Yes, you may play outside as long as you like!
Showing posts with label Outdoor Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Outdoor Life. Show all posts
Monday, October 19, 2015
I'm So Sorry, Boys...
...but Christmas isn't for two whole months yet!
Yes, you may play outside as long as you like!
Yes, you may play outside as long as you like!
Friday, October 24, 2014
Friday, July 11, 2014
Adventures on P.E.I.: King's Castle Provincial Park
I think I've started a tradition. For my birthday a week ago I once again took the boys out for a day as tourists. We went to Eastern P.E.I., starting at King's Castle Provicial Park, then going on to Cape Bear Lighthouse, and finishing our outing with a swim at Pinette Provincial Park.
King's Castle Provincial Park is one of our very favourite places on P.E.I. It probably has very little cultural or educational value (Though you could get a very decent nature walk in.). However, if you are looking for a place to get outdoors with little children for a day, this is the place to go.
The playground equipment is always what my children gravitate to first. There is a great variety of equipment, much of it obviously old-fashioned, but no less fun for all that! There is a merry-go-round, a very high slide, an airplane teeter-totter, sandboxes, toy cars for the very little children, and so much more.
The second thing they went to explore was a large wooden fort (castle?) with walls to scale, tunnels to crawl through, and ladders to climb. While we watched, a large hare came through a tunnel. A bird singing in a nearby tree turned out to be a dark-eyed junco.
By this time they were getting hot, so we walked down to the beach. Yes, this place has a beach, too! It's not a perfect beach, as the ground is a bit rocky as you get close to the water. But there is also lots of sand, and the boys spent some time with their sand toys before going out to wade in the water.
After resting for a while in a porch swing overlooking the water (there are numerous wonderful porch swings throughout the park), we decided to check if there were any geocaches in the area. There were, and we spent quite a while trying to find them. We never did, but we did discover some neat little hidden corners of the park. Our favourite was a little play lighthouse. My boys are not really into imaginative play (in the sense that they don't tend to play-act stories or situations on their own). Children who do enjoy play-acting would probably really enjoy the fairy tale characters scattered throughout the park, together with little buildings for playing the three little pigs, for example. These characters are getting a little shabby...they seem to be relics of a by-gone era. I believe someone told me that many years ago the park was called "Fairy-land."
In the middle of our geocache hunting, we decided we needed some ice cream. The ice cream at King's Castle is not to be missed, as they practically give it away. The boys' single-scoop cones were only 50 cents each! I splurged and got a double scoop cone for a dollar (since it was my birthday and all...).
The surprising thing (I thought, anyway) is that we had the park completely to ourselves. There were only two other boys who walked over from a nearby campground who stayed for a short while. Other than that, only the mosquitoes kept us company. There were plenty of them, anyway! When we'd had enough of the mosquitoes, we decided to go on to new adventures.
We visited Cape Bear lighthouse and climbed to the top (very scary when you're carrying an almost two-year-old!). Then we began to make our way back, stopping at Pinette Provincial Park for a swim. That particular park did not seem to be maintained...the grass was not cut and the washrooms were not open. Still, we had a lovely swim, and lots of fun skipping rocks.
The playground equipment is always what my children gravitate to first. There is a great variety of equipment, much of it obviously old-fashioned, but no less fun for all that! There is a merry-go-round, a very high slide, an airplane teeter-totter, sandboxes, toy cars for the very little children, and so much more.
The second thing they went to explore was a large wooden fort (castle?) with walls to scale, tunnels to crawl through, and ladders to climb. While we watched, a large hare came through a tunnel. A bird singing in a nearby tree turned out to be a dark-eyed junco.
By this time they were getting hot, so we walked down to the beach. Yes, this place has a beach, too! It's not a perfect beach, as the ground is a bit rocky as you get close to the water. But there is also lots of sand, and the boys spent some time with their sand toys before going out to wade in the water.
After resting for a while in a porch swing overlooking the water (there are numerous wonderful porch swings throughout the park), we decided to check if there were any geocaches in the area. There were, and we spent quite a while trying to find them. We never did, but we did discover some neat little hidden corners of the park. Our favourite was a little play lighthouse. My boys are not really into imaginative play (in the sense that they don't tend to play-act stories or situations on their own). Children who do enjoy play-acting would probably really enjoy the fairy tale characters scattered throughout the park, together with little buildings for playing the three little pigs, for example. These characters are getting a little shabby...they seem to be relics of a by-gone era. I believe someone told me that many years ago the park was called "Fairy-land."
In the middle of our geocache hunting, we decided we needed some ice cream. The ice cream at King's Castle is not to be missed, as they practically give it away. The boys' single-scoop cones were only 50 cents each! I splurged and got a double scoop cone for a dollar (since it was my birthday and all...).
The surprising thing (I thought, anyway) is that we had the park completely to ourselves. There were only two other boys who walked over from a nearby campground who stayed for a short while. Other than that, only the mosquitoes kept us company. There were plenty of them, anyway! When we'd had enough of the mosquitoes, we decided to go on to new adventures.
We visited Cape Bear lighthouse and climbed to the top (very scary when you're carrying an almost two-year-old!). Then we began to make our way back, stopping at Pinette Provincial Park for a swim. That particular park did not seem to be maintained...the grass was not cut and the washrooms were not open. Still, we had a lovely swim, and lots of fun skipping rocks.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Field Trip to a P.E.I. Sugar House
A week ago, the boys and I went on a field trip with our local homeschool co-op to Woodlands Maple Syrup in Woodville Mills, PEI. We had been trying to go for a couple of weeks, but somehow between rain and other circumstances, we ended up going on the very last day of the maple syrup season (a season that only lasts a few weeks, depending on weather.).
Woodlands Maple Syrup sugar house
Our guide began our tour by taking us outside to an old maple tree of over 150 years old. (Most of their trees are not this large.) We all got to taste the sap from the tree. It tasted like sweet water, with a slight plant-like aftertaste.
He drew our attention to the tiny holes in the bark, made by sapsuckers (a type of woodpeckers). He speculated that First Nations people first discovered the sweetness of maple sap because of the insects that were attracted to the sap that came from these holes.
Even MM was interested, and he loved the taste of the sap!
With three children to keep an eye on in the crowd, I didn't hear everything our guide said, but I looked the process up later in my Handbook of Nature Study.
"The starch which is changed to sugar in the sap of early spring was made the previous season and stored within the tree. ...During the latter part of winter, the stored starch disappears, being converted into tree-food in the sap, and then begins that wonderful surging up and down of the sap tide. ...The ideal sugar weather consists of warm days and freezing nights. This change of temperature between day and night acts as a pump." (Handbook of Nature Study, p.630)Next, our guide gave us all a taste of maple syrup in our little cups. My boys did not enjoy this as much...they found it too sweet to drink straight!
He explained to us that the first maple syrup of the season is very light-coloured, and it gets darker as the season progresses. He didn't explain why, but my trusty Handbook of Nature Study explained that "During the first part of a typical sugar season, more sap comes from above down than from below up; toward the end of the season, during poor sap days, there is more sap coming up from below than down from above."
At Woodlands Maple Syrup, they use the time-honoured tap and bucket system, and go around with their tractor and collect the sap from all their buckets into a larger holding tank. From the holding tank, a hose carries the sap to their wood-fired evaporator inside the sugar house.
Inside the sugar house
The evaporator has three compartments. The first one is the largest. It is wide and shallow. Once enough water has evaporated, the sap goes into the second, then is finished in the third compartment. When the right temperature is reached, the tap is opened and the syrup is strained into a collection container. From there, it is taken and tested to make sure it meets the Canadian standards for concentration. It can take forty litres of sap to make one litre of syrup!
We bought a half-litre bottle of maple syrup, and had it on our whole wheat pancakes for supper that evening.
I will be sharing this post with Nature Study Monday at Fisher Academy International for their May link-up.
Monday, April 21, 2014
Charlotte Mason and Preschool Priorities 1: The Outdoor Life for the Children
I've been outlining the ways Charlotte Mason has been a blessing to me as a mother of preschoolers. Last time I wrote about how she has encouraged me to be the best mother and educator I can be. This time I want to begin to share how Charlotte Mason has helped me set my priorities in my day-to-day life with preschoolers. There are a few areas where she has helped me with this, but one of the most significant has been her emphasis on "the out-of-door life for the children."
"In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother's first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air." (Vol. 1: Home Education, p. 43)
The "extraordinary pressure" Charlotte Mason talks about is certainly no less now than it was in her time. Preschool children all around us are doing more, and better...they must know their alphabet and their phonics sounds before ever beginning Kindergarten, they must count to 20, they must develop their fine motor skills by creating paper crafts using scissors and glue, and on and on it goes. It can be easy to go along with these expectations if your child is able to do all these things, or feel guilty and inadequate if your child is not achieving as well as your neighbour's preschooler. Charlotte Mason gives us permission to leave all these pressures and expectations behind. (Though she does leave us with another set of expectations, but it is a much more delightful one, I promise!)
1. Gladness and joy. She urges mothers to make it their goal "that every [hour] shall be delightful." This does not mean that mothers need to entertain their children outdoors. It has more to do with the fact that in taking their children outdoors, mothers are introducing their children to things so interesting that they never have any reason to be bored.
2. Health. A healthy body is very important to Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education. She makes much of the benefits of fresh air and sunshine.
3. Time and space for children to wonder and grow. Children should be left to themselves a good deal so they can explore, or observe quietly, or play vigorously.
4. First-hand knowledge of the world around them. This direct observation and handling of things is the foundation of the "Science of Relations" that education is, and is worth far more than learning the alphabet at age three. "Set the child to definite work by all means, and give him something to grind. But, pray, let him work with things and not with signs--the things of Nature in their own places, meadow and hedgerow, woods and shore." (HE, p. 55-56)
"Now is the storing time which should be spent in laying up images of things familiar. By-and-by he will have to conceive of things he has never seen: how can he do it except by comparison with things he has seen and knows? By-and-by he will be called upon to reflect, understand, reason; what material will he have, unless he has a magazine of facts to go upon?" (HE, p. 66)
5. Opportunity for training children in habits of careful observation and attention. "Consider, too, what an unequalled mental training the child-naturalist is getting for any study or calling under the sun--the powers of attention, of discrimination, of patient pursuit, growing with his growth, what will they not fit him for?" (HE, p. 61)
6. Development of a sense of beauty. Charlotte Mason quotes a Dr. Morell saying, "All those who have shown a remarkable appreciation of form and beauty date their first impressions from a period lying far behind the existence of definite ideas or verbal instruction." (HE, p. 68)
7. Natural opportunity for learning science, geography, weather, astronomy, measurement, finding direction, making maps, and speaking a second language. Charlotte Mason gives specific methods to introduce your children to all these ideas without talking too much. "..an occasional 'Look!' an attentive examination of the object on the mother's own part, a name given, a remark--a dozen words long--made at the right moment, and the children have begun a new acquaintance which they will prosecute for themselves;..."
8. Training in "pluck, daring, and resource" (provided, of course, that mothers do not hover, and do allow their children to try risky things like climbing trees.)
I really love Charlotte Mason's balance for mothers of "masterly inactivity" (letting the children alone to play and explore) and purposeful (but gentle) method in introducing children to nature. It provides some variety in our outdoor time as well. We still do not spend as many hours outdoors as Charlotte Mason recommends (our winter climate is slightly more extreme, for one thing...), but we have begun, and I see this as a long-term goal. We spent time outdoors almost every day last winter, many times more than an hour. Before Charlotte Mason, I was more of a hibernator. She has really challenged me, and our home is the better for it. I am planning to work up to reaching her recommended four to six hours every fine day as the weather grows warmer.
"In this time of extraordinary pressure, educational and social, perhaps a mother's first duty to her children is to secure for them a quiet growing time, a full six years of passive receptive life, the waking part of it spent for the most part out in the fresh air." (Vol. 1: Home Education, p. 43)
The "extraordinary pressure" Charlotte Mason talks about is certainly no less now than it was in her time. Preschool children all around us are doing more, and better...they must know their alphabet and their phonics sounds before ever beginning Kindergarten, they must count to 20, they must develop their fine motor skills by creating paper crafts using scissors and glue, and on and on it goes. It can be easy to go along with these expectations if your child is able to do all these things, or feel guilty and inadequate if your child is not achieving as well as your neighbour's preschooler. Charlotte Mason gives us permission to leave all these pressures and expectations behind. (Though she does leave us with another set of expectations, but it is a much more delightful one, I promise!)
"Never be within doors when you can rightly be without." (HE, p. 42)What are the benefits of all this outdoor time? Here are some of the ones Charlotte Mason mentions:
1. Gladness and joy. She urges mothers to make it their goal "that every [hour] shall be delightful." This does not mean that mothers need to entertain their children outdoors. It has more to do with the fact that in taking their children outdoors, mothers are introducing their children to things so interesting that they never have any reason to be bored.
2. Health. A healthy body is very important to Charlotte Mason's philosophy of education. She makes much of the benefits of fresh air and sunshine.
3. Time and space for children to wonder and grow. Children should be left to themselves a good deal so they can explore, or observe quietly, or play vigorously.
4. First-hand knowledge of the world around them. This direct observation and handling of things is the foundation of the "Science of Relations" that education is, and is worth far more than learning the alphabet at age three. "Set the child to definite work by all means, and give him something to grind. But, pray, let him work with things and not with signs--the things of Nature in their own places, meadow and hedgerow, woods and shore." (HE, p. 55-56)
"Now is the storing time which should be spent in laying up images of things familiar. By-and-by he will have to conceive of things he has never seen: how can he do it except by comparison with things he has seen and knows? By-and-by he will be called upon to reflect, understand, reason; what material will he have, unless he has a magazine of facts to go upon?" (HE, p. 66)
5. Opportunity for training children in habits of careful observation and attention. "Consider, too, what an unequalled mental training the child-naturalist is getting for any study or calling under the sun--the powers of attention, of discrimination, of patient pursuit, growing with his growth, what will they not fit him for?" (HE, p. 61)
6. Development of a sense of beauty. Charlotte Mason quotes a Dr. Morell saying, "All those who have shown a remarkable appreciation of form and beauty date their first impressions from a period lying far behind the existence of definite ideas or verbal instruction." (HE, p. 68)
7. Natural opportunity for learning science, geography, weather, astronomy, measurement, finding direction, making maps, and speaking a second language. Charlotte Mason gives specific methods to introduce your children to all these ideas without talking too much. "..an occasional 'Look!' an attentive examination of the object on the mother's own part, a name given, a remark--a dozen words long--made at the right moment, and the children have begun a new acquaintance which they will prosecute for themselves;..."
8. Training in "pluck, daring, and resource" (provided, of course, that mothers do not hover, and do allow their children to try risky things like climbing trees.)
I really love Charlotte Mason's balance for mothers of "masterly inactivity" (letting the children alone to play and explore) and purposeful (but gentle) method in introducing children to nature. It provides some variety in our outdoor time as well. We still do not spend as many hours outdoors as Charlotte Mason recommends (our winter climate is slightly more extreme, for one thing...), but we have begun, and I see this as a long-term goal. We spent time outdoors almost every day last winter, many times more than an hour. Before Charlotte Mason, I was more of a hibernator. She has really challenged me, and our home is the better for it. I am planning to work up to reaching her recommended four to six hours every fine day as the weather grows warmer.
Saturday, April 12, 2014
Saturday Funnies
My children have a habit of waking up early every morning. We don't let them get up until Stephen's alarm rings at 6:45, though. The problem with that is, until the alarm rings, I hear "What time is it now, Mama?"
"6:35, SA. Still 10 more minutes."
"What time is it now, Mama?"
"6:40."
"Mama, when it's 6:45 on your watch, it will be 6:42 on Papa's phone."
(Hmmm...somebody has noticed that my watch is a little ahead! It's my strategy for getting anywhere on time.)
"...and it will be 6:45 on the clock on the stove."
(Yep, it enhances the effect when all the clocks in the house are a few minutes ahead. But he noticed that the time on the cell phone is different, and by how many minutes.)
The charger for our laptop computer was not working very well for us this week, and we noticed it was getting hot as well. "Does that mean it's toasted?" asked SA.
We have been trying to get our time outdoors up again with 1000hoursoutside.com, and so we made a couple trips to the playground at the local elementary school this week. As we were walking back on Friday, SA was talking about how it was too bad he'd missed his "screen time" that day.
"That's OK," I said. "I will let you have 15 minutes of screen time while I get supper ready."
JJ was very excited. "I have an idea! We could go on the X-Box and play a two-player game!"
SA clearly had other intentions for his screen time, but he wasn't giving them away.
"That's a thought," he replied noncommittally (and diplomatically!). And said nothing more.
"6:35, SA. Still 10 more minutes."
"What time is it now, Mama?"
"6:40."
"Mama, when it's 6:45 on your watch, it will be 6:42 on Papa's phone."
(Hmmm...somebody has noticed that my watch is a little ahead! It's my strategy for getting anywhere on time.)
"...and it will be 6:45 on the clock on the stove."
(Yep, it enhances the effect when all the clocks in the house are a few minutes ahead. But he noticed that the time on the cell phone is different, and by how many minutes.)
The charger for our laptop computer was not working very well for us this week, and we noticed it was getting hot as well. "Does that mean it's toasted?" asked SA.
We have been trying to get our time outdoors up again with 1000hoursoutside.com, and so we made a couple trips to the playground at the local elementary school this week. As we were walking back on Friday, SA was talking about how it was too bad he'd missed his "screen time" that day.
"That's OK," I said. "I will let you have 15 minutes of screen time while I get supper ready."
JJ was very excited. "I have an idea! We could go on the X-Box and play a two-player game!"
SA clearly had other intentions for his screen time, but he wasn't giving them away.
"That's a thought," he replied noncommittally (and diplomatically!). And said nothing more.
Saturday, January 11, 2014
Saturday Commonplaces 6
A newsletter with random thoughts and happenings from my week.
Cuteness
I was putting MM down for his nap yesterday morning. Before I went upstairs, I told the boys to clean up because it was almost teatime. Well, I took so long up there that my boys decided to take matters into their own hands. I came down to this:
The teakettle on the table was the work of my five-year-old, and the bananas and pickles were carefully prepared by my three-year-old. He carefully got out our pretty china plate (we use it every day for teatime). He peeled a banana and cut it into fourths. He left the other piece off the plate because there were only going to be the three of us at tea. Then he got the pickle jar from the fridge and speared three fat pickles and put them beside the bananas. Yum! I was properly grateful, and only added some cheese and crackers to eat with the pickles.
Outdoor Life
I debated not admitting this here, but I have to be honest. We only spent three and a half hours outside this week. My excuse was the sheet of ice everywhere after Monday's rain. Tuesday I sent the boys out (kept the baby in with me) and spent the time in fear as they boldly scaled the hard-as-rock mountain of snow with their sled and went hurtling down towards the sheet of ice at the bottom. I greeted their return indoors fifteen minutes later with barely concealed relief. Wednesday I bundled up the baby and went out with them, but even so we only stayed out for half an hour. MM actually loved holding my hands and sliding. Thursday I finally decided to embrace the ice, since it was what we had, and put the boys' new skates on them. We hauled a kitchen chair out to the ice, and they had their first ever experience on skates. SA was very keen on it, and we did it again on Friday.
I've been thinking, though, a year ago I would have used the ice as an excuse to spend the week indoors. Though I didn't reach anywhere near my goal this week (ten hours), I did better than if I had no goal at all.
Habits
I was planning to work on the habit of attention this month, but some more urgent things have come up. Persistence is something I've had to teach a lot about this week. I prepared SA well for learning to skate. I told him he'd fall a lot at first, everyone does. He'd just have to get up again. He accepted this wholeheartedly, and is counting up his falls. ("How many falls until I'll be able to skate, Mama?" "I don't know...maybe twenty?") So far he has counted six falls. (He's still using a chair.) Another habit we need to start working on is self-control. JJ has a quick temper, and is in the habit of throwing things the instant he feels upset. He calms down fairly quickly afterwards, but somehow we have to work on that moment when he first loses his temper. I'm not sure how to help him get ahold of himself (any ideas?), but I'm sure we'll learn together.
Blogging
I've done some more reading lessons with SA that I hope to put up soon. I'm also working on reading Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series following a discussion schedule at Ambleside Online. I'm going to try to post my notes for that. So much to post, so little time... but of course real life comes first.
Cuteness
I was putting MM down for his nap yesterday morning. Before I went upstairs, I told the boys to clean up because it was almost teatime. Well, I took so long up there that my boys decided to take matters into their own hands. I came down to this:
The teakettle on the table was the work of my five-year-old, and the bananas and pickles were carefully prepared by my three-year-old. He carefully got out our pretty china plate (we use it every day for teatime). He peeled a banana and cut it into fourths. He left the other piece off the plate because there were only going to be the three of us at tea. Then he got the pickle jar from the fridge and speared three fat pickles and put them beside the bananas. Yum! I was properly grateful, and only added some cheese and crackers to eat with the pickles.
Outdoor Life
I debated not admitting this here, but I have to be honest. We only spent three and a half hours outside this week. My excuse was the sheet of ice everywhere after Monday's rain. Tuesday I sent the boys out (kept the baby in with me) and spent the time in fear as they boldly scaled the hard-as-rock mountain of snow with their sled and went hurtling down towards the sheet of ice at the bottom. I greeted their return indoors fifteen minutes later with barely concealed relief. Wednesday I bundled up the baby and went out with them, but even so we only stayed out for half an hour. MM actually loved holding my hands and sliding. Thursday I finally decided to embrace the ice, since it was what we had, and put the boys' new skates on them. We hauled a kitchen chair out to the ice, and they had their first ever experience on skates. SA was very keen on it, and we did it again on Friday.
I've been thinking, though, a year ago I would have used the ice as an excuse to spend the week indoors. Though I didn't reach anywhere near my goal this week (ten hours), I did better than if I had no goal at all.
Habits
I was planning to work on the habit of attention this month, but some more urgent things have come up. Persistence is something I've had to teach a lot about this week. I prepared SA well for learning to skate. I told him he'd fall a lot at first, everyone does. He'd just have to get up again. He accepted this wholeheartedly, and is counting up his falls. ("How many falls until I'll be able to skate, Mama?" "I don't know...maybe twenty?") So far he has counted six falls. (He's still using a chair.) Another habit we need to start working on is self-control. JJ has a quick temper, and is in the habit of throwing things the instant he feels upset. He calms down fairly quickly afterwards, but somehow we have to work on that moment when he first loses his temper. I'm not sure how to help him get ahold of himself (any ideas?), but I'm sure we'll learn together.
Blogging
I've done some more reading lessons with SA that I hope to put up soon. I'm also working on reading Charlotte Mason's Original Homeschooling Series following a discussion schedule at Ambleside Online. I'm going to try to post my notes for that. So much to post, so little time... but of course real life comes first.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Five Things I Learned from my First Term of Homeschooling
1. I learned that my little children (age 5 and 3) are much better at memorization than I realized! We learned a couple of Bible passages and several hymns. One important thing I realized is that they really need to be able to grasp the basic meaning of what they are memorizing. I taught them the first verse of "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" at the beginning of the term (the Ambleside Online selection for that month), and it has not really stuck with them. By contrast, "There is a Happy Land" with its simplicity, short verses, and upbeat melody was much more enjoyable (and therefore more memorable) for them.
2. I learned that taking the time to develop even the simplest habits in my children makes my days much easier. My eldest child now automatically gets dressed before breakfast, has independent bathroom habits, and doesn't feel right about sitting down to teatime if he hasn't picked up his toys. (Though we're still working on speed and occasionally attitude in that last habit...)
3. I learned that it is worthwhile to at least consider what Charlotte Mason has to say, even in areas where she challenges my strongly held preconceived ideas. This happened in teaching SA to read this term. He has made so much progress, and it has been because I engaged his interest with interesting stories to read (and taught him the sight words he needed to learn to read them) rather than continuing with more and more pure phonics. We still do phonics, but it serves the purpose of learning to read more interesting stories.
4. I learned that a daily morning ritual of tea and poetry is calming and grounding for everyone. No matter how wild our morning has been, it will all be okay at teatime. To my surprise, this has become one of the most important parts of our day. Even if the boys learned nothing at all from the rich language of the poetry we read, Poetry Teatime would still be worth doing for us.
5. I learned how important plenty of outdoor play is for my children right now, during their young years. I started the term very eager to get on with reading and math (After all, I've been planning to homeschool for years now!). Slowly, as I read Charlotte Mason and blogs like 1000 Hours Outside, my priorities shifted. I am in less of a hurry to push the academics now (though we continue with our short reading and math lessons), and am making more of an effort to get outside every day, and for as much time as works for us.
I'm so thankful I began to blog before this first term began. I have recorded so many joyful memories of nature walks and reading lessons, of thoughts and sayings. It has been a happy beginning of homeschooling for us.
Saturday, December 28, 2013
Saturday Commonplaces 5
A random collection of thoughts and happenings from my week.
Stephen's Testimony at the Gideon National Convention 2013
Stephen had the opportunity to give his testimony at the Gideon 2013 National Convention last July. We recently got the DVD's. I just discovered that it has been on YouTube as well since October. So here it is!
Christmas Baking
I made a number of new recipes leading up to this Christmas. These were my favourites.
Speculaas Spices
This is an essential spice mix for Dutch baking. This recipe is the best I've tried. It may have helped that this is the first year that I've managed to find every one of the ingredients. I couldn't find ground anise, but I crushed the whole seeds and used 1/2 tsp instead of 1/5 tsp, and that worked fine. I also used 1/4 tsp for each of the other ingredients that called for 1/5 tsp. 1/5 of a teaspoon is just too complicated for me to figure out! I used the spices in my kruidnoten (below) and in some fun shortbread owls.
Kruidnoten (Dutch "Gingerbread Nuts")
I made these for our homeschool co-op cookie exchange. I made a double recipe, and used 1 whole egg instead of 2 egg whites. I realized belatedly that the egg was for brushing on top, not for in the dough. They turned out excellent, though. I found the required coarse, dark brown sugar at Bulk Barn (I think it was called "Demarara style."). I skipped the orange zest, though it would probably have been delicious.
Raspberry Almond Thumbprints
The almond icing makes these special (I only used half of the icing recipe). I made it a little stiffer than drizzling consistency, put it in a bag, cut off the corner, and squeezed. The boys loved helping with these cookies: rolling little balls, making thumbprints, adding jam with a little teaspoon. I might make some with apricot jam next time as well.
Millionaire Shortbread
This is a rare case where my finished product looked as wonderful as the pictures on Pinterest. I had no corn syrup, so I substituted 1/2 tsp cream of tartar in the caramel. (Yes, really! Thank you David Lebovitz.) I substituted honey in the chocolate. I also used half the amount of butter in the chocolate...somehow 1 stick seemed like a lot for 8 ounces of chocolate. I went with my gut on that one, and it worked out well.
Outdoor Time
With Christmas being this week, we have once again fallen short of our goals. No matter, we will begin again next week!
Sun. (snowstorm) 0 hours
Mon. .5 hour
Tue. 1.25 hours
Wed. .5 hour
Thu. 1.25 hours
Fri. 2 hours
Sat. TBD
Schedule
I am extremely proud of this accomplishment. I think I've mentioned before that I am not a "crafty" person. I made up a schedule of our day with notecards, pencil crayons, string, and clothespins. I got the idea from Bobby Jo over at Where the Blacktop Ends.
I even drew some little illustrations. Go me!
Stephen's Testimony at the Gideon National Convention 2013
Stephen had the opportunity to give his testimony at the Gideon 2013 National Convention last July. We recently got the DVD's. I just discovered that it has been on YouTube as well since October. So here it is!
Christmas Baking
I made a number of new recipes leading up to this Christmas. These were my favourites.
Speculaas Spices
This is an essential spice mix for Dutch baking. This recipe is the best I've tried. It may have helped that this is the first year that I've managed to find every one of the ingredients. I couldn't find ground anise, but I crushed the whole seeds and used 1/2 tsp instead of 1/5 tsp, and that worked fine. I also used 1/4 tsp for each of the other ingredients that called for 1/5 tsp. 1/5 of a teaspoon is just too complicated for me to figure out! I used the spices in my kruidnoten (below) and in some fun shortbread owls.
Kruidnoten (Dutch "Gingerbread Nuts")
I made these for our homeschool co-op cookie exchange. I made a double recipe, and used 1 whole egg instead of 2 egg whites. I realized belatedly that the egg was for brushing on top, not for in the dough. They turned out excellent, though. I found the required coarse, dark brown sugar at Bulk Barn (I think it was called "Demarara style."). I skipped the orange zest, though it would probably have been delicious.
Raspberry Almond Thumbprints
The almond icing makes these special (I only used half of the icing recipe). I made it a little stiffer than drizzling consistency, put it in a bag, cut off the corner, and squeezed. The boys loved helping with these cookies: rolling little balls, making thumbprints, adding jam with a little teaspoon. I might make some with apricot jam next time as well.
Millionaire Shortbread
This is a rare case where my finished product looked as wonderful as the pictures on Pinterest. I had no corn syrup, so I substituted 1/2 tsp cream of tartar in the caramel. (Yes, really! Thank you David Lebovitz.) I substituted honey in the chocolate. I also used half the amount of butter in the chocolate...somehow 1 stick seemed like a lot for 8 ounces of chocolate. I went with my gut on that one, and it worked out well.
Outdoor Time
With Christmas being this week, we have once again fallen short of our goals. No matter, we will begin again next week!
Sun. (snowstorm) 0 hours
Mon. .5 hour
Tue. 1.25 hours
Wed. .5 hour
Thu. 1.25 hours
Fri. 2 hours
Sat. TBD
Schedule
I am extremely proud of this accomplishment. I think I've mentioned before that I am not a "crafty" person. I made up a schedule of our day with notecards, pencil crayons, string, and clothespins. I got the idea from Bobby Jo over at Where the Blacktop Ends.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Saturday Commonplaces 4
A collection of random thoughts and happenings from my week.
Outdoor Time Log
We did better than the last two weeks, but still did not meet our target of 10 hours. We still have today, though the forecast is calling for 6-8 hours worth of ice rain. I'm hoping to clear a bit more snow before then, as the family vehicle is still snowed in since Wednesday's snowstorm.
Sun. Snowstorm, 0 Hours
Mon. .5 Hour
Tue. 1.5 Hours
Wed. Snowstorm, 1 Hour
Thu. 1.5 Hours
Fri. 2 Hours
So that's a total of 6.5 Hours this week. Hopefully I can bump it up to 7.5 today.
Adventures of a Baby in the Snow
MM is 17 months old now. It has been a real challenge for me to take him to play outside with the boys, and not just because the snow has been deep enough to bury him up to his neck the last few days. The child will not keep his mittens on. I put them on, he takes them off. I put them on. He takes them off. I leave them off, hoping he will notice his hands getting cold and want them back on. His hands get cold. He cries. I put the mittens back on. He takes them off. He cries more. This is not an issue a cord between the mittens will fix. True, the cord keeps him from losing them, but not from taking them off in the first place. So, being a mom of the 21st Century, I googled "keeping mittens on a toddler." And the solution is...(drum roll please): DUCT TAPE!!! I couldn't find any around, but I found a roll of Tuck Tape (the red kind). For our second time outside today, I put his mittens on, then taped around his wrists. It didn't quite keep him from taking his mittens off, but it sure kept him busy. It also took him a lot longer to get them off, so I could do more shoveling.
Anyway, with the "crying-because-my-hands-are-cold" off the table as an excuse to go back inside, he had to come up with something else once he was tired of being outside. And he did. About an hour after we went outside, he came and looked up at me.
"Pee-pee," he said loudly.
I looked at him. "Do you need a clean diaper?"
He deliberately nodded his head. Then, for good measure, he pointed to his diaper area and squatted.
I had a feeling I was being manipulated, but since it was getting dark as well, we went inside.
On Music
I watched a music documentary on Netflix last week called "Herbie Hancock: Possibilities." Now I'm not normally a jazz fan (Classical, folk, and blues are more my style), but I really enjoyed it. It's a documentary of Herbie Hancock's collaboration with a number of different artists, including Carlos Santana and Angelique Kidjo, Sting, and Paul Simon, and Christina Aguilera. My favourite was Annie Lennox singing Paula Cole's "Hush, Hush, Hush." If you are into music, you might enjoy this documentary. I love how really good musicians continue to grow and try new things as they age. People like Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, to name a few, just seem to get better and better.
Also on music, we have been continuing to watch Handel's Messiah on YouTube. Now that it's part of the routine, SA always makes sure we listen to our "Christmas music." Yesterday after we watched, I asked them if maybe they'd like to play the violin someday. SA had to think about it (Which one is the violin, anyway? No, Stephen and I have not been playing our violins enough in recent years.), but JJ was off like a shot to get one of Stephen's violins. I tuned it up and helped each of them hold it in turn. Of course it was much too big for them. SA produced the squawks and squeaks you'd expect from someone holding a violin for the first time. Surprisingly, though, JJ had amazing control of his bow hand, and not only had beautiful tone, but played each open string as he pleased. I still don't know for sure that he's not tone deaf (He doesn't sing on key), but if he's not, playing the violin may turn out to be something that comes easily for him. We'll see.
On Fancy
SA came out with something quite imaginative yesterday. I know many kids (especially girls?) have great imaginations, but SA isn't really given to flights of fancy.
"Mama, Mango (our cat) wanted to go outside, and I let him outside. I said to him, 'Mango, if you see a wolf outside, climb up into a high tree, higher than the wolf, so that the wolf can't get you.'"
On a Charlotte Mason Education
I have never intended to give my children a classical education. Classical homeschoolers have always intimidated me. The academic rigour, the trivium, the Latin and Greek...it all sounded like too much, and quite frankly, not my style. Give me Charlotte Mason, I thought...a gentle approach, yet one that is broad and rich and takes the child's personality and interests deliberately into account. However, I'm starting to realize that a Charlotte Mason education is a classical education. Last week I read this article by Andrew Kern on classical education and realized that all of the key attributes he claims for a classical Christian education are also true of a Charlotte Mason education. There are differences in the practicalities, but I think that the roots are the same.
Outdoor Time Log
We did better than the last two weeks, but still did not meet our target of 10 hours. We still have today, though the forecast is calling for 6-8 hours worth of ice rain. I'm hoping to clear a bit more snow before then, as the family vehicle is still snowed in since Wednesday's snowstorm.
Sun. Snowstorm, 0 Hours
Mon. .5 Hour
Tue. 1.5 Hours
Wed. Snowstorm, 1 Hour
Thu. 1.5 Hours
Fri. 2 Hours
So that's a total of 6.5 Hours this week. Hopefully I can bump it up to 7.5 today.
Adventures of a Baby in the Snow
MM is 17 months old now. It has been a real challenge for me to take him to play outside with the boys, and not just because the snow has been deep enough to bury him up to his neck the last few days. The child will not keep his mittens on. I put them on, he takes them off. I put them on. He takes them off. I leave them off, hoping he will notice his hands getting cold and want them back on. His hands get cold. He cries. I put the mittens back on. He takes them off. He cries more. This is not an issue a cord between the mittens will fix. True, the cord keeps him from losing them, but not from taking them off in the first place. So, being a mom of the 21st Century, I googled "keeping mittens on a toddler." And the solution is...(drum roll please): DUCT TAPE!!! I couldn't find any around, but I found a roll of Tuck Tape (the red kind). For our second time outside today, I put his mittens on, then taped around his wrists. It didn't quite keep him from taking his mittens off, but it sure kept him busy. It also took him a lot longer to get them off, so I could do more shoveling.
Anyway, with the "crying-because-my-hands-are-cold" off the table as an excuse to go back inside, he had to come up with something else once he was tired of being outside. And he did. About an hour after we went outside, he came and looked up at me.
"Pee-pee," he said loudly.
I looked at him. "Do you need a clean diaper?"
He deliberately nodded his head. Then, for good measure, he pointed to his diaper area and squatted.
I had a feeling I was being manipulated, but since it was getting dark as well, we went inside.
On Music
I watched a music documentary on Netflix last week called "Herbie Hancock: Possibilities." Now I'm not normally a jazz fan (Classical, folk, and blues are more my style), but I really enjoyed it. It's a documentary of Herbie Hancock's collaboration with a number of different artists, including Carlos Santana and Angelique Kidjo, Sting, and Paul Simon, and Christina Aguilera. My favourite was Annie Lennox singing Paula Cole's "Hush, Hush, Hush." If you are into music, you might enjoy this documentary. I love how really good musicians continue to grow and try new things as they age. People like Paul Simon, Eric Clapton, James Taylor, to name a few, just seem to get better and better.
Also on music, we have been continuing to watch Handel's Messiah on YouTube. Now that it's part of the routine, SA always makes sure we listen to our "Christmas music." Yesterday after we watched, I asked them if maybe they'd like to play the violin someday. SA had to think about it (Which one is the violin, anyway? No, Stephen and I have not been playing our violins enough in recent years.), but JJ was off like a shot to get one of Stephen's violins. I tuned it up and helped each of them hold it in turn. Of course it was much too big for them. SA produced the squawks and squeaks you'd expect from someone holding a violin for the first time. Surprisingly, though, JJ had amazing control of his bow hand, and not only had beautiful tone, but played each open string as he pleased. I still don't know for sure that he's not tone deaf (He doesn't sing on key), but if he's not, playing the violin may turn out to be something that comes easily for him. We'll see.
On Fancy
SA came out with something quite imaginative yesterday. I know many kids (especially girls?) have great imaginations, but SA isn't really given to flights of fancy.
"Mama, Mango (our cat) wanted to go outside, and I let him outside. I said to him, 'Mango, if you see a wolf outside, climb up into a high tree, higher than the wolf, so that the wolf can't get you.'"
On a Charlotte Mason Education
I have never intended to give my children a classical education. Classical homeschoolers have always intimidated me. The academic rigour, the trivium, the Latin and Greek...it all sounded like too much, and quite frankly, not my style. Give me Charlotte Mason, I thought...a gentle approach, yet one that is broad and rich and takes the child's personality and interests deliberately into account. However, I'm starting to realize that a Charlotte Mason education is a classical education. Last week I read this article by Andrew Kern on classical education and realized that all of the key attributes he claims for a classical Christian education are also true of a Charlotte Mason education. There are differences in the practicalities, but I think that the roots are the same.
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Printable Outdoor Time Log
I have decided to set my own goals for this winter. I am not as ambitious (yet!) as the ladies over at 1000 Hours Outside. (Head over there for exciting challenges and contests to get you motivated to get outdoors.) I've tried to set a realistic goal for my family of 10 hours per week, and perhaps once we've done that for a while, we can build on that. I have created an Outdoor Time Log to keep track of our hours outside. Feel free to print and use it if it's helpful to you.
I think setting goals and keeping track are going to be essential to our success in this goal, especially in these winter months!
How about you? How much time do your children spend outdoors weekly? Do you need to set some goals for outdoor time? What are some of your challenges in this area, and how do you overcome them?
Monday, December 9, 2013
Nature Walk Photo Dump
Last week Tuesday we went to Brudenell River for a nature walk. We've been there before in the summer, but this is the first time we've been there in December. It was surprisingly warm (Maybe 12 degrees?). There was no wind, and the water was still. We stood and watched a grey squirrel for a while. Then we walked along the beach until we reached the little "island" with the pioneer cemetery.
The next day we had a snow storm...cold, winds gusting to 100 km/hour, and snow. I guess we managed to take advantage of the calm before the storm!
The next day we had a snow storm...cold, winds gusting to 100 km/hour, and snow. I guess we managed to take advantage of the calm before the storm!
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