Have you heard the news? The BBC and the British Museum have teamed up to bring us an amazing interactive site (and homeschool resource!): A History of the World—telling a history of our world with objects. There’s a ton of material here to explore. What a wonderful way to make history come alive! Its a [...]
I mentioned in yesterday’s post that Jim did a neat science experiment with the boys on Sunday night, building on an experiment I did with them last year. I loved the simplicity of this experiment, and that it uses items most folks have at home already. Here’s what you’ll need: a large (mixing) bowl, [...]
We had a lovely weekend. Friday night I took the boys swimming at VRRI, where the pool is wonderfully warm. They do lots of rehab stuff there, so I am not kidding when I say the pool is kept at the temperature of a warm bath. Ahhhh! The boys had lots of fun splashing, [...]
I’ve decided to only post those books that we gave an ‘above average’ rating to, and not list every single book we read. The boys and I have been on an absolute tear lately, reading 10 or so picture books each evening and more through the day at random points (e.g., waiting in dentist offices, [...]
Last week I posted a pic of a garden gnome, buried to his neck in snow, that we saw on our nature walk looking for animal tracks. Since then we’ve had an extended run of warm ‘chinook’ weather, and we passed the same garden gnome on our walk this afternoon. What a difference a few [...]
Daegan uses Math U See as the core, or ‘spine’ of his math learning, and we use other books and materials, flashcards, play games, he helps cook, etc. Today we started a new resource, in keeping with my focus on thinking skills: _Math Analogies_ beginner workbook, from the Critical Thinking Company: It was a huge [...]
Or, as she calls them, Matrimonial Cake. When we visited Winnipeg last fall she made a batch of these, and they were HUGELY popular with both boys. Date squares are one of Gareth’s favourite foods, but even Daegan declared these, “The best date squares ever!” Wendy sent me the recipe in her Christmas card, and [...]
On Saturday we made the hour and a half drive to Drumheller to Gareth’s favourite place in the whole wide world: The Royal Tyrrell Museum. We did this for Daegan’s 7th birthday, and Gareth wanted to do the same for his 5th. Here he is on the petrified log, showing his age (with hand flipped [...]
Today was a gorgeous day here, with warm temps (8C / 41F—which is warm for Calgary in January!) and clear sunny skies. I wanted to get us all out for some fresh air and sunshine, so I suggested to the boys that we go for a nature walk around the neighbourhood and look for tracks [...]
Here’s one of my favourite poems from my childhood. I read it to Gareth today in honour of his birthday. Being Five by Dennis Lee (in _Garbage Delight_) I’m not exactly big, And I’m not exactly little, But being Five is best of all Because it’s in the middle. A person likes to ride his [...]