We made parchment paper today. You take plain ol' white copier paper, and soak it in a strong coffee or tea for several minutes. Let it dry, and voila! As far as the boys are concerned, it's parchment.
The quill pens were the big excitement of the day! These are just turkey feathers that I put a point on. They work just fine. The boys love them.
We did our first Hogwarts astronomy lesson today. Aidan was bored by the intro letter from "Professor Sinistra," but he liked the book we're using (Find the Constellations). Connor immediately began to draw the constellations, and labeling the 1st magnitude stars. That's my boy ;-) Aidan needs something more exciting to do, though.
In other news, After two months (max) of eye patching, Aidan's eyes are fixed! They're straight, and their vision is back up to where it should be. I am stunned. I thought we'd be doing this for six months at least. How cool!
I am waiting ... waiting ... waiting ... for our Story of the World 2 Activity Guide to get here. (I ordered the bound version. I wanted the loose leaf version, but not badly enough to wait for it to come out of backorder status.) I'm also waiting on Spelling Workout B (decided to go ahead and give it a try), and Mary Pope Osborne's Favorite Medieval Tales. When they get here, we'll start 2nd grade. Well, not really, 'cause we're doing all this Hogwarts stuff, and helping a friend move, and we're going to to Michaels' crafts camp ... but we'll be ready to start 2nd grade. Whew.
Posted by Steph at July 10, 2003 01:04 AMOooh, Stephanie...
Tell me about your quill pens! Did you cut the tips of the feathers to use with ink? Or did you put the point from a pen in? Would that stay? Any tips/hints for me? Are they still working fine?
I'd like to do this for Jeffrey in 2 weeks when he starts his Spells class. I made a small book from some really great hand-made papers that I found, and he will be writing his spells in it. I think the quill pen would be a great addition.
Posted by: Crissy on July 10, 2003 01:30 PMI just cut the stem (what is the right word for that?) of the feather into a point shape, with scissors. I have heard, though, of other people sticking a pen nib into the feather, and that works fine. We don't have as good control over line thickness as we would with a real pen nib, but it really does work just fine. In fact, Aidan used his quill to do his handwriting work today! So I think it would work fine for your charms book.
Handmade paper ... that's a great idea. I tell you, for all the brainstorming and planning I did initially, I still see a million different ideas I wish I'd done instead ... hopefully I will get the materials for our lesson in Wizard Studies from Dumbledore this weekend.
Posted by: Stephanie on July 10, 2003 03:20 PMOddly enough, the correct word is "quill". Bet you didn't see that coming. :-)
Posted by: Jeff Medcalf on July 11, 2003 07:47 AMI have gotten a set of quill pens, but there were no instructions with them. There are different metal tips to use with them. Do I just use reqular ink, or is there special ink to use? Can water paints be used? Please let me know. Thank you. Karen.