It's a Brand New Day!

Haircut

2008-07-11T22:55:00.001-07:00

#193/366 Jaymi
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

Jaymi got a haircut today. Not much cut off - just enough to get it healthier.
I let them wash her hair for a treat. They had to put in a blue shampoo to counteract the green that is showing up in her hair, from all the swimming she has been doing.
It's much shinier, smoother, and healthier looking now.
She really wants to grow it long.

Gardening

2008-07-05T21:38:00.000-07:00

Jaymi's school is creating a garden and needed volunteers, so Jaymi and I went down to the school and helped out a bit...planting, trimming, watering...
It was nice to help and nice to get outside and garden.
It was fun!

Trolley Ride

2008-07-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

The city of Victoria (as of last year) has bought two trolleys. It is a new project they are trying out...the trolleys are more environmentally friendly than cars (run on bio-diesel, I think), and are cheaper than the bus (by donation) to encourage people to stop using their cars so much.
The trolley comes pretty close to our house now, so we are going to try to take it more.
It's fun too! People are much more friendly for some reason, on the trolley, and it's kind of quaint.

Proud Girl

2008-07-03T21:57:00.001-07:00

#185/366 Jaymi - Pride
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

Jaymi has always been a total fish in water, and has basically taught herself to swim.
This summer she can swim underwater, above water, tread water, whatever...in deep water with no need for a tube or life jacket or anything. She loves to be in the water so much and is dying to join a synchronized swimming club.
At one of our local rec centres, there is a programme called Synchro for Fun, which is a n introduction to synchro for little kids like her. But, to qualify for it, you have to be able tread water for long enough, stay in the deep end and swim the whole length of the 25 meter pool. We didn't think she would be able to do it, but hoped.
So today was the test and ..... she did it!! She did awesome!
She was SO proud of herself!

Happy Canada Day!!

2008-07-02T09:25:00.001-07:00

Bookworm

2008-06-26T10:39:00.001-07:00

#177/366 Jaymi - Bookworm
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

She loves to read so much! We went to Chapters yesterday and bought some new books.
She has a book called Ottoline & the Yellow Cat by Chris Riddell which she loves to read over and over again. Today we discovered that there are more in that series, so we bought another one. As soon as arrived back at home, she immediately sat down on the couch and began to read the book. In about 1/2 hour she was finished the whole thing!
I tested her on it too - asked her a bunch of questions and watched her while she was reading...she really read the whole book all in one sitting!

Cute book too. I think we'll buy the other one and keep the set.

Kindergarten Graduate!

2008-06-20T20:25:00.001-07:00

Well, Jaymi has officially graduated from kindergarten and is going to enter Grade 1 in the fall.

Wow! I can't believe this year has finished already. It has been so much fun watching her grow and learn in her kindergarten year.

She has learned how to tell time, how to tie her shoelaces, her reading and spelling are at an all-time high, her math skills took a huge jump, her social skills has also taken a huge jump, she has learned about many different topics and has also begun to develop a very sweet, unselfish side to her this year.

She gave two of her friends half of a set of little metal turtle keychains that say "Best" on one and "Friends" on the other. The three of them are best friends at school - they're so cute together!

Her report card was awesome and her teacher always has amazing things to say about her.

It's been a great year!

History Buff

2008-06-16T22:15:00.001-07:00

#168/366 Jaymi - History Buff
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

Jaymi loves history, and one of her favourites is Anne Frank. She has read a couple of early readers about Anne Frank, but has wanted to read the real version of her diary.
I love that she reads so much and I love that she has an interest in history.
One great thing about a 5-yr-old who reads, is the kind of discussions you can have with them - it's always fascinating with her!

Ocean Unit

2008-06-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

June was the month of Jaymi's study of the ocean, in her kindergarten class, so we supplemented at home as well.
Last week I took her to one of her favourite places to go downtown...Undersea Gardens.
It's different for her every time we go.
We hadn't been since last summer, and she has been asking for months!
There are tons of windows where you can see a variety of ocean creatures, such as starfish, sea stars, anemone, an octopus, wolf eels, rock fish, crabs, etc. There is also a show every 1/2 hour, where a diver will go into the water and show you (and tell you about) a bunch of the creatures.
One of Jaymi's favourite parts this time was hearing about how the sea star eats its prey...it pushes its stomach out of its body, digests the prey and brings its stomach back inside.
Having a better concept of numbers now that she's 5 1/2, she really understood that 1,600 suction cups on the octopus tentacles was a huge amount!

On Monday, the kindergarten class went to a Marine Ecology centre where they have a bunch of touch tanks and lots of ocean creatures to look at and learn about.
They even got to see a tiny octopus in a jar, and a porpoise fetus (umbilical cord still attached!).

Yesterday, Jaymi had her Show and Share in class. She brought her big blow-up crab, a Ziploc bag full of ocean creature magnets, and she also brought an ocean storybook.
The surprise to me, was when I walked into the class and saw Jaymi sitting in the teacher's chair with the 'reading quilt' on her lap (just like the teacher does at storytime), reading the entire book out loud to her classmates!
Yep, that's right...she actually read it OUT LOUD. :) I am so proud of her. I know that she would have been scared to do this.
That is one example of why I want her in school, at least part time.

Learning about Government

2008-06-06T23:25:00.000-07:00

We had a fun day today. Jaymi had a special half-day at school with the Grade ones, doing lots of fun stuff. Then I took her to Tim Horton's for something to eat, then we went downtown, where we went to Undersea Gardens (her favourite place downtown), walked around the Inner Harbour, shared a freshly squeezed grapefruit juice, explored inside the Parliament Buildings and took some pictures.
At the Parliament Buildings, there were these people walking in period costumes, giving talks and tours. We met this guy who talking about when the Americans visited B.C. for the first time.
Since I moved here to B.C. 5 years ago, I had never seen the inside of our Parliament Buildings, and neither had Jaymi.
It has such a sense of importance when you're inside, looking at all of the photos on the wall of parliament members, the room where bills are passed and the ornateness of the architecture.
Jaymi was asking questions like:
"What is that soldier carrying?" (referring to a WWI/WWII statue - the answer was a bayonette)
"Did they stick that in people's eyes?"
"What is the government? Are these all of the people who voted?"
"How does the government (from inside the parliament buildings) know when people do bad things outside?"

More Catching Up...

2008-06-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, here is the rest of what I needed to post, to catch everyone up.

MONEY
Something clicked with Jaymi recently, regarding her understanding of money. She just seems to get it all of a sudden, and she is so interested in the concept too.
We have practiced adding up different coins, to total one dollar. She now knows how to add up any coin, to make dollar piles.
She was saving up to buy a stuffie that she wanted, and she added it up herself, to get the exact amount she needed (including tax) and bought it with her change.
Ever since then, she notices all price tags, and actually understands how some things are more expensive than others.
She'll tell me things like, "Mommy, this is only 4 dollars and 50 cents - that's not much" or "Mommy this is 11 dollars - that's too expensive".

HAWAII
Since Jaymi got back from her Sparks camping trip, which was Hawaiian-themed, she has been so interested in Hawaii. She is very interested in turtles anyway, and also creatures from under the sea, and so her room is gradually being turned into an under the sea room. So, we decided that one section of her room will be the land section...the island of Hawaii.
We even found a blow up palm tree for her room!
We studied the state of Hawaii, briefly learned about Pearl Harbour, and learned about the animals, weather, food and people of Hawaii.
We also learned about volcanoes, of course.

POPPIES
We are lucky enough to have a small poppy field growing just a minute down the road from our house. It's a beautiful little field on the side of the road and every spring/summer, I take a picture of Jaymi in that field. Here are the pictures from 2006, 2007, and 2008:

PHOTOGRAPHY
Jaymi has become more and more interested in photography. I am currently doing a 365 project - that is, a self-portrait photography project where I take a self-portrait each day of this year. I am also doing a 365 project of Jaymi.
She is learning a lot about photography, and has actually taken quite a few pictures herself, with my camera. She knows a bit about the camera, composition, depth of field, focus, and angle.
Here are some pictures of her using the camera:

And here are a couple of her own pictures - she took these!

AND MORE...
Stay tuned to hear about our study of Ireland that we just began.

Busy, busy!

2008-05-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

So much has been happening, and I haven't been keeping up with my blogging.
Sorry about that!

Let's see...

Jaymi went camping during the long weekend, with her Sparks unit. It was for two nights, and she had a fantastic time. She didn't miss us at all! She earned 2 badges, made lots of crafts, ate lots of treats, stayed up too late, and opened up a bit with her Sparks friends and leaders.
It was beautiful weather for it too! They got to use a Slip N Slide the whole time.
A week later was her last Sparks meeting. She got to bring one of her best friends to it, and again, had a great time, earning two more badges.
So...no more Sparks until next year, when she will begin her second year, as a senior Spark.

A few weeks ago, Jaymi greeted me when I picked her up from kindergarten, by showing me that she can now tie her own shoelaces by herself! We have worked on it before, but she always gets frustrated and gives up. But I guess what I have taught her has stayed with her, because she has practiced on her own. I have always tried to make sure that she wore laced shoes, all of her life, to see us constantly tying the laces. In school, all of her classmates wear velcro shoes, but we have always sent her in laced shoes. I don't want her to be one of the many 10...11...yr-olds who still cannot tie their own shoes.
So, I was SO proud of her for this accomplishment! And she reminded me that I had promised her that when she first did it on her own, I would take her out for ice cream. So I did.

Jaymi has a new interest, thanks to Gramma...Sudoku :)
She really likes it, and actually understands it and is pretty good at it!
I bought a Sudoku board game that she loves to play. I had to learn it - she actually taught me!

We got a Scholastic order form home a few weeks and she begged me to order a Garfield Typing tutor CD-ROM. It arrived a few days ago, and yesterday I started it up. It's awesome...watching her with her fingers on the correct keys, doing the typing lessons and games!

Jaymi has been learning about gardening a bit, and she made a grass head pot. She drew a face on the pot, put dirt in the pot, planted grass seed and watered it, and now we are waiting for the grass to grow.
We also planted a heartnut tree. It's a tree that will (eventually) grow walnut-like nuts in the shape of a heart.
Fun!

I still have to write about our money study, Ireland study coming up, Hawaii & volcanoes, photography and poppies. Stay tuned in - I will write again soon!

Kindergardeners :)

2008-05-12T14:31:00.001-07:00

Kindergardeners :)
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

Last week Jaymi's kindergarten class went on a field trip to a garden place. They got to tour around the different gardens, learn about flowers & plants, pump some water, plant a bean seed, and learn about how plants are used for medicine, cooking & household uses.
It was a very cool place!

Sewing Class

2008-05-06T22:25:00.001-07:00

Sewing Class
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

Jaymi has been taking a sewing class this year - she's had 6 classes so far. She has made 2 shirts, a pair of pants and a blanket.
There are about 5 or 6 people in the class, but they're all between 10 and 13 years old, and she's 5.
She's doing so well! She knows how to cut the patterns, cut the fabric, pin, she sews (with someone right there with her, helping with corners and stuff like that), and she trims the thread. It was so cute to see her last week, sewing all by herself!
The teacher has even put a phone book underneath the foot pedal so that she can reach it.

Word of the Day

2008-05-02T21:52:00.000-07:00

A while ago, at the Great Canadian Superstore (our local big box grocery store) I found this little flip chart with a word for each day of the year. It has the pronunciation, the description, a picture and a sentence, on each page.
We started using it recently, reading about the word and having a little contest in our family. We try to see who can use the new word the most (in context) during the day.
Jaymi loves it! She is always fascinated with words and loves to spell the words and try to be the one to use the word all day.
So far, we have done the following words:
Drowsy,
magnificent,
fraud,
injury, just to name a few.

Big Presentation

2008-05-01T21:10:00.000-07:00

During the month of April, Jaymi's kindergarten class had to prepare and present a project about an animal. It was their big chance to learn about resources get to know how to put together a presentation, and get a chance to get up in front of the class and speak.

Jaymi chose turtles for the topic.
She worked so hard - it took her 4 hours to begin and complete the project. I tried to get her to take a break but she wouldn't. She is so proud of herself.
I gave her a notebook & pencil, and one of our laptops, and provided her with a few website URLs to look up, and she actually took her own notes and pretty much did the project herself.
We are so proud of her.

Sudoku

2008-04-28T21:23:00.001-07:00

Sudoku
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

While camping with Gramma last weekend, Jaymi learned how to play Sudoku, and from what we heard, she was pretty good at it.
So recently I came across a board game version of Sudoku at Winners, and bought it for her. We opened it today to play together. She had to teach me how to play it, because I had no idea how to play.
She's really good at it! She really focuses and concentrates while she's playing.

Her First Big Screen Movie

2008-04-28T10:56:00.001-07:00

#118/366 Jaymi - Her First Movie
Originally uploaded by CrzysChick

Yesterday, we took Jaymi to her very first big screen movie.
She doesn't watch tv at all. We waited until she was about 4 years old before she saw her first movie. And today, for the very first time, at 5 1/2 years old, we brought her to a movie at the theatre.
It was so fun surprising her. We walked up to the theatre and asked her where she was. She had no idea what the building even was. She saw a sign through the window, with a picture of popcorn on it, so she guessed that it was a popcorn store.

She was so surprised when she found out it was the movie theatre.
And she loved it. And I'm glad we waited until this age. Everything was so thrilling for her! From getting her very own popcorn tub & cup, to the fun folding seats, to the fun of watching the people come in...etc.

We went to see Horton Hears a Who (Dr. Seuss) and it was perfect.
The best part was having our little girl sit in between us, and after eating our popcorn, she held our hands (one on each side) for the entire movie.

Oh, and since Mark had planned this whole surprise for her, right before the movie started, holding our hands, she looked at him and said, "Daddy, you are the best daddy in the whole world!".

With the wind in our hair...

2008-04-13T19:39:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the beginning of some gorgeous weather here in Victoria. Jaymi and I had a great day. I took pictures with a friend (thanks Tania!) while she had a playdate with a friend, then she sold Girl Guide cookies for her Sparks unit. After I picked her up from there, we went home and had some bubble fun!

After that, since Mark was golfing, I took Jaymi to a restaurant for a special mommy-daughter dinner, which included a milkshake! The best part of the day for me, was something that I love, every spring. It's the time when I can roll down the windows of my car, put the top down, turn up some great car music, and drive down the highway. And yesterday, I got to do it with one of my favourite girls - my daughter. We drove into town with the wind in our hair (hairbands and sunglasses on, of course), listening to Green Day and one of Jaymi's favourite rock songs - It's The End of the World as You Know It.
Before bed we laid down on the floor in her bedroom, and I read her two books.
It was an awesome day together!

Vaccination Time!

2008-04-08T20:19:00.001-07:00

Today Jaymi had her kindergarten vaccinations.
We prepared her for the possibility of pain, just in case, but it was so easy! She didn't even wince! We went for ice cream after, because we had promised.
She even had a dentist appointment later today. Good news there too. No cavities, still, and everything is aligning properly. Everything is great!

More of Health Week

2008-03-30T20:23:00.000-07:00

Well, we went to the doctor's office on Friday, expecting Jaymi to have her vaccination, but then we found out that we couldn't get it done there. So we now have a new appointment at a different place in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, we have learned more about health, including mental health and exercising.
Jaymi has her own pedometer that she is using, she loves to use our exercise machine (with us in the room with her of course) and today Jaymi did some yoga while watching a Yoga Kids ABC DVD.

Health Kick!

2008-03-26T20:09:00.000-07:00

It's a new homeschooling week for us, and we have officially begun Health Week!
We named a bunch of different categories of health:
Dental Health
Mental Health
Physical Health
Eye Health
Food Health
Heart Health
We have studied how germs work (viruses & bacteria) - the Magic School Bus has a great book where the kids go through a human body-, how blood flows through the body, why the body need oxygen and how it gets it, and what the body is made of.
We have also focused on the importance of exercise, including using our new exercise machine.

We even found these cute little stuffed germs! We bought the flu germ and the tuberculosis germ.

This is all leading to Friday, when Jaymi will have her kindergarten vaccinations - ouch!

Easter Resurrections Buns/Rolls

2008-03-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

This is a fun Easter recipe that I have done with Jaymi for 3 years now. It really teaches the story of the resurrection, in a fun (and edible) way!

Take a roll of Pillsbury crescent rolls, open and separate.
Preheat the oven (as directed on package).
Explain how the crescent roll symbolizes the tomb that Jesus' body was put in after he died.
Explain that you are using a marshmallow (small one) to symbolize Jesus' body.
'annoint' his body with oil (melted butter/margarine) and sprinkle with spices (cinnamon) - explain that they used to do this to the body to make it smell good and bless it.
Wrap the marshmallow up in the crescent roll, making sure that it is sealed everywhere (pinching the sides to seal), explaining that it is symbolizing when Jesus was put in the tomb, and it was sealed up tight.
Put the crescent rolls in the oven and bake as directed on the package.
While you're waiting, explain how Jesus' body was there for three days, and no one could get into the tomb.
Explain that after three days, they went back to the tomb and noticed that it was open.
After the crescent rolls have cooled a bit, break one open and 'discover' that the marshmallow is gone! Explain how Jesus' body had disappeared because he rose, etc....

Good Friday

2008-03-21T22:08:00.001-07:00

Today was Good Friday, and we decided to have our first Passover Seder.
I know, it's a bit later than it should be, but I just decided today.
As a result of the tardiness, it wasn't a perfect, by-the-book Seder, and since it was geared toward a 5-yr-old it was toned down and shortened, but it was great!
Jaymi helped a lot with the setup. She set the table, put 12 glasses out for the 12 apostles, 1 for Jesus and one for Elijah the Prophet. she filled a bowl with salt & water, she gathered towels for us to wear (so that we could try to pretend we were dressed as they would have 2,000 years ago), she helped me make a Red Sea (with two red sheets), and she helped with the food placement.
We didn't do the prayers or songs, but we did all of the explanations, the different tastes of all of the foods we were supposed to have (with crackers instead of Matzah - it was too late to get Matzah) and we even did a bit of acting out the 10 plagues.
It was excellent! And Jaymi said that it was awesome :)

Obsessed with Time!

2008-03-20T18:02:00.000-07:00

Jaymi has always loved time. She has been telling time on an analog clock for a long time now.
She knew the hours and half-hours when she was 4, and now she can completely tell time on an analog clock ... a feat that I have heard many 10-yr-olds nowadays cannot do!
She seems obsessed with it!
She is constantly telling us what time it is, asking how many minutes until something, and announcing when the clock is at 'funny times' (1:11, 2:22, etc. - even 9:11).
My sister-in-law gave her the perfect present at the end of last year - a watch! Not only any watch, but an analog watch, with cats all over it! She LOVES it! She wears it just about 24-hrs a day, and refers to it all the time!
Today as I was taking a shower before dinner, she announced the time, literally minute by minute, as I was in the shower.
[open the bathroom door] "5:01!" [close the bathroom door]
[open the bathroom door] "5:02!" [close the bathroom door]
and on, and on, and on.....

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T20:59:00.001-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone! And Happy Birthday to my mom as well!!

This morning we all wore green, of course, and Jaymi ate a breakfast of...green eggs, green milk, a green quesadilla, and a green pear.
She had some Pistachio ice cream later in the day (her favourite flavour of ice cream).
We took our traditional picture of the three of us celebrating with a drink (Mark had green beer, I had a green Bailey's and Jaymi had a green smoothie - which she wanted in one of Daddy's Sleeman glasses).
Then for dinner I made a Jig's Dinner - corned beef and cabbage basically. A true Irish dinner.
Our discussions of St. Patrick's Day turned into a whole conversation (and a drawing) of our family culture, where the Irish comes from (Mark's side and mine) and what other cultures are in our families.

More History...

2008-03-15T20:20:00.001-07:00

These are the books we have been working with this week. They're awesome books! I'm not thrilled with the Wright Brothers book but the rest are great.

During these subject-themed homeschooling weeks, Jaymi and have declared every Friday 'Cat Day'.
So each Friday we will work cats into the subject somehow. Yesterday we studied cats in history (both fictional and non-fictional).

Learning to Sew

2008-03-15T13:54:00.001-07:00

You are looking the second item of clothing that Jaymi has made in her sewing class. She has had 3 classes so far and is doing very well. They work on surgers, and she has sewn a short-sleeved shirt, this long-sleeved shirt and she is almost finished a pair of pants as well.
She loves it!
She is the youngest in the class, by far (the other kids are somewhere between 10 and 13) and she cuts the pattern herself, cuts the material herself, pins the fabric to the pattern herself, sews with a bit of help (but not much) and trims the thread herself. The bigger kids do the ironing for her.
She is so proud of what she has made so far!

Our Hiatus is Over!

2008-03-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

I know, I know...I haven't updated this in over a month! We were all sick for a while, and then we just got busy...then I worked for 1/2 hour on uploading a new entry, and mistakenly closed it down before it uploaded to the blogger. After that, I took a break - too frustrated to start all over again.
So here I go, with my first entry in over a month!

A few weeks ago, (after we all recovered from being sick) we began Art Week.
It was a week of trying out as many different types of art as we could fit in, as well as learning about art.

I made a 2-dimensional 'Art Week' sign which Jaymi had to colour each letter a different & creative way.
She did a bunch of Colour Wonder spray art.
She did 3-D paper beach scene.
She did fingerprint art.
She did sticker art.
She learned how to draw a face with more detail - doing her own self-portrait.
She learned about pointillism.
She made family popsicle stick puppets (and put on a show for me).
We also made a book that she dictated for me to write, and she drew accompanying pictures. She learned the term 'illustrator'.
There was a lot more that we meant to get to, but we ran out of time, and it was just time to move on for now.

Next, we did Safety Week.
We studied Household Safety (sharp objects, electricity, water safety, heat),
Poison Safety,
Road Safety,
Stranger Safety,
Fire Safety,
Bike Safety,
Animal Safety,
and Car Safety.
We of course, played one of her favourite games, over and over, which is the firefighter game.

This week is History Week, at Jaymi's request.
She is fascinated with true stories about people who actually existed!
So far, we have studied Louis Braille, Rosa Parks (and briefly discussed the Civil War), The Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Terry Fox, Helen Keller, and her favourite one, Anne Frank.
We also made a very cool timeline that we have posted up in her bedroom. It gives her an idea of time frames, and when things happened in comparison to each other.
We have written dates like...our family's birthdates, her friend's birthdates, a couple of the wars we have studied, when the people mentioned above were born and died, when Canada became a country, when Mark & I met and married, when we moved, etc.
We also have put a word up on our History wall....'PERSISTENCE'.
All of the people we have studied this week, has a lot of that quality, and so does Jaymi. She knows that it's a great quality to have.

Lunar Eclipse 2008

2008-02-20T21:41:00.000-08:00

Did you see the lunar eclipse tonight? It was very cool to watch, and I'm glad that it occurred so early for us - between 6:30 and 7:30 pm. Perfect for Jaymi to stay up and watch part of it.
It was interesting watching it change...watching the moon disappear more and more...and also watching how much the moon moved (Jaymi found that amazing) so quickly. I was tracking it with my camera - set up on a tripod - and every time I went to take a picture 2 minutes later, the moon had moved.
Jaymi also found it very interesting to see real pictures of the moon closeup. I guess it's different when we have taken them ourselves - more real to her.

Blast Off!

2008-02-20T09:17:00.001-08:00

We have taken a bit of a break from any formal homeschooling but are back into it now.
Yesterday we went out to an open field to see if Mark & Jaymi could launch the rocket that they built together. It was finally a sunny, dry, non-windy day - perfect for rocket launching.
It was awesome! I have never seen a toy rocket launch before and it goes pretty far up. So far that I could barely see it before it began descending. Unfortunately, on the way down, the parachute didn't open properly and therefore one of the fins broke off. So, we launched it one more time and now it's off to the rocket repairshop (a.k.a. the garage) to be fixed and launched again one day.

Stay tune later today or tomorrow, for more info. about our current studies - we also started a big "Art Week" yesterday.

Knight for a Day

2008-02-09T22:47:00.000-08:00

The main event of today (after going to an open house on the new ferry - very cool) was a friend's birthday party. Yes, another birthday party!
This was a medieval-themed party, where each child had to come as a knight or a maiden. Jaymi insisted on being a knight, the reason being, because maidens had to wear a fancy dress and there was NO WAY she was wearing a dress! So, she came as a knight.
It went great! Her two girl friends who were at the party, immediately asked Jaymi to come and save them from the dragon, which she was quite willing to do.
And by halfway through the party, one of the girls had decided to change into a knight!
Yep, that's my little girl - the leader, definitely not the follower!

Let's start off with a parade!

2008-02-08T19:59:00.000-08:00

This morning went I went to get Jaymi, she greeted me with, "Mommy, come on up...I have a surprise to show you in my room!". She proceeded to show me a very detailed group of stuffed animals, all dressed up in costumes, an audience of Littlest Pet Shop animals and dolls, chairs set up, and two 'buildings' in the centre of the room, which the parade of stuffies was going around.
We had to sit in our designated chairs while we watched the stuffie parade. She put classical music on and we sat there and said, "Ooh, look at that funny costume the cat is wearing!"..."Aah, that caterpillar is wearing a wig!"..."Hey, I know that person...hi!"..."Wow, what a lovely parade!".
(The whole time of course, nothing is moving. We're just pretending it all.)

It was fun, diving into the imagination of a 5-yr-old for a while. She set the parade up later, downstairs, along the carpet runner of our main floor. We had to watch the parade again, of course.

It was amazing, the amount of set-up this must have required in the morning. There was a Garfield with a Christmas headband on, a car with a tutu around his neck, a lobster doctor, a cat with handcuffs on, a cat dressed as a tiger, three turtles dressed as firefighters in a fire truck, a caterpillar with a clown wig on, a Serta sheep dressed as a cat, a cat with braids, and many more! And the whole group was marching around a bank and a pet store.

We were so busy today!

2008-02-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Well, today started out as a school day, and turned into a homeschooling day! The power went out an hour after school started, (just enough time for chapel and music) so I got a phone call to pick Jaymi up and bring her home.

So...we got tons of stuff done today!

Jaymi made all of her Valentine's cards today,

she did a bunch of time/clock worksheets (decided to hang them up in her room),

finished decorating her and Daddy's rocket with stickers (her idea to pose like this for the picture),

made a rule list (I was making one for our household - what is NOT allowed, and she decided to make one for her room),
read a book about Louis Braille, touched some real braille, and pretended to be blind to see what it would be like,

did a bunch of math word problems,

took a break after lunchtime, for ice cream :),
did some errands - post office, grocery store, health food store, etc.,
a couple of loads of laundry,
took a bunch of pictures while blowing bubbles (she learned how to use the camera remote).

Whew! We got so much accomplished and had so much fun! Jaymi said "the minutes flew by!"

Some Great Books

2008-02-06T19:44:00.000-08:00

We have read some good books about space in the last week, and I thought I'd share them with all of you.

"My First Book About Space: A Question and Answer Book" by Dinah L. Moche
"Amazing Space Facts" (A Golden Look-Look Book) by Dinah L. Moche
"What Does the Sun Do?" by Jean and Cle Kinney
and another book about space - it's an Usborne book but I don't have it with me right now.

Of course, the NASA website was very helpful, and the Discovery Kids website as well.

Blast Off!!

2008-02-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

We did tons of space work today.
We learned a lot about the solar system...which planets are hot and cold, what the atmospheres, skies and surfaces are like, how long it would take to travel to each planet, etc.
We reviewed our knowledge of the Space Race between Russia and the U.S..
We did our own version of astronaut training (Jupiter Jumping Jacks, Solar System Stretch, Pluto Push-ups, Lunar Leaps, etc.) - we trained hard, and passed our astronaut test.
We made an awesome spacesuit (for Jaymi) which she wore for quite a while, complete with space boots (rubber boots covered in bubble wrap, gloves and a hood (we couldn't make a helmet properly), and a space pack (Fedex box) with oxygen tanks (paper towel rolls).
Of course, we learned all of the reasons that you need a space suit to protect your body.

We pretended the space under Jaymi's loft bed was the space shuttle, and we took quite a few trips to the moon, including doing a full system check (learning how to talk on the radios), counting down, blasting off, laughing when Garfild (who came with us) forgot to strap himself in and floated up in the air, and landing on the moon (watching out for meteors of course).
We explored the 'moon' (her room), collected some dirt for analysis, and returned to earth.

Through the whole space experience today, I have to mention that Jaymi insisted on being a space CAT. She was a cat astronaut - check out the tail in the picture!

Another Mixed Up Day

2008-02-03T19:57:00.000-08:00

We did a bit of everything today.
We had pancakes for breakfast.
Jaymi learned how to work the nail gun.

Jaymi and Mark started building a real rocket!
We had a playdate with some new friends, went to the park,
and went out to dinner with them!

Detour

2008-02-01T21:38:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't do any space stuff today, although I had planned on it. We'll have to do it tomorrow. We took a bit of a detour from homeschooling today.
We found out last night, that Jaymi's best friend was in the hospital for a few days, having had a seizure. He just got home yesterday and she wanted to do something special for him. So, we went to the store, bought a little Webkinz (she chose the one he would like the most), some flowers that she chose as well, and a gift bag, and she wrote the best letter to him.
"Dear C***: I hope you are feeling better. I love you C***. Do you love me too? Feel better soon. You are my best friend. From: Jaymi."
She wrapped everything up and we went to visit him and give him his present.

The other cool thing that we did today (we cleaned the house for the rest of the day, oh yeah, and Jaymi sorted coins as well) was making these awesome tortilla snowflakes. It was fun! You just gently fold a soft flour tortilla in half and in half again, snip wherever you want with scissors, unfold, bake on a greased baking sheet for 5-7 minutes, and then sprinkle some icing sugar on top, shake the excess off, and eat!
Mmmmmm!

A Little Bit More Space

2008-01-30T19:33:00.000-08:00

I didn't plan on doing any space day stuff today, since Jaymi was in school, but we ended up doing some anyway.
Today we talked about constellations, and made our own sky picture with stars & made-up constellations.

We also made a cool black paper/pinhole sky to cover the end of a flashlight with, turned off all of the lights and lit up the wall with our starry night sky.

And finally, Jaymi did a worksheet with a space word scramble.

She is so excited that tomorrow we are going to be astronauts!

Oh, and totally off topic, in the mail today we received Jaymi's membership package to the Young Naturalists' Club of British Columbia.
It's pretty awesome - includes:
a tiny magnifying glass on a cord
1 of 4 of this year's editions of "Nature Wild: Magazine for the YNC"
a pamphlet on wildlife viewing tips
a membership letter
newsletter
membership card
local group leader's card
a laminated bird & insect anatomy card
checklist of Victoria birds
info on making a bird-friendly yard.
The best part is a YNC Participation Passport. Everytime you go to an Explorer Day, your passport gets signed. When you complete 2 passports full of signatures, you mail it in to get a certificate and a YNC hat! You can also do other activities to earn Bronze, Silver and Gold certificates and pins.
It's all in the name of young people learning about, caring about and learning to protect nature & wildlife in B.C.

Check it out!
www.ync.ca

5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Blast off!!

2008-01-29T21:28:00.000-08:00

We have declared it Space Week at our house, and we are learning everything about space that we can.
Today was all about the space shuttle. Jaymi has been interested in rocket ships lately, so I thought that this was the perfect homeschooling topic for her right now.

We made a paper rocket ship (with construction paper and a toilet paper roll), found of lots of cool facts about the space shuttle, made a rocketship salad (I know, I know, Mark says it looks a lot like something else...), and Jaymi even made a section of her bedroom into a rocket station.
She even has a big plan for it...she has laid out some 2x4's, drawn areas on them, like 'Jaymi's rocket land', 'parked rocket ship', 'rocket blast off area', and even 'screwed in rocket ship' (her plan for a paper shuttle that is permanently screwed into the wood).

Of course, no study of the space shuttle is complete without watching some video of the shuttle blasting off and landing. That was the best part!

At bedtime I thought it was perfect to read her a non-fiction children's book about the stars. The only part I didn't anticipate (and thought it was not quite bedtime material), was the part about the American woman who was actually hit by a meteor that crashed through her roof one day! Oops! Too bad she can read - I tried to skip that part but she saw it.

Tune in later this week...we still have a study of astronaunts coming up, and the solar system!

Fun Stuff

2008-01-23T21:53:00.000-08:00

Since I have just started this new homeschooling blog, and we've been homeschooling for years, I decided to list off a few of our favourite homeschooling topics & field trips that we have done.

1. ANIMALS
When Jaymi was 2, she LOVED flashcards with animals on them. She loved to name the animals as well as how many there were on each card. (Usually she did this while potty training on the toilet :))

2. HOTELS
Last summer we went to the Delta Victoria Hotel (for an in-town vacation) and it was so much fun! A hotel to a 4-yr-old is a whole new experience!
She learned about:
- ice machine (she even made up her own experiment involving filling 5 glasses with ice and warm & cold water and seeing which ones melted faster)
- steam on mirrors
- float planes landing
- room key
- swimming
- Happy Feet movie
- people-watching
- Johnson St. bridge (the one that lifts)
- bathroom light timer

3. CAR SAFETY
Last summer we also had an unexpected experience that taught Jaymi some new things - a car accident. A guy ran a red light and hit our car. She learned about:
- safety (being buckled in)
- tow trucks
- police/paramedics/fire fighters
- all about a car being fixed
- rules of the road (the importance of them)

4. BIKING
Pedalheads (last summer again) taught Jaymi how to ride a two-wheeler!

5. READING
She participated in the library reading programme this past summer and read a TON of books every day to earn her rewards each week and her medal at the end of the summer.

6. CAMPING
Camp Pringle was a fun experience as well.
- kayaking
- campfires
- making friends
- horshoes
- climbing wall

7. BOATS
Boat Ride (on a friend's whale watching boat)
- seals
- Fisherman's Wharf (feeding seals, seeing houseboats)
- boating & boating safety

8. CONSTRUCTION
- safety signs
- visiting construction site
- tool names

9. HEALTH
- dental health (we made a pretend apple mouth, looked at x-rays, visited the dentist)
- eye health
- food nutrition (food groups, reading ingredients, baking)
- heart health

10. TREES
- deciduous, coniferous
- pretend tree game
- making a presentation about trees
- tree rubbings

11. RECYCLING
- recycling methods
- where do materials come from? (paper/glass/metal/plastic)

12. RAIN FOREST
- who lives there?
- games on rainforestheroes.com - fun!
- what's happening to it?
- how to save it

13. SOLAR SYSTEM

And of course, last year we did one letter per week, when we did the following things that began with that letter:
-ate food
-wrote a word list
-did activities & worksheets
-drew/coloured pictures
-went places
-made a sticker picture
-created a letter (e.g. purple 'p', eggshell 'e', etc.)

Save the Rainforest!

2008-01-23T11:00:00.000-08:00

Last year, in preschool, Jaymi did a rainforest presentation to her class. After learning (at home) all about the rainforest, who lives there, what is grown there, how to save it, why it is disappearing, etc., she wanted to tell her class all about it.
So this year, she wanted to tell her new kindergarten class about the rainforest. Today is her presentation day.
We learned all about things that we can do for the rainforest, like:
- eat less beef
- use recycled or reusable containers
- reuse paper - use both sides
- buy locally
- tell everyone about it
- donate to the save-an-acre fund

We found this great website with a fun kids' video, lots of printable activity sheets, and even a couple of kids' games like "Salmon Sally's Upstream Sprint".
The website is called http://www.rainforestheroes.com/ - check it out!

Introductions

2008-01-19T11:26:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my new homeschooling blog!
I plan to share my homeschooling/learning adventures with you, hopefully providing ideas & inspiration for some people, interesting stories for others, and I would love to hear from other homeschoolers & anyone who wants to comment on my page!

Me: I have always had my own business teaching piano. I became a stay-at-home mom when my daughter was about 9 months old. I have homeschooled her since, well, forever, and am continuing to partially homeschool her. She attends kindergarten now, a few days per week, but we do lots of learning at home.
I love to homeschool and I also love photography. I also volunteer in the kindergarten class once a week.

Her: My 5-yr-old daughter is very curious about the world around her, with special interest right now in history, books, math, spelling and grammar, and photography. She absolutely LOVES cats, Disney Cars, Hello Kitty, Garfield and Littlest Pet Shop.
She is an amazing kid - has been reading since age 2 1/2 (now reads at a Gr.6 level), does Gr.1 level math and Gr.3 level spelling, and just thinks in a different way than most other 5-yr-olds.
She taught herself to swim and is a total fish in water. She is interested in synchronized swimming and my plan is to work her towards that goal.

My challenge is to keep her challenged. She is at her best while learning, and, while being labelled as gifted, does not have access to any enrichment programmes right now.

Her personality can also be challenging. She can be quite introverted and also very stubborn. She catches on to quite advanced thought processes, but we often need to remind ourselves that she is only five years old, especially behaviour-wise.

Every day is a great adventure, especially when we are learning. I say 'we' because I love to learn along with her.

So, come along with us and watch our partial-homeschooling adventures each day!