homeschool journal

If you are a reader of my homeschool blog (that I use for my weekly or every other weekly updates to my support teacher), then this will all be a repeat. But there's lots of fun stuff to tell about, so here goes!

After Mary's concussion that I told you about in my last update, we took it easy for a few days. Although he seemed to be feeling quite fine, Dr's orders were to stay horizontal for a full 24 hours. I didn't realize how tricky that would be. He wasn't allowed to watch any screens, so that made it trickier for him to just lay around on the couch. We read lots of books and had lots of snacks and snuggles.

He had to keep his activity level low, so we stayed inside as much as possible, and worked together on a few things, including cleaning the disaster zone of the toy/Lego room. We even found some meaningful and educational things to do.

Paul's 17-year old nephew came for a few days at the end of March, so was a fascinating distraction for my boys. They all spent lots of time at the shop with Paul and Josh ... tinkering, exploring, asking questions. So many questions.

Paul had some holiday time to use up, so he was home with us for the first week of April. Since he was able to be home with the boys, I made a 24-hour solo trip down to Victoria. I spent some time (and money) at the School House teacher's store, ran a few other errands and visited some friends. It was a nice little get-away before our big final push to the end of this school year. (!!!)

Easter:

As we did last year, we participated in a Seder Supper, a special meal with our camp family to recognize Passover. It involved a great deal of sitting, listening, and waiting for close to an hour before any food was served. I was so pleased how all three of my boys remembered their manners and seemed to understand the significance of the tradition. They got to participate in part of it by going to search the house for the piece of bread wrapped in a cloth that the three fathers had hidden.

Max tasting the bitter herbs (parsley) dipped in salt water.
All the boys tried it. Only Max went back for more later.

Science:

We made a natural bird feeder by coating carrots with peanut butter and then rolling them in wild birdseed. We strung them in a tree and observed how quickly the birds discovered the treat. They ate all the seeds and peanut butter but left the carrots.

We refilled our hummingbird feeder and have been having fun watching the birds come for a drink, and also chase off other birds of their kind who come to do the same thing. They've been coming regularly, often squabbling with one another. We've been noticing the different sizes and colours of the birds and are trying to identify them by researching online. It's easy to do as the feeder is right outside the window from where my computer desk sits. 

We continue to observe the green onion growing experiment. We found another onion sprouting in the bag, so added it to the window sill. Max helps himself to fresh green onions whenever he remembers, and often asks Paul if he would like some in his salad. (He knows I'll always decline.)

Frogs!

The boys came home from one of their frequent walks around the property with some frog egg sacs! Max discovered them in a puddle at the bottom a a pit they often explore. Paul knew what they were so agreed to let them come home. We have been researching what is required for raising tadpoles at home, and are considering how much we want to commit to the endeavor. We're on a wait-and-see basis at the moment. When I added more pond water a few days later, a few tadpoles burst out of the jelly sac! They have been swimming around rapidly, and each day we notice a few more. We've also been watching how the tiny black dots inside the blob of jelly are getting bigger. We can now see that each black dot with a curly tail has its own egg sac surrounding it. They are definitely growing! We also found a few more jelly blobs in the pond and plan to go back often to check on them. Max built a barricade of rocks around the sac to we can find it easily. We found another fascinating pond critter in there that we are working to identify. We have a friend who we think might know the answer.

Max - Goal setting!

Max is always looking for ways to earn money. 

For many months now, I've been looking for a way to convince him to cut his hair. I finally decided to make him an offer. If he would allow me to buzz his hair at home, I'd pay him the $20 I would have paid a hairdresser to cut it in the style he's had for several months. He considered it momentarily and agreed. Phew! He's saving up to buy his own touchscreen iPod. This was a nice boost to his stash, and the debate about shaggy, greasy hair is over ... for now.

Art:

Spontaneous for both boys ... max carved a pencil from a stick for Marty. Marty drew me a detailed diagram of how to make a toasted peanut butter and honey sandwich.

Max continues to draw diagrams of constellations and add to his Lego space exhibit.

We had an opportunity to visit the workshop of "Rawhide Walt". He is a friend of a friend who lives in Cobble Hill, and is spending his retirement doing what he loves to do - create, build and embellish fine leather items. Before retiring, he had an extensive and star-studded clientele, making leather pieces that were featured in Hollywood cowboy movies. He is quick and proud to show off his many albums of photographs and magazine features that display his work.  His hearing is not the best, and he likes doing things his way, so it was a fairly one-sided field trip. The boys asked a few questions and I took some photos on the sly.  Paul has commissioned him to make a few items, so they were busy discussing the details of that while the boys and I poked around the shop.

Tools of the trade, leather stain samples, and the biggest sewing machine Max has ever seen!

Health & Safety:

We had yet another reminder about how important it is to protect our heads from injury. Max was outside banging on things with a hammer, and managed to whack himself on the top of his head with the claw of the hammer. He came running in, panicked. Although I knew that head injuries tend to bleed a lot and can appear worse than they are, I was still nervous that he would require stitches. Once I got him calmed down with a cold cloth and a snuggle, I realized it was not nearly as bad as it first appeared. A phone call to Nurse Oma and a nice warm shower were all he needed to get over the incident. It has healed nicely and he hasn't had any pain or trouble since then.