Today's Project: Quill Pens

Hail, fair reader! Sorry for the long absence, my budding medievalists and I have been throwing ourselves into our studies and trying to get the hang of juggling multiple students and a third who wants us to stop and play with him.

This week we're taking a short break from our beloved Story of the World to study Arthurian legend. I really felt it was important for them to be as familiar with these stories as with Beowulf or Robin Hood because they're referenced in popular culture at least as often. Everyone knows about Merlin, Arthur, and the doomed love between Guinevere and Lancelot! And really, who doesn't love stories of chivalry and battling fearsome dragons or ignoble churls who have done something wicked? 

We've read Merlin and the Dragons by Jane Yolen, The Kitchen Knight by Margaret Hodges, The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla, and are working through the books in Sterne and Lindsay's King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which I would highly recommend! 

But a kid can't just sit and listen peacefully! They need to get the wiggles out! They need something to keep their hands busy while they listen! So today we made quill pens and practiced writing. 

Whoa now! Before you claim you're not capable of this, you're not crafty enough, or you have no clue what you're doing, just hear me out! It's way easier than you think, I swear! In fact the only thing you need that might not be in your house are the feathers. 

You want to use the large size ones, the ones with tips that look thick and pretty hollow to start with. I got a pack of five in assorted colors from the craft store for about $1. Plenty for all of us!

You'll also need something to trim the ends at an angle. You could use a very sharp pocket knife, a pair of scissors, or if you have a pair of little jewelry wire cutters like I did those work brilliantly. Then you'll need a straight pin or medium or large sized safety pin to hollow out the tip.

So. Step 1: trim the tip at an angle with your instrument of choice.

Step 2: take your pin and pull some of that white stuff out to make a small hollow at the end to draw the ink up into the quill. 

Step 3: you're done! Try it out!

Instead of using store-bought liquid ink or making our own out of ground walnut shells or soot (because that's way more labor intensive), we grabbed the darkest liquid in the pantry - balsamic vinegar. It doesn't dry very dark, but it works well enough to get a feel for it. My kids certainly thought it was cool pretending to be medieval scribes!

All Its First Day Glory

Well, it finally arrived, the day that has been quickly approaching ever since summer break began - the first day of a new school year. I have to admit I've been a bit frantic this past week trying to make sure we were all prepared. Since I did most of my curriculum shopping and big picture planning work in March (I know, crazy, right?)I thought surely I'd have plenty of time. But it turns out that with extra time comes procrastination (who knew???). There were actually quite a lot of things that, in March, made me think to myself "it's way too soon to worry with that! Better save it for summer." Then summer came and went and it was almost New School Year's Eve! And I had not yet compiled a list of copy work! Or purchased supplies for all those great history projects I planned to do with the kids (or - gasp! - even put together a shopping list for them!), or realized we really did need markers for some things. So...let's just say I've been busy...

One tradition we're starting this year (that I wish I'd been doing all along and not just picking up two years later) is a first day "All About Me" page from Thirty Handmade Days. 

These are adorable and were so much fun! They're designed for traditional school kids, but we just filled in "mom" for teacher and went on. They cover the basic stats and current favorites, as well as "when I grow up I want to..." I was half expecting one of the boys to finish that sentence with "explode stuff and live off candy", but nope. They opted for "be a race car driver" and "be a fireman". Go figure. Anyway, I thought it would be a great handwriting sample for the ones who were old enough to write, and a great snapshot of them through the years. There's even a place for you to attach a picture of them on their first day, so we snapped some pictures after lunch (good practice for me since I've been learning to use my camera on manual instead of full auto).

Snaggle-toothed little Miss Teflon herself

Cy the Guy with the Big Blue Eyes

My mischief maker, Felix

Hmm...definitely seeing a family resemblance!

I have to admit, besides the mad scramble for last minute readiness, I've been dreading the First Day for another reason. You see, it's my first year teaching more than one kid and I've been more than a little nervous about how this whole "teaching two kids while a third runs amok" thing would go. Last year was challenging enough, what with our oldest's microscopic attention span and superhuman ability to fall out of any seat (Just call her Teflon Girl! Able to slide off a chair without even noticing! Able to hit the floor with more force than the laws of physics allow!). Okay, so it wasn't that bad (in fact it was pretty great), but she is quite the wiggle worm and Ms. Social Butterfly has trouble tuning out her overly exuberant little brothers during lessons because, well, it's more fun to talk to them. So adding a kindergartener to the mix was something I was secretly kind of dreading. How on earth was I going to get them both to stay on task at the same time?!

Turns out I shouldn't have worried. I should have known better. It went great! Everybody had a great day! Of course they did! My kids are awesome! Gwennie has figured this school thing out and Cy has better powers of concentrations than most grown men (that's his super power). AND we were done by 1:30! I can't remember the last time we were done by 1:30 even with one student! Amazing. So with that little ego boost I'm now feeling like I might have this homeschooling thing down! Until Felix starts Kindergarten and I have a Kinder, a 2nd grader, and a 4th grader at least... Dun dun duuuuun!!! 

Now just to maintain that level of fantasticness for 179 more days...

~ Krystal