Tips for Christmas Shopping for Your Children on a Budget

The other day, I came across this post over at Frugal Homeschool Family, and I couldn't believe how similar our shopping styles are when it comes to gifts for our kids. I Would encourage everyone to hop over there and read it because the author, SUZETTE LADOUCEUR, is spot on. She has inspired me to post a few of my own Christmas gift giving tips and tricks. I'll try not to repeat the great ideas Suzette has already given, but instead, I'll add a few extra.

1. Set a budget. Okay, Okay, I'm putting this one first on the list because it's something that I need to keep in the forefront of my own mine. I love Christmas; and while I always try to help my kids remember the true reason for the season, I'm crazy about the presents as well. So I sometimes have a tough time reigning in the spending. It's important, though, because none of us wants to go into debt just to get through the holidays. The great news is we don't have to.

2. Start early! And by early, I mean like January. lol I know that sounds crazy to some, but starting early allows you to hit the most clearance sales. It also means that you'll be done shopping far in advance of Christmas morning, and you won't be spending extra money because you're running out and buying last-minute gifts. So what should you buy early? Well, if you know your children, you know that there are certain types of activities they enjoy. For example, my daughter loves arts and crafts, I can't go wrong buying her anything creative.

3. Be flexible. I don't ask my children for a Christmas list. Sometimes, my daughter makes one anyway, but she knows that Santa is full of surprises, and she may not get everything she's asked for. My children do have grandparents who like to shop from lists as well; so that means they'll get a few things they really want. However, I don't look for specific items for my children; instead, I choose to look for certain types of things I know they'll like.

4. Plan on one or two big gifts. I don't mean big in size or in expense necessarily, but I mean gifts that your child really wants. This is sort of in contrast to number 3 on the list, but I do always try to get that one certain thing my children want most assuming it doesn't eat up the entire Christmas budget.

5. Think homemade. Don't be afraid to make rather than buy some gifts. The internet is full of DIY projects that would be perfect presents. In the past, my daughter has received homemade play-doh, paper doll kits printed from the internet, crayons melted into fun shapes, etc. Not only are most of these gifts inexpensive, but you might also have great fun making them.

6. Visit a Christmas auction. Many times, around the holidays, you can find a local Christmas auction to attend. Visit Auctionzip to see if their are any going on in your area. This is my absolute favorite place to buy presents because you can get things at great prices, and you never know what you'll find until you arrive. I do have a couple of auction rules. First, don't buy food items unless you've had an opportunity to check the expiration date. Second, if you buy an item that takes batteries, understand that you may need to purchase new ones before the item will work. Finally, arrive at the auction early, doors usually open at least 1 hour before start time, so that you'll have a chance to check out the available items up close before the bidding begins.

Finally, I hope everyone will read Suzette's post over on Frugal Homeschool Family as well because she covers several tips such as shopping consignment stores and watching for sales and clearances with which I completely concur. With these tips to help with your gift giving, I hope you and your children have a wonderful Christmas this year.

Liquid Floor Science Experiment for Kids With Video

This past weekend, Boo and Dad went to Lowes Home Improvement Store to participate in their Build and Grow program where they constructed a science lab. Tonight, Boo tried one of the experiments included in the kit. If you'd like to try it too, you can watch Boo's video tutorial.

The experiment is called the liquid floor, and it demonstrates what happens to food coloring in oil and in water. It's simple and fun and only takes a few supplies: a glass, water, vegetable oil, food coloring, and a pencil. Watch the video below to learn more.



If you enjoyed this experiment, please tell us about it. Stay tuned for more fun science from the Build and Grow kit.

Minecraft Acrostic Poem To Help Review Parts of Speech (Free Printable)

The Minecraft craze has finally reached our household, and I have mixed feelings about it. However, Boo loves the creative mode in the game, and I've decided to take advantage of that by putting together a Minecraft activity to help review verbs, nouns, and adjectives. The activity asks her to write an acrostic poem using the letters in Minecraft; but instead of one word for each letter, she'll write three words. One will be a verb, one a noun, and one an adjective. This way we get language arts and writing practice in the same activity. If you would find this useful for your own little Minecraft fans, please download it below. Also, please feel free to share this post with your friends so they can download their own copies. As always, I'd be greatful for any feedback you might have.

Click Here to download Minecraft Acrostic Poem.

Free Printable Activity Packet for "'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving"

One of my favorite children's books for this time of year is "'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving."It's a fun little story about some children who visit a turkey farm on a field trip and learn that the turkeys are destined to be served at a Thanksgiving feast.

In addition to reading the book, you can watch and listen to it on YouTube.

I've created a few activities to use along with the story that you can download. This is my first printable, and it was originally created to use with my own children; so please feel free to comment with suggestions. Also, if you wish to share this printable, please direct others to this post rather than to the download itself. Thanks, and happy reading.
Click Here for the download.

Our Free Entertainment For This Weekend

So I’ve really been trying to cut down on our entertainment budget by finding free things to do both at home and in our community, and to that end, I’ve been searching the net for free stuff and ideas. Wow! This is a great weekend for free entertainment.

First, we’ll be having two movie nights this weekend which will be fun because it’s rare that we all have a free night to sit through a whole movie. Tonight’s free movie will come from Redbox. You can get a free movie code by texting MOVIE TIME to 727272. We haven’t rented from Redbox in quite a while; so I’m anxious to see what new titles are available.

Tomorrow’s movie night feature is Wreck It Ralph. I’ve not seen this one, but it should be great fun. You can get a free digital copy of this movie for a limited time by signing up or signing in to your Disney Movies Anywhere account and linking it with your Google Play or ITunes account. Once your accounts are linked, Wreck It Ralph should automatically show up in your apps or under “my collections” on your Disney Movies Anywhere account page.

Also, tomorrow morning we’ll be headed to our local Lowes Home Improvement store to participate in their Build and Grow program. This time, the project is a science lab kit complete with activity cards to continue the learning at home. We’re really excited about this one. We’ve been to Build and Grow several times in the past, and it has always been a great experience.

We have a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon. So we won’t be able to participate, but I also wanted to mention that Saturday, November 8, is Try Hockey for Free Day. Over 500 facilities around the country are offering a chance for youth between the ages of 4 and 9 to try out the sport of ice hockey. You can visit the website to find out if there is a participating location near you.

Here’s hoping everyone has a fun and safe weekend. If you know of some great free family entertainment, feel free to share it in the comments.

Thanksgiving Thankful Pie: A Family Activity To Give Thanks

This November, leading up to Thanksgiving, we really wanted to be able to concentrate on remembering the things we’re thankful for. So we decided to make this Thanksgiving thankful pie. Putting it together was both simple and fun. We’ll each be adding an apple slice with something we’re thankful for every day. Then, on Thanksgiving, we’ll open up the pie, pull out the apples, and share what we’ve written. If you want to make your own pie, here are instructions and photos describing how we did it.

What you’ll need:

Two pieces of white cardstock

A different colored piece of construction paper for each member of your family

Crayons

Scissors

Glue

Stapler

Zipper bags or envelopes

First draw a pie shape on one piece of cardstock. Then place that piece on top of the other piece of card stock, and cut out your pie. You’ll need to identical pies which is why it’s necessary to cut out both pieces of card stock. Alternatively, you could cut out the first pie, trace it on to the second piece of card stock, and cut it out.

Next, Staple the bottomed three edges of the pies together. Be careful not to staple the top, rounded portion of the pies as this is where you’ll insert your thankful apple slices.

Now you can color and decorate your pie in any way you like.

At this point, you’re ready to make the apple slices that you’ll put inside the pie. Each member of your family will need a different color of apples so that when you pull the slices out of the pie on Thanksgiving, you’ll know who they belong to. Draw and cut an apple slice out of one of the pieces of construction paper. Then trace that same slice on each color of paper. You’ll need one slice of each color for the number of days before Thanksgiving which is on November 27, this year. Place all the apple slices of each color into separate zipper bags or envelopes to make them easy to find. Then, each day, have everyone remove one slice from their bag and write something they are thankful for. The apples are then put into the pocket of the pie where it will remain until Thanksgiving. If you have young children who are unable to write, you can have them dictate to you. To make it more interesting, you might have the youngest children take turns dictating to different members of the family so there will still be some surprises in the pie.

We want to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving this year, and we hope our thankful pie has given you a chance to think about those things in life for which you, too, are thankful.

Great Unit Studies Freebie from The Old Schoolhouse On Educents

Right now, over on www.educents.com, there’s a free set of ebook unit studies from The Old Schoolhouse. It’s a $223 value, and it’s definitely worth the download. The bundle includes 2 complete sets: Curiosity files and Wannabes. We’ve started on one of the Curiosity files studies, Blue Diamonds, today; and Boo and I are both loving it. It includes information about blue diamonds, math concepts and word problems, writing exercises, spelling and vocab, related history, geology, and so much more. This is a limited time freebie, so make sure to get it soon.

Five Fall Lego Challenges

In our house, we love Legos! Although, I have to admit, Boo is far more creative with her building than I am. So, since the weather is cooling down, and we’re going to be stuck inside more; I thought it would be fun to try a few Lego challenges. I have centered these challenges around an autumn theme, and we will be doing them over the next week or so. If you decide to try them as well, feel free to send me comments or pics of your creations.

1.       Autumn leaves are falling. Build something that shows off the color of fall.

2.       Thanksgiving is near. Build a meal you would like to see on your Thanksgiving table.

3.       Animals are getting ready for winter. Build an animal, and talk about its winter preparations.

4.       Football season is in full swing. Build a football related model, or if you don’t like football, build your favorite sport.

5.       The temperature is dropping, and it’s getting colder outside. Build something you enjoy doing in the autumn outdoors.

Trick-Or-Treating With Pirate Boo and Parrot Gator

When Boo was younger, one of her favorite games was to pretend that she was a pirate and I was her parrot. Now that she has a little brother, we thought it would be fun to have them dress in coordinating costumes, and the pirate and parrot was the winning idea. I’ve been replaced in my role as parrot, but he’s cuter anyways.

Of course, Halloween this year was cold and rainy and generally no good for trick-or-treating. So we were happy that the church moved its trunk or treat festivities inside. Boo played carnival style games, got a balloon animal, and collected a ton of candy.

Gator did wonderfully for his first Halloween. He was mighty pleased with himself towards the end of the evening after he managed to escape from his parrot hat and had gotten hold of his sister’s sword.

It was also Gator’s first experience with a Hershey bar. Somehow, I don’t believe it will be his last.

Even though we didn’t get to trick-or-treat from door to door like we had originally planned, I think the kids, and the parents too, had a great time. The lesson to be learned here is that if your plans change at the last minute, it’s important to adapt and be ready to find an alternative activity that’s just as fun and special.