Bethany really enjoyed doing tree rubbings today, she even found a few extra things to do rubbings off.

• 2 cups cornflour
• 1 cup cold water
• 4 cups boiling water
• a sprinkle of lux flakes

Put the cornflour in a bowl and mix in the cold water. Once the cornflour is mixed in well add the boiling water 1 cup at at time, mixing after each cup. Your mixture should have gone from a watery consistency to a nice thick paste. Sprinkle some lux flakes into the paste and mix till dissolved. These make the paint easier to clean up later. If your mixture didn’t thicken then try adding it to a pot and heating it up a bit more. Your water may not have been hot enough.

We made our own advent calendar this year. To find out more check out this post.

1 cup lux soap flakes
4 cups boiling water
food colouring or dye to colour

Put the boiling water in a bowl and sprinkle the soap flakes on top. Gently mix until all the soap flakes are dissolved. Add colouring before it sets or let the kids mix it through while playing. The setting process takes at least an hour and the mixture resembles jelly once set.

Keeps well in a sealed container.

We took our girls on a trip to Pompallier Mission while we were on holiday recently. For anyone who is interested in a bit of history it is a very interesting place to visit. You can read about our trip here.

Here are a few links for Christmas crafts that I have come upon in my searching. Thought I would post them here incase anyone else is interested.

Handprint Santa Cards

Ice-block Stick Puzzles – These would be great inside home made crackers.

Microwave Salt Dough Ornaments

Beaded Decorations – Would be more suitable for older children.

As I find more ideas I will add them here.

This isn’t the first time I have seen this idea so I thought it must work well if quite a few people find it blog worthy.

Recipe Here.

If anyone tries it do leave a comment and let me know how you get on. I hope to have a go with my girls later in the week energy permitting.

A fellow homeschooler asked on forum about good websites for audio books. I thought they might be of use to you aswell.

Big Toe Books – This site is fantastic. You can listen to the books or download them to your computer. The files are only available for 1 week from the time they are aired so keep checking back.

Project Gutenburg – There is alot of great books on this site for both adults and children.

Storynory – Good site for younger children.

Audio Books For Free – A bit of everything for both adults and children.

Kids Audio Books – Readings from the 40’s and 50’s.

Kids Learn Out Loud – All sorts of free stuff for kids here. Audio of famous speeches aswell as stories sorted by age group and subject.

Free Classic Audio Books – Some great stories for older children.

Playtime Books – This site only has 1 free book and the rest are paid downloads.

LibriVox – Fantastic site with lots of chapter books.

Monday – ‘P’ Paper Mache Bowls – Instructions here

Tuesday -’Q’ Quilting – Get the girls to sew some squares together and make a small pillow from their creation

Wednesday -’R’ Rockets – Using film canisters and baking soda and vinegar. Some instructions here

Thursday -’S’ Sherbet – Instructions here

Friday – ‘T’ Tenpin Bowling – Instructions on how to make your own set here

Monday – ‘K’ Knitting – The girls can work on either their flat needles or the french knitting set

Tuesday – ‘L’ Lemonade – Make lemonade with the girls and have a picnic lunch (hopefully in the sun)

Wednesday – ‘M’ Mazes – Printable mazes here and here. An easy day today as we are doing a Museum visit on the 20th.

Thursday – ‘N’ Nature Walk – We will take along a Nature Box to fill while we walk

Friday – ‘O’ Organs – Trace the kids bodies onto a large piece of paper and paste organs onto them. Talk about what each organ does in our body.