Homeschooling

Christmas 1914

December 11, 2018 By Annette1 6 Comments

In the middle of November, my son, host son and myself took in Christmas 1914 at Fanshawe Village. We had a fantastic time and learned ever so much. As it drawing nearer to Christmas I thought I would tell you all about it! 🙂

Our visit started with a reenactment of the Christmas Truce of 1914. First they walked us through a trench with men telling us about their experiences, the cold, the hunger, the muck and the constant threat surrounding them.

I mentioned to one fellow that it was cold. He said “yes, it is truly miserable”. This portion of the program wasn’t very long but it gave us a glimpse into what it would have been like for these soldiers. Living within all that and then learning to trust the men in the other trenches, at least enough on Christmas to greet each other. A tough call.

After we saw the re-enactment we were able to go around and visit the various buildings which reflected different aspects of World War 1.

Our first stop was at the church were we listened to a girl choir. Some aspects were not period (like the Santa hats and the organ) but that wasn’t completely the point. 🙂 The point was music was still part of that time period and we got to listen to songs about the time period as well.

Church

We sat through part of the program, but the boys were feeling antsy so we headed out to get some hot chocolate and have an impromptu snow ball fight. It was good to see the boys having fun together (until they ganged up on me). I ran quickly into the building with the hot chocolate. 🙂

The lady working this house helped us to understand how the French boys and the boys from other countries were treated.

Once done here we headed back to finish listening to the girls choir. They did an excellent job. I wish I had the recording from Christmas in the Trenches. The one young lady did an excellent job singing an excellent alto.

Red Cross Booth

We also stopped at the Red Cross booth. Here we learned about how the soldiers received care packages. There we could light a candle to remember those who had gone on before. It was great to write a Christmas card to a Canadian soldier currently serving.

Christmas 1914 re-enactment, writing letter to a soldier

Period House

We spent some time at a home set up for the 1900’s. We saw a pamphlet to help people adjust to living during the war. It was full of practical advice.

In this house we were walked through how people would have lived, and the story of one family. We learned the best way to string popcorn and saw period Christmas decorations.

Guard house

Our last stop was the guard house. Each of us got a period Christmas card, much like the boys would have received in the war. We learned abit about how injured soldiers were cared for. I have to admit, the fire was cozy warm. The men inside the building also educated the boys are terminology use, and many other items. Other than the hot chocolate I probably enjoyed this station the most.

Artifacts

Not to be forgotten was the artifact set up in the main building. This was a treasure trove of information. From the lady who had a display of period Christmas Cards, and an obvious love of communicating what was special about them. I never knew one could learn so much from an old card!

The boys were most interested in checking out the equipment the soldiers used and the weapons they carried. The person manning the both was very knowledgeable and from him we learned that most of the soldiers that participated in the 1914 truce died as a result of their actions. Their commanding officers for the most part transferred them to areas with active fighting. Their actions were firmly frowned upon, and thereafter in the war, some of the heaviest fighting was on Christmas day.

We learned a lot about gas masks, how they progressed over the years. What the gas did. Some gas dissipated easily, other gas settled in down lying areas and just stayed there. The lad tried on a gas mask and said “it’s hard to breathe’. Our instructor said “Now try running with that, carrying all your gear, in the mud”. My son’s face when he took off the mask said it all. Imagine how hard that would have been. The soldiers needed to carry them at all times.

This was an incredibly informative evening and I highly recommend if you have a chance to go, that you do so.

Want to Know More?

Some songs were written about this series of events.

Articles about it

Some books to check out.

Four Ways to Remember the Reason for the Season

December 10, 2018 By Annette1 6 Comments

Tis the season to be jolly fa la la la la la la la la.

It is the season to be jolly, it’s great time of the year, this time of hope that we are in. There is so much to see, do and be involved in. But think.. What’s the real reason? It’s the hope of the Saviour… not coming as a baby, as important as that is, but as the Saviour of the world. We so need to remember and to contemplate what that really means,. 🙂

It’s hard not to get caught up in the busyness of the seasons. In this post I will talk about some of my joys of the season, as well as some ways to remember the reason for the season.

My Joys:

In the baking of cookies. Papernauten anyone?

In the putting up of a Christmas village.. I do have to admit this year, I’ve reduced my Christmas village. We are trying to light our load abit and I’ve needed to cut my village. A hard decision but it all needs to fit into ONE bin.

Sometimes it’s hard to remember, to focus on the fact that Christ came to earth FOR US. And not just for a generic us but for a specific ME.

Four ways to Remember the Reason For the Season

So the question arises. Just how does one remember what truly is the reason for the season?

These are things that help me
1. Doing a daily advent activity. Often we have used a Lego Advent Calendar. 🙂 What can I say… it’s fun to put together Lego as one thinks about the events of Christmas. But lately we just have those dollar store chocolate Advent Calendars and read scripture daily. Different passages that speak to the true meaning of Christmas, and the story of Jesus’ birth.

2. Spending time alone. YES.. alone… in fact sometimes I will squirrel myself away like a little spider, getting away from the noise and bustle of the world and just stay within my own cozy home. Reading a book, going out for a walk when no one is around, getting lost in the world of colouring and a Christmas movie. Just stuff for me alone. 🙂

3. Christmas music and books! In the past I read lots of books (like Alabaster’s song). Now I play Christmas music as I bake cookies, pumpkin spice muffins, and meals) and even while I’m sweeping the floor or doing laundry. Bring music that I like into the house. 🙂

4. Spend time with the Lord in church services, readings from the bible and Christmas poetry that reminds me of the season. There are some you might want to check out here and here.

We all have ways that help us to remember what is important about the Christmas season.

So tell me then, what’s important to you? How do you focus on that importance? How do you remember the reason for Christmas?

The Evolution of Homeschool Hours

December 7, 2018 By Annette1 6 Comments

Do you know a startling fact? Not all homeschool days last the same length of time! I KNOW.. it is SO different from public or private school eh? Homeschooling parents all set up their days differently, as many different ways as parents who teach. The funny things is… your days will evolve over time.

I thought I’d take a moment and walk you through how over lives have changed over past 8 years.

We started our homeschooling journey when the lad was 5, he’s now 13. When he was five, you know what we did? We walked and talked, we played and told stories.

I remember the advice a homeschooling friend gave me. Don’t buy curriculum until he’s 8 years old. You don’t know anything before then. Take your time and just have fun. Count everything, read a lot, take him everywhere and talk about what you doing, bring him places where he can ask questions and have his imagination turned. I took her advice to heart (beyond the buying curriculum, which in the end… we never did use). We held this course pretty much for the next three years.

I tell stories as naturally a breathing (people tell me I should always write them down but they never come out the same you know?) Through stories we learned history, practiced our math, tried out new words, and wove in elements of experiments. Did we use books and what not? Of course we did. But they weren’t the mainstay of our life.

My son has always been big into weapons and fighting. And we have gone through many renditions of armour. Back in 2012 we learned about warriors from Fiji whose weapons were shaped like pineapples. Schooling for us back then was a whole day affair of simply living life and learning. We tried different things like word walls and some book work but reading and talking about things worked so much better than anything else at this age. Bookwork perhaps took an hour at the most.

From 2014-2017 bookwork gradually increased. We learned some important lessons such as… even if a boy does math backwards (at least in mom’s mind) but gets the correct answer and can explain how he got there, it’s okay. Just means a mom’s mind and a boy’s mind work differently and math can still be learned. Ergo, I don’t teach math, but I do act in a supportive role! Early on, we discovered the joy of learning on-line. We kept reading, books at breakfast, lunch, and bedtime. So many great books we read, and the histories we went through, delightful!

We learned to work with how a boy set on routine works when his momma isn’t a routine/organized type person. It was HARD. On a positive note it meant that school would last exactly three hours or four hours. AND a boy learned to bend when “come on, it’s field trip day, NO, you don’t have time to do everything you usually do”.

One winter we spent hours learning about snow and compacting it and using water to create a thin, but durable layer of ice.

We still spent time exploring different ideas. Reading poetry and drawing what we thought it meant. It’s amazing sometimes where words can take us. How many different directions they can take us, and yet, at the same time, how often they can take us in the same direction. We laughed often and were amazed together. The cat often joined in the fun.

And now we are in 2018. With a lad doing most of his work independently. Needing a weekly conversation to see if we are on track. Learning together doesn’t happen quite as often. School happens differently now. A lad often getting up before his mother does. Doing his easy stuff in the morning before Dad gets up (takes about an hour). Then playing and doing things with Dad until it’s time to go to work. Dad gone, it’s off to do schooling again (takes about 2.5-3) hours. Sometimes we do things differently with videos being watched at night, research papers written on the weekend, flexibility is more easily managed now.

And now I have a boy who will volunteer to read a good section in a book to me out loud. 🙂

It is magnificent watching a boy learn and grow. To develop skills and confidence. I absolutely love it!

What about you? How do your days go? Have you seen changes in your scheduling over the years? Or if you are just starting out, are you prepared for things to change?

Junk Drawer Geometry

December 4, 2018 By Annette1 2 Comments

Pretty soon my lad will be taking a geometry course, so imagine how delighted I was to get a review copy of Junk Drawer Geometry. I now have 50 hands-on activities to help my son make sense of polygons, mobius strips and angles.

From the cover:

Geometry is a hands-on subject. What better way to explore the concepts of area, perimeter, and volume than actually measuring area, perimeter, and volume? With this helpful resource, you will polygons out of pipe cleaners and flexible drinking straws, explore Mobius strips made from index cards, model the Pythagorean theorem using cheese crackers, and much more. Junk Drawer Geometry proves that you don’t need high-tech equipment to comprehend math concepts – just what you can find around the house or in your recycling bin.

What you Get:

Divided into three chapters

Geometry tools: 14 sections such as Pencil Compass, Right Angle String, Unit Circle Glove etc.
Geometry labs: 18 sections such as Inscribed Angle Circles, Straw Triangles, Thumbs Up etc.
Fun Geometry activities: 18 sections such as Math Triangles, Circle Art, Tangrams etc.

There’s not an area of Geometry that this book doesn’t cover. Shapes, theorems, tangents, graphs, compasses, calipers, area and volume and so much more!

It was ever so helpful that each project comes with a materials list. I found that most materials are easily found around the house, OR easy to find at your local dollar or hardware store.

Step by Step instructions walk you through exactly what you need to do. The pictures clearly showing what you need to do, eliminating confusion.

I particularly appreciated that math behind the activity was clearly explained. From understanding the importance of circles, the relevance of figuring out area, why it works to your hand to measure items at a distance, and why marshmallows work so well to understanding volume.

$Junk Drawer Geometry$

My Thoughts:

Junk Drawer Geometry follows a similar pattern to Junk Drawer Engineering. Grayscale images with clear instructions make it so easy for the student to complete the activity. There is an excellent range of activities, some very simple, and others that are a bit more complicated. Step by Step instructions along with understanding the math behind the activity. Robert Mercer brings geometry into the real world for his readers. All of the activities are quite doable and you should have no problem finding the materials to make them. Definitely worth adding to your study of Geometry.

Junk Drawer Geometry: 50 Awesome Activities that don’t cost a thing
Bobby Mercer
Chicago Review Press
Ages 9+, 208 pages
STEM Challenges, Math, Geometry, Hands-on
Trade Paperback
Series: Junk Drawer Science

Reviewed for Chicago Review Press.

Colborne Lodge

December 4, 2018 By Annette1 2 Comments

When we were on vacation we needed something to do before we went to our airbnb apartment. Enter in Colborne Lodge in the southern end of High Park in London. Our guide was wonderfully informative and very personable. You’ll have to pardon me if the pictures are a bit dark, no flash was allowed.

Colborne Lodge was the home to John and Gemima Howard. Mr. Howard was an architect and engineer originally from England. The house holds a number of pieces of art work that he did himself. A lot of the art work he did involved ships on the water, usually in trouble.

They had one of the first indoor toilets. There was a small replica of it so that we could see how it worked. This area of the house was built in such a way that when the door was closed it looked like a solid wall. If I recall correctly, it was because not everyone was accepting of indoor toilets.

Our tour guide walked us through all the different areas of the house, telling us about each of the paintings. She gave plenty of time for questions to be asked and answered. The Howards lived a fair piece out of town. The house was comfortable for them.

They had this rather neat picture frame sitting on the mantel. I can’t recall if this one is authentic to the house. They needed to do a fair amount of work on the house as it had merely been shut up when the Howards’ had passed on. Vandalism and theft had happened before the house was turned into a museum. I loved the intricate detail on this picture frame and how it fanned out like a peacock. It would have been neat to see photos in it. I would happily have this in my house.

They had these tiny corner closets. I have not seen closets like this before in these early homes. It’s hard to imagine only have three or four outfits to wear.

We were walked through the various bedrooms, seeing their vanities, dresser drawers and the like. There were paintings throughout the house, most done by the Howards, and the odd one by friends.

It’s hard sometimes to know what our student understands, so when he stops to take a picture I wonder what caught his attention. I never did figure this one out as when I asked he just flashed a grin at me.

It’s a fair sized house with a basement, main floor and upper floor. It has a greenhouse or summer patio attached as well.

Oh, I almost forgot this part. They are buried on the property, but not really close to the house! We needed to cross the access road to get to it.

All in all it was a lovely visit with a good tour guide. We learned so much! If you are the Toronto area, take in Colborne Lodge.

Parallelism with a Twist

December 3, 2018 By Annette1 3 Comments

Parallelism. Do you know what it is? Have you figured out how to use it effectively in writing? Do you know how to give it a bit of a twist to give your words more punch? Walk with me through this chapter of Writing Tools. Let’s become better writers eh?

What is Parallelism?

Parallelism is the use of identical phrases, words, clauses, and grammatical structures in a sentence or paragraph.

What you do is set up a pattern. Can be any sort of pattern.

For instance: Rabbits are known for their cute faces, wiggling noses, and fluffy tails. Rabbits are a common pet, ranking fourth after freshwater fish, cats and dogs. They provide companionship, therapy, meat, wool, fur and sports partnerships.

Why use Parallelism?

The reason you want to set up pattern is for several reasons:

Lists and sequences. Keep the grammatical structures the same.
Nouns joined by coordinating conjunctives
Phrases joined by correlative conjunctions (either/or; neither/nor; both/and; etc)
Chronological events
To remove needless repetition
Clarity

The advantage in using parallelism (use of identical grammatical structures for related words, phrases, or clauses in a sentence or a paragraph.) is that is makes your writing more forceful, interesting and clear.

Not only that it helps to link ideas that are related, and to emphasize any relationships between them. Once you have that pattern put into place, your reader doesn’t have to work as hard to understand your thoughts and meaning.

I turned to the world wide web in order to gain more understanding, and one website I was at said that a sentence like this : Adam enjoys jumping, skipping and dancing. That sentence is using parallelism, whereas if I said “Adam likes to jump, to skip, and loves dancing.” then that is a faulty parallelism. What I know is the first sentence reads better than the second, that very fact, that you can read it better, makes it a better sentence.

You can add a twist

Then you can add a twist, for clarity, shock, or emphasis.

So I tried another:

I found a car, a lovely car
I thought it would go fast
I found a car, a lovely car
It should be such a blast
I found a car, a lovely car
and then it fell apart.

Use structures where you can, and then… add a twist. This twist that you add gives emphasis and makes what you say more memorable. (This honestly is where I got lost).

Some examples

One of the examples give was how Superman doesn’t stand for truth, justice and patriotism, but rather for truth, justice and the American way. I DO NOT see the parallelism. I do see how the second sounds better than the first

Another example used was Martin Luther King Jr. did his let freedom ring speech, this one section:

And I say to you today my friends, let freedom ring. From the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire, let freedom ring. From the mighty mountains of New York, let freedom ring. From the mighty Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snow capped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only there; let freedom ring from the Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain in Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill in Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

He repeatedly used “let freedom ring”. Then the last three lines he switched it up, moving from general regions to specifics. There he pointed out specific locations of racial injustice, thereby bringing clarity. I kinda get it with this example which is why I showed it to you. 🙂 The other examples….. well .. go read the book! 🙂

But seriously here. It makes sense doesn’t it? To use parallelism. It will save you words and time and it reads better. Aaron likes to hunt, fish and swim. That sentence reads much better than Aaron likes to hunt. Aaron likes to fish and also swim. Or to read Aaron likes hunting and fishing but dislikes swimming. Parallelism is just another way of using your words in a way that helps your readers better understand and be impacted by what you have to say. It’s worth learning don’t you think?

Animals in World War One

December 1, 2018 By Annette1 1 Comment

Over the past two weeks my lad and I have been learning about animals in the war. Camels, horses, dogs, donkeys, mules, cats, dogs, elephants and pigeons. I also heard about a monkey and a turtle that were morale boosters during the war. All these animals helped people in the war effort.

What Animals Served?

The imperial war museum tells of 15 animals that went to war. Bbc talks of some of the unusual animals like Winnie the Pooh! 🙂

Horses, donkeys, mules and camels carried food, water, ammunition and medical supplies to men at the front. Dogs served sentry, medical, messaging, and scout work, as well as raising morale. They also killed vermin. Pigeons carried messages very swiftly to high command. Canaries detected poisonous gas.

Great war animals in the world war. Elephants, dogs, pigeons and horses.

Camels

Camels were part of the war effort. The Imperial Camel troops that served in the Middle East. There were many good reasons to use camels in battle, but also some dangers as you can learn about at this site.

Horses:

Horses were used for a variety of tasks in the war. Pulling weapons, carrying officers, bringing in supplies and more. I knew gas was used during the war, but never thought of the need for horses to have gas masks.

Some of the pictures in this videos were hard to view. It was SO hard for the horses. They suffered terribly right alongside the men they served with. The soldiers did the best they could for the horses, but conditions were absolutely horrible.

Cats

Cats that were part of the war effort. Mostly as vermin control and morale officers, but some cats were trained to detect gas. Learn more about these amazing felines here.

Dogs:

Then of course we have the dogs of the war. Sentries, scouts, companions, mascots, medical dogs, message runners and more. Dogs were SO very useful in the war.

Stubby the dog “Sgt stubby an American dog” There is a cartoon version which the lad and I watched. It was pretty good. The full movie can be found on youtube.

We learned about a dog trainer in Scotland named Major Edwin Richardson. His name was mentioned in one of the videos so we looked him up. He started the first British War Dog School. Learn more here.

We also learned about other famous dogs of World War 1.

Elephants!

I have to admit I was shocked to hear about elephants in the war. It seemed that most of them were used for publicity stunts. None the less, elephants were definitely used in world war 1 by both sides.

Pigeons

Pigeon training, homing pigeons. The lad was curious about how you train a pigeon to race home or carry a message.

Pigeons in world war 1. In 1915, as stalemate and trench warfare set in, communication became very important. Pigeons became important to the war efforts and homing pigeons were used to carrying message to High Command. More than 100,000 pigeons were used. Some of them received medals. They overcame cut telegraph wires and other communication difficulties, though they did face their own challenges of hawks, shell-fire and more. Learn about some pigeon heroes’ on this page. A Story about a brave pigeon that may or may not be true can be located on this site. Some stories and pictures here.

We even ran across this innovative idea for gathering information.

In case you couldn’t guess, my son did his research paper on pigeons and how they were used in the war. He’s not quite done, but he’s been fighting a nasty cold this week and having a hard time managing his time.

Before I Go

This information was so cool to learn! Look at this: EVEN SLUGS were used!!!!!

Slugs
By the time soldiers noticed the presence of mustard gas on the battlefield, it was often too late. Dr. Paul Bartsch of the Division of Mollusks ……discovered that slugs could detect mustard gas well before humans could. The slugs would visibly indicate their discomfort by closing their breathing pores and compressing their bodies, and soldiers in the trenches would quickly put on their gas masks to protect themselves from harmful levels of gas. The “slug brigade” ended up saving many lives. Source.

It’s been a great couple of weeks learning about Animals in the war. I was surprised more often than I care to admit, but it was great.

Homeschooling