Flat G- Take a Bow

Well, he's done. Kinda awkward but done. G doesn't love him any less for his wonkiness. I've already had to rein him in as Flat G is not stitched closed yet and G was ready to wrestle the stuffing out of him. hee hee


We used...
2 1/2 yards of poly/ cotton blend (should have used 3)
fabric crayons
clip art from the internet
ink jet T shirt transfer
2 1/2 bags of poly fill (20 oz.)

Guest Speaker- Soldiers Wife

G's Coop Class, American Symbolism, had a guest speaker last week. The teacher's friend, a soldier's wife, came to tell the kids about the things her husband had to wear, his duties, and purpose while in Iraq. He was in charge of a pump house on the Tigris River where they bottle water for the troupes. That was really neat to hear since we have studied the Tigris in SOTW this year. She also brought in his uniform and allowed one of the kids to model it... guess who was selected? G!

Start the Shopping Season!

Used Curriculum Fairs are starting to pop up. WooHoo! I went to a small but quality one this past Saturday. I found nothing on my list but many things that I could use and at AMAZING prices. I spent $16! $5 of that was for a copy of The Prairie Primer for a friend. So I really spent $11.

Here is my stash....
Draw Write Now- 1,6 & 7 (each $2 or less)
Draw Write Now notebook (free)
Masterpiece of the Month ($1)
Upper and Lower case Letter Tiles ($2)
Potholder Loom & Tub of loops (.50!)
Phonics Workbook ($1)
Streams of Civilization ($2)

Usually there is a Free table... YeeHa

Free, did I tell you free???!
Like New! Beechick 3R's series
Amvet Flag Etiquette book
How Plants Grow
Art Folder

The botany book was written by a Professor at Harvard and published in 1858.
The illustrations are beautiful woodcuts, simply gorgeous.

I hope you find some goodies this spring too. I'd love to see them.

Nutrition

We did a week on nutrition to go with our digestive system study. I am so surprised in the difference it has made in G's eating. We tracked his eating for a couple of days. He could see that he does not eat veggies and fruits (except juice). He could see that cookies and desserts are should not be a daily thing, and he has quit asking every night. He even tried asparagus, a new food in our house. I am so amazed. Our resources came from here.

Money Study

Math is going speedy lately. I thank Math U See and their stress on place value for that. We sailed through regrouping and studied counting pennies, nickels, and dimes this week. I could not believe the quickness with which G picked this up. Yeah G!!

G counting out change in a piggy bank.

One of the Piggy Banks. Each pig has an amount written on it.
G had to make all of the different combinations for each amount.

We worked through these storybooks during the week.
G even wanted to repeat stories! WooHoo!

Fabric Crayon How-to

I got a wonderful complement from my friend Dana about my art skill on our Flat G project. I would love to take the glory for this, I was an art teacher in a former life, but I cheated. (shrug, blush) I used beautiful illustrations I looked up on Google, enlarged them, and colored them with Crayola fabric crayons. I was introduced to fabric crayons in my textile class in art school, they are an easy tool to add to your homeschool projects. You could make flags, t-shirts, flat kids...

The following is how we have used them in our project.

1. Draw or Print your chosen design.
If you're using a name, it needs to be a mirror image.

2. Get out your handy dandy Fabric Crayons

3. Color your drawing. Brush off all the crumblies.

4. Lie your colored sheet on your cotton/ poly blend fabric.
You cannot use 100% cotton.
Hense, you are not looking at the 99 cent muslin here.

5. On Cotton setting, iron you picture until the
color shows through the backing paper.
Don't let it slide around, it will blur and double take.

6. Peel it off

7. There you go!

I'd love to know if and how you use fabric crayons in your homeschool classrooms.

Premio Dardo Award

Wow! Dana at School for Us sent me a Premio Dardo award. I am so touched, especially since my blogging has fallen off lately. It really makes my heart smile.


"This award acknowledges the values that every blogger shows in his/her effort to transmit cultural, ethical, literary and personal values every day.”

Next I am suppose to pass the award along to 15 of my favorite bloggers. I hope that they will become some of your favorites too.

A Dusty Frame
Barefoot Meandering
C Jane Enjoy It
History is Elementary
Painted Rainbows and Chamomile Tea
The Pioneer Woman
Queen Bee's Homeschool Hive
Life is Not a Cereal
Trivium Academy
One Child Policy Homeschool
No Parent Needs to Walk Alone: Parenting Victims of Sexual Abuse
Mind Games
Little Blue School
The Diosa Dotada Endeavor
The Classical Circus

You can read about the search for the origin of this award at K- Squared Ramblings, very interesting.

STOMP

The family went to see STOMP today. If you ever get the chance... GO. I have seen it before but they have changed it up and I've never taken G before. When I go to the theatre I usually buy the cheap seat but I splurged today and bought FRONT ROW center. I could put my feet on the side of the stage and feel the vibrations. There is an audience echo section at the end and one of the performers just stood and watched G the whole time... wonderful.

G and I discussed, who knew you could make music out of trash. hee hee

Flat G Update

I am getting behind in my learning notes... but I wanted to make sure I posted new pictures of our Flat G. We've studied the Brain & Nervous System, Heart, and Lungs. We are suppose to be doing Digestion and Nutrition this week but G has an ear infection... his first earache ever! So our lessons are minimal at best. After Digestion and Nutrition we will stuff him. I cannot wait!

Finger Knitting

I don't know how to knit or crochet, I would like to. So I found a Finger Knitting video on the web (see end of post) and tried it. It was easy and kinda fun. G saw me and wanted to try himself... he was hooked! He got all excited and wanted to make daddy a scarf and then a rug... well he ended up with a mini scarf for himself but was very proud. We will tackle the other projects later.

After one day