Author Archives: Honey

About Honey

Honey is a homeschooling mama of five amazing children. She and her husband Jonah run Sunflower Schoolhouse together. She provides the content and he provides the technical support. Please see the About for more information.

Redesign – Just a note

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Important News!

Things are a bit of a mess! We have recently (aka last night) recovered posts and pages from my previous blog (not the crash of 2009 but the most recent redo) and I was able to import posts from my blogspot before that. I have also imported posts from a couple of other blogs that I want to close out because I no longer use them (in the interest of simplifying my life). It is going to take some work to get everything organizing and functioning in a fluid way. Please be patient as I try to merge everything and make it all make sense (to me and you). I am excited to be able to bring you all of this new content (and refer to it in blog posts).

I also wanted to share that Homeschool4free is back! I was able to import all of my content from a previous blogspot and very soon all of the information from my previous site (before the most recent redesign) will be up there as well. Keep in mind that the format may change a bit as I recreate things to make them more functional. I hope you enjoy.

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Special Needs – Sensory Bottles

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Have you ever made a sensory bottle?

We made a sensory bottle on Wednesday and the kids all loved it. We started with an empty 2L bottle (but you can use any size). We added in equal parts of water, corn syrup, and cooking oil.  Then we added food coloring, plastic beads, and shiny glitter. We put glue on the lid and screwed it on very tight. We turned the bottle upside down and then we shook it. The kids took turns for the next hour shaking the bottle and watching the liquids separate. Overall, it was a success. Here are a couple of pictures during the making.

There are many different ways to make sensory bottles. Here are some simple ideas to get you going:

Since this was our science, we also watched some videos from BrainPop, including Scientific Method, Compounds and Mixtures, States of Matter, and Matter Changing States. BrainPop is an awesome little website with tons of educational animations (and more).

If you are looking for more science resources, you can check out my guest post over on The Tuckers Take Tennessee. I included a list of great sites loaded with fun science experiments.

Check out my Special Needs column if you are looking for more sensory resources.

Have you ever made a sensory bottle?  What sensory activities do your kids enjoy?

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Beautiful Creatures

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~Review and Giveaway~

Beautiful Creatures

This cheerful and lively children's CD caught the twins attention as soon as I put it on. They danced and jumped and got all excited when they heard the music. Our family enjoyed most of the songs and we have had fun listening to the CD, but we did not like song Mafutha and could not recommend that one. Since the song tracks can be ordered through itunes, you can just order the ones that you really like.  There are ten tracks in this CD. You can click on the links to hear short MP3 clips of each of the songs.

  1. Imvubu The Happiest Hippo
  2. Lucas The Lazy Lion
  3. Mafutha
  4. Zee Bee Dee Bee Dee
  5. Wallace The Wonderous  Warthog
  6. Lorenzo The Luckiest Lizard
  7. Down Comes The Rain
  8. Beautiful Creatures
  9. The Night Song
  10. African Lullabye

Beautiful Creatures is a South African Company that was formed by Alan Glass, Ed Jordan, and Paul Choritz in 2004. They currently have seven albums out and as I mentioned previously, they are all available from itunes. If you want to listen to clips of the other CD's, you can check out the links below.

  1. Beautiful Creatures
  2. More Beautiful Creatures
  3. Even More Beautiful Creatures
  4. Beautiful Me
  5. Beautiful Bedtime
  6. Beautiful Creatures of the Sea
  7. Beautiful Lullabies

I was provided with an mp3 version of this CD for review purposes and I am very excited to be able to giveaway 5 copies of this CD in mp3 format. I am going to make this contest really simple... leave me a comment as your entry to win! The contest will be open all week and the winners will be drawn on Thursday, May 20th at 12pm Pacific Time.

So, what are you waiting for? Leave your comment and then spread the news...

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Little Bitty Learners – Super Hero Capes

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My kids all love dressing up. The boys especially love pretending that they are super heroes. They are forever asking me to tie sheets or various things onto to them to aid in their pretending. I have a bucket load (seriously) of fabric and I have wanted to make them capes to play with. Safety has been an issue for me. What if someone steps on the cape? What if it gets caught on something? What if someone pulls on it? (That's not going to happen with my sweet angels, ha!)

Well, that problem has now been solved. I found this amazing idea for super hero capes over on The Helping Mommy. It's time to pull out the big bucket load of fabric and make some super hero capes! Guess what I will be making this afternoon during nap time?

Please... tell me... do you have any SIMPLE ideas for dress up clothes for 4 boys and a girl?

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