As a homeschooling mom, I have limited amounts of time to be a wife, mom, teacher, domestic engineer (as said by the Kirby salesman) and photographer.  I have not figured out how to wear all my different hats without something being neglected.  But I’m working on it, praying through it, and thankfully my husband extends grace to me as I stumble along.  One thing I’ve found helpful is subscribing to blogs that are useful with information or inspirational.  I find Confessions of a Homeschooler both of these.  I love this blog and have followed it for almost two years, and recommend it to all my homeschool friends.  I am a big fan of Erica.  In December, she had some really fun, not-too-complicated Christmas ideas– which we did most of.  One was a craft making handprint snowmen, and I thought it would be fun to bless some other moms with as well.  So my girls did them with a few friends too– spreading holiday cheer!  I purchased the supplies from Michael’s:

• large clear ornament balls
• fake snow
• acrylic white paint
• and a few paint pens to embellish the snowmen with

First we filled the balls with fake snow (do with a table cloth or tarp down as it is messy). Then I painted the girls’ hands (just one per girl) with white acrylic paint and helped them gently pressed their fingers into the ornament.   The girls had so much fun and will definitely treasure them for years to come. Plus, I had so much fun too!  After the handprints were dry (about 2 hours) I got lost in Christmas merriment while turning cute fingers into snowmen, and was a bit surprised just how cute they turned out.  (Truthfully, I think it was a perfect creative outlet for me after just finishing all my holiday orders prior to that).  My daughter was so inspired by the craft that she came up with a business plan to open an ornament shop– she is convinced this would be a great business that we could do as a family.  Bless her sweet heart.

Anyway, if you are ever thinking about homeschooling with toddlers-elementary age, I’d recommend checking out Erica’s blog.  And if you need a creative craft for Christmas, and want to make it personal– this is by far a superior craft!