A Little Backyard Astronomy

I don't know if you've noticed, but the past couple of nights there have been amazing views of the moon. Really beautiful!

Two nights ago we got out our little amateur telescope~that we think is just too much fun!~ and took in the sight with the kiddos.

It's always so cool to see the moon up closer and SO big! The kids love to check it out.

Then just last night I read about something very cool. It was the first time in almost 20 years (since 1991) that the full moon~the Harvest Moon~rose at 100% illumination directly on the Autumnal Equinox. It won't happen again until 2029.

So we hurried and gathered our cameras and headed out to watch the sun set and the moon rise!

The sunset was really colorful and gorgeous, in the West.

It always amazes me how quickly it sinks!

At the same time, the full Harvest Moon was rising in the East.

Look at that surface! It's so clear!

Later on after the kiddos were tucked in and sound asleep, Vince and I went back outside in the backyard to gaze at the moon some more.

We took the telescope and found Jupiter (that little dot below the moon that looks like a star). That was so amazing to look at, even through a low-powered scope.

This was all even more interesting to us since we are in the middle of our astronomy study for our homeschool science.

What a wonderful world we are blessed to live in!

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Psalm 19:1

This post is linked to The Homeschool Village.

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

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