Things To Do In Arkansas- The Arkansas Frontier Pumpkin Patch/Living History Farm

If you are looking for a pumpkin patch in Arkansas that is fun, unique and educational, I have the perfect place for you! Arkansas Frontier is not just your ordinary pumpkin patch. They offer all the traditional activities you have come to love and expect plus they offer a living history farm.

Arkansas Frontier has plenty of activities sure to please the whole family. What little boy (and girls, too) wouldn't love spending the day digging for dinosaurs/dinosaur eggs? All little princesses love to wear gem stones-she can find her very own at The Gem Mine. Possible finds include fools gold, garnets and rubies or maybe an emerald. And, all the treasures you find are yours to keep!

Perhaps you have always wanted to take a trip back in time. Stop by and see the covered wagon that early American pioneers used to travel (pictures are allowed). Take a tour of the old fashioned school house, complete with the inkwell desks. Explore what early frontier life was like at The Pioneer Homestead- grind corn into cornmeal, cut firewood or milk a cow.

Ever wonder what life was like for the Native Americans? Take a stroll through the Indian Village. Arrowheads and spearheads have been found in this region where many different Native American tribes lived and hunted.

The whole family is sure to enjoy a walk through The Enchanted Forest. Here you can enjoy all things nature AND see some of your favorite childhood storybook characters along the way such as Little Red Riding Hood, Goldilocks, and Hansel and Gretel, just to name a few.

After you have had all that fun, you can enjoy the traditional hayride, get up close with the farm animals, which include some that are not so common (like a lama), compete at the duck races, pick a pumpkin, and let the younger kiddos enjoy the train ride. Then end your day with a picnic in one of the areas they have set up!

Arkansas Frontier is located in Quitman, Arkansas at 1625 Wesley Chapel Road. It is the perfect outing for families, youth church groups, homeschool groups and school field trips. Very reasonable pricing packages are available. Call them at (501)589-3122 or visit their website at http://arkansasfrontier.com/ to learn more. It's more than just a pumpkin patch and a great value!

Homemade Paint How To

Who doesn't love saving money on things that you can do yourself? I especially love when it's something that my family uses a lot of! There are several DIY paint recipes out there, but this is the one I use most often. My daughter is turning into quite the little artist and she uses this up in no time. For storage, we use ketchup bottles but you can use whatever you have handy.

Ingredients-

1 cup salt

1 cup flour

1 cup water

Food coloring

Directions-

Mix all ingredients together, add your choice of color. Store in bottle. This recipe is for one bottle of paint. To make more, just repeat the process. Enjoy!

Pizza Soup

A friend shared this recipe awhile back. It was something new and different to me and sounded good. It has now become a favorite of mine and I make it often. It is a hearty, comfort soup that is a change from the ordinary.

Ingredients-

4 zucchini

16 oz Italian Sausage

14 oz pizza sauce

4 c water and 4 beef cubes

28 oz can Italian diced tomatoes

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 of 5 oz bag pepperoni ( I love pepperoni, so I use the whole bag)

Medium onion

8 oz can mushrooms

Directions-

First, cook sausage and drain. Chop zucchini and onion. Add all ingredients together in a large pot and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

Easy Peasy Homeschool Curriculum

Several of the homeschool support groups I am a member of are buzzing about Easy Peasy Homeschool. Awesome resource so I thought I'd pass it along so that others can enjoy it as well. A Christian homeschool mom of 6 put all of her children's assignments online from preschool through high school, has made it available to everyone and it's FREE! The grade levels and courses all include 180 days of assignments/lessons. I probably should also say that this is a Christian curriculum, in case that is a concern for some of you.

I have looked over the site and have not decided whether I will try and use this as a stand alone complete curriculum or if I will just supplement here and there using it. I love the fact that Bible lessons are included and will probably use that feature on a daily basis. The grade levels and individual courses are easy to find on the side bar, so it is fairly easy to navigate. All lessons are done online and are intended to be college prep, so for me that is another plus!

I wish this would have been available when I first started homeschooling 6 years ago! This is an awesome find, especially for new families that have no idea where to start or what to do. The mere fact that it took hours upon hours of time and hard work for this mom to put this together and then offer it to everyone FREE is a blessing. This is also great for families that are on a tight budget but still want to homeschool, families that are struggling with health problems, families where both parents have to work outside the home or if you are like me, just need a break from all the planning that goes on in our environment. I encourage you to take a look at the Easy Peasy website and see what it has to offer!

There is also a Facebook group here~://www.facebook.com/EasyPeasyAllInOneHomeschool as well as a blog you can follow. Happy Homeschooling!

Baking Soda Volcano Science Project

Lately, my kiddos have been showing interest in science experiments. Being summer, we have lots of extra time on our hands, so what better way to spend it? We are going to be trying out quite a few over the next month or so. The first one they chose was the classic baking soda (erupting) volcano. You can pretty much find the instructions via the internet easily. There are hundreds of them and many different ways to do it. We chose to try a  2 liter soda bottle, also added food coloring to our water (which is optional) and the kids also wanted to paint their volcanoes before trying the experiment. The experiment turned out well, but I think they were looking for a little more "wow" than they got! Below is a list of what is needed for the experiment we chose, but as previously stated-you can find hundreds of results via your search engine.

~What you will need~ 

• 6 cups flour
• 2 cups salt
• 4 tablespoons cooking oil
• warm water
• plastic soda bottle
• dishwashing detergent
• food coloring
• vinegar
• baking dish or other pan
• 2 T baking soda

~Instructions~

1. First make the 'cone' of the baking soda volcano. Mix 6 cups flour, 2 cups salt, 4 tablespoons cooking oil, and 2 cups of water. ( we ended up having to add a little more water)
2. Stand the soda bottle in the baking pan and mold the dough around it into a volcano shape. Don't cover the hole with dough or drop dough into it. (we plugged the hole with a paper towel on our bottle until the dough part was finished)
3. Fill the bottle most of the way full with warm water and a bit of red food color (you can actually use any color you like)
4. Add 6 drops of detergent to the bottle contents. The detergent helps trap the bubbles produced by the reaction so you get better lava.
5. Add 2 tablespoons baking soda to the liquid.






6. Slowly pour vinegar into the bottle. Watch it erupt!

Sand Pudding Recipe

Kristie at http://savingdollarsandsense.com/ has the perfect summer birthday recipe posted! It looks super easy and I love how it is served in a sand bucket! How creative is that?! I have posted the recipe below along with her link where you can find many more super easy recipes. Happy Summer!

Sand Pudding Recipe

 

1 pkg. Vanilla Wafers

• 2 Oreos
• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• ¼ C Butter
• ⅔ C powdered sugar
• 2 small pkgs. French Vanilla pudding mix
• 2¾ C Milk
• 12 oz. Cool Whip

Instructions

1. Add Vanilla Wafers and 2 Oreos to your food processor and crush until they resemble sand.
2. In a small bowl, cream together softened 8 oz cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar.
3. In another larger bowl, mix pudding with milk.
4. Add Pudding mixture to the cream cheese mixture.
5. Fold in all of the Cool Whip.
6. Layer into bucket in this order: sand, pudding, sand, pudding, etc.

Notes

Allow to chill in fridge at least one hour before serving.

 

You can click http://savingdollarsandsense.com/sand-pudding-recipe/ to see pictures of the actual recipe, including the sand bucket! Cutest idea ever!

Firefly Research

It's summertime again and time for night time fun with fireflies, aka lightning bugs. Did you know that there are several different types of the firelfy? Do you know that they are actually beetles that have two pairs of wings? Do you also know that they seem to be disappearing from our landscape? The Museum Of Science is teaming up with other researchers to track the firefly and they need your help. Simply go to https://legacy.mos.org/fireflywatch/ and register your habitat. You can log in as much as you like to see what others are reporting in their habitat and report your own habitat activity. There is a list of things to look for while you are observing the insects such as- how many flashes, whether insect was flying or perched, how many did you observe, temperature and etc. You can find all this information and more on the website. This is a great fun, family activity and science lesson!
This will be our second year and we love it! Be part of important research and have fun at the same time!