My Latest: Paper Projects and the Anthropocene

a book review of The Anthropocene

a review of Syd's recycled paper beadmaking kit

a tutorial to create papier mache stars

and Syd's tutorial to make toilet paper tube toy binoculars

I expect that we'll be seeing a lot more handwork in the next few weeks--the Christmas season is a good time for it, and the imminent relaxation of our VERY busy schedule (Syd's closing performance of The Nutcracker is today!) will allow plenty of space for it.

Our Puzzle Philosophy

We have one. It goes like this: we love big puzzles. Love them. We buy our puzzles from thrift stores or yard sales, because we only ever really want to do them once, unless they're really, REALLY excellent (I have a puzzle from the 80s that has on it every single Disney character up to that year. It's practically my favorite thing ever). And if you're only going to do a puzzle once, then you sure as hell don't want to pay full retail for it.

Of course, if you're only paying a couple of bucks for a puzzle, then you're also not going to get fussed if it's missing a few pieces. We worked on this puzzle for weeks, sure that it had several missing pieces:

It didn't!

If the puzzle does have missing pieces, then we recycle it when we've finished it. If it doesn't have missing pieces, then we tape it back really well, I put a sign on it that reads something like "No missing pieces!", and we donate it back to Goodwill.

A puzzle usually stays out for quite a while as we work on it off and on, and then gets finished over the course of one epic weekend as I get sick of it taking up our table space.

After the puzzle is packed away and gone, I'll feel happy when I walk by that empty table, thinking how nice and tidy it is without a messy puzzle all over it. After a while, though, I'll walk by that table and think to myself that I wish I had another puzzle to do. I'll start checking out the shelves whenever we're at Goodwill, searching for a decent puzzle. That's the point that I'm at right now. Somebody, somewhere in this town, is about to donate a perfectly good puzzle, perhaps one with dragons AND unicorns on it, perhaps even one that's Doctor Who-themed!

And when they do, I'll wander over to Goodwill, spy it on the shelf marked at $1.99--maybe it'll even be the half-off Color of the Week!--and I'll buy that baby and bring it home to my family in triumph. Puzzle Nights will begin again!!!

All the Christmas Crafts

Update: I've decided that this is where all our Christmas craft tutorials will live, so even though this post is originally from 2014, its Christmas crafting game is current!

One of the reasons why I enjoy blogging is the feeling of re-discovering an old post, especially when it's something that I've otherwise forgotten completely about. That time when the younger painted the wall with peanut butter. The day that the older kid threw a fit in a modern art museum. A glimpse of her protectiveness toward her sister.

This particularly applies to Christmas crafts, since they're often done and displayed within the day, and I don't tend to keep them for the next year (gasp, I know!). So, in honor of Christmas Recipe Day and Christmas Craft Day and Christmas Ornament Day on our Advent calendar, and my deep desire to save some time and avoid reinventing the wheel, here's my definitive round-up of all of my Christmas crafts that I can unearth:

wooden stars

Big stars are tree toppers, and little stars are ornaments!

filled ornament

In my opinion, those clear glass baubles exist solely to be filled with cuteness.

Mason jar lid ring ornaments

There's scope for making any kind of art that you want to illustrate these ornaments.

light bulb Christmas ornament

This one uses a hollowed out light bulb as a base for a regular filled ornament.

paint-filled clear ornaments

This is a fun process-oriented craft... and it's good for using up the last bits of various paint pots!

painted holiday shirt

I was surprised at how much effort the younger kid put into this project. It turned out stinkin' adorable, too!

puzzle ornament

Do you love a puzzle that has some missing pieces? Turn your favorite perfect sections into ornaments!

cinnamon dough ornaments

This might be my favorite Christmas craft. We make them every year.

papier mache star

This is a super fun, super messy, VERY hands-on craft.

Icelandic laufabraud

The kids made this for their Geography Fair project in May, but it's actually a Christmas recipe!

steampunk snowman

For when your teenager gets into steampunk...

dipped pinecone ornaments

These are crazy pretty, and they last for freaking ever. I'm partial to the crayon-dipped ones.

popsicle stick ornaments

The more glitter, the better!

waffle cone Christmas trees

These are quicker and easier to make than gingerbread houses.

sticker Christmas cards

These were dead easy for me to organize and for the kids to make, and I think that they turned out really cute.

chalkboard gift wrap

This is especially fun, because you can do it right on brown paper (I do a lot of wrapping in brown paper bags).

upcycled CD wish list ornament

Some parents don't like it when I bring this project to our ornament crafting party, but I think it's cool to remember what the kids wanted most each year.

painted popcorn garland

The look cute even when they're plain, but if you've got some teeny spritz bottles, you can make them really special.

beeswax ornaments

I think that these would look even cuter poured more thinly, so I'm going to have the kids try that this year.

gingerbread houses, steps one and two

I don't go through all this trouble every single year, but when I do, this makes the most EPIC gingerbread houses of all time. I'm going to do it this year.

ornament Advent calendar

Starting with a coloring book of ornaments made this a super-easy toddler/preschooler craft.

overhead projector Christmas tree

It's been a while since we've whipped out the overhead projector--we pretty much only use it now for tracing images that we want to be large--but there was a time that this puppy could save any dreary day for me!

collage window card

This required parental wielding of the x-acto knife when the kids were littler, but their random selection of collage papers, and their distribution, looked quite artistic.

coloring page Christmas ornaments

If you've got a scanner, so that you can shrink down regular coloring pages either before or after the kids have colored them, then you can use pretty much any image here.

painted wooden Christmas ornament

This is another easy one for littles. You start with those wooden die cuts that you can get most places, and they don't even have to be holiday-themed--we've got some pretty sweet dinosaur ornaments on the tree, thanks to this craft!

used sandwich bag ornaments

The first time that we did this, the kids weren't old enough to iron. They like this project even more now that they can!

record album cover ornaments

These are so fun for the kids, now that they have the hand strength to cut through cardboard.

felted sweater stockings

I made these, but the kids definitely have the sewing skills to do this now.

Whew! Honestly, I don't even think that these are the entirety of all the Christmas tutorials that the kids and I have done over the years, but I've got to go take a shower, then put the younger kid's hair up in her flat performance bun, then get the kids to gather up all the stuff that they'll need for the rest of the day and evening (ballet uniform, quiet activity, school work, water bottle, and packed dinner for the younger kid, and aerial silks uniform, fat check for her recital costume, library books to return, water bottle, and packed dinner for the older kid), then drive them to Girl Scouts Co-op, then come back home and work out real quick, then drive back and pick them up, then drive the younger kid over to Matt's office and drop her off, then take the older kid to aerial silks, then take her to the library for LEGO Club, then go home and make and mail an etsy order. 

And oh, hell, I just this second got an email from the ballet department saying that the kid's got to bring foundation to her dress rehearsal tonight. Whatever kind of make-up foundation is, that's what I'm going to be buying instead of working out this afternoon. 

Santa's List: The Kids' Favorites

I try to be really thoughtful with the children's Christmas presents--I mainly only buy them new things at Christmas and their birthdays, so I want them to love what they get. I also hate it when I choose wrong, as I did last Christmas, when I thought that Syd would just love this LEGO Life Of George game. She loves the ipad, and she loves LEGOs; what could go wrong? Yeah, Life of George has a timer. She felt judged by it. It made her cry.

So what I did this year was scroll through my family photos from the last several years, back to about 2008 or so, with an eye out for what I'd photographed the children playing with and using. For me to photograph something, I generally have to be liking what I see, so photos should show both what the kids like and what I like them to have. I figured that if a category was big then and still big now, then a purchase in that category is likely to be a winner.

Here's what I came up with:

1. memberships. Zoo memberships, science museum memberships, children's museum memberships, history museum memberships, state and national park memberships--the kids never get tired of visiting these places.

It's been over a year since we've had a zoo membership, so I may buy one for Christmas. Will would be thrilled!

 2. building toys. Building blocks, Kapla blocks, LEGOs, Geomags, train tracks, racetrack building sets--the kids have a knack for incorporating their creations into their pretend play, so everything gets a ton of use.

I'm boosting the kids' Kapla blocks and Geomag sets this Christmas.

3. face paint and makeup. Natural face paint, professional clown makeup, real makeup, fingernail polish--Syd is into this stuff constantly, and Will occasionally shows an interest in making herself up, too:

If I can find it (still haven't unpacked all the way. May never do so), I've got a "tropical colors" set of our favorite Mehron professional clown paints socked away for Santa to put in Syd's stocking.

4. arts enrichment. Cameras, video cameras, musical instruments, oil pastels, fabric markers, and paints of all kinds--anything that allows the kids to express themselves is a bit hit with all of us:

I really want to buy the kids this little pottery wheel that I've heard good reviews of, but it's more than I want to pay. Maybe we can make ourselves a kick wheel this spring.

5. kits. Science kits, art kits, craft kits--the kids will ignore them for months, and then pull one out and become totally immersed in it for an entire day.

I'm actually going to make the kids a chemistry set, hopefully by Christmas.

6. games and puzzles. Board games, computer games, logic games, video games, card games, trivia games, and puzzles, the bigger the better--the kids are doing these daily, and I love the spontaneity of getting pulled into an epic game of Monopoly or a week-long puzzle featuring otters.

I've wanted to buy Will a complete beginner's D&D setup for a while, including an adventure in a box that can really get her going, but again, it's not in the budget this Christmas. I can DM her through some games on my own, and maybe get her really set up for her birthday.

7. tools. Science equipment, physics supplies, rope, shooting equipment, carving knives, power tools, batteries and wires--both kids, but especially Will, are continually engaged in going about their own productive little businesses.

Santa is going to bring Will a gouge for her limestone hand-carving set, and if I can ever find a heavy weight-bearing triple pulley that doesn't cost more than a week's groceries, then I'm going to snap that baby up, pronto!

You'll notice that I don't have books as a category, but the kids just read too much to make getting them from me a treat. They check out armloads at the library a couple of times a week, return them, and gather a new armload the next time we're out. And yet even without deliberately giving them books at holidays, we still all have a million books. Go figure.

I also don't have toys like Barbies, stuffed animals, or little toy people and animals and cars listed, but of course the kids love them. They buy them with their own money (Syd scored big on a Barbie Black Friday sale!), get them at thrift stores and yard sales, and, yes, they'll definitely find a few Hot Wheels and maybe a couple of Schleichs in their stockings on Christmas morning.

Okay, I'm done. Also, every time I talk about Christmas presents I feel like a monster, on account of there are starving people in the world, and here I am, thinking about toys.

Work Plans for the Week of December 1, 2014: The Nutcracker and the Advent

We are going to get through this week, my friends. We are just going to put one foot in front of the other, take one event at a time, one day at a time, and we are going to get through this week.

The main focus of the week is on supporting Syd as she spends hours upon hours this week rehearsing, and then performing, for our local university's production of The Nutcracker. It's a stellar show, because the university has stellar college and pre-college ballet programs. But, of course, a stellar show requires rigorous rehearsals, and a lot of parental commitment (children whose parents can't supply the commitment simply don't get to participate, I fear). I'm in charge of hair, uniform, and transportation that occurs during the workday. I'm a little stressed about the exacting requirements of the "flat performance bun," but I suppose that's why there are three dress rehearsals prior to the show! If my kid shows up with her hair a mess tonight, I'll probably get a note sent home, and then I'll do better tomorrow.

Matt's in charge of all evening transportation, including picking up Syd and taking her to dinner between afternoon stage rehearsals and evening dress rehearsals. When I've got a conflicting appointment with Will, he's also going to have Syd at work with him, so that he can leave work, drop her off at the proper time, then go back to work.

School, therefore, is highly abridged this week. Syd's Nutcracker experience is exactly the kind of experiential education that I want for my kids, and Will can just have the extra downtime to read and play. We'll be doing Math Mammoth daily through Thursday (even though this means that I have to find time today to buy a fucking protractor, sigh. Why do we not already own a protractor?!?), and I've also given the children the task of completing all Girl Scout badges that they've already begun, also by Thursday. Will just finished up her Digital Photographer badge this morning--yay! Syd's still playing with toys under the Christmas tree, her math worksheets lying forgotten on the floor beside her.

We've also got our regular weekly commitments, still, including our volunteer gig, horseback riding and ice skating classes, and Robotics Club. Will's got aerial silks a couple of times this week, and she can make LEGO Club, even though Syd can't. And then there's a party with our homeschool group and two events with our Girl Scouts Co-op, all of which I've said that we'll attend if Syd seems to be getting enough sleep and isn't run-down or fussed by all the running around. We can't have a puking or weepy Snow Angel, so I've got my eye on that, and super bugs or not, I'm not afraid to use hand sanitizer.

Oh, and, AND, did you know that it's already DECEMBER?!? I've been telling myself that although I dread prepping for the Advent calendar activities, I'm always very happy to have done them. Memory and tradition and all, you know? This year the kids have Advent calendars with little numbered drawers, given to them by their grandmother. Last night I made the list and then Matt cut everything apart and put it all into the drawers:

I like having all the activities planned out ahead of time, so that I know when to buy supplies, and when to resign myself to another showing of freaking Frosty (I'd rather watch all the Doctor Who Christmas specials for our movie time), but I have the master list on my computer, so if I need to, I can switch the activities around. All the stuff this week is easy, most of the stuff next week is prep work that we need to do anyway, and the stuff for the final week is more of the elaborate, fun, *really* Christmassy stuff. It's bugging me that we're not doing any extra charity work for any of our activities, but I'll just have to be on the lookout for additional opportunities, because I was overthinking it way too much last night, trying to figure it out.

So that's our week! We'll have relatives in town through next Tuesday, so in next week's work plans, look for Watch Movies All Day and Don't Bother Momma, Who's Staying in Bed Wednesday!

My Latest: A Very Light Bulb Christmas

a round-up of wedding dress crafts

a round-up of light bulb crafts

and a tutorial to make a light bulb Christmas ornament

There will likely be a lot more ornament tutorials coming your way--we went over to the Christmas tree farm down the road yesterday and brought home a lovely pine, but even after decorating it, it's pretty sparse. You're going to think that I'm a monster, but  I often trashed the kids' handmade ornaments at the end of each season--I know, I know, but we really didn't have much storage space in our old house. 

If it makes you feel better, I promise that I'll hoard EVERYTHING from now on.

The 2015 Butterfly Garden

For her Girl Scouts Animal Habitats Junior badge, Will created plans for a butterfly garden:

We are both VERY novice gardeners, and 2015 will be the first year that we've had a real, sun-filled space on our own property to do so. I'm worried about getting too ambitious so that the whole thing looks like crap, and I'm also pretty sure that Will is trying to get us all stoned with her 18 square feet of poppies, but still, it's going to be very exciting to have a property of our own to play with.

Will also wants a koi pond. Syd wants a sunflower house. I may not have time to grow actual vegetables this coming year.

The Two-Paragraph Essay

Will has written several of these for her Minecraft Homeschool class, and they're pretty brilliant. She's a reluctant typer/handwriter (her fine motor skills ARE improving, so I no longer *despair*, exactly, but nevertheless... sigh), but that two-paragraph limit is somehow short enough that she will willingly do the work without complaint.

Two paragraphs are also plenty of space to create some pretty sophisticated compositions. Here's an example from her first week of class:

The instructor generally gives them the topic for each paragraph (for this one, obviously, they were to write facts about their Wonder in the first paragraph, and then explain why they chose that Wonder in the second paragraph), but all of the information, of course, as well as the structure, transitions, and authorial voice, are crafted by the student.

The class also provides its own resources, via a written lesson and links to documentaries on Youtube, and Will has become quite adept at looking back at these references as she writes, rewatching specific scenes from the documentaries and rereading specific paragraphs from the lessons to find the information that she wants. It's not note-taking, but nevertheless, that kind of recall ability is a great research skill to have.

Although these short essays don't require Will to practice introductions and conclusions--there simply isn't enough room--I'm finding that I quite like the way that they're structured, regardless. It gives Will a chance to practice a few very specific research and composition skills, so that when she does write longer essays for me--well, that's a little less that she'll have to work on then!

Work Plans for the Week of November 24, 2014: Visual Organizers and Thanksgiving

We're all excited about the short week ahead of us, and I'm using that enthusiasm as my wedge to pack in a good bit of productive work before our break.

MONDAY: We've got Math Mammoth today (Will's last week of long division; Syd's second-to-last week, I think, in telling time), our usual volunteer gig, and First Language Lessons, but we had to return Song School Spanish to the public library, so we'll have a couple of weeks of hiatus from Spanish before we can get the book back and return to our lessons there.

Will begins another week of Minecraft Homeschool today; her class is six weeks long, and Syd has already informed me that she'd like to take the class when it resumes in January. We only have one Minecraft log-in, so taking turns at the class seems fair.

Our endangered animal study is still going REALLY well! I'm happy to continue it for as long as the children remain interested, because they're doing some great researching and reporting. I've become quite enthusiastic about visual organizers--posters, infographics, timelines, etc.--lately, since they still involve the same research and reference skills, but the kids are happier to produce them.

TUESDAY: The kids are still enjoying their Hoffman Academy keyboard lessons, and I'm still enjoying their independence in completing them. I know that for an instrument to be successful, I really need to get involved, but... baby steps. I'm already handling about all I can handle right this second.

Next week the kids have a brunch with our Girl Scout Co-op, in which they're going to receive the badges they've earned this semester, so I need to sit down soon and look at what they've done, and encourage them to finish up the last bits on their own, but for now we'll continue the First Aid badge work that I'm guiding them through. Mind you, this biography and report on Florence Nightingale is a requirement that I've added to the official badge work, but my additions are designed to turn each badge into more of a unit study, and I think that it gives the activities, overall, more of an impact.

Will has a Robotics Workshop on this night, so she'll be having fun programming LEGO Mindstorms, and Syd has a playdate that overlaps the workshop, so she'll be having fun, too!

WEDNESDAY: Syd pitched a giant fit during last week's spelling test, so I don't think that Matt was even able to establish then which words she knew and which she didn't know, sigh. Perhaps he'll have better luck this week...

We're going to complete a quick Nutcracker unit study this winter, just to help the children put Syd's peformance in it into context. The revised Hoffman book is our current bedtime read-aloud, and this activity, in which we'll watch George Balanchine's version of the ballet and then the kids will create a timeline with that, a coloring book that we own, and a short performance summary as their references, will nail down their understanding of the ballet's events and its "plot."

The kids are still working very hard at aerial silks. Matt and I are working hard behind the scenes to figure out an at-home rig that we can all play on--any advice is welcome!

THURSDAY/FRIDAY/SATURDAY/SUNDAY: Hello, long weekend! We're not traveling for Thanksgiving this year, because next week is just going to be incredibly busy and stressful. Instead, we're going to focus on relaxing our hearts out this long holiday weekend. On Thanksgiving, each person is going to prepare two favorite dishes for our feast--almost all sweets so far, but oh, well. Life is tough. On Friday, I imagine that we will do some shopping, because there are things that we need and if Black Friday can bring them to us at a discount, then so be it. Friday night is a huge celebration downtown. Saturday is aerial silks rehearsal. Sunday is a children's show at the public library.

And then Monday through Sunday is hours and hours and hours of Nutcracker. Performance hair. Tech week. Dress rehearsals. And five shows in four days. But we're not going to think about that on this long holiday weekend, are we?