A Great Homeschool Product

The following product was suggested to me by a fellow homeschooling mom to add to my blog. Thank you for sharing.

My daughter loves to write! She has been telling stories since she was old enough to put sentences together and she is still writing. This is a product that both, my hands on son and writing daughter would really love to make use of. Perhaps you might enjoy it too.

Make your own books with a Binding Books Beautifully Kit!

Turn your poetry, school work, art projects, creative photo albums, or scrapbook portfolios into professional looking, cloth-covered, hardbound books. With just one Binding Books Beautifully kit, you will be able to make hundreds of books from your own home. The BBB method is so simple and the results are beautiful!

Your BBB kit includes a manual (this doubles as a creative writing curriculum for all ages and a step-by-step instruction manual), a wooden binding tool with the hardware, your first two pieces of book board (more book board available at request-$0.75 cents each), and a 55-minute recording of a live Binding Books Beautifully workshop on DVD.

To make your own books, you will need to provide your own pages, fabric, thread, and Elmer’s glue. These supplies are common household items, or easily purchased at Wal-Mart. The average cost of each book you make is under $2.

Each kit cost $35 plus $6 for shipping. Orders can be placed through Paypal using the account name of agoodname22@juno.com, or send a check or money order to Lisa Cannon, 4040 Reynolds Road, Malabar, FL 32950.

www.BindingBooksBeautifully.com

Cooking and Baking

Misty sent me lots of suggestions, several of them were ideas for different things to teach in the kitchen. Learning how to do things such as cooking, baking and meal planning are important for our children, both boys and girls, to learn. I have to admit that's it's a whole lot quicker and easier to just do it myself, but if I do that how are my children going to learn to do these things? My aim is to begin this coming year to choose one meal a week that my children plan the menu and cook, with some guidance from me when needed, so that they can feel confidant in the kitchen. My children are 11 and almost 13, both old enough to make simple meals. Even if yours are young they can begin like mine did by helping with the tasks at their level.

Here are some sites that might be helpful:

http://www.cookingwithkids.com/

http://www.kids-cooking-activities.com/index.html

http://www.dltk-kids.com/articles/teachingkidshowtocook.htm

Cake decorating was an idea from Misty too, here's a link about teaching it to kids:

http://www.creativecakeworks.com/2008/01/cake-decorating-with-kids.html


Thanks Misty,
Alison

Finger Knitting

A fellow homeschooling mom, Jill, reminded me about finger knitting. My children were introduced to this method of knitting a couple of years ago on craft day for our homeschool group. The children from about 5 years up to teenagers, boys and girls, really seemed to enjoy it.

We brought three different skeins of yarn, it could be the same or different colors, so the project would be thicker. But I don't think that you have to use that much, it just depends on what you are planning to make with it, I believe the following link shows just two being used.

Here is a link to some directions that I found online:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/FEATfingerknitting.html

Thank you, Jill, for the idea,
Alison

Craft Resources in the Public Domain

I don't know how many of you visit the American Libraries Internet Archive, but I have found some wonderful books there, with a variety of crafts. The books can be viewed in several ways, such as downloaded as a PDF, or read online as a "flipbook", which allows you to turn the pages with a click of your mouse. I will be adding the links to these books onto my Books Online list.

Alison

Shakespeare Clothespin Dolls

Here is an idea from a fellow homeschooling mom, you can take a look on her site, where you can find the instructions:
http://grace2u-s2.blogspot.com/2008/01/alls-well-that-ends-well.html

Thanks for sharing!

Knitting Spool

My daughter recently bought herself a knitting spool and she has plans to make all sorts of neat things with it. So far, she is still working on her first project, it is coming along great!

Make a Clock Together

My son made a clock, when he was eight, with a little direction from me. We bought the items needed in the craft section of our local department store.

Here's what you would need:

Clock parts package
An unfinished wooden plague
A picture from an old calendar or magazine
Polyurethane or other protective coating

Here's how we did it:

We started by finding the center of the piece of wood and drilled a hole big enough for the post of the clock works, to fit through. Then, he sanded the wood. Next, he cut and attached the picture, with glue, in the center. This next part is a little tricky (or sticky), especially if your child is still young. We used the polyurethane on his clock. But if it's going to be something indoors, like a clock, there are other types of coating that is easier to clean up, found in the craft department of your local store. After allowing it to dry completely we attached the numbers, they had sticky backs. We printed out a clock coloring page from online to help with the placement of the numbers. Then, at last, he put the clock works on the back with the post going through the hole, to the front, for the hands.