SCHOOL-N-SUCH: 2009

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Travis in action (soccer pratice pix)

If you are wondering why in some of the pix you can see a ton of balls in the goal it is because all the children will take shots at the goal then go off to do other drills leaving the balls in the goal for later. Can't miss him he is the boy in the orange shoes.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

History project mosaics

I think I might have already posted the activities below (we already did them a couple months ago). We did them again yesterday because our History book had 2 pages on "The Arts". Travis reminded me we don't "write about arts" we are the kind of people who "Do the Arts" (he is so cute I love him so much). Some of the arts popular in the time period we are learning about is wood carving and mosaics. We did 2 mosaic art projects for History class yesterday.

The first project was paper mosaics. I know paper mosaics is nothing new. I remember making a lot of them in art class when I was a child. We did them yesterday because we already had all the supplies ready to make them. We had a ice cube tray of colored paper cut in squares in our craft cupboard (left overs from the last time we did this project). I gave each child a large sheet of paper, the colored squares, a tiny cup with glue, and a few Q tips to apply the glue. I let them make mosaics however they wanted.

Below is Zee's finished mosaic.

Here is Demi's finished mosaic.

And this is Travis'. He named it A Sunny Day.

While they worked on making paper mosaics I got busy getting ready for the second project. I got out a large pot, sugar, corn syrup, and a candy thermometer and started to make some candy.

I am sorry to say yesterday I made a BAD batch of hard candy (not my first time making a bad batch of candy this happens 1/4- 1/2 the time I make candy). I love making candy art but I often mess it up. This batch was thick and dark. It still tasted fine but it didn't spread out as thin as I would have liked it.

After the kids finished making paper mosaics I cleared and washed off the table (I put the candy in the freezer to cool faster). The children then got busy making candy mosaics. I got this idea a few months ago when I was trying to find a fun way to "do history" (we like to try to do a lot of what we learn about in school) to keep it fun. My first idea was to make real mosaics but I didn't want to have my youngest children touch sharp pieces of broken glass or ceramics. My second idea was to use tiles to make real are pieces from glass or ceramic tiles. My hubby works at Lowes so I am waiting for him to buy us some tiles to do that project. I really wanted to figure a cheap, fun, and easy way to make mosaics. I really want to make real mosaics but I will have to wait until we have the extra money and until Rob remembers to buy them. Back when we made our rock candy pops (we called it rock crystals to use for science) I started trying to think of other school projects we could do with candy. The children wanted me to make normal hard lollipops. I thought maybe if I poured hard candy on a tray (not in normal candy pop trays) I might be able to make candy sheets to break up and make our own candy mosaics with. I think over all my idea was a good one. I can't say my children made beautiful mosaic art (beautiful to me yes but perhaps not to the rest of the world). It was an easy to make project and fun (and tasty) to make. I will admit that it is 100% sugar project so I am sure many people might not want to try it.

I wanted to make it 100% edible so I had the children make some icing by mix a tiny bit of water in some confectioners sugar to use for the mortar to hold our tiles (candy glass). They spread out the icing on some wax paper.

Next they covered the candy sheets with wax or parchment paper and hit it with a hammer to make tiny glass tiles.

With 3 children all taking turns breaking up candy with a hammer it didn't take long before the table was covered in candy and starting to fall on the floor. To keep the mess from going all over the house I put all the candy in a flat dish.

The one below is the one Travis made. If you turn your head down to the right you might be able to see he made a person with his candy glass tiles.

This is the look I get when I take the candy away! LOL!

NOTE! The candy was a bit sharp on the edges. I made sure my smallest child didn't get any with sharp edges. I was worried she might cut her mouth with the sharp ones. I just want you to know that before you make this with little children. I think if I would have spread out the pieces on parchment paper on a cookie sheet and put them in a hot oven for a minute they would have melted a bit and not been so sharp on the edges. If we ever do this again I will give that a try and let you know if it works. I made a large batch of candy so I found more than enough pieces without sharp pieces for her to eat and create with.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Falling behind again.

I need to remember to keep up with this blog. I have to admit I have been very lazy lately. My s key is broke on my computer so it a pain in the *** to type (I have to copy and paste the letter when I need to use it). I might bring down a wireless keyboard we have upstairs and use that until we decide what to do or I can use Rob's computer but all pictures are kept in my computer so maybe a keyboard would be a quick free fix for right now. MumMum and Poppy if you are reading this I want to let you know we are talking about getting a new computer (one we will not let the little children type on and break the keys). If we do that the new computer will have a web cam (reason I didn't buy the kids one yet). If we decide against the computer I will buy one to put on this computer (or to put on one of the kids computers so they can visit with you).

We are in the middle of soccer season. Travis loves playing goalie. He is an awesome goalie. I get nervous that someone might score on him. The shots fly at him and he finds a way to stop them every time. OK, not every time. One child scored on him. The child is friends with Travis and a boy who has an incredible kick. Poor Travis didn't have a chance to stop that ball. Travis has played 5 or more games so far this year. He has had more shots kicked in front of him at the goal than I can count and he stopped them all but that one. I think that is very impressive for a 9 year old! I feel bad that I don't have many pictures of him playing soccer this year. I hold my breath when the ball heads toward the goal and I forget to take a picture. All I have is a few pix of him standing at the goal (they don't show how incredible he is). Maybe taking pictures at practice would be better than pix at the games (I will try to remember to take the camera tomorrow).

Here is Demi with Uncle Mike. Mike is a wonderful Uncle. My children all love him. He left this week and will not be back until the holidays.

I notice more and more how cute and peanut size Demi is. Zee is only one size smaller than her in clothes and shoes. All of Demi's friends tower over her. Below is a picture of one of her friends. They are the same age but her friend is a LOT taller (face is blocked because I didn't ask her mom). I think Demi might always be short like me and my family.

Here is Zee. Cute as ever. she is the tough one in the family. she beats up her big brother and big sister.

Please forgive my poor writing. Typing without a popular key makes typing hard. I couldn't find a capitol s key to copy and paste so a few of my sentences have a lower case letter at the beginning. I will get the bad key problem worked out in the next few days I hope.