cuts a 5" circle of fabric. Then she sews it to a piece of tan felt. Once the 2 are sewn together she cuts around the circle with pinking shears. The next step is to fold the circle in half with the fabric side together and sew it on the machine as in the picture above. Then you just have to fold up the sides! Print out a fortune and tuck it inside.

:^)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. CLICK HERE to read the latest post on I Can Do It.

American Girl Club - Molly - Week 6

2011-03-29T19:53:00.000-07:00

So here we are finishing up Molly! Only one more American Girl to go! (Julie)

For the study of WWII the book Welcome to Molly's World, 1944: Growing Up in World War Two America was really our guide book. I have used all the different "Welcome to" books as we have gone through the different time periods. But this one seemed like we really, really needed it the most. I think a lot of it had to do with WWII just being SO complicated. There were just so many Countries involved and so many things that happened. It was really helpful to have one book that pretty much covered it all.

So for week 6 we read the last section of the "Welcome to" book which was about how the war ended. I also read them the the "Peek into the Past" for book 6 to them. And I read a timeline of WWII to them from Don't Know Much About American History. (I have used this book a lot to fill in the blanks at American Girl Club.) It was a lot of listening for the girls for one week. But, I wanted to make sure they had a good idea about the events of WWII before we finished up our time with Molly. To keep them busy while I was reading we served snack which was Corn Dogs. The funny thing is I am not really sure why I decided to serve Corn Dogs this week! LOL I usually try to pull something from the book that week for snack. Before we start each of the time periods I take a day and go out to a coffee shop and read all 6 books and plan the whole 6 weeks out. (Craft, snack and activities. I even do the shopping that day if I can.) Some weeks it's harder than others to find a food that goes along with the story. Since I read the books so far in advance I can't always remember all the details from the books the day of club. So on the way to club every week my daughter always goes through the story she just read and brings me up to speed. So this week she goes through the whole story and then I ask her. So did they have corn dogs? She says "no." hummmmm...Why are we having corn dogs? LOL So when we get to club I look up corn dogs on Wikipedia. I am glad to see that they fit into the time period. I am STILL not sure why I thought we should eat them this week! But, the girls liked them! I read them the Wikipedia page, told them I was not sure why I chose them and we all got a good laugh!

At the very end of the "Welcome to" book they include the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes.
So for craft this week we made origami cranes.

Here is the super simple version I taught the girls.

The instructions for this is HERE.

Of course the girls found the instructions for a more complicated version in the package of origami paper and made these:

We also did our geography worksheets for Molly this week:

England Coloring Sheet CLICK HERE.

Illinois Coloring Sheet CLICK HERE.

Map of the USA CLICK HERE.

I can't believe we have traveled it from 1764 to 1944 now! It's been a BLAST!

BTW, you can see ALL my American Girl posts HERE.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Old Typewriter!

2011-03-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

How awesome it was that right when we got to KIT in American Girl Club I was able to borrow a 1920's typewriter from a friend? The kids had a BLAST with it! Even my teenager thought the typewriter was quite cool! It seemed that there was a line for a turn on the typewriter much of the time!

I am telling you EVERYONE loved it!

My daughter wrote this little report about the typewriters of Kit's day as opposed to the laptops of today:

THEN:
The typewriter was invented in 1714. The first one was invented for a blind woman.
In 1925 a typewriter weighed about 50 pounds.
In 1925 a typewriter cost about $100.00.
What a typewriter did? It put words on paper.
NOW:
The first laptop was invented in 1981. It weighed 24 pounds and had a 5 inch screen.
Laptops today weigh about 7 pounds.
Laptops today cost about $500.00 to $1000.00.
What Laptops do? Connects to the internet, plays movies and video games, sends emails, calculates numbers, lets us listen to music.

A BIG THANK YOU to my sweet friend who loaned this little gem to us!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 6

2011-03-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

This week of American Girl Club was fun for me because I got to reminicse! The final Rebecca book is about Rebecca's Aunt and Uncle going off to Hollywood! Since I worked for ABC-TV in Hollywood for 7 years I had a lot I could share with them! I talked to them about the many different jobs in the entertainment industry including:

Production, Operations and Accounting

Broadcast, Engineering and Operations

Payroll /Accounting

Personnel/Casting

I also talked to them about the different areas on a television or movie backlot such as the:

Sound Stage

Sound Recording Studios

Video Editing Suites

Master Control

Commercial Integration

Lumber Yard/Construction

Costuming /Decorators

Make up/Hair

Prop Storage

Travel Dept.

I also found pictures online of many of the above departments to show the girls.

For craft we made a calico bag with wooden embroidery hoops for handles. (Sorry, I can't find the pictures!) We also made a Hollywood Mobile using THIS coloring sheet.

For snack we let the girls squeeze their own lemonade! MESSY but FUN! LOL

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 5

2011-03-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

For Rebecca week 5 we visited CONEY ISLAND! This was a SUPER fun night of American Girl Club!

This sign my daughter made greeted the girls as they arrived. My daughter and I got to club early and decorated the whole building. We had games set up in every room. I bought tickets at the Dollar Tree and each girl got enough tickets to play each game 3 times. I also had prizes for them. The prizes were candy, crazy bandz, stickers, pencils and shells.

Here are the girls playing a few of the games:

We also had all kinds of food that they would have eaten at Coney Island in Rebecca's time! Root beer, apple pie, baked beans, coney dogs, lemonade and cracker jacks!

I brought some books from the Library with pictures of Coney Island back in it's prime that I showed to the girls. We also had a craft table where the girls could make a paper fan like Rebecca had in the story.

It was really nice to have a FUN night after a couple more serious weeks learning about Passover and Chanukah.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Learning To Sew

2011-03-22T15:17:00.000-07:00

My daughter has been sewing with me pretty much her entire life. (She is 10 now!) She is a natural at sewing. The thing that has probably held her back most over the years is my lack of time to sit with her on a regular basis and sew. So this school year we are working on that! We have a designated time that we sew each week! She has come a looong way this year fast!

Here are her 3 latest projects:

Shabby Chic Quilt

Owl Pillow

You can download the free pattern for this here: http://www.makeit-loveit.com/2010/12/snuggly-owl-for-sewing-republic.html

New Dress

I think you can get a pretty good idea from her projects what here favorite colors and patterns are! LOL Sewing with her is a lot of fun! I am so glad we have been able to do it weekly.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Baby Sock Corsages

2011-03-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

These have nothing to do with homeschooling or my kids, but I have been making a lot of them lately! Basic directions are HERE.

:^)

Our Mission

2011-03-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

I mentioned when I posted about our Eat Your Way Around the USA table that I would post later about how we made our mission. The kids REALLY, REALLY had a good time making this! I would say this is up there in their top 5 school projects we have ever done. I honestly had NO idea how to make one of these. First I spent a lot of time Googling and looking for directions, but I didn't find much that was helpful. I found a lot of places that were willing to sell me instructions. But, I didn't want to buy instructions not knowing that I was getting. Next I went to the craft store and found this:

This said it included "Easy Instructions" but the instructions were just general instructions on how to build something. Not what we specifically wanted to build. (Even though they had a handy dandy picture of a mission right on the box! LOL) If I had to do it again I wouldn't buy the kit. I paid $10.00 for it and all we used from the kit was 2 pieces of foam board, a piece of card stock, a pieces of corrugated paper and a transparency sheet. The 2 pieces of foam board wasn't nearly enough to make our structure. So I got a poster board size of foam board at Dollar Tree...for a dollar! LOL So yeah, we didn't need the kit! (But we still have other materials left in the box for another project. You can see what was included in the kit HERE.)

Finally what we did was look online for the basic floor plans of some missions. I have been to most of them. But, for some reason the one I remember best is the San Juan Capistrano one. So we loosely based ours on that one with adjustments being restricted by that fact that we were building ours on a pizza box!

The fist thing we did was dig 2 pizza boxes out of the recycling in the garage. One we spray painted green. The other we used a Sharpie to plan out our design. We really wanted to show how the mission was very much like a fort with the living spaces in the walls. So we based our design on that. We also found a drawing of the center courtyard and did our best to reproduce the San Juan Capistrano courtyard.

Once the kids had it all drawn out I cut all the parts out of the foam board. This required using a Exacto knife, so there was no way for the kids to do this part safely. After I cut it out and hot glued the main church building together the REAL fun began! STUCCO! LOL To stucco the building I bought a tub of pink DAP spackle compound. They spread it on THICK! The way this stuff works in that if goes on pink and then when it's dry it turns white. It took our mission THREE DAYS to turn white! LOL

Once the walls FINALLY dried I hot glued them to the pizza box we had already spray painted green. Then we used the piece of card stock folded over to make a roof for the church. For the red tiles we used about 10 of the free red paint chips you can get at Home Depot. (I figure we spend thousands a year there so we can take 10 paint chips to use for a roof, ;^) To make the paint chips look like tiles my daughter cut them with a pair of my scrapbook scissors to make the rounded edges. Then she glued them on is rows. We used several different shades of red because the tiles on the roofs are hand made and very irregular. (And I didn't want to wipe out all of one color in the color chips.) She also drew a cross with color Sharpies to make a stain glass window for the front of the church. For the buildings around the edges we made a flat roof using the corrugated paper.

My daughter and I also made the fountain in the middle using foam core and rocks. We cut several circles of foam core and stacked them to get the height we wanted. Then we used blue fun foam for the top layer to look like water and glues rocks around the edges to make the fountain structure. For the second level we used a 2 liter bottle lid filled with foam core and fun foam. Then my daughter made a small cross from yellow fun foam and we put a stone on top to hold it. I love how the fountain turned out!

My little man helped with all the landscaping. He selected and laid out the rocks for the walkway. Painted flowers on the little bushes and decided where all the plant material should be located. He also designed the gate with craft sticks and then I glued it together with hot glue.

The last step was my daughter making a sign for the front of the pizza box out of Fun Foam.

Everything except the kit and the spackle compound was bought at Dollar Tree. I looked for plant material that could be cut down to size. I bought 1 bag of rocks and a sheet of moss. Besides those items everything else was improvised with things we had on hand.

It really, really looked great! The kids were SO proud of it and had a lot of fun showing it to their friends.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S.

If you want to see a bigger overhead pic of our mission click HERE.

For project ideas using the kit we bought click HERE.

American Girl Club - Molly - Week 5

2011-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Well, I am really, really behind on AG posts. But, since I am back to blogging I am just going to pick up where I am now and worry about the 6 missing weeks later.

Book 5 is about Molly going to Summer Camp. So we had a camp night!

We started out playing Capture the Flag (Like they did in the book.) This night was different for us than most because we had 5 BOYS at AG Club. We do have a "no boys" rule. But, it just happened that 5 boys were there doing the parent swticheroo and since we were outside playing they stayed. Now we have 5 boys that want to join AG Club! LOL One little boy asked his mom if boys could join American Girl Club. When she tole him "No" he said "Well, that isn't very nice!" LOL

Anyway here is one of the mom's explaining the game to the kids.

Here are the rules we used. The kids LOVED this! They ran for about an hours straight and each team won twice.

After wearing them out we brought them in and had ice cream cones. (Just like in the book.) Then we discussed the book and made situpons.

I actually remember making these many moons ago when I was a girl scout! HERE are the in instructions on the correct way to make one. However, you know me, I had my own method! LOL I was worried that the yarn would just pull through the table cloth fabric we were using. In the Molly book they used oil cloth, which is a lot thicker. So we used something they would have had during WWII DUCT TAPE! It made the craft very easy and very durable. They girls had a lot of fun making them.

Here they are working on them.

And my daughter working on hers.

(And there are those annoying stripes again! This time it was dark outside. So apparently it's NOT the mini blinds!)

Anyway, it was another great night of AG Club! We only have 6 night left and we will have covered all the girls! 1764 to 1974! WOW! We have been doing this once a week for 3 years now...and I have enjoyed every minute of it!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. BTW, several people have emailed and asked me about fixing dead links and pictures on my old homeschoolblogger blog. Just to let you know....we are working on fixing everything and moving it over here. But, I have over 1600 posts that need to be fixed and moved. So it's going to take time. So your patience is appreciated. :^)

Eat Your Way Around the USA!

2011-03-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

Our homeschool group hosted a fun event last week. It was called Eat Your Way Around the USA. The way it worked was that each family signed up to host a table on a different State. At each table there was information about that State, a bite size snack of food from the State and the kids got a stamp in their passport from each State. IT WAS A BLAST!

My family hosted the California table.

I wanted to do California because:

A) All the kids were born there.
B) We did a year on CA when my oldest was in 4th grade and so I have LOTS of stuff!
C) WE LOVE CALIFORNIA!!!!

I decided that since there is SO much history in CA we needed to put aside our regular schoolwork and focus on this for 6 week. So here is what we presented.

This is an overview of our table. (Sorry about the lines. Apparently the miniblinds were messing with my camera.) On the board we had a section on the Gold Rush and Industry, Tourism and LOTS of pictures of our family at famous places in CA. We also had a timeline, info on the State flower, insect, etc and a little report my daughter wrote called Why I Love California!

Here is what was on the table...

This is the salt dough map the kids made. It was very FUN! If you look close you can see we have pink and blue beads on Sacramento, where the littles were born. And a blue bead on LA where my oldest was born.

The food we shared was raisins. We learned that all commercial raisins eaten in the USA and 1/2 around the world come from CA!

The star of our table was the mission the kids and I made. I will probably do a whole post just about making this later. :^)

This section was on westward expansion. We built the covered wagon from a kit.

This area was about the food grown in CA and things invented in CA. There are a lot more things that were invented there than this. We displayed: jeans, a computer mouse, sour dough bread, a Barbie, a Frisbee, a hula hoop and a fortune cookie!In the notebook we had a coloring book I found about the A to Z of food grown in CA.

Last, but not least, here is my sweet daughter sporting the "Made In California" tie-dye t-shirt I made her! I just couldn't resist! LOL

So that was it. We had a total of 20 States represented. Everyone did such a great job with their displays. We learned SO much and had a great time together with our friends!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Let's See If This Worked!

2011-03-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

Well, hopefully after almost a year we have figured out how to get Feedburner to send out my posts from my NEW blog! If this is finds it's way to your inbox it means I will be blogging on a regular basis again SOON!

Jamin

50s Night

2010-10-10T19:39:00.000-07:00

This week was 50s Night at Awana! Here are the littles dressed up and ready to ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK!

My daughter helped me make the skirt. It actually turned into a great math lesson! We learned about radius, circumference and PI. You will find the tutorial we used for the skirt HERE and the poodle we appliqued on HERE.

My little man's guitar is made from cardboard, duct tape, fun foam and yarn. He LOVED it!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 4

2010-10-07T18:06:00.000-07:00

For week 4 of Rebecca we celebrated Passover! It was a little strange getting ready for Passover in the Fall.
We started out the night discussing book 4 in the series. The book didn't really talk much about Passover. It was mostly about Rebecca getting to go to the Movie Studio that her uncle worked and it happened during Passover. But, I really wanted to teach the girls about Passover. I have a book called Passover that tells the Biblical story of the first Passover and then goes through how it is celebrated today. So in the beginning I read the entire book to the girls. Then we went through the 2nd half of the book again and did many of the things that are done at Passover.

Here is everything all set up and ready for us to start...

On the board I wrote the Hebrew names for all the things on the teaching plate, the plagues, and the lyrics to the song Dayneau.

My sweet girls!

The girls sitting around in a circle with the items they got to try from the teaching plate. (Parsley dipped in salt water, horseradish, Charoset and Matzah.)

Trying the Charoset.

The teaching plate.

The Four Questions craft. This we put together so the girls could learn what the 4 questions are. I made the template on my computer. You can download it HERE.

And of course we had to hide the Akifomen! Here is the winner who found it...

We ended with NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM! And then moved on to our craft.

Here are the girls working on their craft.

In the story Rebecca is very impressed with the stars on the dressing room doors at the Movie Studio. So we made our own!

Here is mine, which now hangs on my closet door.

It was a wonderful night full of meaning and learning new things. (Oh, and we ended the night with Egg Cremes for snack just like Rebecca had in the book!)

To read about our family celebrating Passover in past years and to learn more about Passover click HERE.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

The Difference Between Boys and Girls...

2010-10-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

When you give them chenille stems so keep them busy...

With girls you get cute little kittens and dolls.

And with boys you get this! LOL

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Another Crazy Quilt Bag!

2010-10-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Crazy Quilt Purse

2010-10-02T21:13:00.000-07:00

I am soooooo in the mood to for CHRISTMAS! I don't know why? My kids have actually taken to calling my "Scrooge" the last few years because I just haven't able to get my heart into Christmas. (Let's face it Christmas is A LOT of work for a mom!) Maybe it's the fact that we finally are not in the middle of moving, maybe it's because the kids are a bit bigger. I don't know the reasons, but this year I am already excited about Christmas!

So I have started working on making some gifts......

Here is one of my creations that I actually am giving away as a birthday present...So I can show it to you....

Cute? I LOVE IT! As a matter of fact I want to make one for myself and I rarely ever end up keeping anything I make. The great thing about this project is I can use up a lot of scraps of both fabric and trims. Maybe I like it so much because it is made from all fabrics I already love. I am hoping to make several more for Christmas gifts. (I have lot's of toile scraps that are looking for a home!) I know I would be happy to find one of these under my tree!'

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Here are some basic instructions for how to crazy quilt.

Good Chemistry

2010-09-30T18:37:00.000-07:00

So my oldest son is doing Apologia Chemistry this year. We tried to get him into a class with other local homeschoolers but they all filled up so fast we ended up doing it on our own. Now, I am actually kinda glad because it's really FUN!

We are on the 3rd experiement so I figured it was time to pull out the camera and document what we are doing. Today's experiement was 2 parts. First off we were calibrating our thermometer. Then we took water from freezing to boiling and graphed the results.

Here is my geeky boy being totally happy to find out that I actually got him goggles to wear as the books recomends! LOL

Then the experiementing began! Reading the directions and
stirring the ice.

Hanging out with his lab partners! They were all giving me their most Sciencey looks! LOL

Now for some stirring on the stove....

Me "teaching" Chemistry! Which is funny if you know me and realize I haven't a clue about Science! (But, I am learning as we go.)

Writing up his results....

The finished graphing.....

I love my kids and am SO happy that all the time we have spent together has given us "good chemistry"! LOL

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I thought you all might enjoy this...

2010-09-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

Me to my 6 yo son: Go put on a shirt so we can start school.
My 6yo son: But, I never wear a shirt to do school.
My 9yo daughter: Do you think if you went to public school you could go without a shirt?
My 6 yo son: (confused) But, I don't go to public school. I go to regular school.

:^)

American Girls Club - Rebecca - Week 3

2010-09-21T21:20:00.000-07:00

For the 3rd night of American Girl Club for Rebecca we celebrated Chanukah! We started out the night by making dreidels. I printed them out HERE and then then girls colored and assembled them. Once they got them ready one of the mom's collected them in a bag to be used later in the night and gave each of the girls a candy driedel I made before hand just for fun.

Candy Dreidels made from a marshmallow, Hershey Kiss and a pretzel. I used a little icing to hold it together.

After our driedels we made we joined together to go through the 8 nights of Chanukah. I read a book aloud to the girls called Pearl's Eight Days of Chanukah. It is a story of a family going through all 8 nights of Chanukah. Each night they incorporate different things into their celebration. By the end of the book we had...lit candles for all 8 nights, heard the story of Chanukah and said the blessings, sang songs, spun the dreidels, eaten latkes and kugel and made our own menorahs.

Here is our table set up before we started. Our Menorah is in the middle. (It is made from 5 candle holders I bought at Dollar Tree.) On the board I wrote the blessings to be said each night before the candles are lit (so we could all say it aloud together as the mom's lit each candle), directions for playing with the dreidels and The Dreidel Song.

After I read the story for each day and we did the activity one of the mom's lit the candle for the day.

One of the mom's and one of the girls leading us in singing The Dreidel Song.

The girls playing with their dreidels. For our gelt we used Rolos and Hershey's Kisses. Since I was not comfortable with the whole gambling aspect of the Dreidel game we made sure that everyone ended up with the same amount of candy at the end of the night.

Our Menorah after all the candles were lit.

The menorahs the girls made.

This is made from a large craft stick, Crayola Model Magic and birthday candles.

Here are also 3 fun videos I sent out to the mom's ahead of time to share with their daughters.

Lighting of the Candles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEoGMOctp4

Driedel Song (Fun Jazzy Version - Scroll way down on the page.)

http://bussongs.com/songs/dreidel_dreidel_dreidel.php

Video of How to Play Driedel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rD3La8lV2w

One of the things I have really enjoyed about studying Rebecca is the reminder that without the Jewish faith we would not have the Christian faith. Jesus was Jewish. And as for Chanukah, Jesus would not have been born if it was not for the miracle of the Jewish people being saved. If the Greeks had succeeded in destroying the Jewish faith the Christian faith never would have come to be. So learning more about the Jewish faith has made me feel even closer to my own faith.

I hope the girls enjoyed this night as much as I did. I learned a lot and it was one of my favorite nights of AG Club!
Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 2

2010-09-20T06:01:00.000-07:00

For week 2 of Rebecca we painted Russian Nesting Dolls!

These are just like the dolls that Rebecca plays with in the books! I ordered these HERE. YES, they were expensive! (But, they did give me an educators discount when I called and asked for one.) By the time I paid for the dolls, paint and brushes I used over half my budget for the 6 weeks on this one craft! But, the girls LOVED them and that's what it's all about! :^)

We also made little flags for the girls to wave. (You can see one in the last picture above.) This went along with the story where Ana, the cousin of Rebecca was coming to America! (I got those on clearance after July 4th, so they were super cheap!) The girls also each memorized a patriotic poem and recited it for the rest of the girls. American Girl Club is a great place to get in some public speaking! (This also went along with the story in book 2.)

For snack we had bagels.

It was another great night of American Girl Club!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Mad Science - Under Pressure

2010-09-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

We have some exciting changes for Mad Science this year! We have more than doubled the number of kids in our group! In order to do this we are now meeting at our church and we have 2 classes going at once. We also have a mom who is teaching a preschool Science class at the same time. We have the Portable rockin! LOL

Our first class of this year was about air pressure.

Here is what we learned:

Air pressure is created by the Earth's atmosphere
Even though we don't feel air pressure, it is all around us
When air is heated, the molecules spread out, and become lighter, which makes it easier for them to rise.
We learned about Bernoulli's principle, which states that faster moving air exerts lower pressure.
We had air pressure races balancing ping pong balls using air dryers

Here are the big kids they got to blow out candles using these BIG air guns...

And here are the Preschoolers who are learning about sound. The mom's are clapping out a rhythm and the little ones repeat it back.

With all the students, preschoolers, mom's and little siblings we have about 80 people in the building! It's going to be a fun and BUSY year!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I Corinthians 13 for Homeschoolers

2010-09-13T06:37:00.000-07:00

A Friend of mine shared this with me and I thought it was SO beautiful I wanted to pass it on.

I Corinthians 13 for Homeschoolers

Though I teach my children how to multiply, divide, and diagram a
sentence, but fail to show them love, I have taught them nothing.
And though I take them on numerous field trips, to swim practice and
...flute lessons; and though I involve them in every church activity,
but fail to give them love, I profit nothing. And though I scrub my
house relentlessly, run countless errands, and serve three nutritious
meals every day but fail to be an example of love, I have done
nothing.

Love is patient with misspelled words and is kind to young
interrupters. Love does not envy high SAT scores of other homeschool
families.Love does not claim to have better teaching methods than
anyone else,It is not rude to the fourth telephone caller during a
science lesson, does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses, does not
turn into a drill sergeant, thinks no evil about friends' educational
choices.

Love bears all my children's challenges, believes all my children are
God's precious gifts, hopes all my children establish permanent
relationships with Christ, and endures all things to demonstrate
God's love.

Love never fails.

Where there are college degrees, they will fail; where there is
knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we teach in
part. But when the trials of life come to our children, the history,
math, and science will be done away and faith, hope and love will
remain; but the greatest of these is love.

Author Unknown

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club Rebecca Week 1

2010-09-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

So this week was the first night of American Girl Club for the new school year! It's hard to believe we only have 4 girls left to study and then AG Club will be over!

So here is what we did for night 1 of Rebecca 1914...

After saying hi to all our friends from last year and introducing the new girls to the club we had a brief discussion of book 1. Then we started our craft for the night. Over the Summer a friend of mine whose husband is Jewish gave me a big box of handmade lace that his grandmother had made. She knew we were getting ready to study Rebecca who is a Jewish girl from Russia and thought we could use the lace. She was right! In the very first story Rebecca makes lace doilies to sell. She uses the money to pay for her cousin Ana and her family to immigrate from Russia. So for our first craft we made doilies!

Here are the girls working on their sewing.

To make these I cut a small square of beige muslin for each girl and then they sewed the handmade lace around the edges. They all came out beautiful! I think grandma would be proud!

After we craft we had a special speaker that came to talk to us about the Jewish faith.

He brought along a lot of neat things to show the girls!
Here he is showing them the Shofar (Rams horn) that is used as a call to worship. He was an excellent speaker! He held the girls attention for a full 45 minutes! We had Challah Bread for our snack so he even sang the blessing over the bread before we broke it. Since it is almost Rosh Hashanah we also learned about that (Although he talked about all the Jewish Holidays.) and we had apples dipped in honey to celebrate the sweetness of the new year! He taught us a few words in Hebrew and even wrote come Hebrew for us on the white board. In my daughters words "He was AMAZING!"

After the speaker we had time to do our geography worksheets for New York and Russia. (The girls have done these on each place we have studied and are putting them together in a notebook.)

It was an wonderful night! We are thrilled to be back with all our friends and even have a few new friends who are joining us!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

To read all my post on American Girl Club click HERE.

So Here I Am!

2010-09-08T14:54:00.000-07:00

Well, you found me! It's been months since I last posted. I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks trying to get my old blog back the way I wanted it. After a lot of effort, and little result I have decided it's time to stop worrying about the past and just blog into the future! So, I am starting this new blog! What I have learned over the last few months is that I NEED TO WRITE. I process things through the tips of my fingers. I guess I have always known this, but this recent unplanned blog break has made me realize I am a happier, more satisfied person when I write. So instead of worrying about what was, I am going to trudge forward. The old blog is still there (for now) even though there are many missing pictures and broken links. Hopefully it will remain there and maybe someday I will figure out a way to merge this blog with that one. But, enough on that! LOL

Summer flew by in a FLASH! The kids and I got passes to a local water park this Summer and we had a BLAST! I have never swam so much in one Summer in my life! Here is what the kids looked like for the bulk of the Summer!

In May my oldest son had a wonderful opportunity to be part of a group of kids who got to put together a night of youth group for the other kids. They did it all from top to bottom! Worship, games, the message, etc. My son was one of 3 kids who gave the Bible message that night. It was awesome! Here he is presenting God's Word to his peers. (And a few parents.)

I can't tell you what a wonderful experience this was for me! To see my son prepping and studying God's Word in order to teach others is about the best thing I could ever ask for! To see him push himself out of his comfort zone to serve God...It was just amazing! Seeing my son becoming the person I have always known he could be is too much for words! HERE is his blog post about the message he presented. It's very good! (My boy can write!) I would love for you to click over and read it!

Another HUGE blessing this Summer was that all 3 of my kids were baptized! My oldest accepted Christ when he was 3 and we decided to wait until he was older to have him baptized. We didn't mean to wait this long though! He was signed up for a baptism class when we left California, then in Las Vegas we just never felt connected enough with a church to do it. Meanwhile my daughter accepted Christ at age 6 and my youngest accepted Christ last school year. It turned out to be a great blessing to be able to have them all baptized together. We made a BIG day of it with a party after and everything! Here they are about ready to be baptized...

This is a favorite picture from the day. The Pastor was about to pray for them and my youngest asked if he could pray for everyone instead. It was a wonderful moment! I couldn't resist snapping a picture!
The other BIG news of the Summer is that my oldest turned SIXTEEN! YIKES, I don't know how it happened! He is growing up waaaaaayyyy too fast! He's not driving yet because even though I bought Driver's Ed In A Box over a year ago, we have never opened the box! LOL So that is going to be part of school in the coming weeks.

Well, I am looking forward to getting back to blogging on a regular basis.

I hope you had a GREAT SUMMER!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. BTW, I am LOVING my new job of posting Facebook and Twitter updates for Trigger Memory Systems! If you haven't already please head over and become friends with Trigger Memory System! I am sharing 2 to 3 freebies daily you can use in your homeschooling!

All My American Girl Posts

2001-01-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

Several people have asked me to post one link to all my American Girl Posts… So here it is! I will do my best to update this as I add new posts. :^)

My daughter and I at the American Girl Cafe in Los Angeles Jan. 2008

HERE is the first post I did about our American Girl Club. To learn more about all of the American Girl characters CLICK HERE.

Kaya 1764

Click HERE to view my post on Kaya – American Girl Club week #1

Click HERE to view my post on Kaya – American Girl Club week #2

Click HERE to view my post on Kaya – American Girl Club week #3

Click HERE to view my post on Kaya – American Girl Club week #4 and 5

Click HERE to view my post on Kaya – American Girl Club week #6

CLICK HERE for Kaya – From Pam

CLICK HERE for Beginning Basket Weaving

CLICK HERE for Another Basket

CLICK HERE for Native American String Figures

CLICK HERE for Kaya – Native American Names and Name Tags

CLICK HERE for our Visit to the National Museum of the American Indian Washington D.C.

Felicity 1774

Click HERE to view American Girl Club – Felicity Week #1
Click HERE to view American Girl Club – Felicity Week #2
Click HERE to view American Girl Club – Felicity Week #3
Click HERE to view American Girl Club – Felicity Week #4
Click HERE to view American Girl Club – Felicity Week #5
Click HERE to view American Girl Club – Felicity Week #6
CLICK HERE for our American Girl Lapbook Felicity – You will find a FREE link to lapbooks for all the girls at the Felicity Lapbook post. :^)

Our Trip to Colonial Williamsburg

CLICK HERE for Colonial Williamsburg – Arrival, Traveling Back and Impressions
CLICK HERE for Colonial Williamsburg – The Governers Palace Through Felicity’s Eyes

CLICK HERE for Colonial Williamsburg – The Governers Palace- What Felicity Didn’t See
CLICK HERE for Colonial Williamsburg – Magazine
CLICK HERE for American Girl Club – Felicity – Week 6 / More Williamsburg Pics
CLICK HERE for Colonial Williamsburg – Departure and Back to the Future

Josefina 1824

American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Josefina Week #1
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Josefina Week #2
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Josefina Week #3
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Josefina week 4, 5 and 6

CLICK HERE for Josefina!
CLICK HERE for Josefina Weaving
CLICK HERE for osefina – Pouch Craft

Kirsten – 1854

CLICK HERE for Planning for Kirsten
American Girl Club CLICK HERE for Week 1 – Kirsten 1854
American Girl Club CLICK HERE for Week 2 – Kirsten 1854
American Girl Club CLICK HERE for Week 3 – Kirsten 1854
American Girl Club CLICK HERE for Week 4 – Kirsten 1854
American Girls Club CLICK HERE for Weeks 5 and 6 – Kirsten 1854

CLICK HERE for all my Little House in the Big Woods posts (We did this study at the same time we were studying Kirsten. They are from the same time period.)

CLICK HERE for A New Dress for American Girl Club – Kirsten – Wordless Wednesday
CLICK HERE for Freebie Friday – Lot’s of great links to Kirsten and Little House freebies!

Addy – 1864

CLICK HERE for Planning For Addy – American Girl Club
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Addy 1864 – Week 1
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Addy 1864 – Week 2
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Addy 1864 – Week 3
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Addy 1864 – Week 4 and 5
American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Addy 1864 – Week 6

CLICK HERE for Hobble Horse (Directions for making the Hobby Horse for Addy week 4.)

CLICK HERE for Ida Bean Doll

Samantha - 1904

The following are all posts on our American Girl Club for Samantha:
HERE is the my post about weeks 1 and 2
HERE is my post about week 3
HERE is my post about week 4
HERE is my post about week 5
HERE is my post about week 6
HERE is my post about weeks 7 and8
HERE is my post about week 9
HERE is my post about week 10

American Girl Club – CLICK HERE for Samantha – Take 2

CLICK HERE for American Girl Tea Party
CLICK HERE for Gingerbread Doll Aprons
CLICK HERE for Making Butter
CLICK HERE for 1902 House

Rebecca Rubin 1914

Rebecca CLICK HERE for week #1
Rebecca CLICK HERE for week #2
Rebecca CLICK HERE for week #3
Rebecca CLICK HERE for week #4
Rebecca CLICK HERE for week #5
Rebecca CLICK HERE for week #6

Rebecca Rubin – See comments for my craft ideas.

Kit - 1934

Kit - Weeks 1 through 6 CLICK HERE

How to make Sock Monkeys! (Coming Soon!)
Old Typewriter CLICK HERE

Hard Times For An American Girl - The Great Depression CLICK HERE

Molly 1944

CLICK HERE for Molly Week #1
CLICK HERE for Molly Week #2
CLICK HERE for Molly Week #3
CLICK HERE for Molly Week #4
CLICK HERE for Molly Week #5
CLICK HERE for Molly Week # 6

Julie - 1974

CLICK HERE for Julie Week #1

CLICK HERE for Julie Week #2

COMING SOON Julie Week #3 - Postponed due to weather. Will post soon!

CLICK HERE Julie Week #4

CLICK HERE Julie Week #5

COMING SOON Julie Week #6

70' Fashion CLICK HERE
70's Jean Purse CLICK HERE
70's Style Messenger Bag CLICK HERE
Crocheted Peace Signs CLICK HERE
70's Bandana Outfit! CLICK HERE
Finished Tye-Dye Shirts! CLICK HERE

Other Posts About American Girl Club

CLICK HERE for American Girl Geography Notebook

CLICK HERE for Funding

CLICK HERE for American Girl Club and ABC Class – Questions

CLICK HERE for Speechless

CLICK HERE for Bean Bag for Julie
CLICK HERE for Julie Album and Thank You Notes
CLICK HERE FOR gift from Nigeria
CLICK HERE American Girl Christmas Party 2009

Our Visit to the American Girl Place in Los Angeles

CLICK HERE for American Girl Place Part 1

CLICK HERE for American Girl Place Part 2

Me at the Julie display at the American Girl Store Los Angeles Jan. 2008

Me with my Julie doll March 2009.

Just Call Me Jamin

Girl's Book Club Movie Party

Happy Thanksgiving!

Homeschool Poem

Really Good 9/11 Resource for Kids

Christmas In July

Nook Case

Back to School Wreath

Change O' Plans....

Reving Up For the New School Year

Cub Scout Cool Scarves

Chalkboard Math Clock

Another Jean Bag

Monster Knees!

Rag Flag Wreath

June

Hard Times For An American Girl - The Great Depression

Sun Tea To Go!

Last Night To Teach American Girl Club!

Finished Tye-Dye Shirts

American Girl Club - Week 5 - Julie

American Girl Club - Julie - Week 4

Sign Language

Signing Fun: American Sign Language Vocabulary, Phrases, Games, and Activities (Click HERE)

Signing for Dummies (Click HERE)

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I Have A College Student!

Clean Green Party

Cub Scouts

Easter Egg T-shirt

Black, White and Pink Quilt

70's Bandana Outfit!

American Girl Club - Julie - Week 2

American Girl Club - Julie - Week #1

American Girl Club - Kit - Weeks 1 - 6

70's Fashion!

American Girl Club - Molly Week 4

American Girl Club - Molly Week 3

70's Style Jean Messenger Bag

American Girl Club - Molly Week 2

American Girl Club - Molly Week 1

70's Jean Purse

April Fool's Day Prank 2011

Crocheted Peace Signs

Fabric Fortune Cookies

American Girl Club - Molly - Week 6

Old Typewriter!

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 6

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 5

Learning To Sew

Baby Sock Corsages

Our Mission

American Girl Club - Molly - Week 5

Eat Your Way Around the USA!

Let's See If This Worked!

50s Night

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 4

The Difference Between Boys and Girls...

Another Crazy Quilt Bag!

Crazy Quilt Purse

Good Chemistry

I thought you all might enjoy this...

Me to my 6 yo son: Go put on a shirt so we can start school.My 6yo son: But, I never wear a shirt to do school.My 9yo daughter: Do you think if you went to public school you could go without a shirt?My 6 yo son: (confused) But, I don't go to public school. I go to regular school.

:^)

American Girls Club - Rebecca - Week 3

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 2

Mad Science - Under Pressure

I Corinthians 13 for Homeschoolers

American Girl Club Rebecca Week 1

So Here I Am!

All My American Girl Posts

Me to my 6 yo son: Go put on a shirt so we can start school.
My 6yo son: But, I never wear a shirt to do school.
My 9yo daughter: Do you think if you went to public school you could go without a shirt?
My 6 yo son: (confused) But, I don't go to public school. I go to regular school.