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A Net in Time

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child-led learning

Art is Life

April 17, 2021 By Annette1 4 Comments

Free Product received from Raincoast books for my review.  Affiliate links will be used in this review.  No added cost to you, but it does help pay the bills.  🙂 

Art is Life tells the story of the life of artist Keith Haring.  A vibrant active man with a huge love for art and the expression of it.  This is a picture book that helps to tell part of his story.   Come see!

art is life

48 pages round-out this art biography of Keith Haring.   Keith believed that art is life, and life is art, and he wanted everyone to experience the joy of it.  Author Tami Lewis Brown helped us see his vibrancy and drive to do art.   Illustrator Keith Negley brought that vibrancy and drive to life!   We got to see Keith’s work brought to the forefront while Mr. Negley helped us see him live his life. Thoughtfully produced for 4-7 year olds by Farrar Straus Giroux.

My Review of Art is Life is on behalf of Raincoast Books. 

Every artist portrays the world that he sees differently.  Keith started from the time he was young, showing his view of the world in bright colours and bold lines. 

art is life

You’ll find the font an excellent size for reading with a child at your side, or to a group of children gathered in close.  Wouldn’t it be fun to read it and then have children practice doing art like Keith?   

Throughout the pages of Art is Life you’ll find references to Keith’s desire to share art with the world.   In some ways, it makes the rest of the book seem less bright.  In reality though, the artwork throughout compliments nicely.   One can see the darkness of the subway, the lightness of chalk on dark panels.  Children also learn that sometimes… doing art without permission has consequences. 

Should you get Art is Life?

I always like, when I’m reviewing a biographical picture book, when the author includes a fuller biography of the individual.  In doing so, a fuller presentation of the individual is given.  This book left me with the complete picture.  

The author and illustrator did an excellent job of conveying the enthusiasm that Keith Haring had for life.  Everything he did showed how much he wanted others to enjoy art as well.  If you want to inspire the love of sharing art with others, Keith Haring’s story will do that!  

This book would be great as part of a series on artists, what drives their passions, and how they inspired others. The harder details about Keith Haring’s life are explained in the author’s note. 

Would you like a quick intro to Keith Haring?   I found this youtube video on him. 

Filed Under: Art, Art Books, Homeschooling, Reviews Tagged With: Art, Art Books, Art Series, Book Review, child-led learning, picturebook, Raincoast

Simply Coding, a Crew Review

October 1, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

DISCLAIMER: I RECEIVED A FREE COPY OF THIS PRODUCT THROUGH THE HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW IN EXCHANGE FOR MY HONEST REVIEW. I WAS NOT REQUIRED TO WRITE A POSITIVE REVIEW NOR WAS I COMPENSATED IN ANY OTHER WAY.

Are you looking for a homeschool computer science curriculum?  I need to tell you about Simply Coding’s Coding for Kids Annual Membership.  What a fantastic program that my son has been digging into for the past five weeks. 

Simply Coding

What I am Reviewing

Coding for Kids Annual Membership is a coding program designed for students 11-18 years of age. Put together by the team at Simply Coding, they use live demos, videos and slides to help students actively engage in coding lessons.  Students will learn to create websites, build games, and design apps. 

Annual Membership Pricing (Through Oct 1st):

Normally $149 Currently $99 – Single Student (33% OFF) + 10 Day Free Trial
Normally $229 Currently $179 – Family Membership (20% OFF + THREE student accounts) + 10 Day Free Trial

How is Simply Coding Set Up?

Once you login as parent it is easy to set up student accounts.  You do each need your own email. 

When students login they are greeted with an overview page.  This shows them which courses they can do.  Some courses require prerequisites so you won’t be able to do them until you have completed the necessary courses. 

On this student overview page you will see your victories and any uploads you have done.  Victories are completed lessons. 

simply coding student overview

Once you select your course you will be lead to your work area.   On the left side of the screen will be the course outline.  

The main part of the screen will be for the lesson.  The lessons aren’t all presented the same. 

For instance with the Digital photography course I was presented with a series of videos. 

With the Intro to Websites, there were a series of slides to go through with video that pulled up on the side. 

My son has been working through JavaScript Game Design. He tells me that it’s presentation is the same as the intro to websites course. 

The lad working on making a pong game

The My Progress button on the overview page gives you a quick snapshot of where you are in the different programs.  For instance, you can see that I have made 8% progress in the Digital Photography course. 

Live Teacher Sessions actually shows how to create small games.  The teachers will demonstrate what you need to do to recreate the game.  Currently they have 20 demo videos available with a promise of more to come.  What a great way to learn practical application of skills eh?

How Did We Use Simply Coding?

The trial of these online coding classes that we received gave us access to all the classes Simply Coding provides.  It was marvellous to have so many options available to us. 

We could choose from four categories

  • Coding
  • Media
  • Tech Essentials
  • Tech4Kids

My son was immediately drawn to the JavaScript Game Design course.  He is planning to work his way through the entire selection of coding.   Since I didn’t use this course I’ll be letting him tell you what he thinks of it.

My lad says: 

“Logging on was very easy, and the lessons are well arranged and easy to access.  The quizzes are simple to use and access.  You are able to take the quizzes again, and you are graded immediately.  I think that the program could be better if rather than using a code library it took the time to teach you how to code the various functions yourself.”

What about me?

As for myself, I’ve been dabbling.  

I started with Intro to Websites, but then moved on to Digital Photography 1 as my focus for the website course just wasn’t there.  This video-based course is rather interesting and makes me realize the shortcomings of the camera that I actually have!  🙂 

I love the immediate feedback on quizzes. 

 They have a course on learning to use GIMP!!  I’ve been wanting to understand GIMP a bit better so I’m going to work on that course.   I’ve done some work with GIMP in the past but I’m still a novice.  Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to truly create my own images instead of having to rely on programs such a picmonkey or Canva? 

In starting the GIMP program I’ve discovered a small issue.  The demonstration model is a different version than what I downloaded.  So finding where everything is a bit more of a challenge.   BUT HEY!  I created my first GIMP image!   

I’m not the fastest learner with some of this stuff so I’m hoping between their program and my stick-to-it-itiveness I can master GIMP!  Wouldn’t that be a good thing? 🙂

Should you Get Simply Coding?

If you want to improve your skill and knowledge in creating media or computer programs, this program will suit you very nicely.  Spending 3-5 hours each week should get you through the bulk of the materials within a year. The variety of options available means you can find just the right course for your students.

My lad says:  

“I have used other coding programs that go more in-depth that I prefer.  I like how easy it is to use Simply Coding but I wish that it taught more in-depth coding.   Not sure that I would recommend it at this point.   Perhaps as I get further into the lessons it will teach harder things.”

Answering quiz questions.
One of the games Simply Coding provides

Social Media Links

Facebook. 

Youtube.

Read the Reviews

Can you believe that 65 members of the Crew reviewed Simply Coding?  We all got to choose our own courses to try out.  So you have GOT to read the reviews to get a really good feel for this online computer science program. 

Click on the image below to go do some reading.

Filed Under: Homeschooling, Reviews Tagged With: child-led learning, coding, computer Learning, Highschool, TOS

Nature Study Bring Alongs

August 11, 2020 By Annette1 13 Comments

I was chatting with a gal in my Facebook Group the other day about nature study and things to bring along with you when you go.  I thought it might be helpful to share with you what my nature study bring alongs would be.

Bring alongs would include such things as sketch pads, cell phone, nature books, writing instruments, magnifying glass or travel microscope, and a note pad.   Let’s talk about why these things are important.   This post will include affiliate links where possible.

Nature Study Bring Along, tiger bee fly on a wall

As I wrote this post I was thinking about 10 ways you could engage in nature study summer.  I was thinking about how have a go to nature study bag is vital to that.  I know the summer is a bit more than half way through but pretty soon autumn will be here and that’s a SUPERB time to get out into nature.   It’s so important to have a bag ready to go, meaning that on those hard to school days you can just grab up the kids and hit one of the local trails. 

Sketch pads

Why do you need a sketch pad?   Because you need one! 

Jotting down notes, doing a quick outline so you can remember important features of the plant/animal/insect/bird/fungi/water thingey so you can look it up when you go home.

OR to simply take time to do a detailed drawing of that interesting leaf, to do an image in relief of tree bark, leaf, etc.  

A Sketch pad is an invaluable addition to your nature study book bag.  I learned that for me and my lad that the smaller ones worked better for us than the big pads.  We could fit two into a smaller bag making for lighter travelling.  We tended to like the side bound ones but we have friends who like the top bound. 

You can get good quality pads, or do the cheapies from the dollar store. whatever fits your budget.  The important thing is the preservation of what you see, and the… taking  of the moment to really look at what’s out there. 

Cell phone

Do you HAVE to have a cell phone?  Of course not.  We did plenty of walks without the phone but I found it easiest to answer the lad’s questions immediately and I loved using the notebook feature to jot down questions I couldn’t quickly answer.   Answering one question would often lead to another question, whereas taking notes and saying let’s look when we get home stifled further questions when the desire was right there!

But having a cellphone with an active data plan was great for those spontaneous questions that I didn’t always have the answer to. 

My current phone is a umidigi f1 and I love it!   No bloat ware, fast, does everything I want it to for the fraction of what some of the name brands cost.  An excellent phone that I am so glad I got the case for as this one goes with me everywhere.  It has saved my phone more than once.

Nature books

Okay, honestly, we never brought along nature books.  We occasionally brought nature cards along with us and a couple times “make art from things in nature” books along.  Mostly though, we just grabbed pen and paper and off we went.   BUT I know that some people greatly benefit from bringing along their nature books.  

When we go camping I bring along these books.  

  • Mushrooms of Ontario (simply because I have a love of fungi)
  • Field guide north American birds. 
  • Mammals of North America.
  • Reptiles of North America (my son’s influence)

Writing instruments

You will need something to write with.  I like bringing along both pen and pencil. My preference is for pencil but they so often break that having a working pen along just helps with notetaking.  The pencil though serves not only for taking notes but for making quick sketches as well.   I never bring my best along with me because losing things is something TOO easy for me to do.  Always bring along one extra.  You’ll need it!  🙂   An eraser might be a good idea too!

bloom blooming blossom blur
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Magnifying glass or travel microscope

You know those cheap little magnifying glasses you can get?  They work GREAT for nature study.  Looking into the cracks on trees to find small insects or spiders, getting up close to mosses, examining the spores on ferns, and just about anything else.  Take the time to examine the minutae.  You won’t regret it.  God has provided so much variety, and yet, so many interconnections between species.  It will blow your mind.  

IF you want a slightly more indepth look on your nature studies… then bring along a traveling microscope.  They make them in all size now it’s amazing.  The first time I saw what a small hand-held microscope could do I was stunned. 

You can get pocket microscopes or digital microscopes.   These allow for greater clarity and closer inspection of what you are looking at.  I wish I’d had one when the lad was little.  The amazement we could have shared! 🙂 

Note pad

A note pad, scratch pad, old paper, whatever you want.  Have something on which you can take a quick note, particularly if you don’t want to the waste the paper is a good quality sketch pad.  Jot down those questions from your children (or even yourself) so you can look up the information later.   You will never regret having spare paper along with you. 

Anything Else?

What you bring along depends on where you are going.  If on a longer hike you’ll want to bring water and some sort of travel food with you.  If going on QUITE a long hike, a compass, map of the area, extra clothing, an emergency blanket and a first aid kit would come in handy. 

But for your average, let’s go to the park or the local small bush type hike, these are the basics of what you’ll need.  I’ve learned it’s great to bring along a plastic bag for garbage you see along the way.  And another bag for any not damaging to nature items you want to bring home… like a pretty rock, empty pine cone, or some deadfall leaves.

Plan to leave the world a better place than you found it right?

Have I missed anything you consider essential to doing nature study?  What nature study bring alongs would you add?  

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares My Must Have Homeschool Resources.

Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Must Have Resources and Supplies in Our Home.

Annette @ A Net in Time shares Nature Study Bring Alongs.

Jessica @ My Homeschool with a View shares My Top 5 Homeschool Supplies.

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag shares Must Have Supplies … For Mom.

Vicki B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Must Have Resources / Supplies.

Yvonne @ The Life We Build shares her Top 5 Favorite Homeschool Supplies and Resources.

Lori @ At Home: Where Life Happens shares Homeschool Supplies… Squirrel.

blog hop 2020

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: 2020 Blog Hop, child-led learning, Nature

Propaganda of World War 1

June 15, 2019 By Annette1 8 Comments

My son has been LOVING doing research papers.  He’s just finished a rather significant one of poison gas, and as he finished he asked “what’s next mom?”  I mentioned we hadn’t talked about propaganda and how it was handled during the war and he was immediately intrigued.   Since it was our research week we set to. 

propaganda in world war 1

First we Watched Videos

Three types of propaganda

  1. Homefront – for people at home
  2. Front – to increase morale among your troops andweaken it in the enemy
  3. Foreign  – to counter the propaganda of the enemy

Censorship and propaganda often went hand in hand.

It was thought that film could easily be used as a method of propaganda even though it was still fairly new.  But it was very difficult to get film of war battles.  They needed permission, subject to censorship, hard to carry and set up, and light sensitive (most battles happened at night). 

Posters were most often directed at men with national emblems surrounding a healthy modern Canadian man.  Shaming posters were also used.  

We enjoyed the sheer variety in the posters. From the Victory Bond posters, to the enlist now. The different units like the Canadian Irish Rangers. We noted that some WW2 posters were slipped in as well.

You want to show the enemy as beatable, and yet you also want to show him as formidable.   Finding that balance was often difficult. 

Then we took to the books

He read selections from these books.

My goal was to have him research one of the foci of propaganda and then do up a poster showing what he learned.   He wants to do this BUT he also wants to write a paper.  I imagine it will take him two weeks to be happy with his research and the paper he comes up with. In the meantime I will learn lots about wartime propaganda! 🙂

Others in this Series

  • Belgium
  • Animals in World War One
  • Soldiers in Training
  • Assassination
  • Pre_war Alliances
  • War Starts
  • Trench Warfare.
  • Trench Foot Experiment.
  • Eastern Front.
  • Battles of WW1.
  • Sea Battles.
  • Submarines.
  • Airplanes. 
  • Poison Gas. 

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: child-led learning, history, World War

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.

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.

Other posts about world  war one

  • Belgium
  • Animals in World War One
  • Soldiers in Training
  • Assassination
  • Pre_war Alliances
  • War Starts
  • Trench Warfare.
  • Trench Foot Experiment.
  • Eastern Front.
  • Battles of WW1.
  • Sea Battles.
  • Submarines.
  • Airplanes. 

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: child-led learning, history, World War

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!

Model Airplanes, progress

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.

Model Airplanes, progress

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. 🙂

Model Airplanes, progress

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.

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: child-led learning, hands-on learning, history, World War

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.

Ska-Nah-Doht first nations village and museum
Some silliness.

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.

Other Canada Field Trips

  • Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
  • Fort Henry.
  • Joseph Schneider Haus.
  • Goderich Historic Gaol.
  • Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.
  • Niagara Falls.
  • Stones and Bones.
  • Ingersoll Cheese & Dairy Museum.
  • Bird Kingdom.

Filed Under: Homeschooling Tagged With: Canada, child-led learning, field trips

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