joannqn Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Several times now, I've wondered if the authors actually tried the activities suggested. Sometimes, I've been smart enough to see how insane the idea is. Other time, I've been less smart. For example: Making a plaster and broken tile mosaic with elementary children doesn't yield the best results. First, it said to make the base two inches thick! Do you know how thick that actually is when you are using a gallon milk container for the shape? It's practically a ball of plaster! Then trying to make the random shaped broken tiles into something. LOL Not an easy task especially when your plaster sets up in a matter of minutes. Or today's task: Make a castle out of coco puffs and melted marshmallows. Yeah, right! What we got was a set of gooey, sticky globs here and there. And it suggested making windows and doors in it. Ha! It tasted sweet and yummy though...and dairy free when made with dairy free margarine. What were they thinking? :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allearia Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 uh oh... we were just planning to do the mosaic... maybe we should go for paper instead... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 Oh, but we loved the cereal castle! Didn't have CoCo Puffs so we used Rice Krispies! The trick with the plaster mosaic is to plan out the pieces ahead of time, and use them to "draw" an outline of a symbol instead of a full blown picture. iykwim! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TulaneMama Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 for the tiles we went to a tile store and they gave us all of their scraps. that was fun as DS sorted through them. The design was interesting and fun. we used a pie plat to hold the plaster...never tried the castle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 We DID plan them out. It didn't help the finished product look like any discernible design. Then there was Sam, who thought he was suppose to take the tiles out of the plaster after he put them in it. Not sure where he got that idea. And mine solidified before I could get all of the pieces in the plaster. I probably didn't mix the plaster right. The weirdest thing was the two inch thick base...not sure why it needed to be so thick. I think a one inch base would have been plenty and when I do it again with my younger set, I'll go with pie tins instead of milk jugs since they have a flat bottom. Here's my blog post of the mosaics so you can see how they turned out. I'm working on pictures of the castle now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 uh oh... we were just planning to do the mosaic... maybe we should go for paper instead... My children did the mosaic at our hs co-op. The teacher had them glue broken pieces of tile to a whole white tile. They came out great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Here's our castle from today's activity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 My children did the mosaic at our hs co-op. The teacher had them glue broken pieces of tile to a whole white tile. They came out great! That would probably be a lot easier, though, if you do the plaster method you get what we got: a much better appreciation for the highly skilled artists that make mosaics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joannqn Posted December 7, 2009 Author Share Posted December 7, 2009 Speaking of activities in SOTW... There are several with templates and instructions that say "enlarged copy of template". Is there somewhere I haven't found where it says how much to enlarge the templates? My guesses haven't worked very well so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenL Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I'm going to try to remember this when I get to SOTW vol. 2 next year! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hsmom3tn Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 It's been a few years since we did any SOTW, and I loved the books but I do remember having to alter several of the crafts. The mosaic is in book 2, right? I remember having a few crafts in that book that used Plaster of Paris... I have vowed never to use that stuff again. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mom In Missouri Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 We've done a majority of the activities. Our daughters have retained much of SOTW because of the activities---pick and choose as needed. As long as you're not concerened with the product and allow the process--its all good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keptwoman Posted December 7, 2009 Share Posted December 7, 2009 I found the activities fine for young children but not so great as they got older and were capable of doing something of better quality. Using food and toilet rolls to make stuff isn't really my idea of great activities. By the time we hit SoTW2 we were supplimenting heavily. I used the AG for 1 extensively, for 2 sporadically, and for 3 very little. I'm not sure I'll even bother with the AG for 4. I know it also has suggested reading, but most of those aren't available in Australia. I did use the narration stuff and maps a lot in the first two though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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