History is Alive :: Sumo Wrestling and Wind Poems

Since my planning for more history projects we've actually been able to accomplish the more hands-on learning that the boys LOVE into our days. In our lesson time we learned about the Warlords of Japan. Once Japan had a Tokugawa Shogunate, the leader wanted to find a way for the samurai to fight and compete without killing each other and continuing to start wars. So he introduced Sumo.

The activity book gave great descriptions of the symbols and traditions of sumo wrestling and we turn our living room into a dojo to have our own tournament.

   

We also wrote wind poems, though the boys just couldn't come up with actual poems to write...note to work on poetry later. We wrote wishes on our streamers and hung them out in the wind.

History is Alive :: Eye of Newt Soup

After my post last week I implemented my new plan and I think it's going to work. The boys were all so happy when we had not one but TWO projects to go with our lessons last week. Now that I'm actually doing history "projects", I guess calling them hands-on learning would be better, I feel the need to catch up and actually blog about the projects we did do towards the beginning of the year.

Eye of Newt Soup

I LOVED this idea when I came upon it in the activity book. The ingredients went along with a reading from MacBeth. The boys talked about it for weeks.

This whole MacBeth reading and Eye of Newt Soup came from our lesson on Shakespeare and his contribution to history in his poetry and plays. It was a fun lesson with a few extras from the library, there are so many retellings of Shakespeare's plays written for children. I was really excited to find so many that brought the poetry down to the boys' level.

We also made up baggies of all the ingredients and took them to #1 and her friends when we picked them up from school. I read the girls the same selection from the activty book and the boys shared how each part fit in the story. It was a lot of fun!

:: Yarn Along ::

On the needles :: Really the only thing I've worked on all week is Mr. Wiedz's sweater. Oh, wait, that's not true. My car and Bible study knitting are two hats that I'm working on for the children. I've got one for #3 with left over yarn from his sweater, I'm going to have to change to a different color for the top since I ran out. I'm also working on a hat for #6. Back to Mr. Wiedz's sweater...I had a breakthrough! I've had two issues with this sweater. 1) the yarn color on newer skeins was different than what I had been using. 2) I wanted to work the back in garter or seed stitch instead of pattern. Last week I had Mr. Wiedz lay down and I laid the sweater on his chest so he could feel how lovely and heavy and warm it was getting. I realized that it was time to split for the neck, so the next time I worked on it I got out the directions and read up on doing that...to find out I need to add a skein of yarn at this point so I can work both sides of the neck going up to the shoulders. Of course, I don't have another skein right now. But I got to thinking this problem could actually solve my other two problems. I'll use this as the back. I'll be motivated to cast back on for the front, much more so than I was to cast back on for the back. The color problem (it really isn't as noticeable as I was worried about) will be on the back and will therefore bother me less. AND I'll know how much yarn it takes and will be able to buy it all at once eliminating the color problem from happening again. Wins all around!!!

On the nightstand :: nothing. I haven't picked up a book all week. Not even on the Kindle.

Yarning Along with Ginny.

Handmade Christmas :: H's Milanese

My last handmade Christmas gift...it took a bit to photograph since I gave it to our wonderful babysitter before Christmas without taking any pictures of it. I had to ask her to bring it back so I could take a picture of her with it. We remembered this weekend. 

I have been so blessed to find H as our babysitter. I had asked and asked for friends to recommend a babysitter or share one that they use but I got nothing. So I finally joined Care.com and found H. Best decision EVER. H is a perfect fit for our family for babysitting. She's adorable and fun and young enough to be cool but is so good at her job that the kids know when she means business, listen and respect her and she has my kitchen clean and more laundry done while she's here than I do all week. LOVE her!

So when Christmas was on the way I really wanted to do something to show her how much she means to our family. I knitted up the Milanese cowl with my favorite yarn. It turned out great, even with my mistakes. The drape is really great. It is warm and cozy for our winter days and she seems to like it. Win.

History is Alive :: Elizabethan Buildings

Catching up here with a history lesson we did at the beginning of the year...look how beautiful and sunny it is outside! Though it must have been October since that's when #2 covered nearly every surface with drawings of super heros and Halloween costume ideas.

Anyway...

We covered Queen Elizabeth in our history lessons and talked about how much her people loved her. One way they showed their love of their queen was to design buildings in the shape of an E. The boys each drew their own E building. They didn't turn out the way I had envisioned but the boys got into it for a little bit and enjoyed their own hand at building design.

:: Yarn Along ::

On the needles :: Still stitching away on Mr. Wiedz's Sweater. I did use the skein of yarn that doesn't quite match (see it up there? It's yellow-er. My Stella Light makes the colors so true!!!...he says that's what homemade sweaters are like. I am alternating rows right now to ease the color change in hoping it is less noticeable, so far so good. I'm also working on a hat for #6. I had started a sweater for her but realized I would run out of yarn so ripped it all out and cast on the Vintage Hat from this favorite book of mine. I think I'll have enough yarn to make matching leg warmers too.

On the nightstand :: I finished The Queen's Vow: A Novel of Isabella of Castile, oh my it was good. Such an interesting history and I think the author did a great job taking something we on this side of history criticize so quickly and easily and show her internal struggle with it. I love it. I'm still working on One Thousand Gifts and I'm trying to stay ahead of #2 with his history read-alouds, we are on Robert Fulton Boy Craftsman.

Yarning Along with Ginny.

10 months

Well, the little miss is 10 months old now (and that was only yesterday so look how on top of things I am!!)! She is so adorable and so loved in this house! She's cruising around and has mastered getting back down after she's been standing for awhile. She has started chattering which is adorable!...I could listen to her all day. She's interested in toys and hates being left alone in a room (even if I am coming right back). She still takes 2 naps most days but has become a pretty sensitive sleeper, I've got a fan going all the time now for some white noise and hope that helps. She does not sleep through the night...sigh. She got croup before Christmas and cut two teeth right afterward. Our family went through round after round of passing sickies around, #6 ended up with an ear infection and pnemonia. Poor thing.

It was somewhat of a challenge to get a picture of her this month. Between the brother's feet in the picture, the blanket falling down (it's no longer big enough to stay draped up behind her) and her complete interest in the bear...plus it was night-time (right before bath-time I remembered) so the pictures were either too bright from the flash or blurry from not using the flash. Oh well, she's too stinkin' cute to worry about such things!