Homeschool Room Clock Tutorial

We studied telling time in our math curriclum ,  Math U See , over the summer between kindergarten and 1st grade. Math U See does a great job with visualizing time, but it was still a hard concept for my kindergartners to grasp fully.

I was inspired by several ideas on pinterest, and ended up making this clock for our school room.

Materials Needed:

•  Silent Wall Clock Non-ticking Clock(you are not wanting a loud clock in our school room)
• Sharpie
• Contact paper or laminator
• Construction paper and cardstock
• Scissors
• Hot Glue Gun

1.  I drew very simple petals,leaves, and stems, and then had my boys color them with colored pencils. After cutting them out I covered them each in contact paper. You can also use a laminator.

Tip for using contact paper to laminate-put the colored/displayed side down first to avoid wrinkles

2. Cut out your petals and space them evenly around your clock BEFORE you hot glue. Write  numbers on with sharpie.  Pay attention to the change direction on numbers between 30 and 35 minutes

3. I added "spacer petals" because I had made my "minute petals" too small.  I spaced them all evenly , and then began hot gluing.

4. Hot Glue Minutes and hours leaves/stem on bottom of clock behind petals. use heavy carstock when making leaves and petals so thet they stay up.

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IF I HAD TO DO IT AGAIN, what I would do differently.

1.  I wish I had made my hours leaf smaller and my minutes lead bigger, to better show which hand is which! 
2. I would also use a lamination for the leaves and stem (the petals weren't such a big deal), so they didn't bend when hanging on wall.

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EASY DIY Transformers Cakes

My goal for the twins is to always make them each their own birthday cake.  The funny and great thing about twins boys is that they usually like the same themes.  This year they both wanted a transformers cake, and we accomplished it for under $10!

Materials Needed to make stencil:

• top of cereal box 
• printed picture of auto-bot symbol
• exacto knife
• tape

Materials to decorate cake:

• Decorating Sand Sprinkles
• icing & food coloring
• cake mix plus ingredients on box

1.  Print Auto bot Symbol to needed size.  I was using 2 small 9 inch round pans so printed a half  page picture.

Click on image, then download.

2.  Tape to brown side of cereal box.  Cut out with exacto knife. I cut paper first, then cardboard. Make sure to have a cutting surface underneath your picture so you don't damage your table.

3. After cutting out picture, set stencil aside.  Bake cake and ice with color of your choice. I used food coloring in white icing.

4. Let icing dry and harden in fridge for a few hours so the icing won't stick to the stencil.  Once icing is not sticky, place stencil on cake and sprinkle decorating sand.  Pat sand gently before lifting stencil.

Homemade Laundry Detergent for Sensitive Skin

I started using this because my son had eczema. We were going through expensive All Free and Clear detergent very quickly, but he was still breaking out. When I found this recipe, it not only cleared his skin, but I make about a year's worth of laundry detergent for under $20.


Homemade Laundry Detergent


Materials needed:

• Snapware Airtight Storage Container (must be airtight or it will clump!)
• Measuring Cup
• Grater

Ingredients:

• 2 bars Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap - Grated
• 2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda 
• 2 cup Dry Powdered Borax
• 2 cups of Oxi-Clean Free and Clear Powdered (Optional)

1. Grate 2 bars Fels Naptha Laundry Soap 
I bought a cheap cheese grater  and plastic shoe box from dollar store and use exclusively for grating the soap and storing my soap making tools. If you grate the Fels Naptha soap pieces too big, they won't dissolve, so do not rush this step. A friend tried this recipe and she said she used her food processor but the pieces were too big and did not dissolve. Sometimes I grate them, then use my fingers to break into crumbles.

2. Add in other powdered ingredients 
I also bought a cheap measuring cup from dollar store that I use exclusively  for soap making because Borax is toxic to ingest.

3. Mix Well in an air-tight container Container must be air tight or it will harden with big clumps. I use a Snapware Airtight Storage Container with locking lids, that is also leak proof. The air tight container will prove even more useful because you can put the lid on and just shake.  If you are making a double batch you may have to stir just a bit.

4. Use 1 1/2 Tbsp for an Extra Large Load in a Non High Efficiency Washer (see below if you have High efficiency washer).  Experiment with a load of towels to see if you can get away with just using 1 1/2 TBSP in your washer.

I have heard some people complain it doesn't melt in cold water, but since I ONLY use cold water to wash clothes the temp of the water is not the problem. If the soap flakes are not dissolving, you are not using enough water and/or stuffing your washer too full, or are using too much soap.   High Efficiency washers do not use as much water as older washers. If you have a high efficiency washer you will need to use less detergent.

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Lattice Privacy Fence-adding height to a short fence

We put a privacy fence around 3 sides of our yard last Spring.  The 4th side was a neighbor who we liked and already had a nice short 4 foot fence.  That neighbor unfortunately had to move.  Since we don't know who will be moving in, the neighbor gave us permission to extend his fence up a little bit before he sells it. We have been wanting this for while because there is a restaurant with outdoor patio two doors down.  You can also see in the Before picture that we could see the restaurant's dumpster from our backyard.

BEFORE

AFTER

 

Instead of digging new posts and putting a brand new fence in, we extended the existing posts.

DIY Raised Garden Bed 4ft x 8ft

We made a 4 x 4 Square Foot Garden Bed
last year and were very successful.  We decided to make a
large second bed for vine vegetable that need a lot more room,
 like zucchini.




Directions for 4 x 8 foot Raised Garden Bed
We decided to do a  raised bed due to lots of roots in our yard.  Check your local recycling center or waste department of your city for free compost to fill the bed.

Materials Needed:

•  6—8 ft. 2x6’s
• 1—8 ft. 2x2
• 2 ½ in. screws

 Procedure

1.      Cut two of the 2x6’s in half to give you four 4 ft. sections and four 8 ft. sections.  You’ll put two on top of each other to form each side (You could user wider stock and less boards, but the 2x6 are much easier to handle and rip with a table saw).

2.      Cut the 2x2 into four 1 ft. sections and one 4 ft. section.

3.      Assemble the box using the 1 ft. 2x2 boards to brace each corner.  Use the 4 ft. 2x2 and some scrap wood to brace the middle of the long side to prevent bowing when the box is filled with soil.

4.      Wrap chicken wire loosely around the base to keep out seed-munching varmints.  I added some scrap rebar driven into the ground near the front corners to reinforce the wire.  It can unwrap to give you access to the garden when needed.

Our Family Tree~Button Art

I had lots of fun making this piece of art because it consists of magazine articles that describe our family and the things we love. There are articles on preschoolers, marriage, homeschooling, compassion international, and healthy budgets.  And since my husband is a Do-It-Yourself man I even included  building materials lists from a Lowe's projects he has made.

Materials:

• Canvas
• Homemade Mod Podge/brush
• Articles/words from magazines
• Brown Acrylic paint
• Green Buttons of various sizes 
• Acrylic Sealer Spray Paint

1. First I used my homemade mod podge to put the articles on the canvas. Make sure you put mod podge on back of paper to have it stick to canvas. Layer these with big articles first that you don't mind having covered up. Then use the single words as top layer to fill in any holes.  Let dry.

2. Paint tree and let dry. I used chocolate brown acrylic paint to match the trim in the room I was planning to hang this painting, but you could use water colors if you want to see the articles through the paint.

3. Glue buttons to ends of limbs with either hot glue or craft glue.  I used Mighty Mend-it because it was the only thing I had in the house and didn't want to go out and spend any money on this project.

4.  Spray with Acrylic Sealer-Spray Paint.  Let dry for 24 hours.

Homemade Mod Podge

This was so easy! Instead of paying $8 for store bought mod podge, I found a couple different recipes online and made my own for only the 25 cents I spent on the Elmer's Glue at the beginning of the year!

 I used an old jelly mason Jar (so don't mind the date of jelly on top). The formula that worked best was:

Homemade Mod Podge

• 1 Bottle of Elmer's Glue
• Water- Half bottle of Glue  (the more water you use, the thinner it will be and longer it takes to dry)

 Here is the canvas I used the mod-podge.  See the finished canvas on Our Family Tree.

Love/Feet

We made a new canvas inspired by Pinterest.  The one I saw on Pinterest had a valentine's theme, which I didn't really like.  I went with outdoorsy theme and the letter being the "clouds".

It is made from simple Acrylic paints.  Don't forget to buy Acrylic sealer to make it dust and water resistant, this was especially important for us since we put this in the bathroom.

Trundle Beds into Bunk beds

When the twins turned three and half we had to admit they were too big for their toddler beds.  The problem was they were also too little for bunk beds, and their room was too small for two twin beds.  Thankfully not only does my father in law mill beautiful wood from his land, my very talented mother in law is a carpenter who turns that wood into beautiful furniture.  She made a trundle bed for the twins that would covert into two twin beds when we moved into a "bigger' house.  She came up the below bed that the boys loved!

Transforming Trundle into Bunk Beds
Two years later, and God has clearly told us we will be living in our "starter' home for many more years.   While we love the trundled beds, my five and half year olds are in need of more floor space to play in their room without having to push in the heavy trundle bed.  The twins are also big enough that they want their own space, and with the trundle bed one of them always had his bed hidden during the day.

DESIGN AND CUT
My talented husband undertook the project of turning the trundle beds into  bunk beds.  His basic plan was actually turning the top bunk into a loft bed, then putting the trundle underneath. Since the boys have a fan in their room we tried to keep the loft a little lower than conventional bunk beds.

We kept with the sycamore (light) and walnut (dark) look of my mother in law's original beds.  Jon extended the legs of the top bed with thee walnut planks that the foot fit into nicely

POLY

Jon designed the railing and ladder with the same alternating wood colors my mother in law originally choose-sycamore (light) and walnut (dark). We decided instead of staining, that we would polyurethane the wood to keep the natural colors.  We did the same with the original bed.  The Poly is also durable to stand up to twin boys.

INSTALLATION

 
Here are all the pieces after they have two coats of poly, waiting in my kitchen to be built into a bunk bed!

Jon designed the loft to have a small frame around the bottom that the trundle would easily fit into without screws and could be removed if in the future we want to use it as a trundle again. It also makes the loft more like a bunkbed than a loft.

The ladder is one of my favorite parts of this whole build.  I am very proud of Jon's woodworking skills and design int this ladder.  the dark and light combo looks great! 

Jon added hooks instead of screwing it permanently into the bed so that if we ever move and want to move the ladder to another side of the bed then we can.

FINISHED!