Late Summer in the Park

The leaves are starting to change and fall to the grounds. The kids are all gone to school so our park is empty. We get it all to ourselves.

It's cool now instead of hot like it has been. Being outside is so pleasant this time of year.

What a great way to spend a morning while Daddy works in our home office in silence.

Meeting New Friends

I decided that it would be nice to network with other homeschool groups outside of our area. The group closest to us was having a get-together at a beach and we decided to drive there and attend. It was to celebrate our freedom to homeschool here in Ontario while all of the other kids are back to school. 

Well, they may not be new friends but last year our kids didn't play as much with them. At the race track there is a family who parks behind us in the pits. Their kids and our kids love to play. They are both getting old enough and us parents are becoming more comfortable with letting them go back and forth to each others' pit spot.

Making an Electromagnet

Austyn loves this kind of thing. We tried it a few weeks previous but the wires we had were too thick for it to work well enough.

Thanks to a new friend who was moving and donated a bunch of supplies, we got to try this again and it worked great! The book I used is all about communication (I can't seem to find the book to share the title and I'm wondering if Austyn stored it away in his room). We learned that electromagnet was important in the development of telephones.

Book Sharing Monday - Birds

I've been so busy that posting on this site has been hard for me. Life may even get busier here. I'll try and do more posting regardless.

Here is a book that has worked well for us right now. Last year Austyn was into insects and this year it's all about birds. Lately it's been about hawks. This book is a great introduction to birds. It's called Birds Nature's Magnificent Flying Machines by Caroline Arnold and I can't forget the illustrator, Patricia J. Wynne. We've been reading many books on birds lately and this one is the best one I've found so far to give a nice introduction to all of the aspects of birds and their lives. It's not too long or overly textbook like. We really liked the format. The illustrations are well done.

Our Local Fair

Every year this fair comes and goes and we race and don't go. We hear about it from many people around us. They recommend that we go, but we don't. So, when I heard from a friend when it was coming and that it starts on a Thursday and was cheaper I decided we'd check it out.

Don't get me wrong. I love fairs. I grew up with a big one in my area. People drove hours to come. The problem I see with fairs is that they are overpriced. I find it hard to believe that families are OK with spending up to $70 for a family of four to go on three rides, and that doesn't include the admission ($7/per person over twelve). To top it off, if your child is too small to ride a ride on their own the parent has to pay to ride even if they didn't want to ride in the first place. Also, the rides are so short. The roller coaster ride at the top went around two or three times.

In today's hard times I'm surprised to see how many people go to fairs. Everything is so much more expensive and people are making so much less. The family experience still comes first I suppose. Maybe that is why people still go. Is it a family experience when the kids go on a few rides and the parents give up their rides so the kids can have more? I think our definition of family experience is changing.

Games were $5 or $10 a try and you were guarantied a great plastic, blow-up prize or small stuffed toy made from low quality petroleum products. Are they serious!? After all of the other expenses and purchasing ice cream to cool off all of our pocket cash was gone.

Being a local event, families meet up with those other families they haven't seen in a while. This is a homeschool family that we love to hang around. They gave the kids a hands on experience with their farm animals.

It's a fun and educational experience. That is what I tell myself when I think about the fact that we could have gone to a zoo or a small amusement park for the same price and we'd have unlimited access to rides and animals. 

From my memory of fairs this fair was very small. I was expecting something a bit bigger. We weren't there all that long because there really wasn't that much to do or see. It was around the same price as the fair I grew up going to less the parking fee and that fair could be an all day event. We did enjoy ourselves, but I just wonder how much longer families will put up with such high prices? Also I ask myself, how many families out there can never go to a fair because the cost of it is beyond their budget?

Here Zoe's friend is showing her the guinea pigs that she entered. 

I'm glad my kids had this experience, but I don't think we'll go to a fair every year. What ever happened to the good old days where everyone could afford to go to the fair, have fun there all day, and it was a community event that nobody missed?

Busy with Racing

I've been away from blogging for a little while. Life is busy. The times that I normally blog I'm doing laundry, packing, or other things. Racing is back in our lives and with racing comes more work. I've found a way to make it less work. I just don't bother to unpack fully. I do laundry, fold it, put it in order in baskets and most of those clothes go right back in the suitcase. 

 While Daddy worked on the car in our garage the kids find things to do. Above they got out some tools and decided to build things with wood pieces. They got markers to colour the wood and I went and got them paint and brushes.

Sometimes while he worked on the engine we stayed up later than usual. The kids liked to go outside while he was in the garage and look for bugs or build things with sticks. 

While we were waiting for the engine to come back to us our fellow race drivers have had great weather. We've seen a bit of rain. For us that usually means being inside the trailer more. There is always a good supply of books, crafts and toys for the kids to play with when this happens.

They play with clay from the dollar store sometimes. This is one of Zoe's creations.

This is Austyn's creation.

At the races we sometimes notice something cool. This is a Praying Mantis. A week later we saw a brown one not far from this one.

Sometimes when we go it's not as busy as other weekends. The kids find it hard to watch racing and do nothing else. Here they are playing in the dirt while we wait for Daddy to race. 

Zoe is making dirt angels.

One thing they find fun is running around and playing on the stands when they are almost empty. 

I am finding that as the kids get older I'm able to do a bit more with my hubby racing. With a faster car he actually could use more help. I am enjoying it more as I feel more involved. I hope to keep getting more involved as the kids grow. I now can check the tire pressure. I may eventually check the track and tire temperatures.

One new thing I do, when I can, is help him "get in the groove". The grove is the dark tire marks on the track. When a race car is in the grove the tires stick well. When they aren't in the grove it can actually get dangerous. This is especially the case for faster cars. If they can't grip the track the car could lose control. With a different hood (made for racing) it's more difficult to see and be able to put the car in the groove without some assistance. 

One thing I can tell you about that that dark part (the grove) is that it's very sticky. I have to stand right in it to show him where it is and I almost lost my shoes the last time. The track officials were laughing at me. LOL!

100 Books-A-Month Challenge, Reading My Library

I'm getting behind in posts again. Things are busy with drag racing back in our lives. Here is our list of books read for this month. There are a couple of books I didn't record that are up at the race track. I'll add them later. As for reading our library, we are still plugging along. We have only made it to H though and I figure that we likely won't finish our alphabet of authors this year. That is okay. We are enjoying it and have discovered some amazing authors.

Read to Austyn and Zoe:
1. A Friend For Tiger by Laurence Bourguignon
2. A Gift of Gracias by Julia Alvarez
3. A Little Bit of Trouble by Sally Grindley and Eleanor Taylor
4. A Picture Book of Helen Keller by David A. Adler
5. A Particular Cow by Mem Fox
6. A Pocket For Corduroy by Don Treeman
7. Bear at home by Stella Blackstone
8. Big Little Otter by Lillian Hoban
9. Boo To A Goose by Mem Fox
10. Boo to You! By Louis Ehlert
11. Cinderella by Michele Marineau
12. Clumsy Crab by Ruth Galloway
13. Daisy Rabbit’s Tree House by Penny Dale
14. Discovery by Joseph Brodsky
15. Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! By mo willems
16. Ducks don’t wear socks by John Nedwidek
17. Earl the Squirrel by Don Freeman
18. Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest by Irene Kelly
19. Five Little Ducks by Jose Aruego and Ariane Dewey
20. Follow the Money! By Loreen Leedy
21. Fossil by Claire Ewart
22. Furry Friends Same and Different by Blue Apple Books
23. G is for One Gzonk! By Tony DiTerlizzi
24. Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb by Al Perkins
25. Happy Birthday to Whoo? By Doris Fisher
26. Harriet, You’ll Drive Me Wild! By Mem Fox
27. Have You Ever Done That? By Julie Larios
28. How Long? By Elizabeth Dale
29. I Am I by Marie-Louise Fitzpatrick
30. I Know a Rhino by Charles Fuge
31. Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling – 1 Story
32. King Puck by Michael Garland
33. Know What I Saw? By Aileen Fisher
34. Little Polar Bear and the Brave Little Hare by Hans de Beer
35. Lucy Dove by Janice Del Negro
36. Marsupial Sue by John Lithgow
37. Marsupial Sue Presents The Runnaway Pancake by John Lithgow
38. Mattland by Hazel Hutchins and Gail Herbert
39. Monkey Business by Wallace Edwards
40. Monster Bugs by Lucille Recht Penner
41. Mrs. Chicken and the Hungry Crocodile by Won-Ldy Paye & Margaret H. Lippert
42. Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! By Candace Fleming and G. Brian Karas – book on CD
43. My Little Sister Hugged An Ape by Bill Grossman – read 2x
44. Never Smile at a Monkey by Steve Jenkins
45. Nicky and the Big, Bad Wolves by Valeri Gorbachev
46. Noah and the Great Flood by Mordiacai Gerstein
47. One Magical Morning by Claire Freedman
48. Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert
49. Piggy Monday by Suzanne Bloom
50. Pirate Girl by Kerstin Meyer
51. Pondlarker by Fred Gwynne
52. Quennu and the Cave Bear by Marie Day
53. Robins Songbirds of Sprin by Mia Posada
54. Roller Coaster by Marla Frazee
55. Round Like a Ball! By Lisa Campbell Ernst
56. Skippyjon Jones Lost in Spice by Judy Schachner
57. Slop Goes The Soup by Pamela D. Edwards and Henry Cole
58. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs by Freya Littledale
59. Teddy Bear Tears by Jim Aylesworth
60. Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox
61. The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss
62. The Dancing Tiger by Malachy Doyle
63. The Diggers by Margaret Wise Brown – read 2x
64. The Lady with the Alligator Purse by Mary Ann Hoberton
65. The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Kleven
66. The Luck of the Lock Ness Monster by A. W. Flaherty
67. The Magic Hat by Mem Fox
68. The Real, True Dulcie Campbell by Cynthia DeFelice
69. The Ring Went Zing! By Sean Taylor
70. The Scarab’s Secret by Nick Would and Christina Balit
71. The Song of Six Birds by Rene Deetlefs
72. The Spider and the Fly by Mary Howitt
73. The Spirit of Canada by Barbara Hehner – 3 stories
74. The Star-Bearer by Dianne Hofmer
75. Those Excellent Eagles by Jan Lee Wicker
76. Tick-Tock by Eileen Browne
77. Too Many Pears! By Jackie French and Bruce Whatley
78. Tough Boris by Mem Fox
79. Traditional Tales of Long, Long Ago by Philip Wilson – 1 story
80. Walk with Me by Stella Blackstone and Caroline Mockford
81. What Are You Doing Sam? By Marie-Louise Gay
82. What does Peace feel like? By V. Radunsky and children
83. What Sea Animals Eat by Joanne Mattern
84. Who Invited you? by Candace Fleming
85. Winter by Sean Smith
86. Wolves by Emily Gravett

Austyn Read:
There Is a Bird on Your Head! By Mo Willems
I Am Invited to a Party! By Mo Willems
Can I Play Too? By Mo Willems

Read to Austyn:
All About Turtles by Jim Arnosky
Amazing Aircraft by Seymour Simon
A Million Dots by Andrew Clements
Animals in Flight by Steven Jenkins and Robin Page
Arthur and the Sword by Robert Sabuda
Cold Feet by Cynthia DeFelice
Dinosaur Hunt by Karen Carr
Giants, Witches and Dragons by Wonder Read Aloud Books – 2 Stories
If You Decide to Go to the Moon by Faith McNulty
Jumping Spiders by Meish Goldish
Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling – 1 Story
Let’s Go for a Ride by Maxwell Newhouse
Let’s Look at Bats by Ruth Berman
Our World by National Geographic
Prickly Sea Stars by Natalie Lunis
The Boy Who Longed For A Lift by Norma Farber
The Emperor and the Nightingale by Alison Ainsworth
The Moon by Seymour Simon

Read to Zoe:
Duck for President byDoreen Cronin – Book on CD
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow – Book on CD
Les animaux de la foret by Fleurus
MOMfulness by Denise Roy – 1 chapter
Spot Loves School by Eric Hill
Touch and Feel Farm Animals by Baby Einstein
Marcos Counts by Tomie DePaola