Did you know about Personalized Crayola Crayons?

This article does have affiliate links!

Did you know that you can personalize crayon boxes? Not only the box, but you can even chose what set of colors to go in the box!

April 24- May 8 - 15% off Personalized Gifts for Mom with code MOMSAVES

This could be a perfect Mother's Day gift for a homeschool mom who continually gets her crayons stolen even when she had given directions not to use her personal crayons and then she gets them back they are broken and not pointy any more...and don't forget the torn paper....

I digress.

Anyway, this would make a cool gift for mom or any one! There are special boxes for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Teachers, Birthdays, Weddings, and more!

And you can choose various sets of crayons...you could even fill the whole box with one color if you want!! You then can have a personal message printed on the bottom of the box. 

You can get them in 8ct, 64ct or ginormous art box.

Go check them out!
And remember, April 24- May 8 - 15% off Personalized Gifts for Mom with code MOMSAVES

Meet the (Homeschool) Mother of Thanksgiving

As we head into the month of Thanksgiving, take a look at this great article about Sarah Hale.

The Pilgrims Didn’t Invent Thanksgiving

If you can squeeze in another guest at your Thanksgiving dinner, I know a 

vivacious little lady who deserves an invitation. She’s been left out of our all-

American feast for decades, and for the life of me, I can’t figure out why. Allow 

me to introduce her in hopes that you’ll make her part of your celebration this 

year.

Read the rest HERE

Today IS Cinco de Mayo!

Last September I wrote this piece about Mexican Independence Day, but it is informative about what Cinco de Mayo is and some possible things to add to today.

Today is NOT Cinco de Mayo

I just wanted to make sure that point was clear. Today is Mexican Independence Day, however.

A lot of people think that Cinco de Mayo (May 5^th) is Mexican Independence Day because it is a big ta-doo here in the United States.

In Mexico, however, Cinco de Mayo is a regional holiday not a national holiday. It commemorates the day a rag-tag group of Mexican farmers defeated the proud and professional French troops at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. Today, in Mexico, it is celebrated in the state of Puebla. Here in the United States, it has become a day to celebrate Mexican heritage and culture.

That is why a lot of people get confused.

Get the rest of the information and ideas HERE.

May Day Flowers

Today our homeschool group is taking May Baskets to a nursing home our church has been ministering to. I thought I would share with you the two kinds of flowers we made!

One is the traditional tissue paper flower made with tissue paper and chenille stems.

Here is a video showing the basics of how we made them. The only difference is we only used 3 pieces of tissue and didn't trim the edges.

The other kind of flower was easier to make but not quite as attractive as when I saw it on Pinterest because I forgot to tell the kids to turn the paper the other way!

Here's the original pin I got the idea from in case you want to do it right!

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!!

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.

March Holiday Ideas on Pinterest

If you've been around my blog, you know that I like to think every day's a holiday.

Here are links to my Pinterest boards to help you with some of the holidays this month.

March 14--Pi Day
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--Pi Day on Pinterest.




March 16-17--Purim
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--Purim on Pinterest.




March 17--St. Patrick's Day
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--St. Patrick Day on Pinterest.




March 20--First Day of Spring
Follow Betsy Price {Mrs. Price is Right about Homeschooling}'s board Holiday--Spring on Pinterest.

Friday Funny--Puritan Valentines

Friday Funny---I don't want anything for Christmas--Blimey Cow

Homeschooling for Hanukkah...continues

Last Monday, I wrote an article for Hedua about Hanukkah. If you don't know what Hanukkah is about, that article is the place to start.

But I didn't merely write about it. We been doing it!

First, we've been working on a free lapbook from Homeschool Share. Find it HERE. It includes history and traditions. We've really enjoyed it. We are not done yet since we chose to complete it over the whole eight days!

We have a mini menorah and have been lighting it each night.We made potato latkes using leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. We used this recipe. I know it is technically not a latke but it was close. (Hint: be patient and use less oil than I did.)

We made our quick and easy donuts.


We still need to make and play with a dreidel, but there is time!

Homeschooling for Hanukkah

Eight Crazy Nights

During this time of year, it is not uncommon to hear the humorous song about Hanukkah and wonder the why and the hows of those “eight crazy nights.”

Those eight crazy nights of Hanukkah remember a great historical and spiritual event, which even Jesus celebrated (John 10:10).

The Cool Thing God Did

We tend to forget that there was a whole period of time between the Old Testament and New Testament. It was during that time that the Greeks, Syrians, and eventually Romans came to control Palestine.You can read about some about this historical time for yourself in the Books of the Maccabees in the Apocrypha or the historical works of Josephus.

Now, before I scare you off with deep historical studies, let me simply share the cool thing that God did.

- Read the rest of what I wrote at: http://hedua.com/blog/homeschooling-hanukkah/#sthash.mhqNUcmC.dpuf

  

Remembering Last Year's TEN TURKEY CRAFTS in TEN DAYs

I'm going to focus learning more about Hanukkah this year than Thanksgiving crafts, but I wanted to reminisce about last year's TEN TURKEYS IN TEN DAYS! (BTW, be looking for a post about Hanukkah next week!)

Day 1


Day 2


Day 3 & 4


Days 5-8



Days 9-10

Happy Reformation Day!!

Just wanted to share some last minute ideas for Reformation Day today!


Currlick is offering a freebie of The Lutheran Rose. It describes the meaning behind the symbols and colors of the Lutheran Rose. This is from Creative Learning Connections.

Another item from Creative Learning Connections that we've used previously is the Martin Luther Lapbook and Mini Unit. As I mentioned in my review, it is master copies only. There are no instructions. It's only $1.25 today.

Go over the 95 theses or print them and hang them up on your door.

Here's a Reformers word search.

Here's some notebooking pages for Reformation Day and the Five Solas.

And don't forget the Reformation Rap!

Can't believe we're past July 4th!

I don't know about you, but I'm sitting here realizing that the summer is slipping away.

July the 4th is over!

We started the holiday focusing on what it was about by attending a Currclick.com class. It was a live Happy Birthday, America! class by Founder's Academy. Mrs. Schott of Founder's Academy always does an awesome job. It was fun to be able to talk about July 2nd (yes, 2nd) and how fireworks work. 

We were unable to watch fireworks this holiday because my hubby had to go to work, but we were still able to make it to two family gatherings and have great fun and fellowship.

Wednesday night we went to "Miss Donna's" house. Donna is my BIL's MIL. Regardless of relational status, everyone is family to Donna and Larry.

They go all out every July 3rd with burgers, hot dogs, fire pit, smores, bouncy house, live band and more. Everything just brings a side dish or dessert to share and the rest is provided.

There was an awesome bouncy house this year with one side open. I would post a picture but I made sure pictures of me in the bouncy house no longer exist!

Here's a picture of kids standing around blowing things up.

A sudden storm system broke out over the metro area. Fortunately, no major rain hit the party although the cold front definitely did. Here's mija making a smore in front of the much appreciated fire pit.

We left in time to get my hubby to work. The next day after giving him some time to sleep we head off with my mom to "Cousin Mike's" house.
This time it was warm enough to give into mija and let her play in the pool they have.

We haven't gotten to see this side of the family much in the past few years, so mija was very excited to find out she was playing with a cousin and not just a new friend.

We did get some sparkler time in before we had to leave.

Well, that was our Fourth except my hubby and I remembering that July 4th is the anniversary of our first date by ourselves. It was 25 years ago!

Fireworks craft--coffee filters, rubber bands, markers

Here is another firework-type craft. 

I say firework-type because you can also make flowers from them or if you use fall-ish colors, they can be great turkey tails or cut out for fall leaves.

All you need is...

They do need to be washable markers in order to get the right effect.
You flatten a coffee filter, fold it in half and continue to fold the cone shape in half until it gets small. (Think folding like you do for snowflakes only using a coffee filter.)
Then you take a rubber band and wrap it around the coffee filter in different locations and tightness. It will look like this after you have folded and wrapped the rubber band.

The next step you can see started in the above picture.  You start coloring in all the different sections in whatever color you choose. It will look like this.

Next, you stick it in a cup of water or run it under a facet for a few seconds and then squeeze out the excess. Remove the rubber band and...

Ta Dah!

It's tie-dye fireworks!!

Fireworks Artwork---paper, paint, glitter glue & chenille stems.

Unless you are my age group---then you need pipe cleaners instead of chenille stems! ;-)

I mentioned on my previous post about Flag Day/Fourth of July crafts. Although I had to do it differently, of course!

First, we bent 4 stem in half, twisted the "handle" and spread out the legs. We used white poster paint on black construction paper to make the basic firework shape.

Here is what one looked like after we were done with this step.

Now you could sprinkle regular glitter on the wet paint if you wanted to do so, however, I had a goal of getting some fine motor skill practice for some smaller fingers.

So, we let the paint dry and then used some glitter glue to decorate our fireworks.
Here are some of the finished fireworks!

Tomorrow we'll do a different for of "fireworks" that can also be used for flowers and other things.

Math Trick for Leap Year

Credit: About.com

I've been dealing with insomnia the past few days. It leaves me a lot of time to think. Not about anything important mind you, just a menagerie of miscellaneous minutia I know.

One is how to know if any year was or will be a Leap Year.

I picked this up somewhere along my teaching career!

If the last two digits of the year are 00 or end in a number that is evenly divisible by 4, that year is a leap year. 

1700=leap year because the last two digits are 00.
2016=leap year because 16 is evenly divisible by 4.
1965=not a leap year because 65 is not evenly divisible by 4.

Yup, this is what I did the other night while I was not sleeping. 

Then I got on to the year 2525 which lead me to begin thinking about...

See, you really do want me to sleep! ;-)

Friday Funny--Patriotic Cymbal Player for Flag Day

As someone said, "When it doubt, be patriotic."