Sewing School

Recently, my mother blessed me with a new sewing machine. I had been feeling somewhat lost since all of our possessions are overseas and I hadn't been able to create/sew anything in a long time. My mother knew that I missed sewing and blessed me with a machine! Thanks Mom, I love it.

J and I had spent this past December sewing ornaments for our bare Christmas tree and I noticed that she truly enjoyed sewing with me. We would wait until the baby was in bed and sew a new ornament each night. You should see my tree! The ornaments turned out so cute.

Lately, J mentioned that she missed sewing and we decided to devote one night a week to completing various sewing projects. One night, when I had my shiny new machine out, she stated that she would love to have a sewing machine of her own. Well, my mom blessed J with a mini sewing machine of her own! I can't tell you how excited she was waiting for it to arrive. Because of the new interest, we have started Sewing School.

Now, in no way or form am I a seamstress - that's my Mom:) She makes the gorgeous princess dresses and costumes for my kids. But I can use my machine and I love to sew/quilt. So, we will be working on some easy sewing projects for beginners. (Look at the excitement on that face! The machine just arrived and she couldn't wait to get it out of the box!) Sorry for the blurriness, she couldn't sit still!

Here she is working through a sewing maze and a dot-to-dot sheet for the sewing machine. I started with these so she could get used to the movement of the machine, working pivots, stopping and starting, etc... She did well with these and quickly moved onto another simple project.

She was looking for anything else to make, so I suggested a simple coaster with a heart on it for Valentine's Day. She made one for me, for her Dad, and then began a few for her friends. (Thanks Mom for the fabric, J is having a ball!) Join us for her next Sewing School Project....see you soon:)

Links

Skip to My Lou - has the free printable sewing maze and dot-to-dot worksheet for beginners.

Thirty Handmade Days - the original idea for the coasters came from here but I simplified them. We may still make these as they are super cute.

Tot Tuesday

Riley's first Reese's Cup.

What is this goodness?....

Mmmmm...

Chocolate Daze. (and then, of course, a bath:)

God Protects Jesus from the King

For our Bible curriculum, we are using Telling God's Story Book 1 and this week we are working on lesson 22 - God Protects Jesus from the King. We are in the unit about Jesus' life.

J started the lesson by listening to the story and coloring her sheet.

One of the projects suggested was to make a star by cutting paper. The lesson came with instructions but it took two times for it to actually come out looking like a star. Not sure what we did wrong the first time, but it worked out the second time.

J created a poster depicting the Wise Men bringing their gifts to Jesus.

Here is her completed poster. Super cute! I asked her why there were only two camels and she informed me that is was because there wasn't any room for a third one.

We looked at the painting by Sandro Botticelli on the internet, Adoration of the Magi and discussed it. We also listened to the song We Three Kings, talked through the verses and looked at pictures of the gifts that they brought. I truly love how this curriculum uses different avenues to teach the lessons. Hope you are having a great day.

Links

Made by Mollie's Mom - has a cute craft for the 3 Wise Men using popsicle sticks.

First Palette - has a free printable template to make a cute 3 Wise Men craft.

Art Kid's Hub - has a step by step way to draw the 3 Wise Men.

Love Is....Valentine Bible Study with free printable

I know that Valentine's Day is somewhat a way off but I thought that I would share this free printable that I created. It is a mini bible study on I Corinthians 13. We read through the chapter about love and created a super cute banner for our living room to remind us what we learned.

We started our lesson on love by reading I Corinthians 13. We discussed it, working through words that she was unsure of.

J colored each heart with markers. The hearts are pretty big but I have a big window that I was planning on hanging it in front of. If you would like a smaller banner, print multiple pages together.

Here is the finished product. It turned out pretty cute. J did not finish this in one day. She worked on it through out the week, each time we would read the verses again. Some of the words don't work with Love Is and if that bothers you, omit the "Is" part.

Each heart has a different characteristic for Love as defined in the chapter. If you would like to make your own banner, the link is below.

Download LOVE IS...banner HERE.

Hope you enjoy the mini study and free printable. I loved the way the banner turned out and plan on keeping it up till the end of February. If you have any questions, please let me know. Enjoy.

Links

Christianity Cove - is the place where I got the idea for the Love Is banner of hearts. I just made a printable that allowed J to create it for her self.

American Artists - Whistler

This year for our art curriculum, we are working through Great American Artists for Kids to go-along with our American History program. This week's Artist was James McNeill Whistler.

We always start our art lesson reading about the artist and his/her life. J completes a note booking page, a notecard for our artist wall, and a timeline photo to add to her timeline.

The project for this artist was a simple one - create a picture of someone you love. She chose to draw me :) in honor of Whistler's Mother.

Her finished project - me working on my quilt. What a sweet picture that I will treasure. Hope your week has been great.

Links

Garden of Praise - has a study of Whistler with several of his paintings and a ton of information.

Parent Art Docents - has more information about Whistler as well as a simple art project to go along.

PBS - has a video online about Whistler and his art.

A Mom with a Lesson Plan - has a simple art project for Whistler's Mother, drawing a Grandparent.

Tot Tuesday

Riley and noodles....

There are good days and there are bad...

Character Training - Discernment with free printable

We are continuing with The Virtue Training Bible as well as our other Bible curriculum, Telling God's Story Book 1. This week's virtue was Discernment.

We start our lesson by looking up the definition of the virtue in our dictionary. She adds it to her notebook page under the virtue.

She added the rest of the notebook components - her bible verse mini book, her checklist, ways to be discerning. All of these are included in my discernment printable (link below).

We looked up verses about discernment and highlighted them with the corresponding highlighter color for the virtue chart.

She worked on coloring her discernment word ring page. It has a key verse on the back to review throughout the week.

Our virtue word ring is starting to fill up. I love being able to review the verses and virtues throughout the week. If you would like the Discernment Notebook printable, link is below. I hope this helps you in your virtue study. See you soon.

Download the Discernment Notebook printable HERE.

Links

Childhood 101 - has a post on how to teach children about advertising. It stands to teach this during discernment so children can learn to process what they see and hear, especially during the holiday season.

Hub Pages - has a post on how to determine if you have the gift of discernment.

One Minute Bible Love Notes - has a post on 7 Steps for Discerning God's Will.

His Sunflower - has a free printable coloring page as well as a mini bible study on discernment.

Family Life - has an interesting article on how to teach your kids the difference between discernment and judgement.