Hockey's Partner

Yes, Lacrosse can get rough. The kids eventually learn to check each other. Some days, I have to admit, I am a little mixed on what I think about it, but my kids enjoy it and it's a fun game to watch. I think I enjoy watching lacrosse more than hockey.  

 

 Even the little tiny kids, like my youngest, get to play it. Sometimes they are really amazingly good and seem to know what they are doing and yet, they still have those cute little kid moments like the one above, where Zoe decided to sit on the ball right when everyone was fighting to get it.

(as an aside... Austyn took this picture of her sitting on the ball with my camera)

Learning positions has proven to be tough, but the positions and many of the rules in lacrosse apply to hockey. Many kids who play both increase in ability dramatically. They also aren't afraid to be pushed around when the time comes that they are expected to do so. They gain, stamina. They learn to sweat and work hard. Even watching the older kids play can improve skill, especially when comparing what they learn about the rules and positions to what the players of the more professional teams do.

Book Sharing Monday - If You Find a Rock

If You Find a Rock what do you do with it? What do you imagine? What can you learn from it? This book by Peggy Christian is a perfect book for us right now. We have been collecting rocks and fossils for months. We have been reading about rocks, minerals, fossils, and meteorites. Both of my kids love to search for special stones. Imagination can run wild when looking at a stone. Imagine where they are from, what you can do with them, where they have been, what they were used for, how they can be played with...

It's very poetic in the word layout and the photographs are colour edited to create a gentle imaginative feeling. I see my children on every page and I'm sure they do too!

Making House Work Fun!

 One day, while cleaning up the house I thought of a creative way to get the kids involved. I made name tags! Yup... that's it! Name tags is ALL it took to get the kids doing house work. I'm serious!! It's true!! Not only that! They expanded it into reading, writing, and they also decided to do more than what the name tags implied they should do! 

Her name tag read "Official Duster Girl" and his was "Official Floor Boy". We redid his name tag to include other tasks. I can't remember what the final name tag said. 

They decided to grab the small clip boards that we bought recently at the dollar store and some recipe cards and started to make a check list. After each task was done they'd put a check to the side of each task they wrote down and would give me a verbal update of what is finished and what they still needed to do.

When Zoe cleaned the table and chairs, she made an "Out of Order" sign for each side, so that nobody would sit down and get wet. 

I was so impressed with how one simple thing brought about such an educational, imaginative, and fun day!

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.

Lego Club

 Recently, I was able to get enough Lego to continue on with Lego Club. As soon as I had my hands on the pieces, I booked a club day the same week. I started to look in September for Lego, but it has taken THIS long to get enough to run it with our own Lego, because nobody wants to give up their Lego.

 I know I've said the benefits of Lego Club before, but it does the obvious, which is inspires creativity and fosters friendships. It is also physics, math, science, mechanics, co-operation, team building, public speaking, and so much more! We have the kids bring their Lego creations from home or a picture. At the end of our time together they share what they have done at home and also what they made at the club. It's like show-and-tell. 

Austyn brought his Titanic that he made at home. We have been displaying it on our fireplace mantle so, even though he made it a couple of weeks ago, it's still in great shape. He changed a couple of things on the boat since that earlier picture. He added a couple of tall stacks and put a string across between them.

 After a little while Zoe got bored of Lego and went to play on the computer in another room and two of her friends followed. 

It's great to have this club, finally, established and open to ALL homeschoolers in our area. Watching the kids together, having so much fun made it all worth it!

Book Sharing Monday - Let's Play

I don't usually choose books like this for my Book Sharing Monday posts. It just needed to be shared! This book is great for all of those homeschooling families who are looking for some fun traditional games that can be played with no items at all or things that are easy to find.

This book takes us back and puts a twist on all of the old games that were played when our parents were children. There was no technology and games were more social and interactive. What a great way to interact with friends and family. Put the board games and video games away. This book can be used in indoor, or outdoor play and with just about any age. There are different versions of tag, hide and seek, hop scotch and many more. The ideas in this book will show up in our homeschool park days, for sure!

Homeschool Skating Ends

 There were only a handful of us on the last day of skating, but this year went well. We had families who came from the surrounding towns to skate. Some of the children have NEVER been on the ice before in their lives!! They have come so far and many of them don't use any kind of support anymore.

 The winter this year didn't give us many days with ice or snow, so it was nice to have the local arena to use during the day when all of the other kids were in school. 

I can't believe how well Zoe is doing. She does cross-overs now and skates so professionally for her age. She wants to take figure skating and hockey in the fall.

Austyn has benefited from the extra ice time as well. While many kids are finished with hockey and put their skates away he was doing 3-on-3 and homeschool skating every week.

I think we will have to organize this again next year!