The ABCs of Hand Washing AND Making Liquid Handsoap

I've been taking a kitchen safety class and learning some new things.

One of the things I've learned is a helpful hint about washing hands? Did you know that you are supposed to wash your hands long enough to sing the ABC Song or Happy Birthday twice?

Want to try an experiment that demonstrates the difference?
First, mix oil with cinnamon and rub it on your hands.

The first time you wash your hands for only 10 seconds in cold.
Here was mija's result:

You then can repeat the process washing for 10 seconds in warm water. Third, you do 10 seconds using soap in warm water.

A little better, but watch what happens after washing with soap and warm water while singing the ABC Song:

Yup, those are clean hands...the sink is filthy, but the hands are clean.

Now, a way to save money while washing your hands. How about making your own liquid hand soap?

I tried it out this week for the first time using a bar of soap, glycerin, and water.

Here's the site where I found out about how to do it:

Make sure to read all the comments. The next morning it started out as as a soft solid but after I stirred it, it turned into kind of a mucus. I added some more water and warmed it up. Still ended up soft solid and turned gelatinous. Added water and warmed one more time, but this time I whisked it. It made a difference.

It's not big on lather, but works just fine.

So now you know how to wash your hands AND have soap to use!

Friday Funny---Hair Stylist Appreciation Day

Yup,  Hair Stylist Appreciation Day is coming up on April 30th and these are really men's hairstyles from the 60s and 70s!

Our Easter Weekend

Hope you had a blessed Resurrection Sunday!
Our Easter weekend was low key but definitely had it's meaningful moments.

First, we started out focusing on Christ's sacrifice for us on Good Friday. 
I saw this great idea from Mustard Seeds and we made it ours. 

After reading from the Bible what happened the day of Jesus' crucifixion, we put red dots on our hands and wrote our names over them. It reminded us all day about the nails that went through Jesus' wrists and that those nails were for us. It was actually quite thought provoking.

Our move into an apartment building aided us in our next Easter blessing. We made baggies of jelly beans for our neighbors and placed in each bag a poem about the jelly bean gospel.

We used the Jelly Bean Poem from HERE. I liked what it said and how it was already set up to print. 

First, there seemed to have been a rush on jelly beans because I had to go to several stores to find them. I purchased 8 bags which we then emptied into a bowl.

We placed 1/3 of a cup into each baggie along with the poem. 

We took them into the commons room and put them on the counter along with a sign wishing a Happy Easter from us. We also gave our name and apartment number just in case a seed was planted!

Mija enjoyed peeking into the commons room to see how many baggies were left!

Well, besides a blessed Sunday service that was our Easter. Hubby had to work so there was no real dinner or activities and that was okay because the two activities we did really ministered the true message of the Resurrection to us!

Easter Monday Mess

Today is Easter Monday for those who follow the liturgical calendar. For the rest of us, we probably have the traditional post-Easter Monday mess to clean.

Easter or Resurrection Sunday celebrations often leave behind their own remnants that require clean up or dealt with.

Ham

Yes, some of us actually have ham left over. Speaking of cleaning up, I’m not sure where the habit of eating unclean meat for the day we celebrate the resurrection of our Savior who happened to be Jewish came from, but there it is

Read the rest HERE!!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

One of my favorite pieces---He's risen!

Have you checked out my Helpful Homeschool Websites page?

Checking in to see if you have used my Helpful Homeschool Websites page? I recently went through to make sure all the links are still up and running and organized the history links.

I always adding new links and hope to organize some other sections topically like I did with the history.

Do you know great websites that should be added? Please leave it in the comments, so I can.

One way I have used Helpful Homeschool Websites page myself if with mija. Sometimes she wants to "play" on the computer, but I want to make sure she gets something out of it, so I say she can click on some of the sites on the page. She like the chance to choose independently while I like the fact that she's gleaning some learning!

Preparing for the Lunar Eclipse Tonight

Tonight, as in tomorrow morning, there will be a total lunar eclipse. 

Unfortunately, we'll probably miss it since it's supposed to be a hard freeze! Thankfully, it's not the only one this year. There will be a second on October 8.

Today would be a great day for a quick lesson on what a lunar eclipse is!


Surprisingly, finding quality activities and worksheets for a lunar eclipse hasn't been that easy. Here's one site that had a few things.

So, here are a few more videos to make up for it!

Friday Funny---Socialization

This funny came from the HEDUA Facebook party last night!

Using Your Write Brain---Guest Post

Have you heard of Grammarly? There is more to them than just great memes on Facebook! It is actually an automated proofreading program.

Well, today I have a guest post from Nikolas Baron of Grammarly. Enjoy!

Using your Write Brain

Let’s face it: the bane of your existence when you were in school really was the entire school bit. It was so difficult to comprehend why we couldn’t play outdoors for extended periods of time, especially since countless studies reached the same conclusion emphasizing the importance of play. Clearly, playing trumped the studying card. Yet perhaps the reason why children scorn learning with a hatred is simply because it isn’t fun, or rather, it is perceived as being dull and somewhat ‘important’ for the distant future if we didn’t want to be a road sweeper.

However, with today’s advancements, coupled with decades of experience and feedback from millions of bored-to-death students, not improving the method we use to educate will simply be laziness on our part.

Since I’ve started working at Grammarly, an instant online grammar checking proofreader, I’ve been researching on organic learning methods to facilitate the introduction of English for children. What I’ve discovered is far from what takes place within four white walls. Though there are tons of approaches to take, I found that interest and interaction are key in tapping into a child’s natural learning processes; it’s all about using their write brain.

Let’s start off with the greatest favour you can do for any child: don’t box them in, constantly encourage, and give them the benefit of the doubt when they insist that elephants can fly. Imagination and creativity are essential in injecting enjoyment in learning.

Involve all their senses when it comes to writing. This simple application will magically do loads to enhance learning. Writing about the weather, bring them outdoors; writing about culture, let them come to class in their traditional costumes and conduct a show and tell. Try this exercise. First, get them to imagine eating a mint candy with a molten chocolate centre. Tell them to write about what they taste, how it feels in their mouth, how it smells, their emotions while eating the candy, and anything that comes to their mind. Then re-do the exercise with them, giving each child a mint candy with a molten chocolate centre and get them to write down what they see, feel, and smell. Believe me, the vast improvement in their writing will take you aback; it’ll almost seem as though a different kid walked into your classroom.

Ever heard of ‘Secret Santa’? Give each child an envelope with their name on it, and assign a ‘Secret Santa’ to each of them. Instead of giving their friends more cavities, get them to write letters to each other daily. Not only will this break the ice in a classroom full of new faces, it’ll also give each child a reason to write daily. The best part is that there isn’t any topic to write about; the sky’s the limit. I’ve heard of teachers taking this a step further and getting global ‘penpals’ for their students, matching their age to other students of their age. I’m pretty sure many kids would be thrilled to have an exotic friend.

‌Now for the tricky bit – making grammar interactive. Rules that are black and white usually don’t sit well with kids or anyone for that matter. But you know what they say, “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Let the kids be in the position of authority to grade their friends’ work. Scouring the page to identify spelling and grammatical mistakes is a brilliant start for them to identify what other people are getting wrong. After manual grading, they can run the written text through a comprehensible software such as Grammarly to see which errors they missed out. The best part about this program is the detailed explanations given to clarify why certain sentences may be wrong. The software picks up on literally everything, from grammar to spelling, and even sentence structures.

The purpose of education shouldn’t be to teach children what to think, but rather how to think; not to dull, but to excite their senses; and ultimately, not to believe there’s a right way to think, but simply by using their write brain.


By Nikolas Baron

Nikolas discovered his love for the written word in Elementary School, where he started spending his afternoons sprawled across the living room floor devouring one Marc Brown children’s novel after the other and writing short stories about daring pirate adventures. After acquiring some experience in various marketing, business development, and hiring roles at internet startups in a few different countries, he decided to re-unite his professional life with his childhood passions by joining Grammarly’s marketing team in San Francisco. He has the pleasure of being tasked with talking to writers, bloggers, teachers, and others about how they use Grammarly’s online proofreading application to improve their writing. His free time is spent biking, travelling, and reading.

Decorative Bathroom Towel Holder

I saw this idea several years ago and waited until the time was right to use it. Who would have thought a teatotaler like me would find a use for a wine rack!

It's very simple, you take a wine rack and use it for towels in the bathroom!

My husband really likes it and says it makes the bathroom look likes a spa.

Now I will warn you, if you have those nice, fluffy towels, it will probably be easier for you to use one that is more open like this one:

Now to be honest, I only paid $3 for my rack at a thrift store!

Do you have any cool ways to store your towels?

SavingStar Healthy Offer Of the Week: Lettuce

Save 20% on any single purchase of loose Lettuce at participating retailers. See offer info for complete details.

SavingStar FREE C&H or Domino Brown Sugar

I posted earlier this week about saving/making money using apps. SavingStar is one I mentioned.

This week freebie is Domino or C&H Brown Sugar!

Save 100% when you buy ONE (1) 1lb. box of Domino® Brown Sugar. Check back every Friday for a new Freebie!

Friday Funny--Chemistry

This meme is so timely. We've been studying chemistry, talking about a chemical formula and the difference between something squared and cubed!

April Holiday Ideas from Pinterest

Here are links to my Pinterest boards for the April holidays!

April 4th--Martin Luther King Jr. Assassination
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--MLKJr on Pinterest.




April 13--Palm Sunday
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--Palm Sunday on Pinterest.




April 15--Passover
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--Passover on Pinterest.




April 20--Easter
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--Easter on Pinterest.