As Christmas approaches, it can be a challenge to juggle your budget with the gifts you want to give. One way that we stretch our budget is through crafts. The big kids are always wearing holes through their jeans, and when they can no longer be patched, it's time to upcycle! Today, we're making some wine bags to use as hostess and thank you gifts...
After cutting the legs off of your adult-sized (or teen-sized) jeans, just below the knee, make the outline of your design in tailor's chalk. Paint over the design with a fine-tipped or firm-edged paintbrush. Allow your design to dry overnight.
Sew the bottom of the pant leg together, just above the thick portion. If you try to sew over too thick a seam with a regular sewing machine / needle, it will break....and you don't want that to happen at high speed! (You can also use heavy duty needles.)
Turn the pant leg inside out, fold down two 3/4" sections, and make a seam. Be sure to leave the space between open, as this is where you'll run your drawstring. Again, be cautious when going over the pant seams, or simply skip that small section altogether.
Cut a length of ribbon just a few inches longer than the circumference of your pant legs (twice the measure of the top when laid flat). I used a 1/4" white ribbon that was silver-edged to dress these up a bit. Use a safety pin to run the ribbon through the opening at the top of the bag, then clip a tiny hole to pull out through the top, as shown in the photo above. Tie your ribbon (which will act as the drawstring), and VOILA! Easy, homemade wine bags for gifting!
Click on the links to read full-length reviews for each product. (Find all of our curriculum reviews here.)
History
Heirloom Audio: Wulf the Saxon - Can we say enough good stuff about this entire line of products?? Nope. Our number one choice audiobook, these are more like audio movies for the car. Our only complaint is that there aren't more of them...
Drive Thru History Adventures - We've long been fan of the history DVDs here, which tie in Biblical history with both ancient and American history, but this online curriculum to accompany them makes an excellent high school resource. We hope to see more from them in the future!
One of our personal favorites is The Good & the Beautiful, which covers all four eras each year!
Language Arts
Memoria Press: Logic I & II - Perfect for our high schooler who is interested in pre-law, this two-course set goes way above and beyond my skills! Fortunately, it came with a DVD set and comprehensive teacher's guide...
A favorite in our house is The Good & the Beautiful, which combines language arts, geography, and art history.
Elective
Guitar 360 - Online music lessons that you have access to for life? This amazing service is like having private instruction in your home!
Artistic Pursuits - A history-based art program finally got the kids interested in some of the basics of art theory....plus it was hands-on fun!
Parenting
Great Waters Press - Hal & Melanie bring years of parenting experience (six boys, y'all!) to the table, and they keep it real every time. You'll learn a lot while laughing aloud!
Unit Studies
We Were There books - This one is our own work, and we think you'll love it! Using the Charlotte Mason method (that's 'reading aloud with the family'), these immersive unit studies tackle one aspect of history each. Perfect for middle and high school students!
Everyone is getting excited about Christmas. They're putting up decorations and pulling out advent calendars....maybe the Lego one or a chocolate-filled one...but do we truly remember the meaning of Advent?
Advent means 'Coming' in Latin, and the season is about celebrating the coming of Jesus into the world. Christians use the period of Advent to prepare and remember the real meaning of Christmas..or they used to. Now it seems that many folks are more interested in whipping through the season as quickly as possible to get to the big show...and that's not how we want to live anymore. What's the deal with the calendar? Paper calendars were first popular in Germany in the early 1900's, although people made their own ones from the 1850's. During World War II, the production of Advent calendars stopped due to a shortage of cardboard. When they were first made, scenes from the Christmas Story and other Christmas images were used, such as snowmen and robins, but now many calendars are made in the themes of toys, sports, and candy. The first calendar with chocolate in it was made in 1958, although they didn't become really popular until the 1980's.
Time for a Change
We are fortunate enough to have a warm home, food to eat, and all of the necessities. Not everyone in this world, or even in this country, can say the same. In this time of celebrating Jesus' birth, why not spread the love by sharing our wealth with those less fortunate?
Take a box, basket, or tote and each day, place a non-perishable food or toiletry item into it. Each child can fill their own basket, or you can have one for the family. At the end of the season, either on Christmas or in January (Three Kings' Day / Epiphany), take the items to a shelter or food bank.
A Few Extra Thoughts...
I recommend the latter date because after the hustle of donations throughout the holiday season, pantry shelves tend to become more barren in the early winter months of January and February.
In addition to canned and boxed food items, consider dish soap, laundry soap, toilet paper, personal hygiene products, trash bags, and sponges.
If you happen to travel frequently, collect the unused sample sizes for shelters. These are the perfect size, as folks are typically only there for a couple of days.
Below is a picture for sharing on social media, if you'd like to help spread this mission!
For centuries, people have known that you use the whole animal when cooking – not just select parts. Bones are traditionally used for stocks and broths, which are the foundation of cooking.
Bone broths are extraordinarily rich in protein, and can be a source of minerals as well. They support detoxification, better digestion, and good skin health. And, as we all know, chicken soup (especially made with real broth) helps to overcome colds and flu.
However, what we’re seeing on the store shelves today is nothing more than a chemical cocktail designed to look like traditional broth. If you want the real thing, and its benefits, you’ll have to put in the effort. No worries….it’s not that much effort!
Bone Broth Recipes
Simple Stock
6 c chicken bones
2 chicken feet (or 1 pig’s foot)
1 chopped onion
2 tbsp vinegar
Cold water
Let all stand in container 30-60 minutes. Then cook 24-72hours on low, making sure remains just covered by water. Remove bones with slotted spoon.
Get-Well Soup
1 whole chicken, with head and feet
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 qt water
1” grated ginger
3 cloves smashed garlic
1 sliced onion
2 sliced carrots
2 sliced celery sticks
3 c. assorted veggies (leafy greens, potatoes, misc veggies)
Sea salt
Put everything in stock pot and bring to simmer. Simmer 2 hours (after a boil, to cook chicken). Remove chicken meat from bones (keep about 1 c there for soup ; use rest for other dishes). Return bones to pot and make more stock. Can add noodles, if desired.
Stock Eggs
2 c. homemade stock
1 tsp sea salt
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs
Bring stock to boil. Add salt and 1 tbsp vinegar. Reduce to simmer and crack eggs into mix. Simmer 3 minutes, or until cooked. Top with rest of vinegar and serve.
Bone Meal
Clean bones after making broth. Roast at 400 for an hour, or until they become dry and brittle. Let cool. Place in a sack and pound to break into small pieces. Use food processor to grind into meal. Can be added into broth to provide calcium and nourishment.
Gingered Borscht
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 diced onion
3 diced beets
2 diced carrots
1 diced red pepper
1 diced apple
1” diced ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
6 c bone broth
Salt
Heat butter, olive oil, and onion in large pan. Add beets, carrots, pepper, apple, ginger, cumin, and 1 cup of broth when onion is soft. Cover pot and allow veggies to sweat. After 10 minutes, add other 5 cups of brother. Bring to boil, then reduce heat. Simmer 30 minutes. Turn off heat. Once cooler, blend veggies with immersion blender. Salt to taste.
*************
Tips :
Try to add chicken or pig’s feet to the pot to thicken the gelatin.
Water should just cover the bones. For chicken, 3-4 pounds of bones per 4 quarts of water. For beef, seven pounds of bones for 4 quarts of water.
At the height of the Cold War, President Eisenhower ordered
the Navy to attempt a submarine pass through the North Pole in response to the
nuclear ICBM threat from Sputnik (Russia).
On January 17, 1955, the Nautilus departed Groton, CT. In May, she sailed from New London, CT to
Puerto Rico. This 1,300-mile transit broke
many records….it was the longest ever by a submerged submarine and achieved the
highest sustained submerged speed.
On August 3, 1958, the U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus
accomplished the first undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole during
Operation Sunshine. She dove at Point
Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000 miles under the Arctic ice cap to
reach the top of the world. She then
steamed on to Iceland, forging a shorter route from the Pacific to the Atlantic
and Europe.
This journey through the Arctic was not without risk, as the
instruments could become disoriented beneath the ice, causing the crew to guess
their longitude and course.The
commander even considered using torpedoes to blow a hole in the ice if the
submarine needed to resurface.
You may not know…
The Navy numbers its submarines consecutively. The USS Holland (SS—1) was commissioned in
1900. Nautilus was officially SS-571,
the 571st Navy submarine, and she was in service from 1954 to 1980.
Most submarines of the era could remain submerged 12-48
hours, but the Nautilus could remain underwater for two weeks or more.
USS Nautilus was named for the fictional submarine in Jules
Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.
Nuclear Energy unit :
Nuclear energy is a very powerful type of energy that is used to
create electricity for many households across the world. In our previous book, we learned how it was used to make bombs.
Fission is when a
large atom is split into two or more smaller atoms, thus releasing a huge
amount of energy. When this is done in a
controlled environment, it can be used to generate electricity, such as at a
nuclear power plant. About 20% of
electricity in the US is generated by nuclear power plants.
Nuclear power
is also used to propel ships and submarines, such as we saw in the case of the
Nautilus. Nuclear-powered submarines can
stay underwater, and travel at high speeds, for a long time.
You may not know….
The top three states that
generate nuclear energy are Illinois, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina.
In the history of nuclear
energy there have been three major nuclear power plant disasters: Chernobyl
(Russia), Three Mile Island (United States), and
Fukushima Daiichi (Japan).
The "smoke" you see
coming from a nuclear power plant is not pollution, but steam.
Includes THIRTY-SIX unit studies covering World & American History. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning the the ancient world through post-WW2. Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.
There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.
These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together. Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!
This was one of my sons' favorite books from the series! They loved how it incorporated history and science, and I think your children will love the unit study, too. We're going to start with a field trip to the American Museum of Science and Energy, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee....come along!
The museum has models of atoms right out front, so we know we're in the right place!
What you'll find inside is a hair-raising experience! Actually, here, our son is testing out a Van de Graaff generator. It creates static electricity by brushing a rubber belt across a steel brush, which transfers the static electricity into the ball. The electricity builds up and then flows through the body, transferring the negative charges and causing the hair strands to repel each other.
We had a chance to try some of the same equipment that was used back in the 1940s by the female Calutron operators. The Calutrons (California University Cyclotrons) used electromagnetic separation to collect uranium-235.
Some of the permanent exhibits include a "Daily Life" photograph hall and this model of the graphite reactor. By pulling the graphite rods in and out of the container, they stop absorbing the radioactive isotopes and allow a nuclear reaction to occur. A nuclear reaction was needed to create a bomb, but they needed to be able to control and contain it during production.
The nuclear reaction was created as uranium fuel slugs were pushed (manually) through the core. The container (shown above) was filled with graphite bricks to absorb the radioactive isotopes. The uranium slugs fell into a water-filled canal that led to a facility where the plutonium was separated out of the slugs.
The kids' section really brought nuclear energy to life! In nuclear plants, the splitting of uranium atoms creates a lot of heat. Nuclear power plants use this heat to create steam, which turns the blades of a turbine to power a generator. The generator produces electricity, and the water goes back into the reactor cell to be re-used (closed loop system). Uranium must be refined before it can be used in a nuclear reactor, but a 1/2" diameter uranium pellet provides as much energy as 120 gallons of oil!
We also learned how supercomputers are so powerful... Each one of the lines separates a different processing unit, as depicted by the varying colors. When you combine then, they create a remarkably fast computer!
Bombs were on display over in the airplane section...we learned about how nuclear energy has been used in the military over the past seventy years. The bombs produced in this We Were There book were carried to Nagasaki and Hiroshima by the Enola Gay, a B-29 Superfortress.
Just outside the museum stands an original prefabricated home, one of thousands that were built to house the Oak Ridge workers and their families. It is a tiny, two-bedroom home with a combination dining and living room area and only one bathroom. It is only 576 square feet, and has very thin walls. You can touch the historic artifacts and step back in time....
Manhattan Project / Nuclear Science unit :
The Manhattan Project was a secret military project created to produce the first nuclear weapon in the US. It was 1942, and there were fears that Nazi Germany had a nuclear weapon during World War II, so the US wanted to get ahead of them. Nuclear facilities were constructed at Oak Ridge, TN and Hanford, WA, while the main assembly plant was at Los Alamos, NM. Scientists developed two types of bombs, a uranium-based design (Little Boy) and a plutonium-based design (Fat Man). Eventually, the project put an end to WW2 by using these weapons of mass destruction, thus forcing Japan to surrender.
How was Einstein involved?
Albert Einstein helped to influence the project when he wrote to President Roosevelt in 1939, warning of possible German weapons and proposing US research into atomic energy. The atomic bomb illustrated his principle that a large amount of energy could be released from a small amount of matter. You probably know it as E=mc2 (Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared.) This was part of his Theory of Relativity.
Why was it called "Manhattan," if none of the sites were there?
New York City is where the ideas and founders of the project began. Oppenheimer grew up on Riverside Drive; Columbia University housed the first atomic bomb research; and uranium was secretly warehoused in Manhattan and on Staten Island.
site locations of the Project (use the map at right)
Think
Read through the primary sources in Hiroshima - Was it Necessary? (high school and up) and form an opinion. Write an essay defending your opinion with primary sources.
What might have happened if Nazi Germany had developed a nuclear weapon before the United States?
What are some positive effects of the development of nuclear energy? What are the overall effects of the development of the atomic bomb?
Includes THIRTY-SIX unit studies covering World & American History. Each unit addresses a new topic, spanning the the ancient world through post-WW2. Each unit has introductory text, which will give the student basic background information about the topic at hand.
There are photographs and illustrations, and we have also included primary documents when available.
After this text, there are featured videos, which augment the background information and help make the topic more accessible for more visual students.
You will also find a short list of reading books, including a featured novel that the unit builds upon.
There are vocabulary words, places, and people to identify.
Reading comprehension, critical thinking questions, and writing assignments are included.
We add fun with hands-on activities and extra videos to watch that will bring the era to life.
These studies are directed toward upper grades students, but some have resources for younger students so that the whole family can work together. Our family has used unit studies as curriculum for many years, and we hope that your family will enjoy these, too!
