Book Sharing Monday - Animalia

 This is a book we've borrowed and read many times since we have moved back to Ontario. I'm not sure why it's a favourite, but it could be the cool pictures and the interesting alphabetical descriptions.

Zoe usually is the one bringing this book home. Austyn's favourite page is the one on dragons.

We discovered, after reading this book a few times, that there is a child hiding in every picture. My kids love looking for hidden things in pictures, so they loved this book even more then they already loved it.

Book Sharing Monday - Hush, Little Dragon

I'm sure you remember that beautiful lullaby. You know the one... Hush little baby…  don't say a word... Well we have a dragon lover in our house and a child who loves books with song so this book was a nice match for us. Boni Ashburn did a great job on re-writing this classic lullaby.



Book Sharing Monday - ScaryPeople

The Little Bit Scary People by Emily Jenkins is a book that teaches that even though someone might seem scary or different the person is a person like anyone else and when they go home they do the same things that anyone would do. They are just like you and I.

I have a child who tends to get scared of some people and this is a great way to talk about and learn that everyone is the same, but sometimes we perceive them as scary.

Book Sharing Monday - The Flea's Sneeze

The Flea's Sneeze did so much more than you would think. There is a fun chain of reaction here that my kids loved. The illustrated animals make this story so fun.

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!

Book Sharing Monday - Dragons and Unicorns

Over the past couple of years Austyn has been a bit obsessed with dragons. He has even created diagrams of how he believes they blow fire. He has invented/discovered many dragons and even started a visual manual/guide that is always growing.

While browsing the books at the library I came across this book. It turned out to be a great find for us. We didn't read the unicorn section yet, but the dragon section is spectacular. It is set up as a natural guide to learning just about everything you would want to know about dragons. One of the parts we particularly enjoyed was how they blew fire. We compared and contrasted the information in this book to what Austyn had put together and found it very interesting. 

Book Sharing Monday - Falling for Rapunzel

 Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox is a funny twist on the Classic Story Rapunzel. Zoe and Austyn got a good laugh reading this story.

 Rupunzel doesn't hear the prince correctly when he hollers up to her and due to the miscommunication she throws many things down to him, including underwear. Everyone needs a good laugh now and then!

Book Sharing Monday - Monkey Business

 Have you ever heard of  idioms? This is a good book to learn what they are. The definition is in the front of the book, but basically an idoism is when you use words to explain or express something but the words are usually used to explain or express something else. For example, kicked the bucket would mean someone died or if someone tied the knot they got married.

 Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards is an interesting and funny book that takes idioms and shows them in a more literal light. So if someone rises to the occasion it really happens!

The Great Backyard Bird Count

If you are interested in birds as much as we are, you'll love to get involved. The Great Backyard Bird Count will be held from February 17th to 20th. There is an instructional video to show you how to do it. Find out more about it and join in for The Great Backyard Bird Count HERE.

Book Sharing Monday - The Trouble With Dragons

 If you talk about the importance of doing things that protect the environment this book is a wonderful choice to read to your children.

This story is all about how dragons took over the world and mistreated it. They disliked the changes and needed to learn how to be more friendly to their world so that it was a happier place to live. 

Book Sharing Monday - When It's Six O'Clock In San Francisco

 For Mystery Class this was a recommended read.

It was a pleasant surprise when we read it and found that it was a story of many people, all at the same time, at different locations around the world, but the time at each location was different. It gave a glimpse to those moments in each child's life.

Less Blogging

We've been looking for somewhere to live. It's been a much more difficult task than we thought it would be. We are narrowing the scope and may have a more final decision soon. Blogging will likely seem slower right now since we are in and out so much and we are trying to implement a different type of bedtime with the kids. Changes sometimes equal less blogging. I'll keep blogging but there may not be as many posts as I like.

For those who don't know our situation. We are living with relatives in a small farm house in Southern Ontario. We moved here last minute from Edmonton, Alberta to be closer to my Dad who has cancer. We have been here for months. Homeschooling has been a challenge. Wish us luck!

Book Sharing Monday - Chester

 Melanie Watt has such a great sense of humour. My kids love Chester and his funny power struggles to take over the story. He tries to change the authors words and she tries to get the story back.

In the end Chester is usually more sorry than the author and we are all laughing hysterically! This is a funny, feel-good book that you really should share with your kids.

Nature Study Continued

 While comparing differnt textures of bark we noticed fungus growing.

 Some of the trees had moss on them. This one that is rotting is covered in it.

Some of the trees that were down had signs of insects.

This tree told a story. A woodpecker was here.

This tree was wet on one side. This is when I pointed out that all of the trees had more moss on the north side.

We had a wonderful hike. It was well overdue and now that it's cold again, it makes it that much more meaningful.

Bark Study

 Studying bark was an idea that came while hiking and we didn't have any guide book with us. We just compared each bark and plan on returning to do more detailed study later. Here are pictures to show you the different textures of bark we found.

 This is one of my favourites. It has such cool shapes on it.

 This one is cool too. It looks like paper.

It looks like some of these are the same kind of tree, but with age they look slightly different.

Nature Trail

 With all of the mud that just seems to not go away, we are long overdue for a nature walk. The fields are still too muddy to walk back to the trees behind the farm we are staying at so I found a nature trail nearby. When we had a warm spell, we decided to take advantage of it and visit the trail.

 There is a trail with a large pond. I thought that these shallow water plants made a good picture.

 I just love the swirl pattern on this stem. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of this. An insect lives inside. I find with so much on my mind, I'm more forgetful. I can't even find this online right now. I have lost my resourcefulness, temporarily. A nature walk can be so helpful when times are tense.

 I have read that nature walks help kids with behavioural problems. Lately that would be my kids. None of us have been ourselves, but I think there is a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. Things will change soon.

 The trees have such a simple perfection to them. There is just something so perfect about this picture. Don't you think?

 Austyn and I decided to study the bark of the trees since that seemed to be the most noticable thing while we walked. It seemed like a good time for a comparison. I will post a separate post on this. We also found other things to look closely at while studying bark. I'll do a post on that as well. Here is a stick that Austyn is holding up so that he can see the moss close up.

 Zoe decided that she wanted to climb this hill.

 Austyn noticed the base of this tree and wanted me to take a picture of it. It looks so cool!

 Austyn noticed that most of the pine trees had their branches come off of the trunk in a perfect circle around the tree. Check out how the branches come out of the trunk in a ring around the tree, then no branches for a couple of feet and another ring of branches. It was like this all the way up each one of these trees.

 The large vines growing up through the canopy are great for trying to swing on.

 Zoe is too noisy for us to get close to any animals but we could still see tracks. Here is a deer track.

 Some of the trees had this black stuff on it. It kind of looks like the left over of a cooked marshmellow on a stick and then burned. I've seen these on trees before. I'm not sure what it is. These walks give us more questions. This is one of those questions for further research.

We couldn't decide if this is one tree or many.

We will likely return to this trail. I think this hike calls for more research and also for a return hike to look for more interesting things. I was told that there are lots of fish and turtles around the pond in the summer.

Bark study post to follow and also a post on other things we found while studying the bark. 

Catapult

We have been doing a great deal of school type activities the past while but we still fit in random things that show up because of interests. In the background of this picture you'll see Austyn's newest, homemade toy. It's a catapult made out of large popsicle sticks.

The instructions on how to make it are in this book: