Mama Needs Heelys!

My two year old is wearing me out! She is into everything and some days I just can't keep up with her.

That's why I'm so glad that Heelys sent me a pair of their awesome shoes to try out.

Whew! I'll take all the help I can get!

Aren't they nice looking? They are just like regular tennis shoes, except they look nicer and seem to be better made than the tennis shoes I'm running around in these days.

Heelys are the original shoes with wheels in the heels that allow the user to transition from a walk to a roll by shifting the weight to the heel. Users can also transform Heelys into street shoes by removing the wheels.

The wheels need to be installed when you get them. It is super easy though. You use the little tool provided to remove the heel plug in the bottom of the shoe.

Then get your handy dandy wheels ready. They are smaller than I expected.

Then you really just pound the wheel into the bottom of the shoe. I got it mostly in there then stomped my foot down to make sure it was set.

Now just because your shoes are raring to go doesn't mean you should step out in them just yet. You've got to first take a look at the Heelys Safety Playbook. I'm a Mom so I'm entitled to bug you about such things!

Next you've got to watch the videos on Skate 101 to learn the proper way to use your shoes for some serious "Heeling".

I can do it but I'll have to watch some of those videos a squillion more times before I'm close to being able to do some of the cool moves those guys can do.

I'm still struggling with balancing on the wheels and not letting my foot fall forward or backwards.

But with my fast little two year old, I think I'll get the hang of it rather quickly!

Unless my older son steals them from me first!

If you want to find out more about these fun shoes, check out the Heelys website. You can also follow Heelys on Facebook and Twitter.

Note: I received these shoes free of charge in order to write a review, I was not compensated in any way and my comments and opinions are all my own.

Japanese Children's Day: Making Carp Kites

Konos Unit: Honor
Theme: Japan

In Japan, there is a special holiday that has historically been called Boy's Day. It occurs on May 5th and on this day families will fly a carp kite for each boy in the home. Carp swim upstream and therefore represent strength and determination in Japanese culture. The day has since been changed to Children's Day to honor both boys and girls.

We had our own little Children's Day celebration and made carp kites to fly in our yard.

We started with our supplies: lightweight white paper (the backside of wrapping paper works well), markers, glue, scissors, string, and a small strip of cardboard

I gave each of the children their own piece of wrapping paper to draw their carp outline on while I worked ahead of them showing them how to do it. Earlier in the day we had read the book "A Carp for Kikimo" which was all about Boy's Day so we used the pictures to help draw our carp on the wrapping paper.

Double up the paper when you are drawing your carp so that when you cut it out you will have two matching sides.

While I was making a carp shape, Nicholas made his own little baby carp. He didn't look at a picture or anything. He said he just remembered how they looked from seeing them at the Japanese Garden.

While we were doing this, Rachel was decorating her paper with a scene. She pointed to the pictures and said "Here is Rachel, Mommy, Nicholas, and this one is Rachel turning into a fish!" Yes, she does refer to herself in the third person at times!

Nicholas drew his carp outline and cut it out himself.

Next he used a glue stick to attach the two sides together. You only run the glue on the top and bottom of the fish, not the mouth and tail. You will leave the mouth and tail open so that wind can blow through the carp to help the kite fly.

Of course, Rachel needed to use the glue stick too for her creation.

I finished decorating both sides of my carp.

Nicholas started working on decorating his carp.

Rachel was still busy with the glue stick. I wonder why we are constantly buying glue sticks?

Nicholas did a great job decorating his carp. He had fun with it and decorated each side differently.

Next you roll the strip of cardboard into a circle and staple the sides together.

Insert the strip of cardboard into the carp mouth and attach is with staples. This will help keep the mouth open so air can flow freely through it. If I were doing this again, I would have made the mouth larger and used a larger strip of cardboard.

Finally we punched three holes in the carp's mouth and attached strings.

Rachel used the hole punch on her kite too.

We flew our kites outside in the backyard. It was a windy day and it was fun to watch them fly as if they were fighting the current upstream.

Art, Science, and Math through Origami

Konos Unit: Honor
Theme: Japan

As part of our study on Japan, we learned to do some basic Origami. Origami is the study of paper folding.

Stuart and I have been fascinated with Origami for quite some time but never actually tried it. I was really excited to be able to tie it into our study on Japan.

I found Origami paper at Michael's and used my 40% off one item coupon to get a big pack of it. The paper is thin but very colorful and they are the perfect small square to play with.

I picked up some books on Origami from our local library.

Fantasy Origami is a great book for more advanced models. There are some really impressive designs here but these were a bit out of our league...for now. I think we might have to buy this book for future use.

Japanese Origami: Paper Magic by Ann Stalcup was the perfect book to introduce the origins of Origami while touching on some of the Japanese cultural uses and festivals that might include Origami.

The last book, The Book of 12 Amazing Origami Creations, I had picked up a few months ago for a quarter at a garage sale. I got it just to play with but once I started planning this lesson on Japan I decided to save it for this unit. I'm so glad I did. It has some good instructions for basic folds as well as more advanced ones. I didn't realize it at the time I bought the book but it actually has a pocket in the back of the book with squares of Origami paper that is patterned and colored to coordinate with the creatures and models that you make from the book. None of them had ever been used!

We played with lots of creations. Here's a cute little penguin that Nicholas made rather quickly.

Both kids played with folding paper on their own without specific directions.

We stumbled upon a movie on Netflix called Between The Folds which is all about Origami as art, science, and math. Origami is more than just playing with paper. It is art, yes. But it is also math. Consider for a moment how Origami requires understanding of angles, fractions, geometry, and spatial reasoning. It is also amazing to me how scientists study Origami to improve their understanding of the world around them. Yes, Origami is also science.

Between The Folds in an incredible documentary about Origami and the people who study it. Several Origami artists are interviewed in the movie including a homeschool student and his father. The artists make beautiful creations. Not the cute little penguins and cranes that we made. No, these are seemingly impossible, incredibly intricate pieces of work that are truly mind-boggling. For more information, please check out the Between The Folds website or follow Between The Folds on Facebook or Between The Folds on Twitter.

Some other wonderful resources for Origami in the classroom:

Scholastic Teachers: Origami Math

Stellated Rhombic Dodecahedron

Tips on How to Use Origami In The Classroom

Having Fun With Our Flea Circus!

We recently discovered a game that Nicholas just loves to play. It's Flea Circus by R&R Games.

It's a really fun card game for children. Most of my son's games are board games so having playing cards made this even more fun for him.

But the most exciting part of the game was all the cute little rubbery dogs and cats that come with the game!

These are the spectators for your flea circus. Aren't they adorable!

As the Flea Circus Performers, you want to get the attention of as many spectators as possible. To do this, you play your Attractions cards with different point values to attract the spectators to you.

But watch out! Other players just might have special cards like the Animal Catcher that can steal your spectators away from you.

The game ends when all of the spectator dogs and cats have been claimed and the winner is the player with the most spectators.

Dogs are worth 2 points and cats are worth 1 point. Nicholas won this game with 32 points to my 28 points!

Nicholas has a lot of fun with Flea Circus so we've played it over and over again.

It is a rather quick game, maybe 15 minutes, so it's easy to play a couple of games after doing schoolwork or before bedtime.

Flea Circus is recommended for ages 6 and up. Nicholas is 7 and we both had a lot of fun with it. The game is for 2-6 players. It is great for 2 people but even more fun with more because there are more players to steal spectators away from.



Flea Circus is available from R&R Games for $15.95. You can order it HERE,

R&R Games has graciously allowed me to share a coupon code with you that will get 20% off any purchase from their website. Just enter CREW20 at checkout. This code is good through the end of the year 2011. While you are at their site, check out some of their other fun games like Pig Pile and Hide and Seek Safari.

I received Flea Circus from R&R Games for review purposes. I was not compensated for my time and my opinions are all my own. Please check out what others on the TOS Homeschool Crew have to say about these fun games from R&R Games

Homeschooling: Preparing for Life

I just wanted to share this great little video about Homeschooling that I found online. It touches on several of the reasons why we chose homeschooling.