Last week at our Wilderness camp, we each were given a wooden disc with an animal's name on it. This was our guide for the day. Leif's was Raccoon, which was fun because we saw one just that morning. Hannah's was a Spotted Towhee bird and mine a Flicker. I have no idea what either of those are, so this was a good starting point this week.
We have a great little book that we use to try to identify a song or bird. It's limiting because it doesn't give you various views of each bird, so ID'ing them can be uncertain. But the audio song for each bird is great. We looked up the Towhee and the Flicker, and it did not register for us at all. None of us recognised them from our yard or camping trips.
Then on Leif's paper route this week, I spotted a bigger-than-robin-sized bird up in a tree. As Leif and I watched it, our eyes adjusted and realised there were about 5 in that tree. What were they? We guessed woodpeckers, because of their longer beaks and spotted wings. But they had the Robin-like tummy. So home we went to look up Woodpecker's and hear their song. I don't know that we've made a match, but it has piqued our interest, and we'll pay more attention as the days go by.
As if a household could not contain enough Lego, we have more. No really. Leif read about a new set in his Lego magazine (ah yes marketing blatantly disguised as a free subscription to children. nice.) and we went to check it out.
Before going, I shared a dilemma I was having with Leif. He was excited to go because he has lots of paper route money saved up, to spend on whatever he likes. Hannah does not, and this was my dilemma. I do not think it's fair for Hannah to have nothing; she is 5 and I completely understand why she does not want a paper route, does not want to work for money, and so on . . . but I do not want to buy her stuff and then upset Leif because he has worked so hard to earn this money, and here I am just giving it to Hannah. He said he was okay with me buying her something, and understood why she is not earning her spending money yet.
So off we went to the big mall. It was their first time in this big toy store, and they had eyes for nothing but the Lego section. After much thought and comparing set contents, Leif chose this one, and Hannah chose this one. It has led to many hours of interesting experiments with physics, as these sets have working parts. Can we catapult the rock monsters right into the machine? How fast must the machine be going to pick up the crystals? Do the claws actually help load crystals into the digger scoop?
A few days later, Leif had a moment of misery because he felt he was being jipped that I bought toys for Hannah and he bought his own. So we discussed it again, never with the goal that he see my point of view, but that we are all heard and considered, and a solution is found that suits all of us. I pointed out that up until now, for 8 years, I've bought him anything he's wanted. And that at some point Hannah too will take some responsibility for earning her toys. Then he was alright. Phew.
Leif's colour blindness came up this week, though it took um awhile to figure out that was what was happening. Hannah had launched a copter thingy into our big willow tree, and we needed Leif's stellar climbing skills to get it down. We pointed to where it was but he couldn't spot it. I kept pointing, describing it, going over below it, but he still did not see it. Then it dawned on me; it was a turquoise copter in a green tree. That is the same colour combo he could not see on one of the tests. I explained this and then had him use his 'owl eyes' to see the diff shape the copter made in the curly branches. He got it then and climbed up to fetch it. It was great that he was not bothered by his inability to see it by colour, and that we found an alternate way for him to 'look' for it.
A friend from Wilderness camp invited us out to Uplands Park to explore and build shelters. Hannah was not interested in 'going outside' so we took her to Grandma's and then were off. It was very, very wet and muddy. Leif practiced his skill, throwing sticks at prey (imagined prey, please), and Christopher collected sticks for a shelter. Again, birds were in abundance and we looked at them to find which ones were the same and which differed, and was that a damn Robin or not? Christopher told us about his project he and his sister are doing for the Homeschoolers Science/Project Fair this week. It sounds very interesting (he is setting up the battle field for a war that his much older sister is doing a report on).
An exciting event this week was the annual homeschoolers science and project fair. It started out years ago as your typical science fair, for homeschoolers to showcase an interest they have. But then other kids needed and venue to display non-science interests, like dancing or playing an instrument, or showing a collection. Now it is a grand melee of science, books for sale, tap dancing and this year a ballet interpretation of the life cycle of a bee. Good times! It's a great place to see other homelearning families we do not see that often, and check out what some kids have created. Thus far neither Leif nor Hannah show any interest in showcasing their own interests, and that's fine.
On the way home from the fair Hannah asked me "Does o-p-e-n spell open?", and then proceeded to correctly add up numbers totaling more than 10, a first. "3+3+3 is 9, 9+9 is 18, 6+5 is 11, 6+7 is 13". Sweet!
On that same car ride the CBC news covered the arrest of a Bacon Brother in Abbotsford (a known crime family) for a murder a few years back. Leif asked about this story and we discussed how the police may gather evidence (undercover, phone taps) over a long period, hence it being 2 years later and they are just now making an arrest. That you need a judge's approval to monitor citizens, that they cannot arrest anyone without having strong evidence that they may be involved in the crime.
Another in-the-car chat Leif and I had this week centered around the current economic situation (they reported more job losses on the news), and my own belief that it links in to globalisation and the practice of out sourcing jobs, started over a decade ago. He followed the topic well and shared his opinion of things. I want him to form his own opinions, not just parrot mine, and feel giving him one point of view is part of explaining the topic in general. I'm always clear when I'm branching out into my own opinion.
Hannah challenged Nana to a game of Battleship this week, and is still struggling to grasp the concept of marking your misses to determine where to shoot next. It is a big thing to figure out, when you really think about it, and involves an understanding of mapping, ariel views, seeing the ship's shapes on your 'screen'.
We got a bunch of new Families Around the World DVDs from the library this week. Hannah's not too interested, but Leif and I are. We watched Brazil, Korea, Canada and China. We are intrigued at how other families live and what is expected (or not) of children in other countries. We both can't get over how little sleep (in our opinion) other kids get!
Hannah prefers to watch The Magic School bus, and this week was all about germination, symbiotic relationships in the ocean, and weather.
I've been leaving them a bit to their own moderation in terms of going to sleep, so many nights are spent in bed drawing, or playing with lego, or talking in the dark. Leif created this comic strip one night, and Hannnah drew a fabulous picture of me lounging in a beach chair under and umbrella and the stars eating a giant orange popsicle. It's great!
Kit is gone this weekend to an Ulti tournament up island, the first of the season. I had hoped to take the kids into Science World in Vancouver for their big Lego display, but Ivy's sudden cold has nixed that. We've made plans to go in to Vancouver after Easter. Hannah could tell you that Easter is 8 days away. It's all about the chocolates friend.
C
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