This past weekend the family took part in one of many free “Alberta Arts Days’ celebrations around the province. We were at the Louise Riley branch of the library, where Calgary’s own ‘Birdman’, Andrew Stiles, put on a workshop. (You can read more about him at his blog here.) It was fantastic! He began with [...]
Today for homeschool the boys wrote thank you notes to Jim’s Mom who sent them Easter cards. We received them yesterday. Daegan was quite taken with the stamps and stickers on the cards, and I found this on the kitchen table this morning (the lens cover is hiding grandma’s return address): Daegan started with a [...]
Just a quick post tonight at the end of a hectic day that began with me having an interview about being a homeschool facilitator next year. All systems go! I was super-excited to learn that days spent facilitating count as teaching days—in other words, it is possible to earn one’s permanent teaching certification (which in [...]
Yesterday the boys and I did a couple simple activities around the months of the year. I was curious if the boys knew the months in order (Daegan, yes; Gareth almost all) and if they knew how many days were in each month. I started off giving this wooden puzzle to Gareth to do—my aunt [...]
A short post tonight as I am losing the battle of the head cold. This evening, Jim, with a bit of help from me and the boys, put together some storage units from IKEA that I decided were the best thing I’ve seen yet to help organize our homeschooling materials. I have to admit I [...]
I’m trying out something new with the boys for getting household chores done: simple, 5-minute alliterative jobs, like “Mirror Monday” and “Toilet Tuesday”. Yesterday the boys cleaned bathroom mirrors, today they scrubbed toilets. So far, so good—they are looking forward to “Wipe the sink” Wednesday tomorrow. Gareth, age 5, was particularly enthused with this idea. [...]
Yesterday the boys and I did the big grocery shop for the week. The boys have become quite helpful at the store, and enjoy picking out a treat or two—both healthy and non-healthy. Sure, Gareth (age 5) asked for more Corn Pops, but he also requested broccoli. I can live with that. But it’s Daegan, [...]
Today was a very productive day. Jim and I sorted through the laundry room, where TONS OF STUFF we no longer wanted or needed was waiting. We sorted it into bins for Goodwill (charity) and Sprouts (to sell at a consignment store). 5 big Rubbermaid bins and 3 bankers boxes later—to say nothing of the [...]
Last Friday the boys and I headed to Safety City, along with 40-50 other homeschoolers between the ages of 4 and 7. Safety City is a place for kids to learn about pedestrian and road safety. The boys were quite excited as we arrived, as while we do tons of outings, we don’t often meet [...]
Daegan had his last class from the winter session of Homeschool Art recently. He loved it so much he has asked to be signed up for spring session as well. We lucky enough to live within walking distance (literally a 30-second drive) of one to Calgary’s two Arts Centres, so I’ve obliged. Art was never [...]