Mother's Day Gifts-Tea Cup Bird Feeders

I found this neat idea on my friend Heidi's blog, and just couldn't resist making a few for Mother's Day.  I ended up making myself a couple too!  Why not?  So the only thing I tweaked was the post.  I saw some metal rods right by where I was getting the copper caps at the hardware store, and knew that is what I wanted.  They are zinc plated, smooth rods (1/2") and will do nicely for us.  Then the hardest part of the craft mission-well, that was finding the darn tea cups!  Now I have been seeing these big mugs all over the place and sure thing-when I wanted to actually buy some-I couldn't find any! Well, I did find a few but they were way too spency~ and I just about gave up.  I spent an entire day hunting well over 7 or more stores to try to find them-I couldn't believe it~ but isn't that the way it goes?  Then the Lord popped "donation store" into my head.  So I gave the local Salvation Army a quick call and sure enough-they had several of them~! Whoop it up.  So off I went and I had fun trying to mix and match cups to plates.  Then I went back for another plate, similar to the house/maroon one because I couldn't get it out of my mind-and I knew it was perfect for my mom.  [the blue polka dot one was what I originally wanted for her, I found out it was simply too heavy and I worry it will fall off, or the cap will pop off due to the weight. So, I have decided to use that one as a ground or deck hand railing feeder.  In fact, I am giving my  MIL the option between 2 (one being the blue polka dot one) b/cuz she has trouble with raccoons in her feeders, so this way she can just pull it in at night.  Plus, there are not a lot of areas in her yard where a feeder on a pole could be seen (for her to enjoy watching the birds)...so that is where we are at with these.

I don't have a pic of my mom's here-it is similar but with a boat/bay theme (similar to the house one in the lower right of the pic) with a white cup.

The top one is what I originally thought for my MIL, the watermelon is for me.  I just love the whimsical nature of it and am a big fan of watermelons (even tho I am not into the taste of em-I like the colors)

The top one is mine too (for the front yard) I just love it~ and I couldn't believe I found that cup which looks like it was made for it.  The heavy weight champion of the group-ole Polka Dottie.  

Thanks to Heidi for linking that project, as I was in a bad state of affairs trying to think of something original and unique to give the mums this year.  I am planning on making a few more for birthday gifts....this is a very versatile gift!  

Another Let's Get Real here post

Just a few things that I find so annoying and down right irritating:
1. Swallowing a sip of water, but having an explosion of air somehow get ahead of the liquid, to have the water go down so painfully that you feel like you swallowed an elephant.

2.  People who mosey themselves up right in front of you, seeing quite well, that you were there first in line-to just whoosh by ya and claim the "next in line" spot.  Almost as bad as those folks who do not know what "Personal Space" is...you know the ones...practically breathing down you neck as you are trying to swipe your goodies at the self-check out, looking all impatient like, to then being in your face as you try to make your payment.  THOSE people (and gosh I hope you dear reader are not one of those, if you are-back off please).

3.  Neighbors who think your backyard is their personal sidewalk to get to the other neighbor's yard.  Esp. those who feel it necessary to walk but a mere 5 or less feet from the back of the house...several times a day.  I do not like that I have to now go to (supposedly) these adults to lecture them on proper yard etiquette, and look like a crabby neighbor because we do not enjoy the invasion of our space.  The rudeness now creates a difficult situation that somehow will make us the bad guys.  Yes, after a whole summer/fall of that last year-I am speaking up.  I am sorry, but we do not weed/feed/mow, and pay for a yard so you can stand there and have your chats, drag wagons and dogs and children back and forth and have you invade our privacy-esp. when we are trying to have a family dinner in peace.  Ah-that felt good to unload.

4.  Folks who simply cannot read a "No Soliciting" sign and understand I mean NO soliciting!  I cannot tell you how many people I have leaving their flyers, or ringing the doorbell to sell us something we do not want! If we want it-we will find you...thank you very much.

5.  Toilet chains that fall off continuously to render the toilet to a constant state of running-which costs us more money cuz we pay for water.

6.  Fruit and veggies that look marvelous on the outside, but are bruised and or damaged to the point that I have to say-"great, there goes [such and such] dollars down the toilet [probably the one with the faulty chain]"
leaving us fruitless or veggieless for that situation and upset because we were unable to get our monies worth.

7.  Carpal Tunnel in the hands,  and fingers. Numbness and tingly digits are not what I consider exciting-esp. when I know I have lots of hands on activities to do.

8.  Lady Bugs [which are really those impostors with the orange backs-where did all the red ones go?] that decide to stay in your home over the winter, free of charge-to either die or leave themselves scattered about...to then get sucked up the vacuum to stink.  Or poo on your windows.  Oh Ladybirds-fly away, fly away home.

9.  Telemarketers. Need I say more?

10.  Bats. Not that I am against these creatures in their natural settings-but I am so against them shacking up in our attic space, to scratch, squeak and leave a disaster up there.  To torture our family with the threat of being swooped upon in our sleep [thankfully, they haven't broke thru] or to leave me with nightmares of having the biggest colony in the county up there.  The cost it will take to now get rid of these home invaders, plus the cost of replacing the insulation up there because their poo and the fungus' it creates.  Yes, just another day in the neighborhood.

So there you go-my ranting and raving for the month.

Now to be fair-I have to say that: I praise God...

1. Because I have clean drinking water to painfully swallow
2. I have enough money [barely lately but still] to be at the store making food purchases
3. My husband still has a job so that we still have a back yard
4. We have a doorbell/door solicitors can approach to sell their wares
5. We have a toilet to use, in a house that has water
6. We live in a country where there is a wide variety of fruits and veggies available from which to select from, due to the vast amount of free market [well at least for now] and transportation to provide such things
7.  I have hands and fingers that work-let alone actually having them to begin with
8.  That there are good bugs to eat the bad bugs and they look good doing it
9.  That we have caller ID and a list of standard "no thanks" we can apply to those that slip past the caller ID
10.  That there are bats that eat the pesky squitos and such that are most annoying of all.  That we have an attic to even be concerned over when many a families no longer have a door mat-let alone an attic.  [speaking of foreclosures, fires, natural disasters like in TN and so forth]

SO I guess it is up to me to decide if I will dwell on the negative aspects or remember the positives...it is fun to spew the frustration, but it is all done in jest.  As annoying and overburdening these things can be-I praise GOD that we have them at all.

Have a blessed day and stay real folks-stay real.

How do you instill the love of learning in your child?

Finally-I have some spare moments to pen a response to this great Blog Cruise series.

The topic is "How do you instill the love of learning in your child?" but I think I will switch that up to the opposite end of the spectrum to

HOW CAN YOU DESTROY THE INNATE LOVE OF LEARNING IN YOUR CHILD?

Because that really is where the heart of the matter is...the adults coming in and paving over the natural wonder and curiosity that the Lord has woven so beautifully into our children. Think about how an infant's face just lights up with well-just about anything interesting-that toy you are dangling in their face, big brother or sissy "showing them something" as they place it just a mere centimeter or 2  from their eyes, the cat sailing by overhead-due to you finding it with it's face 2" deep into the cereal bowl that was left there by your lovely husband, and so forth (now you must know that I am being over the top silly with these examples, but you should get my meaning).  They light up because of the wonderment of it all-after all, it isn't a chore to watch, investigate and explore their world.  It is a joy.

So how does one destroy that love?  Well, stroll thru some mistakes many have made and will continue to make.  Mind you, I have either witnessed these acts or (more often than not) found myself committing them. I have swung from the more rigid way to instruct (pretty much reproducing a school in my home) to not much structure at all (usually due to burnout, situations that required my undivided attention and well-no longer having that joy within me either).....and after so many years on this homeschool trek-I can say with some confidence that these are the best ways to

DESTROY THE LOVE of learning-and if it is your personal mission to do so, then by all means (I say this in love my friends-in love)

1.  Never, under any circumstance veer off the scheduled lesson plans for the day-ever.  Doing so may disrupt their thinking and circumvent them into becoming "behind" in their subjects.

2. Ignore the child(ren)'s individual interests and likes when considering what you will cover each school year, the materials you will use to expound this information, and the approach to which you use. This stupid train of thought must be avoided at all costs.

3.  Continue on your way through the said planned material, pounding in this vital information because the teacher's guide says you must, your neighbor expects you to, and it's just what "we must do"-even though you have lost the attention of your student(s) and their eyes have long been glazed over.  This one is a sure bet here...after all no better way to slay the love than to beat it with a dead horse.

4.  Make it a federal crime if the student moves away from the desk and chair you have so carefully set up in your little "classroom away from classroom" spot. The punishment must match the crime-therefore, have them experience step 3 until 7 pm at nite and perhaps even on Saturdays, until you are confident that they have learned this valuable lesson.  No one ever learns anything unless glued to a chair for at least 8 straight hours (minus a 30 min. lunch and a few bathroom breaks) with shoulders squared, back straight, eyes forward and lips zipped-EVER!  Remember that-

5.  Have your homeschool completely devoid of any worthy reading material that is not found deep within a textbook or is not on the "list" of to dos.  Use only "Snippet Sources" from which they are to "learn from"-never offer well-written literature that is considered "above their heads" or that requires more than 15 minutes to complete. The child(ren) simply could not handle that sort of thing.  Do not read aloud to your students after they turn the rip old age of 7-after that point, they are to be carrying the burden themselves. They should never experience the nightmare of closeness, the invitation to crawl up on your lap, or to snuggle around you-all the while YOU, the teacher, are reading to them. And especially never let a child over 12 do this (I doubt highly the lap crawling would apply, so this addresses the snuggling or frankly, just being in the room with you whilst you are reading)-it may taint them for their entire lives.  They do not (repeat DO NOT) need to hear the stories read aloud-they do not need to listen to the inflections and voice changes you would normally apply to the under 7 category-it simply will not suffice in creating a well-rounded individual.

6..  Here is a true winner in this onslaught attack against that crazy notion of "loving to learn"...these are sneaky and destructive annoyances that you must be sure to keep far, far away from your children.  Never, ever, ever use anything remotely close to what one would consider to be:  a toy (I mean not even blocks-they are of no real value anyhow), a non-educational games (because if it were educational, the game company would be sure to note that on the box), an outdoor adventure during regularly scheduled school hours (like I dunno-taking a nature walk at 1 pm when they should be in the classroom being drilled in their multiplication facts), fun (oh it hurt to write that word) activities like baking (ouch) or crazy craft projects (you know the kind-ones that have no lesson plans or ultimate goal to teach something important) or the likes. And by all means-never let the child(ren) experience the "hookey" syndrome-you know, where you toss the day to the wind and watch it blow across the field like a bad thought. Where you just poo-poo anything "schooly" and hit the movie theater, spend the afternoon at the park, or lazing around the homestead doing (dare I say?) NOTHING!  Yes, that is the worse of the worst kind of events that will throw your education train right off the tracks, and into the river below.  If exposed to such things, the child(ren) will never want to return to their main studies-it will spoil them like the hot sun aimed at an egg salad sandwich. Besides, the guilt you (the instructor) will experience is beyond painful-it will rip you apart and destroy your capability to effectively teach again.

7. And lastly-never put school aside to relieve yourself of the pressure.  You must never give yourself a break, or take a couple days to re-evaluate the goals, direction or failures/accomplishments of your little family's educational trek-never.  It will cause a riot in the home and the children will never again want to return to anything remotely close to a schedule or routine.  You do not need to refresh and renew yourself-you are a robot, and have no right to require any time what-so-ever to not spend your entire day/life thinking upon, pondering and planning the education of your children.  It violates the very nature of a really great mother/wife and teacher.  There is nothing else out there besides that and to even consider taking a few days to do something that interests you, is beyond comprehension and a total violation of the soul.  You'd be selfish and self-absorbed to want to spend a few waking hours not devoting yourself to the future success of your children, or to spend a moment or two with your lovely husband.  There simply is no time for self-care, marriage-care or simply having no cares for even a moment.  It is un-motherly of you and you should squelch those desires immediately-IMMEDIATELY- then feel guilty for pondering such foolish thoughts.

There you have it-7 ways to flush the love of learning right out of your children's very nature.  If you don't believe these time tested activities will do it-try em out for yourself.  It will make a believer out you-it surely will.

Be sure to read what my TOS mates have to offer concerning this very subject-just click the Blog Cruise Icon above to get to our TOS Crew Review homepage!

The Ultimate Blog Party has begun-and we're having a giveaway too!

This blog party has long since gone and what remains is the fun I had visiting other folks' blogs.  I am anxiously awaiting the newest blog party which should be rolling around this coming spring!  I have lots of posts on my homeschooling blog centered around (of course) home schooling but also reviews on products, couponing tips and ideas and various other thoughts and such.  Hope you stop by again soon!

I have this idea for organizing your eBooks on my other blog and wanted to share

I have this ditty up on my Scrapbooks and Lapbooks by Sheri, that shows you how to organize all those eBooks you have in your computer/CDs.  It shows how I am doing my lapbooks, but one could easily do this for any type of Ebooks (TOS eBooks/Weebooks/Molly etc.) and was not sure if you followed that blog or not. Wanted to share the idea just in case.  HTH you out.

Have your DNA and eat it too?

Yes, well you do have DNA, and you can eat it too!  Build yourself one of these clever edible strands-this is what happened when I gave my kids the project...

The supply plate (which is one of those Mak-It plates I made many moons ago, and no, I didn't misspell that -as that is what the company is called) with the licorice, toothpicks and marshmallows.

 

Supplies ready to go-oh, the boy is wearing it?!

the end result (before labels-which they didn't do-only I did for a sample DNA project)

careful b/cuz those toothpicks are "picky" and when trying to shove them into the licorice, you may get poked..as I did! LOL....

You can find the directions here: PDF file for Have Your DNA and Eat it too

DNA and RNA page from this mighty helpful site: Awesome Science Teacher Resources.

That site has lots of goodies to download for your science notebook too! 

Some science going on

So, if you are a follower of my Scrapbook and Lapbook blog and my What's in the Box? blog-then you have been seeing some of my posts regarding the notebooking technique for the kids' studies.  Today, for your viewing pleasure is my display of the Science notebook we have been (started this at module 7) working on.  Haven't gotten very far, but already it is coming to gether.  The idea is to put stuff in there that you want the student to remember, have access to and to highlight from their studies.

So here ya go-take your notebook (ya know the ones that are either mable colored covered, or in this case psychodelic) and put your label on (I just watched a tutorial on how to alter and snaz up your notebooks, so this one will under go a transformation this weekend), and then I put one of those stick on tabs on the section that starts the module).

 Front page of Module section-just copied off an illustration of the DNA stand-I will pull free printable sheets from the internet once I get my act together..to add to her notebook as we go, but this at least gets us started.

Module 7 has its fair share of vocab-so I made these layered flap mini-booklets, so that she can write the definition under the part that has the label (except Genetics had to go on the front, oops).  Then each mini-book gets glued into the first few pages of that module's section-but wait to glue until the child has written the info-too hard to do it whilst in the book.

There is the pic explaining cellular mitosis, and then today-we did a microscope activity where we looked at 2 slides showing different stages of it.  So my teen drew what she saw (each of the four stages for the plant and animal cells), and we just folded the worksheet up to fold into a mini-book-that is easy to fold out to examine.  This is an awesome way to actually utilize those worksheets/lab sheets they work on!  She glued a scrap piece of construction paper to the top to give it more stability and labeled it.  Then the back side of the worksheet (1/4 of it) is glued down to the page. Which in this case is the top right-hand corner section.

So you fold it into fourths, glue the cover on the side that shows, and when you open it like your typical book, the first section is the backside, but then you pull it down to show the worksheet's details!  Yeah.  [oh you have to fold and/or refold it, to make it open right, depending on which way you want the booklet to go.]

The budding scientist [microscope is from Sonlight-love it] and her lab assistant!

Some Dinah Zike going on

Oh yeah.  Well, I am in the process of helping my teen dd get her Algebra Notebook going.  I have a whole ditty on it over on my What's in the Box? blog. I plan on doing another post down the road-where I explain how to get it going. I am new to this stuff, and do not have Dinah's Notebook book yet, so I have to wing it for now.

My plan is to keep adding more visuals and unique ways to remember this material, as I have been noticing that the majority of the stuff we are covering is going in one ear and out the other. Plus, we were getting tired of the monotony...so we'll see.

I also had to get creative with a way to motivate my fledgling reader to practice more. I simply cannot do it all, and by the mid-afternoon-I am toast. So I created a mini-folder where I placed coupons for him to have filled out. I stuff 5 per week in there (on the left side) and once he has read a book to another family member, they can fill out the title, who they are and the date. He will be able to "cash" these in for prizes. I haven't tweaked out all the details yet-but so far, so good. I have a tub of readers I know he can read to select from. Once I get the system up to par-I will post the forms on my Scribd page for you to download. The folder is simply one piece of 8 1/2" X 11" card stock folded in half (fat way-not long and skinny), with the bottom folded up about 2-3" to create the holding section. I stapled the ends, and on the cover wrote his name and "I can read it folder", then on the left inside pocket- "coupons", and right inside pocket- "read for the week". It's that simple. Sounds kinda hard, but it isn't. I guess time will tell if this works. Our biggest hurdle is that he isn't getting the needed practice to become fluent. With the help of the family, he should get enough to really sink those skills into his ole noggin.

And that my friends, is my big ideas for the week. Not too exciting, but hopefully successful for us!

Instant Challenge-Invent Aircraft

Newest Challenge-create an airplane using pipe cleaners, a toothpick, mailing labels, sheet of paper and an envelope.  The team was the boy and his daddy today.  They worked rather well together and so I gave them 20 out of 20 for their score on teamwork, they used everything but the envie-so I gave them 28/30 for creativity, as it was rather nice indeed.  Then it flew for 4 seconds, after we moved to the family room to launch b/cuz the kitchen had too many obstacles to keep it from where it needed to go.  So that was 4 sec. X 3 pts to give them 12. Total points earned:  60.  Not bad!  Way to go Boyz!

You can find Michelle over on her new blog addy at: Delighful Learning. Join these challenges when you can-they are quite fun!

A Snowman Explosion

So, I visit my friend Lynn's blog often, and she wrote a ditty about making these Marshmallow Snowman treats, which looked really fun and well-good to eat. We decided we'd give it the old college try too! So glad we did, because they turned out quite cute. We decided to not coconut all of them, since we know some are not fans of it (meaning my son and nieces/nephews), and we used mini M&Ms for the eyes/buttons, and orange frosting for the noses for ours. Here are our swell snowman dudes, waiting to be given as gifts. Thanks Lynn for posting that project, it was a fun, new adventure for us.

The assembly line-I had the boy separate the mini M&Ms by color to make adding the eyes/buttons quick and easy (that is why there is an ice cube tray there).

Waiting to be bagged.

Aren't they darling?  They are good too-rather tasty combo of ingredients!

We'll attach a wee little card with them as well.  I have to make those still....which is what I should be doing, not blogging!  LOL.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Weekly Challenge : Leaning Tower

So my fellow TOS mate is hosting this awesome project.  You simply download the instructions, collect the materials needed and set the kids up with the info and time constraints to produce whatever it is they have to create that week.

We're hopping in here with the Leaning Tower Challenge.  You can go Delightful Learning for more info.

Here is what they came up with:  since this was their first challenge-they were freaking out about the time limits-it sure flies when you are trying to create something!

Cleo was checking out things before they even knew what I was up to.

The supply "table"  uh hem, aka the stool.

Planning. Notice the "supervisor" cat.

Executing. She's there still, I got a bit of her in this shot.

Results-75 points.  I didn't give them a ton for creativity-they used only

one toothpick, and they didn't get full points for working as a team...

so hopefully, next time they will do better in those departments.

They did get a lot of points for distance up the wall and out from the square tho!

So, not a bad start to our challenges career.  Thanks to Michelle for hosting this great activity!

**UPDATE:
well since I now see the square was suppose to be on the wall-they were father out and should get 12 more points so that takes it to 87 total, but then I feel bad because perhaps I was too stringent on the creativity part-so I am adding another 12 for that-bringing them up to 99.  That is better!

I have posted the links for the All About Spelling Workbox listing charts on my other blog

I have finally been able to get these posted without them moving all over the place. You can use these charts to help you fill the workboxes with the very items and supplies you need for each Step. Sometimes, not all the goodies are listed in the top section, and so I found I was hunting for the specific tiles and such-more than I was teaching. Hopefully, these will help reduce that for you as well.

Links to the Scribd pages

Old Timey Activity for modern needs

For a part of a review project, we had to make our own laundry detergent.

So with instructions in hand, an empty 1 gallon water jug, a pan, spoon , a funnel and some H2O-we were all set to give this a whirl.

It took only a few minutes to make the goo, and then all we were required to do, was to give it a good swirl as it cooled (every 20 minutes or so) and we were done! It was a fun activity for all of us, and especially the boy!

The Laundry Kit (trial size) from Virginia Soaps and Scents, made about a half gallon of liquid detergent. I found that I have to shake it up a bit before using-so the water jug with a lid-is a very good storage unit for this. I have used up at least 1/2 of it so far, and am pleased with the results. You can read the whole review, over on my TOS Review blog.

Oh, Carol Topp responded to my to eBook or Not to eBook post

So very happy she (Carol) took the time to read my post-I am honored. I pulled her post comment up here for all to see another side to this crazy debate:

Sheri, You did cover the pros and cons very well. As an author, I have gone back and forth on ebooks, too. My first book, Homeschool Co-ops, is in print and I plan to offer it in ebook format now that it is about a year old.

I'm working on another book, Micro Business for Teens, that will start as an ebook and then after a year or so I'll offer it in print also. The reason I am doing this is cost. I hope to make enough from the ebook version of Micro Business, that I can pay to set up the print version (minimum of $500). I also hope that the younger generation is more willing to buy an ebook. We'll see how my plans turn out.

Just thought you might want to hear from the author/seller side. Consider this: there are some books that you would never see if the author only had the printed option because of the cost. So ebooks are opening up an entire new world to authors and their readers.


I agree-you posted a [great] different view to this issue.  The cost of printing is pretty prohibitive to many authors...and I totally get that.  I also understand that one can make a bigger profit by selling eBooks, which can help sustain smaller businesses, and provide avenues for the author to afford running print versions,  too. I still need to do my second part to this-one in which I was/am going to highlight the very things Carol pointed out. :0)

It is a love/hate relationship with me.  I guess it is hard to convince a print loving gal to switch sides-LOL. 

Well, hopefully, once I have a handle on the rest of this month's reviews, I will be able to focus my brain and come up with the second section for this debate.

Oh, and if you don't know who Carol Topp is-well, she is such a blessing to the homeschool community. She has a great book on how to set-up and keep your co-op running and it looks like some other great ones coming out!

You can visit her site:Homeschool CPA for more info.

Thanks Carol for taking the time to read and respond to my blog-

eBook article up on Heart of the Matter Meme

Take a peek over there-tons of great posts/articles for ya.
Go here for the links