Ziplock Bag Button Storage System

Check out my new storage system for our buttons!!!! Can you believe that it is made from plastic ziplock sandwich bags sewn together?!?!?

I absolutely love it because all my buttons are separated by color and they are all in one place. Plus, it doesn't take up as much space as a button storage box would. This made for a nice little button sorting activity for the kids. I dumped out all the buttons and they grouped them by color for me. Don't they look so pretty!

So, I saw this awesome idea over on Dollar Store Crafts, but you can find the actual tutorial on Obsessively Stitching. It was so easy to make! The tutorial is great, with step-by-step instructions and lots of photos to guide you along.

All you need is a sewing machine, some wide ribbon or bias tape, and plastic sandwich bags. I am so loving this little system, that I am trying to figure out what else I can store in it...so I have a good excuse to make another one!

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The Angels in Heaven are Rejoicing Again!!!

I can't believe that I have not posted this yet, but on Dec 27, 2009, DC asked Jesus into his heart! We are so proud that he has made this awesome decision to follow Christ!!! We told him that whenever a person asks Jesus into their heart to be their Lord and Savior that the angels in heaven have a big party! (Luke 15:10) I would have posted the pics of my husband "getting his party on" like the angels, but figured he would appreciate that I didn't!  :-) DC, Mommy and Daddy are so proud of you and so happy that you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior!!!!

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Q is for Quail

For our Q unit, we learned about birds. However, in addition to the general bird theme, we talked about Numbers 11:4-11, 31-34. So our themes (in addition to birds) were being thankful AND not grumbling/complaining. Here is our lapbook:

 

Our printables came from Homeschool Share here and here.  The first photo features our "bird" stuff. The second photo features our "being thankful/not complaining" stuff. KJ drew a scene from The Biggest House in the World in the top drawing and a scene from "Gertrude McFuzz" in Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories in the bottom drawing. Both books provide a great way to illustrate the whole concept of being thankful for you have rather than complaining about it! Here are some other books that we read with the same theme of gratitude:

Back to the bird theme...we also made bird feeders using pinecones, peanut butter, and seeds. All of the kids got to participate in this one. However, we never did see any birds eat from the pinecones. Perhaps it was because the kids wanted to hang the bird feeders on the tree close to the side of the house. (The only way we could have seen any birds at the feeder is if we were outside...)

The highlight of our week with quails was making an edible bird nest. It was a HUGE hit with all the kids. Well, anything made with chocolate is a big hit in  my house!!!
You can get instruction on making the nest here!

Finally, here are some of the bird themed books that we used:

Well, that was about it for our unit on quails!!!

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SpellQuizzer {Review & Giveaway}

I was contacted by SpellQuizzer to review and host a giveaway for their spelling software. SpellQuizzer is a spelling program that helps kids learn their spelling and vocabulary words.

First off, I must say that I was thrilled to have been contacted to do this. However, I was even more thrilled when I downloaded the spelling software and tried it out. With this program you are able to enter the spelling words into the software and make a sound recording for each word! How cool is that?!?! So, in a nutshell, I create the spelling list and record my voice dictation of each word. My daughter can then, sit down at any time (with or without me) and practice her spelling words and still hear my voice dictating the words that I entered into the program. Not only has it helped to improve her spelling, but it also provides exposure to the computer!

What I really appreciate about SpellQuizzer is that it seems to work GREAT with our spelling program, Spell to Write and Read. I am able to record each spelling list into the computer. I can even use the very same sentences that are given as examples in our text book. With Spell to Write and Read, dictation is an important part of learning to spell and SpellQuizzer provides an excellent means of spelling reinforcement! In fact, I have taken SpellQuizzer a step further. I have also recorded our phonograms (letter sounds) into a list as well. This way, my daughter can not only practice her spelling words, but she can also practice her letter sounds. I even have plans to use SpellQuizzer with my preschoolers. They have a Letters of the Alphabet spelling list that my 4 year olds can use to practice letter identification.

Needless to say, I REALLY like this program! It has been and continues to be a great supplement to our spelling lessons. It doesn't have alot of bells and whistles, but it gets the job done, which is what I absolutely love about it! The child hears your dictation of the word and a sentence containing the word. They type in the word! If the word is spelled correctly, they move on to the next word. If the word is spelled incorrectly, the correct spelling is shown and the child has the opportunity to try their missed words again once they complete the list! Easy-peasy!!! Plus, an added bonus is that my daughter LOVES using this program and asks to use it on a regular basis! The boys are anxious to start using it as well!!!

So, if you haven't already checked out SpellQuizzer, be sure to head on over! They even have a special page just for homeschoolers! Plus, they have a page where you can download free spelling lists! They even offer a free 30-day download trial period. (So, if you don't win the giveaway, be sure to at least give it a trial run!!!)

Before providing the details of the giveaway, I must let you know how impressed I have been with the customer service! All of my questions have been answered and my emails have all been responded to in a VERY timely manner!

Now, on to the giveaway! For reviewing this product, I get to give away a free license (valued at $29.95) to download the software to one of my readers!!!

***Giveaway is now closed***

The first and mandatory entry is to head over to SpellQuizzer and leave a comment telling me the name of one of the spelling lists that you can download. (Hint: Look on the left sidebar of the SpellQuizzer page to find the Spelling List link.)

For a additional entries: 
1) Become a Mama Jenn follower or subscriber (or let me know that you already are)!

2) Blog about this giveaway and leave a link to your blog post. 

3) Become a follower or subscriber to my Homeschool Resource List blog (or let me know that you already are)!

4) Become a follower or subscriber to my Brown Like Me Book Review blog (or let me know that you already are)!

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry!!!

The giveaway will end at midnight on Saturday, February 6, 2010. Please make sure that there is some way for me to contact you in case you are the winner!

This product was given to me (free of charge) for review and giveaway purposes. I was not paid for this post. All opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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stART ~ Mouse Paint

We read Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and the kids LOVED it! It went along perfectly with KJ's lessons on color from My Father's World Curriculum PLUS it is one of the books in our Itty Bitty Bookworm Curriculum PLUS the big boys were doing letter M. Needless to say, Mouse Paint was a great pick all around! So, for our stART project we painted mice.

The kids each drew three ovals on two pieces of paper. I gave them the primary colors and they painted the three ovals on their first paper. Then, they mixed the primaries to make the secondaries and painted the three ovals on the second paper. Once dry, the kids added features to their mice! Can you tell, that one is a girl with pony tails and a few others have on glasses.

For more stART projects, be sure to check out A Mommy's Adventures.

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Rainbow Sun Catcher

We have been learning about colors and for our Bible time we have been learning about Noah. So, this rainbow sun catcher craft was perfect!  
To make this you will need:

-a coffee filter
-water based markers
-cotton balls
-glue
-paint brush

This is what you do: Flatten the filter and cut it in half so that you have a half circle. Now, cut the half circle so that it is shaped like a rainbow. Next, use the water based markers to color a rainbow on the the filter. Next, dilute the glue a bit and use a paint brush to brush the glue over the rainbow. Allow to dry. Once dry, add cotton balls and hang your rainbow sun catcher in a window! (Note: We let ours dry on wax paper. We had to peel the rainbow off the wax paper, but there was a cool rainbow design left behind on the wax paper. Our rainbow turned out fine. The book suggests using a styrofoam tray.)
We got this super cute idea from Gifts To Make/For Grownups.

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Kiddos Create {1/25/10}

Welcome to the Kiddos Create Weekly carnival!!! Be sure to check out the new rules here! Hopefully, the new rules will encourage more participation! I can't wait to check out your links and see your creations made by, for, or with your kiddos using everyday items from around your home!! If you are new here and would like more info about the Kiddos Create Challenge of the Week and how to join in, please click here.

***Be sure to either link back to here or add the Kiddos Create button to your post! You can grab the button from the right sidebar.***

Remember: MckLinky will close this coming Saturday night at midnight. So, you've got all week to link up!

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Printable Color Wheel Activity

We have been learning about colors. Once we started discussing primary and secondary colors, I decided to make this color wheel. KJ has been having lots of fun with it and asks to use it almost daily.

So, this is our color wheel in action. First, you will need to download and print the color wheel I made from here. Laminate it or slide it into a sheet protector. (We used my new Scotch Laminator and I am loving it!!! So much better than trying to use clear contact paper all the time!) Now, get your supplies together.

You will need: 
food coloring (red, yellow, and blue)
paper towels
a dropper (we used an old medicine dropper)
a cup for water
3 containers/cups for food coloring
toothpicks
the printable color wheel (from my Color Wheel webpage)

Here is what you do: First, dilute the food coloring a bit. Use the dropper to place a drop of each color onto the appropriate dot on the paper (i.e. one yellow dropped on each yellow dot on the paper, blue dropped on each blue dot on paper... and so forth) until all of the dots are covered with the appropriate color. Be sure to clean the dropper in a cup of water each time you switch colors.

Next, use the toothpick to mix the colors in each circle. We found that it works best if you turn the toothpick a bit on its side rather than trying to mix while holding the toothpick straight up. Use a different toothpick for each circle.

Once all the circles of color are mixed together so that you have six little blobs of color (one in each circle), place a paper towel over the paper.

 

Finally, lift up your color wheel and discuss how each color was made!

I got the idea for this color mixing activity from Itty Bitty Love.

Be sure to check out my new color wheel printable with the tertiary colors!

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Yummy Edible Crayons!!!

How cute are these crayons? Would you believe that you can eat them? Yes, I am serious!!! I was so smitten with them that I didn't want to let the kids taste them. But, of course they convinced me otherwise!  {grins} We had such a blast making and eating these!!!!

Would you like to make some of your very own edible crayons? Check out the instructions below.

Supplies Needed:

-pretzel rods
-vanilla icing
-food coloring
-colored paper

Directions:

1) Break the pretzel rods in half.

2) Put the icing in a bowl (one bowl per color). Our icing was in the refrigerator. So, to get it room temperature, I popped it in the microwave for a few seconds.

3) Mix in the food coloring.

4) Dip the tips of each pretzel in the icing. See below:

 

5) We let the pretzels sit for a few hours to so that the icing could harden a bit. You could also try doing this with melted white chocolate or candy melts. We had neither on hand so we used what we improvised with the icing (with success)!!!

 

I saw this super cute idea on two different blogs, Gourmet Mom on the Go and Cookin Up Crafty Fun. Both blogs have labels that you can download, but ours were printed from the second blog. (The second blog also links to a cute little printable crayon box to hold your crayons!)

6) Print the crayon labels.

7) After the icing hardened and the labels were printed, we taped the labels around the pretzels and viola, the cutest crayons you would ever want to eat!!!!

Here are some fun books to read that go with the crayon theme:

 

 

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V is for Vegetables

We had lots of fun during our V for vegetables week from our My Father's World curriculum. One of the highlights was making our very own homemade vegetable soup...from scratch! (I had hoped to do this during rock week when we read Stone Soup, but we didn't.) Believe it or not it was our very first time making it from scratch. KJ told me what veggies she wanted to put in and we added it!!!! We put in some chicken broth and lots of spices and called it good!!! Much to my surprise it was REALLY good! Yay us!!!!

We talked about our very first garden, which we planted last spring. We also saved some seeds from various fruits and veggies and put them in the super cute printable seed packets! Our plan is to plant them in the spring and see what happens!

One of the books that we read was The Tale of Peter Rabbit. I had KJ choose a page and draw her version of it! Check out her drawing and the page from the book! I am quite impressed!!!

We also made our vegetable lapbook:

I used printables from Homeschool Share from here and here. The veggies on the front were a pdf printed from KidzClub.

As always, we read tons of books. Here are some of our veggie books:



Well, that wraps up the highlights from our Vegetable week!

Be sure to check out more Weekly Homeschool Highlights at Mishmash Maggie.

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