Homestead adventure

Fairy Garden

Building! Found Objective !

Building Fortch

Fortch

Chicken Coop ^_^!

Green House?

tiny house Camper

tiny house Camper

Spreading Gravel!

Fortch

Fortch

Fairy boats!

We have an unsightly puddle in our drive that we cannot afford to fill at the moment. And so - fairy boats.

We made them this morning. I think it only took about an hour. I cut a few pieces of wood - drilled a few holes for the masts and screwed heavy pieces of wood to the bottom for ballast.

We hot glued the branches in place - and my son insisted there were safety lines so the fairies wouldn't fall out - that is why we had to add the extra screws ^_^ !

For the sails - we cut up paper - covered them with some old bits of wax we had laying about - popped them in the oven and used a hole punch for clough lines.

I put a bunch of foil down to prevent the wax from getting all over the oven. I just set it to a low temp and watched it carefully. Don't burn down your house. 

They used string to tie the sails to the masts - and I added a dab of hot glue where the string was knotted for good measure.

This rigg was too heavy and off balance for the wood on this one. I ended up screwing a much wider heavier piece of wood to the bottom. It all worked out in the end.

Such a happy happy day ^_^! 

Robin Hood and his Merry men ^_^!

The last couple years  - we haven't really done halloween. But - this year - we've entered a time when budget trumps all. I can't afford to take the kids to Comic Con or Ren Faires. So - a local free opportunity to dress up and hang out seems like the best doings and goings on. So - till we are independently wealthy enough to hire a farm sitter and pay for all the expense of doing the Con - Halloween is the Cosplay event for the year ^_^!
So - here is what we did.
I needed to art out. 
It was suppose to not cost anything. But - of course - it totally did :P I had to buy a yard of felt - I went with synthetic - instead of wool - and of course - the hats and Goodwill sweaters. To bling out the stroller - well - that was an investment.
$3 here and $12 there adds up fast. But - it can't compare to the cost of going to the Con - so - I feel okay about it. About 80% of the stuff we used - we already had.
AND - my boy is five. Five is that age when you go way outta your way to give them the experiance and memory. So - next year we can skip or go cheaper. We'll see. (  note to self - 3rd kid will be 5 in 4 years... start saving )

Ears and tail felted from roving I spent way too much on years ago - and never used up til now!!! Finally ! I get to go to the fiber arts store again! I used sooo much roving!!! ^_^ !

Who says Maid Marian has to be a damsel in distress?

Felt princess hats from Dollar Tree. Prop Octoberfest hat from Amazon. Both altered quite a bit. She made her own mask. THAT was awesome!

My attempt to make Lady Kluck Slightly less dowdy. I figure - she is a total rock star fighter in the Cartoon- so - I took off with that.

Prince John. Borrowed the lion costume - 10 year old made the crown - Fairy Godmother had sent the Royal Jewels ages ago. It came together pretty sinking well.

The cost of the curtains and throw at Goodwill kinda threw me off. Aaand - had to buy a snake ( 10 year old made the hat and cape for him outta scraps ) . But - sigh. We just didn't have anything regal enough to make a medieval carriage - so - we're just owning it. 

We bought the hair dye - instead of a Cosplay wig. her hair already had bleach bits and I buy bleach in bulk - so we were able to have the snow white ends of fox hair to complement the red/orange dye. 

In the end - I feel like it was a total win :) 

Deadliest Catch - homeschool addition.

Teach a boy to spell fish - he'll forget it in a day. Teach a boy that once he learns to spell fish - he can sew a fishing set for a life time! 

 So - sew - so - fish. Working on motivating a boy to learn letters and spell stuff and things. And - i had been planning on teaching him some sewing - something he has been wanting to learn for ages. So - I put the two together. It was suppose to take all week - but - the baby slept for ever - so we ended up getting to finish the project! It was like - a miraculous homeschool day! He had already learned F, H and I  - and this week is all about the letter I   ** I am doing a vowel a week - and we are on week three - so A,E and now I** He has gotten so much momentum - he is catching his identification and writing so fast now. So - I said - " If you can remember all the letters in Fish - then I will teach you to sew your own fishing game! " a half hour later - he had it.
We had all the materials on hand. And he quickly picked up the sewing bit. My Mathildepan  - she has been sewing for ages - so in two shakes of a fishy tail - all the little guys were made - and by that time - the magnet hooks were finished drying and ready to be strung to the poles!
Now - I have no idea what to do for the other 2 days we get to do school this week. But - hey - I shouldn't complain.
Here are the pics and a bit of the process.

Materials - felt, hemp twine,wool stuffing *not pictured* glue and magnets. **also - the kids were working on the table - so the only work space left was the highchair left vacant by the long sleeping baby.

I tied the twine around a few magnets -I also added craft glue - to make sure they wouldn't slip and end up in the baby krakan's belly.

Set the boy to work ~

 And stuffed the fishys with wool and a more different magnet.

Tied the magnet "hook" to the fishing pole and bam. Done it. 

Also - here is today's white board of the week.

And - yeah. This weeks plans are dashed. So - the board is not longer accurate.

Master his letter I. This boy has got it!

Shadow Puppet Story of Arch Angel Michael

Well! We did it! We managed the shadow puppet show! We didn't manage the Lantern Walk - we had a brief heat wave - and we cant cope with the mosquitoes - so we will do it when the weather cools -and post it here and pretend we got it in on time ^_^ !
Here are is the stage and props - all hand made but the littles - and we used an old clothes rack and sheets to build the theater.

It went swimmingly! And now I know how easy it is- I am thinking to do one for Saint Nicolas and Pascha! Especially with the light in darkness bit - I think it would just be perfect ! School kind of rocks this year!