Wrap Up March 14th -18th

Mcarthor Island Park

Another school week with different energy. The week started with a lovely bike ride around Mcarthor Island Park We worked on math the same level as last week for both kids. We've been reading a lot of library books. BigH has took out a bunch of DK books on castles, knights and medieval Europe. LittleE took out some books about non fiction books on dogs and wolves and she took out a DK book on Butterflies & Moths.

We watched an interesting documentary on netfix.ca "Between the Folds," Filmmaker Vanessa Gould takes you on a provocative odyssey into the mesmerizing world of modern origami, where artists and scientists use the ancient art form to craft works of delicate beauty and to model cutting-edge mathematical theories. Pushing the envelope of origami to include caricatured portraits and elaborate abstract designs, these experts examine how paper folding can reveal the profound connection between art, science and philosophy. One of the people featured in this movie is past  homeschooler Erik Demaine . Erik and his father spent a lot of time in his early years figuring out puzzles. Erik entered college at 12 years old graduated at 14 at 20 years of age he was hired by MIT as a Proffessor of Computer Science the youngest proffessor in the intistitutions history. Origami and mathematics are just a few of his many talents.

The kids were very moved by this movie as we were watching it the kids and ran and got paper and just started to fold it. When I was at the library I put in for two inter library loans on mathematics and origami: 'Math in Motion' and another book thats name has escaped me. I'm excited to receive them but the librarian told me that they might not release them because they are the only two by these particular authors in the province.  To hold us over until we receive the library books I found this cute website Origami Club  who knew there was so many people involved in origami!

Phonics both children are working away on HOP 1 work through some new words with initial consonants 'sh,' shall, shag, shack, ship, shin, shot, shock, shut, shed, and shell. And initial consonants 'wh,' whip, whiz, whiff, whim, and when. They are both working with the HOP K sit words and initial consonant sound flash cards for HOP1. I've noticed that BigH is having problems remember the sound that U makes. So we are working on that as we do his reading.

BigH has been digging out in the yard and bring in rocks to share with me. He's very interested in them I found this cute site that talks about the life cycle of a rock and the different types of rocks.

We have done a lot of read aloud reading this week of many library books and home books but none from our school curricula. I guess we just need a bit of change. Friday we are going to Kamloops for a swim & lunch it should be a fun day. 

“A man's errors are his portals of discovery.” ~ James Joyce 

Field Trip Friday

We had a great day! We went swimming at the YMCA that is our favorite pool in Kamloops because of the size, rope swing and the incredibly nice life guards. After that BigH & LittleE wanted to spend their allowance $3 so we went to some thrift stores.

I have to say my three favorite thrift stores in Kamloops are Simply the Best @ 662 Seymour Street, Royal Inland Hospital Thrift Shop @ 146 Victoria St (they are super sweet to the kids,) and New Life Mission @ 342 Seymour Street (lots of furniture.) We checked out all of these thrift stores Friday.

Then for the grand finale of the day we went for Sushi!!!

A vegetarian sushi roll & a Californian sushi roll. The pink shavings on the plate is pickled ginger it's very tasty. It refresh your palate between tasting the different foods.

LittleE with a huge glass of ginger ale and her sushi.

BigH loves the chop sticks.

Friday Field Trip

The kids had such fun at the The Kamloops Museum & Archives they have recently renovated their basement floor into a wonderful interactive hands on space for children. BigH & LittleE spent 90% of their time at the sand/water table, but LittleE put on a puppet show for me. She loves to entertain for us. In the last ten minutes of our visit when I told them we would have to leave soon we did a quick walk through of the rest of the museum.

Wrap Up Febuary 7-11

We had such a fun week. BigH & LittleE's big brother J came up for the week. To add to that excitement kids attended a birthday party. It was extra special because after a delicious lunch a Boston Pizza they went to Game On Interactive Fitness.  It was cool to have fun and play with the kids and funner still to play with my adult friends and still be with my children. Dance Revolution here I come. I love places that encourage multi-generational interactions. Seeing all different ages playing together it was so much fun. It was our first time there and I know we will be returning again sometime soon with Dad in tow.

We did manage to get some school work done. We finished Understood Betsy which turned out to be my second favorite book this year. The kids are working on Math U See alpha & beta lesson 9. Next week LittleE will be working exclusively on her math flash cards 2+ and 3+ tables.

They have worked on week 7 in their Sonlight science program learning about the animals of North America. They have been marking out on the map of N. America different habitat and naming animals that live there. Brother J did their science lesson with them.

LittleE has finished reading book 13 in HOP K and has one last book to read before moving on to the next level. She has also finished her copy work for, 'Who Has Seen The Wind' by Christian Roesetti. BigH is working on Book 2 ETC Online he's been working with initial consonants 'gl' and has been working hard at mastering it. I put a proper capital 'I' on the keyboard so he would not confuse it for the 'L' which he was doing.

In Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind the kids have been learning about proper nouns for their town, province and country. They have also spent some time copying out their proper home address.

For crafts this week we've been working on decorating Valentines cards.
 J cut up the card stock for us and the kids used heart shaped potato stamps, paint, ribbon and precut  by me hearts  from scrapbook paper. I think the children have done some beautifu work.



BY J, BigH & LittleE Feb 2011: