Dec 17, 2007

Please keep him in your thoughts.....

www.caringbridge.org/visit/brodychapman

This little guy started a scrapbooking charity to supply children with cancer with a scrapbooking starter kit and disposable camera.....he encourages other children to scrapbook their treatment and recovery - what a GREAT idea!

Sadly Brody was taken ill this weekend and is currently in hospital - so please keep him in your thoughts and think about making a donation to this wonderful cause - or to kids with cancer - which is just an AMAZING charity here in Canada!

First Semester round-up!

I realise that (not including the first month of September when A was in kindergarten) we have been homeschooling for an entire Semester/ term. I thought I'd evaluate how things are going and think about plans for the new year.

Reading - A is doing so great with her reading. There are several books now that she ca read entirely on her own....she reads, for the most part, phonetically. Her favourite book is 'Ducks can't count' which is an 'independent reader' and has several short stories inside. She reads signs and subtitles on tv and can read enough to scroll through the channels on the tv guide to find her favourite shows.

Writing - A goes through phases where she loves to write and then other phases where she just isn't interested at all. Right now she's not interested at all so I don't push it.....I just bought a book called The Three R's by Ruth Beechick, so maybe I will get a few ideas from there - I also have the Write Now books which the others loved and I may even do a little copywork a la Charlotte Mason! Who knows....I do know A would like to make some books and have them made ring-bound...so maybe we will do that in the new year....

math - A continues to do great in math - most days her computer time is spent using her math cd which is for 6 - 7 year olds and most of which she can fly through....she ahs to get 14 stars to finish the cd and each time she plays she starts from scratch again - well she almost always gets around 12 or so stars.....it doesn't take her long. Math is still her favourite thing to do!

art - arts and crafts are just constant here - we've done a lot of work on mixing colours...not just the typical colours, but different shades too! We've used all kinds of materials to create works of art...and we also followed an online site to learn about other works of art such as music.....

science - a trip to the science centre.....reading through A's science pack of books which each comes with questions to ask to check understanding as well as a little experiment to show one of the ideas from the book.....we made gak.....lots of conversations about the weather.....a trip to a honey bee centre.....trip to vancouver Aquarium.....lots of baking...In the new year I plan more trips to the science centre.....and just a continuation of what we have been doing....

phys ed - swimming, walking, running, sledding, rock climbing in Whistler, indoor playground at MP, A also does various dancing, yoga etc using dvd's etc at home with her sister, trampolining, monkey bars......juggling, skipping, slide etc etc

social - learning about Margori - the little girl we sponsor in Peru.....Peru is one of the countries covered in a later grade but I figured it was good to learn about it because of our connection with Margori. We just sponsored another child and will learn about her and her country in the new year as soon as we get more information on her..........I think in the new year I would also like to start learning about Canada - just the basics like where we live, the provinces...where it is on the globe....and have her place Vancouver and Toronto. We are visiting Toronto in April so it will be good to learn a bit about the city before we go. I think its a good excuse for another visit to the Royal Alberta museum too :)

Generally I think things have gone really well - most importantly A is back to her usual happy self - no more doing her nervous nose twitching thing she was doing while in school......back to loving math and advancing with her reading etc....and she is still able to have a relaxed lifestyle, lazy days when needed, spend day after day doing crafts or day after day doing math - whatever she feels like doing :)

For now we are enjoying doing plenty of Christmasy activities and crafts and learning all about own own traditions.

knee deep snow...






we were surprised by the depth of the snow in some places yesterday - knee deep on Sam and Abby!

Quad-sledding :)






Even Jasper the cat had a go :)

Germs abound....

We have had such a strange stomach flu in this house for the last 5 days. First of all we thought it was food poisoning that Lloyd had had....he was ill Wednesday and Thursday and then just felt 'off' for the last few days....but then Friday lunchtime I started to feel sick and my tummy felt soooo strange! All gurgly and I thought I would be running to the bathroom constantly...I spent Friday afternoon and evening lying in bed watching tv because I felt so odd.

Still, we have no appetite and feel lethargic.....waves of really bad nausea and upset stomach.....really tired. I thought I was getting better as you get a few hours where you feel fine - just tired...and then BANG you have to rush to the bathroom and fear you may never leave! It seems to hit worse in the middle of the night...

So far only Lloyd and I have had it and it hasn't really stopped us doing anything - although once down the sledding hill and climbing up was enough - it exhausted me :(

So basically we have done a LOT of movie watching this weekend....just relaxing and resting and I was very glad I am prepared for Christmas.

My appetite thing is probably a good thing this time of year - there is so much food in the house that it would be very tempting to tuck in....but even the thought of eating makes me feel very sick...I'm eating the bare minimum because I have to (Friday night I ended up with a migraine from not eating) but the thought of mince pies or chocolate just makes me want to throw up!

So this week is having a gentle start and I have spent much of the morning curled up with Sam and Abby reading with them.....Abigails reading is so great and Sam is LOVING all those 'Wheres Wally/ Waldo' style books so we have been looking through those.....Abigail did a little writing in her reading journal and after lunch she wants to do a craft..

The weather has been lovely the last couple of days and yesterday afternoon we spent outside....Lloyd cleared the snow from the fire pit and we had a big fire and sat for a while, then he towed everyone round on the sled by pulling them on the quad - a favourite activity from last year! The children were sledding on the hill for a while....they roasted marshmallows. There was no wind at all and it wasn't cold at all so it was perfect - we were out there until after dark.

In the evening I scrapbooked while Lloyd loaded my Ipod with new songs...he also managed to get my treadmill into the basement WOOHOO! so I no longer have to run amongst the garbage sacks in the garage!

Well, I have a few chores to do before we get the craft out.....laundry, floors....vacuum the bedrooms and stairs...fun fun fun!

I really don't think my preschool classes will run in January - from both classes there is only one child signed up. Ah well - more time to do things with Sam and Abby :) I am sad for the area though as I really think it will be a great loss to not have a preschool in the area.....

Enjoying the white stuff.....





Sam had so much fun outside yesterday....playing in the snow...sledding and making snow angels and riding the quad with Daddy....

Scrap your 'Faith'......



This layout I did last night for a challenge on Scrappers Haven....
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