Merry Christmas!

Spreading Christmas Cheer...

We have been thoroughly enjoying our visits to the local nursing home.  The girls loved passing out candy on Halloween and homemade cards for Thanksgiving.  For our Christmas visit, the girls made these adorable candy cane ornaments to pass out along with the Legend of the Candy Candy poem.  

 

We visited and sang Christmas Carols for many of the residents. 

This was our third visit to this particular nursing home.  Not only are our visits a valuable experience for the girls, but they brighten up the day for the elderly, who often feel isolated and excluded from the community.  Our goal this year is to maintain an ongoing visitation program with this community of elders.

Merry Christmas!

Digital Scrapbooking

Every year, I make the girls several homemade Christmas gifts.  I just completed Izzie's photo book tonight...how I love digital scrapbooking!  Technically, it isn't completely "homemade", but it was created with a lot of love and time!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly offers exclusive photobook layouts so you can make your book just the way you want.

Home Depot Kids Workshop!

My girls love going to our local Home Depot on the first Saturday of each month for their FREE Kids Workshop!

We headed there back in October and made a Rescue Plane!  

 

In addition, there were many community workers there!  The girls loved walking around and meeting our local heroes and seeing their cool gadgets!

 

This semester, I'm teaching a Community Helpers preschool class at our weekly co-op.  While at Home Depot, I asked if their "Workshop Team" traveled and they do!  The lady in charge was thrilled and more than willing to come out to our local co-op for a workshop!  She was extremely organized and brought all materials with her and she was so good with the kids! 

At our local co-op, she discussed all the tools and safety rules with the children. 

Then, it was on to building the rescue plans.  We arranged for several high schoolers to come in and help the preschoolers with the building of the planes.

Lastly, it was time to paint! 

  

The kids LOVED the Home Depot rescue plane workshop!  And, they loved their aprons, workshop pins and certificates, and balloons! 

There's a FREE Home Depot Kids Workshop this weekend!  Everyone will be building a Tic-Tac-Toe game.  Be sure to check it out at your local Home Depot. 

Giving Back...

The girls and I met friends at our local nursing home for Thanksgiving.  This was our second visit to this particular nursing home.  Not only are our visits a valuable experience for the girls, but they brighten up the day for the elderly, who often feel isolated and excluded from the community.  Our goal this year is to maintain an ongoing visitation program with this community of elders.  Izzie and Mac made homemade Thanksgiving cards to pass out to the residents and there were a lot of hugs being passed out too!  

 

 

Frontier Culture Museum

We had an amazing "homeschool-day" at the Frontier Culture Museum.   

 

The Frontier Culture Museum tells the story of the thousands of people who migrated to colonial America, and of the life they created here for  themselves and their descendants. These first pioneers came to America during the 1600s and 1700s from communities in the hinterlands of England,  Germany, Ireland, and West Africa. Many were farmers and rural craftsmen set in motion by changing conditions in their homelands, and drawn to  the American colonies by opportunities for a better life. Others came as unwilling captives to work on farms and plantations. Regardless of how they arrived, all became Americans, and all contributed to the success of the colonies, and of the United States. 

To tell the story of these early immigrants and their American descendants, the Museum has moved or reproduced examples of traditional rural  buildings from England, Germany, Ireland, West Africa, and America. The Museum engages the public at these exhibits with a combination of  interpretive signage and living history demonstrations.

We began our adventure in West Africa, 1700s...

Mac loved pretending that she actually lived in the mud huts and was making dinner for her family.  

She also enjoyed watching the animals.  

We then traveled to the 1600s in England...

The girls were great helpers!  They grated cheese and washed dishes. 

Exploring the different rooms throughout the house...

Mac found the sheep!

Along our way to Ireland, we stopped by the Forge.

Ireland, 1700s, in the distance...

Exploring Ireland...

We then traveled to Germany, 1700s. 

 Mac was thrilled to help milk the cow!  Izzie wanted no part in this demonstration!

Afterward, we journeyed to the Native American Encampment.  We had just finished reading Little House In The Big Woods, so my girls were fascinated by all the Native American items! 

Unfortunately, it began to rain, not just a drizzle, but a pouring down rain.  We tried to wait it out in the teepees, but decided to call it a day.  The girls were disappointed that they didn't get to investigate America...1740s Settlement, 1820s American, 1850s America, and 1850s Schoolhouse.  However, it was another 1/2 mile walk in the opposite direction from our car and we had a 1/2 mile walk back to our car.  We were drenched by the time we arrived to the car!  Looking forward to next year's homeschool day, where we'll being our adventure in America!