April-May

The days have been moving fast and we have stayed busy. In our homeschool we have finished up WWII. We watched the Diary of Anne Frank the other day. The kids will finish up their work this week, and we will begin our summer break.

Next semester we will attend a co-op, all the kids classes will be through the co-op. So the only curriculum I will be buying is for Lexi for Math. I am really excited about it, and I know it will give the kids a good opportunity to being learning how to do work for others, instead of just mom.

Peyton will be taking:
Apologia General Science
Language Arts/Creative Writing
World History-Abeka
PE
Pre-Algebra

He will attend 1 hour classes in each subject, be given homework by the teacher, return to class with it completed, have quizzes and also get as grade for each class.

Lexi will be taking these classes:
Art
Language Arts
US History
Study Hall
Hands On Science

Our grandson Kylan, and his parents, Jessica and Kyle will be coming out for a visit in June, we are looking forward to it.

We recently thought Peyton was going to be allowed to play football with the local school district, but the district informed us they were not going to allow it. From what I understand the law changes on July 3, but I still don't see the political climate being good. He was heartbroken to learn he wasn't going to get the opportunity.

School Update

In March we took a little time off from schooling. The first week I had just returned from Missouri, then we did school for 2 weeks then took off a week for Spring Break.

But I am happy to report that we have finished up our 2nd unit and only have about 9 weeks left before our summer break. Unless I can somehow get it condensed into 8 weeks.

We just finished up Pearl Harbor and we are reading aloud Journey To America. (WWII).

American Girl Store-Lexi's Dream Come True

While we were in Missouri for the wedding, we decided to take Lexi to the American Girl store.
She loved it, I am so glad that we got to go, and that Brittany got to spend the day with us. It has been years since I have really been able to spend time with Brittany.

We looked around. Lexi shopped for outfits. We ate at the Bistro. It was a sweet girls day out that I will never forget.

 

At the Bistro

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Kanani getting her hair looked at. We had to send her to the Doll Hospital.

 

Megan got a cute braid at the salon.

March Whirlwind

Wow March has been a whirlwind for us. We have been so busy. At the end of February-beginning of March, Lexi and I drove to Missouri for my neice, Brittany's wedding. We had such a great time there. I was surprised how pretty Missouri was. They live near Ste. Genevieve and Festus and it is such a lovely area with rolling hills. Here are a few pics of our trip.

I am so happy for her, and her husband Kevin. It is also great to see a young couple that wants to serve and glorify Jesus in their lives and marriage.

 

Happy Valentine's Day

Prayer Tree and Update

As I mentioned in a previous post. This year we are reading through a family devotional called "Powerful Prayers for your Family."   

 

One thing we are doing is keeping up our small tree all year. In January we used snowflakes and blue lights. On snowflakes we wrote the names of people we were praying for.

 

For February we are doing a love theme.

We have hearts on the tree and are adding names as we pray for people.

Last week in Science we learned about Food Webs, we also reviewed Unit 1.
In History we learned about the History of the Automobile. The kids finished their books-living history books. Peyton read "Rascal", and Lexi read "All of a Kind of Family"
Peyton is working on his research report on Earthquakes. Last week he finished up taking notes on his source cards.

New Craft Blog

Well I recently began a new Craft Blog. It is called Michelle's Craft Creations. I did it for a few reasons.

I also have a link to the right to get there from this page.

 

1. It is hard to keep up with all the different types of crafts by adding to this page. You can add pages, but I ended up having one page on crochet that just went on and on.
2. Having it organized will help me find projects I have done, as well as the resources I used when I did them.
3. I hope to have links to resources for free patterns and craft tutorials, etc.  available for me and for others.I spend hours each week searching for free crochet patterns so I want others to be able to benefit from that time I spent looking. 
4. I hope to encourage and inspire others that want to do crafts.

Week 4 Update

Wow this month has flown by. We have really crazy weather here. We had several days of rain which caused some local flooding. Then the ice hit, which weighed down the trees. We lost one of our beautiful fir trees in the back. We also lost alot of cedar limbs too. Luckily no damage to our house.

The snow that followed the 4 days of rain, came hard and heavy. We also experienced lightning and thunder while it was snowing. Pretty wild.

 

This was my beautiful fir tree. Which is now lying flat on the ground with the roots exposed.

 

This is the day after the heavy snow.

The kids really enjoyed sledding.

They also enjoyed snowball fights.

 

Since then it got up to almost 70 one day and then within 48 hours the high was only 28.

 

For school last week we studied:

In Science: Classifying and Biomes (CKEB)

History WW1 and the kids are still reading their "living books".

Peyton is in the midst of writing a research report on Earthquakes. So he has made a Title Page, Outline, done note cards, and done the rough draft. This week he will work on finalizing it all.

 

Lexi is working on Essentials in Writing -on singular and plural possessives.

Next week we will break from this and work on some test prep type LA stuff, and reading comprehension.

 

Peyton finished Key to Percents book 1 scoring 92% on the final test.

So he will begin book 2 this week.

 

Lexi is still working on Key to Fractions and I am alternating some math review for her as well.

Last week she worked on positive and negative integers and subtraction,.

Learning to Crochet Journey and Links and Resource List

Wow, with today's technology and Youtube, I believe you can learn anything you want. If you want to learn how to fix an engine, paint a room, cut floor tile, or crochet you can do it.

 I am 46 years old and over the past several months I have taught myself to crochet. My mother has always crocheted beautiful baby blankets and afghans and also some outfits in the past. But I never really picked it up. I guess I just wasn't determined enough, or didn't have reason enough to do it.

I learned how to knit a few years ago during a Homeschool Co-Op class. A couple moms volunteered to teach a class to teach people how to knit. So there I learned to do basic knit and pearl, I also learned how to make a basic loom hat from some round looms.  I did knit up a few ponchos for my daughter, but found that I really had problems when I dropped a stitch. I couldn't seem to fix my work, and would end up pulling the whole thing out. I also tried knitting up some decorative dishcloths, but seemed to not keep count well so doing designs didn't really work out for me

                                              Here is one of my first knitting projects.

                            I just knitted two squares, sewed them together and added fringe.

So over the past few months I decided it was time to get serious on crocheting. I began with making some doll hats and ponchos for my daughters AG doll. I also met a lady at Walmart who had on a spiral scarf. (I had heard about them, but never done them.) I asked her if she knitted it up and she said no she purchased it. So I decided that I would try knitting up a few for our Church's Christmas Bazaar. I was really surprised that my items sold as well as they did. I sold out of all my scarves, and all my AG doll items, and even had some custom orders that I took.

Since then I decided to give some other things a go, Most recently character hats, and other crocheted hats.

Here are some of the links I have used in my journey to learn how to crochet. I wanted to include these and also hope to update this page often, in order to help those looking. (Because I have spent hours upon hours searching for ways to learn to do things, and some ways are easier than others, and some people teach better than others.)

Mostly I use youtube videos. Another source I use is Etsy.com I have never purchased a pattern yet. But if you visit Etsy you can get inspiration. Then it is just a matter of making the 'Hat you want,": by finding the techniques.  Most recently I wanted to add a band to a newsboy hat and after searching finally found a baby hat that had the pattern for the band. I just adjusted it to the size I needed.

Basic Learn to crochet stitches, etc.
http://hectanooga.com/learn-to-crochet

I have heard good things about this site, but only used the site once. But it is a great resource. http://www.craftyminx.com/crochet-school/


Beginner projects
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL56D0090D8C64DF0A&feature=plcp

Owl Hat



Sock Monkey Hat
This is the first Sock Monkey Hat video I used  I like the ears on this one best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cl5unMquLd8


This is the snout I like to use. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPJaOfHFHxo&list=UU8rkdn5yhH3tNPZTztuUFtQ

Again this is after trying different patterns, styles, I find what I like and just take portions of each that I prefer.               

      Here is my first attempt at a sock monkey hat using the first video listed under Sock Monkey hats.

                     Using the 2nd video I started using the filled Snout which I like much better.
But I kept the ears from the first video because I liked them better than the ones in the 2nd video.
I also sewed in the pom pom on this hat. Each yarn is individually sewn in. (So they are not falling out.) Something I should have figured out when I made my grandson's hat below. Because it is just a matter of time before a toddler destroys that one. So I imagine I will be re-doing that pom at some time.

Basic Beanie


                                                                        Newsboy Hat
After learning how to make a basic beanie. I began learning how to add this cute visor. It took a few tries to get it right, but now I can pretty much tell when I am making the hat, how many stitches to add to the hat and how long to go out. This was my first one and the brim was really short.

 

Some of my later versions.

 

 

Teen -adult size newsboy hat. with band.

 

This is my favorite, and my daughter is begging me to make her a hat and cape to match her doll.

(So it is on my to-do list .)

Owl Hat

 

The Hoot Owl Hat

 

I have learned to crochet hats using several different patterns, and videos.

This one was actually a combination of a few patterns but so easy. I really love the square look at the top-as compared to the very rounded tops. It is also very easy to make as long as you figure the circumference of the head you want it to fit.

 

For this hat I determined how many inches I wanted it to be around.

I stopped when I reached that measurement on the foundation chain. I think this one was around 20".

I then connected the last chain to the first chain with a slip stitch and worked in the round. (So I started building the hat from the bottom up. ) I find this easier to determine the final size. If you begin with crocheting the head portion first you have to really consider guage more. Using this method you do not have to work with guage, since you work with inches. Here is a video where I got the idea for this method. Emi begins the hat this way, and then does a fast decrease in chains at the top.

 

I chose to decrease much more slowly to make this hat. Since I wanted a square version. I just did a couple decreases in the top row to adjust for this. This hat will fit a 3-10 year old child. Actually probably even up to age 12. My 11 year old fits in it fine.

 

I also customized the eye brows. Looking at many pictures of eye brows on Etsy.

I keep an inspiration folder in my pictures gallery on my computer. So I can get inspiration for hats I want to make.

 

 

 

I have includeda link to this video from Emi showing the basics for this hat. As I said I worked the top differently, but you can make a cute chunky baby ear flap hat using her method, and then tweak from there to make the top different.

Puff Stitch Hat

I am really excited about creating this Puff Stitch Hat. I used this video. To complete the hat. There are several different videos. I think 4 or 5 in this series.

 Here are the pictures of the completed project. I chose very soft, slightly varigated yarn. I also wanted some colors that would work well for Easter.

 

One thing you really have to learn in crocheting is that you may have to tear your work out at times. I noticed my puff stitches were pretty loose, and my chains for the brim ended up very tight. So this hat should fit Lexi above. (But when I first finished it, it didn't. ) I was way too tight, I would have fit a 3-6 month old child, but then would have looked like a Pillsbury dough boy hat on the child. So I ripped out the last 4 rows of chain stitches. Having to literally use scissors to cut them out. Then I re-crocheted those 4 rows, using a bigger hook and making sure I used a looser stitch. Which ended up with the result above. (The hat fitting.)

 

In the video she adds a darling little scallop for the last row, and also 4 chains to be sewn around the bottom of the hat, and also adds a crocheted button cover. (It is so precious, and definitely vintage looking.) But Lexi said it was too dressy for her, so I stopped here. I added a flower, and thought this one was dressier than a crocheted flower would have been. This flower is just pinned on.  If you decide to give this hat a go, have patience, but have fun. I really did enjoy learning this new "puff stitch" and love the look of the hat too. And the hat itself works up quick, adding on the extras takes some time though. (Oh and you might want to grab a larger hook -at least one or two sizes up for the chains at the bottom.)

 

Week 3 Update

This is an update on Week 3 of January and the 3rd week of the year. Since I start over my weekly count each semester.

The kids began their own history reading this week. (So mom gets a little break.) I am reading bits and pieces of different things in the time period. Early 1900’s and WW1.

Peyton is reading Rascal, and is enjoying it.

Lexi is reading.

I am reading Prophet by Peretti.

I am almost done with it.

For science we learned about Creation vs Evolution, and the thoughts in how the world came to be.

We also studied plant and animal cells. One assignment I gave the kids was to make a model of a cell.

They did a great job, and explained what the parts where and what they did. I gave them an A+.

Today we focused a little on test prep and art.

 

Here is our art project. I got the idea from a blog I read today.Here is the tutorial. http://www.theunlikelyhomeschool.com/2013/01/optical-illusion-art-tutorial.html

The kids did well following her directions. But I had a hard time. So I had to color one circle at a time.

Optical Illusion Art

Above Peyton colors in the hand portions of each circle.

As does Lexi.

I colored the circles one at a time, and just switched colors when I got to the hand parts.

Lexi’s finished art below.

Peyton’s in progress.

His finished masterpiece.

In my spare time this week I made another sock monkey hat.

I call this one Valentine Eyes