School in Progress Part 8

Wanted to show you all some books we're using for school.

First off, Curious George Discovers Science books are outstanding.

They're in story form, and the kids really get it. If I had bought these before getting our school science work books, I would have opted to just get the Curious George books. I think we still have another 3 to get, as they're not all here.

 These have been some of the best books I've seen in Phonics books. We are doing them right along with their Sing Spell Read and Write kindergarten book and readers. 

One of the reasons I really like them, is the kids are able to read a whole list of words by the end of the lesson, which is five pages. It gives them confidence that they can read.

 And these readers are the best beginner readers I've come across so far, apart from the Sing Spell Read and Write.

And that's just a little look into our school!

S.L. Kliever

Craft for October

Calico Critter Wardrobe 

This was so easy, and cute.

All you need is a small wood box from the dollar store,

wooden beads and dowels, also from dollar store.

Cut the dowel to size, and use wood glue and both the dowel and feet.

The hanger is made from a paperclip bent to a hanger shape.  

You can add more to decorate it, like a mirror on the front.

Put the dowel in lower and add a shelf.  

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

School in Progress Part 7

Everybody started the new school year?

This is only a sample of what I got for this year, but these are the ones we are working on right away. 

Sing, Spell, Read and Write supplementing with some other books.

I really like the Word Family Books, because I think they give the kids a little more than their Sing, Spell book. And the Interactive Notebooks had some extra a,e,i,o,u activities.

 I am a firm believer in the need for school to be fun. I struggled through school myself, so I understand this first hand. So... Curious George it is! Half the time they don't even know they're learning with this Adventures in Learning books, story-based learning.

I also was impressed with the 180 Days of Reading, not only does it help with their reading comprehension, the K book goes nicely along with our phonics books and it came with a CD that I could print the pages off for both kids to do. 

The Abeka books were nice and colorful way to learn about Health and Safety.

 I didn't get the math books I wanted... so hopefully these will do. 

My daughter is always drawing things, so I made sure I got some drawing books. 

And I picked this beginners Geography because it covers more than one grade, no need to buy something next year.

 Keeping it fun.... my kids don't know about these books. I'm keeping them hidden. When the time comes to practice reading, there will be NEW books to read, making it exciting!

Craft for July

This is... How To Make A Doll House Chair From A Bottle Lid... perfect size for Calico Critters

 I cut out two square pieces of cardboard for the back, and cut the fabric large enough to fold over the sides. 

One lid, and one piece of cardboard cut out in circle to cover the underside of the chair. 

And One circle of fabric cut out large enough to fold over all sides.

And we need some stuffing, and a hot glue gun.

 I had to hold the back of the chair on the seat until it dried. Being that it's round the backing dosn't really want to stay in place by it's self.

 Add wooden beads on the bottom for feet and there you have it!

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

Craft for June

School Craft with the kids!

So I bought this stencil set for my daughter, 

and we decided to do an art project/craft with it for school.

Come take a look-see!

 I got them to 'paint' the clothes they wanted.

 I took a sharpy and did the outlines.

 We also used the stencil's on scrapbook paper.

 The stencils only had girls. (Three Girl heads to choose from). So I turned one of them into a boy, since my son was interested in doing this with us.

Download our PDF File here for the dolls and their clothes to print off! :D 

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

Craft for May

Calico Critter Furniture 

This kind of furniture is so easy to make, there's really no need to buy stuff like this for the critters. 

Come take a look see

 You can make just about any combination you want, here I made a double, single and baby bed.

All you need is 

Cardboard

Fabric

Stuffing (even cotton-balls work) 

Hot-glue gun

Here's the steps of making a couch and chair.

When you cut your cardboard, make sure you measure them back and seat the same size and the two ends the same as well. You may want a Critter to give you an idea of how deep you want the seat so they sit nicely without falling off.

 It's nice to put stuffing on the seat and back, the ends are optional.

If you don't have stuffing, you can still make these, they'll just come out flatter.

Once you hot glue the fabric on, folding it over...

 You'll then hot glue your furniture pieces together. 

The ends to the seat first, then add your back.

 Feet are optional. I used wooden beads. Wooden blocks work too, or some other kind of bead.

 The chair is the same idea. I only used stuffing on the back and seat.

Folded the fabric over tightly and hot glue in place, then hot glue your pieces together.

 And you have a chair and couch for Calico Critters. Just like that!

I've made beds before, but never a bunk bed, but it turned out alright. 

Four cardboard's, all the same size, two for the beds with stuffing, and two for the ends.

 Tightly fold over fabric and hot glue in place.

 Four pieces all covered, now for assembling.

 I glued the bottom on first and then the top...

 ...adding craft sticks just to strengthen the bed so it doesn't wobble.

 you can add more if needed. Or even a large cardboard covered in fabric for the backing.

 For a double bed, stuffing on the bottom, and one head-board. 

You can also do a head-board and a foot-board if so desired, I have done that.

 There you go, the only thing left to do is make pillows and blankets!

Happy Crafting

S.L. Kliever

School in progress Part 6

Not much new to report... but with spring around the corner (or is it here? hard to tell!) We've started plants indoors, and the kids get excited to start their own. So this year we did something different, we did a Resurrection Garden in one of the pots, making Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday more meaningful for the kids.

 As soon as we arrived home from the store, my son was eager to get going on his pots. I let them pick out their own flowers at the store, and they each got two pots to plant in.
I think probably the best way kids learn is hands on, at least mine do. Learning by doing... and when we make it fun, they learn that work can be fun, not work; in planting seeds, or learning to sweep the floor or doing dishes!

 And since we're going to be learning about birds this year... we picked out a few things for our yard!
The North American Wildlife book is the exact one my grandma had, and I remember running over to my grandma's house to look something up in the book. So when I found it at the second hand store, I got it for my kids. We will be looking up birds and learning about which ones are in our area.

And that's just a little of what we're doing!

S.L. Kliever

School in progress Part 5

I hope no one noticed but me that I missed a month again... health issues are never fun, but life goes on either way.

Come take a look what we've been up to lately in school. 

Two new favorite books the kids have been enjoying. 

Because my daughter and I are into doll houses and miniatures, The Mouse Mansion was a fun find. 

And of course, my son loves Thomas, so this collection of old original stories was well received. 

Both books can be found on Amazon. I think I got them second hand.

 Yes, Legos are important for school! If you're a Lego lover and don't mind cheaper brands, I found these at Wal-Mart. We've had great fun building with them! 

Legos can be a good way to teach creativity as well as counting!!!

 Now for actual school, what kid doesn't like to get their very own mail! These are Bible lessons through ubdavid.org or better known as U B David, I'll B Jonathan. Their lessons can be taken on-line now, but I asked about snail mail, because I remembered doing them as a kid and I loved getting my own mail... and so do my kids. They start at preschool age and up to Bible school level! There are many benefits to doing these, for starters, they can get scholarships to Bible school and Summer Bible Camps, as well as earn books. 

We keep ours in binders, so we don't lose lessons and can go back and re-read them if we want.

 Some books we've been working through lately... I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again, your local Dollar Store can be a great place to get your kids started!

 We have a budding artist in our family, so I got these simple books on drawing, found them too on Amazon. It's been neat to watch my little artist develop!

That's it for now! Come back again!

S.L. Kliever