The boys and I headed down to our local natural area / park during our recent spell of mild weather. At first, the boys played at the playground, but only after the noise from the passing train stopped: After a few more minutes, we headed off on a nature walk. Various folks on the Alberta-Birds [...]
I got the kernel of this idea from this blog, and after playing around with it a bit myself realized it connected very well with the bar graph activity Jim and Daegan did with dice last month. I began by laying out the domino parking spots, using some cards from a number / number word [...]
Daegan and I did a couple of activities with dominoes this morning, building on the activities we did with dice a few weeks ago. I began by dumping dominoes in a pile in front of him, and asking them how they were similar, and different, from dice: Daegan talked about their shape, the dots, and [...]
What a busy and fun day! We made the 3 hour drive north to Edmonton, to attend the University of Alberta’s 11th annual Science Sunday for Kids! After stopping for a quick bite to eat—and to get Jim a much needed coffee—we were off for an afternoon of geeky science fun: After parking, we followed [...]
Jim took the boys to the zoo last Sunday morning, giving me (and my ankle) a chance to rest. This was our first visit to the zoo since our decision last year not to renew our memberships, something we decided to revisit in light of the zoo’s recent decision to invite an independent inquiry into [...]
It was a beautiful afternoon on Thursday—warm, calm, and sunny—so the boys headed outside. They started in summer shoes (crocs) and shirt-sleeves, but Gareth, who has been sick this week, came back in for his light jacket. Not Daegan though. By the time Gareth and I returned outside, Daegan was in bare feet, enjoying the [...]
While not as popular as it’s cousin sudoku at present, kakuro puzzles have been around for years. They are also known by the name “cross sums”, as they are a mathematical version of the crossword puzzle. I remember enjoying them as a kid—and more complicated ones even now as an adult—and thought I’d give it [...]
Full Disclosure: The book links below are through the Amazon Affiliates Program. The first link (Canada) is to amazon.ca, the second (US) to amazon.com. If you buy a book through a link, I get more books from Amazon to sate our bibliophilic tendencies. For more book recommendations, see the “Books We Love” tab at the [...]
I was honoured to receive the Beautiful Blogger Award from Alicia of Magic and Mayhem, one of my favourite homeschool blogs. She also does the amazing feel-good parenting blog, A Magical Childhood. I am supposed to list three blogs I have found (fairly) recently that I enjoy. As most of the blogs I read are [...]
After we completed the dancing craisins experiment, Daegan had an idea for an additional activity: “Let’s put the dancing craisins in the freezer!” When I asked him why he wanted to do this—as I must admit I thought little of the idea—he said, “I’m curious what happens to bubbly [carbonated] water when it’s frozen.” So [...]