Make Your Own Volcano

February 17th, 2014

make-your-own-volcanoThis article contains an affiliate link. I was compensated for writing this post.

I’m going to show you a short-cut on how to make your own volcano, invented by my husband. We are continuing our study of Earth and Space by Bright Ideas Press, and we are doing the volcano chapter this week. The hands-on activity is to make your own volcano, and the book tells you what ingredients you need for the eruption.

But first, I wanted my kids to fill out the diagram provided in the book. One of my sons made the lava into a groovy psychedelic orange, red, and yellow design. Isn’t it cool?

volcano-diagram

Next we experimented with the eruption itself, using an extra pop bottle. My husband didn’t seem to mind erupting it over and over, and the kids squealed with delight, as you will see in the video.

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We grabbed several volcano books out of the library, and we own a volcano video, so the kids enjoyed watching lava come out of volcanoes before we erupted our volcano model.

I’ve seen a real volcano erupting when I grew up in Guatemala. The orange glow looked really interesting against the dark sky, as I stood on the street in front of my house. I also climbed a volcano and looked down into the crater. It was still smoking. I asked my teacher if it was safe to be climbing that volcano, and he refused to answer…

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Just so you know, this version of a volcano took 5 minutes of spraying with spray foam (let it dry overnight), plus 5 minutes to chop off and hot glue the foam, plus 5 minutes to smash the terra cotta clay onto the volcano structure. So it took a total of 15 minutes. It was easy and fun.

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And now, ladies and gentlemen, here is our video on how to make your own volcano:

32 Date Night Ideas for Married Couples

February 14th, 2014

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If you’ve gotten into a rut with your husband and would like to refresh your marriage, why not have fun with these 32 Date Night Ideas for married couples:

  • stargazing
  • renting a boat or canoe on a river or lake
  • sitting outside in the moonlight
  • bicycle riding
  • horseback riding
  • going to a restaurant for dinner
  • watching a movie
  • walking along a lake shore or dock nearby
  • hiking in the woods
  • racing around in go-carts
  • scuba diving or snorkeling
  • swimming or hot tub
  • giving each other a massage
  • sky diving
  • white water rafting
  • shooting at a rifle range
  • taking photos of each other
  • going on a train ride
  • attending a concert outdoors
  • eating a murder mystery dinner
  • going to an art gallery
  • slow dancing to great music
  • floating in a hot air balloon
  • sledding down a hill
  • swinging on the swings of a nearby park
  • skiing on a mountain
  • going for a walk while it’s snowing
  • ice skating or roller skating
  • having a nurf gun fight
  • checking into a nearby motel
  • going to an arboretum
  • seeing what’s in the local paper (there’s sometimes free stuff to do)

If you would like to print out this list and use it like a bucket list, here it is:

 

How to Decorate a Heart Shaped Box

February 13th, 2014

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If you’re wondering how to decorate a heart shaped box, I’m here to tell you that it’s quite easy. Buy an inexpensive cardboard heart shaped box at any craft supply store during the month of February, when heart shaped crafts abound in profusion, almost to the point of nausea.

how-to-decorate-a-heart-shaped-box-2Make sure you have pink paint, fake jewels, and heart stickers. You can also use pink feathers, tissue paper, ribbon, or any other pink craft embellishments.

Paint the box pink inside and out, and let it dry overnight. If the box is for a man, paint it red, because pink is a girl color and is awfully sissy for a man.

If you’re in a hurry to give the heart shaped box to the love of your life, and you have no time to let it dry overnight, grab a hair dryer and dry the paint. Don’t hold the hair dryer too close to the box, or you might set it on fire.

If you are a sensible person, you will let the paint dry overnight like I told you in the first place. The next day you can wake up bright and cheerful, have a nice cup of coffee, and proceed with decorating your heart shaped box.

how-to-decorate-a-heart-shaped-box-3Glue fake plastic jewels all the way around the edges of the top of the box. Use jewels that match the box. If you are using a pink box, use pink, white, and lavender jewels. Don’t use green and blue jewels on a light pink box, or it will look ugly.

Conversely, if you have a red box, use complimentary colors that don’t clash.

Glue ribbon around the rim of the lid, on the side of the lid. This will dress up the box. I didn’t think about this until after my daughter sent this box in the mail, so it was too late for us. But ribbon would really add some extra embellishment that would look awfully nice, like you went the extra mile.

My daughter filled this heart shaped box for her aunt (my sister), whom she loves very much. My daughter is constantly writing letters to her aunt, and she sometimes seals the envelope before I even know what’s in it. I know, she might be saying incriminating things, like the time I accidentally left her at the park. I had three kids in the car instead of four. Honestly, how come none of her three brothers told me she was missing? I mean, whose fault was that anyway? Ahem. Less than five minutes transpired before we realized that we were short by one child, and my husband went back to the park to get her. Sad, but true. These overworked homeschooling parents need a vacation. Go ahead and buy our products so that we can go on a much-needed vacation and avoid such mis-haps in the future.

Back to how to decorate a heart-shaped box: make sure to fill it with goodies. We baked home-made chocolate chip cookies, but you can fill it with chocolates or other fun stocking stuffers that you would put into the stocking of your loved one at Christmas time.

Then send it to your loved one, or hand it to them in person, saying, “I love you!” Hopefully they will not throw it on the ground and stomp on it. No… Hopefully they will open it and be delighted at your kindness and love, rewarding you with a big hug.

Creating a Homeschool Schedule

February 12th, 2014

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Do you need help creating a homeschool schedule?

Yesterday I participated in a panel with several homeschooling parents, where we discussed many topics related to creating a schedule for your homeschool. What are the pros and cons of loose and rigid schedules? How do you create a schedule that works for you? What does your schedule look like, and why do you do it that way? How do you even begin to organize your day as a homeschool mom?

Here is the video panel workshop, answering all these questions:

My biggest secret for creating a homeschool schedule:

The biggest secret for how I get done the things that matter in homeschooling and in life is this: I pray about each activity and ask God what I should be doing, and what I shouldn’t be doing. I prioritize what’s important, and I don’t do every activity that comes along.

My current homeschool schedule:

Almost everything I’m doing right now for homeschooling revolves around the Bible. We are filming the entire Bible, brought to life in skits and hands-on activities, from Genesis to Revelation, to put into the Bible section of the Vault. We are also doing Earth and Space by Bright Ideas Press, and we are filming what we are doing as we blog about it. That’s all we have time for. (We did a full year of history last semester.) The kids get their math done first thing in the morning, then we have Bible class (includes writing, art, reading, and history), then we do hands-on science. After this we have lunch, then silent reading for an hour. This is what our schedule looks like right now.

8:00 am–Breakfast
8:30 am–Math
10:00 am–Bible class
11 am–Science class
12 noon–lunch & silent reading

More schedule-related articles, videos, and workshops I’ve done in the past, that can give you some ideas for creating a homeschool schedule: