Worms and Ants

The whole family got to go to the park for a while today - and there was little tiny canker worms on the picnic table near where we were - the kids watched the worms for a good 30 to 40 minutes.... and tried giving them leaves to eat when their dad told them that was what they ate.

Later in the evening they were in the front yard, and took out the magnifying glasses, and spent a bunch of time watching the ants that we have.

Wish they didn't freak out at flies!

Garage Sale Find!

Well, I lucked out the other day at a Garage Sale!

In a box of books at 10 cents each, I found

"Charlotte's Web"

"Heidi"

"The Cricket in Times Square"

and

"Little House in the Big Woods"

I'm thrilled that I got 4 books on our list for a whole 40 cents!

Provincial Capitals

So, Delta and Echo know the Provincial Capitals..... well, could probably tell you 7 or 8 if asked - maybe would get all 10.... (plus the Capital of Canada)

How do they know them?

Well, we have a song that teaches them in with all our music.... it is on a CD of mixed stuff. I think it is Stompin Tom - but would have to check.....

Words go something like

Here's to Ottawa and the land we love, can anyone here name the capital of......

British Columbia ?! Victoria!

Victoria is a great little town, they never turn the Maple Leaf upside down

Here's to Victoria and the land we love, can anyone here name the capital of......

Alberta ?!

etc

Most of the time, the kids get them all right!

Park Day!

The other day was a beautiful day out! The whole family, (Mike, Delta, Echo, Foxtrot, Zulu, and I) went for a campfire at a nearby provincial park. Of course, it being the weekend and the first really, really nice day, it was very busy. All our good choices for picnic spots were gone, but we did eventually find one that worked out ok - except it was right beside the campground with a lot of traffic coming in and out. The actual campfire spot was far enough away from the road that we didn't have to worry too much though, as the children are good at following the boundaries.

Because of the traffic, the proximity to the campground, and our unfamiliarity of this specific site we didn't let the children explore out of the clearing, however.

I had bought a few little launch-airplanes from the dollar store, and those, plus a few soccor type balls kept the children pretty happy. We brought an old sleeping bag to put on the ground for Foxtrot so that she could explore without getting too dirty. She did wander off it a bit to experience some nature, but it made a nice base for her.

The children loved their hotdogs - Mike enjoyed his smokies.... and I had one of the meals I prefer on a campfire - a tinfoil dinner. I had 2 hamburger patties, some cut potatoes, and various cut vegetables, with some seasoning and a touch of BBQ sauce. It ended up cooked just right on the fire, and was a luxury.

We were outside for a few hours - although the son was VERY hot, and our site had no shade until the late afternoon. We ran out of water, but we did have enough with the other beverages.

Although it was after 6:30 when we were done, and Zulu had school in the morning - we still decided that the children (Except Foxtrot), and I would have a quick swim at the man-made lake at the park. It was quite cold, but very refreshing after the hot day. The children would have stayed there for hours I'm sure, but I kept it fairly short. It was still almost an hour I think before we were back in the car. We just put shirts back on over the swimsuits, and drove home.

I love "wild" days!

Found a Nest!

It would appear that a little bird nest has fallen out of one of our trees. I'm assuming it is an older nest - there is certainly no sign of any eggs. I noticed what looked like a ball of grass on our yard yesterday. Today, after a longer glance, I had a good look, and I'm sure it is a nest.

Tomorrow, if the weather is good, I'm going to have the kids examine it, and will probably draw it in my nature notebook.

Coming together

It is starting to feel like things are coming together! I have a good idea what I want to cover in most of the subjects, and although I may not know the exact resources for everything, I feel a lot better about it being my families program instead of someone elses.

Stein Suppe

So today I told the kids the story of "Stone Soup" - a folk tale of a soldier who is hungry, makes it to a village where no-one has enough food to share, so he makes Stone Soup.... and everyone ends up contributing some food to make it just a bit better....

Anyway - my son said "So they made Stein Suppe"? (not sure of the spelling....)

It took me a moment to remember that Stein in German is Stone..... and that Suppe is Soup. I haven't been doing a LOT of German with the kids - but apparently some of the words are sinking in!