Marshmallow Witches

The kids and I made these cute little witches for Halloween.



Here's what you need:


Per Witch:
1 marshmallow
1 graham cracker
1 tbsp. flaked coconut
3 mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 thin mint cookie
1 miniture reese cup
1 hershey kiss
about 2 tbsp. vanilla frosting
green frosting (although the original recipe called for orange); I used the spray
can with the tips included

Directions (my oldest daughter, Tina, is making the one shown in the directions:

1) Use frosting on sides and back of marshmallow.


2) Roll the icing sides in the coconut.


3) Dab 3 dots of icing on the front side of the marshmallow; 2 for eyes and 1 for nose.


4) Stick the 3 mini chips to create the eyes and nose.


5) Spread a dab of frosting on a graham cracker. Place marshmallow on the graham cracker.



6) Spread some frosting on the bottom of the thin mint. Place on top of the marshmallow.



7) Spread some frosting on the bottom part of the reese cup. Place on top of the thin mint.



8) Spread fosting on bottom of the Hershey Kiss and place on top of the Reese Cup.


9) Make a ring of icing around the base of the Reese Cup.


Tina with her finished witch:


Carly with her finished witch:


Catie with her finished witch:


Charlee with her finished witch:

Book Club

In about a week and a half, the older girls are supposed to be going to a children's book club with some other girls from our home school group. This month was "free book month". This means that each girl chose their own book and will need to tell about it at the meeting. I took them both to Books-A-Million and let them each pick out a book.



Carly was the easiest, to a point. She found three or four different series she wants to read. The hardest part was getting her to choose one series to begin with. She finally decided to start with the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. So she selected book 1 of the series: Dinosaurs Before Dark. She is excited that after she finishes 1 book, she gets to get the next one. There is also a research guide that goes along with it about Dinosaurs. I will definitely be going to find that as well.





Tina was a bit more difficult. She doesn't like to read, for school or for fun. I really wanted her to choose the Boxcar Children series, but that did not interest her at all. She then kept selecting books that were $25 (book by Miley Cyrus) and $15 (Hannah Montana). Finally she chose a Wizards of Waverly Place book. I decided that this book would do for now, but next time she would be getting a series book for school work.





All in all, I think we can make these books work for school purposes as well as the book club. After the first meeting, the club will decide on one book that all the girls will read and discuss.



I'm kind of hurt that Tina does not like to read. I have always loved to read. I remember reading the Boxcar Children books as a kid. I also remember Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, Babysitter's Club, etc. I used to own all of the books from the previously mentioned series. Also, I admit, I was still reading the Babysitter's Club books when I was 18! I just loved them! I still love to read (although I do not have the time to read much anymore). I guess I had always envisioned my children being more like me and less like Chris in that way.

"Lava Lamps"

Back in September our home school group did a science craft at the local library. They made "Lava Lamps". I actually call them Lava Bottles since technically they don't light up. They made the bottles when they were there and in the following week they wrote down the steps to making them and then discussed why oil and water do not mix.

Here are the directions of how they were made: http://www.kids-science-experiments.com/makingalavalamp.html

The girls with their Lava Bottles:



After turning them upside down:

They look a whole lot different now and in person. It's hard to capture the bubbles in motion!

Daddy's Hands

I found this poem online and decided to let the kids make hand print cards for Chris using the poem.

MY DADDY'S HAND

Daddy Take my hand in yours and you will plainly see
How very much I need you now to love and care for me.
As my little hand growsI will need you even more
Everything I do in lifeI have never done before.
Teach me to be kind and loving sharing and forgiving
Show me through your acts of love the pure joy of living.
The years will pass by quickly and one day I will be grown
I will pass what you have taught me onto children of my own.
Hold me always in your thoughts and remember when we are apart
The special love between a child and a daddy's heart.

Crystina:


Carolyn:


Caitlyn:



Charlotte:


Cheyenne:


Courtney:

Halloween Lap Books

I finally got the pictures uploaded of the kids Halloween lap books. I got most of the templates/ideas from this site: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/halloween.htm

Here is the cover to Tina's:


And the cover to Carly's:


I got the cover picture here: http://www.abcteach.com/free/s/signs_halloween.pdf

Here is the inside of Tina's:


And Carly's:


The middle page folds out. On the left is the Origins of Halloween mini-book. It was a graduated book describing who, what, where, when and how Halloween was began. On the right is a Vocabulary mini-book listing different words associated with Halloween. At the bottom on the right is an accordion style mini-book on halloween safety. in the middle is a spider mini-book showing the life cycle of a spider (http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/spiders/ws2.htm). There is a bar graph where they sorted skittles by color and graphed how many there were. Also is a pocket containing the Symbols and Customs of Halloween containing mini-books explaining them.

Now, with the Flap folded out.

Tina's:


Carly's:


In the middle on the top is a world map and they colored in the countries we discussed in this unit. There is also a pumpkin mini-book. Included in this is How Many Kinds of Pumpkins?, Answering questions about them, The Life Cycle of a pumpkin, Pumpkin facts, Emotions Pumpkin Matching Game, and a pumpkin recipe (Tina chose Pumpkin Pie; Carly chose Pumpkin Pudding). On the bottom is Celebrations of the past, life cycle of a bat, and Celebrations of the present.
The pumpkin shape book was found here: http://abcteach.com/MonthtoMonth/October/pumpkin.htm

Here is a picture with Tina's Life Cycle of a Bat opened up:


The life cycle pictures were found here:
http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/bats/ws17.htm

The back of the folder:

Tina's:


Carly's:

The big twins. of course, had to do one too. So, they made these:

Caitlyn:

On the two sides is a pumpkin matching game. The pumpkins on the folder have emotions listed on them and the pumpkins in the pocket have faces to match. In the middle is the Life Cycle of a pumpkin.

Charlotte:

We concluded the unit with mini-pumpkin pies:

Crystina:

Carolyn:

Caitlyn:

Charlotte:

And, even Cheyenne and Courtney enjoyed this part!