Rediscovering a Book!

While sorting through our home library I found a book that seems to fit perfectly for us this summer. It's a book that I picked up at a used book sale and we've not used it yet. I was flipping through and it seems to be something that would work well for us right now. 

It's all about nature. It's packed full of nice quick reads and activities. The book is nicely broken up into usable subject groups. Here is the list of subjects broken down in chapters. I think we may do the subjects out of order. We'll just choose what makes sense for us to study first.

Here are the Contents:

Chapter 1

Trees

Chapter 2

Green Plants

Chapter 3

Soil

Chapter 4

Animals

Chapter 5

Birds

Chapter 6

Insects and Spiders

Chapter 7

Weather 

I am a bit excited about this book and our activities. I can't wait to share some of them with you here as we study nature in our neighbourhood.

What is The National Sport of Canada?

If you said Hockey, you are wrong! 

It's Lacrosse. 

It may not be as popular as Hockey but it's cheaper to play and the game can be played all year round. Right now is the main season for Lacrosse and Austyn is signed up for the team here. Because of the lack of kids there is only a travel team in our area, but it's fun and we get to travel to other towns to play other teams. The above picture is of one of his games. 

If you want to learn more about this game you can google it. Here is the Wikipedia link for the History of Lacrosse.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_lacrosse

Canadian Pioneers Mini Co-Op - Week Two - Outdoor Activities

For half of our Co-Op we learned about farm life on a dairy farm. Obviously farms were not like they are today but it still gave them a memorable experience. The kids could touch the cows and ask any questions they wanted to. They learned how the farm was run.

We learned about the milk and how the calf is bottle fed a few days after it is born. The kids put their ears up to the tank to listen to the milk getting turned inside. 

We can't forget the smaller critters at the farm! This potato bug is very happy to live here.

Of course where there is an abundance of milk there must be cats! This young cat is pregnant and Zoe is feeling her tummy.

We found these cats in a large plastic barrel. The kids just had to hold the kittens.

The kittens made many new friends that day.

Can't leave anyone out. The mother cat got a great deal of attention.

As we gathered up the kids and left the barn we said "goodbye" to this black cat sleeping high up on this pile of hay bails. 

What's a homeschool trip to the farm without a splash in the mud?!

Canadian Pioneers Mini Co-Op - Week Two - Indoor Activities

For half of our time at the Co-Op we were indoors. Much of what we did indoors was a repeat of last week. Many of the kids didn't get to do all of the indoor activities and a couple of families missed the first week. Above is the Lincoln Blocks and the Preschool Threading/Sewing Set.The basket and pioneer game continued. This week as well and can be seen at the tables above.

A new activity this week was to sew their own book marks. They turned out great. Some children made pin cushions or dolls again.

Another new activity was to build little wooden homes.

Some of the kids headed outside as the sun came out to do some outdoor games that pioneers did, but it quickly turned into something else all together. We considered stopping them but after some strict rules and moms designated to go and watch them closely they burned wood and leaves with magnifying glasses.

The smaller kids looked for bugs with the magnifying glasses. It's funny how kids just take things in a whole new direction. Sometimes it's not even related, but in our group if it's educational and nobody is getting hurt we are happy to just leave them alone to learn what they want. The picture above is of a tiny millipede.

Decorating the Van with a New Friend

Book Sharing Monday

Henry's Amazing Machine by Dayle Ann Dodds was a book I picked up because Austyn is so into making things out of everything. Sometimes his contraptions take up our house and this looked like it would be a book that he could relate to. Henry loves to add on to his machine. 

He kept building on and building on to his machine until it took over the whole house and started to spill out into the yard. The family ended up moving up into a tree.

Here is a quote from the book.

When he finished building INSIDE, he moved OUTSIDE. 

Into the front yard...

Then the side yard... 

But when he rounded the corner and headed for the backyard, Henry's father said, "Now, Henry. You have 

Dripping things, dropping things,

Pushing, pulling, stopping things,

Clanking things, cranking things,

Stretching, bending, spanking things!"

And Henry's mother said "Now , Henry. You have

Whipping things, wapping things,

Clapping, snapping, slapping things,

Tracking things, hacking things,

Smacking, cracking, whacking things!

You sure know how to build things,

BUT, HENRY, WHAT DOES IT DO?"

"Do?" said Henry. "I haven't a clue."

And Henry just smiled and kept on building.

Eventually the whole town came to see the machine he was building. There was an organist, a marching band, a lemonade stand, pony rides and much more. But his parents couldn't take it anymore so they told him that the machine had to go. In the end Henry found his place in the town and his talent came in handy after all.

Learning something new...

How to crochet.