It takes a village to raise a child. Luckily, we aren’t afraid to ask for help.
The other day, Alexie wanted to do some painting. And she decided to call her grandpa, a retired art teacher to come over and paint with her. He happily agreed.
While he was over, he and the girls got busy painting. Papa talked about watercolor techniques. He showed them how to pick up the paint with their brush, how to use water properly and how to use color in a their art.
We’re so happy that Papa could come over to visit and I’m sure that he’ll be back to teach some more art lessons.
In this Flashback Friday, we’re looking at our favourite winter memories. We live in northern Ontario where we have snow and cold for 6 months of the year.
In this video, you’ll see see the fox that visits Mémé and Papa’s house, our awesome horse-drawn sleigh ride and the EPIC sliding hill, we’re still trying to keep secret.
It’s important for us to get out and enjoy the snow and cold as much as we can. If you can’t beat it, then join it!
This week, we all had the flu… well, everyone except for Dad. Even when we’re on the mend, there is still opportunity for exploring and learning.
We decided to take out the play-doh and have fun making small sculptures and using letter stamps to work on our spelling. We worked our fine motor, worked on some spelling and just chatted about what was going on in our lives.
Fun fact: right after the filming of this video, dad also got the flu.
New Year’s is a time for setting new goals and intentions for the year ahead. This year we decided as a family that we would make some learning goals, things we want to learn how to do by the end of the year.
In this video, we talk about our goals and what we want to accomplish in 2019.
Alexie decided that she would like to learn how to read a book by the end of the year, all by her self.
Zoé has begrudgingly agreed that she is going to learn how to use the potty.
Mom and Dad came up with a little challenge. While we both have learning goals of our own, we also challenged each other to learn a new skill.
Mom’s learning goal is to read 12 books (written for adults) by the end of the year. And, Mom challenged Dad to do the same.
Dad has decided to work on learning the ukulele so he can teach the girls. Dad had a challenge for Mom, too. Mom will be learning how to edit a video!
So, it’ll be a year of learning in our household and we are excited to get started on our goals.
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!
It was a cold, snowy day and we had no interest in heading outside. So we stayed inside and got to work building a fort!
We usually get dressed every day, but every once in a while, we like to have a PJ Day and just relax. But that doesn’t mean that the learning stops.
Fort building is a great activity for little kids. It fosters creativity and imagination. It has all kinds of engineering aspects and it’s a great way for them to build something life-size.
Forts are a great way to make other activities exciting, too! Want to know what’s more fun than reading? Reading in a fort, of course! A fort is a great place to do puzzles, read or colour.
We love books and reading. The girls constantly have their noses in books. Not that we have a problem with that. We love that they love to read because it’s a great way to learn!
Alexie has a goal of learning how to read this year, which means we need to learn our letters first. So we’ve been reading lots of alphabet books lately. Here are some of our favourite letter books.
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom – A fun book that goes over the letters not only once but twice. The letters climb the tree, fall out of the tree and then start again. It’s bright, colourful and engaging which is a win for us!
Animalia – This book is beautifully illustrated. Each page features a poem using words with only that letter, and the illustrations are filled with things that also start with that letter. The challenge is to find all the words that go with the corresponding letter, and then you still have to find Graham (kinda like “Where’s Waldo?”).
ABC of Canada – We love a good Canadian book! This one is filled with Canadian landmarks and icons. It’s bold lines and colours make it a fun read and it’s just a super patriotic series.
Dr. Seuss’s ABC – A classic, that cannot be forgotten. This book is silly and fun and it’s a classic.
The Awful Alphabet – This book is so funny. They find the worst possible thing that start with each letter. It’s disgusting, gross and amazing. It’s a different type of alphabet book which makes it a fun alternative to other alphabet books.
These are some of our favourite alphabet books. We’ve read each of these numerous times and I’m sure we will read the again, because they are really that great.
Here in Canada, we get a lot of snow. But often it’s too cold for us to really get out there and explore it. So, sometimes, we bring the snow into our house instead!
A big bin of snow, some scoops and spoons and a towel is really all you need. And it is a load of fun. It’s a great sensory activity, allowing children to explore different textures and feelings. The snow feels cold, wet, soft, crunchy. This helps kids develop their curiosity and a love of exploration.
We also paint the snow! Adding a few drops of food colouring to a small cup of water and a paint brush are all you really need. We used primary colours and allowed the girls to not only paint the snow, but also see how the colours mix together and what colours they make. This is a great bonus activity.
And, the clean up on this activity is so easy. I just throw the bin of melted snow in the front yard, use the towel dry up the kids and any spills and that’s it! This simple activity entertained our two kids (preschooler and toddler) for almost an hour. So, it’s really a great activity that is cheap, easy and super entertaining for the little ones.
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.
