Making Candles

In History the girls are studying early America Colonial Times.  They have been enjoying learning about the very first days of our country.  They especially enjoyed learning how the women contributed to the early colonies.  One of their contributions was candles.  Of course, that lead us to last weeks activity - candle making!!!  We started out making them the "old fashioned" way - dipping the wicks in melted wax.  They soon learned this method took a very long time.  Anyone who knows my children, will understand why this method DID NOT work for us!!!

 Yes,  occasionally some of us stay in our P.Js all day!!!

 Making progess!

We're getting there.

Looking pretty good.  This is as far as anyone got.  We all got tired of standing there dipping, drying, dipping, drying,dipping, drying,........  Well, you get the picture.  We then stopped for a few minutes to talk about how easy our lives are compared to the Colonial Americans.  They decided they were glad they were born in the 21st century!!!

So,  after some thought, we came up with a quicker idea for candles!!  We poured them into mugs to make pillar candles. Once they dried,  we held the mug down in some hot water, then easily pulled out the candles.

   Here's the oldest girl holding her pillar candle.

Another great school day at Mullenax Homeschool Academy!! 

Visit us again to see what else we get in to!!!

Autumn Leaves Lapbook

Here at Mullenax Homeschool Academy,  we enjoy getting away from the "normal" schooling every once in a while.  That doesn't mean we aren't learning!  We are just using different methods than the textbook, quizzes, and tests.  

One of our favorite alternative methods is lapbooking.  Since my kiddos are hands on learners, this is a great method. They are also easy to take with you if you are traveling, rather packing up big, bulky textbooks.  I try to place them in the lesson plans when I know we will be out of town.  

This fall,  we got to work on an Autumn Leaves lapbook.  You can find it here. 

Here are a few pics of the finished project.

Currently we are working on a 25 Days of Giving Thanks lapbook.  Lapbooking through the holidays keeps us learning, gives us a break from the normal daily routine, and lets us have more fun while still schooling.  More fun days to come.  Keep checking back to see what's happening.