Christmas crafts

I just posted a few ideas for Christmas crafts on my Preschool Unit Studies blog. They would be ideal for this age group as well but, I wanted to share some more ideas for the slightly older kids as well.


Sawdust Ornaments

1) Mix together 1 cup of sawdust and 1/2 cup of flour. Stir in water until dough is stiff. If it is too crumbly, add more flour and water.
2) Mold the sawdust mixture into Christmas shapes. This is best done on newspaper or wax paper. Try to keep them a small-moderate size to prevent from being too heavy to hang on the tree.
3) Unfold a paper clip to form a hook for hanging and insert the bottom half into the top of the ornament.
3) Allow to air dry for 48-72 hours.
4) Sand any rough edges.
5) Paint with acrylic paint (tempera will work too) and let dry.
6) (optional) Add glue to any parts you would like and sprinkle with glitter. Alternately, you could use glitter glue. Let dry.

Window Clings
1) Use fabric paints to create various Christmas designs on wax paper.
2) Let dry.
3) Carefully peel off wax paper and stick on glass.

Crayola Giveaway

I failed again with following through with the Thanksgiving posts. In the future I will not post until I have the unit at least halfway completed. On another note, be sure to check out my other blog, The Happy Wife, for the chance to win a Crayola Glow Dome. You can also read my review of the Crayola Glow Dome, Crayola Glow Station and the Crayola Beginnings Color Me A Song.

Math Monday: Veterans Day

With Veterans Day coming up on November 11th (2009), I decided we would spend this week studying the holiday.

Word Problems

- Veterans Day, formerly called Armistice Day, is celebrated on the same date that the Armistice (vocabulary word) was signed that ended World War I. This event occurred in 1918. How many years ago was that?

- In 1954, President Dwight D Eisenhower and Congress amended an act that changed Armistice Day to Veterans Day. This was done so that all veterans were being honored on this day, rather than just those who served in World War I. How many years ago did the US start calling Armistice Day, Veterans Day?


Shapes

- Make a US flag with rectangles and stars.


Graphing

- Interview veterans you know and graph what branch of the military they were in or what wars they served in.

A Great Deal on Snow White DVD/Blu-Ray

There is a great deal on the new Snow White DVD/Blu-Ray 2 pack. On Amazon.com, the sale price is $19.99, but if you enter the coupon code "Snowhite", they will take an additional $10 off, making the total cost $9.99. Shipping is $2.98, but the DVD does qualify for Super Saver shipping so it could be free if you add another $5 to your purchase (the total needs to be $25 before applying the $10 coupon for free shipping). This includes both the regular DVD and the Blu-Ray version so whether you have a Blu-Ray player or not, this is a great deal.

A Giveaway

I just wanted to let you know that I am hosting a giveaway on my other blog, The Happy Wife. Head on over and check it out. The prize is a Fiber One yogurt meal pack like the one shown below.



Bonus entry: If you are a subscriber or a public follower of Homeschool Unit Studies, leave a comment saying so on the contest post and I will give you an extra entry.

Things I have Found

So, I know I have not posted anything in a while. I am working on getting some units together, but I wanted to share some contests I have found that have prizes I think would be great for homeschoolers.

Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls has 2 giveaways I thought you would like. The first is a set of silicone letter trays from the Spoon Sisters. These trays allow you to freeze, cook, or refrigerate in them, creating letters out of ice, Jell-O or cookies. The other giveaway at Frugal Mommy of 2 Girls is for 1 3-month subscription to Little Passports. This is a program where each month your child receives a package in the mail from "Sam" and "Sofia". Sam and Sofia travel around the world and each month they include a letter telling about where they are, some "souvenirs" from that country and a password to get online and play some games and activities. You can see some sample packages on their website.

Over at The Giveaway blog, they have a 69-piece Crazy Fort from Crazy Forts. This is like a giant Tinkertoy set of 25 solid, plastic balls and 44 sticks that the kids put together and then put blankets/sheets over to create a custom fort.

Centsable Momma has the 4th of 4 Crayola Creativity Packs that she is giving away. The pack includes markers, colored pencils, crayons and all sorts of Crayola goodies that homeschoolers love.

Bellaziza's favorite things is giving away a Springfree Trampoline. I am not a trampoline person as I feel they are so dangerous, but this one has eliminated many of the dangers of traditional trampolines. Watch the video on the company's website and you can see for yourself.

There are so many more giveaways out there in Blogland and because this is "Back to school" season, many have school-related prizes. Entering blog giveaways are great because you have much greater chances of winning. I have been blessed to win several blog giveaways in the past year and every time a prize arrives, it is exhilarating for me and the kids. I hope you will enter these ones and if you win, please leave a comment.

Free e-cards and free Printable cards

I am always looking for fun e-cards to send to loved ones and quite often, when I need a “real” paper card, I end up looking online for one I can print at the last minute before running out the door. Even with these “needs”, I have not been able to justify the cost of joining one of the online card companies. I guess I am just too cheap, plus I am not one who likes to give all my personal information to a website in order to print or send a card.

Then it happened, I discovered a new website called Got-free-ecards where they offerFree ecards and Free Printable Cards. Imagine how thrilled I was when Free ecards and momdot decided to sponsor a Jump Start Your Blog Contest and all I had to do was blog about this great website I had already found. So here it is, my review of this fun, new site.

Aside from Free Birthday Ecards, Got-free-ecards offers a wide variety of e-cards including love, sorry, miss you, friendship, thank you and congratulations, as well as seasonal holiday cards. The cards are cute and family friendly. You can even add your own photo and voice to the card.

For those times when you find yourself needing a paper card, they also offer Free Printable Cards in the same categories as the e-cards. You can also create your own cards with your uploaded pictures and their template (there is also an e-card using this option). They also have color your own printable cards like the one below that would be great for including in homeschool lessons.


The best part of all is that it is all FREE, no strings attached. No forms to fill out at all, not even your name or e-mail address. There is an optional spot to enter comments, but it is just that, optional. There is also no advertising on the site, so I can truly say these are free cards.

I know that I will be sending lots of these cards as birthdays approach and I am sure to print many as well. I am also looking forward to using some of the color-your-own cards as special projects for the kids. I hope you all enjoy this site as much as I do. Let me know what you think.

Disclosure: I just want to repeat that I am participating in the Jump Start Your Blog Contest” sponsored by got-free-ecards and momdot.