Homeschooling Friday - Week Two

We had an awesome week! I love fall, I love October, and I love Halloween, (plus my birthday was Wednesday) so there was no way it wouldn't be an awesome week. I have decided that Halloween is going to be a major holiday in this house from now on. I am talking Christmas major. Mini Halloween stockings, advent calenders, exchanging gifts, cookies, crafts, the whole shebang. If Magdalena goes back to public school in the future, I may make her stay home the weekend before to make and bake with me and have a big party after school.
We spent the week on Halloween crafts, and learning about the letter B and the number one.
We made bird masks on Monday:

Butterflies on Tuesday:

On Wednesday, there was no way I was going to adhere to a strict diet on my birthday, so we spent the day baking cookies. Chocolate and vanilla Day of the Dead skull cookies, to be precise:

These, seriously, are a can't miss. The cookie above it the absolute best looking one we got, but keep in mind I had a five year old helper. But taste wise, they're amazing, no matter how they look! Recipe here: http://www.nantucketknitter.com/2013/10/day-of-the-dead-cookies.html! (I originally had the recipe in this post, but it deserves it's own post. Seriously.)
We also made these amazingly fun crafts this week:

It's Halloween, and it starts with B, perfect! (I didn't take any step by step pictures with Boo, might be a good thing as the post is long enough without them!) For Boo we followed part of this inchie idea: http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2011/10/halloween-inchies-part-1.html

We followed the ideas here for this one, roughly: http://www.thatartistwoman.org/2012/10/halloween-inchies-2012.html. I cut three inch squares for both projects, because I thought two inches would be too hard to work with, with a five and four year old. (Magdalena's friend Mr. T was here for one of the projects.)
We didn't have everything she used on hand, like bubble wrap and googly eyes, but we made do with what we had. They were such fun projects, I will be doing these for every holiday, and I think for gifts as well.
We painted all of the backgrounds of the little squares first, as well as collaged the center one, then let everything dry whilst we went and ran some errands.

I wouldn't use sand on them next time. It was cool because M loved watching the paint being sucked up by the sand, and it left a nifty effect. But it was way too hard to glue anything on afterwards. Although, I don't have any liquid white glue now, so we were working with glue sticks, and M dumped a ton of sand on them, so that may have had something to do with it.
Once everything was dried, we got to work on the details.

Our structured projects don't normally take so long, or require quite so much work; I think that was good for a change to have an all day project. Plus one that requires such attention to detail, for a five year old.

For the background, I cut a piece of poster board big enough to hold all the mini projects, with an inch or so border between each one and all around. Then, I let Magdalena go wild on it with water colors. I think after so many hours of such structure, it was good to let loose!

I think this one is getting its own frame! We are going to be working on a fall theme of this same project next week, then a Thanksgiving one as well! Seriously, fun, fun, fun. The website, that artist woman, has been a major source of inspiration since I came across it. I will be referring back to it through out the year. Go check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Linking up to:

New Lifestyles

Well, there have been quite a few lifestyle changes here in chez knitter over the past few months. They're all important, maybe equally so, so I am not sure where to start! Not only did I become a vegetarian a few months ago (still have my slip ups and probably will for a long time to come. I am still in the phase of not wanting to put anyone out if I am dining at their house.)
But I also went from this in December 2012:

to this, a few weeks ago:

I have lost about 55 pounds, and, according to the Army, I am currently only five pounds overweight for my height. (That second picture isn't the best, I have a five year old who likes to photobomb. When I get to my goal, I am having a photo shoot!) I have about twenty pounds to go until my ultimate goal weight.
I have been asked, on my website as well in my personal life, to write a post about losing weight. I have already written one about squeezing in exercise and I posted an essay about being a glutton, but I will someday go into more detail about this diet journey. About the myriad diets I have tried, what exercises I do, etc. I will close this section with: I went from walking maybe once or twice a week as my sole form of exercise, to lifting weights three days a week, running four to five days a week, and walking seven days a week, and I very rarely drive if I don't have to.
This last change is probably the most important, because it affects my daughter more than me. Yes, I know getting healthier affects my daughter in a good way (she likes to pretend to lift barbells!) but this last one is entirely about Magdalena.
We have decided, after trying public kindergarten for a few weeks, to home-school for the year. She is just nowhere near physically ready for a full-time school schedule, and was miserable. So after much debate with my parents and her teacher (which I kept private, so when I announced we were home-schooling for the year, it came as a surprise for many.) we have all decided it is best for her to start public kindergarten in a year. I have purchased the best curriculum from Oak Meadow school, which is Waldorf based and just amazing. I am going to home-school her this year, then put her back in kindergarten next year, a step ahead of the game.
Some things she has made so far:

We love clay!

The letter A.

The letter B.
I feel in the few days Magdalena has spent learning at home, she's already absorbed more than she did in school. But that could just be me! There has been so much support of my decision, people I barely say hi to have been coming up to me to chat about it. I have heard many "I wish I had made that decision," and similar statements in the past few days. There are so many home-schooling groups on the island and a ton of websites online.
Anyone out there a home-schooler? Any good websites I should check out? Seriously, any and all advice about it would be much appreciated. Links to home-schooling blogs, with projects and whatnot.
Anyhoo, it's good to be back to Blogging! I probably will not Blog more a couple of times a month at this point. I am going to make a concerted effort to do so at least once a week once we've settled into a routine.
Ok, off to bed for me!