Lunar eclipse was a no show

Patchy clouds meant some beautiful stars, but unfortunately the moon was covered. I guess we will just have to wait another two years for the next one.

How could I forget!

Yesterday when I posted our upcoming exciting events I forgot the Maple Syrup Festival. This year is especially exciting as the theme will celebrate Canada's Aboriginal people. I can't wait to taste that yummy maple toffee on snow!

Upcoming excitement

Here is a list of some of the things we will be doing in the next few weeks. Starting with February 20th, if the weather co-operates, we will be able to witness a lunar eclipse between 7:01 and 7:51pm PST. March 1 will be the Young Naturalists trip to Neck Point Park for some marine exploration. Also on March first, is the start of the Iditarod. We will be following with the eIditarod project (my link to this just doesn't want to work). We have picked our musher - Paul Gebhardt. Follow along by clicking here. Then, on March 8th is the big Easter food sale for the Ukranian Cultural club. Since Jamie has joined the Vesna dancers group, I guess we will be doing something with that. Then there is St. Patrick's Day, Easter and March 29 the big switch off. A lot coming up. Along with the usual gymnastics, karate, farmschool and dancing, we should be fairly busy.

Spring is just around the corner!

Some highlights from last week

Gung Hay Fat Choy! Chinese New Year started on Feb. 7. Here is a pic of the Chinese Dragons we made. The idea came from Family Fun magazine.

Also, we did a spur of the moment science experiment after seeing it on the internet. Can you guess what happened? A little hint - think baking soda and vinegar.

A valuable lesson learned

Since Jamie was about 4yrs old we have been giving him an allowance. It has cut down a lot on the "gimmes". When we are in a store shopping and he sees something he wants he has the choice of putting it on his Birthday/Christmas wish list or purchasing it himself out of his allowance. He is now old enough to be able to save up a bit rather than spending it on junk food on every grocery shopping trip. Recently he learned another valuable lesson. He still sometimes get the urge to "buy something, anything!" when we are out. He simply had to have one of these. I tried to tell him that it would only be fun for about 15 minutes, and that $20 was a lot of money for a piece of plastic, but he insisted that he really, really wanted it. He had enough in his allowance money, so he made the choice. Sure enough, not more than a day later, he wanted to return it to the store and save his money for something else. Unfortunately, he had ripped open the box it had come in and as it was no longer resaleable he was out of luck. The lesson learned - choose carefully, give yourself a cooling off period. Hopefully he will remember this lesson in years to come when purchases are even bigger than $20.

But how will they ever learn if they are not taught?

I realized fairly early on in this homeschooling adventure that attempting to follow a "school at home" approach was not going to work in this family. Any attempts at instructing in a formal way have been met with vigorous resistance. Often, when I tell people we are homeschooling, they comment - "that must take a lot of effort to plan and organize". This is because most people, myself included, were educated in the public system. It is often difficult to visualize learning in any other way than where the teacher teaches and the student does what they are told and learns what they are told to learn. So people think that I spend my evenings making up lesson plans and my days instructing my children, which would take a lot of effort and organization! I don't do lesson plans. I listen when my children tell me they are interested in something and I go to the library and find books. I search the internet for things I think they would find fun. We play games and do things as a family. We live. Trusting that children will learn by following their own interests and by simply living takes a great deal of faith, and I still struggle with this, but the following example illustrates that learning can, and does take place without instruction.

We have recently moved the wall map of the world from it's place on the wall onto the dining room table (credit goes to an article in Homeschooling Horizons Magazine). Over the last few breakfasts, lunches and dinners Jamie has discovered the latitude and longitude lines. We have noticed the international time line. We have had much discussion about these things and what they are for. We have located where Uncle Kevin and Uncle Michael live. Even Robert can point to Vancouver Island and tell me this is where we live. I could have planned a "map reading" lesson plan with worksheet and questions, but he doesn't need that. He just needs me to answer his questions as he asks them, and look at that.....he is learning!

The inspiration

This was the inspiration. This is discovering and who knows...maybe the developing of a passion.

Coastal Renaissance

Today we got to tour the newest ferry in the B.C. Ferries fleet. After almost an hour standing in line waiting, during which my children demonstrated amazing patience, we finally got to walk through the engine room, wheel house and the passenger areas. It is a beautiful ship. Jamie and Robert inspected the children's play areas and gave them a stamp of approval. My favorite thing about it was the beautiful blown up photos of coastal forests.
For a virtual tour go to: www.bcferries.com/about/newbuild/superc.html and click on view interior design (I was unable to do a direct link)

The above pictures show:

• Jamie and Robert standing in front of the Chief Engineer's office - maybe one day someone we know will be in this seat!
• Inspection of the kid's play area.
• Checking out the security camera in the wheelhouse
  

Snow Day

We woke up to a fresh fall of snow. How could we possibly not spend the day tobogganing, building snowmen and playing in the snow?

A great day on the ski hill

We went skiing on the 23. Initially Robert got a little freaked out, but I did manage to convince him to let me pull him around on a relatively flat section. Then we went up some very mild slopes while I held on. In the end he finally found his balance and best of all he left the hill feeling like he could ski and it was fun. Here is a short video of Jamie skiing.

The Roman Centurions

A Roman Centurion was an officer in charge of a century (about 80 men). He wore a helmet with a sideways crest as a sign of his status. Of course, he also fought with a sword not a crossbow but let's not get too picky.

On the importance of listening

Jamie: "Mom, can I use any tool from the garage except the saws?"
Mom (deep in thought over a coffee and at the computer reading): "Mmhm."

A short while later mom realizes that all is quiet in the house but a faint thump, thump can be heard out in the back yard. Looking out the back window she sees her child swinging the grub hoe with all the strength his seven year old body can muster. Apparently, the play house is in need of a moat for protection against attackers. Mom is in need of another coffee.

Artist at work

How did he do that?

Lately Robert has taken to quizzing us on math. He likes to ask us what 10+5 is and what 5+10 is. He doesn't really understand, but he is getting a sense that math is something we do (even mom who tries to avoid math as much as possible). So he was doing his usual quizzing tonight and I whispered to him to ask what 3x5 is. Jamie answered right away, whether it was because he actually knew this, or because the last two questions had an answer of 15 I am unsure. Then I whispered to Robert to ask what 30 divided by 2 was. Jamie thought for a few moments then answered 15. "How did you know figure that out?" I asked, thinking that maybe it was just because the last answers were 15. He tells me that 10+10+10=30, so you take the one 10 and split it in half which is two fives and add them to the two tens and you get 2 fifteens. So the answer is 15. How's that for problem solving?

Wow, this is amazing

check out this video about ants.

It's been a strange week

I started off very organized, with science experiments and projects to make, but as the week went on I found myself feeling frustrated with the lack of academics going on. It seemed everything I had planned was met with not so much enthusiasm, or it was no sooner started then I found myself sitting alone at the table while Jamie was off building a fort in the living room, or playing outside with Robert. "Arrgh! what is wrong with this child, when will he learn to focus?", I thought. In a panic I phoned another member of my home school support group. Thank you Heidi for helping me see what I had been missing. We all need downtime. What might sometimes appear as wasting time may in fact be the best possible use of time. I had forgotten that another of my reasons for wanting to home school was so my children could have the time to daydream, play and just enjoy being a child. He is only just seven after all. What was he learning? He was learning just how far his bow can send an arrow. He was learning to interact with his little brother and work together. He was learning how to be a friend. He was taking the time to stand and stare.

What we did instead.

I had it all worked out and organized. After gymnastics, we would come home have lunch, do some math games and I had a science experiment all ready to go. Maybe we could start on a wall map for the eiditarod we are signed up for. But then, the sun started to shine. Here on the west coast we get precious few sunny days at this time of year so......What else could we do but pack a snack and head down to the waterfront to play? Look at that brotherly love!

Sushi

Not bad for our first attempt. Jamie helped me with the rice and watched the rolling, but his interest became diverted elsewhere... at least until it was time to eat it!

WHOOO!!!!

I am so proud of myself. I finally figured out how to post books! I just hope I can remember next time.