Let's Try This Again...

Guess what? I am terrible at blogging. T.e.r.r.i.b.l.e.

The thing that stopped me from blogging regularly this last time was that by the time I get around to blogging about our fantastic day, it is already after midnight. So when I hit "publish", it publishes it as, say, October 18th instead of October 17th, and I haven't figured out a way to control the published date in the way I want. I'm pretty sure it is simply not possible. And so I feel like my blog is all wrong, like if I can't get it all written down and published before midnight, that it is "wrong", or that I am always a day behind. So in typical fashion for myself, I just don't do it....because I can't get it to be "right".

I know. Pathetic, right?

Anyways, it has become apparent to me I need to be blogging daily, or near-daily, for various reasons. So...once again I dust off my blogger app and attempt to do this right, at least until I feel like I fail and then I give up on it until I can muster up the courage to try again.

So, today the boys and I spent the morning doing work at the table.

Elijah was working on a math review and reviewing his multiples of 2-9.

He worked on his grammar lap-book and read a excerpt from the history of Britain and summarized it in writing. We find the history narrations tough because they are often written in a boring manner, with little to no relevant context. And they are presented in various orders as opposed to chronological order, which really makes it hard to place it. Anyways, Elijah chews through it pretty good. He is getting very good at writing summaries, narration and dictation.

Toviel is working on measurements in math. I love how I can present a problem to Toviel and he can sit there and think about a way (or two) that he could solve the problem without any interference from me.

We also read a poem today about a sandpiper and a little girl and talked about it together and wrote a summary of it. He also reviewed a different poem he is memorizing.

I read some of "The Witches" by Roald Dahl to them in the afternoon. We are reading it for their book club. We just started reading it a few days ago and are almost finished it. They are really enjoying it, as long as we read it during the day. Elijah has requested we not read it at night, since it is about witches.

We also read a biography of Jackie Robinson that Toviel picked out and wanted me to read from our Value Tales set.

In the afternoon we went to a friend's house in our neighborhood. The boys were happy to see M again and they had a good time, as did I with J. I love watching J interact with her kids. She reminds me how important it is not to get exasperated or lose patience with your kids, how love is portrayed through gentle direction and gentle words. Some people might say she is too soft, too permissive, but I see nothing but calmness and love...a very nice person to be around. It is especially helpful for me because I am such an emotional hot-head. I learn best from people who don't know that they are teaching me.

Here Toviel is playing with our fraction pieces in a creative way. He hates to be alone when I am teaching Elijah 1:1, so he always finds something quiet to amuse himself with beside us.

I Can't Think of a Cleverish Title...

This morning we did some sit-down-at-the table work.

Elijah did some math...more fractions. We played some fraction games. He kicked my butt on the fraction memory game.

He also did some writing (today we did dictation) and some poetry.

Toviel finished up a math worksheet he had a hard time concentrating on yesterday. He is adding 2-digit numbers mentally. Yesterday he was so distracted. Today he sat down and whizzed through it. I was checking on his method to make sure he wasn't counting to get his answers, so I asked him to show me the strategy he was using.

He showed me over and over and I couldn't wrap my head around how he was doing it! Finally, I understood! For example, if he was adding 67+85. He was taking 50 from the 67 and 50 from the 85 to make 100. Then he was left with 17 and 35. He then adds the 35 and 15 to make 50, plus 2 more makes 52. So 152. But he does it while staring at the ceiling, and in just a few seconds.

What a wacko way of doing it, but it's cool that he figured out a way that works for him! I tried to show him a much more

efficient way, but to no avail.

Tove also worked on some copy work and some story summarizing. He also did many, many pages in his Explode the Code book, which is just busy work in my opinion, but it was his choice.

In the afternoon, we went to the Muttart Conservatory.

Their feature pyramid theme is currently The Sword in the Stone, which is timely for us because we have been studying the Middle Ages and are currently reading Kingfisher's interpretation of the story of King Arthur.

We saw Merlin:

Here's Excalibur. Toviel and I were trying to make it appear as though he were grasping the sword.

And, I assume this is Sir Lancelot beside King Arthur's throne. Elijah photo bombed this photo. It made us all giggle.

You can also see Toviel's "purse" strap. It made me laugh when we were leaving the house today as he bounded up the stairs yelling, "Wait!!! I just need to grab my purse!!" It strikes me as particularly funny because I always refer to my "purse" as my "bag".

Elijah is trying to look like a serious guard here:

We met some friends at the Muttart Conservatory, and the boys made plans to stay together all afternoon, and us moms had no problem obliging. So we spent the rest of the afternoon together with friends. Friends are so good.

Little Man Purse

This morning, as a family, we did some bookwork.

Cris did most of the teaching, talking, explaining, helping, etc, while I worked on preparing a few things.

Elijah did some math...fractions and such. He did writing and grammar and then he worked on his Parts of Speech lapbook, which, by the way he told me he though it was pretty cool. I just about fell of my chair.

Toviel did some math as well...mostly the mental addition of 2 digit numbers, learning and practicing strategies, stuff like that. He did some copywork, some grammar review, some phonics (he already has learned on his own all the rules we are covering, but I still think it's a good idea to learn the why's behind the phonics, but it seems slightly useless). He picked a new book to read. It's the first book in the Secrets of Droon series. He breezed through the first chapter. I love when he reads to me. He has the sweetest reading voice.

Elijah ended up going to work with Cris today. I'm not sure what exactly they did, but I do know they went to the dump at some point.

So because Elijah left the house, Tove and I went out.

We bought a monster bag of candy:

After looking at some winter boots we made our way to Value Village because Tove said he had really been wanting a "purse" for a long time. I was all for it. He needs somewhere to put his money when we go out and he wants to bring some. So he spent a lo g time narrowing the decision down. In the end, he bought a red roots over the shoulder satchel, with a denim flowered wallet.

In the evening some of their friends came over for a while. They went biking, then they came back for sword fighting and running amuck inside.

For our read aloud, I continued to read the Kingfisher version of King Arthur. It is a bit dry in spots, but we will be done it very soon 

Not Back To School

Today, we had the privilege of attending a Not Back to School Picnic at Emily Murphy Park.

Last year we went and it sucked. The gathering was a success, but awkward and overwhelming and lonely for us.

But this year, I knew people! A lot of people!

We arrived late because it started in the morning, and we were practically the last to leave, which is typical Block family style. There, the boys happily went off, in search of their friends. A very large group of kids of all ages were having their annual Stick Wars. It occupied them for several hours!

When we arrived home at 5:30, Toviel had a great idea to pull out things from the pantry and start making potions. He got this idea from a good friend and goes back to it continually.

Elijah joined in with him as well, and for an hour they made potions and performed magic.

Then they helped me clean it all up.

By the time Cris got home from work at 7pm, it was time for me to head out to a homeschool moms coffee night. It was the first one I had the privilege to attend and it was good for my heart.

I feel like I continually need to be pulled out of my swirling thoughts that cause me to sputter, flounder, and feel as though I'm drowning. I am reminded by meeting with like-minded moms, that if I simply relax, I will float, effortlessly, while the waters carry me and allow me to revel in the beauty of life all around me.

Oh, I quickly forget...I go back into a panicked state quite easily, but I have friends and mentors who remind me of the important things.

Last Friday we were able to go to a couple of free IMAX movies at the Science Centre. One of the ones we saw was called Born to be Wild. In it, a woman in Africa runs an orphanage for orphaned orangutans. She said one thing that hit me...that these baby orangutans needed only to feel loved as a baby in order to grow up into an adult who would survive and thrive in the wild.

This is what my children require as well. This is why I homeschool.

Xoxoxoxo 

The boys and Cris spent the evening bonding over supper and Minecraft, and when I got home, I continued my search for a new perfect tenant.

Week in Review...June 9-15

This week T went to the dentist for some dental work. He was a real trooper. He had a couple sealants put in and one small filling. No freezing, no laughing gas.

 I know T likes his dentist. He is really good with kids (thank goodness, because he IS a paediatric dentist), but I also think that the dentist really likes T. As we left, T said that next time we go we should take a Ninjago gift for the dentist's son, who we know is about the same age as T and loves Ninjago.

The boys did some personal banking with their new bank cards at the bank machine.

We are doing a little bit of house purging as we are having a community garage sale in a couple of weeks. Our little pile is growing.

I found a free twin bed for Elijah as he dislikes his double loft bed and refuses to sleep in it. On the weekend we did some moving of things, setting up of things, taking down of things, and reorganizing. I also found a free computer desk and bookshelf, and Cris modified the desk so we can change the living room around. The way it was really disrupted my fung shui and I can't concentrate / think / function properly in this chaos and clutter.

We did some history, talked about the feudal system, knights and samurai, English castles, and The Crusades and Saladin. This included some map work, and then Elijah got really into colouring pictures of knights from our Dover "Knight" colouring book.

We spent an evening at our friends's house and the boys were introduced to the original Batman cartoon, He-Man, She-Ra, and the likes.

We went to a playground and played in the rain.

We did a bit of math this week. Elijah really only played math games a couple of times. Toviel is learning how to mentally add 2 digit numbers together, as well as some geometry work with geoboards and working with symmetry.

Elijah has been very keen on getting goldfish. We checked out some library material to research and learn about them first. Then, using my wicked Kijiji skills, we scored a 15 gallon tank (we actually measured the tank and found the area in square centimetres, then in cubic centimetres, then we did the conversion to gallons to figure this out...more math, with real life application). We got the tank, gravel, accessories, a pump and filtration system, fluorescent lighting, some chemicals, and a net for $15. We set the tank up.  (Elijah said this work was fun.) The next day we bought 2 special goldfish. Well, we actually bought 1 and got 1 free because Little Guy is missing a fin. So we were asked if we'd just take him and give him a good home.

 It's hard to get a good picture of them. Our house is warm, so the water is on the warmer side for them, so they are very active. Zeus is the bigger one, Little Guy is the smaller one.

Both seem happy and Elijah loves them. He sits and watches them and sometimes I hear him laughing while he's alone watching them.

We all learned about housing and caring for goldfish properly, how to set up a tank with the proper start up bacteria, water purifiers, dechlorinaters, and such.

We are planning to get 1 more fish in the near future. Our family is growing!!!!!

Week in Review: June 2-8

Well, this week was full.

On Tuesday we hopped on the LRT and took it downtown to Churchill Square. During the lunch hour they had 6 performers from Circ du Solieil roaming / flipping / unicycling throughout the square. They also had a small petting zoo (I hesitate to call it that, but that is what they call themselves) with a rabbit, pig, snake, and lizard.

We walked around the square, sat and ate some berries, enjoyed the sunshine and the crazy performers and then hopped back on the LRT and headed home.

I cannot for the life of me remember what else we did that day!

On Wednesday we went to Fort Edmonton. We met some friends there. For the first time ever, we saw a show in the old Capital Theatre, and I must say it was pretty neat and not what I expected.

 It was about the history of Edmonton, but with some flair. Real snow fell from the ceiling. The chairs shook with the rumble of the thunder. The screen was layered to give a 3D effect. Actually, there were 3 screens that were layered, with a nice wrap-around effect.

We looked in a couple of farm houses, looked at some 1920's toys, played in the playground and actually didn't get too far in exploring the areas in the 3 hours we were there before they closed.

On Thursday we made "Viking Bread" in the morning at Elijah's request. He loves it!

In the afternoon we went to the library and the John Jansen Nature Centre. The boys played a lot in the Tegler discovery area while I watched the honeybees do weird things in their plexiglass hive. Bees are weird. I watched one bee carry a dead bee all over the hive for about half an hour before I lost her. I couldn't figure out why she was doing that.

We visited the pond, did some pond dipping and caught a few strange or fascinating pond crawlies. We went into the discovery zone for a few minutes too.

Then we headed to Toviel's eye appointment. Last month his vision with his glasses on were 20/50 in his right eye. Today it was 20/30 with his glasses on. The drastic improvement was due to patching. I'm glad it's working! Next month we may have to shell out another $400 for a change (decrease) in prescription, which is something I am happy to dish out money for.

In the evening we measured on the sidewalk how long a Bowhead Whale is (18-20m) and how long a female Blue Whale is (33m) and then the boys played with sidewalk chalk and water guns while I pulled out 400+ dandelion plants.

 Above the boys are modeling how long a Blue Whale is.

We met Cris at Big Al's Aquarium so Elijah could pick out a betta fish. He prepared the fish bowl a couple of days ago and has been waiting patiently to pick up a fish. They were low on bettas, so we skipped over to Petsmart, where they have a ton of them. It turns out Elijah does not want a betta. He wants a goldfish, which requires a pump / filter. So he left disappointed, but Toviel left with a pretty male betta.

We are on the hunt for a good, inexpensive second-hand small fish tank with a pump now.

Before bed we watched a short video about the life of Marie Curie. Then we crawled into bed and read our Valuetale story of her. We looked on the map to find her hometown of Warsaw, Polland, Toviel brought up the fact that her love for learning and for her work ultimately killed her, but how that was okay because her work benefited a lot of people.

On Friday we went to a friend's house for the afternoon, and spent a wonderful few hours enjoying the fresh air.

In the evening we watched "The Lightning Thief". Elijah read the book aloud to Toviel and I. I much prefered the book. When I asked Elijah if he liked the book or the movie better, he said that they were different from each other, but both good in their own ways, so it wasn't worth comparing them.

Saturday involved some Pokemon games, Bang games, math games (Elijah and I played 3's Corners), and a trip to Birch Bay Ranch where we all tried out our archery skills a couple of times, enjoyed some pony rides, and horse-drawn wagon rides.

At night we watched "Big Miracle", a movie based on a true story about 3 Grey Whales getting trapped in the ice near Barrow, Alaska. It was a nice story all around. The movie ended at 12:30am, and we all crawled into bed exhausted.

Good week!!!

Back to Reality

Well, today is our first day back home from Vancouver. Back to the regular everyday life.

We made a trip to the mall to meet a tenant to pick up some very, very late rent. While we were there we picked up some science kits. Elijah chose a mammoth skeleton to build. He had it built in no time at all.

Toviel chose a build-your-own transforming solar powered robot. The skill level was ages 10 and up. I had to help him with some of the snapping together of parts as well as punching out some pieces. His fingers simply tired after a while.

The robot is almost finished:

Now, the test. And it works perfectly! Here is the robot walking, powered by the sunlight:

Here it is transformed into the scorpion, walking around:

It has one more mode; a tank mode, which we didn't get around to building today.

Both the boys did a math lesson today, jumped on the trampoline, played some games (mainly Pirate's Cove), built with Lego, and played together.

At bedtime, Toviel climbed I to bed with his Magformers and built several things. His last creation was "The Solar Beam"...

Elijah climbed into bed with his book about whales and dolphins and a notebook. After a while he came running out telling me how fascinating Bowhead Whales were, along with all sorts of interesting facts. He started making notes in a notebook:

I asked him if he would teach me some of the things he was learning. "Oh, totally!" He exclaimed. So tomorrow, I get to learn about Bowhead Whales!

Sometimes, the most learning occurs when they are wearing only their underwear, at 12:30am, when kids "should" be sleeping.