Homeschooling

Leaping Lagomorphs

May 14, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

Leaping Lagomorphs (also known as hares and rabbits) is the topic of the blogging through the alphabet challenge. This week the letter is L.

I first learned of rabbit hopping as a sport about five years ago now? i was preparing a rabbit class for some homeschoolers and was looking for activities one could do with their pet rabbit. Rabbit hopping came up as one of the options. Later at one of the rabbit club shows, the 4-H kids put on an agility rabbit demonstration. I learned how to start training a rabbit to do rabbit hopping.

Rabbit hopping, Rabbit jumping, or rabbit agility (different names for different folks) was started in Sweden. It gradually made it’s way across Europe, coming the North America in 2001.

I am by no means an expert on rabbit hopping, so don’t get mad if I’m wrong in some of my facts. My understanding is there are different levels. You start at beginner and then, as your rabbit succeeds, you move on to the next level. Levels get more difficult as you work your way up.

From what I understand there are a number of different ways your rabbit can compete beyond the levels.

Rabbit Hopping events:

A straight line of jumps.
A twisty line of jumps.
A line of jumps and obstacles.
High Jump
Long jump

How to Train

First you need to get your rabbit used to hopping just on the mat provided for them. They wear a harness and you gently guide them. You may or may not want to pointer train them first. Then you add the jump standard without a bar and gradually increase the difficulty and the type of obstacle.

All that remains after you have solid training is to take your rabbit out to show and see how he does with the stress of competition.

In Canada there is the rabbit hopping club (website and facebook).

In the United States there is the American Hopping Association.

Others in this Series

Letter L Link Up

Each week we will be linking up with the hosts of Blogging Through the Alphabet. Please visit some of these other blogs to get things like book lists, vegan recipes, and wonderful places to visit, just to name the topics I can think of off the top of my head.

Poison Gas in World War 1

May 10, 2019 By Annette1 7 Comments

Did you know that France was actually the first company to use poison gas in World War 1? I didn’t either. Learn more amazing facts in the video below.

Welcome to Our study of Poison Gas of World War 1.

My son has been longing to tackle this topic but I deliberately held it off until the nicer weather. I’ve been imagining my son wanting to make smoke bombs and what not to test wind patterns. Nice weather makes that a whole lot easier to do eh? 🙂

BUT on to our study. We watched a number of videos. 🙂

Types of gas used

tear gas – not truly dangerous, more of a nuisance
chlorine gas – burning eyes, nose, mouth
phosgene gas, sometimes mixed with chlorine gas killed 85% of all gases used.
mustard gas – the most painful of all gases

Learning about Chlorine gas

Phosgene gas. 85% of all people who died from Chemical warfare died from this gas. Freshly mown gas smell. 80,000 people.

Mustard Gas. Though in this video the creator was wrong in stating that the Germans started the poison gas attacks. They did grab onto the idea rather firmly though. Mustard gas was named for its yellow-brown colour and mustard smell. It was a nasty gas which didn’t dissipate easily and would sink to lower levels and stuck around for years. Exposure to skin contact leads to blistering and burns. It could be very disfiguring.

Learning about the disfigurement of mustard gas led us to learn about Anna Coleman Watts/Ladd and her work making masks for these poor soldiers.

Videos My Son Picked:

This only the first half of this video is on poison gas.

The history of Fritz Haber. Haber was a Jewish German Chemist who thought that chemical warfare would end the war more quickly. Even though it didn’t. He never apologized for his work or actions. As a Jew he was later unwelcome in Hitler’s Germany. He died in Switzerland from a heart attack. He found himself unwelcome in many places due to his work in chemical warfare.

Small box Respirator. This video led us to learn more about the small box respirator through the Canadian War Museum. I think, Lieutenant Dockar, a Canadian, wrote this article. We learned a good bit reading that article. Close up’s of the SBR can be found here.

Reading

The lad did some reading from various books and downloaded product.

Choosing Rabbits to Keep

May 7, 2019 By Annette1 1 Comment

One of the challenges in having a rabbitry is deciding who you will keep and who will not keep. Sometimes it’s very easy, but other times it is very challenging. How one makes a decision depends on several factors and is affected by your over arching goal for your rabbits. This post is all about choosing rabbits to keep in your herd.

People keep rabbits for all sorts of reasons. Homesteading, showing, companion animals, pets, or as livestock. The reason you keep will change what you look for in your animals.

Why Is It Important?

It is important to keep your end goal in mind or you will end up sabotaging your own efforts. When I started raising rabbits as an adult I took my time to talk to old time rabbit raisers. They all told me “breed for what you want” and “what you breed you get”.

So if you want calm tempered rabbits (great for anyone) then don’t breed the nicely typed doe that bites you. Or if you want typey rabbits good for the show room don’t keep the poorly typed rabbit that just happens to be colour you want. If your focus in on feeding your family from the profits of your rabbit sales: show, fur, pet, companion don’t keep rabbits that don’t meet your market goals. Meat rabbits need to be as meaty as possible and need to be able to reproduce without tearing your hand off in the process … don’t keep the rabbits that do not meet your long-term criteria.

Different Styles of Keeping Rabbits

Show rabbit fanciers will focus on the rabbits they have meeting the standard for their breed. A good breeder will look first at type (how well the rabbit meets the standard) and second at colour, temperament, etc. If you have the body you need, you can get the colour you want down the road. Mind, you also need to have an animal you can handle because rabbits who bite the judge get kicked out of the competition.

A homesteader will most likely look at temperament and how well the rabbit produces what they need. Meat, wool, companionship etc. Whatever their goal is will be their primary focus. In this video below an unexpected reason was the fact that rabbits are (for the most part) quiet.

Companion animal seller, Pet rabbit seller. Should look first at health and temperament, and then at colour, type, and all other considerations.

Pet people (so people who just happen to have two random rabbits) will often just breed two rabbits together and keep any offspring they can’t sell or whatever bunny makes them the happiest. I’ve been there and done that it’s totally a way to do things. 🙂

Livestock. Just like with the homesteader the person breeding rabbits to be livestock will breed for animals that grow quickest, produce the best final result and are easy to handle. The video below speaks to what you want to look for in a meat rabbit. I do disagree with him that you need to start with purebred stock. The advantage to purebred is you know what is behind the rabbit. BUT meat rabbits, bred for their meat only, are often built differently than a show rabbit is. So look for what you need in a meat animal and start with good stock that will give you what you want.

Others in this Series

Letter K Link Up

Model Airplanes, Progress

May 4, 2019 By Annette1 5 Comments

Do you remember we’ve been studying the airplanes of world war 1? We each had planes we were interested in. My son found eindecker a curious plane, and I liked a few different ones. I asked the lad if he would like make an airplane model if we could find one. The answer came swiftly….YES!

We were in London the other day and stopped in at AVF Hobbies. I wasn’t expecting a whole lot as I’ve been looking on-line for WW1 airplane models without a lot of success. My first perusal of the store met my expectations, but then I discovered their backroom and guess what!

They had TWO planes for world war one and lucky lucky lad.. they had the Eindecker! They also had a Sopwith Camel.

And herein this post you can see the difference between the lad and myself. With him, the careful reading of instructions along with “mom, isn’t that a good idea?” and me… “well, in instructions don’t say that so I should probably just go ahead” instead of listening to reason.

Sometimes I just want to rush ahead you know? My planner lad never does that. 🙂

He is taking the time to follow the instructions “Paint first, build second”. The painting takes a while to do, but he’ll get good coverage of the plastic.

Admittedly, we have old paint as well.. I have yet to buy curriculum for next year! New model plane paint isn’t in my budget. But the paint we have will do, we just need to work with it a bit.

I decided to leap right in! Painting after you have a model together is a fair bit trickier I have learned. It will help me continue to develop my patience and help me listen better to my son for next time. 🙂

I am pleased with the progress that we are making. It will probably be a month before we are finished. It takes time to let paint dry and to find the time we want in the evening. It’s a fun time together painting, talking, and helping each other out.

Want to learn anything?

May 3, 2019 By Annette1 9 Comments

Do you have a love of learning? Of course you do. 🙂 Who doesn’t like learning new things! There are so many fascinating things out there. Anyways, I got to thinking about it and wondered if there were websites out there that catered to people like me (and perhaps like you). Guess what! I FOUND SOME! How cool is that!

Over-arching Sites

These are sites the link to other sites.

For instance No Excuse divides their site into different sections such as Art, Computer, How-to’s and Acadamics. Then they list websites you can go to under those areas to expand your learning.

Skillshare is quite similar in their set up.

Project Based Sites

Zooniverse is a fascinating site. I’ve been able to peruse handwritten notes by Shakespears, step in on animal projects in Africa and count penguin nests. Who could ever have imagined that sitting here at home in Ontario, that I could count penguin nests without getting cold feet! 🙂 Go ahead, give it a boo!

PBL works is similar in nature. LinkedIn Learning is another option as well.

And you can go to Classadoo and build your own project too!

Academic Sites

Then of course we have the academic sites. Sites where you go to actually LEARN course material.

Udacity.
Alison. carpentry and human body are courses I’m taking.
Open Culture.
Coursera.
EdX.
Udemy.
Oeru.org. Looking at a money management course for my lad.

The Joy of Bunnies

April 30, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

I asked my boys for some “J” ideas for this week’s post. They suggested: jack rabbit, jackaloupe and j feeder. All of which are great ideas. I got to thinking though. It’s so easy to just give information… perhaps I should just talk about the Joy of raising bunnies.

Why do I raise bunnies?

Did you know that I grew up on a farm? I was an animal focused farm girl. Put me behind a wheel and things tended not to go well… I remember lots of “acks” from my dad. But give me a calf or a cat to care for… I LOVED IT! The naming of the calves, caring for the chickens, and chasing the cats. I would tie anything up I had the chance to (though I took it a bit more easy when I almost killed a cat). NOT on purpose I promise! Rope, cat, feeder started, cat freaked out and rope got caught! I panicked but managed to free him. I remember that whole thing as clear as a bell! (GACK!!!!)

BUT I not only cared for calves, chickens and cats… we also had goats, ponies and rabbits. I’ve had a love for rabbits for a very long time. In my young adult years I replaced that love of rabbits with a firm appreciation for fancy mice and guinea pigs, but when I had a chance to get bunnies again… I DID! By the by… my son has picked up on my love of fancy mice.

Having a furry critter to care for does my heart good. It has ever since I was little, I would retreat with a dog or cat in tow, and then settled.

Specialness

I will freely admit that not every bunny is special. Some are completely normal, nothing really impresses, but then you meet one that tugs on your heart strings.

Tubs, pictured above was one such kit. Oh this little cutie grabbed my heart from the moment he was born. A singleton, fortunately born in the summer, and momma didn’t have nest buddy (a doe bred at the same time in case of singletons born) so Tubs had to take his chances. He thrived! Momma did an excellent job with him and he was super friendly from the time he started hopping around. He quickly found a home, and is still delighting a now 13 year old. 🙂 Stellar little rabbit that if he had been a girl would have stuck around.

BlueBonnet

BlueBonnet is my current heart throb. One of my bottle babies, she was an eager happy drinker of goat’s milk. She’s going to stay in my herd (hence the two-part name). She’s a slightly bossy lass but still thinks that I am the cat’s meow… rushing to see me all the time whenever I move anywhere near her cage. Her eagerness and attitude make my heart smile. 🙂

My current favourite litter

Pond’s kits are super sweet. They are much like their momma, thinking all good things come from the two-legs who comes by frequently. They are just starting to eat pellets and grain. The little white in the back I think is a nosey little girl… she’s constantly checking out what I’m doing and grunts at me when I pick her up. Little does she know that doing so means I pick her up all the more. 🙂 My little runt is the dark brown one facing away from the camera. A smart, active little mite, I’m going to push that he/she goes to a middle schoolers home… this bunny, if it’s the boy I think it is, will want to be with his people doing stuff.

It’s part of what I love you know? Watching them grow, seeing their parents and grandparents in them as they mature. Seeing the hope and promise in each of them. Holding warm bodies and watching twitching noses. Monitoring their eating and drinking habits, and generally just fussing over them without being obnoxious. 🙂

Bunny Joy

Oh… and some bunny joy! I remember one year for my rabbit club show I went around collecting stuffed bunnies as rewards for the kids. It was SO much fun and the kids from big to small were delighted with the stuffed bunnies. 🙂 It is so great to encourage young people in the rabbit world.

Others in this Series

Letter J Link Up

Ska-nah-doht

April 26, 2019 By Annette1 4 Comments

March break this year I wanted to do something different with the boys. I searched for something to do with them and hit upon Ska-nah-doht. I had never been to this Indian village. It is part of the Longwoods Conservation area and is located outside of London.

Ska-Nah-Doht first nations village and museum

Our venture out was on a sunny day, our trip was easy, but our walk-around Ska-Nah-Doht was rather slip-n-slide. The ice of the winter had not yet dissipated which gave our Brazilian student an education in Canadian winter walking. 🙂

Out Buildings and Village

We heard from another family visiting that they had a museum. It was fairly easy to get to and was warm after being outside. We started off our time watching a movie. I don’t know how much our student understood, but he at least paid attention. 🙂

Visiting the Village

We enjoyed the exhibits which varied upstairs from posters, to exhibits of animals and tools.

Downstairs led up to an interactive area. The boys had fun here. From posing for silly photos, playing old time games and being amazed at the size of a wild turkey.

Both boys tried this game. The lad was fairly confident, our student was somewhat lacking. He liked the other games better. 🙂

We had a very good time. I was pleased that it was a fairly quiet day, despite it being a day off school with some planned activities. We managed to avoid most of the groups which meant we could relax and just have fun. The boys were invited to take part in a hike but decided they’d rather head out again. A great day out that I will most likely do with another student. It’s great to show them some history of Canada.

Homeschooling