Education – Pod of One

Our First Cartoon

Amelia and her daddy make their first cartoon using Toonly.

Last week I downloaded the Toonly animation program to start learning how to work with it. For practice, I asked Amelia if she wanted to create a cartoon. She was into the idea.

So we made this little cartoon. She came up with the story and chose the backgrounds/characters, and we worked together tightening it up, writing the script and recording the voice overs.

It was a lot of fun, and Amelia learned a lot. She saw how much work goes into cartoons (not that this is even CLOSE to how much work goes into real ones) and also learned how many times it took her to get her lines right. She had to make choices on backgrounds, and you’ll see that at first she wanted it to be a baby’s room, but eventually made the decision to change it to a little girl’s room instead.

It was a lot of fun and she got to see a different form of the creative process: storytelling. She also learned a bit about plot, character and all of the essential parts that make up a story.

Here is the final product:

If you like it, please leave us some comments on YouTube. You can like and follow us as well, since we will probably keep making more videos. Amelia would love to hear what people think! We would also love it if you would share it. Thanks!

The Science of Colors

Amelia and I open up a science kit and explore colors.

To continue our science obsession, I pulled out a fun science kit I picked up at a yard sale. I was going to choose one of the projects it came with, but after Amelia really enjoyed mixing white and red to make pink with our crystal project, I figured I would continue with that theme.

The kit I have came with a collection of kid-safe test tubes, droppers and other scientific items. So I grabbed some water, food dye of the primary colors and small bowls.

I had Amelia add two drops of each color to the bowls.

Even though she knows the color combinations from school, we started our experiment by drawing a grid that she filled out as we went along. At first it was simple, so we checked out what red plus yellow made, and yellow and blue, and so on.

I drew out circles so that she could record the results, which she also enjoyed because she felt like she was performing a real scientific study.

The grid we created to record our results.

I have to say it was a lot of fun for both of us. Amelia got such a kick out of using the test tubes and droppers.

As you can see on the grid, eventually we started mixing the new colors (secondary colors) with others to see what would happen. To be honest, most of them made a greenish-brown color. We tried to match the colors up with her Crayola Crayons as close as we could.

The bottom line is Amelia got some experience using the lab tools, and she quickly (after a minor spill) learned the importance of being careful along with proper care of the equipment. Mixing the colors proved what she had been taught in school, that yellow and blue make green, and so on. She thought that was pretty cool. It’s always good to find ways to reinforce the lessons kids learn in school.

Walden University perfectly summarizes the importance of science in the classroom . “…there are individual benefits to learning science, such as developing our ability to ask questions, collect information, organize and test our ideas, solve problems, and apply what we learn. Even more, science offers a powerful platform for building confidence, developing communication skills, and making sense of the world around us—a world that is increasingly shaped by science and technology.”

I saw a lot of this in our science experiments this week, although Amelia’s favorite part was definitely using the test tubes. My favorite was at the end when she said “Daddy, I think I want to be a scientist.” How cool is that?

SOUND OFF: What are some projects you have used with your kids that involve mixing colors? Let us know in the comments. Amelia and I are always looking for new projects.

Growing Crystals

Amelia creates her own crystals for the first time and the final crystals are AWESOME.

Last week, Amelia and I decided to focus on science. We started with a crystal kit. Yes, the kit is listed as 10 years old and up, but I figured we could handle it. The boiling water was probably the reason for this, so make sure you help any kiddo under ten.

It was pretty simple. We had to boil water and measure it out. Then we added chemicals to the boiled water and stirred.

After that, we had to let it cool a bit. Then we added it to smaller cups, where the crystals would grow. The next step was to choose colors. Of course, Amelia wanted pink. So she made one pink, one white (because to make pink we had to add powder that was red and white) and I got to choose the third color. I chose red since we were already using it for the pink.

Now we just had to wait. Surprisingly, by the next morning we already had this:

And this, which is harder to see because it’s Amelia’s pink one:

Two days later, the crystal started to grow out of the cups. After some research, this is when we should have carefully dumped the chemicals out. We didn’t, so they got a little mutated:

You can see, from the first group of photos to the second, that they started to look a little bit like coral.

Eventually, we dumped out the liquid (and my fingers became a bit stained pink for a few days). But the final product was very cool, considering it was our first time growing them.

We wanted to know how and why this happens, so we watched this video:

I also wish I saw this project first. Childhood 101 has a really cool project that is similar, but uses pipe cleaners shaped like hearts. I absolutely love this project and am hoping to do this one with Amelia. I think she will love it. Here is a photo of their final project:

What did we learn from this project? Measuring. We had to carefully measure the water and the chemicals that created the color. We could have also measured the crystals as they grew, and figured out their growth rate. We also had to exercise patience, knowing that the crystal would grow slowly. Honestly, I was surprised at how quickly the crystals grew. I thought it would be days before we saw any action, but after ten hours there was already a bit of formation.

Overall, we had a last and got some really cool crystals we made ourselves. I thought the white one turned out the coolest, personally. Amelia loved her pink one. Next time we will be creating the heart-shaped ones.

Creating a Lego Maze

Creating a Lego maze is a great little lesson involving STEM learning and motor skills.

Do you have a bunch of Lego sitting around? How about a big green baseplate? (Baseplates are the large, flat pieces you build big sets on).

We are a Lego family, so it’s normal for us to have Lego in boxes all over the place. If you aren’t, Dollar Tree has some off-brand ones you can grab.

Lego was coming up with little lesson plans last April when things went South pandemic-wise, and one inspired us to create a maze using Lego bricks and a marble. Amelia and I both did it, and then when her cousins came over we all made one.

It’s simple: make a maze out of Lego bricks by placing them strategically on a baseplate. This pushed Amelia in many new ways, such as trial and error. She started putting the pieces too close for the marble to fit, so I had her test it. When the marble wouldn’t fit, she realized she had to make more space.

Then it’s about reaction and motor skills. Once we were done, we had to test our mazes, and see how hard they were, if the marble would fit everywhere, and if we remembered to make a path from the entrance to the exit.

Amelia LOVES mazes, so creating one was fun for her. She worked on motor skills, STEM skills, and we had a lot of fun. I highly recommend this one!

If you need help or inspiration, here is a video on how to do it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwy_TfUQbio

Drawing with YouTube

Amelia and I both love drawing. It’s creative, fun, and we get to work together on the lesson. I started college out as an art major, so I never mind a fun drawing project.

One of our favorites is to watch a step-by-step video on how to draw something. We grab a box of markers and crayons, some books to lean on, and paper. We sit on the couch, bring up our favorite YouTube art instructor, and scan through the choices of lessons.

Sometimes what we draw is inspired by something else we are learning about that day, like ants. Other days I just ask Amelia what she would like to draw.

We have one YouTube drawing teacher that is our go to, Art for Kids Hub. The guy’s name is Rob, and he’s fantastic. He always has a kid drawing with him and teaches how to draw animals, toys and other things step-by-step.

He also makes sure to aim his lessons at varying ages. Some of the easier ones, like ice cream, are perfect for a kindergartner. He has others, like LOL dolls, for kids who are a bit older.

This is an excellent example of one for a younger child:

And there are others for older, more advanced artists:

He’s got it all. Whatever you are looking to learn to draw, he has probably done it. It’s always fun for us to draw our pictures in black marker and then color it in.

Food Coloring Flowers

We had a really cool project that just requires white flowers and food coloring.

On one of our many walks, Amelia and I collected flowers from a tree at the playground. Ours had the tiniest of pink pigment, so they weren’t perfect, but give me a break. We were in the middle of a full quarantine!

Then, we added food coloring and watched the flowers slowly change colors.

This was a GREAT project we had seen a friend do and decided to mimic. First we learned a bit about plants. Scholastic helped us out with that again. We reread From Seed to Plant and learned all about how plants grow and how they drink water.

Then I asked her, if a flower drinks blue water, will it turn blue?

She scrunched her nose in thought, and eventually decided that no, it would not.

I asked if we would turn blue if we drank blue water. She answered with a confident “no!” and I wondered why.

“Because mommy drinks that brown drink [coffee] every morning and hasn’t started changing color…”

Touché, Amelia.

So we added different colors, all of her choice, to water and put a flower or two in each one.

After a little while, they did start to change color. She was really surprised, and I was just glad the project worked.

If you want to do the project, it’s pretty much as easy as putting white flowers into water with food coloring, and then exercising patience. But they MUST be white. Ours had the tiniest bit of pink, which made it less obvious.

Here is a video that will help:

This is a really fun activity that everyone can enjoy. For older kids, you can discuss why and how it happens. For younger ones, it’s about how plants grow and the fun of seeing them change color.

And if you want to explain how it happens, Go Science Girls has a great explanation.

Either way, it’s a great project that is simple and takes items you probably have around the house (or neighborhood) anyway.

Chalk Art

Anyone a fan of Mary Poppins? Okay, we aren’t exactly jumping into magical worlds through our chalk art on our sidewalk, but it’s been fun.

It started as a positivity thing. Everyone was tired of being stuck, and we saw the movement on social media of decorating sidewalks with kind messages to cheer everyone up. After all, our only escape from the home were our daily walks, and we took them daily, sometimes twice in a day.

We wrote nice messages, drew flowers, made happy faces, rainbows, whatever we felt like drawing. Amelia would tell me the nice messages she wanted me to write, and I would spell them out. Then she colored it in.

Now, even though less people are walking our neighborhood, we are still doing chalk art on the sidewalk a few times a week. It’s a fun art project, we listen to music and Amelia always greets everyone who walks by.

It’s especially cool to see how social she has become during all of this. She says hello to most people who walk by. This is a great opportunity for her to get a little bit of social time because our street seems to attract a decent number of pedestrians. Since March she has really only seen family.

We also discuss color names, what mixing two colors does, and other things. We’re also getting some great outdoor time in fresh air.

Mommy University says there are three major benefits of playing with sidewalk chalk: enhanced academic knowledge, improved fine motor skills and a greater appreciation for the arts.

If you are on a tight budget, the dollar store usually has a decent variety of sidewalk chalk.

And the beauty? There’s no clean-up…just let the next storm wash away the images. Then you can draw again on a fresh canvas. Sometimes even mommy joins us!

Homeschooling on a Budget

We are not especially wealthy, especially since I lost my job to COVID-19. We live on a budget, now more than ever. When school closed and I became a stay-at-home dad/home school teacher/tutor/disciplinarian, things changed rather dramatically, as they did for everyone.

My daughter needed me to help her, and I wanted to. We started daily lesson plans, some of which I have already described on here, and others are yet to come. What made this easier is that I’d been accidentally planning for this for the past year without even knowing it.

I’ve gotten very good at finding bargains over the years, and I buy for the future. I call it taking care of “future us”. I thought for a different kind of post today, I would share how I do all of this on a budget.

Clearance Sales are Key

I always search the clearance sales at Target, Walmart and other stores. Both Target and Walmart have a decent sales section, but sometimes clearance is mixed in with the regular items. It helps to have the store’s app to scan items when you see that they are on clearance. Sometimes you find that they’re even cheaper than marked! Plus, it’s easier than finding one of the store scanners and using it over and over.

Both stores have a massive clearance sale around this time of year (August). Walmart recently put almost their whole toy and craft inventory at 70% off. Last week I got a shopping cart full of STEM projects, craft items and more for less than $100 and they will last us quite a long time.

I follow a few Facebook pages that share clearance sales at Walmart and Target. They will send out posts and shoppers share deals and when things are on sale.

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Your Local Dollar Store

The dollar store is an especially great place to pick up crafting supplies. Our good local one is Dollar Tree. I highly recommend checking their aisles carefully, especially the craft aisle. Ours recently added a great wood craft section and we even got some 3-D unicorns and dinosaurs we could paint. They have rainbow popsicle sticks, foam paper, coloring books, and even have a decent supply of workbooks for elementary school-aged students.

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Yard Sales and Flea Markets

COVID-19 has basically put a stop to garage sales right now, but I’ve been going to them for years and they are an easy way to add things to your home school pod. Simple items like sets of blocks and other building toys can be $1 or so, and even brand new crafting sets, STEM sets and more can be $1-3. Totally worth it, but they are hit or miss, so it can be a bit of a commitment.

I highly recommend hitting community yard sales. These usually have 10-20 houses selling items, and while you will have a few homes where there’s nothing useful, you’ll find others where you get a couple hundred dollars worth of materials, kits and games for $20.

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Facebook Marketplace

This is another good place to keep an eye out. Many people sell items here yard-sale style, but they will usually be a little bit more. I’ve gotten great deals on brand new items and craft supplies on Marketplace. Always check the toy section on here for great crafting and STEM kits.

Buy Nothing

Buy Nothing groups on Facebook are pretty amazing. Join the one in your local community and you can gift items you no longer want to someone in your neighborhood. They are sectioned off by town, so you know everyone who posts is fairly close to you. My town is pretty small, so I’ve never driven more then six or seven minutes to pick something up.

People post everything from household goods to toys and crafts, and I’ve gotten our little pod lots of great little additions thanks to it. Find your local Buy Nothing if you want to join through Facebook.

Amazon

Amazon has amazing clearance sales sometimes, but the problem is finding out about them. There are many Facebook groups that help watch for sales, similar to the ones I mentioned for Walmart and Target. Deals & Steals is a good one that focuses on children a bit more than most. There’s also this glitches group and a deals group you may want to follow. They post cheap deals on Amazon, and this was the major way we bought items that kept the whole family busy during the quarantine part of the virus.

So there you have it. This is how I’ve survived the pandemic with a wealth of DIY kits, crafting supplies, STEM toys and more. I’ve been doing this for a few years, and I’m glad to share my experiences.

Do you know another way to bargain your way into a cheaper home school? I’d love to hear about it. Let me know in the comments.

Going to Collage

No, that’s not a misspelled word, considering Amelia is only five. I spent some time with her creating collages from old magazines, National Geographic to be exact, and it was a great little lesson for our pod of one.

Amelia’s Grammy gave us a huge stack of old National Geographic magazines before the virus struck, so we used them. We’d already looked at them a bunch of times, and they were ready to be used in a craft.

First off, it was great practice for scissor safety and motor skills. We watched a few videos on scissor safety before the lesson, which were review for her since she learned it in preschool. But as we all know, it’s better to repeat the lessons from school, because repetition supports what they learn. We discussed handing off scissors to others, walking with scissors, and how to use them safely.

According to Pathways.org, motor skills are important because they are used “everyday throughout our lives. They help us move and do everything from lifting heavy items to typing on a keyboard. Motor skills and motor control begin developing after birth, and will progress as children grow. Having good motor control also helps children explore the world around them, which can help with many other areas of development.”

I know this is something that will be reinforced in kindergarten, so I figured we could practice cutting. At one point, Amelia’s teacher said she could use a little more work on motor skill development, which surprised me. We are a LEGO family, and Amelia helps me put sets together all of the time. I would think putting those tiny Lego pieces together exhibit excellent motor skills.

So I told Amelia we were making a collage, and she wanted to know what one was. I explained the basic idea to her. We were going to find pictures we liked in the magazine, cut them out, and then glue them onto a piece of paper wherever we wanted. She loved the idea so we got started.

I found a nice background and started with that. It was a two-page spread of shells, and I thought it would make a great background. Then I started cutting out animals and people to stick on top.

Amelia went the other route. She cut out all of the cutest animals she could find and started gluing them wherever she wanted.

In the end, we had fun. Who wouldn’t when scissors and glue sticks are involved, right? Amelia was quite proud of her project. We’ve practiced with scissors in many other lessons since then, but this was the first. We should probably create some collages again soon.

Making Spiga-ghetti (Spaghetti)

As far back as I can remember, Amelia has called spaghetti spiga-ghetti, and now I’ve found myself calling it that as well. My wife does too.

I come from a long line of Italians, and my great-grandmother, grandmother and mom all made their own fresh pasta from time to time.

During quarantine, while everyone else was making bread, I ordered semolina flour so Amelia and I could make our own pasta.

It’s a bit of a process, but it’s SO worth it. I used this recipe from Food.com, but there are some supplies you will need that you probably don’t have hiding in your cabinets, like the pasta maker.

Amelia loves cooking and baking, especially cupcakes, but this was a bit different for her. We mixed the dough pretty much as the recipe said to, and she really enjoyed using our mixer.

Then we kneaded the dough at the table, just like my grandmother and I used to when I was a kid. We even used a pasta machine she brought me from Italy.

The cranking is the best part, but it’s tough, especially for a four-year-old’s arms, but Amelia really wanted to do it, and she did.

For me, it’s the nostalgia. I remember making pasta with my mom and my grandmother, and now I’m making it with my daughter. It’s a blast and really brings me back.

We even let the pasta dry on my old hockey stick, just like we did it when I was young.

But man was that delicious. I make my own sauce (my relatives all called it gravy) and I absolutely love the smell of fresh basil simmering in the tomatoes. Amelia helped this time, and I hope one day to teach her my recipe so she will have it when she’s out on her own.

What is one of your nostalgia foods that bring you back to childhood? We’d love to hear from you in the comments. Maybe we will even try something you suggest!