how to paint a chalkboard on your wall

The final part of my living room makeover and organising our home school was to paint a blackboard on the wall in the lounge room.

We don't have a great deal of wall space left in the room, 

but when I moved the bookshelf this opened up the perfect spot for a decent sized chalkboard.

Start by measuring the size you want the chalkboard and then tape it up
- in this case I got my able assistant to do it.

I hate doing precise things like this!
Thankfully I have a child who likes to be precise so I always get him to do my taping for me- thanks B2!

Once it is taped, roller on your chalkboard paint.

You may notice that the tape in this photo is different from the one above, that is because the green tape was some I bought for delicate projects and was a low tack tape, it had fallen down by the next morning!

I had to go out and get some stronger tape and B2 had to retape it- thanks again B2!

I would also add that it might be an idea to check the wall for any imperfections that might need to be fixed prior to painting, unlike me who had poured the paint loaded the roller and then noticed some grooves from where the fibro is joined- too late!

 I just painted over the top and hoped for the best!  

The walls in the original parts of the house are all fibro, but we have decided that when we need to repaint we will also pull out the fibro and gyprock the walls- the little boys room is first on the list followed by The Girl's.

 Three coats later I pulled off the tape.

Tip: pull tape off at an angle and not straight along, that way you are less likely to pull any paint off with it.

 Now before you do anything else you must prime the chalkboard.

Wait 24hrs after your last coat of paint and then rub a piece of chalk over the whole surface and then rub off with a rag or chalk duster.

If you don't do this whatever you write onto it first will remain embedded in the surface and it won't come off- believe me I found out the hard way!

 

Now your chalkboard is ready for use!

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reorganising our home school

I have been reorganising the children's work spaces for the coming year.

I thought you might like to see them while they are all neat, tidy and fresh,

 as I can guarantee they won't stay like it!

 What used to be B3 and B4's desks have now become B5's and The Girl's.

I felt they needed to have a real work space this year and 

not just work on the little stools around the coffee table.

We don't have a dedicated home school room so these are all in our living room.

B3 has moved out into the study with B2, as B1 is now finished his Home Education.

We bought the desks and shelf and chairs at IKEA two years ago.

It all fits this wall space perfectly.

 The EXPEDIT shelf houses B5 and The Girl's school books as well as resources that I will be using with them.

 I have colour co-ordinated the children to within an inch of their life this year.

The Girl of course is pink.

The pink clipboard will hold her check list each week.

 

Here is B5's desk, pretty much the same as The Girl's except his things are all green.

The dining room is on the other side of this wall and you can see a glimpse of our kitchen in the background.

This is B4's new desk all set up and as you can see matches his school colour of blue.

The desk is in the corner near our fireplace.

 This bookshelf was moved from the corner where B4's desk now sits.

It is on the other side of the opening into the dining room, the bathroom entry is on the right.

My picture books were here, but I needed somewhere to put this shelf.

I was going to move it into the little boy's bedroom and take their bookshelf but decided against that idea and ended up pulling down the book rails and putting the books onto this shelf along with some of the group toys they still use, like the wooden blocks, musical instruments, playdough, and dress ups etc.

I have labelled the shelves, what goes where, with my label maker.

The books are grouped in either genres or in the case of some with authors.

We have a collection of Pamela Allen, Mem Fox and Eric Carle books.

I put the globes on the top.

Two are vintage and two are modern.

I would love to get some more old globes but they are hard to come by at a reasonable price.

So now that I have their work areas organised I will have to make sure I get some work organised for them to actually do when we start back,

 which won't be until we come back from our beach holiday!

I will be back to share how I organise our school work later in the week.

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friday family favourites

I thought I would start to share some of our favourite picture books each week.

This week I chose a fun family favourite: Rattletrap Car by Phyllis Root.

I can't take any credit for this book as it is one my sister bought.

Each Christmas she chooses a book per child but wraps them up in a bundle and they get to share.

Although now the older ones get a voucher for a book shop, the younger ones still get beautiful picture books.

We have had this one for quite a few years, if you are wondering why it looks so good it is because this is a replacement copy after a friend borrowed it and it somehow got damaged, she replaced it with the one you now see.

The story is about a family who wants to go to the lake on a really hot day but they don't know if they will make it in their old car.

On each page something breaks on the car and they replace it with something they own, like a beach ball replaces the blown tyre etc. and they stick each item on with chocolate marshmallow fudge delight!

It is lots of fun as each "new" part makes it's own special noise.

 

This is one of those books that the kids want you to read over and over again.

We have even in the past made marshmallow fudge delight and razzleberry dazzleberry snazzleberry fizz- the drink they take with them to the lake.
To find out what they do with the fizz you will have to read the book!

To buy the book:

Click on the picture of the book cover for a link to fishpond for the hardcover version.

It's about $16 for a hardcover like mine or you can pick up a paperback copy for around $7,

you can check out booko for the best price.

button cross

I saw some great Easter pictures on pinterest using buttons, 

 

the ones I saw were made into egg shapes but I thought I would make a cross shape instead.

When I was in Lincraft the other day I saw large packets of buttons for sale and thought these would be perfect, so I bought a packet of mixed pastels.

At the beginning of each day I get out a special activity for the 2 little ones to do while I get organised or help the older ones, as I hadn't set anything up for them I grabbed the bag of buttons and some little baskets and set them to sorting them into colours- they had so much fun- they wanted to tip them all back in and start again!

We made these instead.

What was originally just going to be a project for me turned into a family thing with the three youngest joining in.

 To start  take a piece of card and make a cross template.

Then trace the outline onto a piece of black card.

 Arrange your buttons onto the template

 and when you think it is right

 

glue them onto the black card with some PVA glue.

 Here are some of our finished ones.

I just need to get some frames and they are all set to give for Easter presents!

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this week...

...VCH reluctantly headed back to work after a month long holiday and 

we officially started our home school year.

The little ones have been learning their sounds and this week we did ch, sh and th

We discovered that lots of food starts with "ch".

So we thought we would have a "ch" meal.

 

We had Chicken and Chips for tea (chips is what we call fries in Australia)

The chips were made with sweet potato and served with a salad with cheese.

 Then for dessert we had chocolate cheesecake- this yummy version is grain-free and refined sugar free and was very very yummy- I promise to share the recipe soon!

 B3 officially started high school and as part of his science he had to do an experiment that involved a maze and a blindfold. 

The maze was made with anything he could find around the house and yard.

 The little ones had lots of fun being his guinea pigs.

photo courtesy of The Girl

 My two younger boys can be rather difficult to keep motivated- they would much rather be outside playing!

In a moment of inspiration I came up with the Golden Hat Award.

The three younger ones get points for doing their jobs and being ready for work on time, for completing all their tasks, for working hard and participating, for being kind and for speaking nicely etc.

At the end of the school day the child with the most points gets awarded the golden hat and they get to wear it the next day during school time.

It is working like a charm, they are all motivated and competition is fierce!

photo courtesy of B5

We have been waiting to get this car for 8 months but finally after some persistence, we were able to pick up this car.

It is a little manual  Hyundai Excel.

It will be for B1 and eventually B2 and down, to learn to drive in and to drive when they first get their licence.

I have been busy decluttering this week and have cleaned up and reorganised the little kids bookshelf/storage unit for their schoolwork, the craft cupboard, my supplies cupboard and half of the bookshelf- even unearthing a library book that we thought we had returned!

Back next week with some great recipes and menu ideas and to share what we are doing this year.

presentation night

Last night we hosted our local home education groups first ever presentation night.

We had two graduates, one has gotten, at the age of 15, a chef's apprenticeship, the other at 18 is off to university next year.

Even though it is close to Christmas I wanted the night to have an educational theme rather than a Christmas theme, so I deliberately have not yet decorated our entertaining area for Christmas.

 So I came up with a centrepiece of a blackboard with letters around it (I used my chalkboard pen), a bundle of old books and some apples and then onto the tables

 I sprinkled gold stars.

 On one of the smaller children's tables I wrapped a can in pencils tied it with red ribbon, put numbers on the chalkboard and sprinkled it with giant paperclips.

 Here are our children with their certificates, each family was responsible for organising their own children's certificates and presenting them.

A very quick shot of my decorated pavlova before my camera ran out of batteries, cream, passionfruit, banana, mango and kiwi fruit grace the top of this beauty, it was very yummy too!

It was a lovely relaxed evening with a special feel to it and I am sure we will be having one again next year.

flying boxes

The other day we brought home a special package.

This package came in two boxes.

As it was unpacked two boys and their little sister swooped onto the boxes and immediately they were transformed into planes.

 

 The wings required some manual manipulation.

A crash landing

This plane was much more sophisticated, 

But just as much fun.

These were later transformed into many other things, boxes are such versatile toys.

This was what was in the boxes, a new digital piano for B2.

He has been learning for a few months and doing really well and the cheap keyboard that we bought a couple of years ago for him as a birthday present was not going to cut it, as it was not touch sensitive, nor did it have all the keys.

While I would have liked a traditional piano, boys need their toys and a digital with all its functions is much more fun and versatile.