June 4-5

Our dinosaurs have stacked up and with summer break here for local public school kids we are moving to half day work ourselves… so instead of a NEW dinosaur we went through and checked where all our previous dinosaurs have been located/found! Quite the imbalance. So now Emanuel has me on the hunt for dinosaurs in exotic locations!! You can find the map we printed out and used HERE thanks to Printable World Map.

map

For our math component we dug out our Cyberchase DVD (thank you so much Victoria!!! That was a great Christmas present way back when.). The kids all seem to get something out of it. I am definitely going to have to find some more so that we can do some fun math on the run!!

Like they are huddled around a fire or something, only it is the DVD player

Our lapbook work for Father’s Day has begun! From the humble beginnings of a simple church service to over 93 MILLION cards sent a year!

Overcast or not, we had some fun outside as well…

Echo had a walk with Nana and Baba all by herself!

Wednesday was a rainy day, but our boys are VERY observant, and noticed that across the neighbour’s lot on the other street there was a garage sale setting up. So… umbrella in hand we had to go check it out.

2.25 later and we had a new toy… which was promptly fought over, two tops for the girls and two books!

The toy

The highlight of our day was, of course, a visit from Bree and Lily!

I was able to give her her knotted headband, I made one for myself as well. You can find instructions for this HERE thanks to Maybe Matilda. I went to a much larger hook (I crochet tighter than most people it seems) and for my own added and edging of white. I am going to make a couple for Lily as the stretch will allow her to wear them longer!!! And of course for my own girls!

Bree and Lily and I snuck out to Target to shop while the girls here were napping and Ken working from home. It is such a pick me up to have a friend come in the middle of the week!!!

The kids did another wonderful session of reading together. I am so proud of everyone’s patience!

So rain has not stopped us, merely changed plans. Sadly though the mosquitoes are starting to show and like her sister Echo is allergic… the joys of bug bites that itch like mad!! Wish us luck!

With fall firmly here we decided it was best to take advantage of the warmer day and some spare time, so we went down the block to one of the walking/bike paths and took some pictures of the family dressed up a little (or more than a little in the case of the girls). I have to say, there is so much tree variety here that the colours are lovely and bright and differ greatly!

My 5 babies

Just the girls

Just the boys

After our photographic enjoyment of the start of fall we headed out to Jo-Ann’s to facilitate my newest project – a shawl… something time consuming and still on the easy side with a coupon I got in the mail for signing up as a teacher. It took a bit of hunting as the original pattern I found and fell in love with (after 4 aborted tries) did not match the picture or really make sense to my resident (through FaceTime) expert Karyn. Instead I decided to make THIS one with my light weight yarn. 

And then it was time for SCIENCE! I was so glad that Amazon came through FASTER than projected with our solar panel items. We had a car and a grasshopper that went on super sale. I lucked out and saw a listing on Facebook so I could take advantage. We talked about how the sun is needed to shine on the panels where that light is turned into energy to move the wheels on the car and to make the grasshopper squiggle. What I LOVED about these two is that as soon as they landed in shade they STOPPED so the kids got a really clear idea of the cause and effect. Of course we had to record this in our observation journals! Add to that our usual work and another chapter from our Judy Moody story and we are progressing nicely.

Hands on learning

Fun in and out of the sun

Thursday was a rather random day. With someone coming over to see about something in regards to the house we figured it would be best to take the kids out for a walk. Now I believe everyone when they say FALL IS HERE, but once again – the COLOURS!!!! We stayed out as long as we could before fingers were chilled and our minds were made that we need to get mittens and gloves before a bonfire we have planned for Saturday at another friend’s home. But I think we had fun, and came home with a selection of leaves and seeds to draw in our journals. 

Pre walk car time

So cute!

With all 5 kids sick (and Emanuel another tooth lost and probably swallowed at night – did I mention he lost his FIRST tooth in August???) I figured quiet time with Cyberchase and Handy Manny was a good choice. Sometimes you just need to lay back and let the educational programming entertain you.

Tv time

We did tape our Autumn poem An Autumn Greeting.

Then of course there was MORE time outside in the afternoon – gotta use those leaves before they blow away!!!

JUMP

And Emanuel drew a Triceratops for us instead of a daily dino… just to give Mommy one research free night! Well done!! Frill and all. 

Well drawn!

I am on the hunt for the next poem to memorize… maybe something fall again, or Halloween-y??

Love love love the colours… and the seeds that look like banana peels!

I have been debating what I want to do about Emanuel’s schooling. He has been VERY much against doing MORE… often saying he is tired or doesn’t know things… but then yesterday he was answering his brother’s rhyming questions and doing simple addition in his bedroom all by himself. So do I push him to do more in front of me or watch from the corner of my eye at times and keep one ear open for his personal triumphs out of my immediate sphere of influence? 

Looking into dinosaurs together

Our morning was rather organized for once. Ken had to wake me up early so he could get to work and Echo went to bed mid morning which gave me bath time. The kids all worked on workbooks while I sorted out the upstairs for my planned exodus to do some errands. I have upgraded one of Trinity’s mid range rubbermaid tubs to a larger one to put her stuffed animals in, using the little one for dolls… if only I had more storage! Or a toy room… or less toys? But they are not just HER toys in the bedroom, the family toys (kitchen set, a block set) are also in there as are the cradle my grandpa made ME and Echo’s stuff. Poor Trinity.

I went out with (she) Chris and Mae to do a little school shopping (payment order number and Staples are ALWAYS a good thing, and this time with a 100.00 budget). I did not spend my whole budget but I am finally in possession of a mountain of paper! 5000 sheets for less than 30.00. AND some new markers (ours were ancient and finally are dying out), more “twisty crayons” as per request, some more thick glue AND GLITTER glue! Oh and pens that Ken wanted… all for under budget! 

I love that our funding allows me to get these special treats later in the schooling year. Especially the glitter glue, we are ALWAYS running out of that!!

Not sure where to store this yet.

One the way back home we stopped at the mall to have poutine (noms) and then to go to Dollarama… after all that IS the place to get applesauce at the best price… I picked up some St. Patrick’s Day stickers, socks and of course a few pieces of chocolate for the adults. 

A bit of green

You know the saying “it takes a village to raise a child”? Well I think I have felt the help of a global village, through my blog and the interest you all have shown, advice given and love sent… through Facebook and the support system that has grown there, from homeschooling and families that are willing to share their experiences and excesses, friends and family who have been here for us from before the kids were born… I am very sure that I would not be able to create such a high quality of life and education if not for all these people in our lives. So thank you all! After all without help and support my confidence would be nil, Trinity would not be so well dressed and our homeschooling life would be rather bland! I am so glad that in some ways I can pass along. I am going to take some time in the next week and see what I can do about dressing some other little girls. Echo has finally grown out of some clothes so it is time to see that others have a chance to enjoy them! 

Echo in a new hat !!! Thank you!

So while we only made SOME progress on our Inuit lapbook (we have to add a THIRD folder for all the bits the kids did!!!) and the boys REALLY just wanted to play with the red blocks (hah mean Mommy made them watch CyberChase while she was out and about this afternoon!!!) we did progress. And now, with paper in the printer I have a stack of stuff to start next week in regards to St. Patrick’s Day! On top of all that there is the volcano research, Emanuel’s renewed interest in dinosaurs (we read a bit of a longer book tonight together) AND my sock owls… so lots more to talk about in the coming days and weeks! And of course, soon the Inuit lapbook to premier! 

Even Echo gets in her schooling time, one of the boys grabbed her crayons and paper and she was able to sit and scribble. She actually holds the crayons properly! Though right handed (boo)