A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

field trips

Belgian Nursery

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My son has had a love affair with cacti for quite a while now.   I told him that when I lived in Kitchener I would sometimes go to Belgian Nurseries just to walk through their cacti gardens.  He was immediately intrigued.  One day when we had to go Guelph for some reason so we dropped in for a visit.

belgian nursery rows of cacti

My lad was delighted by the rows and rows of cacti, so many different varieties…. how delighted could a cacti loving lad be?   He was amazed.

belgian nursery cacti

We learned that a lot of their cacti came from Colassanti’s so when we went up to Point Pelee, our friends also took us to Colassanti’s for lunch and let the lad wander through their cacti display.

This picture doesn’t do justice to the size of these cacti.  The lad was quite impressed and thought it would be neat if he could grow a cactus this large.  

belgian nursery cacti

Belgian Nurseries doesn’t just have a great cacti display but numerous other plants as well.  I can often find plants there that I can’t find at other nurseries.   I urge you, if you are ever in the K-W area, stop in at Belgian Nurseries.  Spend a good hour (or more) wandering through the greenhouses.  Be delighted and amazed at the sheer variety of plants available.  And bring home a cactus or two… I know we did!  🙂

belgian nursery cacti

The Secrets of Radar Museum

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In the spring the lad and I had the delight (along with Dad) of going to the Secrets of Radar Museum.  We arrived a touch late due the museum moving but it ended up working out okay.

Secrets of Radar Museum

I am not going to put all the pictures in this post of what we saw there, as there were a good variety of exhibits and points of interest.

I’ll just point out some highlights.

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

The tour guide took the time to point out the number of different uniforms for the radar division and those attached to it.   The hand with with the charges was a specific badge of the corps. She explained the whole making of it but I’m afraid I’ve forgotten in the meantime. 

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

I do recall her explaining how when the radar division was shut down a lot of the records were destroyed, particularly that of the women that were part of the unit. This makes it very hard for them to get an accurate history of the numbers involved and what positions they all held.

While the tour guide was showing the children around I took the time to read the various plaques they had up explaining different points.

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

There was so much there of interest to me, from learning the role of women, to learning about the planes they used, to seeing the equipment that was put into use.

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

One of the things my son liked was learning about the equipment they used and learning how the radar messages worked. The word RADAR is an acronym for RAdio Detection And Ranging, and in its simplest form it consists of a transmitted radio signal aimed by an antenna in a particular direction, and a receiver that detects the echoes off any objects in the path of the signal.

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

He was unimpressed by some of the misleading information given, when they talked about only the women files being destroyed when in actuality all the reserves and temporary staff information was also destroyed.  

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

The final part of our tour had the students divide up into two groups.  One to have a paper airplane contest and the other to learn about the Shortwave and Radar in Canada today.  The students were able to view the various aircraft flying into London and the importance of using shortwave, being introduced to some of the rules surrounding it’s use and more.  The students seemed most intrigued by the number of flights they could see.

secrets of radar museum, London, ON

  It was a good visit to this small museum, we learned a lot.  I would recommend you take your children or homeschool group there as well.  Learn our history eh?

World War 1 Education Day

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world war 1 education day

Last year it was the delight of my son and I to join in on a day learning about World War 1 and Canadian participation.  We joined in at a large event featuring various highschools as well as homeschooled middle school through high school students from London and the surrounding area.   This was a very enjoyable day that my son was truly delighted to participate in.   I can’t promise that I will remember everything exactly anymore but I’ll do my best eh?  🙂

Learning to march was part of the fun that my lad enjoyed.   He found it interesting to keep pace with another student, and to follow along well.

They also learned the value in presenting a solid line of force against the opposing enemy.

Being the keen eyed observer that my lad is, he discovered another keen eyed observer.

praying mantis discovered London, Ontario
After this we proceeded through a few more stations.

We had a great day out together.  I’m so glad we had a chance to do this day together.

A Trip to Point Pelee

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Around this time last year, our family visited friends of ours who lived up near Point Pelee.  They took us to their favourite park.   We had a good time.  🙂  I thought I’d share some images with you.

Field trip image for Point Pelee

Did you know that Point Pelee has Prickly Pear Cactus?   I know!!!!   We were stunned to learn that Ontario is home to cactus that don’t grow in a desert!

Prickly Pear Cactus at Point Pelee Collage image

One of the things I love dearly about this couple that we visited with, is they spend time with the lad as well.  Not just talking with us, but also engaging our son in the things he finds interesting as we walk along, and pointing out things that may be of interest to him.  When they discovered my son’s love of all things cacti, they made a point of showing us all the cactus that grew around the park.

This doesn’t mean of course we didn’t spend time talking with each other.  The guys often stopped to chat with each other.

At one point I got sidetracked by this short bamboo that also grows at Point Pelee. I was so surprised to see it growing in the wild as well.

Point Pelee, wild bamboo

Point Pelee is a natural gateway for birds migrating up north.  My friend mentioned all the birders that come through in the spring and fall as the birds come and go.  I know that I saw some mergansers and a couple other ducks that normally I don’t see.   Those pictures didn’t turn out that I took, but this one did of a coon we saw.

raccoon at Point Pelee

They have a nice visitors centre there as well, that I BRIEFLY had a chance to wander through before a lad dragged me away to find some barn swallows. 🙂  I grew up with barn swallows and know how well they flip and soar through their air ever so quick.  The lad was totally delighted with them and spent a good 1/2 hour watching them catch all the bugs around us, brushing past our heads on swiftly flapping wings.

barn swallows at point pelee

barn swallows at point pelee

We had an excellent day, had a lot of fun talking and looking and just being with friends. I hope I’ve given you a touch of the joy of Point Pelee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in case you are wondering why we have interesting plants and animals at Point Pelee.

Field Trip Inspiration to Vacation in Ontario

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Vacation season is coming up and I’d like to encourage you to take a trip to Ontario and see some of the sights!  To that end I thought it would be fun to point out some of the fun things to see and do in our lovely province of Ontario. 

reasons to vacation in Ontario

One of my favourite trips this summer was to go to Fort York in Toronto.   We had a hoot exploring the grounds and learning more about the war of 1812.   We had our international student with us and it was fun seeing the things he was interested in, and watching the two boys do things together. 

The Goderich Historic Gaol was a fascinating place to visit.  I haven’t gotten a post up yet but if you come in the summer they have actors posing as inmates, guards and what not.  It’s a fun evening adventure.  All the people who work at the gaol are nice folks who treat children like they matter so I like going here. 🙂

Here the lions roar and see elephants take a bath.  Recently my son and I learned the ostriches are really good swimmers so I’d love to see an ostrich take a bath!   But I don’t think they have that at the African Lion Safari yet.  🙂

After visiting the lions and elephants you’ll need to slide up the highway a bit and take in the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory.   This is such a great place to visit and has so many butterflies.  Wear bright coloured clothing and they will most likely land on your for a close up.   See them hatch and have some giant bugs crawl on  your hands.  🙂

Don’t forget to stop in to visit Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Learn a part of our history.

our field trip to uncle Tom's Cabin

If you are on your way to see the Niagara Falls you aught to stop in and see the locks at Welland Canal.   You will be amazed at the size of the locks.   When we went we didn’t see the ship go through we were able to see the locks and spend time inside their very informative museum.

Then of course on to the beauty of Niagara Falls!!!  One can’t visit Ontario without seeing The Falls!

Close to Niagara Falls you will find the Bird Kingdom.  Doing both on the same day is very doable.  The birds… are just WOW…..it is just fun to sit back and watch the birds.  I loved the small bird aviary… watching those finches working hard to build nests, and in the big aviary being bombed by the toucan was just a special touch. 

There is SO much to see and do in Ontario… small museums like the Stones and Bones Museum, Joseph Schneider House , the Donnelly Museum and so much more.

Don’t forget to visit the dairy museum’s in Alymer and Ingersoll!!!!

You can learn more about field trips in Ontario by going here and here, but honestly…just come on by, it’s a great place to call home and a lovely place to visit.  🙂

Making Pizza at Chef School

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Last week Tuesday the lad attended Chef School and I thought I’d share a few pictures with you.  🙂  It was held at the  Stratford Chef School.

Field trip to Chef School

My son enjoyed himself.  He was disappointed we didn’t get the tour of the facilities. We were originally supposed to have a tour, then learn about making food and see the tools used, but all the students got to do was learn about the ingredients of the pizza dough, see the toppings, roll out a pizza dough and then eat it.

Now I have to say it was neat to see the big kitchens, and the pizza was great (though admittedly I only ate one piece) the lad happily picked off the mushrooms and enjoyed a piece of mine.  It was like WOOT WOOT he was really brave to try a completely different type of pizza.  🙂  He even said it was good. 

AND we thought it was quite interesting watching the pizza bake in the oven.

image of pizza cooking from field trip to chef school

 

Field Trip: Uncle Tom’s Cabin

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Last year, May I am pretty sure.  The lad and I headed out to Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  We were joined by other members of the KICK homeschool group.

It was a good visit where we learned a lot about black history.  The presenters were clear about their expectations and their knowledge base.   They did a good job of helping the children understand the problems of slavery and the new life black people had in Canada. 

our field trip to uncle Tom's Cabin

Since I’m short on a lot of writing time I did up a video.

 

The day was divided into three parts.

  1. Scavenger hunt.  The children were divided up into groups and given clues to follow.
  2. A play.  The children put on plays that had something to do with their scavenger hunt.  The plays encompassed history such as the underground railroad. 
  3. Lunch and some free time to explore.  They needed to stay out of the buildings and off the outdoor exhibits but otherwise were free to roam.   It was a really nice day outside so the children had fun playing games on the lawn after they finished eating. 

Learn more about Black History in Canada.