Historical Timelines

Our timeline is probably one of the first things we did when we started homeschooling. I was and still am really excited about the fact that history for us has a start (as we believe it to be, with an understanding that not all people believe what I do about its beginnings). Our history is chronological, understanding though that history and it's events happen in different places concurrently.

Our timeline, while not pretty, is our way to understand the 'story' of the world. While we delve in and out of countries, events, time periods...our timeline anchors our travels. We REALLY enjoy talking and playing with history.

Ancient History ~ Civilizations based

Medieval History (CE - Common Era)

The whole thing thus far :)

Legislative Assembly of Ontario - Field Trip

Our friend Carol set up a trip to the Legislative Assembly in Toronto last week and it was a great trip! I personally have never been to the government building but found it to be such a beautiful building inside and out. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures when inside the building but I did get some of the outside. The children did a scavenger hunt prior to the tour, I couldn't believe the running they did that day LOL

The tour itself was outstanding! The children were brought into the mini chamber and allowed to dress up into the various roles found in the actual Assembly. Mr. Monkey was Mr. Speaker and enjoyed the people bowing to him and being able to pick who spoke next LOL They really learned a lot about debating a bill and the various responsibilities of those who take part in the Assmebly each day. Our guide for the tour was EXTREMELY knowledgeable and had such wealth of age appropriate answers for adults and children a like.

We were then brought in to the actual Assembly to watch the government in action. I think this was the most disappointing part of the tour LOL Many were texting, the speaker distracted it was a very odd sight. The children and adults a like had many pointed questions for our guide afterwards :)

This was a terrific field trip, we learned SOOOOO much!

Such a beautiful building!

Looking up info for the scavenger hunt

So scenic down there, loved these gnarly trees

LMAO He had been running ALL DAY and the relief of finally sitting down and taking off his shoes was soooo funny!

Skateboarding is back!

The boy is quite pleased to be down at the skateboarding park once again! Yay Spring!

Red Wigglers & Earth Week

We had a really fun gathering today in which we talked about Earth Week and the things we can do to give Mother Nature a hand. Our activity involved Red Wigglers and their amazing ability to eat anything in its path. We talked about how the scraps of veg and fruit, along with newspaper give this wigglers an awesome environment to basically... poop. Their poop is really what we are after, it is rich in nutrients and helps us to grow wonderful plants and potted veggies.

We'll definitely be adding this to our strawberries this season!

The materials - Box, mixed greens for wriggler munching, newspaper for shredding and covering

Collecting our new friends

Checking to see how many

Shredding paper to cover on top

Bodacious Biomes

This project has been a labour of love for us and it is now complete. We have been following a free Science program and it got into Biomes. At the library I found this amazing book and we went through the entire thing :)

We would read about a particular biome and then draw what we read about. It was great too beacuse they would mention many of the inhabitants of various biomes so we would spend time looking them up to include them in the drawing.

It was pretty awesome that during our trek in the woods the other day the boy said to his sister, "you know...we're in a deciduous forest biome right now". Pretty cool that he picked it up :)

The book!

Little Missy's Grasslands

The boy's Coniferous Forest

And finally the whole lot of biomes we did over the past little while. The kiddos were pretty surprised to see just how much we covered :)

Outdoor Trek

We decided we would go exploring a small forested area near our home yesterday and the kiddos had a blast. It was pretty awesome to see all the bits of growth making an appearance.

Climb, climb, climb

They spent the entire time clearing this little stream of debris so it would 'go faster'. Messy work but they totally enjoyed doing it LOL

He was pulling and pulling on something and when it finally released it sprayed him full in the face. Quite the funny LOL

In the park afterwards for a little boot launching :)

Clay Workshop

We attended a clay workshop this week with other homeschoolers and it was pretty awesome! We started with cardboard covered in a thin layer of clay and ended up with some pretty amazing art work!

The instructor broke it down step by step for the children so that it was enjoyed by all. Even though they were all given the same instructions, no 2 were the same :)

Thanks for organizing it Carol!

This is all the clay we were given and really only used a very LITTLE bit of it, we took a lot of this home.

Our little friend LOL

The finished product!