Family Fun Friday- Water Bottle Bubble Blower- Just right for Earth Day

Looking for an Earth Day Craft? Trying to find a fun, family activity for your next camping trip that's also frugal, and uses recycled materials? Well, this fits the bill! Make a water bottle bubble blower!

You will need:
bubble solution
an empty water bottle
an old sock
scissors

Cut the bottom off an empty water bottle. Insert the cut off end into a sock (you may need to trim the scok first, depending on the size.) Remove the lid, dip the sock into the bubble solution, and blow!
Presto- magical bubble snakes!

The best thing about this craft is that pretty much anyone will have water bottles and socks while camping. When the kiddos get bored (HOW does that happen while kids are camping? I mean, seriously, they're outside! Sticks, mud, bugs, nature.... ), grab some dish soap if you don't have bubble solution, and blow away! (It's okay! Dish soap actually makes way more bubbles than regular bubble solution, and I know you've got that in your camping supplies!)

Happy bubble blowing!

Science Saturday: Magic Inflating Balloon

Welcome back to Science Saturday! We've got a great science activity to share with you today- the magic inflating balloon! The great thing about this science demonstration is it's easy, frugal, and only requires materials that most everybody has on hand at their home or camper! Oh, and then there's the major WOW factor, too! That's pretty nice also!

We've been studying states of matter and chemical and physical changes in our roadschooling lessons. This experiment fits the bill for both topics. Not only is it an opportunity to explore changes in the state of matter and view a real, live chemical reaction, but it's also an amazing thing to see! We've used this demonstration in classrooms as part of a Science Fun Day, at a Mad Scientist birthday party, and around the campsite just for funsies!

Before you read any farther, we must make you aware of our disclaimer.

DISCLAIMER: If you perform this experiment at your campsite, or other science activities like the Floating S Skittles, Ice Cube Sailboats, Glue Hands, or Fizzy Sidewalk Chalk Paint, be prepared for all the kiddos in the campground to flock to your campsite. As long as you don't mind your campsite being "the" place to be for all the campground kids (we don't), proceed at your own risk!

To make a ballon magically inflate, you will need: an empty water or soda bottle, vinegar, baking soda, a funnel, and a balloon. 

• For a 20 oz. bottle, pour about 1/2 cup vinegar into your bottle. (Don't use the funnel for this! If you do, wash and completely dry it before proceeding.) If your bottle is bigger or smaller, you may have to adjust amounts a little. Experiment- it's science!
• Insert the funnel into the balloon. 
• Pour about 1 - 1 1/2 tablespoons baking soda into the funnel. 
• Remove the funnel and shake all the baking soda down into the bottom of the balloon. 
• Stretch the neck of the balloon over the mouth of the bottle. 
• Hold onto the end of the balloon to keep the baking soda from falling into the bottle until you are ready. 
• Lift the balloon up and let the baking soda fall into the bottle. 
• Step back, and watch the magic!

  The kids were so amazed, we had to do it again!

Family Fun Friday- Pictionary and Hot Steaming Bread

Well, you've heard about our Family Fun Friday Grilled Pizzas, but you haven't heard about how we spent the rest of the evening having fun as a family. It was a rather impromptu suggestion by the kiddos that turned into hours of the most fun I've had in a while. And also, I'm afraid, has given my dear family something to tease me about for months!

We are fans of The Big Bang Theory show. I'm pretty sure that's where the kiddos came up with the idea of Pictionary.  Rather than making up ideas to draw (we were afraid they might get a little too "out there"), we found a great website called The Game Gal that has printable lists of words for Pictionary, charades, etc. She's got a lot of other great games as well. I can't wait to spend some more time on her site for some more Family Fun Friday ideas!

Honestly, we weren't expecting Pictionary to be as much fun as it was. It was one of those, "Ok, we'll play a few rounds." kinda things. Boy, were we wrong! My stomach still hurts from all the laughing!

We played Adults vs Kids. I thought us adults would have an unfair advantage. Ahem. Not so much. So, um, I got bread. Figured that right out. And an oven. Got that. Brian even took pity on me and talked, which is kinda against the rules. "It goes in the oven as bread. It comes out as?"

What's your answer?? It goes in the oven as bread and comes out as_____________.
My answer: "Hot steaming bread"

The correct answer: Toast. Of course! Toast! Bread plus oven = toast. You put bread in the oven, it gets toasted. Hanging my head in shame.

So, for the rest of the night, everyone's first guess? "Hot steaming bread"
I will never live this one down. It will be like the Candied Chicken recipe I tried like a bazillion years ago and STILL get teased about. I will be an old lady on my deathbed hearing "hot steaming bread" and "candied chicken".

Here's a picture for you. Can you figure it out?

Cow plus ahem, boy. Get it??? Adolescent boys are something else, I tell you!

Anyway, disturbing images aside, if you are looking for a free Family Fun Friday game, try Pictionary! Laughs guaranteed! With a little preparation, Pictionary would make an awesome camping game as well.
Carry a small dry erase board in your camper (we have one hanging on the wall in the living room), print out the word list before you leave, or make them up as you go.

What are some classic games you like to play with your family?

Road Schooling Sunday: 10+ Ways Football Can Be Educational

Free Educational Football Themed Games and Activities:

 Using football to teach

Welcome back to another edition of Road Schoolin' Sunday at Life is Great in a 31 by 8! Since today is Superbowl Sunday, we'd like to share with you some ways to make learning appeal more to your child's interest. Anytime I mention the word football, my son's ears perk up! That boy is all about some football!

1. First of all, if you're watching the big game, try asking your child how many more touchdowns, field goals, or combinations will allow the losing team to pull ahead. They'll have no idea they are practicing algebra and critical thinking! (Evil grin here!) And I'm willing to bet the child who claims "it's too hard" on paper can solve the problem in a flash if it's about a topic he cares about. I know that's true for us! If your kiddos are not into football, or, well, football season is ending today, try this with another sport. Next time you give your kiddos math problems to complete, turn them into sports- themed questions. Kids always learn better when they consider the learning to be relevant to their life personally or something they are interested in. Got a dinosaur fan? Make dino problems! Roadschooling? Make camping themed problems. Better yet, give them real life problems to solve, like how long until we need another fill up? How much did our gas cost per mile?

We know that memorization and practice of addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division facts can be BO-RING! But, unfortunately, fact fluency is important. No one wants their child to be the adult standing in Walmart or Camping World counting on his or her fingers! We have just the solution to encourage your child to practice fact fluency- and love it!

2. Tackle Math Ball uses real NFL teams to preactice all basic operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). It's fast paced and fun! After you answer a question correctly, you advance down the field. Best of all, you can play online or on a tablet. (We've run into a lot of great games that won't work on our iPad, unfortunately. While roadschooling, we find the iPad to be an awesome educational tool. ) MrNussbaum has a lot of great educational games!

3. Funbrain Power Football allows your child to practice decimal addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, or a mixture of all of the operations. You can set the level of difficulty to meet your child's needs. I find that decimals are one of those areas that my children will argue, "Why do I need to do this?"
Sometimes, explaining that they need to know how to add and subtract money, as well as multiply decimals to determine discounts isn't "cool" enough. Give them something that looks game-y and sporty- the arguments cease!

4. Hold onto your seats, sports fans! The NFL Outreach program offers printable teacher activity guides for each NFL team. These lessons cover grammar, reading, math, science, social studies, visual arts, and even PE. Wow! Go here to select your favorite team.
There are great variations in the guides' content and length.  Here is 185 pages worth of Cincinnati Bengals themed football lessons, whereas here is only 33 pages of Atlanta Falcons activities.

5. Something we found pretty interesting for older kids (probably about 10- 18) is Visa's Financial Football game. This game uses real NFL teams and features very realistic football gameplay. You choose your strategy for each play, much like Madden or NCAA Football for XBox. Each play, you are asked a financial question, like "What is an example of discretionary spending?" Hunter really enjoyed playing it, almost as much as his "real" football games.

6. Integer Football practices moving along a number line. Your football player advances forward or backward along a number line with both positive and negative numbers depending on a loss or gain of yardage. A great visual way to work on addition of positive and negative numbers. Roadschool friendly, too, since it's internet-based!

7. For younger football fans (I haven't forgotten about you!) PBS Between the Lions has a really cute game called Blending Bowl. It has really cute animations of different parts of a word family blending together to form words. Great way to practice blending, decoding, and word families!

8. Need to practice geography skills? Print out all the NFL logos (or the college team logos if your kiddo's more of a college fan like mine) and challenge your child to place them on a large wall map or smaller printable map in the correct state. When they're done, have them write all the team names in alphabetical order. While you're at it, have students categorize the mascots (perhaps birds, other animals, and non-animals) and create a bar graph with their findings. That's what we call interdisciplinary learning!

9. Got a newspaper handy? Wait, of course you do... you're reading me on it! Click here and grab 41 printable worksheets utilizing newspapers and football to reinforce math, language arts, science, and social studies skills.

10. Looking for a project? Have your football fanatic research a team, or the city where the big game will be held. Have them create a brochure, powerpoint, website, blog post, video commerical, or whatever else floats their boat. Incorporate topics you've been working on in homeschool or roadschool.

11. And, finally, if you're looking for free printable activities, check out Teachers Pay Teachers. You have to create a free account, but there are 117 free football themed learning activities for download here.

Well, football fans, it's the 4th quarter, and time has run out on the clock! Hope you've found some great football themed educational activities you can use in your roadschooling, homeschooling, or in your classroom. Come back next week for Roadschooling Sunday!

Family Fun Friday- Blast From the Past Family Night

Well, here it is- the day you've all been waiting for! Today is the last day of our introduction of new features here at Life is Great in a 31 by 8. We're excited to bring you... Family Fun Fridays!

Before I share tonight's Family Fun Friday activity, you have to promise not to laugh, okay? Yonder follows a rather embarrassing picture of me. Hey, I'll do anything for my family's fun!

At Family Fun Friday, we'll be sharing fun, easy ways to spend some QT with your family. We'll bring you game ideas, cool things to do together, activities to do together with the whole family, pretty much anything that falls under the topic of family togetherness, ways to spend more time with your family, ways to make family time more fun, or things that bring families closer together.

Tonight's Family Fun Friday requires a little preparation, but it's well worth it! Pick a time period... hubby and I are both children of the 80's, so we chose the 80's. Help everyone develop a costume out of clothes and accessories you already have.  By the way, these costumes may come in handy if your school, church, etc. has a Dance through the Decades, Sock Hop, Blast from the Past, or anything like that. Or, hey, Halloween!

Madison and I used puff paint to decorate two of Brian's old t-shirts with sayings like "Like, totally", "Radical", "Valley Girl", etc. and cut the neckline so it would hang off our shoulders. We found plenty of play jewelry that worked perfectly, used existing skirts/jeans/socks/tanks for a layered look, and cut a pair of long socks into legwarmers. It was hilarious to hear, "Mom, did you really wear this? Are you sure it's supposed to look like this?" (I'm ashamed to admit that, yes, I did indeed look that goofy.) I got out the curling iron and lots of hairspray and recreated some awesome 80's big hair and sidewards ponytail. Oh, and lots of blue eyeshadow (Embarrassing to admit I had this on hand). None of it cost a penny, and was a lot of fun to get together!

The boys, on the other hand, had 80's outfits much easier than we did. They layered pastel polo shirts, flipped up the collar (WHY is this back in style? I keep trying to flip kids' collars down, till they correct me and tell me it's supposed to be like that!), brushed back their hair, and wore some authentic 1980's Ray- Bans.

We had a little fashion show of our ensembles, to the tune of some 80's music (Hey, Mickey, you're so fine!), then cranked up the tunes and danced. We all had a blast! Cost- nothing. Prep time- a little, but it was fun. Memories- Priceless!

You could also end the evening watching some movies from your decade. Youtube is a great place to find commercials and TV shows from the past also.

What other ideas do you have for a "Blast from the Past" family night?

What We're Webbing Wednesday: Nature Valentines

Welcome to day 5 of our new features! Introducing...

At What We're Webbing Wednesday, we'll share websites we've enjoyed over the past week.


Nature.org has some fantastic free printable nature Valentines.... perfect Valentines for campers and nature lovers alike! You can also send Valentine nature e-cards!

Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas has an awesome idea for tie-dye hearts... and it's also easy and frugal!

Living Montessori Now has some tips on how to make Valentine's Day in your homeschool or roadschool class special. 

National Wildlife Federation has some nature-friendly Valentine's ideas.

Here are some really neat images of hearts found in nature. (Are you sensing a theme here?)

Speaking of amazing images, Dad has discovered this website called Fancy. It seems a little like Pinterest in that you can "fancy" images that you like onto your own page. (He hasn't quite gotten on the Pinterest bandwagon yet!) Michelle has some amazing images fancied... everything from nature, fashion (now what he was interested in), parenting ideas, etc. But mostly just spectacular nature photos!
(Speaking of Pinterest, are you following us yet? If not, please hop on over and follow us!)

And that's What We're Webbing this week!
What are you webbing?

Road Schooling Sunday: 5 Educational Ideas for Learning While Camping

As promised, we are continuing our seven days of new features here at We'd Rather Be Camping.

Today's feature is Road Schoolin' Sunday. Not on the road? Never fear! If you're a homeschooler, an unschooler, or even a classroom teacher, we'll have ideas for you too!

First and foremost today is an awesome, free, and educational iPad app perfect for roadschooling or USA studies. Discover USA is currently free (not sure how long this will last, so snag it now!) You can take a virtual road trip across the United States, learn about geographical landmarks, play fun games, and customize postcards. Check out Smartappsforkids.com to download.

A big part of schoolin', whether it's roadschoolin' at a campground or in an RV, homeschoolin', or traditional school, is reading. It seems to me that today's children are so exposed to media, tablets, iPads, e-readers, etc. has changed the way kiddos read. The more interactive, the better. Even simple text on a Kindle engages children differently than a traditional book. Not to mention, some children struggle with reading and need text presented in a way that meets a different learning style.  I've found several resources to provide my kiddos with more engaging texts. I love the fact that electronic texts don't take up any room, which is great for roadschooling.

We're encouraging our children to read more difficult texts, some of which are really above their frustration level. In searching for alternative texts, I stumbled upon a Youtube channel called CCProse. They provide youtube videos of public domain classical literature. My oldest is currently reading The Secret Garden.

What I really like about these videos is they read the text aloud and show the words on the screen, but they only show a few sentences at a time. This is a lot less overwhelming than looking at a page full of small words. Not only does this method appeal to the visual learner, but also to the auditory learner.  There are easily a hundred plus texts recorded in this fashion, all for free! Your child can read Tom Sawyer, A Little Princess, War of the Worlds, Treasure Island, Wizard of Oz, Romeo and Juliet, Peter Rabbit, The Jungle Book, and many, many more. And they won't clutter up your bookshelves if you are roadschooling!

For more modern books suitable to younger readers, TumbleBooks is a subscription service that provides animated books on video. They have a huge library, organized by reading level,etc. I'm not affiliated with them in any way- I just think their books are awesome! They have quizzes on the books, as well as an option to have students create an electronic book report. They also have a section for older readers, called TumbleReadables. They do all have free trials, so you could use them for a limited time for free. Again, no books taking up space in the camper- yay!

Something I like to do whenever my children read is have them create a foldable Flip Flop Book. This is simply a piece of construction paper folded like a hot dog (lengthwise). You cut flaps just to the center fold to create however many flaps you need. For example, the one pictured has a flap for characters, setting, problem, new vocabulary, and figurative language. While my children are reading, they look for and jot down information to go under the flaps. You could customize the topics to absolutely anything- concepts your child is struggling with, skills you are working on, etc. You can have them search for homophones, contractions, rhyming words, or answer basic comprehension questions. I find that this keeps the kiddos more engaged and accountable while they read, and also gives them a purpose for reading.

An awesome site I have found to make the somewhat dry topic of grammar a little more palatable is IKnowThat. Again, this is a subscription site I'm not affiliated with, BUT, you can do the activities for FREE if you don't mind ads. I'm particularly fond of Alien Word Mine Wack a Word (think Whack a Mole, but with parts of speech). The animations and sound effects are hilarious! The website makes you think you must register to play the game, but there is a small green bar that says "Click here to start your activity". Sneaky!
The Punctuation Paintball game is also great. IKnowThat also has math games, as well as Science, Social Studies, and critical thinking.

So, there you have it! Some ideas that you can use to incorporate into your roadschooling, homeschooling, or even your classroom!

What do you do to keep your children engaged in literacy?

Introducing... Camping Science Saturday! Bubble Fountains and Antacid Rockets

For the next seven days, we'd like to introduce you to some new features here at Life is Great in a 31 by 8. Today's feature is Science Saturday!

Every Saturday, we will provide you with fun, easy, and engaging science activities that you can do with your kids using common household materials. Or, in our case, common camper-hold materials!

We plan to bring you fun activities that are easy to do while camping, at home, in a classroom, with Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts, or wherever your heart desires. We may even sneak in a little science learning!

Today, we have for you two experiments!

The first experiment is a tried and true favorite. It requires nothing fancy, other than items you probably already have at home (or things you probably take camping).

It's been referred to as Elephant Toothpaste, but the scientific name is the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide.

You will need:
1 cup hydrogen peroxide
Dish soap
Food coloring (not really necessary, but makes it cooler looking)

1 T yeast
3 T water

Pour peroxide, several squirts dish soap, and some food coloring into a bottle (Water bottle, Coke bottle, Gatorade bottle, whatever you have on hand at the campsite or recycling bin. Preferably NOT an adult beverage bottle!)

Mix yeast and water together.

Please, do this experiment outside, or on a tray, inside a dishpan, etc. This WILL make a mess!

Pour the yeast mixture into the bottle of peroxide/dish soap/food coloring.
Step back and prepare to be amazed.

I'll give you a little hint about what happens.

But you  have to try it for yourself if you want to see the really cool stuff!

Now, our second experiment is an example of the scientific process. Sometimes, science works. Sometimes, it doesn't.  Today, it didn't.

Madison came up with the idea of creating an antacid rocket, an experiment she'd seen done before. She needed a film canister and some antacid. Of course, a film canister was nowhere to be found, but we did have a prescription medicine container with the non-childproof cap (you know, the ones that you turn the lid one way to be childproof and flip it over to be non-childproof) that just snapped on. She asked for antacid, so I handed her some Tums (or maybe Rolaids).

She filled the medicine bottle 1/3 full of water, dropped the antacids in, snapped the lid on, and stood back. Oh, and she narrated a mad scientist introduction video too! We waited, and waited, and waited.
Nada, zilch, nothing.

So we tried another variable. We put 3-4 antacid tablets in. Still nothing.

Budding scientists that we are, we discussed what other variables we could change. Madison said, "I just don't understand. The Alka-Seltzer worked great!" Ding! There's our problem!

We didn't have any Alka Seltzer on hand, but we did have denture cleaning tablets from another science activity. Hmmm.... Well, we tried one. Not a thing. So we tried two. Nada. Then we tried crushing 4 of them.

We ALMOST had some results. You could see the liquid fizzing, but it didn't build up enough pressure.

My Mad Scientist had to explain the reason for the experiment's failure, though. Something about the seal wasn't tight enough to build up pressure...

Did it work? Nope! Did we have fun? Yep! Maybe learn a little? You betcha!

If you try this experiment while you're camping, here are our recommendations:

Use a film canister if you can find one. 
Fill it 1/3 way with warm water.
Drop in an ALKA-SELTZER tablet. 

Free Camping Subway Art Printable

If you've never used Wordle to create word art, you definitely should! And a great learning activity for the kiddos to practice spelling, writing, and keyboarding skills. What I love is that kids can write a paragraph or story, paste it into Wordle, and they will have a word cloud of their story. The most commonly used words are larger. Give is a try, and share your wordles on our Facebook page!

Click on the photo above to download it. Print, frame--- instant camping decor! Yay!

(Almost) Guaranteed Method to Stop Kids from Fighting: The We Will Get Along Shirt

The "We Will Get Along Shirt"

I'm hoping you, dear readers, were blessed with children who love one another all the time and never, ever fuss, fight, or argue.

If you are that fortunate, do not read any farther! Really! I'm warning you... you really don't want to know what some poor parents have to do to get their offspring to get along!

Now, I'm assuming if you're still here, you have children, like my own darlings (who I wouldn't trade for anything in the world), who sometimes have just a small amount of trouble getting along together. Maybe they argue over toys, or video games, or the poor, unfortunate cat who gets pulled between two wrestling kids like a Stretch Armstrong. Perhaps the little angels occasionally hit, kick, bite, pinch, tussle, pull hair, or, ahem, flatulate on one another.

If you're like this mama, eventually Enough. Is. Enough. Sometimes, you just can't take one more minute of the children that you produced trying to maim one another. Sometimes you want to get a fork.

The following solution is rather drastic. It may shock you. It's a little unconventional. However, I can attest that is does work.

You will need... one adult size T-shirt you don't mind ruining upcycling (mine is adult XL, but I bet L would work too!)
                         Scissors
                         Permanent Markers  (or fabric markers, or puff paint if you're trying to be all creative!)
                         2 or more arguing siblings
                         Camera

1. Use the scissors to enlarge the neck of the Tshirt to accommodate 2 heads.
2. Use your markers to write "The I will get along shirt", or whatever text you choose.
3. Insert two unwilling children. Inform them of the length of time they must wear the shirt. If they fuss, the time is lengthened!
4. Take a picture to mark the moment for posterity. If you're evil like me, part of the punishment is posting said photo on Facebook! Bwa-haha!

Trust me-- after a time or two of wearing "The Shirt", the mere threat of it will straighten any arguing kiddos right back up!

And, it takes up such little space, you can easily toss it into the camper!

Crazy Elf on the Shelf Makes a Hammock

That darn Elf on the Shelf!
Really, Delfie?
Love that hammock! And a sock for a blanket, too!
Guess I should be glad he didn't use underwear!

Elf on the Shelf plays Handmade Backyard Giant Scrabble

Our Elf on the Shelf, Delfie, decided to get into a new game we made, Backyard (Campground) Giant Scrabble. We made large letter tiles out of construction paper and laminated them so we can play them outdoors at the campsite.

We decided we'd just play based on number of letters in words, so we omitted the whole points for each letter thing.

Want to make your own? You may want to know what the letter distribution is:

A-9      B-2     C-2     D-4      E-12     F-2    G-3     H-2     I-9     J-1     K-1     L-4      M-2     N-6

O-8      P-2    Q-1     R-6     S-4      T-6        U-4   V-2     W-2    X-1    Y-2     Z-1     Blank-2

We messed with the above a little, so it's not "true" Scrabble. We added a few more letters here and there as desired, but that's the basic recipe. 

Planning on making your own? We' d love to see them. Post pics on our Facebook page, or leave us a comment and we'll come check out your page!

Thanksgiving Fun: Tom Turkey Hunt

Everyone loves Easter Egg Hunts, right? Well, this should be right up your alley then! Why should Easter get to have all the fun? Try this Tom Turkey hunt with your kiddos (or grown-ups too)- fun guaranteed!

This is an easy activity that requires little materials and preparation. Perfect for camping!
You really need to hold your Tom Turkey hunt outside, where Tom can blend in with all the leaves and fall foliage. Plus, anything done outside is just funner! Am I right??

You will need turkey cutouts to hide. I used 35 for two older kids. You may use more or less depending on your ages and numbers.  You can print my template b/w and use it as a pattern to trace around on brown construction  paper, or you can print it in color.

You could also color in a turkey printable like these, or use some cutouts from the dollar store, Michael's, etc. Whatever floats your boat!

I printed mine in two colors of brown paper to make it a challenge. If you want to make it easier, make your turkeys red, yellow, or orange.

No turkeys? No problem! Paint some paper plates, or use feathers, or buttons, or coloring book pages, or make some out of Play-doh! (I have all these things in my camper. Do you, or am I just a weirdo?)

Basically, this is like an Easter Egg Hunt- with Turkeys.  Hide your turkeys wherever you desire. You can be as easy or as difficult as you want, based on the ages of your players.

My kiddos had a blast with this! It was so much fun, we plan on taking our Turkeys to Thanksgiving dinner to hide with the adults.

This would be the perfect post- dinner "work off all that food" activity!
I'd love to know if you try this with your fam, and what they think of it!

What is roadschooling?

What is roadschooling?

Roadschooling is homeschooling, on the road. It means taking where you are, at any moment in time, and turning that into a learning experience. Roadschooling means recognizing that life is all about learning. It’s taking the tiny, teachable moments, and turning them into life lessons.

Find a cool piece of fungus? Research it! Pick it. Experiment with it!

A fan breaks? Fix it. 

Studying weather, rocks, erosion, weathering, life cycles, etc.? Go outside and look for examples!

Find hawk/owl pellets containing a skeleton? Put it back together and figure out what it is.

Are you traveling in an area affected by a drought? Discuss what a drought is and what signs you see of the drought. How does it affect the lives of those in the area? Repeat with tornado, flood, hurricane, etc.  

Need to go shopping? Teach your kids the life skill of reading labels and comparing prices. 

Traveling to one of America’s great wonders, like the Grand Canyon? How was it formed? Can you see the layers of sedimentary rock? 

Need to get gas? How many miles per gallon does your vehicle get? How many more does it get when you’re not towing your camper behind? 

Cooking dinner? Teach the kiddos to help. Incorporate fractions, measurement, and heat sources. 

Traveling through Gettysburg? Learn about the Civil War.

Roadschooling is meeting your children’s instructional needs in the way that’s best for them. It can be as structured or as unstructured as you want it to be. It can follow a traditional homeschool day, with set subjects at specific times. It can be more like unschooling, where children follow their own interests and learn in a more unstructured manner. Repeat this with me: there’s no right or wrong!

Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free Snickerdoodle Pancakes

Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Egg Free Pancakes

I have finally found the perfect recipe for allergy friendly pancakes. Believe it or not, it is possible to make a milk free, wheat free, egg free pancake that actually tastes great! And it only uses a few, fairly normal ingredients, so they’re easy to whip up while camping. I actually mix up several batches of the dry mix at a time and store until I’m ready to use. Then all I have to do is add milk, oil, and applesauce!

 Hunter is allergic to (let me get out my fingers here) milk, wheat, corn, soy, eggs, and rice. Finding a pancake recipe without wheat, rice, or eggs has been a nightmare! But, after much trial and error,  we have done it! It’s loosely based on Cybele Pascal’s recipe for apple pancakes… but these are more of a snickerdoodle pancake!

You will need :

1 cup oat flour (by far, the cheapest of the gluten-free flours- just pour oats, as in oatmeal out of a canister, into your blender or food processor until it resembles a fine flour)

½ tsp salt

3 tsp double acting baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon (Modify this more or less due to your own tastes

2 T sugar (Again, you can modify according to taste. )

1 cup safe milk (almond, soy, coconut, oat)

2 T oil

¼ cup applesauce (This is the egg substitute. You cannot really taste it.)

Mix dry ingredients together, then add wet. Cook on a griddle, or pour into a buttered pan and make baked pancakes. (Trust me, make the baked pancakes!) You can also double the recipe, add a little more sugar and cinnamon, pour into a pan,  and you have snickerdoodle cake!

Linking up to Allergy Friendly Thanksgiving. This will most likely be one of Hunter's desserts for Turkey Day, in cake form. 

Halloween/ Fall Festival Games: Spooky Bowling

Need an awesome idea for your fall festival, Halloween party, harvest fair, or just for around the house? Need another reason to show your kiddos how totally awesome you are?

Thinking outside the box is always good... especially when it comes to anything kid-related. Unless you're a fan of "I'm bored", "This is bor-ing!", or any variation thereof...

And boring is especially no good when it comes to other people's kids...you know, the ones who don't have to act interested in your wacky ideas that you promise will be fun, especially if they just wait three hours for the crayons to melt. Nobody wants to host the fall festival game that none of the kiddos are interested in playing. Anyone else have nightmares about droves of children at the fall festival, happily playing every game there, except yours? Nah? Just me?

Well, Spooky Bowling is guaranteed not to disappoint. If the line of kids at our Fall Festival was any indication, this game rocks! Don't be fooled by the simplicity....we ran out of prizes, ok?

First of all, you need to go to CVS, Dollar Tree, or somewhere else you can buy these Luxury Wafers in a can. They come in chocolate and vanilla flavors for only $1 per can. (Please don't buy them from Amazon- they are way cheaper at the store!). You will need 10 cans. Darn! Must eat cookies!

You will also need some orange and black paper, glue/ glue gun, Halloween themed stickers, and a ball. We tried a variety of balls, from tennis balls, to Sky balls to the cheap 79 cent big rubber bouncy ball. This is one instance where cheap is better.

Step 1: Eat the cookies! Discard the top and wrappers.
Step 2: Cut your paper to fit around the can.
Step 3: Glue the paper to the cans. I used a glue gun. You choose!
Step 4: Decorate the cans with stickers. Don't you just love the candy corn stickers??
Step 5: Arrange the cans on a level surface in a pyramid shape. (Our surface was paved, so we used chalk to make little Xs so we could easily set the cans back up)
Step 6: This step is totally optional, but will make your game even cooler! Cover your ball (or a variety of balls) with Candy Corn or Spider Duck Tape. If you want to use ghosts or pumpkins, that's okay too! We just tore small strips of tape and covered the balls.

Have you ever seen anything cuter than a Candy Corn ball???

Step 7: Decide how you will award prizes. If you're playing at home, you can skip this step.

• My original plan (which would work well for a family game, classroom, or other setting with a relatively small number of kids) was to place a small prize into each can and the kiddos earned the prize that was in each can then knocked over. You knock over 7 cans, you win 7 prizes. 
• Since we had so many kiddos at our festival, we decided to be a little more moderate. We made a sign indicating 1-3 pins = 1 prize, 4-7 pins = 2 prizes, 8-10 pins = 3 prizes. 
• After the game was such a hit, we moved to Plan C: "Yay! You knocked down ___ pins! Here's your (1) prize!"

Step 8: Mark off lines for different age kids to stand behind as they bowl. If your kiddos will be all relatively the same age, you can skip this step.

Get ready to have some bowl-a-rific fun!

Need another Halloween game? Try Halloween Luck!


Linking up at

Bumps in the Roadschooling...

So, it's been a while since I wrote a column, but I've been extremely busy with hosting and homeschooling. To catch up with what I last was talking about, the longer we're in our Jayco 31 by 8, the better. It's hard to explain how close you become after almost 7 months in a camper (March 31 until now).

A turtle! Yay! What a learning experience!

So, you're thinking of homeschooling. The plan is so grandiose, everyone is excited about it. You decide to start off easy, with a planned curriculum. It starts out great. This homeschooling thing is a piece of cake!
Then, you get into the meat of it. The newness wears off, and all of a sudden, you and your child are having school together. You are "the" teacher.  All the respect you've earned over the summer is gone. You are not some stranger that he has to see and listen to one hour a day, five days a week. No, he's with you 24-7.
We butted heads pretty hard for a week or two. Then, I realized that we've got to make this better. So, I started making changes here and there. It's still a work in progress. Last week, it all came together and reminded me how great our roadschooling really is. We had exam week, and Hunter aced them! He missed one question each in Math, Science, and Social Studies. He missed 4 in Language Arts, but... WOW! Hunter is a great kid, but he's just never done extremely well in school. That's fine, as long as he has tried his hardest. But now, wow! One quarter of homeschool under his belt, his lowest grade for the quarter was a 94, and the K12 people recommended gifted testing.
Not only do we have class in PJs, under the awning, but it's working really great!
Thank God for my Jayco 31 x 8!

Full-time RV -ing.... in the front yard

For those who read our blog regularly, we've established that our family is different. We're okay with that. Really. If you've met anyone who loves camping more than we do, I'd like to meet 'em! In the words of my son, "You could say we like camping. I would say we cherish it!"
We're still working on the whole logistical aspect of the dream. Darn money. Our hosting gig is up for now, as the park is closed for the winter. We'll go back in February to get it ready to open, unless something works out for us to hit the road before then. Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

We even hung our bucket light. See???

Our Jayco is parked in our front yard. You know, where people normally park their campers when not in use. The only difference is, our camper is in use. We have a perfectly nice, 3000+ square foot two story home. Roomy? Yes. With real beds for everyone? Yup. More TVs than people? Of course!
Yes, you are reading this correctly. Our family of four has chosen to sleep in a 31 by 8 foot travel trailer in our front yard instead of in our large, lovely home.
Can I tell you a secret? We have not slept in our home for seven months!
When we returned from our spring break camping trip, we were so energized and close, we didn't want to be apart. We secretly slept in the camper during the week and camped on the weekends. Then we camped during the week too and secretly drove back and forth to work. Then it was summer. Then we became hosts. Then half of us stayed at the campground all day and roadschooled while half of us went to real school. Then, the park closed for the winter.
And we are still camping. In our front yard. We still do laundry in the big house. But we spend our time in the camper house. Our camper feels like "home". Who needs a big house?
I know, by now, you have one question. WHY???
Because we're different. I told you that!
But, also, because there's just something cozy about all being in a 31 by 8 foot space together. We interact. We talk. We are family. It warms my heart to wake up in the middle of the night and be able to take 5 steps to reach my daughter, and two more steps to reach my son. I can look at them. I can cover them up. When morning comes, they're both within an arm's length to wake up in the morning. You can't sleep too late because someone's gonna wake you up (insert evil grin here). You can't go play in your bedroom for hours on end and ignore the rest of the family. You can't play video games until your eyes glaze over. You are forced to BE TOGETHER! And we love it.
Are we crazy? Maybe. Are we a loving, extremely close-knit family? Sure 'nuff! Will we continue to "full time" RV in our front yard? You betcha! (that is, until we figure out how to "full time" across the US and live our dream!)

Could you spend 5 months with your family in a 31 by 8 foot camper...

"And call it fun?
We know we could!"

That was my darling children's introduction to their 4-H presentation at County Project Achievement, an adorable vocal performance of Lakey Lakey Hart . The little dears won second place in the Vocal category!
Although, I know the audience probably thought we were Crazy with a Capital C!

I think you have to be "camping people" to get us.
We have a dream that most people think is crazy. (We don't care!) We like sitting under the awning. We like to BE with our kids, and make stuff. We think fungi are cool! Our favorite place to be is outside. We know our kids. We are happiest when we are all together in our Jayco 31 x 8.

Most people could not answer the question above with a YES! Most parents would consider seven months (now) in a travel trailer with their children full time akin to medieval torture devices... you know, the ones that pull your fingernails out (or cut off your head)!

Us, not so much! These past seven months have been AH-MAY-ZING!
I can truly say that Life is Great in a 31 by 8.
We'd Rather Be Camping.... my motto!

Jack O'LAMP-erns

About eight years ago, my brilliant hubby (pun intended!) invented a cool Halloween decoration idea:
Jack O'LAMP-erns! (Yes, another bad pun! You're welcome!) Not only is it a spook-tacular decoration , it is dread-fully cheap and easy! (I just can't help it!)

We used the Jack O'Lantern trick or treat buckets you can buy just about anywhere for a dollar.

They're a cinch to make, assuming your hubby is like mine and has every tool known to man! And they'll fit any standard lamp. We replace every single lampshade in our house with these. I've even taken one to my classroom at school. Kiddos think they.are.SO.COOL!

You need a 1 1/4 inch paddle bit and a battery drill.

And, of course, an assortment of Jack O'Lantern buckets in various faces and colors. Personally, I'm partial to the traditional face and pink or orange.

Kiddos can help with this craft, but it definitely requires an adult to "assist".
Step 1: Insert your paddle bit into the battery drill.
Step 2: Gently press the paddle bit into the bottom center of the Jack O'Lantern  bucket.

Imagine there's a battery drill attached here :)

Step 3: Drill slowly and easily through the Jack O'Lantern.  If you force it, your hole will look like the blue pumpkin. If you're nice and easy, you'll have a smooth, clean hole like my yellow pumpkin.

Step 4: Remove your lampshade and light bulb from your lamp.
Step 5: Place your Jack O'LAMP-ern over the lamp socket.
Step 6: Screw your light bulb back into the socket. (We usually use CFL bulbs in our lamps, but for Halloween time, we switch back to standard light bulbs, since they are a bit brighter. We have used 100 watt bulbs in these Jack O'LAMP-erns for 8 years and have had no issues.)

Just in case you're thinking, "Why would I want to destroy my kid's trick-or treat bucket?", I'll let you in on a little secret. I have covered the hole with clear packing tape (both inside and out, so it's not sticky) and let the kiddos use them for Trick or Treating.
Happy Jack O'Lamping!