Wednesday, October 26, 2011

light hut

how are you all doing today?

i might need an extra cup of coffee this morning.
how about you?
waking up to darkness makes it really hard for me to get in gear.

so, i am totally behind on blogging this home school life of mine,
but at the beginning of the year, my girls started studying botany.
it has really captured their attention and they love doing all the projects.
{let me just say, that if all my children were still little people, all of these projects just wouldn't work out.
that would mean i would have to hunt down materials and be on damage control all while trying to actually create the project.}
that could result in tired, crabby, stressed mommy.
i know my limits, friends. :)
most days, anyway.

now that the girls are older and able to work together{and do a lot of the hunting and creating},
 it has been really fun watching them learn.
 seeing them studying, collecting things from outdoors,
and putting together these projects is awesome.

enter: building your own light hut

i had to laugh when i saw this, because i happen to have a brown thumb.
for real.
i cannot keep a plant alive to save my soul!
i have one small african violet that is actually thriving in my kitchen but i really don't know why or how?
it must be drought tolerant and need zero thoughts or care, because that is about all the time i can give it right now.
:)

build your own light hut...
it's easy!

you will need
*a box
*aluminum foil
*plastic lid of a sour cream container{or whatever}
*heavy duty tape
*scissors/knife
*light adaptor kit
*15 watt fluorescent lightbulb
*small clay pots
*seeds 
*potting soil and moss


first you will need to cut a hole through the top of the box and plastic lid the size of your light adapter kit. 
do you see the hole below?
i used a kitchen knife.
you may or may not want to use something sharper so you don't have to saw like i did.  ;)


then you will need to line your box with aluminum foil.
we  elly used tape to secure it to all sides.



the messy reality.



i was totally excited that i had an ikea hemma light kit that i found at a local flea market for $4.00 on hand.
you never know when you will need an extra light kit, right?


elly put the light kit through the holes in the plastic container and top of the box and lit her{the hut} up!
well, after planting the seeds that we had on hand.






then she covered the front of it with a simple aluminum foil 'curtain' and we waited...


within ONE week, we had sprouts and we were SO excited!
of course, my camera doesn't take close up pics, so here is where we are at today.

four weeks later.



there are actual peas on that vine, friends!!!



pretty cool, huh?  

it is an understatement to say that we are a tad proud of our light hut.
and to think that we did so little.
God's design never ceases to amaze me!

i missed {virtual} coffee yesterday, but i am still linking up with amy.

*disclaimer*
home schooling is a wonderful, wonderful thing for our family, 
but it does not come without it's trials and errors.
take this morning for example.
bickers that led to fighting, which led to pinching, and then tears.
lots of tears.
oh, and yelling.
thus the phone call to the principal{aka DAD}.
yikes!
thank the Lord for grace and forgiveness! 
i don't want you to think that all is beautiful and pefectly project'y' all the time.
just so ya know. :)


until next time!

xo,








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4 comments:

  1. that is so cool and how exciting for all of you--i get ridiculously excited when something like this actually turns out! : ) my little guy would love that, we may have to attempt it one day. thanks for sharing!

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  2. I love the homeschool ideas! When I have children I would love to homeschool. My husband was homeschooled his whole life and loved it and now my mom is homeschooling my nephews. So great.
    Thanks for the little bit of reality at the end as well :]
    redemptionisbeautiful.blogspot.com

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  3. i'm laughing because we JUST made the same thing! we must be using the same science book :) ours is not as pretty as yours, probably because i put two little boys in the garage with the supplies and said "do it." i love that your flowers are growing!

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  4. WOW!! This is so awesome and creative! Love this kind of stuff!

    ReplyDelete

your comments always brighten my day!

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