Easiest DIY Shelves Ever

In the process of organizing our garage, I came across the easiest shelving option ever. I just stacked up some Sterilite crates from WalMart, zip tied them together through the holes, and VOILA! A cute little shelving unit!

Bind it Up, Baby!

You may have noticed that I'm a little bit of a do-it-yourselfer. Today I'm going to show you one of my favorite tools I use in some of my do-it-myselfing. Let me introduce my Pro-Click Binding Machine...

This slick little device allows me to do my own binding. We use it for notebooking, binding school papers at the end of the year, and making my own planner.  

What's unique about the Pro-Click is the spines they use. You can "zip" them open or closed, allowing you to add more papers to something even after you bind it.

How cool is that?! (It's great for me since I usually change my mind later and decide to add something extra!) I love it! 

What are some of your favorite teacher tools?

Related post: Never Ever Ever Bind Anything at Staples!

Our Plan for First Grade

I thought I'd share what we'll be studying this year because...

Language Arts: 

I ended up writing a program of my own with a lot of help from The Three R's by Ruth Beechick. We'll be doing much of what you can read on my Writing page.

For reading, we'll keep going at his pace with easy readers. We're also going to use the Victory Drill Book, for practicing phonics, spelling, and word-building. Just for fun, I'm getting DICEcapades Word Pirates for game days. I am a believer in practicing skills with games rather than flash cards. It's more fitting for young children and doesn't zap the life out of school.

Ideas for the New School Year

A Hand Tracing or Hand Print

At the beginning of each school year, trace your child's hand or make a hand print, then cut it out & laminate. I got the idea from Crissy's Crafts, although her idea is a little different, and goes along with the book "The Kissing Hand ." We do a hand print each year, and it's fun to see how they grow!

DIY Planner

Last Spring in my before-the-baby-is-born spree of preparing all our Fall school stuff, I was re-evaluating how I keep our school records. I was using SkedTrack, which I think is a great tool, but it just wasn't a perfect fit for us since it is based on school hours and our state doesn't require us to track hours, just days. I looked at some pre-made paper planners which all had a LOT of stuff in them that I just don't need, so I ended up making my own. Surprisingly it wasn't too big of a deal. Here's what it looks like...

The first section is calendars, for my own reference to jot down appointments and things. I just printed some pre-made printable calendars online (from here).

DIY Natural Body Sprays

Besides smelling good, essential oils are chock full of healing properties. So, when you make a body spray using therapeutic-grade essential oils, then besides smelling good you get the added bonus of those oils' healing and aroma-therapeutic qualities. It's a win-win! 

Today I'm sharing the recipes for a couple body sprays I tried at a Make-n-Take party. They both smell scrumptious.

Here's the base recipe (found here)...

• 8 oz distilled water in a spray bottle
• 1 TBSP witch hazel
• 20-30 drops essential oils (see examples below!)

To make it, just combine ingredients, seal the bottle tightly and give it a good shake. Remember to shake it before each use.

Panaway Butter

Have I mentioned how much I love PanAway Oil for pain relief? It's an amazing custom-blend of essential oils that's great for tired or sore muscles, headaches, inflammation, bruising, arthritis and sciatica. If you're using it very often it's nice to have it already mixed with a carrier oil or herbal base of some sort so it's ready to grab and go. I mixed mine with my Mango Whipped Body Butter (because I love it) but even plain coconut oil would work fine. I add at least 5-6 drops PanAway to every ounce of herbal base (the body butter or coconut oil). The more you add, the stronger it will be, so just give it a try and then customize it to your own needs.

During the last few weeks of my pregnancy I used my Panaway Butter most days and was thankful for the relief it gave me! My mom uses it when she wakes up in the night with a sore knee (she mixed hers with Shea Butter Balm), and a friend of ours rubs it on his hand for relief from arthritis (he mixes his with plain coconut oil). Horray for Panaway!