Missing in Action

I haven't been blogging recently. We are really struggling to just get the basics done in school right now. I am trying to keep from being green and chasing after my almost 2yr old and breaking up fights between him and the 4 yr old. So I probably won't be posting any updates for a while. We have taken about three weeks to complete week 16. We are going through a pretty major trial that started about six weeks ago. But God is good and I look forward to sharing the story and our victory once we see what's God's final plan is in all of it!! (Yes and I say that with a smile)

I will share that I have found a wonderful preschool program. It has been purchased and I am very excited about starting it with Buddy (as soon as I get all the supplies together and can function without feeling like I will see breakfast at any moment).

It is called Little Hands to Heaven and is from Heart of Dakota. I discovered it through Jessica's blog Our Family For His Glory. I love her blog and find what she does with her kids inspiring.
Now, no, I am not jumping out of the My Father's World ship; but My Father's World does not have a formalized preschool program. I needed something more in-depth and a Teacher's Manual that would be open and go. I love that Heart of Dakota has the Bible as the spine very much like My Father's World. I am looking forward to sharing pictures and stories once we jump into it. Looks like great fun preschool stuff with lots of crafts, art, music, Bible, finger plays, dramatic play, ABCs, 1 2 3s and more. You can see some of the great stuff that is done at Jessica's blog.

ECC Mini Pinatas

I have the pleasure of teaching a class of 15 other homeschool students in our Homeschool Support Group's Cooperative Learning Day. I am using the ideas from ECC to do a class called "A Trip Around the World". The first country we studied was Mexico. Since I only have a 45 minute class and no place to put crafts to dry afterwards, I needed to come up with a craft for Mexico that did not require drying time. The Pinata craft in the ECC Teacher's Manual is great, but next to impossible for this situation. But what I did find was these Mini Chile Pepper Pinatas here. You can use their instructions or follow mine.

You will need:

Green tissue paper
Red streamers
white printer paper
tape
glue stick
small candies


I modified the instructions because I found that the toilet paper roll core for the paper cone was not working. I used a piece of printer paper and rolled it into a cone and taped it in place. It looked like this when I was done.

I cut two sheets of the green tissue paper in quarters. Using two layers of the cut rectangle to look like this-

Using the white paper cone, I rolled the green tissue paper around it to form a nice tight cone with a tight point at the end (no holes). (Sorry for the weird color changes, my camera has been giving me fits. I will probably be going back to my older digital. Anyway, the green should be more like the green above.)

I removed the white paper cone and filled the green tissue cone with M&Ms from a small dixie cup.

I twisted the top to seal and wrapped a small piece of tape to keep it in place. 

Then using the red streamer cut into about a 25 inch strip. I accordion folded the streamer and cut 3/4 way up to create a fringe. 

Starting at the point of the green chile pepper I wrapped and taped the red fringe until I reached the top of the pepper. (You could use glue from a glue stick too.) The finished product looks like this.

These would make great party favors. They are easy to make and the kiddos enjoyed eating them at their break later that day.