Corn Starch and Hair Conditioner Play Dough

Yesterday I told Little Miss I needed her help. She came right over. We measured four cups of corn starch and almost two cups of hair conditioner, and she started mixing.




It felt weird.




And wonderful! Our mixture smelled so clean and good!




And felt so smooth.




We soon had everyone (at home at the moment) come over and play with our silky play dough.

(It felt amazing!!!)




Little Miss used food coloring to make different color dough.




(((Toes!)))




So simple, so so fun. I loved how much Little Miss (and we all!) loved this craft.




Some of our masterpieces.

I saw this 'recipe' on Kids Activities Blog, and it sure was a winner! Cleanup was easy too, just needed to vacuum the floor and wipe the surfaces. We are storing the dough in ziplock bags, as it seemed to harden when left out.

Two thumbs up!

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Maailman paras itsetehty muovailuvaha!! Kaksi osaa maissijauhoa (ehkä perunajauho ajaisi saman asian?) ja yksi osa hiusten hoitoainetta. Sekoitettuna yhteen, ja halutessa voi myös värjätä muovailuvahan elintarvikeväreillä. Tämän pehmeämpää ja silkkisempää muovailuvahaa ei löydä - ja se tuoksuu ihanalta myös (minä saan migreenin kaupan muovailuvahan hajusta). Pikkuneiti (ja me kaikki!) nautimme!

Learn Math Fast System

Earlier this year Little Miss (age 8) and I had an opportunity to take a look at Learn Math Fast System math curriculum.

It is a six book curriculum written by a homeschool mom. Learn Math Fast System is designed for anyone needing to learn or teach math, and especially for the struggling math student, the one behind, or special needs.




Or the gifted student. Learn Math Fast System is self directing, all answers and full solutions with work is shown.

You can take an online placement test to see where your student is. Click here.

Sample pages of work can be found here.



Little Miss and I started with the first book. The first book, Volume I, covers the basics: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division before advancing to fractions. There are multiple lessons, worksheets and tests to make sure each concept is mastered before moving on. Volume I will teach how to add and subtract in your head - a skill anyone should know. Other topics included are: place value, greater/less than, rounding, long division, multiplying and dividing with decimal numbers, averages, and US measurement.

Here is information on what each Volume covers. In fact, Learn Math Fast System's website is chock full of great information, so make sure to visit.

You can purchase all six books, or buy them separately online. Use code MOTHERSHIP to get $5 off any order until 12/31/14 (If you are paying with PayPal, you can still get your discount, but will need to get in touch with the company, as the code doesn't work with PayPal). There is a 60 day money back guarantee, so no risk for you, if it doesn't end up being a good fit for your student(s).


We appreciate having an opportunity to review Learn Math Fast System - thank you! Our disclosure policy can be found here.

Fun Weekend/Kiva viikonloppu

Our Maine cousins came up this weekend, and even though our visit was short (always too short!), we all had a lot of fun. (We missed you, Cousin H, Grandma and Grandpa!)




Cousin M2 started something Little Miss loved:)




And after the cousins left, we found ourselves at a small town Fall Fair.




Fall is definitely in the air - my favorite time of the year! And this weekend was just perfect.


PS. If you didn't vote yet, today is the last day! You can vote for my photo here. Thank you!!!
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Mainen serkut tulivat meille viikonlopuksi lyhyelle vierailulle, ja kun he lähtivät, kävimme pienillä syysfestareilla. Ihana syksyinen viikonloppu!

PS. Jos et äänestänyt vielä, tänään on viimeinen päivä äänestää valokuvaani. Täällä linkki. Kiitos!!!!

Crockpot Apple Sauce/Omenahilloa

We have this apple tree in our back yard up in Maine. It has super tart apples. So tart we've struggled to find uses for them.




This week Little Miss and I decided to make crockpot apple sauce. It's so easy. The biggest job is peeling and cutting the apples.

We fill our crockpot about 3/4 full of apples, then mix in 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of honey, and cinnamon to taste. I think we put in about 1 tsp. Normally I'd want to keep them cooking all day on low, but since it was late afternoon, I turned the crockpot on high, and cooked the apples for about 2-3 hrs.




We had a little guest in the middle of our apple sauce making. Little Miss named this inchworm "Caddy".



We had fun, and the apple sauce was very tart and very yummy.

Pictures of the apple sauce? Sorry, it's all gone, already. Maybe next time?


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Pikkuneidin kanssa teimme omenahilloa tällä viikolla takapihan omenapuun omenista. Omenien seasta löytyi pieni toukka, joka toi paljon iloa meidän touhuihin:) Meidän omppuhillon resepti on todella yksinkertainen. Omenat kuoritaan ja paloitellaan, pata täytetään noin 3/4 täyteen. Sekaan noin 125 ml vettä ja saman verran hunajaa (tai enemmän) ja teelusikallinen kanelia. Anna kypsyä hiljaisella lämmöllä useamman tunnin (meillä on käytössä sähköinen crockpot-pata). Valitettavasti en saanut kuvaa hillosta, se katosi niin nopeasti. Ehkä ensi kerralla?:)

Little Miss Learns/Pikkuneiti oppii

Last week, Little Miss learned how to knit! She begged me to teach her, and I tried. It was hard. Fortunately Missy saw us struggling, and showed Little Miss her way. Which seemed more complicated to me, but not to the girls!




It involved this little rhyme:

Inside the front door
Run around the house
Go out the back door
Go to your neighbors.

And she got it! Little Miss is now knitting her first scarf.




For science last week we had two science experiments. We learned about air, and successfully made this Upside-down trick.



Good job, Little Miss!



We also made a rainbow. What you can't see in this photo is a tray of water on the windowsill, with a mirror inside the tray. The sun is shining through the water onto the mirror, and when Little Miss tilted the mirror, a rainbow showed up on our paper! Pretty cool!



Little Miss also wanted to learn how to make pancakes, all by herself. Mr A is standing by, but she really made the pancakes on her own. And liked them so much she made some more the next morning, too!

Nobody complained.


PS. Did you vote, yet? Easy peasy, click on this link, no need to register or anything. Just pick #1 your favorite and vote! Thanks:)
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Viime viikolla Pikkuneiti oppi kutomaan siskon avulla, ja myös tekemään pannukakkuaamiaisen! Kotikoulussa teimme kokeiluja, ja niin pysyi vesi lasin sisällä ja pahvi lasin ulkopuolella, vaikka Pikkuneiti käänsi lasin nurinpäin.  Sateenkaarenkin saimme tehtyä. Kaikkea kivaa siis:)
PS. Äänestitkö jo? Helppo juttu, ei tarvitse kuin klikata tätä linkkiä ja vaita suosikkikuva, ei mitään kirjautumisia vaadita. Kiitos:)

Please Vote/Äänestysapua??!!

I've blogged here and here about how we have switched our homeschool curriculum to Sonlight. As I started getting emails from Sonlight, one was about a photo contest. Since photography has become my new hobby, I entered.

My photo was chosen to be one of the top four finalists!!! It's not the photo here in the blog post, but it's one like it.  The winner is chosen by votes, so please go vote here.

The top three winners get Sonlight gift certificates (which would be so awesome), and the winner photo will be the new cover photo.

Thank you so much for your support!!!!

PS. When my sister forwarded me the email about the four finalists (I didn't get the email or any notification myself), I cried! Yup:) This is huge for me!

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Nyt nöyrästi röyhkeänä kiltisi pyydän äänestysapuanne, rakkaat lukijat! Otin osaa uuden kotikoulumatskumme valmistajan valokuvauskilpailuun. Minun kuvani valittiin neljän parhaan joukkoon!!! Nyt voittaja löytyy äänestämällä. Täältä löytyy kuva ja linkki.

Kolme voittajaa saavat lahjakortit heidän kauppaansa, ja voittajan kuva tulee olemaan uuden katalogin kansi. Auttaisitteko?

Kiitos oikein paljon tuestanne!!

Potato Cannon/Perunakanuuna

Have you ever heard of a potato cannon? Have you used one?

We got to see and try one on Tuesday. A new friend A built one from PVC pipe.



Here A is stuffing the potato inside the cannon, then pumping air into the back chamber.

(Check out his off-road Jeep too - so handy to have portable air with you!)



Once the air chamber is filled, you aim the cannon, open the valve, and out shoots the potato!



It comes out so incredibly fast I didn't catch the potato on camera. Amazing fun!

This wasn't our first experience with a potato cannon. Our very close friend Mr M in New Hampshire has one mounted on his deck. Ever since our boys have been talking about a potato cannon, so it was quite the thrill to use one this week! Thanks, A!!

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Onko kukaan kuullut ennen perunakanuunasta? Tai käyttänyt sellaista? Meillä on ystävällä New Hampshiressä sellainen parvekkeella, ja tällä viikolla ystävämme A täällä Mainessä näytti rakentamaansa. Mr A, Mr D ja Kapteeni saivat kokeilla myös. Niin hurjalla vauhdilla lähti peruna kanuunasta, etten saanut kuvaa lentävästä perunasta. Aika hauska kokemus:)