Stirring the pot!

I've just finished reading John Taylor Gatto's "Weapons of Mass Instruction". An absolutely frightening read. Frightening because of what it reveals as the true reason for compulsory schooling. Now, maybe he is just paranoid, I don't know, but here are a few other videos to watch that I found interesting. Send me a comment and let me know what you think. I am wondering if anyone is still out there?



Please note that the websites listed near the end of this video, aside from freedomofeducation.net do not necessarily coincide with my values and beliefs.

Easter

Just one of the many signs that spring
is finally here. I am chomping at the
bit to get outside and start sticking seeds in the ground. Unfortunately,
one of the other signs of spring has also arrived,
................my allergies.

In spite of my sniffling, wheezing, and sneezing we did manage to get out and perform our annual offerings to the bunnies. You see, if we offer carrots to the local bunnies, they put in a good word for us with the Easter Bunny.


Carrot offerings ready to be distributed.


































Yet another sign of spring that we discovered while on our walk. We tried to catch it, but it was too fast. I still have bad memories of the one I caught last year to show the boys and the stink it left behind.


Sorry, it's a little fuzzy it was moving so fast.

Congratulation's Jamie!

My little guy is now an orange belt. Way to go Jamie!

Happy Pi Day!

Today is pi day (3/14). A day to be totally irrational. We are celebrating with a pi pie that Jamie helped make.




We will be reading the following books:

1. Sir Cumference and The Dragon of Pi
2. Sir Cumference and The First Round Table


Check out some of these videos just for fun. We particularly like the mathematical pi song (3rd one down). Who knew that pi could make such beautiful music in the pi(ano) song (5th down)?


Search pi for your birthdate here.

And of course we will be measuring everything circular and playing with pi. By the way it is also Albert Einstein's Birthday. So Happy Birthday and Happy Pi Day!

Observing The Animals In Their Natural Habitat

Is this normal?





Did you notice the messy floor? Did you notice mom dishing up noodles with bare hands? Does Jamie seem a bit demented? Did you notice Robert rocking back and forth in his chair while eating? Does this just go on in my house, or does it happen in other people's houses? Just curious.

Our newest family member

During this last fall we spent some time in Victoria while Brian was on refit. Yes I have pictures, but it is so long ago now that I really don't feel like blogging about it. We picked up a package of these at the bug zoo. Being my usual go-getter homeschooling mom, it has taken till now to get everything set up and ready. We waited 3 days - the package says they will hatch within 18-30 hours. I was just about to flush everything down the toilet when we saw that two had hatched. I think a total of three hatched, but triops are cannibalistic and will eat their aquarium mates. This is the one left. He is about 8 days old in this video. It was pretty hard to focus on him. It is amazing how fast they grow. Every few days we pull out one of his shed skins and have a peek at it under the microscope.




Update: The triops died. I changed the water and it stirred up the sludge in the bottom and killed the poor little guy....but, we did get to check him out under the microscope.

Goodness me, it has been a while!

So very sorry, I just have not found the time to post lately. Too busy living life I guess! The latest we have been up to is a visit to the Vancouver Island University Fisheries and Aquaculture facilities with the Nanaimo Young Naturalists group. It was Robert who really wanted to go. He is crazy for fish, sharks and crabs. As it turned out, we all had a good time. The University grows rainbow trout, various tropical freshwater fish, sturgeon and some shellfish and sea stars. The star of the show was a 36yr old female white sturgeon. Unfortunately, she was difficult to photograph so here is a video so you can get an idea of her beauty.

This little cutie is only about 1yr old.

BOO!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

The better of two evils!

Brian's recent midlife crisis resulted in the purchase of a 2005 Yamaha Vmax. The boys were stoked! I was choked. I feared for their lives every time he took one of them for a ride. Turns out he was not happy with the bike and so traded it for a Honda CR250R for himself and a Honda CRF70F for Jamie. I always thought that the last thing I wanted to do was go ripping through the woods on a noisy, fossil fuel burning machine, but I have to admit that it is actually a lot of fun. So much so that I now have my very own Honda CFR230F with electric start (sweet!). We are going out again this weekend, so more pictures to follow. Below are some pictures of the first ride and a video of Jamie the very first time he rode his bike. He is really quite a natural, although he has managed to dump it every time he has been out...ouch, the learning process is painful.


Jamie in his street riding gear gettin' dirty!
Yes, we now have a proper dirt bike helmet for Robert. But check out the grin!

Is it PMS, or is it my life?

I thought I would pop in to (finally) change the link for "big and little" blog and caught myself reading the poem I placed at the top of my blog. It suddenly dawned on me that lately I am feeling like I barely have time to breathe, let alone stand and stare! Let's see, I am a mom of two young boys....that alone should be enough. One is home schooled (or is that nagged) while the other mostly gets ignored throughout the day. I am chief cook and cleaner and laundry washer. I have a casual position at the hospital which could be close to part time hours if I didn't refuse as much as I do. Aaand!, I am trying to complete two online courses in preparation for my re certification exam. In between all that I am also trying to maintain somewhat of a social life. Were it not for my weekly tea times and visits with friends, I think I would be a ranting lunatic....or wait, I am!

My babies produced.

O.K. I know it doesn't look like much, but I am incredibly excited. This is my first crop of huckleberries. I can't wait till we have enough for pie!

Cranberry Festival (Sept. 28)

A bright sunny Sunday was spent here. We all got into posing as cranberry farmers.


Jamie got a temporary tatoo of a lizard painted on.
On the farm were some ponds full of frogs. I am sure the boys could have spent the entire morning just trying to catch the frogs. I was a little worried that someone was going to fall in and get soaked, but everyone managed to stay dry.
This picture does not do justice. The view was unbelievable.
We waited in line for 30m for these. There was a lot of pent up energy needing to be released.
I picked up 10lbs of cranberries to try drying again. Last year I had some success. They are not as sweet as the store bought ones, but at least I know what is in them. I worked out a system of lining them up in the groove of the cutting board and slicing a row of them at a time. They need to be sliced because they are so big. Thirty minutes later and this is what I had........
This is 5lbs sliced and ready for syrup. Then they go into the deep freezer for three months (to sweeten up) before they are ready to dry in the dehydrator. Now, what am I going to do with the other 5lbs? Any suggestions?

Return to School.

As mentioned in yesterday's post several people in this house are returning to school. No, Jamie is not attending public school. Not really, although we are switching to a more structured program this year. I am hoping it will take some of the pressure off me, and prevent me from constantly worrying if I am creating an enriching enough environment for him. I will no longer need to feel guilty if I am doing housework rather than read-alouds or field trips. The only thing I am worried about is that it will be too structured and I have nightmares of me hovering over him at the kitchen table while he is in tears and we are surrounded by incomplete workbook exercises. Not good.

I will also be going back to school. I am enrolled in two online courses through BCIT in order to bring me up to speed so I can write a recertification exam for Cardiology Technology in April. I have gotten a casual position at the hospital in the Electrodiagnostics lab doing ECG's and stress tests. Once I get my certification again my pay will increase.

Brian may be going to school in October for a math course which will take him one step closer to getting his second class ticket.

The only one who will not be going to school of any kind yet is Robert. He only just turned 4 the end of April so he still has plenty of time to just be a kid!

So there is the scoop on what is happening here.

Our Summer Vacation

We didn't get off to a good start. We decided on the spur of the moment to try and catch the Friday afternoon ferry off the island....bad idea! Waiting for the next sailing I went to buy something for the boys to drink and a coffee for me. You would think that when I asked the people at Starbuck's what was in a specific drink and told them that Robert is allergic to dairy somebody would clue in and let me know that there was in fact dairy in the beverage, but nooooo. Fifteen minutes later he is in full blown allergic reaction and I have no Benadryl on hand (you would think that I would know better!). Fortunately for us there was an ambulance waiting in line and they were kind enough to check him out and give us some Benadryl. He spent the next 2 hours vomiting and finally fell asleep. We made it as far as Hope that night and slept in a truck stop - not recommended for a good nights sleep. The next day we travelled to Christina Lake and stayed here. One night at Brian's mom and dad's in Trail and then off to Kaslo.

Here is our "Ugly Van". It has worked well for us for the last few years, but I think maybe we need something with a bit more space now that the boys are growing longer.
This was the view from our "Ugly Van".

This is our home for the next three days. You can get one here. Interestingly this was the very same boat I was on with my parents several years ago.

The boys each got plenty of turns being Captain (in the open water of course!).
Can you see the enthusiasm?
Here is some local artwork Robert discovered at Pilot's Cove. We are going to try and make some of our own with rocks we collected from the beach and driftwood and bits from home.
This is Pilot's Cove where we stayed the second night.
After one and a half days using just a small and not very clean looking portapotty on the boat this was sheer luxury.
Robert strikes a pose!
Did some fishing......caught nothing.
Robert did a fine job of swabbing the decks and loved every minute of it. Think I can get him to do the floors at home?
Our last day the sun finally shone and the lake was calm enough for us to make a stop at Ainsworth Hot Springs.
Our last night was at Pebble Beach. This is the most amazing place. The beach is entirely made up of small, round, smooth pebbles. A real pain to walk on with sandals and even worse in bare feet, but soooo beautiful.
Here they are. We collected a whole box and I now have them sitting in a glass bowl on my fireplace ledge.
Next a day at Auntie Wanda's and Uncle Scot's. Hanging around the pool. Brian went out with Scot and won the pot at a poker game, $140 - Whoohoo!
Robert practices his swimming.
The boys had a great time playing with Auntie Wanda's new toy.
Now it's back to work and back to school for more than a few people around here. More on that later.

Happy Canada Day!

We left early this morning for Port Alberni where Jamie was to do his very first performance with the Vesna Ukrainian Dancers. It was a lot of hurry up and wait, then finally their turn. There were a few little kinks and slip ups, but all in all, they did really well and put on a great show. I may be biased, but I think they were one of the most entertaining groups there. You just can't help but start tapping to that music.



Here he is in costume.


the harvest dance. Jamie is the one on the right.



there was a little confusion at the end, but it is so very cute, I couldn't resist. There was one more dance, but he would not let me post it because he got mixed on the timing of the clapping. All in all, I think he did great for only about 6mos of once a week practice.

Something in the works.

I have some exciting news, but I don't want to jinx it so I am waiting till everything is in order before I break the news. If you want a hint, check out "what we are reading right now". When everything is in place I will let you know.

The boys.

On Thursday the boys and I went for lunch to a friend's house. Jamie and M have been buddies since preschool. M and D and their mom and little sister will be travelling to Ecuador for the summer then relocating to another part of the province. We will miss them dearly. Thank-you X and P for everything you have done for us. We wish you all the best and hope that we will be able to visit and receive visits in the future. You are true friends!

What's for supper?

This recipe comes from the summer issue of Country Gardens.

My Mother's Tabbouleh

1c bulghur
6 tomatoes, chopped
1 English cucumber, chopped
1 1/4c chopped fresh parsley
1 1/4 c sliced radishes
3/4c sliced green onions
1 pepper
1/4c chopped fresh mint
1/4c chopped fresh basil
2-3 tsp ground cumin
1/4c oil
salt
fresh lemon juice

The tomatoes I used, again were bland Save-On Food's tomatoes. The parsley was fresh from our square foot garden. The radishes, pepper and fresh basil were from Nanoose Edibles. The mint was actually peppermint from my garden. I broiled chicken breasts (again Save-On, but I am working on this... baby steps) to go along with it. I can't think of how I will use the fresh dill I received from my box, so I decided to dry it along with some of my parsley. Then in the winter I can use it on some potatoes with a little margarine and know that it is organic and local and oh so yummy!

What's in the box?

After months of anticipation, it is finally here. Way back in the dreary, dark days of winter I signed up for a weekly box of produce from Nanoose Edibles. It cost around $400 but the deal is I get a box every week until sometime in October. Here is what was in the box this week.



It is a little hard to see from the picture, but I got spinach, salad greens, basil, garlic scapes, beautiful red leaf lettuce, a yellow pepper, radishes, leeks, snow peas, dill and strawberries. For supper I sliced up some tomatoes (unfortunately they were bland Save-On tomatoes) sprinkled them with salt and pepper and layered them onto some basil leaves and drizzled balsamic vinegar and olive oil on top...yummm! I am not sure the boys truly appreciated this as much as I did as they gave me theirs to eat. The strawberries were out of this world flavorful. They did notice this! Kind of makes me feel vindicated for all those times I denied them strawberries in the grocery store with my mini lecture about how I will NOT buy California strawberries, I will wait till strawberries are available locally, blah, blah, blah.

My Little Yellow Belt

Here he is, striking a karate pose.