Tara!!!

Did you go to see the house in Hillside Park? I know # 13 is for sale in there....there are a few for sale off of RR 221 as well....and the lovely one on 510 too......there is the bungalow opposite the South Cooking Lake school too....

there were so many for sale in the Summer..most have sold fast though! Its becoming a really popular area!

I love it out here.....I'd never move back to the city - unless something happened to Lloyd and I had to.

Oh and too funny about your pee question re. Parent of the week! :)

Focus on First Grade.....

On Friday, after a month of attending Kindergarten at a local school, we decided that it wasn't working, so we have taken the steps to homeschool A this year.

As she has already completed most of the work taught during the kindergarten year, we are focusing on the grade one curriculum. A has spent a lot of time around her older siblings, and for this reason, she has already experienced much of what we will cover this year......so instead of pushing work at her, we plan to relax, have fun and work at her pace.

A's main interests are arts and crafts, math and reading. She also loves to be active outdoors. These are interests I plan to make the most of - encouraging her love of learning rather than making learning 'work'.

If you'd like to follow along and see the activities we do each day...please feel free to check back here regularly!

Susan!!!

How is beautiful Samantha doing? Good I hope! I am so envious that you ahve a tiny snuggly new baby to cuddle and nurse!!! I think of you often and hope everything is going well!

I still check your blog daily for up dates - It frustrates me that I can never seem to post comments there :(

The playfoam was $12.99 for a pack of 6 colours or $24.99 for a pack of 12. I'm going to go back for a 12 pack as it has been a huge hit here and I think it will go down well at preschool!! Lloyd is buying a 12 pack to take to work so each of his staff can have some on their desk :) It's very relaxing!

We made the mistake of buying Floam in Michaels a few months back, when it was on sale.....it was slimy and soggy and disgusting andf you couldn't do a thing with it! I was so disappointed as I had heard good things!

Scholars Choice had a big lump of Playfoam on the counter for people to play with and it was so great we bought some. I mentioned our summer disaster and she asked me if it was Floam....she said she had heard all about it and that this is nothing like Floam!

She says you can even wash this with soap and water in a sieve and it will go back to how it is now - its pliable and easy to use and not messy at all - the children have been making all kinds of creatures with it. All the colours are now mixed up but they are still having fun with it! And it doesn't dry out like playdough!

We bought a membership at Scholars Choice and ended up saving $11 on our purchase so really we only paid $2 for the Playfoam - and they also gave us two $5 gift certificates for our next visit! I was impressed :)

Saturday afternoon.....

Today has been a gorgeous Fall day.....it even smells like Fall now - that musty/ rotting leaves smell is in the air now that all the leaves are on the ground.....walking through the woods is like walking through a golden snow fall - the leaves gently floating down around you - its just beautiful and makes me excited for our Fall walk tomorrow to have our pictures done!

Lloyd has just been out to pick up some wine - I've just made a yummy cottage pie and we are about to sit and have dinner :)

We spent the afternoon out on the quad bikes which was fun as usual - Abigail just comes soooo alive when she is on hers.......its wonderful to watch.

Lloyd saw some deer up on the side field, but I was too busy looking for hunters hides up in the trees........

Grade one curriculum....

www.geocities.com/GradeOne_ca/Lessons/index.html

I think I'm going to start a blog just about homeschooling Abby Banana.....but for now, here is a link I found for teaching the basic grade one curriculum!

Paper fowers from yesterday

This is the vase of flowers Abigail and I made yesterday, from tissue paper and straws and a flower making kit!

My creations...

Why is it that if you give me playdough or foam the first thing I want to mold is a penis????? rotflmao But, I did also make a cupcake :) ok, please look away if you're easily embarrassed lol!

Playfoam creations......

These are the childrens creations with playfoam....Abigail also made an elephant trunk and a gorgeous rainbow!

Playfoam fun!

While we were at Scholars Choice today we got to try some Playfoam. It was wonderful!!! We bought Floam in the summer and it was a disastrous mess! YUCK!! Never again!!! So I was doubtful of this playfoam - but the lady in the store reassured me that it is NOTHING like floam!

Its soooo therapeutic, like a stress reliever!! You can just squeeze it and roll it in your hands! It never dries out and you can shape it like playdough! You can even wash it off with soap and water and then it will stick back together again!

We opened it in the car and played with it on the way home! I think I'm going to keep a little bag of it in my purse so it can keep Sam busy when we are out! Lloyd is going to buy some and give a pack to each of his staff sa a fun desk-top stress reliever!

We got home and set it up on the table and all the kids joined in! Even Chris at 14 loved it :)

I am definitely going to buy some of this for preschool! Fabby stuff!

Last nights sunset..

Saturday so far....

This morning I sat in bed and finished a letter to Lloyds Grandmother - to send with some photographs for her. I posted one to my Nan this week too.

After that I showered and dressed and we drove over to Scholars Choice to get some Grade 1 resources for Abigail. We got a few things including a math game and a pack of play foam.....FAB stuff! After our Floam disaster this summer, I wasn't sure I wanted to try it again, but they had a sample to try in the store and we loved it, we bought a pack and have been playing with it in the car all the way home!

We stopped in at Sobeys on 23rd Ave on the way back - it was chaos in there! But we grabbed a few things like bread and milk and then headed home. Chris is back from his party and seemed to have a blast...he showed us the movies he made at the party and indeed it did look as though they had a lot of fun!

The rest of the day I am not sure what we will do...Lloyd bought ingredients for S'mores so we might have a fire if it isn't too windy......and we hope to go out on the quad bikes for a while...and I want to go for a run too....aprt from that I'm not sure...palying with playfoam I guess :)