Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Wanna Play?

Anytime. Anywhere. With anyone.
The kids are pretty self motivated to get their school work done every day.
Get it done and move on with the 'play' part of the day.
Week 5-Sept29-Oct3
Unit Study- Journalism (Tabloids/Sports Writing)
Book Study- The Golden Bow (con't reading)
Math- E-Algebraic Expression, A-Word Problems ($)
History- British Invasions/ David Livingstone
Co-op- Assigned Homework
Extra-Curricular
Kung-Fux2
Piano
Co-Op

Friday, September 26, 2014

One Thing and Another

An Interesting Start

Reason #1-We were off to an inconsistent start with our school this year.
We started ... then went away ... then had visitors. We started back up ... then the boys went on a field trip for a few days.
Throw in a couple sleepovers at Granny and Grandad's house and you can see how it might be difficult to get some momentum.
 
Reason #2-We are adjusting to having a lot busier schedule than last year.
Last year we had few programs and fewer friends so there was really nothing but time every day.
Now that we're back in our community (where we belong) we have an abundance of both.
The boys have Kung-Fu twice a week. Also, piano, Co-op class with accompanying homework, and French instruction.
 
When we sit down to do our school work we need to have laser focus and good time management skills.
Or in other words, I need to be Mother-Nag-a-Lot until we get into a rhythm.
On an unrelated topic, I've noticed that the boys' grandparents see them in a completely different light than I do. An almost ... rose coloured light.
In case there are any doubters I have included some real life examples.
 
Names have been changed to protect identities.
 
Say one of the boys is caterwauling at the piano while playing a song. I might leave the room before I start to giggle.
Anan might say, "That child sings like an angel. Never misses a note. Beautiful."
 
Or, say I am complaining about the lack of motivation that the children are showing.
Apdnarg might say, "Oh! And I suppose you are never a slacker? Because usually kids copy what they see from their parents."
 
Or, say I send out some school work that I totally expect they should be able to.
Ynnarg might call to tell me, "They are geniuses! Absolute geniuses. There's nothing to difficult for them."
 
Or, say I'm mentioning how difficult it was to get them to cooperate when shopping for Fall clothes.
Dadnarg might say, "Well, why would you take them shopping? Boys don't like shopping. They're typical boys."
 
Do you see what I'm up against? Total positivity!!
No wonder the boys love spending time with their grandparents.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Express Yourself

I had the camera out at dinner last night.
 
This guy was giving me some great expressions.
  
I could just follow him around all day and take pictures. Wait a minute .... I DO do that!
 
This guy, as he gets older, is less impressed with my camera. Here are the two expressions he shared.

 

Monday, September 22, 2014

Click Click

It's so much fun to get a bunch of family together. It's a tradition that we always try to get a big group picture shot. One day I should sit down and do a montage of all the group pictures.
Even though it was much earlier than my usual wake up time it was still great to be downtown with all the other runners ready to do the 5km.
 
In fact the only thing better than getting ready to race ..... is being done the race.
It's not often that at 9:00 a.m. I've accomplished so much.

Like father like son .... photobombers!!
 
I know I already posted some pictures from their trip to Upper Canada Village but I couldn't resist posting a couple more.
 
    
Week4-Sept22-26
Unit Study- Journalism (Inverted Pyramid)
Book Study- The Golden Bow (con't reading)
Math- E-Order of Operations, A-Bar Graphs
History- Japan Reopens
Co-op- Assigned Homework
Extra-Curricular
Kung-Fux2
Piano
Co-Op

Friday, September 19, 2014

Co-Op

This week the boys had their first day of co-op and for A it was his first day of co-op EVER.
Which made me realize that E had his first day of co-op at about the same age. But I seem to remember E being older when he started so I went back and looked at the blog from that day.
He wasn't bigger. It seems my 'baby' A looks always younger in my mind.
Anyway, I babble, here they are from this week.
 
M bought this game for us last weekend. Awesome. I like the intro version of play ..... it takes about an hour. Super fun. There's very little waiting between turns and the kids love it.

Monday, September 15, 2014

Upper Canada Village

What a great trip to start off the school year.
See? School. 
But also, feeding the pigs and milking the cows.

 
The blacksmith was A's favourite experience.
 
Always fun to help the tinsmith.
Or build a fence.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

House Updates

Unfortunately we had to say good bye to our backyard tree today.
The arborist was concerned it wouldn't stay up through the winter.
 
In no time at all ... it was going, going, gone.

 
So now, I'd like to put a new (not rotting) shed in that back corner.
That would allow me to use the sunny space where the current (rotting) shed is ..... for a backyard garden next year.
Beans, tomatoes, sunflowers and squash.
Hoping I can get it sorted out before planting season.
(Fingers crossed. Anybody want to help me get this ready to go?)
This is what our living room looked like before our last move.
We knew we wanted to do something really different when we got back.
It gave M&I the chance to try some DIY skills we hadn't tried before.
 
And the results .......
(if you click on the pics you can see them bigger)
... furniture, paint, accent chair, carpet ... 
... fireplace mantel, hearth, lampshade, curtains ...
... pillows. It was a total rework.
I love the way it came out and I love spending time in there now.

Update Dec2020

My Guy A My Guy E School Rooms at Home Deck the Halls It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas