Christmas Around the World - Japan

In continuing with our Christmas around the world theme, my daughter made some beautiful temari Christmas ribbon ornaments.

First I took a Styrofoam ball, a hot glue gun, and some red embroidery floss.

I wrapped the floss around the ball, using the hot glue gun only at the beginning and end of the string.

After that my daughter decorated the balls using ribbon which she attached with straight pins, and glittery string which we "sewed" in and out of the ball using a large needle at an angle.

Finally we attached an ornament hanger at a spot where the ribbon was very secure.

We got this idea from the Expedition Earth curriculum at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

My son also used the preschool ideas for Christmas from her site this week. He really enjoyed them! Here is a picture of his ornaments with clothespins on them:

You can find all of this curriculum at <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com"><img alt="coahbutton" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4539688748_8098ff340c_o.png" width="150" height="150" /></a>

Another thing we did this week was make candy. We do it every year, but we didn't make nearly as much this year as we did last year. This year we made peanut butter fudge, regular fudge, cherry mash, and molded chocolate. Here are pictures from the peanut butter fudge:

You can find the recipe we used here: Easiest Peanut Butter Fudge

Here is a picture of the cherry mash

We used the recipe on the back of the bag of cherry chips, so I don't have that one for you.

Anyways, I have more stuff from our Christmas week to post tomorrow. I know I am super behind, but I still want to share all of the fun stuff we did and I have some adorable pictures coming up that I can't not post! I hope everyone had as great a Christmas as we did!

Countdown to Christmas...23 Days!

Today is officially my last day wearing the walking boot for even a partial day, so there is something to celebrate right there!

For dinner we are having pumpkin pancakes, and for activities, we are having Christmas, Christmas, Christmas, all over this place!

So far today we have read 10 pages from Hark! A Christmas Sampler, Read today's selection from The Jesse Tree, taking our ornament and candy out of our advent envelopes, and I now have a coloring page for each story we read.

We also read about Mexico in our Christmas around the World activities from Expedition Earth and made paper bag luminaries, using battery operated candles.

When we finished all of that, we just hadn't had enough (I know, right?) So we made hand print ornaments, another idea from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Here is the link to her instructions and pictures: snowman handprint ornament I actually used the acrylic fillable Christmas ornaments so that I wouldn't have to worry about them breaking during the creation or shipping process.

I went ahead and added the links for everything you would need to make the ornament crafts, and also a link for battery operated candles, so you would know what you are looking for but I found the candles 2 for $3.99 at Target, so the candles can be found cheaper. The book I haven't found anywhere but on Amazon so I bought it there myself.

Are You feeling ADVENT-urous?

We are advent-ing it all over the place over here. We love it! I have never done it before, but I really wanted to make sure that Christ is the focus of Christmas for my children, like it was for me growing up. I don't want them to miss out on the true joy of this season. The joy of a new toy only lasts for so long. The joy of our Saviour is never ending.

That being said, celebrating advent can be a daunting task. There are 8 million ideas out there of how to do so, some of them expensive, some of them cheap, some of them easy, some of them time consuming, and everything in between? I am not wealthy, especially since every dollar I get this time of year I want to spend on someone I love, and I am also not the most crafty and industrious person in the world. So here is what is working for me.

First, we got 26 envelopes (that is how many days are in advent this year) and then we got out markers, glue, scissors, the day after Thanksgiving adds, magazines, and wrapping paper scraps. My children decorated the back side of each envelope (where the flap is), and I wrote the number on the flap for each day.

Next I got that sticky adhesive and I attached the envelopes to my wall. To make it super festive, I made them in the shape of a Christmas tree. In each envelope is a piece of candy, and then a bible verse or an ornament that represents a story from the book The Jesse Tree, which we are reading this year. 

I really like this book and their are a ton of ideas to make this more fancy (giving it it's own tree, making a tree out of wood and buttons, etc.) but in order to stay with my theme of keeping it simple, we just let our kids take turns adding the ornament to our regular tree.

This book is something our kids have really enjoyed. I also have been planning a lot of  activities, and plan to put a slip of paper with the activity in the pocket. A book that we are using with some activities, and also with ADvent ideas to go along with the activities I have planned is called the ADVENTure of Christmas. Our kids are really enjoying this, as well.









We are also using a free Christmas around the world lapbook you can find here.

Also, here is a link to another blog with ideas for The Jesse Tree. Confessions of a Homeschooler - Jesse Tree

And here is another link to advent activities: montessori advent blog

Also, here is a really cute wood and button Jesse Tree from Ramblings of a Crazy Woman: button jesse tree


I will post more later, my best friend is here for coffee now!

Someone Should Have Warned Me!

So, I am using my lovely Expedition Earth curriculum and studying the country of Germany. Everything is going splendid, if I do say so myself. The children are enjoying it, I am enjoying it. We are learning some Geography but also getting to make this time of year special for Christmas. We have a lot of books, songs, and activities to do each day that help us to think about what time of year it is. We get to think about the history of this holiday, how it is now, and the true meaning behind it all.

You can find the expedition earth curriculum here:
<a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com"><img alt="coahbutton" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4539688748_8098ff340c_o.png" width="150" height="150" /></a>"&gt;

When I was a kid we made nativity cookies every year at Christmas time and last year I had purchased some nativity cookie cutters so that I could carry this tradition on with my own children. You can find the cookie cutters I bought on Amazon.com




So we have these nativity cookie cutters, we have traditional cookie cutters. We are looking in our Expedition Earth curriculum of Germany, and it says to make gingerbread ornaments. We decide this is a fantastic idea! We can make nativity ornaments even! What a fun, festive, cute little craft!  We printed the directions. I expected a little bit of trouble because my mixer was broken and it is made of things like molasses.

Needless to say, my arm hurt. Now comes the funny part. That recipe makes like 8 majillion ornaments! I just kept rolling out dough and the kids kept cutting and I would put it in the oven and there would still be more! It felt never ending! I was starting to think it was some Christmas miracle like the widow who's jar never got empty, except with a tiring craft! I only have 2 kids and one of them is only 3 so while this is awesome for those of you out there with a lot of kids, it was way too much work for little old me to be doing with only my 8 year old participating.

Here is the box of ornaments we had when we were done baking them:

Here is the dough still left in the fridge because I got tired, ran out of pans and energy, and the kids eventually lost interest in cutting them out:

Will we get to it? Who knows! It was a super fun craft! We just have such a small little family...After our ornaments set for a couple of days to finish hardening (during which time I constantly warned all house guests not to try the "cookies") we finally go to the fun part this morning! Painting! Cute pictures start now!

They really loved the painting! Alex kept sticking out his tongue to help him concentrate but every time I tried to take a picture he would stop. It was frustrating me! Bella takes such time and puts such thought into her ornaments, Alex paints them the favorite color of whomever he intends to give them to. (I am getting a bunch of green ornaments, his Aunt Megan, purple). I had to guide Alex to another activity eventually so that he wouldn't rush through painting them all and leave none for his sister to paint. So now we have tons of gingerbread ornaments. If you are reading this and are related to me, guess what my kids got you for Christmas this year? :D

How Do You Spell....Mr. Potato Head?

Yesterday was crazy. We had our home-school co-op planning meeting and then I came home and did school with Bella before leaving for my own classes. I didn't have much down time. I laid down for about 5 minutes to take a nap but then Bella needed help with something on her school work so I got woke up.

Alex is doing very well with learning to read. I was so proud, in fact, that I decided to show off to my husband. "Alex, what does c-a-t spell?" I asked. "Cat!" he shouted enthusiastically. "Good job! What does, h-a-t spell?" He smiles, enjoying the chance to show off for his daddy, and yells "Hat!" "Great! Now what does r-a-t spell?" Alex is practically bouncing with excitement at this point, he knows he is doing great. "Mouse!" he screams. Then we all have a good laugh.

We continued our Christmas around the world theme in Germany and Bella and I made German paper stars yesterday. This is one of the projects from the Expedition Earth curriculum by my favorite blogger. (You will see me toting her praises here a lot!) Here comes the linkage:

 <a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com"><img alt="coahbutton" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4030/4539688748_8098ff340c_o.png" width="150" height="150" /></a>

Anyways, those stars aren't as easy as they look! The video is about 12 or 13 minutes long but it took Bella and I around an hour! We grunted, unfolded, refolded, played back the same spot on the video over and over, but in the end we were very pleased with ourselves when we finally got it accomplished!

Next time, they will probably come out even better! (I hope.)

Okay, and I had one last thing I had wanted to share with you today. Yesterday my black-Friday deals add from JoAnns came in the mail and when I opened the first page, guess what I saw? The workbox carts and they are going to be on sale for $35 dollars a peice! You can get other ones, of course. I just like these because they are so colorful and fun. I think they make things look fun!

You can see the drawers I am talking about here:

Storage Drawers for Workbox System

And information about the workbox system here:

<a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/workbox-system.html">http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/workbox-system.html</a>

<a href="http://confessionsofahomeschooler.blogspot.com/2009/11/workbox-system.html"></a>

Have fun dreaming of being organized!!!

While you do that, I am going to go make some gingerbread ornaments!