Category Archives: DIY/Crafts

Nature Journals

05/02/2014 Danielle Huddleston 2 Comments

I decided I wanted the boys to start nature journaling.

I thought it might be fun way to work on identifying plants and encourage them to draw something that does not include superheroes and epic battles.

We did a trial run on Saint Patrick’s Day and it went really well.

I bought them the little journal books at Hobby Lobby for under $3 each and made them both a pencil roll.

I used this tutorial as a guide but ended up not being as precise as she was.

Because I am lazy…

I tried making the slits for the pencils with an exacto knife like she did but was having trouble getting through the felt.

I ended up just drawing a line where I wanted the cuts, folding the felt, and cutting it with scissors.

I used twine I had on hand to hold them shut.

I actually had everything I needed on hand to make these or it would have never happened.

I like spur of the moment projects.

We got to try them out yesterday and they worked great!

I told them to pick any plant to draw and of course both of them chose to do a clover leaf like they did for Saint Patrick’s Day.

I was not sure about them putting the pencils back in to the rolls but my youngest did not seem to have a problem.

I told him it was kind of like weaving.

He said, “these are pencils not yarn.”

I am glad he cleared that up for me…

What do you do to help your kids enjoy nature?

DIY/Crafts, Homeschooling

S’mores in a Solar Oven

04/18/2014 Danielle Huddleston 2 Comments

After testing out our Solar Oven by melting cheese, I thought my boys might appreciate cooking something they actually got to eat.

We got the idea from the same site we got the directions on how to build the solar oven from.

It seemed like the chocolate melted right away but that the marshmallows took a while to get soft.

By the time the marshmallow was soft the chocolate had made a mess.

It was really good but our oven’s got messy also.

I would suggest just putting the marshmallow in on a cracker.

Have you ever made a solar oven?

What did you cook in it?

I think I want to made chocolate bars next!

DIY/Crafts, History, Homeschooling

Our New Timeline!

03/13/2014 Danielle Huddleston 2 Comments

I had been a little unhappy with our previous timeline for some time.

It was not as easy to see when things took place in history since it was in a book and after reading some interesting information I did not agree with the times it gave.

I really did not think we had enough wall space for a full one on the wall until I saw this post from a blog I follow.

Let’s face it, after seeing her timeline I just wanted one and was going to find a place for it even if I had to put it on the ceiling!

If you know me, you probably know that once I get an idea I want to do it NOW!

I was following the tutorial given on creation.com(the source given in the blog I saw it in) but it called for a roll of paper.

I did not have a vehicle or a roll of paper.

A big problem for someone that suddenly really wanted to make a new timeline.

I debated walking to Wal-Mart but finally settled on taping cardstock together.

It is a lot stronger than the paper from a roll and turned out great!

The site uses metric for all of their measurements.

I tried changing it to inches and it was way too complicated.

Metric is a lot easier!

I went ahead a marked down every thousand years before having the boys help me mark down the hundreds.

I felt like the mom of the year for letting them help.

We had a lot of close calls where I thought a bouncy boy was going to rip the whole thing.

I told them I would probably cry if they ruined it…

I had my oldest take some pictures since I was busy trying to get my 6yr old to look where he was marking…

All in all it went pretty well!

I used a white label sticker to cover mistakes.

The one in the picture is actually one of mine…

I used several sources to plot out our timeline.

The Big Book Of History, The Ussher timeline chart by Paul Hansen(free download), and the The Seven C’s of History.

We are still using our figures from History through the Ages.

I have just been printing the small images without text and cutting off the dates on them.

The boys and I talked about why we were changing our timeline and why I did not agree with the dates on the old one.

I want to have them research this and come to their own conclusions when they are older.

I decided to include the descendants of Adam on this chart.

We had looked at it before on “The Big Book Of History” but drawing it really made it click for my oldest.

He got really excited and said, “Methuselah probably knew Adam!”

It really sold the validity of Genesis.

If you realize that the eye witness was not very far removed from the writer it makes it easier to except what is written as accurate.

We glue the figures on the timeline as we learn about them.

It is one of the boys favorite things to do.

This timeline is about 6ft long and 11inches tall so it still takes up quite a bit of wall space but it is worth it!

I love the idea of the boys being about to see when things took place in history compared to when we live now.

Have you ever made a timeline?

How do you make history come alive for your kids?