We Were GOING To Do a Pool Thing - But It Turned Into BREAD!

So we are doing a summer entrepreneurship project. It's our applied math project, but it is turning out to be so  much more. We were going to do a free pool, backyard lemonade stand... but there ended up being some sadness between my son and his friend over it so my husband wisely suggested bread.

We are doing a bread delivery service for our local area (within a few blocks of home) and boy! It's busy! (We have a very supportive neighborhood. It's amazing and wonderful!)

There is, of course, a lot of math involved with planning a small business. What supplies do we need? How much do they cost? When do we pass out flyers? How many flyers do we need? How much does paper and ink cost? How long will it take to deliver as many as we want to? How many loaves to make? How many rolls? How much to charge, factoring in our cost and our time?

Wow! It's been intense and great! 

The think that has been the most interesting is how much CHEMISTRY (yes science) we have experienced while my oldest son whips out the bread dough and sets it out to rise. We have botched a lot of dough, but it has been worth it! He is learning so much about paying attention to what he is doing - CARING about it because it is for someone else - and remembering that my part of the job takes a whole lot longer than his so he needs to focus and get the dough made so it can rise and I don't have to be up all night baking, cooling, and bagging bread.

My daughters are gung-ho (and amazingly organized) flyer deliverers. It'll be fun to see how they do on our first bread delivery route tomorrow. Wooohooo!

Well, here are a couple of pictures of our bread for our first Saturday deliveries. My kids are SO excited. (I am too!)

Fun Summer Homeschool (and any kid) project! Fairy Forest Adventure!

This looks so fun to do with the whole family. I've been looking for fun projects to do outside this summer to nurture my children's creativity. This looks great!

It's a whole fairy forest that you can go to and contribute to the fairyland-esc-ness of it. (I know that's not a word. But we make up words for fun at my house. :) )

Let me know if you go so we can look for your creation!

http://utah.todaysmama.com/2013/07/18/utahs-hidden-secret-enchanted-fairy-forest/

Home Made (Healthy) Mosquito Repellent

This fantastic recipe was posted by Roger Howard on Facebook.

HOME MADE MOSQUITO REPELLENT (ALSO FOR ANTS & FLEAS)

Remember to click share!! Its camping season and people need this!

Ingredients:
1/2 litre of alcohol
100 gram of whole cloves
100 ml of almond, sesame, chamomile, lavender, or fennel oil (any healthy oil)

Preparation:

1. Leave cloves to marinate in alcohol four days
2. Stir every morning and evening
3. After 4 days add the oil
4. It's now ready to use.
5. How to use:
6. Gently rub a few drops into the skin of the arms and legs.
   Observe the mosquitoes fleeing the room.
   Repels fleas on pets too.

Life of Fred Tip of the Day - This Is Always a Good Idea

This came into my email this morning. I've been thinking about how I can supplement the Life of Fred Math books for my kids - It makes sense that since it is written in the entertaining form that it is, that we could read it over and over again and it could be supplemented that way.

I'm going to try this approach (I haven't actually purchased the curriculum yet. I've just been studying it out and I've read the sample lessons. They are excellent and my kids were laughing and learning.) when I get started using it next month.

Here is the quote:

http://lifeoffredmath.com

"For the greatest benefit, read through the Life of Fred books more than once. Just like any good book, each time you read a Life of Fred book over, you see things you did not see the last time you read it. Even if you do not work out all of the "Your Turn to Play" questions, simply reading through the book and questions will increase your retention of the material. People re-read books, listen to cds more than once,  and re-watch television programs and movies all the time. Just because Life of Fred is more "academic" does not mean that going through it again is a waste of time. In fact, each time you go through the book you will gain greater mastery and understanding of the concepts covered."

Guitar Tuning and Teaching Apps (From the Google Play Store)

I like these guitar tuning and teaching apps so far. My 7 year old, and 11 year old can tune, and follow along to play their guitars on their own! Talk about learning to learn. This is so empowering for them.

Up to this point I have tuned their guitars for them, and it's been frustrating to try to play because I get in a hurry (moms are busy). And they felt like I needed to be staring at them to be able to do it. But with these two apps they can watch the videos in a loop and do it with the videos until they get it right. Love it!

You can get both of these apps at the Google Play Store. Enjoy!

HomeSchool Budget Friendly Awesome DIY Ideas from Buzzfeed - Must See!

This was just too fun to pass up re-posting.

Visit: http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/51-budget-backyard-diys-that-are-borderline-genius?bffbdiy

To see some Awesome ideas for backyard DIY that we can easily do with our children for homeschooler projects.

Some of these ideas are actually really great. I love the skateboard swing, and the solar lights chandelier.

Have fun looking through! Shoot me a comment if you have other great homeschooler ideas too!