Halloween

Our pumpkin - using the stem for a nose.

A full day out of the house

Today was a field trip to our local museum. They had a bit of the exhibit "Free Spirit" from Victoria about 150 years in BC. They put on a little skit which I had thought was going to be a "period piece" maybe from the gold rush or something else. It was a comedic skit on BC facts which turned out to be disappointing. Oh well, the kids enjoyed the displays they had along with some displays from BC Hydro. Of course there are the fossils, native art, artifacts and history to see/read as well. Overall, I think they enjoyed the field trip.

After the museum, their dad took them to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. I requested one with a long, curvy stem as I had seen a pumpkin on TV that was carved out using the stem for a nose and I wanted to carve ours that way. When they were done picking up a pumpkin they were to meet me at the rec center where we would eat our packed lunches and then join in on the homeschool skating.

We enjoyed being out and about all day.

Paper airplanes

Owen spent a good part of the day building paper airplanes with regular printer-type paper. I mentioned that Mitch had received a couple of books about paper planes, that came with pretty paper and stickers, for his birthday one year. We found the books and Owen perused them. Together we learned the different folds, folding tips and flying tips. Then we built a few of the planes from the book using regular paper first then using the pretty paper. It's quite a bit like origami and as equally frustrating.

He experimented away with these planes for quite a while. We had learned about the "point of balance" in a recent Science Club gathering. This was a flying tip for paper airplanes - find the point of balance. While making folds we needed to make sure that all the edges and surfaces were as "symmetrical" as possible(hey, didn't we learn that in math?). Lots of learning has been going on with these airplanes. In the picture there's an airplane with a balloon attached, which he tried flying with the balloon untied. He wanted to watch the force, from releasing the blown up balloon, fly the plane. He also taped pencils on to one plane because he wanted to know how the weight would affect the flight.

Mackenzie decided to make crepes from the Jumbo Cookbook. She learned the importance of reading recipes over before starting to cook as she added butter that should have been melted, but was added in solid although soft. However, that didn't ruin the crepes at all. The kids tried them a few different ways: rolled up with applesauce, sprinkled with powdered sugar, drizzled with syrup, rolled up with blueberries. Yummmy. She made them again for dessert so that Dad and Mitch could try them too.

Hanna worked away on a story/short book that she's been typing on the computer and then she downloaded all the pictures from her camera. She loves to take pictures and videos with her camera and often spends a great deal of time doing either.

We finished Factory Girl today and started A Chance Child. We started learning about child labour and the industrial revolution last spring, but stopped for a few months. We've picked up the subject again and through the reading of Factory Girl we came across a book referenced called How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis. I've order it from amazon and look forward to reading it and looking over the pictures of which it has many of that time.

A bickering beginning, an enjoyable end

We've been watching the first series and first volume of Canada: A People's History, almost daily. Today was a challenge because my kids have a hard time being close to each other without constantly complaining about the sounds each other makes when breathing, swallowing, eating, moving, etc.. I got fed up (had a fit) and told them to leave my room ( that's where we've been watching the dvd's) as we wouldn't be watching the show today. I hate the days when I can't be calm enough to help them work out their issues. I've been trying to work on effective communication skills for 5 years now. I'd have to say there's been some improvement, but not to the degree to which I would like.

After I calmed down, had a shower and went downstairs I found the kids busying themselves. Owen asked if we could make something for lunch out of the wonderful kid's cookbook we've been using called Jumbo Cookbook by Kids Can Press. We decided on Tuna Melts, these were enjoyed by all.

Earlier on in the day I had brought up the idea of biking to a local park which led them to think about bringing Speedminton as we could play it at the tennis courts of another park on the way home. This we did. We packed up our backpacks with some racquets and speeders. I also brought the postal "parcel pick up" card we received the day before and thought since we were going to be so close to the post office we'd pick up the parcel too. We were expecting it to be popcorn from my nephew whom sold us some cheezy popcorn for Boy Scouts or workbooks we had ordered. The outing turned out to be a pleasant welcome to the day.

In the park, lots of deer were grazing and some of the fawns were the smallest we've seen. Isn't it getting too cold for these wee babies? The leaves were beautiful; the ocean was full of excitement; the grounds of the park were spectacular; we saved a robin trapped under the netting that was over a pond. Owen figured out that the netting was there so the pond wouldn't get clogged with leaves. The trapped robin was very upsetting for my nature-loving kids. They managed to free the bird, but were very scared they'd get caught being over the fence. We really wanted to let the grounds keeper know that the netting was dangerous for the birds, but we never did.

After that, we biked on to the tennis courts for a twenty minute game of speedminton which was great fun. Then off to the post office to pick up....our workbooks. Popcorn would've been a yummy treat after all that playing. The kids wanted to to play on the merry-go-round, teeter-totters and swings before biking home. Wow, what a super day. We came home and made mini pizzas on English muffins, another idea from the Jumbo Cookbook!

We've decided to watch the dvd's in the family room now.

Woodpecker Wednesday

On a wonderful nature walk with another homeschooling family, we came across this spectacular pileated woodpecker. He was so engrossed in his "pecking search" for some juicy grubs, that he didn't pay any mind to the 10 person audience that he had before him. We observed him eat and peck; peck and eat, for about 10 -15 minutes. What a show!

I've noticed woodpecker-like birds in our backyard before and I think they're some type of flicker, maybe golden. They like to peck the ground with great speed and they move around quite quickly. I've also heard woodpeckers, in years past, pecking on my roof! It's sounds like a jackhammer. Once there was a woodpecker pecking on the metal smokestack on our roof, which caused quite the vibration. I hear they like to make these kinds of loud noises, like pecking a roof or something metal, when calling for a mate.

I tried to look up the different species of woodpeckers in our bird book so that I could recall this one's name (pileated)and name of the flicker species(golden) that we see in our backyard, but those pages were missing out of the book. The field guide of Western Birds book was given to my son, Mitchel, (the animal lover from ages 2 - 12) at the age of 6, I think. He read this book so often that the pages fell out and I must of thrown them out during a de-clutter mode (of which I get in too often and end up getting rid of stuff and later regretting it - like some much missed lapbooks!).

Mitch had us reading to him from the Animal Atlas (this might be the one)at age 2. When anyone who came to visit and wanted to read to him, this was his book of choice for a good couple of years. By reading this book to him, he knew his continents quite well by the age of 5. Then he was given The Children's Animal Encyclopedia which had its binding falling apart, then the whole book came apart, after 3 years. I replaced that book, after coming across it in a discount pile of books in a store and because he loved it so much, I just couldn't walk away without it. Then he was given the Smithsonian Institution Animal book which is still okay, but the binding is hanging on for dear life. We have many wonderful animal books all due to my animal/nature loving kids; Mitch started the trend.

I keep the bird guide book in my "nature basket" which houses many field guides: birds, plants, reptiles, bugs, seashore, and animal tracks. The Lone Pine books are very good guides. I also keep magnifying glasses, binoculars, spiral bound sketch books, a pencil box, Anna Bomstock's Handbook of Nature Study and a lovely book called Keeping a Nature Journal. The best sketch books that I have found( in terms of quality, ease and cost) to use as nature journals are at Coombs Country Market. I prefer spiral bound books because the pages are easy to flip and they won't tear out easily. The size of these sketch books makes it easy to slip it into a zip lock bag and throw into a backpack. The quality of paper in these books is equal to that of sketch pads with medium to heavy paper. In our pencil box we keep pencils of varying shades/numbers, a kneaded eraser and a stump for shading and blending. I also have watercolour pencils, but we haven't used them yet. We haven't journaled a lot, but should we feel moved to do it, we have all we need to have a great experience.

A wonderful nature journal book to gaze over is The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady by Edith Holden. It's a sweet, captivating and simple book which contains her nature notes on the flora on fauna of the British countryside during the year of 1906. It's a book that fits in perfectly with a cup of tea on a rainy day.

All these thoughts are making me think that we need to get back into nature journaling. I'm also thinking I need to finally set up the art easel I bought from Coombs......3 years ago!