Today I will show you how to make your own bowling pins. You need six plastic bottles, spray paint in two colors, and a ball. You will also need a piece of white card stock paper, a pencil, newspaper, and scissors.
First you collect the plastic bottles. Two-liter pop bottles work well. Remove the labels. Take off the caps, but keep them to put on after painting.
You will want to spread out newspaper under your pop bottles before you shake your spray paint cans and spray the pop bottles. I chose to do three green and three blue.
Now you will want to make a stencil out of the white card stock paper. With a pencil, draw some large simple designs. Then cut out the designs with scissors. Just stab the scissors into the center of the design and cut around the shapes. Now tape the stencil paper to each pop bottle, and use the inverse color to spray paint the design.
Let the paint dry and remove the stencil paper. Screw the lids back onto the bottles. Your bowling pins are complete.
You will want to go bowling on a flat surface like a hard floor or a back deck. Grab the ball (we used a wiffle ball), and go bowling. May the best contestant win!
Is avoiding homeschool burnout possible? How do you bounce back from burnout when you experience it as a homeschool mom? Today we will be listening to a panel of homeschool moms who have dealt with burnout. Tips are offered on how to avoid and overcome homeschool burnout:
What does burnout look like?
You’re fatigued all the time. You wake up in the morning and you don’t feel refreshed day after day. You don’t have joy, you have a shorter fuse, and you don’t want to do the things that you know you need to do.
Do kids get burned out? Are their symptoms different from mom’s?
Kids can get burned out, too. You’ll know if they are taking longer to do their school work. They look exhausted, and they sometimes are so overwhelmed that they burst into tears about something that would normally not affect them. This is true especially for kids who have an overloaded schedule or are doing academics that are beyond them. The extra concentration needed to get through difficult classes like chemistry can burn out a student so that it affects their ability to get their other school work done.
What causes burnout?
Doing too much is the biggest reason for burnout, but for me, it’s taking on other responsibilities on top of homeschooling, or having strained relationships, or going through a crisis. All those circumstances cause you to no longer be able to do what you normally do because your energy is being drained.
If you’re trying to keep up with other homeschoolers or trying to do everything that is available, you will end up burning yourself out.
If we push aside what energizes us, this can also cause burnout because we no longer have things to look forward to, and our tank will be on empty.
How do you refresh yourself and gain energy to prevent burnout?
Do things that are life-giving. For example, if your husband or a homeschool friend can take your kids somewhere fun and you have the quiet house to yourself, this can be so refreshing! I end up with more energy when the house is not full of noise. Everyone has different activities that will revitalize them, such as a bubble bath, time with the Lord, time with a friend, reading a book, or watching a fun movie.
Take care of yourself physically and pay attention to signals in your body that tell you that you are starting to feel fatigued. Instead of pushing through the fatigue (which eventually leads to burnout), take a break, walk around the block, or do something else that is a change of scenery.
What should you do when you’ve already entered full burnout mode?
You can take a break from homeschooling, and then slowly add things back into your schedule so that you don’t feel overwhelmed. If you want to ask for help without sounding weak, you can ask another homeschool mom if you can watch her kids for her to be refreshed, and then she will probably offer to do the same for you. This way you get the break you need.
Is burnout seasonal, or can it happen any time?
Many people experience burnout during the winter months because of lack of sunshine and being cooped up in the house. Add to that the fact that it’s flu season, and if you have several kids, they can get sick one to the other until you have a whole month with at least one person miserable. This adds to burnout because you are feeling miserable from sickness. Take care of yourself physically, and make sure you wipe down the carts at the grocery store that are infected with sick germs, as well as washing your hands when you get home from being out.
To avoid seasonal burnout in the first place, plunge into homeschooling hard in the fall (especially if you take the summer off), and get ahead so that you can coast through the winter months when you have less energy.
My kids made a LEGO White House when we studied the Presidents of the United States. We made it out of regular LEGO’s. First we read a book about the White House, where all the Presidents have resided since John Adams.Then one of my sons wanted to make a model of it with LEGO’s.
We looked at the outer shape of the White House. Using white LEGO bricks, we made four columns and then a triangle shape at the top for the front of the White House. This area is separated from the main residence, as you can see from the top picture.
We made a rectangular building out of white bricks, with a door on the front and the two sides. Then we studied the different rooms in the White House, and so we covered the floor of the White House with different-colored bricks for each room. The Red Room, for example, was red. In this way, we were able to make a replica of a White House out of LEGO’s.
I decided to make a Romans Road to Salvation cake because I wanted to illustrate the road to salvation visually in a way that would illustrate the sweetness of coming to Christ. I put sign posts along the way, with the steps on how to be saved.
How to Make a Romans Road to Salvation Cake
Step 1: Start by baking a rectangular chocolate cake. Frost it with chocolate frosting.
Step 2: Smash some graham crackers in a plastic bag. This will be the dirt. (I used the same technique to illustrate the desert in my Egypt cookies.)
Step 3: Sprinkle the cookie crumbs evenly over the top of the cake.
Step 4: Snap some Hersheys chocolate for the bricks to lay down the road.
Step 5: Assemble the signs and stab them into the road at regular intervals. Make sure the verses are in order. I printed the verses from the printer of my computer, glued them to black card stock paper, and taped toothpicks on the back.
These are the verses I used for the signs (KJV). I purposely spaced them out so you could copy and paste these verses on a separate sheet of paper and print them out:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned,
and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death;
but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love
toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved.
Hi! I'm Susan Evans. I speak at homeschool conferences about hands-on learning and run a huge unit study membership site. I also speak at women's retreats on the topic of prayer.
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Today I will show you how to make your own bowling pins. You need six plastic bottles, spray paint in two colors, and a ball. You will also need a piece of white card stock paper, a pencil, newspaper, and scissors.
Now you will want to make a stencil out of the white card stock paper. With a pencil, draw some large simple designs. Then cut out the designs with scissors. Just stab the scissors into the center of the design and cut around the shapes. Now tape the stencil paper to each pop bottle, and use the inverse color to spray paint the design.
You will want to go bowling on a flat surface like a hard floor or a back deck. Grab the ball (we used a wiffle ball), and go bowling. May the best contestant win!
