Painting the Chicken Tractor

The kids painted one of the chicken tractors a couple of weeks ago. We had a warmish day, so we took advantage of it by being outside. There was paint in everyone's hair for a week!

It will be a little while before the little chicks are in it.

Homeschool Coop, Then to the Park

At coop this week we made Paper Snowflakes. It's supposed to snow a bunch tonight, so we hung them from the ceiling once we got home.





Then we went over to the park to play with our friend. The weather was getting colder and colder, but we stayed warm, running around with our friends.

We even got a game of Red Rover going with several of our friends.

Final Day of Coop For the Year

At the final Fourth-Friday Coop of the year we made Marshmallow Guns! They were pretty easy to make and the kids had a great time playing with them.

Alli had a little trouble figuring out how to use her gun. She kept sucking in her breath instead of expelling it, and her marshmallow kept flying into her mouth!

The big kids started a war. For the most part it was everyone else against Jessie!


After coop, we all stayed around for a bar-b-que. We each cooked up our own meat, and brought a side dish to share.

Then some of the kids played football.

When we finally decided to call it a day, we realized that we had been there for 8 hours or so! Of course, the kids said stuff like, "Awe! Why do we have to leave already!?"

Mama's Shawl

We've mentioned before that we are in charge of teaching and coordinating the handicraft at our coop. In September we took on the task of teaching the moms and kids of the coop to knit. Although I had taken knitting classes more than ten years prior, I had never finished a single project. It took some brushing up, a visit to grandma's house, and quite a bit of help from Britany, but in the end I got my basic facts straight and taught everyone what I had learned.

I really enjoyed knitting this time around, so I kept at it though the winter. I finished my first scarf sometime in January, and then finally this weekend, I finish my first shawl. (The weather got cold on us, which was motivating.) Anyway, everyone else in the family gets to show off their accomplishments on this blog, so I though I would too this time! :)

Story Time

by Lizzie

During story time we all do different activities. Each day we pick a new activity to do. We have a lot of choices. Britany and I normally prefer to color or stamp. Sometimes the little girls will play a computer game so they won't distract us, but it doesn't always work. Ronnie and Mary prefer to just sit and listen. Mitchell does unique things with wire and sometimes paper. It's really fun, but we do have to pay attention.

Gracie (above) and Alli (below) playing the Zoboomafoo Creature Quest ABC Animal Adventure.

Teacher's pet. ;)

Mary thinks the best thing about homeschooling is learning while on the couch. :)

Mitchell wire sculpting.

The little girls are drinking tea. Frequently in the winter we make a hot tea to drink during story time.

Painting with Walnut Ink at Coop

After we prepared the Walnut ink, we took it to coop with us to share with our friends. Everyone had a chance to paint with it and take some home with them as well. Mitchell used the walnut ink and leaves to create this stamped picture.

Cheese and Pizza Making at Coop

Lizzie - At coop we made mozzarella cheese out of whole milk. Each ingredient had a special job to do. The citrus was used to make the cheese stretchy, and the rennet was use to turn the milk into cheese. We mixed it all up into the pan of milk, which smelt bad and gave it its whitish color. When we kneaded it it changed from a bumpy texture to a glossy rubber look and feeling. Then we kneaded in salt for its flavor. When we tasted it, it was very yummy.

The temperature had to reach 90 - 100 degrees before we added the rennet.

After sitting for a few minutes, the milk clumped up into curds and whey.

We strained off the whey, heated the curds and strained off more whey. We did that several times to get out all of the moisture.

The we kneaded and stretched the cheese until it became glossy.

Mitchell - At coop we made pizza dough by mixing flour, water, oil, yeast and salt. We mixed it up and set it on the counter to rise. When it was done rising, we spread it out in a little circle with our hands. Then we put tomato sauce on it and some home made cheese and we put it in the oven for a couple minutes. When we took it out the cheese was melted and the dough was cooked. We ate it and it was very good.

Mixing our dough.

Alli shaping her pizza crust.

Britany and Keegan putting sauce on her pizza crust.

We made about 45 mini pizzas that day, including homemade pizza dough, homemade sauce and homemade mozzarella cheese. We were exhausted! (At least mom was.)

Bow and Arrow Craft

While we are gone on our annual trip to the ocean our homeschool coop is going to make Bow and Arrows. We voted and it came out a clear winner. We are the coordinators for the Handicraft at coop, so we needed to get everything prepared for them to make the craft while we are gone. Furthermore, we didn't want to miss out on making them ourselves!




In case you want to make your own, we have included a link to instructions for making Bow and Arrows yourself. It will open as a PDF document.

Making Walnut Ink

By Britany

Long ago there weren't any ink pens like today, so they had to make their own. They made pens out of turkey quills and ink by a long process of boiling and straining walnuts. When we made the ink the gross smell went all around the house, and we smelt it for the rest of the day. If you make it yourself you might want to make it outside. Our walnut ink turned out so dark that when we painted with it, it was a beautiful rich brown. Painting with the ink was really fun, but it stains everything that it gets on. Boy, am I glad that we don’t have to make our pens like that today!

How we made Walnut Ink

• Collect nuts from a walnut tree. We read that the best ones are the ones that are already black because they have begun to oxidize.
• Place nuts in large pot and cover with water.
• At this point you are supposed to simmered for 8 hours then soaked for another 16, but after 15 minutes we knew this was not an in-the-house project! It smelled terrible. So, after 15 minutes of simmering, we took the pot out to the garage and let it sit for about 24 hours.
• Strain the liquid several times through a sieve to remove large pieces of husk and the nuts. We used a metal strainer, covered by a pair of pantyhose.
• Reduced the liquid in half. (Again, after 15 minutes on the stove we called it done!)
• Added 1TSP Vinegar

Our paintings with Walnut Ink

by Britany

by Mary

by Lizzie

I enjoy painting with walnut ink. Although it smells horrible, it makes a pretty picture.The aged brown ink mixes well with walnut ink, and makes a beautiful picture.It's necessary to wear a smock or some old clothing while painting with walnut ink because it stains anything it gets on. I'm looking foward to doing it again.

by Nicole (Teacher)