A few years ago, we started going to the pumpkin patch in the fall and it quickly became a favourite family tradition. So, every year during the month of October, we drive out and spend the day at the pumpkin patch. It’s the perfect day.
After a few hours of wandering through a corn maze and wagon rides, we found the mountain of pumpkins and picked out our perfect pumpkin. Zoé found ours this year and it was a great big pumpkin. We loaded it up in our car and headed home to carve it up.
While we were carving our pumpkins, we decided to do a little math activity. Using the super awesome worksheet below, we had some fun practicing measuring our pumpkins. Alexie learned how to use a ruler and a tape measure. We measured the circumference, diameter, and weight of our pumpkins. We also estimated how many seeds were in our pumpkins and then counted how many were actually inside. This is clearly a skill we’ll need to work on, but it was just a fun thing to do.
We designed fun faces for our jack-o-lanterns and had a fun and educational evening. Oh and then we roasted the seeds. They were delicious and the perfect way to end the day!
When the kids were really little it became a place for us to go and let them play in the kids area. It was quiet, fun and most importantly free! Since becoming homeschoolers, we love it even more.
Books to Read
We love to read. We read books with our kids daily. And the library has become a great way for us to bring new books into our house on a regular bases without costing us a cent. We use a book basket to get a selection of picture books in our home and the library really helps keep it fresh and fun.
Put Books on Hold
I LOVE using the holds system.
Our city’s library system is actually made up of over a dozen branches. Sometimes the book we want isn’t at our local branch. So I put it on hold and within the week, they deliver it to our home branch just down the street. And with the help of the on-line account library system, I can put things on hold from my laptop on my couch.
I also use it when I’m doing a unit study. Online, I can find titles and put them on my list. When I want them, I just click the HOLD button and they are sent to my branch. I’ve got a list of about a dozen Barbara Reid books in my list, ready for our author study this winter. The hold system really helps us maximize the books we have access to.
More than Books
Libraries are not just for books. These days you can check all kind of things out of the library. Movies, Audiobooks, music, documentaries are all available. I’ve even seen some libraries that allow you to check out toys. (ours doesn’t have this program, but I wish it did.) Checking these different things out are great ways to find interesting supplemental resources for your homeschool. And sometimes, it’s just a great place to find a movie.
Fun Classes and Activities
Most libraries offer a variety of programs and classes, often very cheap or free. Ours is no exception. They have one-day programs on school PD days, weekly activities during the summer and of course book clubs and story times. We personally love the summer programs because it gives us an outing and a chance to socialize with others during a time when all of our other activities (playgroups, gymnastics, co-op) are off for the summer.
Our library often brings in entertainment too. In the past, they’ve brought in magicians, animal rescues and authors. One year they brought in a children’s musicians and Alexie loved it and laughed the whole time.
A Place to Go
The library have become one of our favourite places to go. It has a special place on my list of outings. When we need to get out of the house, we can go there and play for awhile. Or to give us a different environment for us to do our work. Since it’s free, it makes it a great place to go our an hour or so and just get out of our 4-walls. And if we really need something different, we can go visit another branch in the city.
These are just some of the reasons that we love the library. It can be an incredible resource for any family, but especially for homeschoolers. From free books to a place to go and hang out to activities and classes, the library is the place to be these days!
After visiting the girls’ aunt and uncle and their wonderful farmer’s market, we decided to break up the long ride home. We decided to stop at the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.
Being totally honest, we didn’t expect much. We have a butterfly gallery at our local science centre and we thought it would be pretty much the same. But at least it would be a stop and a chance for the girls to stretch their legs.
Well we were wrong! The place was amazing!
Alexie loved looking at all insects they had in the galleries. Not only the beautiful butterflies on the walls, but also the live bugs they had. From the spider to the scorpion to the assassin bugs, they were all so interesting. But then we stepped into the conservatory.
It was like walking into a jungle full of butterflies. There were little birds flying about and even a turtle in the stream. There we little feeding stations throughout the conservatory and butterflies all around.
Both the girls loved it! Alexie even asked that we go around a second time! We were there for almost 2 hours and the girls were thrilled. It was a great experience and we will totally be going back in the future.
I think lots of people love spending a few hours at the farmer’s market. With all the fresh produce and local products, it’s a really great place to support local businesses and farmers. And, it’s full of educational experiences for kids. From talking about where our food comes from, to money and entrepreneurship, there are lots of learning opportunities.
We have a unique opportunity because the girls’ aunt and uncle live on a soybean and pepper farm. And they run The Little Farmer’s Market from their barn. When we went down to visit, we got to help out in the market.
The girls love helping out at the market. We started the morning by filling pint baskets with fresh sweet peas. Uncle Braden (or uncle Pepper as we like to call him) used a scale to weigh out 1 pound baskets of sweet cherries. We helped fill the shelves with various vegetables. Then Alexie got to work watering the flowers around the market.
Alexie even got to help serve customers. Working the iPad POS system is always interesting for the girls to use. And, it’s a chance for them to practice with money in a real-life situation. Plus, you can’t beat the chance to experience running a small business in an up-close and personal.
It was a great learning experience, and getting to work with their Aunty Bean and Uncle Pepper was the cherry on top.
We recently took a long road trip to visit some family. We decided to break up the 7+ hour drive with a few pit stops along the way. One of the places we stopped at was the African Lion Safari.
We decided to take the tour bus because we had a small crack in our windshield, which would bar us from using our vehicle. But we have also heard of the baboons taking pieces off the vehicle — which we weren’t interested in. It was actually a very informative experience. The bus driver was also the guide and had lots of interesting facts to share about the animals as we drove through their various reserves.
It was such a neat experience to see the lions, baboons, giraffes and rhinos just mulling around their large exhibits. They moved around freely and some walked right up to the bus. We certainly got a good close look at one giraffe that decided to come in for a closer look.
The park is big and there were other sections that we never made it to. By late afternoon, the girls were exhausted and we had lots more driving to do. We did enjoy the wonderful splash pad and Alexie absolutely loved the waterslides. We missed the parrots and some of the other exhibits. But, we still had a day full of fun and excitement! And Zoé, our little animal lover, was in heaven the whole time!
Don’t you love having friends with cool homes, jobs or places to visit? We were lucky enough to have a friend who invited us to visit her hobby farm. We packed up the car and drove over there. After a short drive, we arrived and were quickly introduced to the animals.
I love when people share their expertise and knowledge. Especially when it’s something they love and are passionate about. We learned so much while visiting the farm. It was such an educational outing and a real hands-on learning experiences for the whole family.
What’s your favourite farm animal? I think I can say Zoé really loved the ducks and chickens.
We have a tradition. Every year for Mother’s Day, we get Mom some petunias for her front step flower box. Why petunias? Well they provide lots of colour, are easy to take care off and they handle the full day sun really well.
But in order to give Mom some flowers, we need to go and buy some flowers. Which means we need to go visit our local greenhouse…and the girls love it so much.
Once we had our flowers, we had to plant them in the planter. It’s always such a fun project.
And Mom totally loved her flowers! They are really livening up our front porch and adding a great pop of colour to the house.
Learning can happen anywhere, anytime. We like to go out and explore outdoors as much as we can. This winter, we were able to explore the woods on the other side of the river from our house. You’ll never guess what we found there…
A bus. Yes, a bus! We so surprised to find hidden in the woods, with trees growing all around it, an old school bus! Looking at the rust and the fact that there was no road for the bus to get there, we inferred the bus must have been there for a long time.
On our way back home, we had an interesting discussion about the upcoming lunar eclipse. Join us for this Walk & Talk!
UPDATE: This contest is now closed! Congratulations to our winner!
We try to take the kids on some kind of field trip at least once a month. Sometimes it’s something that we plan. Other times, an awesome oppertunity just falls into our laps.
This month, we had something super cool come up. We were invited by our local CBC radio station to do an interview. While they were originally inquiring about an over-the-phone interview, we asked if they would be okay with us doing it in-studio instead. Because, how cool is that to be in a studio doing a live radio interview?
They agreed and we headed off to the studio a few days later.
We got there a few minutes before our interview and got to see the studio, and watch as they read the local news….and then we were up!
We talked about homeschooling, YouTubing and how we do it all. The girls were so happy to be apart of it, and see where those voices on the radio come from. And the people at CBC were so nice. They gave the girls these great red toques, which they wear all the time.
Sometimes you meet people that have the coolest jobs. We recently met the man who owns L.May Metal Fabricators LTD, the company that makes those iconic metal lunchboxes. When Mr. Will invited us to come and see the shop, we of course said yes!
We went to the shop where they’ve made thousands of their famous metal lunch boxes. We got a little tour of the shop where they make each lunch box by hand, and Alexie and Dad even got their hands dirty, making a pink lunch box of their own.
They bent the metal to make the box and the lid. They watched as it was finished in powder coating and baked, making it a pink, Alexie’s favourite colour. Then they assembled it, using the riveter to put on the handles, hinges and brackets. Alexie really got into stomping on the riveter. It was so cool to see this little girl run that big machine!
It was a great field trip and both girls left with a little lunchbox of their own.
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