We moved to California!

Part of why I haven't been blogging as much lately is because our family has been caught up in a whirlwind of moving.  I haven't done regular homeschooling for a few months.  My husband has new employment in the sales department for Solar City.  In December he came out early while we stayed to finish up choir concerts the kids were in and continue packing/thinning our things.  Then Michael came home for Christmas, we packed up, and on January 2nd we left.

View of our townhome complex and the winter wonderland we left behind.

How to make a large colored die.

Here’s how I made my die:

Step One: laminate 6 colored pages of your choice.

Step Two:  Choose a square cardboard box to act as a die.  I found that a grahams crackers box was mostly square, and the perfect size.  I strengthened my box by placing a cardboard “X” in the middle, as shown.  I sized them the height I wanted, and cut slits in the box’s corners to match.

Step Three:  Use a ruler to fold the box at the desired height.  This will help you fold the line straight and avoid unwanted creases.

Step Four:  Tape the edges down to make your basic cube.

Step Five:  Because the cube isn’t perfect, I traced each edge on the prepared colored papers and marked each corresponding edge on the cube.  I then cut the paper out and taped them onto the box with clear packaging tape.  There was a lot of clear-tape overlap, which is great as it makes the cube more durable and water-proof.  This cube can be used for lots of learning activities.  Because each edge is laminated, you can tape anything you want to on the edges for temporary or quasi-permanent use.  Be creative and have fun!

You know you're a mother when...

Here begins my real effort to do more vlogging.  If you are viewing this in a reader (e-mail), you will need to visit the webpage to see the video.