From Hawks to Fossils - Following Interests

 If he's not looking in the sky or trees for hawks, Austyn can be found outside looking all over the ground for crystals, rocks, fossils, meteors, and anything else interesting that could be found there. This is his newest interest that has only started since we've been in Ontario. We have been reading about these things and have paid for a year membership at a local museum. 

 The first time we went I took him without his sister. I think it worked out well. He loved it and asks to go back just about everyday. I took Zoe with him later, and didn't get the same reaction from her, but since it's a year membership, I think we can manage many visits that might not be as long as he wants but not so long that she is going crazy with boredom. 

The above picture is a display that shows many pieces of a meteor.

 Austyn loved checking out the dissection of a frog and other animals.

 Above Austyn is standing beside a norwal tusk. We have read about them a few times, including when we read about unicorns. People use to believe that these were unicorn horns and many people were mislead into spending a good deal of money on these tusks believing that they had medicinal qualities, until more people started to travel around the world and discovered the norwals. They pieced two and two together and overtime the Unicorn belief faded away.

Austyn is collecting many specimens of rocks, fossils, minerals, crystals, meteors, and more. He has been spending his allowence on these things.

Zoe Playing with Tikes!

After playing in the beginner level tournament and proving herself with a couple of goals, Zoe was asked to be bumped up and help out the Tikes with their game. She loved it, but wasn't plowing everyone out of the way and getting the puck as usual because she was worried that they would give her a penalty. LOL! She wasn't sure if they were more strict in that level. 

She was so happy to be there. I never thought she'd love hockey this much.

100 Book Challenge - February 2012

I think there are some missing here, but here we go. We are still not reading what we were reading as much as before we moved back to Ontario.

February Reads

1.       Aesop’s Fables for Children – 10 stories

2.       A Few Blocks by Cybele Young

3.       Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

4.       Alice: A Most Wonderful Adventure by M. L. Dunham

5.       Animalia by Graeme Base

6.       Bed Hogs by Kelly DiPucchio and Howard Fine

7.       Blue Chicken by Deborah Freedman

8.       Boo Boo Bird by Jeremy Tankard

9.       Bubblegum Delicious by Dennis Lee

10.   Call Me Ahnighito by Pam Conrad and Richard Egielski

11.   Charlie the Ranch Dog by Ree Drummond

12.   Claude’s Big Surprise by David Wojtowycz

13.   Clifford’s Good Deeds by Norman Bridwell - Audio

14.   Clorinda Takes Flight by Robert Kinerk

15.   Counting with Apollo by Caroline Gregoire

16.   Fred and Ted’s Road Trip by Peter Eastman

17.   Groundhog Gets a Say by Pamela Curtis Swallow

18.   Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

19.   Hello Baby! By Mem Fox

20.   I am Canada by Heather Patterson

21.   Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber – Audio

22.   It’s the Best Day Ever, Dad! By Brooke Shields

23.   Let’s Count Goats by Mem Fox and Jan Thomas

24.   Little Bear’s Friend by Else Holmelund Minarik - Audio

25.   Little Bunny Foo Foo by Paule Brett Johnson

26.   Little Grunt and the Big Egg by Tomie dePaola

27.   Mama Loves You by Caroline Stutson

28.   Mathew and the Midnight Flood by Allen Morgan and Michael Martchenko

29.   My Friend Rabbit by Eric Rohmann

30.   Once I Ate a Pie by Patricia MacLachlan and Emily MacLachlan

31.   One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

32.   Over in the Meadow by Louise Voce

33.   Owl Moon by jane Yolen

34.   Piggies in the Kitchen by Michelle Meadows

35.   Pinkalicious Tickled Pink by Victoria Kar

36.   Pinkalicious and the Pink Drink by Victoria Karr

37.   Play, Mozart, Play! By Peter Sis

38.   Please, Baby, Please by Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee

39.   Red is Best by Kathy Stinson

40.   Rose’s Garden by Peter H. Reynolds

41.   Skeleton Meets the Mummy by Steve Metzger

42.   Song for a Princess by Rachael Martimer

43.   Spells by Emily Gravett

44.   Such a Prince by Dan Bar-el

45.   The Big Book of Riddles by Andre Beauleu

46.   The Block Mess Monster by Betsy Howie

47.   The Cat’s Pyjamas by Catherine Foreman

48.   The Dream Carvers by Joan Clark – 5 chapters

49.   The Little Bitty Bakery by Leslie Muir

50.   The Perfect Pumpkin Pie by Denys Cazet

51.   The Queen of France by Tim Wadham

52.   The Sandcastle Contest by Robert Munsch

53.   The Scallywags by David Melling

54.   The Youngest Fairy godmother Ever  By Stephen Krensky

55.   The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman – Audio book

56.   To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda

57.   Too Loud Lily by Sofie Laguna

58.   Tuck Me In! by Dean Hacohen and Cherry Scharchmidt

59.   Up, Up, Down by Robert Munsch

60.   Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre

61.   Walk On! By Marla Frazee

62.   Wanda’s First Day by Mark Sperring

63.   Water, Weed, and Wait by Edith Hope Fine and Angela Demos Halpin

64.   Where’s Walrus? By Stephen Savage

65.   Why Do You Cry? By Kate Klinse

66.   Won Ton by Lee Wardlaw

67.   Zomo The Rabbit by Gerald McDermott

Zoe:

1.       How to be a Baby by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Sue Heap

2.       Paisley by Maggie Smith

3.       The Best Birthday Ever by Charise maricle Harper

4.       Tuck Me In! – Read on her own

Austyn:

1.       Gold Fever! By Catherine McMorrow

2.       Less Than Zero by Stuart J. Murphy

3.       Spider Man Versus Doc Ock by Acton Figueroa – Austyn Read

4.       Spider Man Versus Kraven by Susan Hill – Austyn Read

5.       The Dream Carvers by Joan Clark – 11 chapters

Book Sharing Monday - It's Me, Marva!

This was a book that took much longer than it looks to read because there are things to do with  many of the pages to see optical illusions.

What a fun way to learn about colours and illusions that happen all around us. My kids loved this book!

Email

Austyn now has email, in an attempt to bring meaning to reading, and spelling. He has been struggling with these subjects in life and really has little interest in them. To try and bring interest we set up for him to have a pen pal from Edmonton. At first he was sluggish with it, but it grew on him. His Dad also started to email him from his desk (in the other room) and he really had fun emailing him back.

I also tried to sign him up for Flat Travelers but haven't been accepted into the group still. It's been weeks! I may have to set this up with friends and just do it that way. If you don't know what Flat Travelers is, it's the homeschool version of Flat Stanley. HERE is the website, but again, they don't seem to be accepting new members.