Guest Author - Terrie Lynn Bittner

Snow storms, ice storms….the children are tired of their toys, tired of the television and tired of each other. How do you keep them entertained during cold snowed-in days of winter?

Help them develop new hobbies
Search the Internet or the library for hobby ideas and then invest some time and maybe a little money helping your child start a new hobby. You might look for extensions of old hobbies. For instance, a child who is a bird watcher might begin building bird houses. A child who reads mysteries might take up writing and write a mystery. Hobbies can also explore entirely new areas of interest: Learn about kite making and start making your own. When the weather warms up, your child will have several kites to take outside and fly. Invest in art supplies and find out what kind of artist your child might like to become. When the weather is better, visit an art museum.
Weird Hobby Hall of Fame

Teach a unit study.
Take a tip from homeschoolers and study something together as a family. Plan simple lessons and teach them each Saturday for two months. During the week, read books, do crafts and develop projects based on the subject. For instance, you might do a study of pioneers. During “class time” teach a brief lesson on some aspect of the pioneers—food, challenges, specific people and so on---and then all week long, have fun with it. If you studied food, spend the week learning to make pioneer foods. If you learned about a specific pioneer, spend the week developing a puppet show. When you learn about pioneer clothing, teach your children to make simple costumes that can be used for a big pioneer party to be held at the end of your unit study. For more information on developing unit studies, see “Make Your Own Unit Study.”

Read everything ever written by a specific author
Choose a children’s author all your children will enjoy who has written a large number of books. Find out what order the books were written in and then read them as a family, in order. Finish up with a biography of the author. If the author is still alive, write a letter as a family telling about your experience. Use the unit study approach mentioned above to develop some projects based on the books or the author.

Plan a Vacation
Plan the vacation you’re going to take next summer, or plan a vacation you just wish you could take. Research the location—the more exotic the better. Track down photos online. Take pictures of yourself and use a photo editing program to place yourself in the photos. Create postcards, travel brochures and anything else that looks appropriate to the local. (Don’t reveal to your children that this is educational.) Then let your children write a “journal” of your imaginary vacation. Anyone been to Mars lately?

Collect Dryer Lint
I typed "uses for dryer lint" into Google and got 90 sites! This is big stuff! Check out these web sites for ideas on how to use your great new collection: (Be careful—it’s flammable.)
Uses for Dryer Lint
Dryer Lint Recipes

Learn how to tell stories
This is my new winter hobby. The library is filled with great books on how to tell stories, and many have stories ready to learn. Even a small child can learn to tell a good story at FHE!