Backyard blackjack (umm...math practice)

Nuthatch was telling me about an episode where Bugs Bunny was playing cards and kept saying "Hit me!" when a little lightbulb went off in my foggy mind. Blackjack! Think of the adding practice! (think of the gambling)

So, here we are, in the backyard (I'm trying to squeeze in as much outdoor time as I can) practicing adding numbers to 21. The addictive nature of this game has us practicing for quite awhile (think of the gambling). Of course there wasn't any betting involved, yet there was a nagging voice at the corners of my conscience.

The jury is still out as to whether today is a good mom day for finding a clever way to practice our math, or a bad mom day for teaching a 6 year old how to gamble.

Camping funnies

This past weekend we took the kids camping. My six year old son is starting to feel like he is too big to go into the women's washroom. On one of our trips to the bathroom he decided to wait outside for me. Another lady was there and left before me. All of a sudden I heard the Nuthatch go "ROOOOAAAARRR!!!" (he likes to pretend he's a velociraptor). Apparently the poor lady jumped and I heard the Nuthatch say "Sorry, I thought you were my mom" in a very small voice.

Risk Analysis

Exploring nature involves certain risks. I analyze these risks, usually at 2 am, and wonder if our nature experience was worth it. Staying inside poses a different set of risks, so just staying at home isn't an option either. The gifts and joys we receive from learning about nature are too great to pass by out of fear.

Can we reach all the way around this oak tree?

Often the hazards are small, of the everyday sort that you would encounter outside if you were exploring nature or not. Bug bites, sunburns and scraped knees are just part of daily life with little kids. We have to navigate traffic and parking lots. I have to make sure none of the kids wander away and get lost.

However, some dangers do keep me awake at night. Recently I wrote a post about visiting a favorite place, and due to a lack of parking I had to move on to somewhere else. This week a high school student stabbed another student in that very same forest I was going to visit with my children. It has given me something to think about.

The park where the stabbing took place.

On another trip with some friends we were exploring a ravine. There were large culverts and drains, and abandoned construction materials. Needless to say it was not a relaxing visit. With three children of various ages and abilities, and all of them very mobile, it required a lot of supervision and awareness of their movements. It can be a challenge to keep them in the same area, as they explore in all directions at the same time.

The kids had a great time, but the bottom line was that it was too dangerous. We won't be visiting this spot again until they are all a few years older and wiser.

There are some things I have been doing to lower the risks we face in our nature studies. It is important to find a safe place to explore and then return to it again and again. Together we discover where the dangers are in that environment and how to deal with them safely. Nature is so rich and diverse I believe it would be very difficult to exhaust the discoveries that just one park holds. We haven't even learned all there is to know about our tiny backyard!

The other part of lowering our risks involves training the children to respond immediately to my verbal directions when we are out (and the rest of the time too!). I cannot be three places at once, despite my best attempts. The Chickadee must stop when I call 'No!'. The Bluejay must return when I call 'Come back!'.

They are all travelling in the same direction! Yay!

Lately I have been telling the Nuthatch that 'with freedom comes responsibility'. He is allowed a wider circle to explore, but must always be able to see me. I have also been encouraging him to watch out for and protect his little sister.

Nature holds many amazing riches for us to explore and discover. However, we must do so with awareness and respect. 'Be prepared!' as the boy scouts would say. We can train up our children not only with a knowledge of nature, but also with the outdoor survival skills necessary to explore in safety. And then we can all sleep better at night.

A year of progress, 5 minutes at a time

We have been homeschooling for a little over a year now. It has been an amazing journey. One of the things I have liked the most is being able to see the steady progress the Nuthatch has made. One of the most remarkable areas of improvement has been his handwriting.

Writing has been a difficult task for him. I didn't worry too much about it, they say printing skills often take longer to develop in boys than in girls. Also, as this was his Kindergarten year, I kept my expectations low. We have just worked away at it, for 5 minutes a day. I didn't want him to do any more than that, I knew it would only make both of us frustrated.

Here are photos of his work, one picture per month. I apologize about the quality of the photos, they're a little dark.

I was having trouble convincing him to write at all.

He agrees to trace a few uppercase letters and try a couple on his own. He turns 5 years old.

He tries to write simple words several times.

I read about the technique of copywork and tried having him write from his easy readers. It was too hard for him and he was very frustrated.

I'm still stubbornly trying the copywork, despite the fact that it isn't working well. He hates writing.

I back off and we start tracing individual letters. I find the Handwriting without Tears website.

More tracing. Lots of stickers for positive reinforcement.

We start working on correct letter formation. I discovered Charlotte Mason and her focus on forming one perfect letter per day.

I learn about Charlotte Mason's idea of erasing poorly formed letters. He writes a few letters each day.

Now he is able to write a word somewhat perfectly.

He writes one word a day.

I think it's time to move on to the next step, when I figure out what that is. He will be 6 years old next month.

As I scroll through the photos I can hardly believe that the last four photos were from the same kid. I showed Nuthatch his work from a year ago. He couldn't believe that was the way he used to write. It was a great moment. Looking back, I can see not only his growth as a student, but also mine as a teacher. We have learned how to work together to find that magic spot where he is challenged but the work is not too difficult.

Getting to know a place

We live in the suburbs. For most of our 'nature' time we need to drive somewhere. There is lots to explore within walking distance of our house, but we live near a very busy road which can be a stressful experience to negotiate.

One thing I have been trying to do is to visit a few natural areas often. I have several parks on my list of places that we return to again and again. I want the kids to see how these places change through the seasons. I want them to develop a map of these areas in their minds and be able to find their way around. I want them to get to know these places well.

There is a lovely small forest not too far from our house. It is just a bit too far for the boys to walk, so we end up driving there. I had chosen this place as our 'main' area to focus on. I liked that it was near our house, and that while there is a lot of human impact, there is still quite a bit of diversity and natural growth.

We went this morning to explore our small forest. I parked in the neighbouring high school parking lot. Unfortunately, someone from the school came out to tell me that only teachers were allowed to park there, and my car would be towed.

Feeling rather frustrated and thwarted in my great 'get to know a place' plan, I loaded the kids and the stroller back into the van and we left to explore a park that we had not been to before.

It turned out to be a wonderful spot. It was quiet and it had a variety of habitats. I could tell that there were lots of 'nature stories' to learn about (I'll write another post about nature stories). It was also quite safe. The kids had just the right kind of morning.

The Nuthatch played 'lion in the grass'.

The BlueJay thought this rock looked like a sandwich. It was getting close to lunch, was he hungry?

There was a shallow stream, perfect for throwing rocks into and for jumping from rock to rock. It was shallow enough that if they fell in they would just get wet.

Sometimes I wonder what value this outdoor time has for my youngest. She was trapped in her stroller all winter since she couldn't walk wearing her snowsuit. Now she can get out and explore too, and she loves it! I bring the stroller along just in case she gets tired, but she spends most of her time following her brothers. She finds little sticks and rocks and dandelion fuzz to investigate. It is a wonderful thing to watch.

I think I have found a new spot to put on our 'short list' of places to explore. We'll be back next week to get to know this place a little better.

A warbler's death

This evening we found a bird lying in the grass in our backyard. Unfortunately, it was dead. Even more unfortunately, it was a warbler.

The spring migration has begun and these beautiful little birds are making their way to the boreal forests in northern Canada. They eat insects and as such they are not birds you would see at your bird feeders. Each species has its own specialized niche in the forest. Some stay close to the trunk, others feed at the tops of trees and still others tend to forage in the underbrush.

The boys were quite sympathetic with the bird. "We didn't wanted him to be died, we wanted him to be alive." was the BlueJay's sentiment. It was mine too.

It was a female black and white warbler. They creep along the trunks and branches of trees.

Here is the cause of her death. Birds see the reflection of the sky and the trees in the glass, and don't realize there is a window there. It doesn't help that we have a small tree near this window. A number of birds have met their end at this window.

This happens on a much larger scale with the windows on the large office towers downtown. If the lights are on at night, the birds don't see the glass and fly right into the building. This is a short article about FLAP, the Fatal Light Awareness Program. They have recorded over 41,000 bird collisions in Toronto since 1993.

I suggested to the boys that we could make hawk silhouettes to put on the window, hoping that this would help.

The boys enjoyed the activity. It is always good to feel proactive. I was a little disheartened when I read on the FLAP website that they don't really work. They did have a list of suggestions, (look under the section 'Being Bird Friendly'). I'll talk about them with the boys and we can decide on the best one for our yard. Hopefully we can learn from this and the black and white warbler's death at our window will be the last.

20 Minute Makeover

Our city is having a 20 minute makeover today. The idea is that everyone is supposed to go outside at 2 pm and pick up garbage for 20 minutes. Since the afternoon is naptime, we decided to go this morning. The Nuthatch decided he wanted to get the garbage at the edge of the road. He was quite interested to learn that the street sweepers will come by one day and clean up that garbage.

The Bluejay picked up some garbage, but for the most part was just happy to walk along in his own little world. He was rather distracted by the backhoe loader that was repairing the street, and forgot what he was doing.

Last year I picked up some gardening gloves for both the boys. They are wearing them to protect their hands. The Bluejay called them his 'garbage picking gloves'.

At the end of our trip around the block we had a bag full of garbage.

The Nuthatch took this photo and was quite pleased with himself. I was pleased that the subject that he chose was his sister. Very sweet. I think the blur in the middle is where Chickadee moved her hand.

Art Lessons for Mommy

The Bluejay, age 2 1/2, photo taken Feb 2007

My four year old son, the Nuthatch, doesn’t paint very often. We haven’t done a lot of art at home. Paint is messy. It takes too much time to clean up. It will get all over his clothes. Excuses, excuses.

A sense of mild panic takes hold of me as I realize the inadequacies of my child’s artistic abilities. I’ll sign him up for art lessons! Problem solved. With a cup of coffee in hand I contentedly flip through the spring issue of the community calendar looking for the perfect program.

I’ve signed him up for his fair share of classes in his short life. First there were the drop in playgroups, then swimming for babies. They were followed by a program to teach your 3 or 4 year old to play soccer, hockey, basketball and tennis in only 9 weeks (yes, all of those sports at the same time). That one was scheduled at 7 o’clock at night. Needless to say it didn’t go very well. The Nuthatch preferred running along the lines on the gym floor to the organized game of floor hockey and there were a few times where he just lay down and refused to get up.

I know I’m not alone in my quest to enroll my child in a variety of programs designed to increase his intelligence, athletic prowess or musical genius. A certain amount of acrobatics are required to get into some of these programs. You must outwit, outplay and outlast all the other savvy mothers. Phone lines are busy, websites slow down, and applications pile up for the under 5 crowd. The line up outside the local Early Years Centre would make you think they had the last ‘Tickle-Me Elmo’ on the planet.

The Nuthatch, September 2007

All these lessons take their toll on our family life. Trying to get the children (we now have three) into the car is often like herding ferrets. Somehow, a 15 minute swimming lesson can take over an hour once you have wrestled the wiggly captives into boots and snowsuits, driven to the pool, changed them into their swimsuits, given the "I’ll be right over there" pep talk and finally performed the entire scenario in reverse after the lesson has finished.

Where did my obsession with these programs come from? It might have started in infancy, when I was bombarded with products for my little ‘genius’ or ‘Einstein’. There were videos, flashcards and cd’s, not to mention the books, toys and computer games. The organized classes were just a natural extension of this developmental mania.

Part of the wonder of childhood is watching your kid take a few simple objects and create a whole world out of them. I’ve watched the Nuthatch create a piping hot gourmet meal using only a pot, a wooden spoon and some potatoes. Then there is the endless joy provided by a large, empty cardboard box. You can sense the possibilities as he circles the box, debating whether this particular box is a pirate ship, a cave full of bats, a desert island or perhaps a medieval castle, complete with imaginary moat and drawbridge.

Perhaps painting with a 4 year old isn’t so complicated. I could just give the Nuthatch some paint and paper and watch what happens. Does his picture have to look like a Renoir to post on the fridge? (I’ve seen some of Picasso’s sculptures, and frankly, I think the Nuthatch could do something similar.) Maybe I could join him, somedays I think painting a copy of ‘The Scream’ by Edvard Munch might be therapeutic.

The Scream, Edvard Munch, 1893

I often overanalyze this whole parenting thing. The simple things are the best part of childhood, splashing in puddles in the backyard, a pile of broken crayons and some blank paper,building forts with blankets and the dining room chairs. Simplicity is so elusive in our busy lives. I think I’ll skip the art class this time. Pass me the tempera paint please, I can figure it out, all by myself.

I originally wrote this piece about a year ago. Since then, I have realized that your average parent really wants to sign their children up for umpteen programs, and they look at me blankly when I explain how our children are not signed up for anything at all at the moment. We have enjoyed a relaxing year. We have not rushed around to swimming, karate, playgroups or skating lessons. And we have finally had time to play with paint at our own kitchen table.

Making Suet for the Birdfeeder

Today we tried making suet for the cage birdfeeder. It was very easy and did not take long. The boys enjoyed helping, they did everything but melt the peanut butter and suet.

I searched around on the internet and found a no melt recipe. I was looking for something that wouldn't melt when the weather gets warmer. It's still cold here, I'll let you know if our concoction melts when the weather warms up. I've always put the cage feeder away in the spring. I'm looking forward to see who visits it later in the season.

I didn't do the math, but I think it was probably a lot cheaper than purchasing the suet cakes. I've placed the tray in the freezer to harden it, and then I'll cut it into 4 cakes and store in the freezer between wax paper until needed. The squirrels are sometimes interested in the suet feeder, so I added some cayenne pepper to the mix to deter them. We'll see how well that works.

I've been stocking up on all my different birdseeds so I will have lots of food available as more birds begin to arrive this spring. We have had a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers visiting our suet feeder recently, and I wanted to have some extra suet cakes on hand for them.

Ominous signs

This morning we were walking in the small forest near our house, looking for signs of spring (we didn't find any, they are all covered with snow). The kids found another hollow tree and called me over to take a look.

To a child, a hollow tree is fascinating. It looks like a great place for animals and insects to hide, for birds to build nests. It has lots of possibilities. All of these things are true, however, I am starting to see a different story unfold.

All forests have trees in various stages of growth, some are brand new saplings, others are dead stumps rotting back to the earth. You expect to see some dead trees in a forest. What is becoming worrisome though is the number of trees like the one in the above photo. They have been eaten from the inside out by insects.

There are two main culprits that come to mind, the Asian Longhorn Beetle and the Emerald Ash Borer. Last summer when I was walking through this forest I noticed some unusual contraptions hanging in the trees. When I looked closer, they had a note attached to them stating they were insect traps for a scientific study. I suspect it is the Emerald Ash Borer. I haven't identified the trees we are finding, next time I'm out I'll look a little closer to see if they are ash trees. It's hard without the leaves.

I am wondering what the little forest will look like this spring. If it is the Emerald Ash Borer, they will come in and remove the dead trees. The forest will look very different this year if that is the case.

Tobogganing

I'm just trying out the video upload feature of blogger. The first video is my 3 yr old enjoying tobogganing on a small hill near our house and the second is my five year old (he was fine at the end where he fell off). Click on the video to select it, and then click on play to watch.

This week I realized we had been tobogganing only once this winter. Considering we have had at least twice as much snow as we usually do for this part of the country, I thought this was terrible. The problem has been what to do with Baby Cookie while the boys are sledding. It was difficult to get her stroller near enough to the toboggan hill. It was also challenging helping the boys drag their sleds to the hill while pushing Cookie in the stroller at the same time.

Also, figuring out which sled works best with which kid has been tricky. We have many many sleds. At the moment, the favorite is the red disc. It is light and fast. On the downside, it has no steering. The old fashioned toboggan is not as fast and is heavy to pull up the hill. We also have a black one that you can steer, but it is tough for these little guys to pull it back up the hill again. We have a plastic carpet that we haven't tried yet, I think the kids will find it frustrating trying to unroll it and sit on it at the same time. Lastly we have a large old fashioned toboggan, also untried this year.

Well, the video uploads worked, but they took a long time. Maybe there's a better, faster way? Perhaps I need to make my videos smaller somehow. The video was taken with my Canon G7.

The Perpetual Cackle

They must be let alone, left to themselves a great deal, to take in what they can of the beauty of earth and heavens; for of the evils of modern education few are worse than this––that the perpetual cackle of his elders leaves the poor child not a moment of time, nor an inch of space, wherein to wonder––and grow.

by Charlotte Mason, Home Education, Vol 1, p. 44

I find it very difficult to avoid constantly cackling at my poor children when we go on our nature walks. Did you see the needles on this tree? They are so soft. Here are some tracks in the snow! Listen, there's a bird calling, did you hear it? Oh, holes in a dead log, maybe some bugs are at work here!

Surely their little minds are crying out to be filled with the knowledge I possess?

No. It does not work that way. They are not cups to be filled, not paper to be written on. Even if they were, the cup eventually overflows when you try to pour more into it, and the original contents are lost. The paper becomes illegible after you've written on it so many times, garbled and confused with words upon words.

So, I must learn not to speak, but to listen. I must learn to wait for when they say "Mom! Come look at this!" And when that moment occurs, shall I jump in with all my facts and information?

No. This is the time for more questions. Why is that interesting? Why do you think it grows there, and not over here? Are there more around, or only one? What does it eat? Why is it that colour, and not a different colour? Not the sort of questions I necessarily know the answer to, perhaps we will find out later, then again, maybe not. Rather, the sort of questions that make us look closer, think about what we have found.

It might not even be the time for questions, but just shared interest and delight in what they have found. Are these questions just more cackling in disguise?

"Education is not the filling of a pail... but the lighting of a fire."

William Butler Yeats

I try to limit myself to sharing only one of my discoveries with them per walk (I can't seem to give up cackling completely). I'm usually received with a blank stare, a disinterested glance, and then they move on to find their own treasures.

However, that little bit of kindling works in their brains until the next nature walk, when they hunt out for themselves the treasure I had pointed out last time. If I had pointed out twenty interesting things on the walk, the discoveries would have been smothered, there would be no air, no space for the ideas to catch fire. They would have remained words, lost as easily as they are found, and they would not have made the magical transformation into ideas.

The above photo was taken on March 3rd, 2008. My five year old has his arm inside a hollow tree, trying to see how far he can reach.

Winter gear

My boys drinking hot chocolate

With a little magic from photoshop, you can make your child look like you have chained them to a bench.

Jokes aside, our local groundhog announced an early spring, but it hasn't arrived yet. I know it's the end of the season, but I'm going to do a post on how I dress my kids for the cold weather. These photos were taken today, it was a balmy minus two degrees Celcius (28 F).

A few things have made all the difference this year. First, all the kids have fantastic mittens. They're water repellent, and they have a gauntlet that covers their wrists, keeping the snow out of that space between their mittens and coats. Mittens are also warmer than gloves. After I got these mittens my kids were happy to stay outside in very cold weather for a few hours, their only complaints were about being tired.

They also have water repellent snowpants. They're fairly thin, which lets them move around easily. These ones happen to come over top of their boots, keeping the snow out.

Lastly, they all have a good set of long underwear. Cookie has an infant's long underwear set, I especially want her to be extra warm since she is not active when we are out. I put her in a one piece fleece sleeper to keep the heat in as well. Her mittens are on top of the stroller, she's drinking hot chocolate out of her sippy cup.

Cookie has been in the jogging stroller all winter. It has large tires and can handle snow that is a few inches thick. When the snow was too deep I used my frame pack, although I'm finding she is getting rather heavy. I should have tried putting her in a small sled. She's young enough that I really needed something I could strap her into so she didn't crawl out when I wasn't looking. She seemed very comfortable in the jogging stroller so I stayed with it, although it limited our explorations at times.

Sunglasses for the kids would have made today's trip more enjoyable. The sun on the snow was very bright. We used to have 4 pairs and now we only have one.

My friend Woman North, living north of the arctic circle, has highly recommended wool to me. She says it's even better than fleece. Next year I hope to knit some wool sweaters, and maybe socks, for the kids.

I have a very warm and soft sweater from New Zealand that was knit using possum wool. Apparently there is a possum epidemic in NZ, and making sweaters out of them is good population control.

These pictures were taken using my digital point and shoot, a Canon Powershot G7, which I got mostly so I could take small videos of the kids, something I couldn't do with my digital SLR. It also fits in my pocket, something else I can't do with my SLR.

Reflections on glasses

My eldest child

This is my eldest child, he's 5 1/2 years old. I'll come up with an online name for him later. In August this year we discovered he needed glasses. This particular pair is the fourth we've had so far. The first pair was lost and then found after they had been run over by a car. Pairs 2 and 3 suffered serious warping and lenses falling out. They are always filthy. We're hoping pair #4 will last a little longer.

It didn't take long before we became so used to seeing him wearing his glasses that he looked odd without them on. So, taking pictures of him, I like him to be wearing them. The problem with glasses in photos is the reflections that you see in the above picture. In other pictures I tried to remove the reflections with photoshop, but it did not work well and looked unnatural.

Today I was experimenting with my polarizing lens to see if that would help. There were still some small reflections due to the fact that light was coming at his glasses from more than one direction (the window and a reflector I was using). However, they were minimal and I was able to remove them using photoshop with some success (look closely at the bottom of the left lens).

My blue wall is in the background. The lighting has made it a completely different shade today.