Step 1: Rip 1 sheet of paper into pieces about 2" square. (Shape isn't important, just basic size.)

Step 2: Put pieces of paper into the blender.

Step 3: Add 1 L of hot water.

Step 4: Blend about 3 minutes to make pulp.

Step 5: Put paper screen and mold into large container. Fill with water until the water level is 1" over the screen. (OK, this is the part that I cheated on. My husband took a summer seminar at NC State's Pulp and Paper Science Department and they gave him all the supplies for making paper in the classroom including this nice little screen apparatus.)

Step 6: Pour pulp into mold over screen.

Step 7: Remove mold from water, letting as much water drain as possible.

Step 8: Remove top from mold

Step 8: Blot paper with blotting paper or paper towels.

Step 9: Carefully remove your paper from the screen by slowly peeling back the blotting paper.

Step 10: Make a "sandwich" with 2 layers of blotting paper under your new paper and 3 pieces of blotting paper on top. Iron on highest heat setting for 3 minutes.

Step 11: Carefully peel your new paper off the blotting paper.

We also made a sheet using blue construction paper.

My 8 year old daughter completed weaving a small doll blanket using a 14 inch cardboard square for a loom. We made the loom by making a small mark every 1/4 inch along 2 opposite sides of the cardboard.  Then I cut a 3/4 inch slit with scissors to line up with each mark.

Here's a close-up of the slits.

Next, we wrapped bedspread weight cotton thread around the cardboard going through each slit and its corresponding one on the other side.

Here it is almost completely wrapped.

It is one long piece of string. The back looks the same as the front at this point. Next, my daughter used yarn to weave through the parallel strings. She chose to weave several rows of one color, working down and back the other direction and then switched colors. This made a striped pattern. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of the intermediate steps. After the weaving was a long as she wanted it, we cut the strings along the back of the loom. Then the strings were tied in knots in pairs and cut to the desired length for fringe.

Here's the finished project.

She had so much fun with it that I ordered her a lap loom from Vision Forum for Christmas. It's a surprise though!

To celebrate the end of our unit we had a celebration with our co-op. We all brought in our projects from Unit 1.

This is our project table.

The main event for the evening was a Seder meal. I have never participated in a Seder meal before so it was a new experience for me. The speaking parts were divided up among all the participants.

Here's our section of the table. Doesn't my husband look excited?

We all enjoyed celebrating the end of our first unit of TOG and learning about the Jewish Passover celebration together.

Now it's off to Unit 2! This week is Ancient India.

We have been learning about the tabernacle in our Tapestry of Grace studies. 

And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. (Ex. 25:8)

We built a model tabernacle to reinforce our learning and I think this was our most fun project ever!

Our model

The altar and the laver

And thou shalt make an altar ... and thou shalt overlay it with brass. (Ex. 27:1-2)

Thou shalt also make a laver [of] brass, and his foot [also of] brass, to wash [withal]: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.(Ex 30:18)

The tabernacle with the badger skin covering

Under the badger skins were rams' skins dyed red

And thou shalt make a covering for the tent [of] rams' skins dyed red, and a covering above [of] badgers' skins. (Ex 26:14)

These items are found inside the tent.

The golden lampstand

And thou shalt make a candlestick [of] pure gold: [of] beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: (Ex. 25:31-32)

Table of Showbread

And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway. (Ex. 25:30)

The altar of incense

And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon:(Ex 30:1)

The Ark of the Covenant

And they shall make an ark...And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold round about. Ex 25:10-11

Inside the ark were the tablets with the 10 Commandments, Aaron's rod, and a jar of manna.

On Saturday afternoon, we made challah.

Here we are braiding the dough.

This is the finished loaf ready for its final rise.

This is our table set for our feast. We're just waiting for sunset. (And our roast to be finished.)

Here we are (4 out of 6) enjoying our challah.

We started our feast with the blessing over the cup. We used grape juice instead, but we brought out the fancy glasses. This was followed by the blessing of the challah. After that, it was time for our meal, but unfortunately the roast was still not ready. I made an eye of round roast, roasted at 475 degrees for 7 minutes per pound. Then the oven was turned off and unopened for 2-1/2 hours. Unfortunately, the roast was a little rare for our taste. I had tried a similar method in the past that turned out delicious. It was baked at 375 for an hour, then the oven was turned off and the roast left for about 2 hours. I used the different method because it matched the size of roast that I had, but I'll stick to the other way in the future. There's nothing worse than waiting for the main course! After we finally had our roast, we finished up with apple pie. It was a fun evening and an experience that will be remembered by the whole family.

We have had a fairly busy 2 weeks with our Tapestry of Grace (TOG) studies.  The topic of Week 5 is the Tower of Babel and Mesopotamia.  Week 6 focuses on the stories of the Patriarchs.  We were assigned chapters 12-50 in Genesis in one week!  Thankfully, we have the whole Bible on CD which we listened to this week or I don't think I would have any voice left! 

Last week we had our 2nd co-op meeting where we finished up discussing Egypt.  The UG kids made pyramids out of sugar cubes.

My kids tend to be slow on doing projects so they weren't able to finish them at co-op. They finished them last week at home.

They also painted their salt dough maps that they made at our first co-op meeting.

My older son has spent 2 weeks designing a Royal Game of Ur game board. It's 99% finished, but I don't have pictures to share of it yet. My daughter made a model ziggurat which we downloaded from here. She also started a weaving project. 

Finally, yesterday I decided to try the no-bake cookie dough map idea.  My younger son made a map of Israel.

My daughter made a map to show Abraham's journey from Ur to Canaan, to Egypt, and back to Canaan.

My older son made the same map as my daughter, but he added flags to identify the cities.

Everyone enjoyed themselves making and eating their maps!

Yesterday we had our first Tapestry of Grace (TOG) co-op meeting.  We went over weeks 1 and 2 of Year 1 Unit 1 which is Egypt.  The day went extremely well considering all of us are new to TOG and co-ops of this kind.  We started off with salt dough maps of either Egypt or an imaginary country.







Next, we made mud bricks.  This seemed like a fun idea, but in hindsight it was really messy with not much reward.  Hmm, maybe that's how the Israelites felt. 

We decided several months ago to use Tapestry of Grace Year 1 next year.  I am very excited about it.  I am going to be involved in a small co-op (5 families) meeting every other week.  We've never been in a co-op before so it will be a new experience for us.  The kids are excited about the prospect.  I hope to really have fun with TOG. I feel like we've just been going through the motions with Story of the World for the last 2 years.  I have been busy studying booklists and trying to make decisions about which books to purchase. I still haven't actually purchased my year plan.  I hopefully will do that over the weekend. I know that I'll really go nuts when I have it in hand, so it's probably best for me to finish up this year!

I did find several books for our year plan at our homeschool group used book sale today.  I got Usborne Beginners Egyptians, The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, Ancient Egypt Make it Work, and Black Ships Before Troy. I also found Miquon Red, Gizmos and Gadgets, and 7 paperback Thorton Burgess books. My grand total was $13.75.