Aislinn is reading!

and she is ecstatic. She has told everyone she can think of either by phone, in person (even the librarian) or by hoping up in their lap and showing them!

Now I am suddenly feeling under prepared and so have spent our library time today scouring the shelves for reads that will help her strike forth with confidence, reads that will challenge her slightly, and reads that will engage her interest; all at the emergent reader level. (Wasn't that succesful so any recommendations gladly accepted!)

Aislinn has been on the brink for months (so you would think I'd have better prepared myself ) often sounding out words with very little difficulty, but was reluctant to turn her skills toward conquering a sentence. Then the other day, minutes before leaving for a visit to Grammie's I asked her if she would like to snuggle on my bed and take turns reading the words of a story. I think I read the first word on the cover, and once she realized she was able, took over reading the rest of the book. And then she read another one, and then she read them again, and then she read them to Jeff, and then Grammie, Grandad, Uncle Chris, and whoever else she could rope in. She had definitely reached the memorization point, but after a quick trip to Chapters to purchase the BOB books, I think it has given her enough variety that she has had to go back and follow the words again.

She has now read 8 of the 12 BOB (level 1) books plus "Zac the Rat" and "Dan can Add" and most of "Hop on Pop" (Dr. Suess).

Now to find the balance that will grow her confidence, maintain her enthusiasm, and keep the pressure off. (My struggle with her in any undertaking!)

And as a mommy moment -- nothing makes you feel more needed than the look in a child's eye when they glance over from across the room while reading to someone else just to reassure themselves that they still have your love and support.

My latest strewing...

Well, this is my latest strewing attempt, and the girls immediately sticky tacked it to the wall. They now have penny, dime, loonie and twoonie down pat, and are starting to put the idea of value to each coin.

Then I came down with a ridiculous cold, and have spent the past few days just surviving, but I know now that strewing seems to be a great tactic with my girls, and hope to return to my system once my head returns to a functioning state.

Might not have much to do with homeschooling but...

They sure are having fun!

(Yes it's 11 o'clock in the morning and one is in her pajama's and the other in her bathing suit!)

"Strewing"

When I first started researching home schooling, Aislinn was about a year old and I was pregnant with Tara. I already knew our family would consist of these 2 little people and that they would share many experiences being so close in age.

Most of my early "research" came from reading the home schooling forum on the Today's Parent website. One of the phrases that often came up especially with unschooling was "strewing". The concept being that you leave out items or a book or a new supply with the intention that if the kids come across it, it would be available for exploration. If it sparks interest, great, if they don't particularily take to it, it can be ignored or brought out at a different time. In doing this, you can let the learning be child lead, but still encourage a new direction or a return to a much loved subject purely by "accident".

I have decided to make strewing a more important part of my evening activities by leaving something enticing on the kitchen table to lead us in a new directions and start new conversations as soon as breakfast is done.

So far it has worked incredibly well (2 days in- lol). The girls have immediately started asking questions as soon as the items were viewed, and were rushing to tidy the table and wash up in order to jump in.

The first day I left out this:

The girls happily explored measuring for a few minutes, by making marks on tape to measure odd shaped objects, lying objects that were flat up against the ruler, and measuring elastics by cutting string to the same size. It quickly turned to water play for Tara, as she decided the spoons had much more usefulness in stirring than as objects to be measured, and Aislinn switched gears to creating a pig puppet for herself using the index cards, pencils, tape, string and whatever other tidbits she gleaned from the craft drawers. I did manage a few comments about inches verses centimeters, parallel lines, rays, and intersection points that I was quite proud of -- whether they heard me or not!

This was the final result, and it took me the rest of the day to tidy it up!

Today I left out this basket which the girls were eager to explore. The idea of magnets is not new to them as we have played with them in the past, but I tried to mix in some new items, and we had a few surprises when a silver coloured bracelet and picture frame turned out to not attract the magnet. After finishing with the basket, I sent them off into the rest of the kitchen and the girls happily chased their magnets around as they gave the walls, doorknobs and light switches a try.

Tomorrow we have gymnastics at 9, so I opted for leaving out a picture. I called Jeff at work and requested an interesting pic (being low on ink) to be brought home - haven't seen it yet myself, so we will see what conversation it will start in the morning.

Lego Mosaics

Aislinn and Tara are loving them!

Lego Mosaics

Valentine's Day fun...

I have never put that much effort into celebrating Valentine's day, but this year it seems to have come at the right time.




Just as we were starting to feel the monotony of winter, along came a reason to get us moving again. With the production of 28 Valentine's cards to be given at an upcoming homeschool group party, and the fun of creating special packages for friends and family, the week suddenly became jam-packed with activities.











The girls and I worked together to produce heart-shaped cookies to give as gifts, set up a treasure hunt for Jeff using felt fortune cookie clues, participated in a Valentine's party and created special packages involving feather roses, heart shaped balloons, and heart decorated picture frames.
All of our activites sparked good conversations about giving and receiving, which seem to be good lead up to our birthday season. Almost every one of Aislinn and Tara's friends have their birthday's fall between Feb and July! (Ashlynn -Jan and Tara -Aug being the only exceptions.)

Brain, lungs, intestines...

how can they resist?

My kids love nothing more than sharing information about how their bodies function and how they are similar or different to those around them (Sometimes louder than I would prefer!)

This is why I was so excited to lead the "Anatomy" theme for our early learners group. I really felt comfortable going through all the information with the kids, and enjoyed them coming forward to investigate the hands on aspects of our day. I actually enjoyed the labour intesive prep purely because I was also learning so much and I was really excited to give the kids a way to revisit their experience. (Thanks for the extra hands Bonnie!) And quite frankly, there is no way I would have thought to prepare these things without the motivation of the group.

Lungs and diaphram expirement (above). Waste through the intestines (left).

I always feel at the end of our session that somehow I should have said more, done more, but I hope they all left with a greater understanding of how amazing they are and how exciting figuring out their bodies can be!

I also feel really justified when Aislinn and Tara take the time, even with their friends still over, to pop onto the couch and investigate a great resource all on their own. It emphasizes just how comfortable they are with learning as a part of their day to day activities.

Yet this is health: To have a body functioning so perfectly that when its few simple needs are met it never calls attention to its own existence. ~Bertha Stuart Dyment

Why do we alienate ourselves so much from our bodies? It's that big piece of machinery attached to your head. ~Carrie Latet

I love the body. Flesh is so honest, and organs do not lie. ~Candea Core-Starke

The best of both...

The girls were feeling quite antsy on Saturday, even after a small trip around town (library, toy store, dad's work) - none of which could be considered a chore - so we gave the girls some choices...

Aislinn chose this... and after getting nice and chilly decided to switch over to Tara's choice.

I love Jeff for being willing to follow through with outside the box thinking! Swimming pools in the basement and unschooling! He supports us without question!

(Due to career considerations - I very rarely post pictures of Jeff on our blog -- but he is with us every step of the way!)

A gift for a friend...

Someone asked me around Christmas time whether I am the type of person who puts a lot of importance in gift giving, and at the time I answered no. But with more reflection, I have changed my mind, and I believe I am. I love the feeling of searching out a perfect gift for the amazing people in our lives.

It may not always be the perfect gift, but I feel that if I and now we (as the girls and I navigate our gift giving together) have really tried to consider the gift and the receiver, then we have invested a great amount of love into the gift.

And just this year, I feel like we are surrounded by so many people we truly love and care for, that are gift giving has stepped up a notch as well.

One little girl in our lives means an amazing amount to my girls and myself and as her birthday recently passed the girls and I worked on a gift for her. It may not have been a "perfect gift", but we tried to fill it with love.

I am starting to understand now why so many of the blogs I read have invested so much effort into make it yourself gifts for their families - as it truly gives a part of you with it.

It looked like so much time and effort at first but I now realize that that is exactly what it is that makes it so special.

I think as a family, we are going to put more time and effort into showing the people around us how much we love them!

(And thanks to my back-up! Mom, I could never make all the crazy ideas in my head happen without you!) :)

The manner of giving is worth more than the gift. ~Pierre Corneille, Le Menteur

The 5 Senses...

was our topic for our Early Learners group this past week, and the kids had a great time exploring books, playing games and "testing" out their senses.

The pic on the left shows the small game the kids played; working together to move the marker up the path while they answered questions about how their senses are used.





The best part is getting deeper into the books and seeing how all the parts of their bodies work and their connections to the brain.

It was a perfect lead up to this coming weeks topic of Anatomy which I am in charge of.
(I think I have once again stripped the library of the majority of their resources on the topic. I would love to know what they think of me and their online hold placement system when they are required to search out the insane numbers of books I request -lol)

After our "session" ( in the lightest possible definition of the word), we spent the afternoon outside, enjoying the snow before it's predicted disapperance. (In reality, we have more now than we know what to do with!) The girls enjoyed the combination of fresh air and friends immensely.

Daddy's Footsteps

“Walk a little slower, Daddy”,
Said a little child so small.
“I’m following in your footsteps,
And I don’t want to fall.

Sometimes your steps are very fast,
Sometimes they’re hard to see;
So walk a little slower, Daddy,
For you are leading me.

Someday when I’m all grown up,
You’re what I want to be;
Then I will have a little child
Who’ll want to follow me.

And I would want to lead just right,
And know that I was true;
So, walk a little slower, Daddy,
For I must follow you.”

~Author Unknown~

A beautiful day for a hike

We decided to take advantage of the beauty of the snow and head out for a hike this aft., before the temperatures pop back up to the forcasted 7-9 degrees on Tues.

The girls enjoyed the fresh air, Rory bounced through the snow, and we enjoyed exciting finds like what happens when branches heavy with snow are shaken.

We also found some great deer tacks, and the girls enjoyed leaving a "feast" of bread and peanuts for some happy passerby's. We also came across this cool animal home with a really clear footprint right on the edge. (Unfortunetly not quite as clear in the picture.)

Valentine's Day preparations...

The girls and I decided to start a bit early with some inspiration from our latest library books including this one;

The ideas are cute, and easy to manage with minimal prep, and the girls have enjoyed making these so far. (below) Heart inspired crowns, and lollipop flowers.

The flu has struck

our household yet again.
We are finally feeling better, but this has been our week;






Books, movies, and medicine!
And when we started to feel better... Lego land --we borrowed Jeff and his brother's stash from his parents, and it has kept Aislinn going for hours.