January has begun

and we are definitely full speed ahead. The girls and I had really missed our coop group over the holiday season, and were happy to see everyone again. We spent Monday being introduced to many different instruments including keyboard, drums and guitar - I consider us very lucky to have a musical member of the group as our house contains non of the above and is not likely to any time soon, despite Aislinn's enthusiastic response to the drums! The kids also got to make 3 different instruments to take home - a tambourine, rain stick and a kazoo (and I got to take home the headache!)

The girls also started swimming lessons again, and the overall group is much smaller (it is a segregated time slot during the day for the local homeschool group). The nice thing is that this time Aislinn and Tara are in the same group and already Tara's confidence has skyrocketed as she is not one to be left behind when it comes to following Aislinn and has already surpassed all of her attempts during her last session.

And, despite the January thaw, we are also excited about studying the Arctic this month, following suit to one of the other families we get together with. We have stripped the library of it's books, and have been pouring through facts about polar bears, arctic foxes, the northern lights and the arctic tundra.
We have spoiled ourselves by watching "The Arctic Tale movie (4x's -ok we had the flu for week) a narrated movie about the life of a young polar bear and a young walrus.

In our perusing, the girls came across some pictures of igloos today and decided to give a paper mache version a go. Of course we put out the recycling last night, and had not a newspaper in sight, but decided paper towels, since they start white in the first place, would be a fine alternative. The plan is to let them dry fully, pop the balloons, come up with a solution for the entrance, and paint them in the next day or two. We might end up with some pretty colourful igloos before the end, but I'll post our final results.
Round one (left) -this afternoon
Round two (below)- before bed







Round one and a half (below) -the after affects of round one - mixing the glue and water for the paper mache spurred the need for water play- slightly reminiscent of the swimming pool we set up in our house for Aislinn's first birthday party.

As for the remainder of January, we hope to celebrate some birthdays (mine and Jeff's both fall in this month and Ashlynn turns one already-where did the time go Bonnie?). Aislinn has a highland dance show, and we are planning a day trip to a new children's museum (I happen to love exploring new places).