Oh my goodness…this is good. I have watched this in multiple sittings as there are seven parts but it’s so worth it. Take the time.
Yearly Archives: 2013
Trail spottings
A short post today while I’m waiting for dinner to cool.
The boys were super antsy and though we have much to do before Nanna and Pappa arrive tomorrow (!) I thought a trail walk was in need for the boys and myself as well. It was a beautiful day with the sun sparkling down through the trees and the breeze blowing gently. Weather like this makes me feel like these are the best moments ever! We all felt much better after taking the time to take time – you know what I mean. 😉
Heavenly.
Have you ever seen a mushroom growing from a tree?
A little inchworm friend.
Poor little grasshopper. What’s he missing? We found this guy on our house when we arrived home. I know there are many cats in the area but I wonder if this one had a run-in with a bird perhaps?
Breakfast!
Rocks, minerals and fossils, oh my!
Just this past weekend we made a trip up to Parrsboro for the Gem and Minerals show and to visit the Fundy Geological Museum.
The drive was lovely as the tides were in and we could see the beautiful Bay of Fundy just to our left as I drove along the coastal highway. The red earth was so amazingly eye-catching I couldn’t help but catch glimpses as we were driving. We spotted a mound of land sneaking out of the water and the boys saw a bit of an arch of a cave showing just above the surface.
We were all excited to see what rocks and gems were in store for us once we arrived at the show and we were not disappointed! The boys were so excited to buy pyrite and raw rubies as well as sapphire. I must say they are not anything like the cut kind and I think I kind of like the raw form a bit more. We all ‘ooh’ed and ‘ahh’ed at the huge pieces of minerals as the boys were on the search for a big buddha for me. 🙂 I came out with a nice round garnet and an orange half geode. I was tempted by a beautiful turquoise ring but probably a good thing it was not in my size!
From there we went over to the museum and found some great little archeological dig kits for the boys. The kits contain plastic dino bones (miniature of course!) in plaster with a wooden chisel and brush. The boys couldn’t wait to start chipping away! I myself grabbed a geological map of our province and a quartz crystal pendulum that had on its chain the seven chakras in little round gems. I think that’s my favourite find.
I have to say that our gifted museum pass came in quite handy that day and for that we are happily thankful. 😉
Inside the museum we watched a very cool animation of what the world looked like long before Pangea – did you know that Nova Scotia was once where Antarctica now is? – and during Pangea we were part of Africa. There is a beach in Nova Scotia that I’ve been told by a friend has petrified palm trees! We played the video backwards and forwards and watched over and over again how the world came to be as it is today.
Xman and I found a display of fossils and a nearby screen that identified each one. We played the guessing game and after our day at Blue Beach we got a few of them right. I haven’t posted about that trip yet, have I? Okay, that’s next on the list!
L made a beeline for the hands-on archeological dig. We hid plaster casts of rocks with fossils in the raw rice for the boys to find. It was great fun!
Can you imagine that dragonfly zooming by?
By this time the tide was the lowest it would be for the day and looking out the windows of the museum we could see the red earth exposing itself to the sun. It was a beautiful site and a great time to start heading home. And what a time it was! We began our drive with the tides in and now with the tides out we couldn’t help but stop and admire the view. It was amazing indeed!
Remember that mound jutting out of the water? Well, we found a side street that led down to the shore and had an amazing view of this which I believe is called Five Islands.
I like Stephen’s Instagram pic.
Another pano – those are me boys throwing rocks into the mud!
We took a short stop at Mastodon ridge on the way home to update out pic of the boys being chased by the mastodon and Stephen all chummy. So fun!
The boys a couple of years ago. Love this pic! Stephen used his iPhone so it has a totally different look – plus the lighting was completely different this time around. Still fun!
X: Mastadon whatever!
L: Ya, big deal!
L: He’ll never catch us!
X: Aaaahhhh!
Inside the gift shop we found some great sales including this book that I had borrowed from the library and brought with me for the trip. And this book which I fell in love with when we went to Pictou earlier this year. These gems (the book kind!) will be seeing a lot of love from us!
Stephen also found a couple of harmonicas which just happened to be on sale. He used to have one which I believe is somewhere in the vicinity of our home. Perhaps the house elves have taken it! So he bought the boys each their own. Xman is obsessed with it and plays it every day. Video to come.
The moon kept us company as we drove the rest of the way home. Although it wasn’t quite full it was extraordinary to me and Stephen used my wee camera to get a quick pic of it from the car. Ahh, so purty.
L wanted to take a picture of a car zooming by. It took a few tries but he did it! 😉
Once we arrived home the boys wanted to start digging just a bit before bed. Pretty cool finds!
What a wonderful day it was full of discoveries and beauty! Where will we go next?
Pokémon playing, math and writing fun
I have been visiting this website and reading this book as I prepare for the next school year. Lori is amazing and has wonderful ideas to help me along with creative and gentle ways of introducing project work. Dawn has also given me some great ideas for getting the ball rolling for which I am very grateful! Being new to project work it is something that I think will be a great learning and growing experience for us all. It will be part of not only our ‘curriculum’ but our every day living as well (I hope!). The boys have already begun one project involving automaton which they are excited to be creating – but more on this later… 😉
I have been having a bit of trouble getting the boys to do much more than Lego and Pokémon. Okay, not totally true, but mostly. I am a reader and so luckily for me both boys have become avid readers as well for which I am truly grateful. When they are not reading there are to be Legos found underfoot in almost every room we use throughout the day. The Pokémon cards and characters are part of their daily dialogue as well and when they got their first cards from Grandma they were thrilled and have been playing ever since.
I have read much in Lori’s book about play and learning. I know this to be a valuable part of a child’s every day (and I think it should be part of mine too!). After four years of home educating I am beginning to see just how much their learning has influenced their play and vice versa. For instance, math is a big part of Pokémon. Each character has a certain amount of HP or Health when they begin. They can also lose health when there is damage done to them through certain powers during a battle. (I have to say I like the fact that the Pokémon don’t die when they run out of Health but instead ‘faint’.) Not too long ago as I was listening to the boys play I heard Xman ask L, “What is 390 plus 70?”. I started to do the math in my head and before I finished L said, “460”. Kudos to that boy! I realized that not only were they doing well with their math they were faster at it than me (haha!) and I had never really connected how this game makes them use their brains to this extent. It’s not rocket science but it’s learning and fun and made me realize they go hand in hand.
Just a few days ago I found Xman writing on small pieces of paper. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was making cards for their Pokémon game. They each have a ton of Pokémon character cards but the cards X was making are extra powers and damage cards that each player picks to use when it is their turn. He has taken the game further and I am thrilled. I had to make a copy of his cards so that both boys could have their own set – oh, and two extra copies for when Stephen and I have our own Pokémon sets to play someday. 😉
I think X only asked me twice how to spell a word. The boys are not the best at spelling yet but I have seen that copy work can help spelling if it’s in the right context. I found yet again that the spelling workbooks we used weren’t really helping them learn to spell. They were simply copying words down without paying attention to how the words were spelled. It was just another lesson to get through. When they are writing down something that pertains to a game or other interest, for example, they look at game cards for reference in the case of spelling and manage to remember how to spell those words the next time. I also taught the boys to read through phonics with pronunciation rules so they have gotten pretty good at sounding out for spelling – this is still a process we are going through and the more they write for fun the more they remember.
Those handwriting workbooks became a thing of the past earlier this year as well. I’ve found that the boys write more often and enjoy the process much more when they write what they want (another post on that at a later date). Xman worked on these cards for quite some time, something I never would have been able to get him to do if it were in a workbook.
I am finally letting go of that traditional learning/teaching from when I was in school while in turn realizing learning can be done in so many ways and the best way is simply whichever way the child learns best! Whew, I love it!
Now back to the boy who is waiting at my side to help him with his automaton planning!
Puzzles!
Today began with breakfast of eggs and veggie bacon to eat while watching the third Harry Potter movie. Stephen just finished reading the book to the boys last night. They were super-excited for this morning to come.
I must say I was a little concerned with how they would react to the Dementors and part of me wanted to wait. Thus the reason for watching the movie in the morning. Much time to get possible scary images out of the head before bed.
The boys loved the movie and barely hid their eyes when the Dementors showed up. We told them that we could easily stop the movie but no, they did just fine and now can’t wait for the next book!
After the movie we began to work on an unfinished ‘project’. For about five days now we have been working off and on putting together a 750 piece puzzle. It’s only our second big puzzle we’ve done as the boys are just becoming more interested. It’s quite a lot of fun to do together and watch the boys find many pieces themselves, especially ones that just seemingly couldn’t be found.
So far our big puzzles have come from a borrowed toy cupboard or a second hand store. We’ve done two pyramid 3d puzzles as well. They have all had every piece in the box.
Until now. One missing piece. I have a suspicion it’s around here somewhere possibly blending in with our flooring!
This was a fun puzzle with its odd border shape and many fun words to find and make.
Now it’s time to mow the lawn after many days of rain. Perhaps I shall bring some freshly brewed passion iced tea outside with me…
Happy day!
Blue Beach, NS
This weekend we went to Blue Beach Fossil Museum and had a great time rock hounding! I decided I would take a bunch of images and merge them in Photoshop to show the landscape. The image turned out quite small in height to fit in this post and I had to laugh. That being said, I think it still gives feel for the stretch of land and the lovely red beach.
I am still in the process of editing the rest of the images and sizing them for the blog but hopefully I will be sharing more images (not as panos!) soon! Don’t worry, they will be ‘normal’ size!
A phase (I hope) for Xman
He has something against the texture of skins of fruits and veggies lately…
Earth Adventures!
Last year we picked up a wonderful book entitled Earth Adventures in the Halifax Region. There are plenty of parks and trails to visit and with the aid of the book we all learn more about the environment and the habitats of animals. There are exercises to do for each trail and a lot of fun learning to be had. At the end of each trail you have to find a small plaque and make a rubbing on the last page of the book for that trail. It is a lot of fun and each time we go we end up spending more time than the book suggests!
This time we went off to Shubie Park. We meant to leave early as the day was going to be super hot, but by 11am when we arrived we were already stopping in the shady spots and bringing out the water.
Along our trek, as we learned about racoons and their eating habits, where they like to hide and live, we found ourselves seeing these trails that we have walked along numerous times with new eyes.
Someone snacking on a mushroom?
Some of the largest plantain leaves I’ve seen! I love these plants and welcome them into our yard for their healing properties.
We came upon some huskies and I felt so bad for them in their heavy coats. One owner was combing and cooling down his big furry friend in the stream. I was tempted to get in their myself!
Can you spot the water striders? There are mosquitoes there too, believe me. 😉
We spotted a little made rock formation someone had made over this pipe. For some reason it reminded me of an inuksuk. I know, totally different. If you peek down the pipe you can see L’s hands giving the ‘I love you’ sign. I had to lean over the water and hope not to lose balance or lose the camera in the water in the process. 🙂
We have a favourite spot at the park where these three huge trees (huge for our part of Canada) stand. We found out that they are hemlocks and a favourite of raccoons as they can easily climb and make a home. Plus their trunks create holes perfect for hiding.
The squirrels like them too. By squirrels I mean the actual animals, not my boys! Although, they too love to climb!
This is L’s favourite tree, whom he calls Puffy. Something had attacked it over the years and the tree seemed to build up layers of protection.
We found many things that raccoons love to eat, from pine cones to seeds and acorns as well as this little guy. I find new snails so interesting with their soft translucent shells. The boys love them too.
Berry season is soon upon us!
Anyone recall what this is, fir or spruce? I recall one has the flat leaves/needles with the white stripe on the underside.
I love mushrooms.
The boys, red-faced from the heat, taking a break to snack and rehydrate while watching a curious squirrel.
This is as close as he would let me get to take a picture. Plus they are so skittery (new word?) I just didn’t have much time to work with. Yes, the boys are wearing rubber boots in preparation for one of their favourite parts of this trail.
A leaf I have never seen here before. Any ideas?
Huge bullrushes!
Can you spot the fish?
Blue bead lily. Yet another great healer.
These damselflies (?) are amazing. In flight they look like butterflies with their big beautiful, deep blue wings. Magical.
The reason for the rubber boots!
At this point we were all tired and hot. We had a great time but were happy the trek was almost complete.
On the other side of the pipe L spotted a mink skittering over the rocks. It was too fast for me. I didn’t have time to reach for the camera so you will just have to take my word for it. 😉
I wonder what would happen if a mink met a raccoon?
Home for fruit popsicles!
A childhood must
There are some things that no child should grow up having not experienced. This is one of those things.
