cshenk wrote:

Figured some of you might have some tips here too. On weekends in the
winter, the kid gets pretty bored and since she's 14, we've been starting
her on small safe projects. She can handle a hammer and nails at this age,
but we don't let her use the electric saw (she marks, Daddy cuts).

Today, she finished off a wooden toy box out of some leftover plywood. The
top makes a seat when down and it's going to double as a chair before the
electric piano.

It started as a 2x4 'box', heavy framed (more than actually needed) and then
the plywood was nailed to that and smoothed down with Daddy's help and the
sander. She did the finishing hand sanding touches. Then, digging through
my fabric piles, she picked out a pretty black cotton with little violets
and we brushed glue all over it then cloth covered it. A little lacey trim
here and there, and it looks pretty cool! I even had a fairly close
matching cushion to put ontop.

It's drying now. I figure about 2 days for hard set of the thicker glue
around the lace trim.

Anyone got any neat ideas for teaching kids that I might find handy? With
supervision of course.




The most vital lesson in life that kids never learn about in school -
how to maintain and do simple repairs
on cars. She wouldn't want her friends to see her working on a car, but
someday she might blow a
guy's mind by getting his jallopy going ) At least teach her to
recognize basic problems, mebbe charge
a battery (with supervision and adequate safety gear). Don't let her
drive 'til she is 18, at least.

Red Cross First Aid, CPR and babysitting classes.

Volunteer (our high school gives credit for vol. They may require some
hours.

For fun - tile a trivet or small table top. Can do with ceramic or
glass mosaic, broken pottery, stone, etc.

Marbled paper. Messy.

Ceramics. Ceramics shops have lots of stuff to make - lamps, platters,
figurines, Christmas deco., mugs,
etc.

I had a nice Dremel jig saw for hobby stuff. Pretty harmless, but if
she likes wood doodads, she could
make funky stuff for her room. There are some little router bits for
Dremel rotary tools - I haven't tried
mine yet.

Sewing, especially quilts. Lots of pretty and easy styles to sew. Boys
and girls should know how to
sew.

In 6th grade, we had a class called "Home Mechanics". Separate classes
for boys and girls (thank God), but
we did the same things: sewed an apron, wired a lamp, made a plexiglass
key chain thingy with initials on it,
cooked spaghetti, cooked Eggs Benedict. The boys made great spaghetti
but didn't drain the pasta; just dumped
the sauce into the pot with water and all ) Probably the most useful
class I took. Sure beat physics )