Winter Adventures - Part 2

December was jammed packed with activities! Road trips, concerts, birthdays and Christmas parties, seasonal crafts and decorating, and then Christmas! Christmas with a 5 and 2 year old can be pretty intense but overall it was a fun, memorable time. 

We started off the month with a road trip to Saskatoon to see the live stage show Mickey Mouse Music Festival.  We made a couple stops along the way to see some sights, hit up the pool at the hotel and the morning of the show we visited the University of Saskatchewan to see some replica dinosaur bones! The girls had a blast at the show, dancing and singing along. 

Largest pysanka in the world, Vegreville, Alberta

Historic Delta Bessborough in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Museum of Natural History, a free self guided exhibit in the Geology / Biology Departments of the University of Saskatchewan 

Then came another highlight - going to see the Nutcracker! We had registered for tickets through our homeschool board, with the cost coming out of funding (bonus!).  I have never seen a live performance of the Nutcracker and Chloe was so excited to be dressing up and going to a ballet! Since the theatre was on the other side of the city, we took the LRT (Light Rail Transit for folks not in Edmonton, think above ground / below ground subway).  On the way there a young lady boarded the LRT and commented on how lovely my daughter looked and asked where we were off to.  Chloe excitedly exclaimed we were going to the Nutcracker! As it turned out, when she was younger, the young lady played one of the party girls, so her and Chloe talked dance till she got off at her stop.  As she was leaving a young gentleman was also departing but took a moment to talk to us.  He said he had overheard the conversation and just wanted to say what a bright, well mannered little girl I had.  Proud mommy moment right there!  

Riding the LRT to see the Nutcracker

When we arrived, we got some snacks, explored the theatre and then found our seats.  Chloe usually talks a mile a minute but she sat through the performance with a smile on her face and her eyes gleaming!  During intermission, we discussed the orchestra, instruments, and Russia and the Kremlin as it was on the backdrop.  Such a wonderful night!

The next few weeks were filled with a choir recital, birthday and Christmas parties, baking, decorating and playing in the snow! Mid month I made a batch of gingerbread play dough, it was a hit!  I found my recipe on Pinterest, so many great things on there! We still have it and it comes out once a week.  We keep it in an airtight glass container.  The girls helped make a few homemade presents, decorated some ornaments for the tree and on Christmas Eve, we went for a drive around the city and took in the Christmas lights.  

Cookie cutters and Gingerbread Playdough

Ready for a movie on Christmas Eve

Christmas Day was full of excitement.  Fun in the morning followed by family visits later in the day and a relaxed dinner in the evening made it a memorable one. We took in some more Christmas lights on an acreage outside the city after Christmas, quite a beautiful sight. 

Beautiful Christmas Lights display outside of Leduc

January flew by! It took a little while to unwind from the holidays but the girls had lots of time to catch up on sleep! I took some time to get the house organized again - the decorations put away, the basement playroom reorganized to accommodate some new toys, the bedrooms that were neglected during the holidays. Coming up this month I need to sort through kids clothes and sell or donate the toys and books the girls have outgrown.

For the girls, their month was filled with coloring, painting, lego, puzzles (had a late Saturday night working on a 300 piece together), play dough, sands alive, pretend play, sledding and a couple workbook sessions in math and language arts for Chloe. It was also time to go back to choir, dance and 1 more drama class at the homeschool office.

Late night collaboration on a 300 piece Frozen puzzle

Lego!

The end of January is a special time in our house, Chloe's birthday!  It's hard to believe she's 6 already and it's been great to see her creativity and skills grow so much this school year at home!  

February is full of interesting field trips and activities.  Throw in some house organizing and the regular scheduled activities and it's sure to fly by too!  What's on your calendar for February? 

Winter Adventures...Part 1

Happy New Year!! Whew, where did the time go?! 2015 is here and we are into our fifth month of Grade 1.The past two months have been filled with lots of great learning opportunities and it's awesome to see her progress.  She has started writing and spelling names and short words with letter fridge magnets and on her whiteboard, reading place names and words on signs, 100 piece puzzles, and dances and sings her way through the day.  

Teaching little sis how to do puzzles

Finished her first 100 piece by herself

When the weather outside is frightful, bring the fun inside. We had a snow storm in early November and instead of going outside in the cold to play, I filled a few buckets with freshly fallen snow and dumped them into the sink.  Also works great with a warm sink full of bubbles and some measuring cups

Warm water, dish soap and measuring cups

Fresh snow, food color and cups and spoons

Mid November, C had an outdoor Winter Adventure organized through her board. We headed to the park with snow suits and extra mittens. C joined up with her group, played games and fed squirrels and chickadees. K and I went for a walk in the snow and she practiced some snow angles before we met back up with the group for hot chocolate.

Having fun in the snow

A few nights later we got some crisp winter air when we ventured downtown to watch the tree lighting.

Christmas tree lighting, downtown Edmonton

One of C's favorite activities in November was indoor wall climbing, a group activity organized her homeschool board. She attended two more drama classes put on through her board as well and we had our first facilitator meeting in late November, which went very well.  The meeting was an hour long at our kitchen table, very casual and relaxed. He reviewed some samples of her work, discussed what we have covered so far, and asked her what her favorite subjects and activities are. He said we were progressing nicely and see you in the spring. 

Has a style all her own!

We finished up November with a visit to the Festival of Trees, a beautiful way to begin the Holiday season. The girls loved going downtown at night and seeing the tall buildings lit up. The trees were amazing, so colorful and bright. The Festival of Trees is a great fundraiser for the University Hospital Foundation.  To showcase what the money goes to support, they had a mock hospital set up.  The girls had the chance to listen to their heart beats, look at x-rays and had a small cast put on their finger. An unexpected learning opportunity  emerges from a fun night out!

posing at the Festival of Trees

Coming sooner than later, Winter Adventures Part 2 - our December craziness! 

So what do we do all day?

Well the first 6 weeks of homeschooling has flown by!  So far it has been about adjusting to schedule changes, organizing, searching for resources and ideas and wondering if this is really going to work out.  Guess what?  I think it will!

A walk in the woods on a fall day

I'm a work from home mom and my workload has doubled recently and I've also had to make the adjustment of going into the office twice a week.  My husband works Tuesday - Saturday, so I go into the office on Mondays while he's home with the kids.  This gives him some great one on one time with them and lets him do fun stuff like take them swimming or go out to lunch. I also go into the office on Thursdays and I have found a great homeschooled teen that comes to our house to babysit.  The girls love her and have fun going to the park, playing games and doing puzzles with her. 

Climbing wall at a local park

In terms of the style of homeschooling that I chose, I would say we are 80% unschoolers, 20% traditional parent led.  We do a couple worksheets a week and I help her learn how to read, write and do math, but for the most part I let her explore on her own and answer any questions she has.  She's in some registered activities like choir and dance and loves socializing on the playground. She went to a drama class hosted by our homeschool board and had a great time meeting other kids and learning about body language and role playing.

Checking out some art at Borden Park

But then she will also come up with things on her own like counting to 100 (and then 200!) while driving in the car, or asking random questions that will lead to a 5-10 minute discussion and looking up information on the internet.  She asked "How do people get coats if there is no city"? This led to a discussion on shipping goods on a national and global scale, and where her clothes and food might come from. We were able to relate the discussion with a visual experience on the way back from the drama class when we seen transport trucks lined up to go into the container yard and then the train full of containers head down the track.

We joined a group of homeschool families that enjoy swapping postcards and have received quite a few so far.  We plot the locations on a wall map and briefly discuss the topic of the postcard. We received one from Kentucky and talked about the horses that were on the postcard and the Kentucky Derby.  That led to a video of a horse race, looking at images of fancy hats, and then it took a turn and we moved into a discussion on the Queen of England (she loves her fancy hats too!), real princesses and the famous landmarks of London!

Our postcards since the beginning of September, except for one from Australia that was being used as mail in their playhouse.  We have sent 20 out so far and need to get more postcards!

 
One of my daughter's favorite pass times is puzzles, an activity she usually saves for when her 2 year old sister is napping.  Puzzles have many benefits in early childhood education.  Hand-eye coordination, fine and gross motor skills, problem solving, memory, goal setting and patience are some of the things she's working on and learning each time she sits down to do one.

A fairy 48 piece

Hello Kitty 50 piece

Not a day goes by in our house that crayons, marker or colored pencils aren't pulled out and the kids are sprawled all over the floor, at a table or on their bed coloring or drawing. She's learning more hand-eye coordination and patience, practicing how to hold writing tools and also discovering color, hue, patterns and more.

Drawing, coloring and practicing some numbers

Playgrounds are a weekly must , usually getting out to one a couple times a week.  We are also lucky to have a small one in our town home complex and C usually spends all of her weekend afternoons hanging out there and catching up with the neighborhood kids. We missed one week because it snowed (yup, SNOWED IN SEPTEMBER!) and we weren't prepared for it.  But new snowsuits and mitts were purchased so that won't be stopping us next time!  There are also lots of fun indoor playgrounds and activities around us that we will be hitting up once the temperature drops.

Checking out a new playground

 
Then there's also the fun stuff they haven't seen before or only comes out once in a while (due to high mess factors). Play doh, painting, crafts,  I made up a batch of moon sand and C spend half an hour playing with it while younger sister napped and I made supper. She loved the feel of it (so did I) and used play doh accessories to mold it and scoop it.

Scooping up some Moon Sand

Moon Sand
8 cups of all purpose flour
1 cup of baby oil
You could also add a couple drops of food coloring to the oil before mixing
Mix well! It can be stored and used again, just put it in a air tight container or cover with plastic wrap
I halved the recipe, but will make another batch when both kids are awake to play with it.

Painting outside on a sunny day

There's been so much to do and keep us busy since the school year started and I am excited for what's to come!  Thanksgiving crafts this weekend, drama class part 2 next week and Halloween crafts, decorating and parties coming up soon.  

What activities are your kid's favorite and keep them busy?