A Net in Time

Curriculum and book reviews, faith, homeschooling and more!

homeschool

Springtime in Small-Town Ontario

By 2 Comments

The crew has a challenge for us this week.  What are our Spring Routines?  Well… honestly I don’t know.   We work in the garden, go for long walks, enjoy the spring flowers… you know… springtime in small-town Ontario.  Nothing too fancy for us here.   As I sit here though I have to remember that not everyone lives in small-town Ontario. 🙂   So let’s talk a bit about my neck of the woods and what’s normal for us in the spring.   

You’ll find the odd affiliate link in this post. Costs you nothing, helps to support this blog. 

Teens Build!

I have a teen boy in the house.  Every year around this time he gets antsy to build and create.  He once again wants to build an air-propelled weapon.  Last year he modified his old marshmallow gun to create a weapon that could propel an arrow more than 100 feet.  He accidentally broke a piece on it so it no longer works ergo… the need to build a new one!  He’s on the hunt to find the parts.   It was rather quite impressive how far it would shoot. 

Springtime in Small-Town Ontario

Going for walks in the spring… soaking in the warmth of the sun, enjoying the light after a winter of dark.  I have to tell you, it’s one of my favourite things.   It’s wonderful to see the geese back in the park, to see the beauty of our local dam and waterways, and even to see the white squirrels running about. 

Being out in the sun is good for us.  Did you know it helps us to regulate our serotonin levels? It’s UV rays help us absorb chemicals and minerals.  The Vitamin D we gain from being out in the sun for even 15 minutes helps us to fight autoimmune diseases, and the exercise we get gains us a better night’s sleep. Early morning walks help to shrink fat cells which is rather cool!  🙂 Sunlight helps boost a chemical in your brain called serotonin which keeps us more balanced and happy over the course of a day.   Rather good to know the benefits of being outside eh? 

Since I have that teen… the spring is a great way to encourage him to get off his duff and out in the nice weather.  I have to admit, it’s not a hard sell in the spring.  It is probably the easiest time of the year for me to get him out and about.  I’ve noticed that the more he is outside the better his eczema is too! 

Running errands to the store, getting out with local friends, and just gadding about. It’s GOOD for a teen boy!   I love letting him use his muscles helping me in the garden, doing yard work, or even doing spring cleaning. 

If you’re looking for gardening or food production resources for your homeschool, you’ll find SchoolhouseTeachers a good place to start. 

Getting Out in the Gardens

Springtime is a great way for the enterprising teen in your life to make a few dollars.   Last year my son started some crabapple trees, helped me dig up extra gooseberry bush starters, and got some maple trees growing.
This spring he’s working with me to sell them.   Half for me, half for him.  He thinks it’s a good deal since he struggles yet with marketing.   As he helps with clean up he discovers other items we can put up on the marketplace as well, like our excess feedbags from the rabbits, flower pots we’re not using this year, and more.    It’s good to see him thinking about possibilities.  

If you are looking to encourage the entrepreneurial skills of your teens, these books (affiliate link) might help. 

Easy Food for the Road

By 4 Comments

The homeschool review crew does a weekly challenge and this week they chose the challenge of “the perfect picnic”.  And honestly… my thought was … I got NOTHING.  I don’t do “perfect picnics”. Now give me a quick lunch in the park… and that works for me.  Seems like less pressure and I don’t do pressure stuff too well.   ANYWAYS, it got me thinking about easy food for the road.  If I’m out travelling, what are my go to meals?

easy food for the road

Last week I talked a wee bit about food when we chatted about what to pack for a field trip.  In this household, we don’t do complicated meals when heading.  To be frank, I don’t understand why people do.

I’ve gone on a fair number of field trips over the years with other homeschool families.  Often I was surprised at the amount of food other moms brought along.  I wondered where they found the time to get it all ready on a field trip day.  🙂 I just think to myself… make it easy for yourselves mommas!  

So how can you make a lunch out easy? Particularly ones that are fairly nutritious!

Easy food for the road

All these with fruit and cheese work excellently.   Chips as well if you want.  Add in whatever you need for a drink.

  • Scones: a dry scone with jam, or a sweet scone with fruit cooked in.
  • Sandwiches: whatever suits your fancy
  • Wraps: so many options
  • Pizza or cheese buns
  • Muffins: ham/cheese, applesauce, high fibre, whatever works for you
  • Croissants: chocolate, as a sandwich, cheese-stuffed, etc.

Not as quick meals, or might take a bit of planning ahead.  You may need a freezer bag or a keep-it-hot thermos.

  • a lot of leftovers will travel well
  • Salads: potato, veggie, or pasta 
  • cut up veggies with hummus and/or dip, with cheese and crackers
  • chili with a bun

To make it easy, affiliate links to amazon.  No cost to you, helps to support my blog. 

Did I miss anything that you might use for easy food for the road?   

march2021

What to pack for a field trip

By 2 Comments

I think every homeschool mom plans to include field trips into her children’s learning times.   With every plan to travel comes a need of figuring what to pack for a field trip.   Things to pack include lunches, supplies, and extra resources. 

what to pack for a field trip

Food

Of course, depending on how long your field trip is for you might not need to pack a thing.   If it’s just an afternoon or a morning, really, you don’t need food.   You might want to pack along some water.  Our current favourite water bottles are the Contigo fit bottles.  We’ve tried a number of water bottles over the years and these ones don’t develop mold issues AND they don’t leak! 

But a day-long trip… you need some food.   Some places don’t have a food court, others do and generally are a bit pricey.   My lad and I are simple eaters when it comes to going out.  This makes it super easy for us to pack a sandwich, a bag of chips or some fruit, maybe a granola bar, and our drink.  Often we’ll pack a muffin along for the road home. 

For years we used these tupperware containers for our sandwiches, and they are nice.  I like them.  BUT sometimes you need to kinda squish your sandwich in… and well.. that’s not so great.   Our current favourites my hubby found someplace and they are a lot like these ones, except they are slightly more rectangular than square.  Fits our bread better.

Supplies

There are some things you need on almost every field trip.

A way to take notes.  I love my tablet for this, my son likes to pop a notepad into his pocket. 

A way to commemorate your visit.  I either use my phone or grab up my point and shoot camera.   My son was gifted a nice camera much like this one from his uncle that he uses.   He’s taken some stellar images with it. 

Tortoise

Extra Resources

Most field trips won’t require any special resources beyond the willingness of your student to participate.   Some won’t even require a notepad!   Others though, will encourage exploration, either as part of a group or on your own.

For instance, having a pocket microscope would be excellent when on a forest study, trail walk, or any botany, biology or zoology trip.  If you carry a smartphone you might want to bump up your pocket microscope into this small microscope. 

You might need a map, a geometry set, specific crafting materials, critical thinking tools, or even nice clothes to take in professional arts events.  Consider the event that you want to attend and take along what you need to help your students make the most of their opportunities. 

How about you?  What is important for you when you pack for a field trip? 

march2021

The Wanderer

By 2 Comments

Peter Van den Ende has put together a marvellous wordless storybook for us.  Black and white images flood the pages as we watch the adventures of a little paper boat exploring the oceans of the world.   The Wanderer is filled with imagination and stories.  A delight to behold. Come, be delighted.

Affiliate Links will be used. 

the Wanderer

Children 8 and up who like to explore or make up stories including boats and ships will find The Wanderer by Peter Van Den Erde to be a delight.  I love the imagination shown in this 96 page hardcover edition published by Levine Querido.   

Selling for $15.99 on Amazon, The Wanderer is a black and white journey around the world.  A little paper boat explores the ocean in a meandering voyage through the oceans most interesting places. 

the wanderer map

Wordless images = stories

Don’t you just love books that encourage children to make their own stories?   I would have no compunctions about sharing this book with children younger than 5, but I might skip over a couple of the illustrations.  Some very young children might be alarmed by dark sea monsters and gloomy buildings.  But children 8 and older should have no problems enjoying the possibilities presented. 

I would love to sit down with a group of children and youth and just open up the book and say “so, tell me a circle story, everyone… just one line” and just listen to what they come up with.  

You could use the images to talk about ocean life, pollution, northern lights, pirates, boats, ships, jobs at sea and so much more. A virtual springboard of ideas to delight and educate. 

sample page for the wanderer

There’s the fun of looking for the paper boat on every page, most being standalone two-page spreads.   On some pages the hunt is a bit of a challenge, on others, not at all. Throughout, details feast the mind. 

Should you get The Wanderer?

Yes!  Be delighted with the illustrations, be surprised by unexpected stories.   The Wanderer is fantastic just to look at and consider, and a lovely conversation and/or story-starter.   It has been my delight to review it for Raincoast Books. 

Other wordless books

Other wordless books that I have reviewed.

God’s Love Shown

By 6 Comments

I recently joined an online book club where we are given a monthly theme.  This month’s theme is God’s Love.   Seems a fairly obvious theme, what with Valentine’s day and all.  It really difficult to come up with a post for it though, what can I write about God’s love being shown?  I don’t regularly read books about love or Valentine’s or stuff like that. 

I pondered a number of ways I could approach this topic

  • What I’m learning about God’s love as seen in the book of Proverbs.
  • Books I’ve reviewed that cover the topic of love such as Bear meets Bear. 
  • Questions my lad is asking, and how I’m seeking to answer them in a variety of books I’m buying.  Why? Because of my deep love for him, and wanting to help him sort it all through. 
  • What I like to read.  I have a list that I am working through, and I love my books on audible. 
God's Love Shown

Spending time in Proverbs

In the end, I decided to go with the topic God’s love shown.   This is how God shows love to me.

He helps me to see the parameters of his love for me throughout my study of Proverbs.  For instance the other day I was listening to a sermon where the pastor took the time to show how Jesus exemplified wisdom.  All these examples from the life of Jesus on earth from these snippets from Proverbs 11 and 12.  It struck me as odd at the time, but it’s stuck with me.  God gave us a supreme example to watch for and copy. 

Helping the Lad

My time in this book of wisdom is helping to me to do what I need with my lad.  Ask him questions, give him things to research and occasionally to challenge some of his assertions. Asking him what kind of wisdom he’s actually seeking, learning to help him even to ask the questions.  I’m not doing it perfectly, and I fear for him, but I’m doing as God himself leads. 

I’m affiliate linking through amazon some of the books I’ve picked up that are helping me ask questions and answer some as well.  Books like Why Trust the bible, can science explain everything,  how we got the bible, stranger on the road to emmaus, contested bones, no God but one, taking God at his word,, can man live without God, evolutions achille’s heel. 

Valentine’s books

I haven’t reviewed a whole ton of valentines’ books, but a few have crossed my path. Amazon affiliate link, review.

The truest “Valentine” though, God’s love shown to us.  His son died for us so that we might return God’s love freely. 

Bear meets bear

Books I love to read

As much as I would like to say I love to read non-fiction, I am drawn in by fiction every single time.   I love fantasy, don’t really care for most sci-fi, love thrillers and a good mystery, but dislike scary stuff.   Some psychological thrillers I can read but often I have to read them super slowly – like over the course of two years- (Patricia Cornwall), but others I can’t handle even from the very first page.  Most drama type books are BORING, oh heavens, just so boring but I did like reading Jane Austen. Historical fiction that tells a story with rich characters can be good. 

It is surprising at how often I check glimpses of God as I listen. The care and concern, the willingness to give of oneself to help others, the sacrifice so often demanded, etc. I know much of that is simply my worldview, but God so often reminds me of his care. 

Currently, my favourite authors in the fiction realm are Brandon Sanderson (anything), Mercedes Lackey (valdemar series), Anne McCaffrey (pern books), Robin Hobb (anything about the rainwilds), and John Flanagan (ranger’s apprentice series).   

How Do you see God’s Love Shown?

How is God’s love shown you?  What glimpses have you see of him this week?  Do you felt led to see God more clearly in the books you read? 

Visit all the participating bloggers sometime during the month to find out their reading plans:
 
Hopkin’s Homeschool
At Home where life happens
The Life we build
Homeschool Coffee Break
 
February Social Media Challenge

Independent Learning: a high schoolers day in the life

By 10 Comments

Did you know I have a highs school student?   I KNOW, shocking isn’t it?  I remember so clearly the fun of my lad as a little guy, his questions as a middle schooler, and then planning for highschool.  It’s been quite the journey for us.  I thought today would be a good day to show you how homeschooling works for us.   So today, Independent Learning: a high schoolers day in the life.   

Independent Learning: a high schoolers day in the life

My son’s day starts, depending on the week we are in.   Part of his schooling is with the local highschool, and the rest is through online or textbooks.  He does 98% of his school work in his bedroom either sitting on his bed, often with his cat next to him, or sitting on his desk. 

At the beginning of the year we take the time to count out the number of schooling weeks, the chapters/lessons in his course material, and then decide how much he need to accomplish weekly to be done by the end of the year.   The end result: he can be independent in how he does his work. 

Covid Impacts

With Covid running rampant throughout the country our schools have moved to a quadmester system.  Two subjects for two months. then another two subjects for two months and so on and forth.   In reality this has turned into one subject for one week, and then one subject the following week.  

Since there are some subjects I can’t teach (aka manufacturing) he takes the odd course at our local high school.  Those days start early!  Currently, that consists of him sitting in front of the computer for three hours per day (spread throughout the day) and then working on his homework for another couple hours, and also fits in whatever other schooling he’s working on.

The benefit of quadmesters is they have taught my son the joy of just focusing on two subjects at once.   This is much easier, he finds, than doing little bits of four subjects. 

His course load

So this year he has two subjects the high school, Com Tech and Manufacturing.  His at home courses are algebra, geometry, physics, Language Arts, French, and Geography.   Sometimes things change up a bit depending on what reviews we have in the works from the crew but I mostly try to just work with what we’ve set up.   

We learned this year that through army cadets that he can get credit through the training he does with them.  So once things start up again… this will be a boon to his scholastic achievements.  At this point, his training takes place on Monday evening, online.  We hope in person, weekend training, will occur again before year-end. 

At Home Days

When he has full days at home to learn he tackles one or two courses per day.   

His current routine: 

  • 930 care for his mice, have breakfast
  • 950-1130 work on schooling
  • 1130-1215 play online games with friends
  • 1215-150 spend time with dad (dad works late shift so this is their time together)   We’ll have lunch, devotions, watch TV, play games and/or they’ll work on some project together. 
  • 150-200 read aloud time
  • 2-5 school work
  • 5 ish he often helps me with things like shovelling snow, moving stuff my bum arm gives me trouble with, goes for a walk with friends, etc.   We often use this time to catch up with where he is with his schooling.  Does he have any questions, things we need to cover together, stuck on an idea, needing reminders about getting projects done rather than having to go back etc.   
  • 6-7 he’ll do little things to finish up his school
  • 7-9 is his free-time to do whatever he wants. currently, with covid, that means playing computer games with friends.
  • 9-10 mom time, we watch tv or play games
  • 10 Bedtime.  This sometimes varies as late-night conversations sometimes happen. 

We wouldn’t have gotten to this point without laying the ground work of trust and work ethic.  My lad likes to learn, and over the years, he’s needed to learn how to work independently.   

Part of learning independence was looking at the sheer variety of courses there is at SchoolhouseTeachers.com (affiliate link).   Having this resource as one of the benefits of being on the homeschool review crew has been helpful.  

Want to learn more about teaching independence to your students?  There are 3 or 4 sessions at the Canadian Online homeschooling conference (affiliate link) all about teaching our students to be independent.  You aught to give them a listen!  Free to listen, $17 to have forever! 

canadian online conference
February Social Media Challenge

Learning and Reading in the Winter

By 4 Comments

So the crew does a weekly challenge, and this week it’s all about how do we homeschool in the winter.  My first thought was duh… the same way we do any other time of the year!  But winter brings it’s own delights right?  Sledding, nature study, experiments with ice, or new skills like snowflake photography. 

As I pondered this challenge I got to thinking about skills we tend to focus on in the winter.  I get emails sent to me daily or even weekly on specific topics.  In the winter, I’ll take time to read these with my lad.  The rest of the year, it’s totally hit or miss. So here’s the learning and reading in the winter that we do. 

In the winter there’s reading to do, emails to catch up on, and conferences to attend.  Let’s talk shall we? 

learning and reading in the winter

Read Alouds

There’s nothing better on a snowy winter night than sitting together and reading from a good book.  Recently I talked about some of the books I hope to get through this year.  Reading is such a great way to spend time together.  Talking about what we’re reading and thoughts we’re having.  It’s just lovely. 

Courses

I also do some learning.  Some of this is through video and courses I get through Great Courses and CuriosityStream.   On Great Courses, I often listen to history courses.  Currently, I’m learning about some of the great voyages of the past. 

On CuriosityStream I like doing their science and nature courses.  Learning about birds, animals, landmasses, engineering and more. 

A couple of times a month I take my courses on Alison.  I’ve done understanding wood (that’s not the official title but that’s what it was about), early building construction, electricity,  most recently the human body. It’s fun to dabble. 🙂 There are all kinds of things you can learn online. 

Emails I Get

Did you know that Encyclopedia Britannica has a daily email they send out?  They send out an “on this day” which includes a biography about a person, a world event, as well as links to other events that happened that day in history.   Some of them are really interesting, others meh.  But I’m not fascinated by ALL aspects of history.  🙂 

Science Alert!  I’ve been getting emails from these folks probably for about two years now.  The things you learn it’s amazing!  Makes for some fascinating reading to see what the world around us is teaching us. 

WordGenius.  Like learning new words? Word Genius will send you a different word every day.  They’ll give pronunciation, history, meaning and usage.  Words that grab my attention I’ll often share on Facebook which often gets fun conversations going.

Homeschool Conferences

I take part in, and listen to, the Canadian Online Homeschool Conference.  I am AMAZED this year at how much this conference has grown.  We used to barely cover three days, and look here. This year it run from Feb 3-9 how amazing is that eh?  

Now listen… it doesn’t matter if you are Canadian or not.  It doesn’t matter where in the world you live.  You’ll still learn more about homeschooling then you did before. Will some content be specifically Canadian?  Yup.  But a lot of the homeschooling material I get is specifically other country centric and you know what… we still learn.  🙂 

So come on, join won’t?   You can listen free … but only for that specific day.  If you want to be able to listen ANY TIME you want… you’ll want to the pass.  It’s only $17, which is way less than ordering in a meal and this will benefit you far longer. 

So what about you?  What learning and reading in the winter do you do?  Are you attending any conferences this winter online?   Which ones? 

January 2021