Repurpose Pants to Purses

When I was a little girl, my mom used to make bags for us out of old jeans. When she came to visit, she saw all of the jeans that my kids could no longer wear and came up with the brilliant idea of turning a few of them them into purses. So, rather than a big bag made from adult sized jeans, she made little purses out of kid sized jeans. My daughter helped out and here are a few of the purses that they made!

I know that this next purse is not made from jeans, but my mom made this super cute purse from a pair of my daughter’s old shorts! It turned out SOOOOO cute! I am convinced that it could be sold in a store somewhere!!!

Anyhow, to make the purses, all she did was cut the jeans off in the crotch area and stitch the bottom closed. Use the leg of the jeans/shorts to cut a handle for the purse and stitch it on. You can add a closure or velcro to the top if you want the purse to close. You can jazz up the bag a bit by adding ribbon in the belt loops!

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Words to Remember {MFW Kindergarten Printables}

As much as I love the hands-on activities and crafts in our My Father’s World Kindergarten Curriculum, I was not very good about doing the words to remember badges with my daughter. So, I came up with something a little different for the boys.

I created copywork/art pages for each of the lessons based on the words to remember. The words to remember are at the very top of the page. The lines at the bottom of the page are for copying the words to remember. The blank space in the middle of the page is for the boys to “creatively” depict the words to remember.

Download the MFW Kindergarten Words to Remember Art/Copywork Pages from my MFW Kindergarten Supplemental Printables page

Below are some of our completed Words to Remember Pages:

Our Words to Remember Pages:
{click thumbnails for more info on each activity}

Our remaining Words to Remember Pages will soon be added!

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A Science Experiment of His Own…

One of my 3 year olds decided that he wanted to do a science experiment of his own. While the rest of us were upstairs, somehow JI snuck off downstairs and went in the candy drawer (aka the drawer that houses all of the sweets that I somehow end up with that I DON’T want the kids to eat). Realizing that he was gone, I called him back upstairs. Only later did I notice what my little scientist had done!

  

He put water in a cup, ripped open a bag of hard candy, opened up a few candies and dropped them into the cup of water. I am convinced that he wanted to try his hand at color mixing since I didn’t let him do the color wheel activity with the older kids.  LOL

Be sure to head over to Adventures in Mommydom for more Science Sunday links! I promise you will find some actual mommy-organized science activities…as opposed to my son’s covert experiment!  :-)

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Expedition Earth Winner

Wow, 669 giveaway entries!!! Thank you to everyone who entered the giveaway to win Erica’s world geography curriculum, Expedition Earth. We now have a winner!!!

Congratulations to commenter #42, Kami from Nurturing the Tender Years.

To everyone else, be sure to head over and purchase Expedition Earth. You will NOT be disappointed! For two more chances to WIN the Expedition Earth curriculum, head over to Spell Outloud. Maureen’s giveaway ends September 1st. 

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Bible Verse & Copywork Printables (from MFW Adventures)

The kids and I really enjoyed having the Bible verse printables for our lessons corresponding to our My Father’s World 1st grade curriculum. So, I decided to do the same for the memory verses to go along with Adventures in My Father’s World.

However, this time I have all of the verses in just one post rather than spread out in individual posts. You can download all of the Bible Verses and Copywork pages corresponding to Adventures in My Father’s World from my MFW Adventures Supplemental Printables page. Please visit my printables page and review the terms of use! Thanks and enjoy!!!

Visit my MFW Adventures Supplemental Printables page to download!

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Once Upon a Book {April-June 2010}

For those of you who don't know, I contribute to the Once Upon a Book feature over on Totally Tots. Basically, I choose a book(s) based on the Totally Tots theme of the month and come up with fun ideas focused on the book and the current theme.
The posts contain:

• a book summary
• a related Bible verse
• ideas for crafts, math, science, art, games, snacks, songs, fingerplays, dramatic play, fine motor skills etc.

Here are the books I chose for April through June 2010. You can click on the book images to go to the post showing what I did with my tots for each of the books.

  

 

To see all of my Totally Tots posts, click here!
Jenn

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Mission of the Month: September 2010

Welcome to our very first Mama’s Mission of the Month! My hope is that this will help me {and you} follow through on some of the goals that we have set for the month! So, if you are a mama and you want to join in, check out the intro post! (If you have already read the rules, you can easily grab the buttons from the Buttons Tab on the top of the sidebar.)

 

My Mission for September 2010: Well, with life about to become very hectic, I KNOW that I need to get back on track. I/we had LOTS of fun this summer and I became a slacker in way to many areas!!!

 

One thing that I started awhile back that really helped me stay on track of virtually everything (from cleaning, to planning, to paying bills, to remembering appointments & birthdays, to scheduling “me” time, etc.) was the SHE Method. {By the way, SHE stands for Sidetracked Home Executives.} I am not sure where I first heard about it, but I got the book and put the plan into action. It took some effort, but once I got the plan it place, it worked like a charm!

 

The basic idea is that you use index cards and a scheduling system to plan out all of the things that you want/need to do. Each day you check your cards and do which whatever is on the cards for that particular day. Once you done it, you file away the card so that it will come up again when you need to perform the “activity” again. I know it may sound kind of confusing, but it really worked for me and I TOTALLY need to get back to it!

 

So, that is my mission for the month of September…start back with the SHE Method. {I am determined to get this done, because I want to be able to use the “mission accomplished” button in my next Mama’s Mission post. There is something special about a check-mark!}  LOL

 

What is your September mission of the month? Feel free to link up and share! It is a great way to hold yourself accountable! For more information on how to join in, please read the intro post. The linky will be open until midnight, September 5th.

 

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Workbox Tags

When I posted about our workbox setup, I got a number of questions about the tags. We used the tags that Cassie made and allowed Maureen to share over on Spell Outloud. Although I LOVE her tags, there were a few other tags that I still needed…like Bible, Circle Time, Science, etc. So, I edited her tags to make what I needed. However, since I don’t have the rights to the tags {since I didn’t create them}, I cannot share the additional ones that I made.

However, enough people have asked about the additional tags that I decided to make some that I could share with you all. So, here they are! They have the same general look as Cassie’s tags, but I created them myself in Photoshop. Feel free to download and use them!

Download the Workbox Tags from my Workbox Webpage

If there is another subject or activity that you need to add, you can just write it onto the blank tags found on the bottom of the second page!

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Easy LunchBoxes Winner

Congratulations to the winner of our Easy Lunchboxes giveaway:

Commenter #164, Ruth

So, if you are not Ruth, be sure to head over a purchase a set of Easy Lunchboxes for your family. You will NOT be disappointed!! We are totally LOVING ours…so much so that I now have two additional sets. That means that the kids and I each have 2 lunchboxes apiece. Now I can have one set loaded with food while the other set is in the dishwasher!!! LOVE IT!!!!!

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Homeschool Confession

I have a homeschool confession to make. You would probably think that with all the planning and organizing that I have done, I would have already started school with the kids. But, the truth is I haven’t…and the only reason is because…to put it blunt…

I am totally scared to start school with the kids this year!

There, I said it!!!!

Last year I felt like I only HAD to stay on top of teaching my oldest. I didn’t freak out if I didn’t get things done with the others, because they were doing preschool work. But, this year, I will have a 2nd grader and two kindergartners…not to mention two little busy-body 3 year olds.

This sounds horrible, but I feel like this year I can’t get away with just focusing on one child…I now have to REALLY teach to at least three of my kids!!! This all seems very overwhelming to me…so much so that I have come up with reasons to postpone starting.

My MIL being in town was my first excuse...the kids of course didn’t need to be bogged down with schoolwork while she was here. They should have all the time they want to play with Granny!  :-)  My current excuse is that the kids are taking swim lessons. I actually signed them up for additional sessions…partly so that I could continue using it as an excuse. Having to go to swim class each morning just doesn’t allow for us to do our normal school routine…so we should just wait til all the swim sessions are over, right?!?!?!  Of course!!! LOL

Well, with all of my apprehension, I was happy to see this over on Erica’s blog:

So, if you are feeling a little apprehensive or overwhelmed…if you are doubting yourself…why don’t you claim 2 Corinthians 9:8 for yourself!!! That is what I am doing!!!

“God is able to make every grace overflow to you,

so that in every way,

always having everything you need,

you may excel in every good work.”

2 Corinthians 9:8

If you need additional encouragement, you can download and print my encouragement cards. 2 Corinthians 9:8 is not included in the download, but there are some other great verses included!

I gave away my laminated copy to a friend, but I am planning to print and laminate another copy so that I can keep them nearby for those moments when I feel completely overwhelmed!!! Who knows, maybe we will start school before the month is over!!!  :-)

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Mama’s Mission of the Month

I have discovered that one of the benefits of blogging is that in some strange kind of way, it helps to hold me accountable. If I blog about doing something, I am more likely to make sure that it gets done…which is why I have decided to start up Mama’s Mission of the Month. Basically, I will post about what I want to accomplish for that specific month. The following month I will post about my accomplishments and what I plan to accomplish for the upcoming month.

This is really a means of holding myself accountable so that I can get more things checked off of my never-ending-to-do-list! However, you are all more than welcome to join in with me! On the 1st of each month I will put up my Mission of the Month post along with a linky for you to join in. The linky will stay up until the 7th of the following month. Please be sure to link up your Mission of the Month post and NOT your home url. Only other requirements? You must be a mama and all missions MUST be clean. Inappropriate missions will be deleted.

To make it a little more fun, I have created little buttons that you can use as you wish in your post! Everyone loves to be able to check something off of their to-do list, right?!?!?! {In the future, you can quickly grab the buttons from the Buttons Tab on the top right of the sidebar.}

<center> <a href="http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/search/label/Mission%20of%20the%20Month" target="_blank"><img src="http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp215/mama-jenn-photobucket/MamasMission.jpg" border="0" alt="Mission of the Month" /></a></center>
<center> <a href="http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/search/label/Mission%20of%20the%20Month" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp215/mama-jenn-photobucket/MissionAccomplished.jpg" border="0" alt="Mission Accomplished" /></a></center>

And in the HOPEFULLY you will never need to use the button below! But, for those special situations where you need a little grace, here it is!
 

<center> <a href="http://mama-jenn.blogspot.com/search/label/Mission%20of%20the%20Month" target="_blank"><img src=" http://i413.photobucket.com/albums/pp215/mama-jenn-photobucket/MissionNOTAccomplishedYET.jpg" border="0" alt="Mission NOT Accomplished YET" /></a></center>
In your post, please either link back to Mama Jenn, where Mama’s Mission of the Month is hosted or use one or both of the buttons above so that we can help hold each other accountable in accomplishing our missions!!!

Your mission can be as big or as small as you would like it to be…just be sure that it is something that you can realistically accomplish! Now, I must be clear, this is meant to encourage you to accomplish some of those things that you may not have otherwise accomplished. This is NOT intended to bring condemnation of any sort! If you don’t accomplish your mission…no worries…give it a shot the following month.

So, if you want to join in, go ahead and decide what you want to accomplish for the upcoming month and get your post together. The linky will go up each month on the 1st and you will have until the 7th to link up your Mission of the Month post.

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Expedition Earth {Review & Giveaway}

My blog buddy Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler has done it again! First, she created her Letter of the Week Preschool Curriculum, which is awesome! Now, she has created a complete world geography curriculum called Expedition Earth: A Journey Through God’s World!

If you have seen any of her Letter of the Week curriculum, you KNOW that Erica is very thorough with what she does. Well, the geography curriculum is that and alot more! When I got the download and began to look through it, my brain totally started reeling! I began to plan for our 2011-2012 school year when we will be studying world geography…and we haven’t even started the  2010-2011 school year! To say that I am excited about this curriculum is a complete understatement!

Expedition Earth covers 31 countries and is designed for grades K-3. The download is 160+ pages! (I told you Erica is thorough!!!) Each country comes with a week long Lesson plan. Activities and topics include:

7 Wonders of the World

Geographical Location

Science: Ecosystems Study

Geography Vocabulary

People of the Region

How to Pray for the Regions

Language Study

Christmas around the world

Children like me

Science: Animals mini-books for each country

Science: Animal Classification Study

Country Report

Continent Report

Animal Report

Ecosystem Report

Children Like Me Report

Food and recipes

Craft activities

Country Songs

Passport

Fun activities, games, and more!!!

 

Head over to Confessions of a Homeschooler to download the sample Brazil week!

What I really love is how she includes crafts!!! If you keep up with my blog, you know we LOVE crafts! Plus, I love how she incorporates praying for each of the countries! I feel that you become more interested in what you are learning when you are pouring your heart into it. What a great way to pour your heart into the countries by praying for them as you study and learn about them!  An added bonus is that everything is all laid out…with lists!!! I LOVE lists and I make them ALL.THE.TIME!!! This way, I know what craft supplies I will need and I know what books I need to get from the library or purchase!

ALL of this in included for only $15! I have paid ALOT more for curricula that doesn’t begin to include as much information as Expedition Earth! So, needless to say, Erica’s is practically giving this away! Once you get the download, you will COMPLETELY understand what I am talking about!!!

Erica has graciously agreed to give away a copy of the Expedition Earth to one of my readers! But, if you can’t wait to see if you win, head on over and purchase the Expedition Earth: A Journey Into God’s World!

I almost forgot!!!! As an added bonus, you can download Erica’s Expedition Earth: Discovering God’s Animals to go along with the curriculum for free!!! PLUS, Maureen at Spell Outloud has created a Continent Hopscotch Game (also free) to go along with the curriculum!

Ready to win??? Check out the giveaway information below…

~~Giveaway in closed~~

Giveaway Information

Want to win a copy of Expedition Earth?  The giveaway is valued at $15.00, which includes an instant download of the complete curriculum. There are a lot of ways that you can enter to win.

~ Mandatory Entry: Leave a comment letting me know that you would like to win the Expedition Earth curriculum download.

~ Additional (optional) entries: (Leave a separate comment for EACH entry)

• Subscribe to or follow Mama Jenn and let me know you do.
• Subscribe to or follow any of my other blogs (Homeschool Resource List or “Brown Like Me” Book Reviews and let me know you do.
• Subscribe to or follow Confessions of a Homeschooler and let me know you do.
• Follow Confessions of Homeschooler on Twitter and let me know you do.
• Blog about this giveaway and leave the link to your post.
• Tweet about this giveaway and let me know you did.
• Head over to Confessions of a Homeschooler and download the sample Brazil week. Leave a comment with something that you learned or liked about the sample Brazil week.
• Leave a comment letting me know something that you remember learning about world geography when you were a child.
• Finally, if you are using Erica’s Letter of the Week curriculum, leave a comment letting me know your favorite letter of the week.

~~Giveaway is closed~~

The giveaway will be open until 9pm PST Friday, August 27, 2010. A winner will be chosen at random via random.org. Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you.

The Expedition Earth geography curriculum was provided 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 and have been not influenced by the free product provided.

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“Natural” Art

The kids never cease to amaze me with the ideas that they can come up with! Check out their “natural” artwork! The kids used some flower petals, dirt, leaves, twigs, and a baby tomato. (Don’t worry, the tomato had already fallen off the tomato plant…at least that is what the kids told me!)   :-)

So, if you are in need of a SUPER easy activity to spark you child’s imagination, go outside and see what you can find and make some “natural” art!!!

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Proverbs 19:21 {printables}

I created these printables to go with my daughter's My Father's World 1st grade curriculum, in which she learned Bible verses from Proverbs. To help her remember them, I made printables for her for each of the Proverbs covered in the curriculum. We put an 8.5x11 of the verse up on our Bible board and I also scale it down and print it onto a blank 4x6 inch index card to go into her Bible verse memory book.

I also created printable copywork for each of the verses. Once she completed the copywork, I hole punched it and put it in a 3-ring folder so that we have another record of her verses. Plus, it is nice to be able to look back and see how her penmanship improved!

You can download the docs by clicking on each of the images.

FYI: The curriculum does come with blank pages to use for the copywork. However, I made these to coordinate with the memory verse pages above. Plus, I just think they are so darn cute and my kids are loving them!

Visit my printables page to see all of my free downloads!

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Proverbs 11:30 {printables}

I created these printables to go with my daughter's My Father's World 1st grade curriculum, in which she learned Bible verses from Proverbs. To help her remember them, I made printables for her for each of the Proverbs covered in the curriculum. We put an 8.5x11 of the verse up on our Bible board and I also scale it down and print it onto a blank 4x6 inch index card to go into her Bible verse memory book.

I also created printable copywork for each of the verses. Once she completed the copywork, I hole punched it and put it in a 3-ring folder so that we have another record of her verses. Plus, it is nice to be able to look back and see how her penmanship improved!

You can download the docs by clicking on each of the images.

FYI: The curriculum does come with blank pages to use for the copywork. However, I made these to coordinate with the memory verse pages above. Plus, I just think they are so darn cute and my kids are loving them!

Visit my printables page to see all of my free downloads!

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Proverbs 10:1 {printables}

I created these printables to go with my daughter's My Father's World 1st grade curriculum, in which she learned Bible verses from Proverbs. To help her remember them, I made printables for her for each of the Proverbs covered in the curriculum. We put an 8.5x11 of the verse up on our Bible board and I also scale it down and print it onto a blank 4x6 inch index card to go into her Bible verse memory book.

I also created printable copywork for each of the verses. Once she completed the copywork, I hole punched it and put it in a 3-ring folder so that we have another record of her verses. Plus, it is nice to be able to look back and see how her penmanship improved!

You can download the docs by clicking on each of the images.

FYI: The curriculum does come with blank pages to use for the copywork. However, I made these to coordinate with the memory verse pages above. Plus, I just think they are so darn cute and my kids are loving them!

Visit my printables page to see all of my free downloads!

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Was today the best day ever?

Have you laughed and had fun with your kids today? No, I really mean it! Have you taken some time out of your day to really have fun with your kiddos? Have you had a pillow fight? Have you played tickle monster? Have you made silly faces? Have you cranked up some music and dance around the room together?

…Have you made water balloons and surprised the kids with a water fight? Well, that is exactly what my husband and I did with the kids one hot summer day a few weeks ago. We had so much fun! We played Splat Ball (baseball with water balloons) and it eventually ended up in an all out water fight!

{My wonderful husband took a break from the action and snapped a few pics of me running from the kids! …I finally decided it was easier to just dump buckets of water on them!}

We ran around and laughed and when it was all said and done, the kids told us that we were the best mommy and daddy in the world and that it was the best day ever! This among many other things have left me wondering…why can’t I put forth the same effort to make more of those great memories on a regular basis?

Why can’t everyday be the best day ever?

Am I the only mama who needs to laugh with and have more fun with her kiddos? I kinda think not. So, want to join me in actively planning more fun and laughter into our daily routines?

What are you going to do today to laugh with and have fun with your kiddos? What memories will you make with your kids today that will last a lifetime? How are you going to make today the best day ever?

Jenn

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