OOPS -- forgot to show you ...

... the pictures of the finished clubhouse/stable.

And all have settled in quite nicely! Since these were taken (just after the 1st of 2009), StringBean has created a wonderfully cozy home ... with spool-knitted rug, blankets, cooking items and all kinds of wonderful things for her little friends.

It came out quite nicely .... especially considering it started out as a Math project!

Christmas: on the fifth day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me ... morning Mass with our favorite priest ... an afternoon of "gadding about" with my teen while he and the littles played "Santa's workshop" by getting the doll club-house/Nativity stable all sanded, glued and nailed to the base ready for painting. BamBam is sanding the front ...

while LegoManiac shows the back "barn door" to allow easy access and give a "stable look" when we use this for our Nativity next year.

Yes, this project is big -- the base board is 2-feet x 3-feet and the height is just over 30-inches but isn't it marvelous? The girls (Kotch and I and maybe StringBean too) will do the painting ... barn red for the exterior and green (darkened slightly with some black) for the roof. We'll then put felt pads on the bottom corners (to protect surfaces and to allow a 1/4" lip to help with lifting and moving from spot to spot). Will post pictures of the final!

And to top off this wonderful day, and since it is the Feast of St. Thomas a Becket, the man killed through the misuse of monarchial power, our family movie: the classic Becket with Peter O'Toole as the despotic Henry II and Richard Burton as the reformed Thomas Becket. What a great movie!

Hope you had as good a Fifth Day of Christmas!

St. Thomas a Becket, pray for us!

Christmas: on the third day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me ... a trip to Lowe's to buy the lumber and hardware for Kit's Club House! We cut out all the pieces and then we'll sand them, paint them and put the whole thing together.

If you'll notice in our original scale-sketch, we have a huge door on the back to make it easier to get the 18" AG dolls in and out ... well, we had a brilliant-beyond-brilliant idea that String Bean thinks is a great one too (especially as it will get her house built that much faster!).

So, here's the idea: during the year, she'll use this club-house (which is 2'deep x 3'wide by 30" high) for her 18" dolls -- they'll all fit inside when not needed and she'll finally have a true dollhouse for these bigger ones. During Advent and Christmas, the family will get the "club-house", turn it around and use it for our Nativity Stable (we're planning on carving our own figures for next year's Nativity and will be able to get them to a good size to occupy this stable!).

This has become a family project for this Christmas Break -- Kotch, String Bean and I will paint it, the boys will help sand and build it, dh and I already cut it out, and we'll love every minute of it!

Happy Feast of St. John the Evangelist to one and all ... the only Apostle not martyred, who lived a good long time and was able to meditate on all that Jesus' time on earth means. Thank God, he was able to transcribe these revelations for us to read 2000 years later!

Math: No Workbooks Week

Math ... the bane of this home-educator's existence as so often the best way to teach the facts and the concepts is workbooks. I'm not COMPLETELY against workbooks ... and neither are my kids ... but no matter how fancy, cutsie or clever, they are still, well, workbooks.

This year we're using the Miquon books . I assign four or so pages per week for each child in his/her own book and they are able to work independently or get help as needed. They can set their own pace and schedule their own time -- as long as the work is done correctly by the end of the week. We supplement with games, math fact practice, etc.

But, occasionally, we just need a break. This week is our "no workbooks week" for math.

Instead, we have embarked on a group project. String Bean, aka "Kit Kittredge", REALLY likes the treehouse in the latest American Girl catalog.

But with a price tag of $250 ... WOW!

So this is our project for the week: scale draw a similar club house for String Bean's 18" dolls, cost out the materials, and present Dad (at the end of the week) with what we need, what we want to build and soliciting his assistance in the building. LegoManiac has offered to carve some items for inside and Kotch and I and String Bean will decorate (painting the inside and outside, creating furnishing, etc).

Here is yesterday's work -- a scale drawing of the club house:
The drawing is scaled to 1" = 1 ft (or each square = 3").

The final clubhouse will work out to a footprint of 3-ft x 2-ft x 2-1/2 ft high -- a perfect fit for String Bean's three 18" dolls. The lowest drawing shows the front (with a 6" deep "porch") and the back (with a large, barn-door to make it easy to put-in/take-out the dolls and furnishings. The side walls have six-inch square windows with "window boxes" on each. The two roof pieces will either be painted to look like shingles or we'll get a sheet of lino/tile that looks like shingles.

We'll cost it out today, using Lowe's and Home Depot's websites for materials' costs -- and finish up tomorrow with packaging the whole project for Dad's perusal on Friday.

String Bean will pay for the materials -- but we've offered our design and construction services free!

This project is so fun for the four of us .... LegoManiac, String Bean, Bam-bam and I ... that I think we'll try and come up with one about once a month to stretch our math skills and prove that "yes, you will use this in real life"!