Adventures of the Rookie Homeschooler

I think I need a logo for that title--something along the lines of a mom in a super cape, hands on hips and awesome goggles. Yeah? I'll get Casey right on that. Because this won't be my first Rookie Homeschooler post, I plan on making this a series as I learn :)

Some of you have followed my homeschooling journey a little bit and know that I chose My Father's World curriculum this year.  About a month into it, I ditched it almost completely.  I have a 1st grader who is very resistant to text books, repetitive book work and anything that feels purposeless.  Added to that, I found the teachers manuals for both grades to be super confusing. I felt like everything they were actually learning and enjoying were the things I was doing outside of the curriculum and so I prayed for guidance for about a week before reaching an epiphany--my feelings of fear (of failure if I branched out on my own) and guilt (for spending money on a curriculum and then ditching it) were driving my determination to keep using it and those were not good enough reasons to continue making everyone miserable.

So, the moment I told Natalie to put away her handwriting sheet and help me make a party supply list instead (for our first day of Fall party) was the moment everything changed! For several weeks now, she's been getting excited about school, she writes letters, lists and ideas willingly and she loves to read where there's incentive involved.  We came up with fun ways to practice math too. I can expand more later on some of the things that have worked in the motivation/attitude department, but for now, I want to share a few books and resources that I am really loving!

First off, the Core Knowledge series, or other similar books are essential (in my opinion) for the homeschooler who decides not to follow a curriculum or all-inclusive program. Following the guidelines in this book gives me the much-needed reassurance that I am not going to miss something. It also has great read-aloud stories and activity ideas for every subject.

Next is something my sister told me about and I almost immediately ordered, called Literature Pockets.  We got the Nursery Rhymes one, but there are all kinds for all grades and there are even History Pockets, which I really want to try next year.

These are SO much fun! Each week, you study a different nursery rhyme and make a pocket by folding a 9x16 piece of construction paper into a pocket and filling it with the various activities that go along with that nursery rhyme. I try to run with these themes as much as possible too--like when we were on "Little Miss Muffet", we also studied spiders that week, with pictures, facts and videos. The coloring activities are great during read-aloud time.

I have to cook dinner, but I have more favorite resources to share ... Next time, on Adventures of the Rookie Homeschooler!!!! (I hope you read that in your best superhero narrator voice).

Satin fever

Oh, boy, I finished two of three Halloween costumes this week and I am now officially sick of satin!!! What a pain! It doesn't press, it ravels like crazy and doesn't take well to pinking shears. But, at least I will have one happy little angel and one happy little fairy :)  Also, it's annoying that some costume patterns skimp on finishing.  My kids wear these things way more than just on Halloween, so I take extra care with finishing and preventing raveling!

Kelby wants to be Buzz. No problem. Sweats, felt and hot glue, here I come. No more satin, yes!

In the midst of all this and all the baby bedding that I am plugging away at, I am itching to sew myself some Fall clothes! I got some great fabrics last weekend, but in the mean time, I'm trying to make my Summer things into Fall things.  Here's what I wore to church today:

I made this skirt over the Summer with some vintage cotton. The pattern is Simplicity 2258. The ruffle tee is J.Crew, via Savers, my favorite thrift store :)  The reason I showed you this pic is because I recently found this look on Pinterest...

(From stylebible.ph via Melissa Koster on Pinterest)

...and I think I could make the above skirt pattern work for this too. If I widen the sides a little to give it a looser look and add a ruffle at the top with some belt loops? And, how about this pattern (which I already own) for the shirt? Add a cute cardigan and there ya go.

As for Mad Men, there were some good points made in its favor in the comments after my last post :) I just don't think I'm a drama girl. Except for maybe Gilmore Girls, which I loved. But then again, the last two seasons annoyed me a lot. So, give me comedy please and throw in a few fun reality shows like Project Runway or American Pickers (which has me entranced on Netflix almost every night) and just keep the dramatic life lessons away, hahaha!

Mad Men

I noticed Mad Men had arrived on Netflix' watch instantly list and so I gave it a shot the other night. I hated it. I think they meant to title the show Adultry because that seemed to be the main premise. I turned it off at the strip club, but not before I noticed with elation that the women in this show are NORMAL! They are curvy and busty and beautiful and even the stripper was probably a size 10 or 12! It reminded me that this obsession with being scrawny is still a rather new one. Maybe having meat on our bones will be back in style soon, huh? Fingers crossed. 

The reason I bring this up is because Mad Men seems to have taken the fashion world by storm. Along with Kate Middleton, the show has managed to bring classy back a little bit and I am lovin' it.  In fact, Banana Republic had a limited edition Mad Men collection. This was my favorite dress:

I don't know what the price was, but it doesn't matter. I'm going to try to make it :)

Speaking of making things, I finally got to go to Denver Fabrics today! I went because I was going to buy fabric for my military ball dress.  Then I had a bit of a reality check. I couldn't decide on fabrics or patterns, there wasn't quite enough of the few fabrics I loved, I don't really know how to work with stretch lace over an underlining and ... well, there's just not enough time. The ball is in a month and among the baby bedding, Halloween sewing and Christmas sewing, I don't have time to make a muslin and a gown. So, I let myself off the hook. I will buy a dress this year and next year I'll start thinking about it MUCH earlier!

I did get some pretty fabulous knits today, though :)  I've been seeing a lot of lace skirts around, like this one:

(source: http://elleapparel.blogspot.com/2010/11/lace-for-days-skirt.html)

And this one:

(source: http://www.shopruche.com/ambracia-crochet-skirt-p-7815.html?zenid36=a50ab7d1dcabb9285a4a6fa4222ff02b)

When I found this fabric, I knew it would be perfect!

This photo makes it look kinda gray, but it's actually the same color as skirts in those photos :) And mine will only cost about 8 bucks, ha! 

I also got this knit:

I love this one so much! I'm going to make a long dress with it. I can't wait. 

I got some others, but I won't bore you with so many fabrics until they are actually made into something. Which might be sometime next year, ha! 

Practicing

I've been asked to take some year book pictures for a teenager friend tomorrow. I am in serious doubt of my abilities in the "portrait" area! But I want them to turn out good so I practiced on my kids today :) I never managed to take pictures of Kelby on his 3rd birthday, but it's better late than never and so he was a natural choice for a ginny pig :) Turns out, he's quite a ham...

Here are some of my faves!

I have to tell you, I almost made him change out of those boots into more photo-friendly shoes. I'm so glad I didn't because this was all about the person he is right now, at age three and these photos truly capture that! He loves his overalls, his bike and those darn light-up Spiderman boots!

There was no way the girls weren't going to get their turn to ham it up! Layla was especially photogenic today!

I got some good ones of Natalie too, of course. My favorites are when she's laughing :)

Ah, taking pictures is SO much fun. It's one of those things that can snap any bad mood in two. Kinda like dancing in the kitchen and a homemade latte :)

A long overdue tutorial.

I'm pretty sure I've made somewhere in the ballpark of 50 of these blankets over the years since I made Layla's when she was 6 months old.  When I whipped up two more for baby gifts this past weekend, I thought it was about time I shared the how-to with you all here!

I know many of you could figure this out on your own, but sometimes it's nice to have the measurements and instructions done for you, right? Also, I'm trying to make this pretty beginner-friendly, so if you're more advanced, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence :)

Without further ado, you will need:

1 yard each of two different flannel fabrics.
1 yard each of 4 coordinating ribbons--I use 1 1/4" wide ribbons from Hobby Lobby


First, cut your flannel pieces to measure 33 x 33. To make this easy, I press my fabric in half and in half the other way. Then I place a folded edge on the zero line and cut at 16.5 inches. Turn it to the other folded side and do the same thing. This will make a perfect square! But, do it however ya want :)

Also, cut your ribbons into 4" pieces. You'll need 8 of each. A yard makes exactly 8, so if you're worried about mess-ups, buy a little extra. Here are my ready-to-go fabrics and ribbons:

Next, we pin the ribbons to the main fabric. To start, place your ruler at the edge of your fabric and pin a ribbon (folded in half) at the 1" mark, like this:

Then, move your ruler to the right, so the pin in the middle of your ribbon is at the edge of your ruler, like this:

After that, start pinning your ribbons every four inches, centering the pin on each 4" mark. Like this:

When you get to the end, the pin in your last ribbon will be about 3 inches from the end. After that, turn your fabric and do the next side the same way. Your corner will look like this:

When they're all pinned, baste all the edges, 3/8" from the edge (I like to baste inside my seam allowance so I don't have to bother ripping out the basting later.)

Now you're ready to pin the back piece on. With right sides together, pin your main fabric to your backing fabric. (Tip--Each fabric has two stretchier sides and two that aren't so stretchy. It's helpful to pin the stretchier side of your main fabric to the stretchier side of your backing--it's just easier to sew them together nicely when the grains are the same way). Leave a 5 or 6 inch opening for turning and sew them together in a 1/2" seam.
Trim your corners like so:

Then, turn it right side out through your opening. Poke the corners gently with a chopstick, ahem, point turner ;) and press your edges nice and neat:

Don't worry about hand sewing that hole up--if you press neatly, the top stitching will take care of it.

Last step! Top stitch around the edges, about 1/8" from the edge.

Done and done!

FYI: The company, Taggies, has a patent on anything with two or more looped ribbons. Because of this, we can make these for ourselves or for gifts, but we are not allowed to sell them. If you try selling them on Etsy, you will be discovered and they will remove your listings and you will be bummed out. I know this from experience :)

Sew Simple

I gave Simplicity's "Sew Simple" line a try recently. I had a beautiful piece of brushed cotton (I think?) that was given to me in the last batch of fabrics from my elderly friend at church and I wanted a Fall dress out of it. I decided on Simplicity 2017 and I like how it turned out a lot...

I wore it to church on Sunday and was super comfortable the whole day! I was also able to use a vintage trim, given to me a long time ago by another elderly friend at church. I tell ya, once these ladies find out there's a young crafter/sewer in their midst, they are so generous with their stockpiles of wonderful things!!

If you want to read my review of this pattern, you can find it here.  This new Sew Simple line is pretty great in that there's only one view on each pattern and there are lots of tips geared toward beginner clothing sewers that aren't usually included in patterns. Plus, having only one view simplifies the cutting process! No searching for all the right pieces--just use them all :)

Annnndd, guess what, this line of patterns is on sale at Walmart this week for only 97 cents each! Yay! I haven't been to Walmart in ages (I live super close to a Target and let's admit it, Target's just prettier ;) but this little sale might drive me there this week!

While I was taking a picture of this dress with my self-timer, the kids just had to jump in on one and of course, they needed Daddy in it too :) If only Casey had already been in his church clothes, this totally would have worked for our Christmas cards this year! Ah, well....

fundies

Lately, my kids think the word undies is just sooooooo funny. While playing "I spy", everything suddenly has undies on it and everyone is suddenly dissolved into fits of giggles, including me, because really, it is so funny :)

A few nights ago, we were sitting around just after Casey got home from work and I grabbed a pair of Kelby's clean undies and put them on his head. Ha! Then the girls put some on their heads and great fun was had by all.

See, potty training is just hilarious! HA!

sewing, sewing, sewing

For starters, thanks for all the ideas about my military ball dress!! I'm excited to get started. Of course, this is one of the few times that Simplicity patterns aren't on sale.

It may appear that I have not sewn much lately. Although there were a few frantic first weeks of homeschooling when I thought I might as well put my machine away because I was never going to have time to sew again, I got through that and actually have managed to produce a few things :)

When it was still summery out, I picked up this plaid fabric to make this Lisette jacket out of:

 Yesterday, I saw the first few yellow leaves on my tree, so it's fitting that I finished it today!

I've made the dress on this pattern a couple of times now and love it, so it's fitting that I really love this pattern too. You can read my review on Patternreview.com here.

Beyond that, though, I have been commissioned to make two sets of crib bedding for a friend. She has fancy taste and so these are fabrics I may never have gotten to work with if not for her beautiful vision of the nursery she wants!
At first I was feeling overwhelmed (not helped by those few frantic weeks), but I decided to sew one piece a week and then use the rest of the week to work on my own personal sewing list and still finish the bedding in six weeks. Somehow that made it all much more fun :) I finished one quilt this week...

As you can imagine, these are not straightforward fabrics to work with. I had the fabrics for a couple weeks before even getting started because I had to ponder how this was going to work; the main fabric (what do you call this, picot?) almost needs gathered onto the batting. Then, to sew that onto a pretty stretchy backing (although the softest backing ever). Whew! The tricks I came up with worked amazingly!! I'd be happy to share IF anyone cares or plans on using this fabric someday :) I have some ideas for the bumper pads next!