Reusing Milk Bags

Here in Canada, we buy milk in bags instead of the gallon jugs that are common in the US.  Since we have two small children who are in perpetual growth spurts, we go through a lot of milk.  Right now we buy three of the 4L bags, or the equivalent of three gallons.  That's a lot of bags!  There's the individual milk bag, each is about 1.5L, and then there's the outer bag that contains three of the 1.5L bags.  So I'm trying to figure out ways to reuse these.  I have used them as freezer bags occasionally, but that's about all I can come up with on my own, and we don't have pets that we could use the bags as poop bags.  So I'm looking for some ideas, especially craft ideas if possible.  So far I haven't found any craft ideas for these bags but here are some links I have found:

The Milk Bag...Tired of Being Treated Like Yesterdays Trash!: an instructable showing you how to reuse the milk as a liquid container.  The only drawback I see is that if it's a liquid you intend to drink, -- or not, it doesn't matter -- since you do not open the bag from side to side as with other uses, the remnants of the milk will still be in the bag unless you clean it very well.

I am so sick of being sick.: blog post showing how this lady used her milk bags as potting containers for her tomato plants.  I like this idea.

Canadian Mats for Haiti and Recycling Milk Bags into Bed Mats 2011/12: Another idea is there are groups that use the outer bags that contain the three 1.5L bags, to make "yarn" that is then used to make mats to send to Haiti.

I'll keep thinking and looking for other ideas.  If anyone has any other ideas, please share them.  I'd love to know!

Quiet Time Box and Behaviour Punch Card

I've been on Pinterest a lot lately and there are so many cute ideas for bored jars or chore jars.  So I thought I'd use that idea to make something with ideas for things my kids can do when I'm teaching one or the other.  Because we don't have a lot of horizontal space, I'll be putting this up on the exposed side of one of our bookshelves that they can reach so they're independent about it.  I'm calling it a Quiet Time Box because it's a box where there are ideas of things they can do when I need them to be quiet :)

I've also started using a Behaviour Punch Card System I found on Pinterest; here's the link.  It's pretty simple, they do all the things they're supposed to do and they get one punch.  I'm pretty tough about discipline so they have to get through the day with very few mistakes in order to get a punch, but you can modify that to fit your situation.

Now here's the box I made.  I made it from a cereal box cut basically in half and I did it while I was helping my picky eater finish his supper, so it's not something that'll take a huge amount of time.  I made a divider for the inside of the box because I want both kids to use this sytem so I'll decorate one side pink and one side green or blue, whichever colour my son decides on.

You start with a cereal box and just open it up neatly, don't squish it too much or tear it.  Then, cut away all the little edges but keep the two halves together (see the picture).

Opened cereal box.

Cereal box cut up.

 Your two halves should look like the picture at left.  My box was 685g but I've used other 575g boxes (different brands) and they're exactly the same dimensions.  The less wide side of this piece of cardboard on my box was about 3.25" wide, so I cut it down to be 3" wide.  I then measured around the other edges of the box so that I ended up with something like the drawing below.  I forgot to take the picture, sorry! :(

The arrows indicate where to cut; cut only to the first perpendicular fold.  And the dots indicate where to add adhesive.  Then you just basically fold in the four corners that you've cut away one side of, and glue them into the inside of the box.  At that point you should have a neat little box that you made out of another bigger box :)

 This is what your box will look like once it's been put together.

 I also made a divider so the kids can each have a side.  I mostly did this because my daughter is not reading yet but my son is and I would like them both to participate in this activity.

And here's the box put together with the divider inside it.  I had originally decided to not glue down the divider in case I wanted to use the box for something else later on but it wasn't staying put very well, so I ended up gluing it down.

What happened to study skills?

 Interesting article about study skills and the lack thereof nowadays. I think, though, that asking universities to "do something about it" is not the right way to look at it. I mean, it's ok for profs to help students, etc, but by the time you get to postsecondary education, you're supposed to be at a level where you can work on your own. And should know to work on your own. So whose fault is it? Who do we pass this buck to?

What happened to study skills?

Introducing Google Play

I wish I got some sort of remuneration for advertising this, but I really don't.  Still, I think this is really neat and it makes me want to run out and buy an Android phone.  Any smart phone would be cool too, seeing as I only have a cheap $40 phone from Wal-Mart with a prepaid card on it!  :)  Still, Google Play seems really neat!  Lots of aps, some free, some for purchase, including a lot of children's books, games, etc.

Greek Mythology - Android Apps on Google
Google Play main site

Everything and Nothing

Please watch these videos on TVO.  They're each an hour long, but worth it.

watch this one first: Everything
then this one: Nothing
now chaos: Chaos

New post!

Please have a look in the A Bug and a Ladybug: Homeschooling Links page.  I've begun posting links to the resources I'm using/considering using.  Thanks for looking.

Arachne's Web

This is the project we did today.  It was based on the myth of Arachne and Athena.  It was supposed to have the shape of a web, but this is what we got instead :D

The one on the left is my 6.5 yo, who had never done anything like this, so not a bad result for a first try.  I did have to put the yarn on a needle, but after that he was ok.  I think we'll try the same sort of thing again so he can get the idea of making a proper web.  And the one on the right is my 3.5 yo, who had a lot of help from me!  :D

But of course, the funnest part of the whole exercise was scanning and uploading to the blog!

We also did some sequencing after - I wrote everything down - but we had some difficulty with that.  Again, something to work on.

Enjoy!

My 6.5 yo's writing work

word a day writing sample

This is my son's writing work for today.  We just finished learning cursive a few weeks ago and are now going full tilt on writing assignments, including dictation.  All the other subjects that required writing we were doing verbally while he learnt cursive, but since he's advancing so quickly now, due to mama's high expectations :D, I'm letting him write more and more.  And, of course, more practice always increases self-esteem, which makes us want to practice more, and so on.  He also got to scan and upload the scan to the blog ;)  He's very happy about that.

January Anecdotes

Jan 26, 2012 - Gilbert, my little financial advisor, so named by his karate teacher :), asked me this morning what he could sell so he could become rich.  I simply had to LAUGH OUT LOUD!  It was so innocent!  He said he needed some money to buy toys, computer things, and "other stuff".  I told him that if I knew the answer to that question, he wouldn't be asking me that question.  Ah, if only...

Karate - KIAI!

My children have both been in karate since I found the most amazing karate teacher.  My son started there last year in July on his birthday and my daughter started just before Christmas.  I just love how well they're both doing!  Being a former martial arts student :) I knew it would be worth it to put them in karate, but I really didn't think it was going to make such a big different in how well they focus!  My son just moved from the Kinder class to the White belt class and he's just loving the extra challenge!  It's amazing!  I look at my little babies and I'm so proud of them, how far they've come and how far I know they'll go!

The Direction of A Bug and Beyond

It has been suggested to me by my very good friend over at http://claireshegoes.wordpress.com/ that the homeschooling of my children is really very interesting.  I have been trying to figure out for a long time how to start blogging about it without getting too much into curricula, etc, because there is already so much information out there about that.  So Claire recommended simply blogging about daily experiences, and what I would like to see in another blog.

I don't really know what I'm looking for exactly.  So I'm going to stumble about in the dark until I find it.  I'm not sure what this blog will be about, although it will center around our daily experiences in homeschooling.  I seem to have an idea of a blog resembling a scrapbook, but I'm not quite sure yet.

I'm going to try to post fairly regularly but I can't really promise that either, I'm shooting for once a month for now; maybe if things get more interesting I'll post more often.

I encourage you to come on over at the beginning of each month and see what I've got up here.  There will always be something at least once a month for now, and for sure more to come.  Thanks for stopping by!

Get Well Card

A get well card I made for a younger cousin who was in the hospital for a while.  I love the ribbon: It says "Blessings" across it.  I found the ribbon at Michael's.  On the left is the envelope and the actual card to write the message is on the right.  I ended up putting the whole thing into a regular envelope because I didn't want the cute envelope getting wrecked in shipping.

What do you think?  Thanks for looking.

Mother's Day Card

What do you think?  It's simple but I like how it turned out.  Thanks for looking.  :)

Love Card

As promised, here's my first project.  I made this card for my husband for Valentine's Day.  It's a little late :D, but better late than never. As you can see, I had to take the picture on top of the washing machine (LOL) because I couldn't find anywhere else that was white or light coloured: I'm working on that.  I also cut the card base in the wrong direction, so that I got more of a vertical card.  Not a big deal, it still turned out pretty nice, I think.  But for the following cards, I'll be using some white card bases that I bought at an office supply store a while ago and have never used.

I'm also trying to figure out a drop-down menu across the top.  It'll be a while before that gets fully finished but I'll get there.  I'll also start working on videos at some point, again not sure when, because I do want to get the blog looking good before I get involved in anything else.  Plus I need to find a permanent home for the camera, etc.

Thanks for looking, see you soon.