Two Boys and a Dragon

Top 10 Things to do on Canada Day

2009-07-01T12:53:00.000-07:00

Of all the summer holidays, Canada Day is definitely the one that's the most steeped in tradition at our house. There are certain things that just have to happen, or the celebration is not official! In no particular order, here are our top ten musts for today:

1. Pick a whole whack of strawberries at Lindley's farm (this year it was 24 quarts). Check.

2. Make a whole whack of jam with the strawberries (generally this is 3 batches, which still leaves us an obscene amount for freezing and eating). Check.

3. Watch the Joe Canadian commercial on YouTube. Check.

4. Read The Yarn Harlot's Canada Day blog post (this one will be taken care of as soon as I finish this post).

5. Watch the Blue Jays play in their spiffy red Canada Day uniforms. Check (nice game, boys - particularly the back-to-back homers by Adam Lind and Scott Roland).

6. Crank up the Canadian tunes. Check. So far we've worked our way through Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea and 54-40.

7. Barbecue something. I haven't decided what yet :) but I'm guessing it's going to be a classic burgers-and-dogs feast this year.

8. Ingest as many strawberries as possible. Yes, strawberries are a big part of our Canada Day, as they rightfully deserve. Not only are they dressed for the party in their red (with subtle white) glory, they are also ready to pick on the big day. I think we are going to go all fancy with some Strawberry Daiquiris this year.

9. Adorn oneself with appropriate Canadian themed decorations (we are just breaking out the fake tattoos as I type, and my cute little socks with the Canadian flags are all ready to go for tonight).

10. Watch fireworks! The weather forecast is not in our favour right now, but we're busy praying to the weather gods and hoping the festivities won't get rained out tonight.

Happy Canada Day!!

Connection & Clutter

2009-01-18T10:17:00.001-08:00

These are the two words that have kept me from posting for so long!

"Connection" is the word I picked for my Word of the Year. I was pretty excited about it at the time, because it is so meaningful on so many levels:

CONNECTION to my Authentic Self

CONNECTION to the present moment

CONNECTION to my family and friends

building meaningful CONNECTIONs with many people in my new profession

all those fun learning CONNECTIONs that happen in unschooling

keeping myself open to unexpected CONNECTIONs of all kinds because you never know where they will lead next!

Well, ever since I picked CONNECTION as my Word of the Year, I have been caught up in a whirlwind of connections of all kinds that have kept me happily busy - so busy that I have neglected a lot of things (like this blog for instance) as I ride this wild wave!! Hopefully I will not be kept so busy *connecting* all year that I don't have a chance to share more details here.

Ah, and now on to the CLUTTER...

I am really not a pack rat at heart and I thought I had done a pretty good job of purging unwanted stuff on a regular basis over the years. So I was kind of surprised when, after hearing a friend of mine mention the book Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui on an email list, I felt an uncontrollable urge to see if my library had a copy. They did, and I picked it up last week. Ever since then I have been on a clutter-busting rampage the likes of which I have never experienced before. For two days straight I was pulling open cupboards and closets and tossing, tossing, tossing!! Our recycling bins and trash can are MUCH fuller than usual this week, and I have large stacks of usable items awaiting new ownership through Freecycle (or, if all else fails, a trip to Value Village to drop it in the donation bin!) Needless to say, I was quite shocked to see how much stuff we've accumulated that we don't need or use anymore. There is still more to be done but I'm going to slow down a bit (the dog's looking a bit worried I might toss him in a donation pile, LOL!). Our house suddenly feels much calmer, more serene and spacious, and I want to keep it that way. Definitely a great way to start a new year!

Deck the Halls

2008-12-05T17:34:00.000-08:00

We have been busy getting the house spruced up for Christmas this week. I'm amazed at how fast the boys set out all the decorations - they remembered exactly where we put each item and had most of it done before I knew what happened!

I had some fun rummaging through our Christmas Book Box (you can see it tucked in there behind the chair in the photo). All the standard seasonal favourites are in there (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Polar Express) along with some books that are more obscure but that have become our family favourites over the years.

Snuggling up together and reading our seasonal favourites in the glow of the Christmas tree is one of the things I cherish most about this time of year. If you're looking for some new books to add to your holiday collection, our family gives "two enthusiastic thumbs way up" to the following:

Rotten Ralph's Rotten Christmas by Jack Gantos - quite possibly the most-read Christmas book in our house!

Joel Schick's Christmas Present - a fanciful twist on the Twelve Days of Christmas featuring whimsical illustrations of dorkle bugs sneeds-a-slavering and many other very hungry critters.

Woodleigh Marx Hubbard's Twelve Days of Christmas - this one has the traditional verse along with playful and bright illustrations.

The Nativity, illustrated by Julie Vivas - our favourite version of the Christmas story, hands down. Beautifully illustrated, with some gentle humour.

I Spy Christmas - okay, this one can't really qualify as "obscure" but it's certainly provided many hours of holiday entertainment at our house.

Happy holiday reading, everyone!

Snow Joy!!

2008-11-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

We got our first significant snowfall yesterday. Noah and Nathan started doing the "Snow Dance of Happiness" as soon as they saw the flakes starting to come down midafternoon. We walked home from the library enthusiastically catching snowflakes on our tongues. We then ran around the yard grabbing bikes, scooters, and all manner of outdoor items we hadn't quite got around to bringing in the house for the winter yet.

The boys tried to scrounge up enough snow for a snowball fight while they waited for their friends to get home from school. The whole gang then proceeded over to the toboggan hill (a 5 minute walk from our house) and I didn't see Nathan again until after dark. The snow accumulation was not huge but the kids were determined! By the end of the day both boys were rosy cheeked and wet from head to toe, full of sparkly-eyed excitement at the official onset of winter.

I have no photos to mark this occasion because my camera batteries died again. We picked some up last night, but by this morning the sun had come out and melted away most of the snow. I'm sure there will be more soon so I don't think I need to worry too much about getting a good photo op!

With the arrival of the snow I feel the stillness of winter settling in. It's a welcome feeling, as life has been particularly hectic of late. In the space of five weeks (between the end of September and the beginning of November), we celebrate both of the boys' birthdays (involving 2 parties for *each* boy) plus Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween. This mama is looking forward to some quiet days snuggled up under lots of warm blankets, reading books and watching movies together! Of course, it's time to start thinking about Christmas celebrations as well, but I am determined to keep our holiday as peaceful as possible this year.

Late Summer Potpourri

2008-09-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

A hollyhock in our front garden

So much for life slowing down! We have been incredibly busy since I last posted at the end of August. And yes, it's still technically summer until the equinox tomorrow!

Since I last posted, our family was interviewed and photographed for an article in our local paper. I was not entirely thrilled with it, although it was generally favourable towards unschooling. They left out all the most interesting and relevant stuff I told the reporter!

In the last couple of weeks we have also cheered Nathan on at his end-of-season soccer tournament in the pouring rain, celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary, and attended our local homeschool group's Not Back to School picnic.

The most exciting thing we've done lately is visit our unschooling friends at their farm in Upstate New York. We all had a blast - that includes the dog who seemed totally in his element as a "farm dog" despite his entirely urban existence. We made butter and mozzarella cheese with fresh-from-the-cow milk, and Nathan learned how to pick up a chicken and groom a donkey.

The boys engaged in lots of swimming, gaming, and trampolining!

Aric helps Nathan groom Jenny the Donkey

Kirsten milking her cow Becky

Joe getting to know Rumpus (Marley looks interested, too!)

During this flurry of activity, I have tried to stay on top of the fall garden, whipping up several batches of tomato sauce and wondering what the heck I am going to do with several dozen jalepeno and banana peppers (the only crops in my garden that seems to have really thrived during this cold, wet summer). Suggestions, anyone?

As if all that wasn't enough, yesterday I had the opportunity to attend an Abraham-Hicks workshop in Toronto - what a thrilling experience that was!

Life is so full and so good here and there seems to be a perpetually long list of upcoming events on our calendar!!

Olympic Learning and a Pizza Box Solar Oven

2008-08-27T17:17:00.001-07:00

Now that the Olympics are over and the outdoor pool is closed for the year, I might actually have some time to blog...

We absolutely love watching the Olympics around here. I am not normally one to watch a lot of sports on TV, but there is something so irresistible about the Olympic spirit. We spent many hours in front of the TV together in the last couple weeks (and I spent a few nights up by myself until 1:30 a.m. to catch the gymnastics competitions!)

It's fun to reflect on all the learning that occurred as we enjoyed all those great Olympic moments. What a perfect, real-life illustration of time zones - the kids were quite fascinated by the fact that when we were watching something on Wednesday night, it was Thursday morning in Beijing! We had our atlas sitting on the coffee table during the entire duration of the Olympics as we were regularly looking up where countries were located. It really amused us to discover that there were a number of countries off the coast of Australia with populations far smaller than our city. Solomon Islands' population (441,000) is very close to that of our city. It's fun to think of our city being an entire country, LOL! The kids picked up quite a few different country's flags during the course of the Olympic coverage, too. We also had lots of great conversations about the rules of different sports, sportsmanship, why Michael Phelps is so much faster than all the other swimmers, and many other things I've already forgotten!

In between all our Olympics-watching, we also found time to build a pizza box solar oven and test it out.

This was a really fun project - I got the instructions from Family Fun magazine. Here's the oven construction in progress.

Testing out the finished product! We measured the internal temperature - it got up to 139 degrees Fahrenheit (59.6 degrees Celsius) in 20 minutes. The air temperature was 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 degrees Celsius).

Yum! Melted cheese on crackers - very tasty! The cheese was thoroughly melted after 15 minutes but didn't bubble and spread the way it normally would in the oven. We want to try making s'mores in the solar oven next.

If you want to try this project yourself, the instructions are here.

Where Did July Go???

2008-08-08T17:24:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in that rather fuzzy-headed state I always get into around this time of year when I start hearing all the back-to-school ads (blech) and realize that we're well into August already. Although our standard "schpiel" is that summer doesn't end until Thanksgiving when school is not part of your family life (that would be mid-October here in Canada), there are certain things that will only be around for a couple more weeks this year (like our outdoor community pool and most of my kids' friends). Of course there is plenty to look forward to in the fall - in September alone there's my wedding anniversary, a trip to visit unschooling friends in New York State, an Abraham-Hicks workshop (for me) and Nathan's birthday!!

But I'm still wondering where July went! Lots of lazy afternoons at the pool, a couple of nights a week on the soccer field, a family camping trip, and BAM! There she goes!

We did manage to acquire a new camera in July as well, so I suppose it's about time I posted a photo or two:

Noah and I chilling out on the rocky shores of Awenda Provincial Park (on Georgian Bay)
This is approximately the 3rd photo of us together in Noah's entire lifespan as I am the unofficial family photographer. Okay, there might be upwards of half a dozen, LOL!

We're pretty sure this is a young plainbelly water snake that was slithering along the beach.

We located what is possibly the last teeter-totter left in North America at our lunch rest stop on the way to Awenda.

One Happy Dog!

Noah lounging in the pool at our friends' house!

Nathan reading to Paige (to whom I am unofficial if not biological Auntie)

I guess we did do a few things in July after all :)

Living, Learning and Gaming!

2008-07-12T17:22:00.000-07:00

If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know that both of my boys are passionate about video games. Over the years, I have been amazed at how much their gaming has been an integral part of their learning process. I feel so strongly about the many ways in which gaming has expanded the lives of everyone in our family, that I decided I needed to write a book about it!!

My vision is for the book to include dozens of stories from unschoolers all around the world who have joyfully expanded their lives in a variety of ways through their love of video games. In true unschooling fashion, I'm learning as I go on this whole thing - right now I have no idea how or when it's going to be published, just that I intend to make (um, LET ) it happen!

HOW YOU CAN HELP:
I am seeking submissions from unschoolers of all ages about how a passion for video games has expanded your (or your child's) world!! Stories can be about skills learned from playing video games, or how playing a certain game acted as a springboard to a new passion and other (non-gaming) living and learning, or any combination thereof.

As this project is in the early stages, there is plenty of time to pull something together if you're interested in submitting a story (or 2 or 3 !!) I'm anticipating that certain themes will emerge that I will structure the book around.

If you are an unschooler with a blog, I would love it if you would link to this post from your blog, or even copy the whole post onto your blog if you feel so inclined :) I also have a Squidoo lens set up that you can link to. Please feel free to forward this information widely among the unschooling community - the more contributors, the merrier!!

As the book approaches its final form, I will contact all submitters to let them know what portion of their story I wish to use and what (if any) personal information (such as name and city/country you live in) they would like included.

If you have any questions about what I'm doing, or are interested in submitting, please contact me at karen_mclaughlin AT cogeco DOT ca.

Summer Fun & Festivities

2008-07-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

[No, we still haven't replaced our digital camera - this photo's from last year, but Joe and Noah still look exactly the same!]

This week has been a busy one!

On Sunday, we attended It's Your Festival at Gage Park - the oldest and biggest Canada Day festival in the country! We hung out at the park's splash pad and playground for a while, then had a relaxed picnic dinner while we enjoyed live performances by The Spoons and April Wine.

[Cool fact: the Spoons' keyboardist, Scott MacDonald, happens to be my across-the-street neighbour's brother, and was visiting from China, where he's lived for a few years now. Scott's son was playing in my backyard the afternoon of the show!!]

Tuesday was Canada Day, and therefore two traditional activities were required: strawberry picking (at Lindley's Farm in Ancaster), and fireworks (at Bayfront Park). Joe and I managed to squeeze in solo bike rides as well - I rode 25 km and Joe squeezed out 45!

The Canada Day weather was perfect; sunny and mid-twenties (that's Celsius!) with very little humidity (nearly a miracle in July in southern Ontario). We picked 18 quarts of strawberries in about an hour. The kids got bored of picking after a while, so Noah started investigating the environment a bit more closely and noticed the irrigation pipes. He asked what they were, and we ended up having a rather interesting discussion on farm irrigation systems (we pointed out the farm's irrigation pond on the way back out). Nathan entertained us by making up a story of King Berry and his plot to take over the world (yep, the kid's watched a lot of Pinky and the Brain, LOL!)

We all rode our bikes along the Waterfront Trail to the fireworks display. I was in the lead keeping up with Nathan the speedster. Joe and Noah were quite a distance behind us, and were lucky enough to see one of our local beavers swimming in the Desjardins Canal!

Much of the rest of this week has been spent either wrestling with strawberries or loafing at the community pool (a mere 5 minute walk from our house). I now have 1 1/2 dozen jars of strawberry jam - with any luck these will last us until next year; I only had to buy 1 jar of storebought this year to get us through to the new season! I still have 6 quarts left to hull and freeze, which I should probably be doing right now instead of blogging....

This afternoon, the whole family went for a ride down to Pier 4 Park - we brought a couple of the boys' friends along for the ride, too! We were lucky enough to catch the end of the Dragon Boat Races as we'd been meaning to attend but the event had slipped my mind. The boys played at the splash pad and playground while Joe and I took a stroll around to soak up the Harbourfront atmosphere and relaxed on a bench by the water with our books.

And now, I believe it is time for me to go deal with those strawberries!

Happy Canada Day!

2008-07-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

I've been far too busy picking (and eating) berries and riding my bike to think about doing a long and involved post, but here are a couple of my favourite Canadian things on the internet, in honour of our country's special day.

Oh Canada
No, this is not an incorrectly spelled link to our national anthem, it's the Yarn Harlot's traditional Canada Day post, devoted to all things Canadian (in a most amusing sort of manner). Take time to link through to previous year's posts if you haven't read them before (maybe even if you have) - they're all great!

I AM CANADIAN - the ultimate classic Molson commercial, required viewing every Canada Day!!

Wishing all my fellow Canucks a fabulous day!

The Days are Just Packed

2008-06-29T09:48:00.001-07:00

To borrow a title from one of my favourite cartoonists (one of Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes collections), the days have felt completely jammed full lately - thus a lack of recent updates here!

Aside from all the laundry, cooking and eating (all of which seem to have increased exponentially of late) here are a few of the things we've been up to:

Water: The boys spent the entire month of June playing with water - water gun and water balloon fights, swimming in the neighbour's pool, squirting the hose at each other, and generally remaining as wet as possible for the majority of their waking hours! The neighbourhood pool and splash pad opened last week, so I don't expect to see them fully dried off until September :)

Nursing languishing electronics: It seems that our house has turned into a graveyard for electronic thingamajigs in varying states of repair. We now have four (yes, four) printers of dubious vintage and degrees of functioning taking up space (I am still determined to get one of them to work - cross your fingers for me!) Anyone know what's the best way to dispose of dead printers?? Our digital camera also bit the dust recently (so expect a dearth of photos here for a while). Luckily, it seems we will at least be able to trade this in locally and get a portable CD player for the van (to replace the one that got stolen last summer). Joe has also been trying to revive a TV he dragged home for free - not sure how that one's going to end yet!

Learning piano: Our one successful revival thus far, we finally have our music keyboard functional again. We just got it up and running yesterday, and all four of us have been clamoring around, eagerly awaiting our turn tickling the (non) ivories. I haven't played in over a decade now (I can't BELIEVE it's been that long!) but so far I've managed to bang out a half-decent Ode to Joy and stumble along with Edelweiss. I'm looking forward to spending some regular time playing - I was never a natural by any means; I have to practice, practice, practice on even the basic stuff. Nathan is already gracing us with his own spontaneous compositions!

Writing (other places than here!): I've been devoting what little blogging time I've had lately to my cooking blog, The Speeding Kitchen, which I hope to expand on in a few directions. I've also got some other (offline) writing projects going - more news about that soon!

Playing with EFT: I've known about EFT for a while, but never really delved into it further, or learned how to do it. In the last couple of weeks, I've spent a lot of time reading about EFT, watching YouTube videos, and tapping like a fiend. So far, I am very excited about this process and think everyone should know how to do this!!

Now we are gearing up for some Canada Day celebrations, lots of fun things planned over the next couple of days, so I should have plenty to report by July 2nd!!

Yard Sale Booty!!

2008-06-08T17:32:00.000-07:00

[SPOILER ALERT: If you or someone you are related to is on my gift list, please don't read this post, you might ruin a surprise or two!!!]

I am a die-hard yard sale shopper. Every spring I wait impatiently for the fun to start again. I've been out almost every Saturday morning for the last 4 or 5 weeks now, and I'll be going until the end of September - then the fall church rummage sales will begin, to keep me going for another month or so.

I love the "thrill of the hunt" - you never know what great bargains you might find. I have a knack for finding the exact things we need, when we need them. This season, I've already replaced our languishing drinking glass collection with an entire set of gorgeous matching glasses (identical to the kind I had in mind!) and found a replacement winter jacket and snow pants for Noah for next winter, along with quite a lot of other great stuff.

It seems every week ends up having a bit of a theme to it, and this week it was "books and stationery week".

Yesterday's haul included:
-2 unopened boxes of Christmas cards (cute ones that I really like!)
-4 brand new, still in the package fancy greeting cards (2 are new baby cards and I need those right now!)
-BRAND NEW copies of Eat*Pray*Love and Rodney Yee's Yoga: Poetry of the Body
-2 like-new condition children's books (one hardcover)
- a felt story board with 2 sets of felt figures
[these last 2 items are for a certain toddler's birthday and Christmas gifts]
-a set of plastic dishes (to replace our really old and beat up camping set!)
-a set of "magic boxer shorts" (add water and watch them grow!) for Joe's Christmas stocking

I estimate this lovely collection of items would have cost me $125 at retail prices. My yard sale total? $16.00

Have I mentioned that I love yard sales??

Simple Pleasures of City Living

2008-06-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

While much has been written about the simple pleasures of living in the country, I'm not sure enough has been written about the simply joys of city living! We haven't done anything "big and exciting" lately, we've just been sharing lots of those small but enjoyable moments that make life so worthwhile.

I never expected to end up living in a city of a half a million people, but I've been here over 15 years now and love it. While we live in the city proper (not a suburb), the neighbourhood we live in (about 16,000 people) has a really small-town feel to it, despite the fact that it's only a five minute drive or 30 minute walk to the downtown.

Our neighbourhood was one of the first "planned communities" in Canada, which means it's extremely walkable. I do most of my day-to-day errands on foot, which means I often end up stopping to chat with a neighbour or two, or even one of the library staff, who know all the members of my family on a first name basis!

Nathan has started soccer for the season, and the soccer field's a 10 minute walk from our house, at the large community park. Along the way are all manner of flowering shrubs and trees (they planted over 150 new trees in the park last year alone!) and it's just such a beautiful community space I feel blessed to live so close by.

And then there's our front porch, which we lovingly refer to as our "summer living room". I can (and do!) spend hours out there, reading, knitting, drinking coffee (iced, if the temperature climbs too high), playing backgammon and Uno with the kids, and generally whiling away a hot summer afternoon. It's also the place we sit and eat ice cream when we get back from our daily afternoon swim (another great bonus - our community pool's a five minute walk from our house!)

The street we live on is located adjacent to two major bike routes (one of which is the Waterfront Trail, which is also popular with walkers, runners and Rollerbladers) so a lot of that "traffic" ends up going down our street. It's all part of the fun of porch-sitting to watch the community roll right by our doorstep (and often, someone we know will be going by and stop for a chat!)

I also spend a lot of my porch-time just watching the kids play - there are about 20 kids on the block, and they are out on the street playing until after dark every night now that it's nearly summer. Sometimes scooters and bikes go flying down the sidewalk, often there's a street-wide game of hide-and-seek going on, or there could be some sidewalk-chalk street art being created.

You never know what might happen next around here - a few nights ago I poked my head out the front door to see what the boys were up to, and found them talking to a cockatiel named Gonzo!! His owner lives around the corner from us and had brought the bird out to enjoy the gorgeous early-evening weather.

I can't imagine not being a part of this thriving, friendly, family-loving, diverse community and all the daily blessings, large and small, that go along with it.

Toronto Unschooling Conference 2008

2008-05-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Whew! We've been so busy lately that I hadn't even realized it's been two entire weeks since I've posted here. Last week flew by as we were preparing to attend this year's Toronto Unschooling Conference this past weekend. I finally feel recovered enough today to get back to my normal activities like blogging and catching up with laundry!

While words can never convey the intensity of an experience like an unschooling conference, I will share with you some of the highlights for our family:

The fun actually began Thursday night with a pre-conference ball game at the Roger's Centre (which I still prefer to call the Skydome, thank you very much!) Anne O., Nicole P., and their families joined us to watch the Blue Jays take on the Tampa Bay Rays. Little did we know the game would go 13 innings! We ended up leaving in the middle of the 12th as the boys had had their fill of baseball (final score: 8 to 3 for Tampa Bay - 5 run inning in the 13th!!)

[Note: although the conference officially began on Friday evening, we drove down early Saturday morning, so I have no idea what transpired on Friday, but I'm sure it was fun!]

Our day started bright and early at 6:20 a.m. on Saturday as we sprang out of bed to race to Orangeville by 9 a.m. (that's a joke, BTW - NO ONE around here springs out of bed at 6:20 a.m., even for something as fun as an unschooling conference!)

We had a smooth and uneventful drive there, and, rather miraculously, strolled into the lobby of Hockley Valley Resort shortly before nine o'clock. Wonder of wonders, I managed to make it to my friend Anne Ohman's 9:15 talk with a few minutes to spare! While I was reuniting with a few of my friends from the Shine With Unschooling list, Joe and the boys were downstairs setting up our gaming equipment in the designated Gaming Room. The boys were in heaven - a room full of Unschooling Gamers to play with all day! That is where they spent most of the day Saturday, with a short break at lunch for a swim (I hung out in the hot tub, of course!)

I attended 3 of the 4 major talks at the conference (Anne's, Carlo's, and Francette's) and all of the speakers were great. They each brought their own special perspective on the world of unschooling. In between speakers, I had the opportunity to chat to a bunch of the other conference attendees. After Anne's talk, I went to speak to a man who had asked some questions about starting to unschool his seven-year-old son. I found out he was from Hamilton, and lives about 2 km from me! I suspect we may be seeing more of each other...

After sitting for so much of the day, I was ready to move around, so I headed to the Belly Dancing Funshop. I've never tried belly dancing before, so this was a bit of an adventure! The class was well-taught and I enjoyed myself (even if I was a bit slow to get the hang of it). I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out there is more belly dancing in my future...

Joe's not exactly the belly dancing type [grin] so he decided to head to the Guitar Funshop instead. He quite enjoyed himself, and got some helpful input from my lovely friend Marji, the Guitar Goddess.

I took the boys swimming again while Joe went in search of dinner in town. We ended up with just enough time to eat before the talent show started up. The talent show is always one of the best parts of an unschooling conference, and this one was no exception. I didn't get to see all of it, as I was bouncing between that and the movie room where the boys were hanging out. There was lots of singing and guitar playing, a magic act, dancing, and martial arts (including a performance by Joe, Mr. Black Belt!)

After the talent show, Joe spent the rest of the evening jamming with other guitarists. I alternated between listening to them, and keeping an eye on the boys, who were hanging out with their new buddies.

Sunday morning, I attended one-and-a-half roundtable talks (didn't quite make it to the beginning of the first one!) while Joe and the boys packed up our room. After lunch (picnic in the minivan!) we went on a 2 hour guided nature hike of the Bruce Trail. There was one section of the trail that was positively blanketed with trilliums (Ontario's flower) - we even got to see a few of the much rarer red trilliums. Unfortunately, I left my camera in the van, so no flower photos!

Once the hike was over, we were all exhausted and ready to head for home. It was a jam-packed weekend of unschooling fun, but we were ready for a bit of down time!

Teeth, Tegus and Tasty Treats

2008-04-30T09:54:00.001-07:00

View from the upper level of the Hamilton Farmer's Market

Yesterday was a busy day! I was far too worn out to write a blog post until now :)

We started our day MUCH earlier than usual. I was up at 6:30 a.m. to ensure that the boys and I were ready to leave the house by 7:30. We were aiming to catch a 7:39 bus since we were due downtown at 8 a.m. for an appointment at the Canadian Institute of Dental Hygiene. The graduating students are required to do a certain number of teeth cleanings independently (I think it's 20) and they do the cleanings for free (with a *very* small annual fee). Since we don't have dental coverage right now, we decided to check it out. The appointment was very long (4 hrs!) but the students were excellent with the boys. The examinations were incredibly thorough, and we all learned a lot more about Noah and Nathan's mouths than we ever had before at a regular dental appointment. I was surprised that Noah still had several baby teeth left (they showed me where they all were). I thought he had maybe one or two left. Nathan had fun taking rides in the dental chair and answering math problems (one of the student hygienists was working overtime to keep him entertained!)

Despite the great care we received, we were all pretty relieved when it was time to go (4 hours is a really long time!!) After a quick snack, our next stop was the Reptile Store just a few blocks down the street. They have many different kinds of reptiles there, including some very large critters that are "show animals" (used for their reptile shows) and not for sale. We visit fairly often, since we need to buy food and supplies for Spark (our Bearded Dragon). Most of these animals (including a gigantic Tegu) feel like old friends to us now! They had some month-old Beardie babies this time and it was fascinating to see how small they were as we're used to the size of our full-grown lizard.

From the reptile store we hopped on a bus down to Jackson Square to hit the Farmer's Market for some lunch. We feasted on chicken-and-vegetable samosas and jalaybee (also spelled jalebi), as well as M&M chocolate chip cookies. It was the first time the boys tried jalaybee; Noah didn't like it but Nathan enjoyed his first taste enough to ask for more. I find it extremely sweet, although that's not necessarily a bad thing after a spicy samosa!

After all that activity, we were ready to head home and relax for the rest of the afternoon - I needed a nap after getting up that early and the boys chilled out with the Ratchet and Clank game a friend lent them.

A-Hikin' and A-Fishin' We Go!

2008-04-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

Nathan in his natural habitat

Hunting for frogs

We found one! There were many other smaller frogs hopping into the water as we walked along the bank of the stream.

We have spent a lot of this week outdoors, enjoying the glorious, unseasonably warm weather! On Tuesday we spent the afternoon hiking in the woods (the dog enjoyed himself at least as much as anyone else!) We did one of our typical hikes in Cootes Paradise, along the Ravine Road and Caleb's Walk trails. Along with the frogs, we spotted two garter snakes.

Time for a dip in the creek? Maybe not...

Noah about to take a flying leap off a giant log!

Reclining at leisure in the log chairs! Marley's waiting for Noah to throw that stick :)

Noah does his tightrope act

Wednesday afternoon we went fishing off the Waterfront Trail with our unschooling friends. We didn't catch anything, but I did take a dramatic tumble off an unstable log into the shallow water! Since we were already nearby, we took the opportunity to watch them lift fish out of the Fishway. The staff there are pretty cool about letting us get a good look at the various species of fish they release back into the marsh (Cootes Paradise). I tried really hard to remember all the different fish; we saw channel catfish, white suckers, carp, largemouth bass, a brown bullhead, shad, and a brown trout. There were probably a couple of others that I forgot as well.

We are so blessed to have so many fun things to do outdoors, right in our own neighbourhood!

Our Indoor Rock Climbing Adventure

2008-04-19T17:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Gravity Climbing Gym with a group of local homeschoolers. This was the first time I had tried out a climbing wall - the boys had a little experience from trying it out at a local festival last year. I was excited before we left, but once I got there and saw how high the walls were I started to have second thoughts!

After watching the boys both climb up right to the top of one of the beginner walls, I decided to give it a shot. I was pretty nervous, but part way up I started to enjoy it and got all the way to the top. Once I got that first climb over with, I was feeling much more enthusiastic and ready for more! The boys both really took to it. Noah surprised me by climbing all the way to the top of one of the walls I had found pretty challenging. He said "I was really sweating up there mom, but I decided I could do it, and I did!" YAY Noah!

I lost count of how many walls the boys climbed through the course of the afternoon. I went up three fairly easy walls, and two that were tough enough that I wasn't sure I was going to make it all the way to the top once I was part way up (but I DID IT!) I also tried out two other more challenging walls that I knew I wasn't going to get to the top of, but I wanted to see how far I could go. The staff were really helpful and coached me on the way up. At one point I slipped right off the wall about 25 or 30 feet up - that was a bit scary the first time it happened but it's actually kind of fun hanging from the harness! I gave that wall a couple more tries but kept getting stuck at the same spot.

We will definitely be going back for another climbing adventure, which is a good thing since I forgot my camera (yes, again!) This time it was a case of group camnesia as every single one of us parents had forgotten our camera (and my cell phone, which has a camera, had dead batteries!)

The best I can do right now is a shot of what my left knee looks like the day after:

Note the bruises, scratches, scrapes and general beat up look :) While my knee shows the only visible effects of yesterday's adventure, I'm surprised at how much my entire body aches! I am pretty active (cycling, yoga, strength training, walking, hiking, and assorted other random physical pursuits) but climbing seems to use just about every muscle in your entire body. My hands, wrists, forearms, shoulders, triceps, hamstrings, quads, glutes, lats, and core muscles are all feeling abused today (I kind of feel like I went tumbling off the side of a cliff, lol!) The kids aren't feeling it at all, of course! Despite the discomfort, I definitely want to give those tricky walls another shot, and I know the kids are game for more.

Making a Thaumatrope

2008-04-12T12:05:00.000-07:00

We finally got around to making a thaumatrope!! Since the weather has been so much nicer lately, we haven't been doing too many indoor activities. Yesterday was cold and rainy, so it was the perfect time to break out our animation books and try this out.

Thaumatrope-in-progress

It doesn't take long to make one of these simple animation devices. The most creative part of the process is deciding on the images you want to use.

This is the design Nathan came up with:

When you spin the thaumatrope, the two images appear to combine together into one. This happens because of the phenomenon of Persistence of Vision.

I think we'll likely be creating a few different thaumatrope designs! If you'd like to give it a try, too, there are instructions here.

Honouring Our Children's Learning Styles

2008-04-07T18:09:00.000-07:00

One of the many benefits of unschooling is that we trust that our children know what they need to learn best. This is a real blessing when your child happens to have a learning style that is not well understood! Both of my boys are extremely visual spatial (which fascinates me because I am most definitely NOT!) Their brains work in an entirely different way than mine does, and I'm glad that I have taken the time to understand their learning style. Since the first thing *I* do when I want to learn something new is read a book (or 5...) about it, it's really helpful for me to know that usually that is not what my boys need or want to do!

A visual spatial learner in action!

I have made a new lens on Squidoo called Celebrating Visual Spatial Learners for those who would like to know more about how VSLs learn best.

Reading maps comes more naturally to VSLs than reading books.
Eight-year-old Nathan drew this one.

Visual spatial learners are known for their high degree of creativity (and the general level of messiness that goes along with it-they are also known for being disorganized, lol!) It is exciting to watch their vivid imagination come to life in all their creations. Being the mom of two VSLs has definitely been a world-expanding experience for me!

Announcement Time!

2008-04-06T10:22:00.001-07:00

I've spent a lot of time at the computer over the past couple of days, pulling together a few things I've been working on for a while.

My BIG announcement is my new blog, The Speeding Kitchen, which is finally ready for viewing. If you're interested in tips, strategies and recipes for getting tasty, inexpensive meals on the table quickly, this is the blog for you! Please come check it out and leave me plenty of comments and suggestions. Remember, it's just getting started, so there is not a lot of content there yet, but be patient. I plan to blog there several times a week, so there will be lots of great stuff there soon.

I have also started a couple of lenses on Squidoo: The Speeding Kitchen and Raising Boys. Please come by and check them out. If you like what you see, please make sure to rate them! Feel free to make suggestions for additional content you would like to see there, too. If you are a fellow Squidoo lensmaster, please consider adding my lenses to your lensroll. And let me know about your lenses too - I'd love to check them out!

"Under Construction"

2008-04-04T17:07:00.000-07:00

That seems to be the theme of the past week or so around here! Noah and Nathan have been busily building forts of many varieties: kid-sized forts out on the porch, and stuffed-animal-sized forts on the living room coffee table. There's been quite a lot of Lego construction going on as well. I have also been working on some "construction" of my own - I'm not ready to share yet, but I will be unveiling my project very soon.

Yes, I know...no pictures AGAIN! We got new camera batteries today (at long last - don't ask me what was up with that!) so I promise my next post will contain some photos!

What else have we been up to in the last week or so?

-Watching movies (Surf's Up, Next, Gremlins, School of Rock)
-Going swimming at one of the community pools
-A trip to the SPCA (it's so hard not to bring home a new dog every time, lol!)
-Random experiments with Dr. Dreadful's Drink Lab
-lots of playing outside!
-reading Commander Toad books
-playing with Spark, our beardie, who has now fully awakened from his winter brumation

...plus many other things I've already forgotten!

Ive also been furiously trying to catch up on the events of Season 3 of Battlestar Galactica by reading the plot summaries on Wikipedia. Season 4 starts tonight and we haven't managed to watch Season 3 yet! Joe and I have been eagerly anticipating the fourth (and final) season - only an hour and a half to go until it starts!

Spring Has Sprung!

2008-03-26T21:40:00.000-07:00

Signs of spring have officially arrived! The sun was out today melting away what's left of the snow, and the air finally had a delicious springlike quality to it. The boys were out until after the sun set, playing with friends on the street. It was light out until well past 7:30 p.m. And when I went out for my hour-long exercise walk, I didn't have to bundle up in mitts, hat and parka - hurray! While I was out walking I saw about a dozen robins, and I also spotted a large number of an unfamiliar-to-me waterfowl while on the Waterfront Trail. Turns out they're Common Goldeneye. Considering as how I don't recall seeing any before, there sure were a lot of them around!

Welcome Spring!!!

98 Seconds on YouTube Leads to Hours of Fun and Learning

2008-03-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

We watched this video on YouTube last night. Actually, we ended up watching it several times because the boys found it so amusing. We had some interesting discussion about cat behaviour (our Jessie cat could have starred in that video!)

I happened to mention to Nathan that he could use his lightbox (a birthday gift from several months ago) to help make some basic line drawing animation like that used in the video. The boys ended up breaking out the lightbox and spending several hours last night and this morning working on creating crazy characters with the lightbox and the drawing templates that came with it.

Noah and Nathan also did a live performance of the video last night for me! Noah was Simon and Nathan was the cat. They really nailed the whole thing, and remembered almost all of the little details. Of course Nathan totally had the cat's attitude right down, too.

Nathan is now interested in learning more about how to do line-drawing style animation so I have been spending some time tracking down appropriate resources on the internet today. So far, these look like two promising sites to get us started:

http://www.youthlearn.org/learning/activities/multimedia/animation.asp

and

http://www.randommotion.com/index.html

We will probably try our hand at making a simple thaumatrope later today. I have found a couple of good books at the library to help us get started with some basic animation as well.

It still amazes me sometimes how one simple thing can spark the boys' imagination and interest and they're just off and running with a world of new things to explore. That is truly unschooling at its finest!

March Break Mayhem

2008-03-13T15:18:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't think March Break would be all that relevant to our lives, since the kids don't go to school. But since all the other kids are off school for a week, it definitely has an impact! Places we can normally go to during the day and find it relatively calm and quiet are now packed to the gills with overexcited children. I usually plan to avoid most of the "hot spots" during this week, as it's just too overwhelming, and we can go anytime we want.

We did venture out to a couple of the library's March Break programs, both of which the boys really enjoyed (and the mayhem factor wasn't TOO bad). On Tuesday afternoon, it was a Wii Bowling tournament. Although Noah and Nathan have had the opportunity to play games on the Wii on a few occasions, this was the first time they had tried the bowling. Nathan devised an interesting strategy for getting strikes that was a bit counterintuitive, but it worked! Yesterday, it was the Mac Fireballs, a group of students from McMaster University, doing loud, explosive chemistry experiments. The boys came out of that one all excited and impressed with the "BOOMS" they got to experience!

There is still a lot of snow here, and the enthusiasm for it is definitely dwindling. The boys are still hitting the toboggan hill with their friends, but not as often or for as long as they would earlier in the season. I think there may be a neighbourhood snowball fight going on as I type, though. I am enjoying hot beverages and warm blankets as I start to think about plans for this year's garden and wait for the arrival of spring (I know it has to show up sometime soon!)

We Know How to Rock in the Hammer!

2008-03-05T11:03:00.000-08:00

One of the biggest shows ever hit our city Monday night - none other than Bruce Springsteen! We were fortunate enough to get tickets and man, were they worth every penny. This was our first time seeing The Boss, and I sure hope it wasn't our last!

Judging from the reviews of the show, this was one of his absolute best, rating right up there with the legendary Boston '99 show: "Badlands" has become the standard song before the encore break. Except the crowd wouldn't allow the break, even though the band was lined up taking bows. The hypnotic rolling roar of "whoa-whoa-whoa" continued, louder and louder, until Bruce started his guitar going again and motioned everyone back to their instruments. This so-called "Boston ending" coda, which began as Bruce's way to thank the legendary 1999 Boston crowds' vocal calisthenics, was earned this night by a crowd that would not have been out of place in Boston (still the gold standard for North American audiences) then or now." Springsteen decided to slip another song (Dancing in the Dark) into the encore set list to reward our enthusiasm. Another reviewer reports, "this was "possibly the best audience in North America for the Magic tour -- including Boston shows," one regular concertgoer reports. The sold-out 19,000 seater still had an intimate atmosphere, and in a chillingly perfect moment, Bruce stepped back as the whole place became a choir on the second line of 'The River.'"

All I know is that was one of the most incredible shows I've ever seen. Rock on!

An Unschooling Moment inTime

2008-02-29T17:38:00.000-08:00

When people find out we are unschoolers, they often wonder exactly what it is we do all day. That's a hard question to answer, as every day is different. Some days we have more structured experiences (like attending a class or field trip), but much of the time we are just living in the moment and flowing from one discussion or activity to the next. Here is a moment in our lives from yesterday afternoon:

When: 2:10 p.m. on a frigid (-10 degrees Celsius!) but sunny Thursday in February 2008

Where: Living Room of McLaughlin Manor

Who: Karen, Noah (10) and Nathan (8)

What: Iggy Arbuckle is playing on the TV, the Juno soundtrack is blaring, Nathan is on the couch playing his DS (still in his pajamas, as is Noah). I'm helping Noah play with the Geosafari Laptop our neighbour gave us this past weekend and reading snippets from half a dozen different books I hauled home from the library earlier today. We're all working intermittently but with great zeal on a poster size Pokemon puzzle.

How: Loud (very loud!) and silly

Now, maybe nothing about that moment seems especially noteworthy to the casual observer. But I can tell you, there was definitely a lot of learning going on at several different levels. It just so happens that what it looks like from the outside is a family having a joyful, carefree time together. Half an hour earlier or later, and the scene would have shifted to something else. But the undercurrent of living and learning in joy and freedom while enjoying each other's company is what runs through ALL of our days together.

A Cure For the February Blahs

2008-02-25T11:14:00.000-08:00

February is usually one of those months that seems like it's never going to end (despite the fact that it's always the shortest month, even when -like this year- it's a leap year). This has been a particularly challenging year, though, due to the persistent sub-zero Celsius temperatures and the regular delivery of more snow. Needless to say, we've had a bit of cabin fever lately!

That's why yesterday was such a glorious gift. No, it wasn't suddenly beach weather, but it was definitely bright and sunny. Joe cooked up a batch of waffles, and we sat in our cheery, sun-filled dining room and enjoyed the waffles with homemade syrup and hot coffee. We then headed down to Princess Point for a family ice skate. I'm embarrassed to say that we've lived in Hamilton for over 15 yrs (and in our current neighbourhood, within walking distance of Princess Point, for over 10) and this is the first time we've skated there in the winter. Now I'm wondering what took us so long to get around to it! Unfortunately, I was suffering from "camnesia" (forgot the camera AGAIN!) but we had a fantastic time.

It's interesting to see what a different perspective you get of the area when you're skating around on what is usually marsh. The views are quite different than when you're on shore. There were several games of shinny going on, and Joe joined in on one for a while. The boys and I skated out towards the Carp Barrier. It was fun to take a look at it from the other side. While we were way out in the middle of the marsh, I noticed what at first appeared to be a very large dog walking along the adjacent Waterfront Trail. As I turned to get a closer look, I realized it was a horse pulling a small sleigh along! That's definitely something you don't see around here every day. There were many other families out there enjoying the beautiful late-winter weather, too. In Canada, we know that if you can't beat the weather, you might as well join it!

After we were all skated out, we came home for leftover pizza (and more coffee for the grownups). We had a nice family laze-around for the rest of the afternoon, then after a leisurely dinner, Joe headed out for his usual Sunday night hockey game, and I watched the Oscars while the boys amused themselves with Legos and DS's (Nathan joined me for the final 45 min or so of Oscar excitement).

All in all, it was one of those days you wish could go on forever.

Circus School!

2008-02-01T12:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I took the boys to Zacada Circus School for the afternoon. This was a group outing with a bunch of other local homeschoolers. I had no idea this place existed before the trip was posted to our local homeschooling list. We were so excited to go check it out!

The boys had a blast! They got to walk a tightrope, swing on a trapeze, jump on a big trampoline, and do some cool stuff with these large fabric "ribbons" they had hanging from the ceiling. I really wanted to try it out myself (they do have adult and family classes, so we may be back!)

Unfortunately, my camera batteries died so no pics :( I think I would have had trouble getting good shots of my guys in that setting anyway, but it's a bit of a bummer that I wasn't able to at least give it a shot. If we go back I will definitely check the camera batteries well in advance!

Telling Stories with Lego

2008-01-25T21:45:00.000-08:00

Both of my boys are very much visual-spatial learners. That means that they don't tend to gravitate towards reading or being read to all that often. They still enjoy a rich sense of storytelling through watching movies and TV, and creating their own fantasy worlds.

Building with Lego is something they have both been doing for many years. Their designs have become increasingly complex, and lately have expanded into very detailed sets for fantasy play and story telling.

This is one of Nathan's latest creations, inspired by his experiences playing Runescape. He also made a great Indiana Jones-inspired set the other day (unfortunately it got "loved to death" before I thought to snap a pic). I thought the set he created was actually much more detailed than the "official" Indiana Jones Lego that's just been released. He designed the whole boulder-chasing-Indie scene, along with the plane escape scene, and I thought it was extremely inspired( I should add that he's only seen Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom once apiece, so I'm also incredibly impressed with his memory!) Even though I've been watching my boys build and create with Lego for most of their lifes, I am continually in awe of their creativity and attention to detail as they execute their designs. They also demonstrate a great deal of patience and planning as their more complex designs can take several days to complete.

I enjoy sharing their excitement when they unveil their newest creation. Their vision is usually pretty sophisticated, and their Lego worlds give me a window into their rich imaginations.

Our Family "Cold Comfort Kit"

2008-01-20T14:27:00.000-08:00

While everyone in our house is blessed with exceptionally good health, we are still occasionally felled by the odd cold virus. I prefer to avoid using over-the-counter type cold remedies for a variety of reasons (including the fact that they're fairly expensive and they make me feel weird). I have found a few gentle low tech/natural remedies keep us quite comfortable while we're on the mend. Here is what I keep on hand for soothing a raging cold:

-a big box of tissues with lotion (these are pricey; I keep them squirreled away so they only make an appearance when they're really needed- the last box lasted me at least 2 yrs!)

-hard candies with vitamin C to help sooth sore throats

-a hot water bottle

-eucalyptus essential oil for steam inhalations (see below for instructions)

-epsom salts (add to a hot bath to ease muscle aches and soreness)

-thyme and honey for homemade cough syrup (recipe below)

Usually, these simple solutions, combined with lots of hot tea and soup (and lots of napping under warm blankets) are enough to see us through a typical cold without feeling too miserable.

Eucalypus Oil Steam Inhalation (to relieve nasal and sinus congestion)
Boil about a litre (4 cups) of water and carefully pour into a heat-proof bowl (such as Pyrex). Add about 6 drops of eucalyptus essential oil to the water. Drape a large towel over your head to form a tent and carefully lean over the bowl, keeping a few inches away from the water. Stay under the towel for as long as is comfortable, taking short breaks if necessary. Aim for 10-15 minutes or so total.

Thyme and Honey Cough Syrup
I have found this to be more effective than over-the-counter cough syrups. Honey should not be given to children under the age of one.
In a small saucepan, combine 1/2 cup water and 1 tbsp dried thyme. Bring to a boil, then cover and turn off heat. Let steep for 15-20 minutes. Strain the liquid into a jar (I use a small canning jar) and add 1/4 cup honey. Stir until honey is completely dissolved. Take 1 tbsp as needed.

Lentils to the Rescue!

2008-01-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

I'm finally back from my holiday blog-break. Now that the new year is underway, it's pretty likely that either your budget or your body is trying to recover from the excesses of the holiday season. Fortunately, since lentils are both cheap and nutritious, they can help out on both counts. Here are a couple of my favourite quick and easy lentil recipes - you can have either of them on the table in less than 1/2 an hour! Both of these dishes are great paired with your favourite cornbread recipe.

Sausage and Lentil Stew
This is a great way to stretch 2 sausages to feed four people It's still plenty filling and hearty because of the lentils.

1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 large or 2 small carrots, chopped
1 cup red lentils
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
1 cup crushed tomatoes
2 Oktoberfest style sausages, cooked and chopped (I use a Bavarian-style turkey sausage)
1 tbsp Braggs or Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp dried parsley

In a large saucepan, saute onions and garlic in oil until tender. Add celery and carrots and cook until they start to soften. Add lentils and broth. Cook for 10 minutes (until lentils are nearly soft) then add tomatoes, sausage, Braggs and parsley. Simmer over medium heat until carrots are tender, adding water if needed to keep stew from drying out. Serves 4.

Quick Lentil Soup
The ingredients for this are very similar to the stew, but the lemon and spices give it a bit of a different flavour. You could add some leftover diced meat to this if you want to make it a bit more robust. Extra leftover vegetables make a nice addition as well!

1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, diced
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups water
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup dried red lentils
1 tsp cumin
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp dried parsley

In a large saucepan, saute garlic and onions until tender. Add carrots and cook until they start to soften. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to a simmer and cook until lentils are soft. Serves 4.

Need Last Minute Christmas Ideas?

2007-12-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

Make It From Scratch Carnival: 'Twas the Week Before Christmas Edition is up. Go check it out for some great last-minute food and gift ideas!

A Knitted Mini Purse

2007-12-16T07:38:00.001-08:00

I have finally finished another of my knitted gifts! What a relief as Christmas is just over a week away now. I am making two of these purses for my nieces (in different colours); the second one is not quite finished yet - I still need to do all the seaming and crochet edging. I am planning to tuck a few goodies in the purses as well - lip gloss, hair accessories, etc.

This was a fairly quick project but a lot more involved than the lace bookmark! I think most people would need to spend a couple of evenings on this to get it completed. I am pretty slow at sewing seams and crocheting so if you are speedy with both of those you might be able to get the whole thing done in one afternoon or evening. This is another gift that was practically free to make - the yarn had been in my stash for a long time and the button came out of my rather full button box!

Here are the basic directions for making the purse:

Yarn: I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton; any worsted weight yarn would work. If you use a wool yarn, you could knit the purse up in a bit larger size then felt it.

Needles: 4 mm (size 6 US), 1 pair straight needles plus 2 dpns (for i-cord), 4 mm crochet hook for edging

Other: 1 decorative button

Cast on 24 stitches. Knit in stockinette stitch for 11", ending with a purl row. Starting on the next row, K2tog at the beginning and end of every knit row until you have one stitch remaining on the needle. Pull yarn through the last stitch to finish off.

To make the strap, knit a length of 3-stitch i-cord using the dpns (mine is about 20" long but you can make it however long you want!) There are instructions here on how to knit i-cord if you haven't done this before. It's super easy and a really handy thing to know how to do, I use it often in my little projects.

Weave in yarn ends and sew the side seams of the purse together, attaching the i-cord at the top on both sides (make sure the i-cord's not twisted before you sew it into the second side!)

I decided to do a picot edging around the flap and the top (inside) edge of the purse. You could just leave it plain if you want but I like the little something "extra" it gives the project. I am NOT a crocheter so don't let that scare you off, it's really easy! There are some basic directions on how to crochet a picot edge here if you need some help. I chained a few stitches down at the end point of the flap to create a little loop for the button. If you're not going to do a picot edging, you will need to make a little loop of either single chain crochet or i-cord to attach for a button loop.

Now, sew the button in place and you're done!

If these directions are as clear as mud, email me and I'll try and help you out!

Cookies & Chaos

2007-12-11T21:58:00.000-08:00

It's that time of year again. Exactly 2 weeks left until Christmas. No matter how carefully I plan, no matter how many lists I make, no matter how ahead of the game I think I am this time, right about now I am always suppressing the urge to panic. You know it's a bad sign when your husband asks you at breakfast if you think he can teach the dog to warp the time/space continuum in your favour.

Despite the vast amount of evidence pointing to the fact that I better get my butt in high gear sometime real soon, I spent the afternoon baking and decorating cookies with the kids. Hubby was even around to help with the finishing touches! This is, of course, one of the most important family Christmas traditions (right up there with going out to cut down a tree, which we haven't done yet, but let's not go there...) So I felt entirely justified devoting an entire afternoon to this endeavour. Now if only I could teach the dog (or anyone else in the house for that matter) to knit, we might really start to get somewhere...

Oh, by the way, the cookies we made are White Velvet Cutouts and this is the very best roll-and-cut cookie dough ever. It stays soft and pliable to the bitter end, even when repeatedly mangled, kneaded and otherwise abused by small children. And in case you're wondering, the brightly coloured icing colours are achieved by using the paste-type food colouring (not those little bottles of liquid stuff).

On the making-stuff-from-scratch note, I would like to mention that I'm in this week's Make it From Scratch blog carnival. There are always some great ideas there, so go check it out!

Finally, for everyone else who's starting to feel their stress levels creeping up a bit (or, okay, a lot) here is something that I guarantee will give you a good laugh! Please go check out The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities and its sequel, The Cavalcade of Bad Nativities II. Don't you feel better now?

A Quick Knitted Gift

2007-12-07T20:40:00.000-08:00

I was wracking my brain for an inexpensive yet "nice" gift to send to my Grandma. I had already selected a book to send to her, and eventually I realized I could knit her up a lacy bookmark as an accompaniment.

This turned out to be a "practically free" gift. I had some crochet cotton in my stash (which was either donated by a non-crafty friend or purchased for next to nothing at a yard sale; I'm not sure!) The lace pattern I used is from the book A Creative Guide to Knitted Lace; the "Evening Wrap" pattern on page 30. You could really use just about any lace pattern you like as long as the pattern repeat is fairly narrow. After I finished knitting the bookmark I decided it was too stark white so I threw it into a bowl with some leftover coffee and let it soak for a couple of hours. I then gave it a good rinse, blocked it out on a towel and let it dry overnight. I gave it a quick press with the iron the next day. You can see the difference the dye job made in the photo - the final product has a much "softer" antique look to it.

This was a very quick project and I'm pleased with the results. I think this would make a great gift for a teacher or any book-loving friend or family member. A knitter with a reasonable amount of experience could churn out several of these in a couple of evenings of TV viewing.

Winter Wonderland

2007-12-03T10:27:00.000-08:00

We finally have a serious amount of snow! It started falling late Saturday night, and by Sunday morning there was lots of shovelling to do. The boys put on their snowpants as soon as they woke up yesterday and ran outside to romp around in it with their friends.

They hit the toboggan hill with their dad later in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it had started to rain by then and everyone got really messy and wet. I took the dog for a nice hour long walk in the rainy sludge so we were both soaked too! I thought the snow was going to end up disappearing but thankfully the temperature dropped later in the day so there's still lots of white stuff on the ground.

After we came in and dried ourselves off, it was time for some hot chocolate. We go through a LOT of hot chocolate during the winter, so I'm thankful I know how to make it cheaply. I use skim milk powder, with a teaspoon of cocoa powder and 2 teaspoons of sugar for each mug. A pinch of cinnamon adds that little "extra". I top each mug off with a few mini-marshmallows if we happen to have some around.

We all snuggled under blankets and thawed out watching Back to the Future II - it's been quite a while since I'd watched the BttF movies so I thoroughly enjoyed myself. We took a break from the movie long enough to get some bread in the oven (thank goodness I had made up a batch of Refrigerator Bread Dough late last week) and a batch of lentil soup bubbling on the stove. Hot soup and bread fresh from the oven - the perfect meal after a day spend outside frolicking in the snow!

The boys burned off so much energy playing outside all day that they are still sleeping right now at 10:20 a.m.! I'm sure when they do finally wake up they'll be ready to head right back out to the toboggan hill.

Countdown to Christmas

2007-11-26T18:16:00.000-08:00

Now that it's officially less than a month until Christmas, I suppose I should start getting myself organized. Every year, by late August or early September, I usually have a pretty good idea of what I'm giving everyone for Christmas and I think I'm "ahead of the game". The problem would be that every year I procrastinate on starting all the homemade gifts (of which there are always several-to-many!) and round about now I start to get that panicky feeling.

[Warning: If you're on my Christmas list, stop reading this NOW please as major gift spoilers are coming up!]

I thought I would share my homemade gift plans thus far in case anyone out there is looking for ideas.

In the knitting department:
-mini-purses for 2 of my nieces
-a lacy mohair scarf for my Nan (grandma)
-cute little snowflake ornaments for assorted people (pattern here) - I'm knitting them in crochet cotton so they'll be quite a bit smaller than the ones shown
-I also want to make a pair of socks for each of my boys and hubby but I have a feeling this might become a post-Christmas project!

In the gifts from the kitchen department:
-herb vinegars are brewing down in my basement
-I have zucchini relish and pear chutney ready to go
-I need to make some cran-raspberry jam as my neighbour adores it (she always watches our animals for us when we go away and she won't let us pay her for it, so I always make her some yummy treats at Christmas)
-pumpkin spice loaves (still a lot of pumpkin in the freezer!)
-candied peanuts
-chocolate truffles
-Butter Toffee Crunch (this is basically my recipe, but they call it something else) I have yet to find someone who doesn't totally adore this stuff!

In the bath & body department:
(I'm doing a rosemary/mint theme this year so everything below will have that scent)
-drawer sachets (okay, these need to be knitted too!)
-olive oil & beeswax hand balm (I'm going to use the recipe from You Grow Girl)
-molded soaps (I know I printed off the instructions from one of the Make It From Scratch carnivals, but I can't remember which one!)

That's all I can think of for now, I'm sure I've missed a few but if so I'll post them later. This list doesn't look SO bad. I do have quite a slew of babies coming up in my life (friends due in December, January, March, April and 2 in July!) so I have to get a lot of baby knitting done too!

The Santa Claus Parade

2007-11-17T17:30:00.000-08:00

Today was the Santa Claus Parade here in the Hammer. Every year I think it's far too early to think about Christmas in mid-November, but by the end of the parade I've totally got the "holiday spirit". This year the temperature dropped several degrees during the course of the parade, and the snow started to fall - our first real snow of the season! Very festive.

Drinking hot chocolate while waiting for the parade to start!

One of several local dance troupes

Spiderman! Very important when you have 3 boys age 10 and under in tow :)
Lots of marching bands....

A Chinese Dragon (I just love those things!)

Clydesdales - very important! It's not a parade without some decent horses :)

Finally - the Big Guy himself!

By the time Santa made his appearance, my hands and feet were pretty well numb. Thankfully, my backside did not suffer the same fate as we are now smart enough to bring our Therm-a-rests along whenever we're going to be sitting on cold, hard ground. They work like a charm! A big thermos full of hot chocolate also helps to stave off the cold (well, provided you get some before the kids drink it all...)

Of course, the kids were so busy scrambling after goodies being tossed by parade participants that they barely had time to feel cold. Thank goodness I had an extra shopping bag on me! We dragged home 21 mini candy canes, 7 (full size) packs of gum, a couple of full-size chocolate bars, 1 bag of chips, 7 lollipops, 1 orange, 2 toothbrushes, 3 pieces of sidewalk chalk, a pencil, a CFL lightbulb, 2 balloons, and a coupon for 1 free admission to the local drive-in movies. That's not even counting all the stuff they tucked away during the parade!

It was a lot of fun, but I was definitely happy to come home and thaw out. Good thing I'm in a festive mood now, we're doing Christmas shopping tomorrow...

Noah is officially TEN today!

2007-11-04T12:53:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago today, I became a mom. I don't think I had the first inkling of a clue as to how much motherhood was going to rock my world in just about every way. I have changed and grown so much by being a mom. My life has been incredibly enriched by having my sweet boy Noah along for the ride with me.

A "just arrived" Noah! He's less than a day old here. No, I was *not* a teen mom, although I look incredibly young in this photo!

Noah, age 1, with my Nan (his great-grandma!)

Noah, age 2

One of many photos of Noah in a tree (here at age 3)

Hey, it's Noah in a tree again, age 4!

Playing "Dress Up" has been a popular activity for many years (age 5)

Kids in a box (Noah is far left, age 6, Nathan is beside him age 4)

Noah at 7, enjoying some computer time (still one of his favourite activities!)

Up in yet another tree, age 8

Canada Day festivities, age 9

Enjoying his 10th birthday party!

Oh, and a cool little surprise for me - I was sifting through some old photos and one of me (somewhere around age 8-10, it's not labelled so I'm not sure) where I am wearing a look I recognize from Noah's face.

Hah! He does look like me,. after all!

After all these years of saying he looks exactly like Joe :)

A Birthday Visit with Paige

2007-11-03T23:40:00.000-07:00

My friend Jenn's little girl turned one today! We were lucky enough to get to see her on her big day. She treated us by walking 4 steps for the first time ever at our house.

This was kind of a duel-purpose visit, as Noah's birthday is tomorrow. So we got to watch both of the birthday kids open their presents. Noah got a second dog dictionary - do you think he has a reputation as "dog boy" or anything?

Paige is more interested in the dog than her gift.

THE BIRTHDAY KIDS!!

Noah's 10th Birthday Party!

2007-11-03T22:47:00.000-07:00

Last night was the big party! We had a large friends-and-family potluck dinner party, including the families of Noah's friends (could that sound more cryptic?) I'm not sure how many people that turned out to be, but our house was pretty full.

There were glow sticks and sparklers (a big hit with the kids!) and lots of good food. Noah also got some neat presents, including a dog breed encyclopedia and a foam-dart bow and arrow style thingy. Lots to keep him occupied for a while.

I think the kids and the adults alike enjoyed themselves. The birthday boy definitely had a great time! Noah is not "officially" 10 until tomorrow, and I'll post some more then about my sweet boy.

Harried Halloween Week

2007-11-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's already 3 days after Halloween and I haven't yet posted the photos. What kind of blogger am I, anyway? The answer to that would be: a very busy one! The irony of blogging is that when life is most interesting you don't have enough time to post about it .

Not only was it Halloween, but Noah's 10th birthday party this week as well (yesterday). That's more than enough for me in one week, thanks! I love the actual celebrations but all that prep work is a bit much for this mama!

The boys were rather ghoulish again this year, this seems to be a several-years-running theme:

This was the first year that they went out trick-or-treating for a bit without either Joe or I. They went with an older friend along both sides of our block, then came back and got Joe for a second trip out further afield. When they returned home again, to my surprise they wanted to go out yet *again* with me! This is definitely the most trick-or-treating they've ever done (and they have the loot to prove it!)

The cutest trick-or-treater award goes to an adorable little Nemo-boy. He was so little that his fish tail-ensconced backside wiggled as he walked :) His mom said he was 17 months old. Too cute!

More details on Noah's party coming in the next post.

It Must Really Be Fall!

2007-10-27T23:45:00.000-07:00

Although it's almost Halloween, it hasn't really felt like fall around here until the last couple of weeks, due to the unseasonably warm weather.

Now, the signs of fall are unmistakable. There are leaves on the ground at last! The frost is coming (probably tonight), and we went apple picking at a local farm this afternoon (the same one we went to last year).

One of my most favourite things to do at this time of year is watch Noah and Nathan romp around in the leaves for hours with their friends. Yesterday afternoon, most of the neighbourhood boys were in my backyard, building a HUGE leaf pile. They were very industrious, carting in leaves from all over the street in recycling bins and milk crates.

Ahh, FALL!

Rushing to Beat the First Frost

2007-10-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was scrambling around in the garden like a madwoman for most of the afternoon. A check of the weather forecast earlier that day revealed that we were supposed to get a day of rain today, followed by frost both Saturday and Sunday night. Since I have been neglecting my garden for most of October, this meant I had to hustle to get around to doing everything that needed to be done before the frost arrived!!

I got a basket full of tomatoes (mostly green, but there are a few ripe ones hiding at the bottom!), about half a dozen small green peppers, a few jalapenos, a tub full of chard, another tub full of parsley and oregano, and two very full tubs of peppermint! Those are all 4 litre ice cream tubs in case you're wondering - I try to always keep a few around as I find them useful in a variety of situations. The brownish-yellow dried out looking things in the basket with the peppers are pods from my scarlet runner beans.

I'm also trying a little experiment this year, and bringing a few of my veggie plants inside to see if I can keep them producing. I dug up one of my tomato plants, a sweet pepper and a jalapeno pepper plant, and my rosemary and potted them all. It was a bit of an adventure wrestling the tomato plant into my largest terra cotta pot! I stationed them all at the back of my dining room, where I have a large south facing window. I just have to remember to water them!

Now I have to get all those herbs dried and stored away safely, and harvest and store the seeds from the bean pods. The chard is already tucked away in the fridge and will be part of this week's dinner menu. I'll use the tomatoes up gradually as they ripen. I think I'm going to freeze some of the peppers, although I might just make a big batch of stuffed peppers!

Oh, and in case you're wondering what on earth I'm going to do with all that peppermint? I am a big fan of peppermint tea, so that will be how I use most of it. I'm also planning to use some of it for some Christmas projects - more on that in future posts!

Our Unschooling Tribe

2007-10-22T21:01:00.000-07:00

When we first started our unschooling journey several years ago, we didn't know a single other unschooling family. Now, through the wonders of the internet, we have met many other unschooling families from all over North America. Some of these friendships started at unschooling conferences and other "official" type gatherings, but many of them began as "virtual conversations" on email discussion groups.

We now have a group of unschooling families we have become particularly close to, and have gathered together with this group the past two summers. Since we all have so much fun together, some of us who live fairly close together decided to have another gathering this past weekend just outside of Detroit. As usual, there was lots of lively conversation and good food. The kids all enjoyed seeing their friends and making some new ones. There was lots of jumping on the trampoline and playing on the Wii and Gamecube, along with a wide variety of other kid-friendly fun.

Our world has truly been expanded by the relationships we have formed with our "unschooling tribe". It's wonderful how our group supports and nurtures one another through any life challenges we may be dealing with. Now that we are back home and the excitement has died down, we look forward to some fresh new discoveries as we start to explore some of the many books, movies, TV shows, hobbies, and places to visit suggested by our unschooling friends.

Unschooling Math

2007-10-17T17:30:00.000-07:00

The boys have really been getting into numbers lately!! It's so fun to watch them "doing math" without any of the frustrations that most of us remember from struggling with multiplication tables, fractions and long division.

Even though I have plenty of evidence of how easily my kids learn when given the freedom to do it in their own time and in their own way, there are still times when I'm amazed at how their minds just pick things up. One of my earliest "unschooling math" moments was when Nathan was only 3 or 4 (this was related to me by Joe as he happened to be the parent that was home at the time). Nathan was sitting at the table playing with a bunch of Cheerios. After messing around with them for a while, he announced, "Hey dad, four 3's makes twelve!!" He had divided them up into nice little piles and counted them, all on his own.

Fast forward a year or so, and we're all in the car on our way to a holiday gathering. I overhear the boys in the back seat in some intense discussion. All of a sudden I hear Nathan heatedly announce, "Noah, I told you, infinity is the biggest number!!" Okay. I asked Nathan, gently, just out of curiosity, if he understood what "infinity" meant. He looked at me with that "why wouldn't I" expression and patiently explained "that means it goes on and on forever". Glad he got that figured out before the tender age of six.

Lately, I've been noticing both boys have an increasing comfort level manipulating numbers. When I told Noah that an event he was looking forward to was two weeks away, he promptly announced, "That's 14 days!". He easily told me that 3 weeks was 21 days, and 4 weeks was 28 days. One night we were on the couch watching cartoons when we mentioned that another show would be on in five minutes. Noah quickly informed us that that was 300 seconds. Another evening a few weeks ago, Joe came home with a wad of cash and Nathan asked to count it. It was a stack of 20's, and I watched as he easily counted it out: 20, 40, 60, 80, 100, 120 bucks!!

Clearly they are mastering multiplication, without a workbook in sight!! Most importantly, they are doing it because they want to, because it has meaning to them in their life, not because someone told them they should.

Hollywood Hits the Hammer!

2007-10-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

Our city has enjoyed an increasing number of movie shoots over the past few years. Wikipedia's list of big name Hollywood actors who filmed in Hamilton in 2006 & 2007 include: Don Cheadle, Jeff Daniels, Michael Keaton, Harvey Keitel, Eugene Levy, Shirley Maclaine, Michael Madsen, Steve Martin, Edward Norton, Chris O'Donnell, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Plummer, Randy Quaid, Tim Roth, Martin Sheen, John Travolta, Mark Wahlberg, Christopher Walken, Sigourney Weaver and Robin Williams. Some of the better-known films with Hamilton locations that have come out in the past few years are: Long Kiss Goodnight, X-Men, Four Brothers, and Cinderella Man.

With all this movie action going on, it's almost embarrassing to admit that we've never gone to observe a shoot before. So, when we heard that The Incredible Hulk was shooting downtown, we were determined we were going to check it out! As luck would have it, our schedule for the filming days made it tricky to get down there, but in the end we squeezed it in. It was actually very difficult to get anywhere remotely close to the shoot, there were cops and crew everywhere guarding the site, and they had guardrails up for quite a distance around the filming area. In the end, we found a multi-floor parking garage we could sneak into and watch the action from a few floors above ground. All the scenes being filmed here were night scenes, so it was difficult to get any good photos. A section of the street had been transformed to look like a section of Harlem in New York, and they had a number of yellow New York cabs in the street. We watched for about an hour; most of it was just them setting up props and lighting. We got to see them set a jeep and the shell of a burned-out bus on fire (if you look very closely at the photo you can just make out one of the smaller fires), and they engineered a small explosion. That's about it. Still, it was neat to watch the behind-the-scenes work of what goes on during the filming of a movie. Nathan was very disappointed that we didn't get to see any really big action shots (they have apparently been sending cars flying down the street, but I think they're doing that stuff in the middle of the night when next to noone is around). We are eagerly awaiting the 2008 release of the movie, so we can look for the scenes they filmed here.

This definitely whet our appetite for movie-making and we'll make more of an effort to try and catch more movie filming in the future!

Frugal Hostess Gifts (at last!)

2007-10-12T14:36:00.000-07:00

This post (which I initially promised to deliver way back on the 7th) has now become long overdue! In hindsight, I shouldn't have figured I'd have any time to blog with our very busy Thanksgiving weekend and its aftermath.

Above is a photo of Hostess Gift #1: Pumpkin Butter & Pear Chutney. Both of these were homemade (the chutney was properly canned, the pumpkin butter I just put in a canning jar to match). To make the labels, I cut up an old brown kraft paper gift bag and (for the white) an old greeting card. I trimmed all the edges with my fancy-edge scissors, and tied the tags on with raffia (one package of raffia lasts approximately forever as far as I can see!) You can't see it in the photo, but I also cut circles out of wrapping paper and put them under the screw-cap lids of the canning jars to cover the canning (snap) lids. I brought this to my brother-in-law's (wrapped up all proper in a gift bag with tissue paper and ribbon), and it was very well received (as were the Baked Squash Casserole and Apple Crisp!) We had a great dinner and a relaxing visit with my hubby's brother's family.

The boys spent much of the time at their uncle's playing on the rope swing with their cousins. That is, when they weren't in the hot tub!! Yes, they were perfectly comfortable playing in their swimsuits at Thanksgiving, as we had summer-like weather both Sunday and Monday.

On Monday we headed to my brother's house (in the blistering heat and humidity of a 30 degree Celsius day - a new record for Thanksgiving!) Below is a photo of Hostess Gift #2: A Jalapeno Pepper Plant, Jalapeno & Banana Peppers, & Pumpkin Butter. The peppers were all from our garden, as was the plant. I dug it up carefully (leaving a few half-grown peppers still on the plant) and put it in a coffee can (these are very handy for a lot of gifting purposes, so I try to keep ours from ending up in the recycling bin!) I wrapped the peppers in cellophane and attached with raffia to the stake (an old piece of quarter round) supporting the plant. We also brought Oatmeal Dinner Rolls (this is close to my recipe) and Red Cabbage and Apple Salad (I used raisins instead of dried cranberries, and left out the nuts due to allergies). These were all very well received too!

All in all, it was a very satisfying and enjoyable weekend, full of good food and lots of time spent with family. Now if we could just finish off the (seemingly bottomless) bowl of cabbage salad...

Thanksgiving Harvest

2007-10-06T21:35:00.000-07:00

We've been having some unseasonably warm weather this fall. Lured out by some nice warm sunshine, I managed to get some work done in the garden earlier this week. My tomato plants, far from looking like the season is nearly over, look better than they did all summer! It was so hot and dry in July and August that I struggled to keep up with their water needs. Now that it's been a bit cooler, they have sprung back to life with a vengeance! I think I might try bringing one of them inside in a large pot - now that they look so healthy I can't bear to let the frost take them!!

Although the overall vegetable garden yield was far from impressive this year (due to both the aforementioned weather and a bit of laziness on the part of the gardener - I never got around to planting a second timeline of anything!) I did fill a small basket with produce while I was out rummaging around. A handful of tomatoes (hubby loves those little yellow pear tomatoes!), about half a dozen each of sweet peppers and banana peppers, and a dozen or so jalapenos. If the weather holds out, I expect to get a bit more of everything before frost. The swiss chard is still going strong as well, and I harvested a bunch of that as well, to blanche and freeze for the winter.

In addition to our own garden harvest, I have also been trying to use up or preserve everything we've been getting from our CSA. As usual, we are inundated with squash! Since I still have a small mountain of frozen squash and and pumpkin in the freezer from last year, I am on a quest to find as many ways as possible to use up some squash and pumpkin so I don't have *two* seasons' worth in my freezer.

Since it's Thanksgiving weekend here in Canada, I thought this would be the perfect time to go a little "squash crazy". We have been fortunate enough to receive invitations to not one, but two!!! Thanksgiving dinners this weekend. Tomorrow we are going to my brother-in-law's, then on Monday we are headed to my brother's place. This is the first year in many, many years that I haven't cooked the Thanksgiving turkey, so I am *very* excited.

But I digress...back to the squash. This afternoon I made a Baked Squash and Apple Casserole to bring to dinner tomorrow. It's the first time I've tried this recipe, so I hope it's good! I also made a batch of Pumpkin Butter (thanks to Dewey's Treehouse for the recipe!), using half squash and half pumpkin (I raided my frozen stash for this). This turned out very tasty and I am going to use this for part of my hostess gift for both dinners (more about my frugal hostess gift plans tomorrow!)

Between wrestling with all that squash, hauling around laundry in various stages of done-ness, and keeping two extremely hungry boys fed all day (hubby has been gone all day working - yes, on a Saturday) I am ready to get horizontal with my book, so that is exactly what I'm going to go and do now .

Nathan is EIGHT!!

2007-09-30T15:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Nathan's eight birthday. It's hard to believe the time has gone by so fast - and yet Nathan has always been one of those kids that is so much "larger than life" that it's also hard to believe he is only eight; he is so confident and self-assured. He is a kid who knows what he wants and is not afraid to go and get it! I am in awe of this incredible person who I have the honour of mothering. It's been a wild ride so far!

For his official birthday celebration, we headed up to Christie Lake (a local conservation area) with half a dozen boys for an afternoon of fun with some medieval weapons. This has been a big interest of Nathan's for the past few months. Using directions from The Art of the Catapult, Nathan helped his dad build a trebuchet and a couple of catapults (all kid-sized!) Nathan helped with drilling and sawing, and Joe figured out how to make it all work!

Here's Nathan getting ready to fire the trebuchet; the catapults are to the left.

Two of Nathan's best buddies give it a whirl. We had a few different sizes of projectile to experiment with. The projectiles hang from the trebuchet via a piece of string, and we discovered that the string length makes a difference as to how far the object will travel!

Some sword/lightsaber action rounds out the battle component of the afternoon!

A new Gamecube game!! I know what the birthday boy will be doing as soon as we get home...

The new lego sets needed to be built immediately!!

I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all! I love all of Nathan's friends (most of whom we have known for years). It's been so much fun to watch all these boys grow up together and discover so many new passions together. We are so pleased that they were able to share in all the birthday festivities!

An Afternoon at the Farm

2007-09-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

The Community Shared Agriculture farm we belong to (Plan B Organic Farm) has an annual "Farm Day" near the end of the season every year. Today was the day!! We had fabulous, warm sunny weather and enjoyed a menu of local organic foods: Sausages or burgers, salads (from farm produce of course!) and organic ice cream to die for (seriously, the best ice cream I've ever eaten - Mapleton's Organic).

The only bummer was that I forgot my camera. Waahh!! I missed some seriously good photo ops. The kids (and there were a lot of them!) piled bales of hay into various configurations - a fort, an "igloo", and eventually a tallish tower-like structure. This led to jumping off said tower into a loose pile of hay below. The kids were all just in heaven - literally radiating joy from their pores as they soared through the air into the hay pile below. The parents were all being totally cool and relaxed and just letting the kids revel in the whole farm experience.

We also got to take a tour of the farm, meet all the farm dogs (there were several - and yes, Noah was in his glory!), chase chickens and roosters, play with the farm cat, and pick a pumpkin to bring home. It's really amazing to have such a close connection with the people who are growing your food. I was walking by a field of salad greens, and realized I would be eating some of those very greens in a couple of weeks.

All in all, the perfect way to spend a fall afternoon.

Bursting Back into the Blogosphere!!

2007-09-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've posted anything to this (or any!) blog. I needed to take a break from my cyberlife for a while to focus on some important things in the rest of my life - with my kids, my hubby, and well, a bunch of other things too.

I'm finally feeling like diving back in to a somewhat-regular blogging schedule, so hopefully you can count on posts appearing here fairly frequently once more! I am also going to stop trying to maintain multiple blogs and just use this one for everything and anything I feel like blogging about.

A quick update on some of the things we've been up to over the past few months:

In mid-June, we joined a bunch of other unschooling families in Watkins Glen, New York, for our second annual KOA Kamping Adventure together. It was great to see our friends from last year and meet some new friends too!!

The boys enjoyed hanging in their buddies' camper!! We hope to get a chance to visit them again before next year, now that they are moving a couple of hours closer to us.

In July, we went camping at Balsam Lake Provincial Park, and spent a day visiting with friends at their cottage on the other side of the lake.

Here's me with my friend Jenn's baby girl Paige, enjoying the lake

The rest of our summer was spent hanging out at the community pool, chatting with neighbours on the porch, and enjoying informal visits and spontaneous playtime with friends.

Nathan has developed quite an interest in medieval weapons in the past couple of months. This started with Age of Empires and a fascination with trebuchets. We are now exploring a book called The Art of the Catapult, and hope to have a few weapons constructed for a full scale boy-battle for Nathan's birthday party at the end of the month.

Noah is passionate about dogs right now and has to go "meet" every dog he spots when we're out and about (and that kid sure does have powerful "dog radar"!) He needs to know all the critical information about each dog - name, age, breed, gender. He then proceeds to tell each dog owner all about our dog, Marley.

Now that we're half-way through September, it's time to start thinking about the many holidays and birthdays we have coming between now and the end of the year, and do some advance planning so we're not completed overwhelmed. Oh yes, and I need to finish doing my fall preserving - more on that in the next post!

6 Weird Things About Me

2007-01-29T18:14:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged by Zamozo for a game of "6 Weird Things About Me" that's going around the unschooling blogosphere. I have to tell you 6 weird things about me then tag 6 other unschoolers to do the same.

Well, first things first. 6 weird things about me.
1. I have freaky feet! Not only do I have Morton's toe (second toe longer than big toe) butI also have a way big space between my big toe and second toe.

2. I am a total library junkie. I know all the library ladies at my local branch on a first name basis. I frequently have very close to my limit of 50 books out at any given time. I put so many books on hold that I am always at the limit for holds on my card, and have quite a few on my husband's card too. Yes, it might be time for some sort of intervention, lol!

3. My husband and I have been together since we were 16 years old (we married at age 24). Based on past experience when people learn this fact about me, if you don't find this extremely adorable, you will most definitely find it weird.

4. I will fall asleep in the car (if I'm not driving) unless I knot or do some other type of activity to keep my brain alert.

5. I'm a bit obsessive about the cleanliness of my kitchen counters (crumbs-aaargh!!!) and the way my bath towels are folded.

6. My taste in music could best be described as "eclectic". If it's not rap, jazz, country, heavy metal or Whitney Houston, I probably like it (although I might not admit it). I have yet to meet someone else who enjoys both Beethoven and Abba!

Okay, now on to the tagging part. I'm pretty desperate on this, since I've been tagged pretty late in the game, and I honestly can't find 6 more unschooling bloggers I'm familiar with that haven't already been tagged, so I'm going with 4 because I don't have any more time to track more down!

Robin (I can't believe she hasn't already been tagged - if so I missed it - but her blog's still a must read anyway!)

Pam (who hasn't posted for a long while, maybe this will spur her to action?)

Billy Jean (a local unschooling mama)

another Chris (whose blog I've just found and who doesn't know I exist!)

Toboggans, Freezing Rain, and Blackouts

2007-01-15T18:23:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those calm and peaceful winter days that make winter worth having! The snow finally showed up yesterday, which was fabulous; however, it changed to freezing rain overnight which left everything as slippery and crunchy as could be. The schools were all closed today, so the neighbourhood was much quieter than usual without the hustle and bustle of kids being picked up and dropped off from school. Once the freezing rain finally stopped after lunch, the local toboggan hill was booming though! We spent a good hour flying down the hill and clambering back up the slippery slope again and again.

Just as I was about to start making dinner, the power went off. We waited 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes. Nope, the power wasn't coming back on any time soon. We cooked and ate dinner by candlelight, which was kind of cool. Luckily for us, we have a gas stove, so we were able to cook on the burners, otherwise it would have been peanut butter sandwiches for dinner (not exactly satisfying after an afternoon on the toboggan hill!). After we cleared the dishes away, we decided to continue our game of "semi-perpetual Monopoly" by candlelight. We started the game a few days after Christmas, but because it takes *so* long to play the game to the end, we've just played for 1/2 hour or so at a time, and put the game aside until we're in the mood to play again. It's interesting how the darkness adds a totally different feel to routine, everyday activities. We hadn't gotten far with the Monopoly when the power magically returned - by then, the lights had been out for almost 2 hours and the house was starting to get noticeably chillier than usual. I wouldn't enjoy not having power on a regular basis, but it did add some interest to the day, and added to the quiet and calm feeling (no TV, computer, radio or lights for a couple of hours-ahh, peace!)

An Urban Wildlife Adventure

2007-01-13T13:29:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, our local paper ran a story about a beaver (possibly *2* beavers) having set up house in the Hamilton harbour. This is very exciting for our community as it signifies a major improvement in the water quality (the last 15 years has seen a lot of work done on restoring our once extremely industrially-polluted harbourfront area).It's also pretty darn cool to have a beaver build a lodge in such an urban location (right on the edge of one of our biggest city parks). As soon as we read about it, we were all super excited to go check it out, but our family schedule didn't give us a chance to do it during daylight hours up until today. So, we all bundled up early this afternoon, and off we went to the Harbourfront to track down the beaver lodge. We didn't have any trouble finding it, and were able to walk up very close to it to take a good look. We didn't actually have a beaver sighting (they usually only come out at night) but we pointed out to the boys where the beaver(s) had chewed down small trees to build the dam (as well as one that had been partially, but not totally, gnawed through). This resourceful urban beaver also scrounged up several used planks of wood to use in building his lodge! The city is considering planting some willow trees in the spring to help keep the beaver(s) from taking all the shade trees. Apparently, willow is a favourite of the beavers (something I didn't know before!) We've seen beaver lodges in zoos before, but this is the first time we've seen one "in the wild" (if the middle of a city of nearly 500,000 people can be classified as "wild"!)

[Here is where I had planned to insert a photo of the beaver lodge; apparently blogger has other ideas right now as I can't get it to upload-arrgh!]

While we were down by the harbour, we also had some fun observing the winter waterfowl. We actually "discovered" a new species that we'd never observed before. When we got back, we got out our bird books (while enjoying a round of hot chocolate to warm us back up!) and identified it as the American Coot. We found out that we'd never seen them before because they overwinter on the harbour, but leave in early spring, and we're usually not spending much time down there until late spring/early summer. Up until we hunted down that piece of the puzzle, I had been wondering how there could have been such a large number of them on the water when I'd never seen even *one* before!!

Family Goals for 2007

2007-01-01T20:13:00.000-08:00

At this time of year, I can't help but get very introspective. I always find myself (like many other people, I imagine) looking back over the past year, taking stock of what went well, and what didn't! Then, of course, I like to try and figure out where I'm going in the year ahead.

I always make a whole list of goals for the different areas of my life at the beginning of a new year, and I've set a lot of personal goals for myself already. What I've been pondering over the last few days is, what are the things I want to work on in my parenting and family life this year? Overall, I think we have a great family life, and I really noticed how relaxed and loving we are together over the holiday season. I think the biggest thing that I would like to change is that we have gotten into a habit of not spending much time together as an entire family. The boys are off doing their own thing (together or separately) and I am doing my thing, hubby is doing something else (or is just not here because he is busy working). We definitely still connect and share with each other over the course of the day, but I have often stopped and thought "gee,when was the last time we did something together, all four of us?". Over the holidays we had quite a few opportunities to do things as a family, and I would like to make sure it happens more often! I think what I will do is suggest we have a "family day" one day per week, where the general focus of the day is doing something together as a family. This will probably not be the same day every week, as hubby's schedule is ever-changing due to his work as a realtor (that also means he works a lot on the weekends, the usual time most families have their "family time!") So, we'll have to take it week by week, but I think it should work itself out once we get in the habit of planning for some special "connecting" time together.

Christmas Greetings!

2006-12-15T12:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted here in a few weeks now -we've been far too busy enjoying all the fun of the Christmas season. Finally, here are our Christmas greetings!

Please join us in a friendly game of Christmas "I Spy", McLaughlin style. Use the clues below to learn all about what we did this year.

In the above picture, find the following:

2 soccer balls and 1 soccer trophy (Nathan played soccer again this year, and Joe coached Nathan's team as well as being the assistant equipment manager)

a pair of swimming goggles (we all did lots of swimming in pools and lakes throughout the year, Noah continued with swimming lessons)

a hockey glove (Nathan is playing "pond hockey" this winter, and there's lots of neighbourhood road hockey going on all year round!)

a baby blanket, a sleeping baby, 2 stuffed animals, and a large safety pin (no, we didn't expand our family this year; we welcomed our friends Jenn and Bruce's new daughter Paige into the world)

a flashlight, a lantern, and a water bottle (we took several camping trips this year, including a very cool trip to Watkins Glen with several other unschooling families)

2 dog biscuits and a large red dog toy (we added another pet to our ever-expanding menagerie; Marley, our lab-shepherd cross - who is still very playful even though he's 10 years old!)

the CN Tower (we spent a weekend in Toronto in May at the first ever Toronto Unschooling Conference, hanging out with friends and making new ones)

2 pinecone critters (the boys have been participating in a nature program at the Royal Botanical Gardens, learning about everything from insects to hibernation)

a Lego dog, a set of knitting needles, and a bead snake (we have all been busy creating and crafting a wide variety of projects all year long!)

That's it for our game of I Spy - hope you had as much fun playing as we did creating it.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

From Karen, Joe, Noah, Nathan, and "The Menagerie" - Jessie, Chloe, Marley and Spark.

Learning All the Time...

2006-11-24T20:15:00.000-08:00

As the great John Holt said, we really are learning all the time - I just haven't had the time to blog about it lately! Life has been all aswirl with busy-ness and most nights I have been falling into bed exhausted (but content) at the end of the day.

Earlier this evening, I was sitting in the living room knitting, the Just Like Heaven soundtrack was blaring, Nathan and the dog were wrestling together (loudly), and Joe and Noah were debating the relative merits (or lack thereof) of the Spongebob movie.

A short while later, we were all (including the dog!) packed into the kitchen making gingersnaps and goofing around. And I just finished snuggling in front of the fire and watching 50 First Dates with my honey while the kids drifted in and out intermittently to join in the snuggle.

I love my life...

And now I need to go to bed once more!!!

A Ghoulish Halloween

2006-10-31T23:30:00.000-08:00

A quick Halloween post to show off my two little ghouls. They definitely revelled in being very spooky, creepy and mysterious.

Here is our "Most Popular Pumpkin of the Year", the SpongeBob jack-o-lantern created by Joe. Almost every visitor to our door commented on it!

Happy Halloween!!!

Fall Fun, Featuring Noah the Horse-Headed Boy!

2006-10-15T11:24:00.000-07:00

We went on another jaunt to a local apple farm yesterday and I snapped this hilarious pic - the horse put his head right in front of Noah just as I snapped it! We were laughing so hard at the resulting photo that another family asked to take a look at our camera to see what was so funny.

Okay, so we are easily amused but this has all the makings of a classic McLaughlin family photo.

Joe also got a good photo of both boys (with their own heads!) hanging out with the bunnies at the farm. As you can see, Noah's already getting geared up for Halloween (Halloween runs a very close second to Christmas in holiday importance around here).

And oh, yes, I remembered to get a pic of this sign that I missed out on last time as we were sans camera.

Love it! I think I should make one to hang outside my house.

McLaughlin "Urban Farm" Gets Ready for Winter

2006-10-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a month since I last posted here! That's probably because life has been very, very full in the last few weeks. I hosted a baby shower for a friend of mine on September 24th, then the next weekend we had two birthday parties to celebrate Nathan turning seven (one friends, one family) and last weekend was Thanksgiving here in Canada!

In amidst the flurry of all those activities, I've been busy harvesting, preserving and preparing my garden for winter. We had our first frost this week, so I got everything done none too soon.
Now I have green tomatoes ripening in a basket on my countertop, a fridge full of peppers and celery, and a variety of dried herbs stashed in my spice drawer. I also transplanted a bit of my oregano, parsley, and basil into small pots for my kitchen windowsill so hopefully they will thrive and I will have some fresh herbs throughout the winter.

Another project I've been working on in the garden is putting together a couple of cold frames to grow spinach and lettuce. This is the first time I've ever tried this, so we'll see how it goes. After looking at a few different cold frame constructions, I settled on a less-traditional but hopefully effective design. This is build with three layers of brick (it's a lot deeper than it seems from the photo). The white cloth at the side is agricultural cloth, which will cover the top to keep in the heat (held down snugly with more bricks). Nathan helped me lay some of the bricks for these. I chose this setup rather than the wooden frame with an old window type of design, because I have both limited storage space and garden space and I can totally disassemble these in the spring when I'm done using them for the season (I put the bricks and agricultural cloth to different uses throughout the course of the growing season).

I've also brought in two of my pepper plants to see if I can keep them going through the winter indoors; I've read of others having success with this and I have a large southern facing window so I figured I'd give it a shot. New peppers are still forming on the plants, so things look good so far.

Overall, I'm fairly pleased with the first season of my biointensive gardening experiment. The biggest success was definitely the bush beans (green and yellow) - they were amazingly productive and delicious to boot! The greens (lettuce and spinach) and the peppers also did very well. The hanging tomatoes were reasonably productive; I'm hoping to have some nice planters to plant some on the deck next year as well. My raspberry canes seemed to be thriving and produced a few handfuls of berries (not bad since I just planted them this year). We'll have to wait for next year to see how the blueberries do! I had a few failures too - the pumpkins, watermelon, and cucumbers all died off without producing. Next year I am hoping to add a dwarf pear tree to my mix of fruit; I've read they can be grown in large planters (such as a 1/2 barrel). What with my indoor gardening experiments, tending to my cold frame veggies, and planning for next spring's garden, I should be plenty busy all winter!

Community Connections

2006-09-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of those days where you could just feel the forces of "abundance" at work.

First, we decided to hold a "freecycle" day to pass on all the stuff we no longer need. We got up early and hauled out boxes of toys, housewares, videotapes (our VCR finally died and won't be replaced since we have a DVD player), clothes, furniture, and lots of other good stuff. We put out a couple of big signs indicating that everything was FREE but we still got a lot of people coming up and asking us if we were sure we didn't want money for anything, or *why* the stuff was free. We've gotten a lot of good stuff from our local freecycle group (including a washing machine when ours kicked the bucket) so we were more than happy to "pay it forward" and pass on our unneeded items. Most of the stuff cleared out by noon, and the remainder was posted to our local list.

By mid-afternoon, we were up at a local farm (Myer's Apple Farm) picking - yes- apples! I was a bit disappointed that my favourites (empires) weren't quite ready for picking yet, but we came home with a large bag of Cortlands which are pretty tasty too. We forgot to bring the camera, which I was already bummed about, but I was really annoyed with myself when we got to the farm and saw this great sign: "Drive Carefully - Children Being Children". Hopefully we'll go back and pick some empires, and I'll make sure to get a pic then!

From our apple picking excursion, we continued on to our CSA (Plan B Organic Farms) for their end-of-season barbecue (we'll continue to receive shares until the week after Thanksgiving - that's Canadian Thanksgiving by the way). We got to take a tour of the farm, which has been expanding every year. There are now 400 shares per season; just a couple of years ago it was closer to 250. Plan B has made great efforts to develop relationships with other local farmers so we get the most variety possible in our food boxes - fruits and some vegetables that they don't grow themselves. They also offer a "local fruit box" option - although they don't grow any of the fruit themselves, it is all from local farmers.

After the tour we had a fantastic meal at Plan B - organic meat, a variety of salads from Plan B's harvest, watermelon and organic ice cream (Mapleton's - totally divine). There were about 200 people there (about 50 of them were kids!) and it was just a great community-feeling experience. We got to chat with a few friends we hadn't seen in a while, and make some new friends too! The kids all had a blast running around and playing with the assortment of friendly farm dogs. Again, really too bad we forgot our camera!

When we came home from the farm, the rest of the stuff we had left out on the curb with a "free" sign was gone, and my neighbour had left a bag of clothes on the porch for the boys (full of pants with intact knees, which my guys desperately need!) I had also received an offer from another freecycler of some books I was looking for - very cool.

The theme for the day was definitely Sharing Always Creates More - more friends, more fun, and more abundant living.

The Joys of Not Back to School

2006-09-12T07:53:00.000-07:00

Well, school's been back in for a whole week now, and I'm more relieved than ever that my kids don't go to school. I could sense the anxiety building in many of the kids around here as the big day approached. It's almost spooky how empty the neighbourhood seems after having the streets filled with kids merrily playing all summer.

Ah well, at least our family is not a slave to the school system! Although we can't exactly ignore the fact that my kids' best friends are now in school all day, there is still plenty of fun to be had. The weather has been unseasonably cool and wet the last couple of weeks, but we had a couple of nice warm afternoons and headed out to the park one day and for a nature hike with the dog another day. The boys have been immersed in a Wallace and Grommet game (for Gamecube)they borrowed from their babysitter (an awesome young man named Dan - the kids love him so much they ask us to go out so he can come over!)

Let's see, what else have we been up to? Many of our days are so unstructured I have a hard time thinking about what we actually "do" all day.

Noah recently built and painted a model of an AT walker all by himself. Nathan build Jengo Fett's ship out of Lego (with a little help from his dad).

I've been busy "harvesting" our bounty in the garden, and starting to put the garden to bed for another year. I'm hoping to find some time to build a small cold frame and trying to extend our season by growing some greens in it.

Joe has been working hard at sprucing up the place. We have been redoing both the kitchen and bathroom (not a gut-everything-and-start-over, but painting, new mirrors/lights, that type of thing). Now we're looking at the rest of the house and realizing it needs a lot of help too. I got the itch to rearrange/spruce up the dining room (adding several furniture repainting projects, plus a sewing project and a lot of reorganizing/general cleaning out of stuff to the mix!)

We have a few outing planned for the upcoming weeks as well. The boys are headed to the Royal Botanical Gardens this afternoon for a homeschoolers' program on "Bugs". This program is running every other Tuesday afternoon until just before Christmas, and I think the boys are going to really enjoy it as they both love anything to do with "nature".

Other planned trips/outings for the near future: our homeschool group's "Not Back to School" picnic on Thursday, a visit to a donkey sanctuary, a visit to Dutchman's Gold (a local honey producer), and a trip or two to the Ontario Science Centre. We'll probably also hit some local farms for apple picking and other fall fun. This Saturday we are attending our CSA's end of season barbecue; this includes a tour of the farm so it should be really cool (although we've been members of this CSA for a few years, we've never managed to get to this event due to scheduling conflicts).

(Blogger is not being my friend right now - for some reason it is not uploading my photos. I somehow managed to get one in, but it doesn't like the rest! How annoying - I will give it a try later on.)

Summer Fun (and Frustration)

2006-08-19T16:47:00.000-07:00

I've been a very naughty blogger of late - it's been well over a month since I posted here. In my defense, I'll say I was too busy trying to enjoy every possible minute of summer weather before it disappears for good. As today is cool and rainy, I guess I have no excuse but to get down to the job!

Some of the hilights of the last few weeks:

We went camping for a week at my dad's trailer up near Tobermory, ON. We had mostly great weather, with the exception of one day
of pouring rain. The boys had a great time kayaking with my dad (their first-ever kayaking experience!)

Lots of hanging out on the beach, swimming in the lake, and roasting marshmallows was done by all.

We also had a relaxing family day at Wild Waterworks. I wasn't sure if the boys would like the wave pool or if it would be a bit overwhelming for them. I needn't have worried! They were totally in their element and weren't a bit nervous at all (although I have to admit *I* was a bit nervous for them, since the pool was absolutely packed, and those waves are darn strong). Their favourite was the Tube Slides; special waterslides that you ride down on an inner tube.

We've also been trying to keep up with the veggie garden, although it's suffered in the last couple of weeks due to the extreme heat we had earlier this month (over 45 degrees Celsius with the humidex!)

Nathan's clutching the baseball-bat sized zucchini we came home to after our week away.

Yesterday, we went on our annual outing to African Lion Safari. We had a great time, as usual. Between the waterpark and the animal reserves, we can hardly go wrong (since two of the things our family loves most are water and animals.) The Birds of Prey show was really cool (did you know that Peregrine Falcons can reach speeds of 200 km/hr and are the fastest animals on Earth? Well, you do now!)

So, you can see we've been having a lot of good times. But there have also been some not-so-fun aspects of the last few weeks. We've been battling head lice (yes, eeeew) along with every other family on the street. This has necessitated an hour or two of daily head combing - I really will be happy not to see quite so much of my family's scalp sometime soon. To add insult to injury, the dog has fleas with an accompanying allergic dermatitis (we did have him on a flea medication, but obviously it didn't work) and is apparently underweight according to our vet. So he's now on antibiotics and a new flea medicine, along with a beefed-up diet. Yes, we get to purposely plump up the dog. As a final test of my sanity, I went into the bathroom last night and was just about to use the facilities when a mouse zipped out from behind the toilet and down the hall. I'd like to know exactly what my lazy old cats have been doing. Excuse me, isn't it their job to keep the place rodent free? I informed Jessie and Chloe I was going to have to confiscate their kitty kibble if they didn't shape up soon.

Lice, mice, and fleas - I bet we won't have too many would-be houseguests clamouring at our door anytime soon! We really are reasonably hygenic, I promise. Sometimes nature just seems to win the battle anyway.

I guess with all those goings on, that's how July evaporated and August is on its way to disappearing too. I have that rather melancholy feeling I always get in mid-to-late August when I can no longer deny that summer is drawing to a close. We still have one more big trip (camping in Balsam Lake for the week before Labour Day) so it's not like all our summer fun is done and over with yet. But I know it'll be fall soon. And even though there's lots to love about fall (my wedding anniversary, my kids' birthdays, the anticipated arrival of my friend Jenn's first baby, apple picking, and a hundred other good things) it still means winter (with its cold and dark ways) is not far off.

Ah well, time to get back to enjoying the little time I have left in Summerland.

2006-08-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

I've really been consumed with my knitting projects lately, so I feel the need to make some sort of written record of all the projects I've got swirling around in my head. Now, just so you know, I'm not anywhere near the most talented, skilled, or creative knitter out there. I doubt, however, that you'll find anyone who enjoys it more than I do! So, here goes, all my dirty little knitting foibles revealed for all to see.On the needles these days: This section is a bit complicated by the fact that most of what I'm working on falls into the Top Secret (a.k.a. gift) category. Let's just say that a very close friend is expecting her firstborn in 2 1/2 months, and I'm also trying to get a jump start on Christmas gifts! I have a wee something waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for some grafting to be done and it's finito. Kitchener stitch intimidates the crap out of me so I've been procrastinating on this puppy forever and a day (ok, a few weeks...)-I have the first of a pair of socks about 1/2 way done (using Melanie Falick's Magic Spiral Tube Socks pattern from Kids Knitting) These socks are quick, fun and easy to knit, and are a very one-size-fits-all deal, perfect for when you're not too sure how big the recipients' feet are! Also, still need to finish a scarf for my poor old hubby (it was supposed to be his Christmas present last year - he got a box of yarn wrapped under the tree, and is still patiently waiting for the final product). He's not too worried that it's not done yet these days, what with the 48-degrees-Celsius-with-the-humidex weather we were having until very recently. Next up: Oh, Lord, I have far too much ambition for a knitter of my (not so great) speed and skill. Here are some of the projects I have planned once I get all that other stuff done:-Seed Stitch Beret and Scarf from Two-Stitch Knits in Knit Picks Elegance (alpaca/silk blend)-Einstein Coat from Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience: Book I in Knit Picks Sierra (wool/alpaca blend)-Not Your Standard Issue Sweatshirt from The Yarn Girl's Guide to Beyond the Basics in Knit Picks Main Line (cotton/merino blend)-a pair of dressy socks for myself using Knit Picks Palette (100% wool). Haven't picked out a pattern yet, but I have a few sock knitting books so it shouldn't be too much of a problem!Can you tell I went on a Knit Picks shopping spree?? And the best part is, all of those are going to be for little ol' *me*! I hardly ever knit for myself, so I figured it was darn well about time I gave myself a few treats.As if all that wasn't enough, I have recently unraveled three (yes, three) sweaters - one that I just didn't like anymore (in Paton's Beehive Shetland Chunky - kind of a turquoise green with a tweedy look to it), another that had all the pieces completed but that I'd never sewn up (and didn't like anymore) in some acrylic chunky yarn (yes, acrylic, I know, but I have a plan), and another that was my son's and was a very nice sweater (knitted by a friend) but had received fatal damage to one sleeve (I'm not sure at all what the yarn is, it's sport weight-ish and feels like a wool blend of some type). So I have a number of different ideas as to what to use all of these yarns for!To add insult to injury, I keep adding more ideas on almost a daily basis for "quick little gift projects that I can do in next to no time" ha ha ha and both of my boys want me to knit them a scarf since I'm making one for daddy. Oh, and hubby would like a nice knitted vest or two to wear with his dress shirts.Clearly, I'm as delusional as they come and will be up to my eyeballs in yarn for the rest of this year!

Veggin' Out!

2006-07-11T17:32:00.000-07:00

After basically ignoring my garden for the past couple of weeks (except for not-frequent-enough watering), I spent the bulk of this afternoon out frolicking in my "cabbage patch".

Here's a photo of the main raised bed; as you can see it's quite a jungle in there! This side of the bed has spinach, bush beans, onions, carrots, and assorted herbs (you can see the mint in the bottom left corner).

Here's the view from the other side of the the bed; zucchini, pattypan squash, cabbage, and some more bush beans (also some lettuce that has majorly bolted!) Oh yes, at the very back you can see the pumpkin starting to climb up towards the deck. I'm so excited- the plants are starting to flower, and if we actually get some pumpkins to grow the kids are going to be ecstatic.

The green beans have arrived! I spent about an hour picking them this afternoon, and there are more on the way.

I've gotten into playing around with the camera and taking some artsy kinda shots of the veggies. Call me crazy, but I really think they are just gorgeous (the veggies, that is, not my pics!) I am pleased with how some of the photos came out, but my digicam is not that sophisticated and I can't get the closeup shots I would really like. These will do for a start; I particularly like this cabbage one.

Here's a pattypan squash just starting, with the blossom still attached

Today's backyard garden harvest! I cannot believe how many green beans I picked (there's got to be at least a couple pounds there) as well as a bunch of spinach and what I could salvage of the lettuce. There are a couple of wee onions too that had gotten mostly uprooted in yesterday's storms. We had some of the green beans for dinner - I cooked them to perfection and they tasted incredible!

I think I'm going to have to brew up a batch of Lettuce Soup to use up all my lettuce before it spoils. No, I'm not joking, I really do make a soup with lettuce, and it's actually quite tasty. Most importantly, it uses 16 cups of lettuce to make a normal-sized batch of soup!

The other really cool thing I did this afternoon (when I wasn't out communing with the cabbage) was teach Nathan how to knit! He was watching me work on my knitting, and asked if I could teach him how. You should have seen his face light up when I told him I would teach him right then.

This is as far as we got, but Nathan did a couple of stitches of cast on, plus most of a row of knitting, with me sitting behind him and doing a bit of hand-over-hand with him. Oh yes, and he specifically requested blue yarn to learn with (his favourite colour). He wants to work on it more tomorrow. He says he's going to knit Marley a sweater - gotta love that kid!

Life is Good

2006-07-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend was one of those truly wonderful (and not-common-enough) ones of which summer memories are made.

Nothing spectacular happened. Just full of those simple, small but contented moments that, strung together into a couple of warm, sunny days, are exactly what we all long for when we're pining for summer in the middle of January. The kids ran up and down the street all day playing with their friends, and I got some time to do a few things on my own (in between intermittent supervision of the swirling mass of children).

I went for a glorious bike ride full of hills, puttered around the garden, strolled over to the library, and just basically did what I felt like for most of Saturday (is there anything better on a warm Saturday afternoon than sitting on your front porch, sipping a coffee, and knitting, while watching the world go by? No, I didn't think so.)

Saturday night we all went to see Ice Age 2 at Dundas Valley Conservation Area. This is a really cool thing - all summer long they do a "Films in the Forest" program, where you get to see movies outdoors on a giant, inflatable movie screen. And, if you have a Conservation Area membership, like we do, it's only $2.50 for the whole family to get in! What a great deal, and a whole lot of fun.

Sunday morning we got up late, strolled down to the park (with Marley of course) then came back to hang out on the porch when it got too hot. We did a bit of errand running in the afternoon, but as boring as that sounds, it was highly satisfying since we actually got everything we were looking for (how rare!) - and I snagged two new knitting magazines at Chapters.

Most importantly, the raspberries are here!

To my great delight, the canes I planted this year have yielded a (very small) but luscious little crop of raspberries. Not enough to do more than nibble off the bush this year - I don't know how long till I have enough to make jam, but I'll surely enjoy whatever we get. Did I mention raspberries are my absolutely, positively favouritest fruit of all?

The rest of the veggie garden is shaping up nicely for the most part too (although there are some scruffy areas in the main bed as I had to pull a bunch of bush beans which were succumbing to something or other, and all my broccoli bolted right off the bat without producing anything edible ::sigh::)

In this photo you can see a zucchini plant in the middle (it's enclosed in a mesh "cage" to keep it from taking over the entire bed, that's why it looks so tall) Potato plants (also in cages) are to the left, with bush beans, peppers, and assorted herbs somewhere in the mix too. In the hanging bucket is one of our "upside down" tomato plants, which seem to be doing all right so far - they are starting to flower and a couple of itty bitty tomatoes have formed. If all continues to go well, we should be up to our armpits in summer squash, beans, peppers, and tomatoes in no time.

Ahhh, summer!

A Sticky Canada Day Tradition

2006-07-01T23:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm cheating a bit (all right, a lot) here by writing this post over a week after the fact, but hey, at least I've finally managed to get it done!

We continued our long-upheld Canada Day tradition - making strawberry jam. It is one of nature's cruel little quirks that it needs to be *hot* for strawberries to grow, thus forcing strawberry jam making activities (including the picking of 12 quarts of said strawberries) to be conducted in the most blistering heat ever seen in Canada. I swear there is nothing hotter on earth than the middle of a strawberry jam making session. I always feel like I've lost about 15 pounds by the end (yeah, sure).

While I was in the process of cleaning up my jars in preparation for sterilizing them, I came across this label still attached to one of the jars (I took it off and stuck it onto one of the completed jars afterwards).

Although you can't make it out in the photo (well, if you look *very* closely, you can just make out the swirly loop of a "J") it says in very faint ink "July 1985". In my handwriting! I was 14 years old in July 1985 - that must surely have been one of the first batches of jam I ever made. Cool. And the jar's still in service 21 years later. That's cool too. Canning is one of those activities that connects you to the past in so many wonderful, mysterious ways. And the jam is darn tasty too.

The final product:

We cranked out 20 jars altogether, plus a bit more which went into the "surplus" jar then straight into the fridge!

YUMMY!

Happy Canada Day everyone!

The McLaughlin Menagerie Expands Again!

2006-06-21T08:35:00.000-07:00

It's semi-official now - we have a new member of the family! We took our "potential" dog Marley for a test drive this weekend and we all fell in love (the dog seems to love us too). We were supposed to take him back Sunday night, and he's still here. The original plan was that we weren't going to take him for good until the middle of July or so (his current owner is moving to Mexico at the end of July). We've all bonded so much that I don't want him to leave us (and he's eating up the twice-a-day walking and ball throwing sessions we're giving him - he was only being walked once or twice a week at his old house).

Here's a couple of pics of our new doggie (he's a shepherd-lab cross, and yes, he is LARGE).

How can you not love that face??

Well, that's all the update I have time for right now! Stay tuned for the scoop on our Watkins Glen camping trip - as soon as I get a chance I'll upload some pics.

Neighbourhood Movie Night (and a Potential New Dog)

2006-06-11T07:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of those rather pleasant types of Saturdays with nothing much formal on the agenda, and a lot of puttering around. What started out as a low key day ended up with a fair bit of excitement, though. We took a drive over to meet our potential new dog! Yes, dog. A colleague of Joe's has a client who's moving to Mexico and needs to part with her lab-shepherd cross, and of course Joe was all over that :) I was initially skeptical, but after going to meet him, I've warmed up to the idea. His name is Marley, he's 9 yrs old, and seems really laid back and friendly. He'll make a great walking buddy for me! We're going to take him for a "test drive" when we get back from our camping trip. We'll take him for a weekend and see how he fits in to our household. I'm most concerned about how he'll get along with our 2 cats (although I suspect the cats will be the ones giving Marley a hard time, and not vice-versa!) I'm not going to post a picture until he's officially "ours" - just in case things don't work out.

Not long after we got back from meeting Marley, the boys ran in the house all excited with the news that our neighbours were having a movie theatre in the back yard that night (complete with tickets and all!) The dad is a teacher and had borrowed one of those nifty media projectors from work. Most of the neighbourhood kids and a lot of the parents gathered to watch The Two Towers projected onto a bedsheet in the yard. It was a lot of fun (even if a few of the dads snuck into the house to watch the hockey game!) I love our neighbourhood!!

Vegetables and Treehouses and Chickenpox, OH MY!

2006-06-10T09:37:00.000-07:00

I know I promised I was going to post at least 1-2 times a week on this blog - and it's now closing in on a month since my last post! What can I say, things have been *very* busy around here :)

The vegetable garden is coming along nicely, thanks to daily TLC from me.

Here's what things looked like right after my big past-the-frost-free-date planting (a three day long gardening extravaganza that left me with *very* sore knees, wrists and shoulders!)

Here's the way it's shaping up now - this was taken 3 or 4 days ago. We had our first salad with spinach and lettuce from our garden this week (it tastes so much better when you've grown it yourself!)

So what's growing in there? In the main raised bed in the photos, there's spinach, lettuce, pumpkins, watermelon (!!!), broccoli, cabbage (green and red), zucchini, patty pan squash, scarlet runner beans, bush beans (green and yellow), onions (white and red), carrots, garlic, thyme (regular and golden), garlic chives, peppermint, basil (green and purple), lavendar, oregano, and a few nasturtiums thrown in for good measure! In the side beds, there are some of the same things, plus strawberries, a blueberry bush, raspberry canes, potatoes, canteloupe (well, technically musk melon), pickling cucumbers, and dill. If all goes well, we should have enough to feed the whole street.

The other big project around here in the last few weeks has been construction of the boy's "treehouse". There's no actual tree involved, but it is up off the ground in typical treehouse fashion.

Here's day 2 of construction (day 1 involved wrestling the corner posts into correct position)

Here we are about 2/3rds of the way through the project (of course all the neighbourhood kids have been to check it out, plus most of the parents too!)

Ahh, what a beautiful site! The completed treehouse. Now I can get Joe to start working on the fence that needs to go across the back of our property (on second thought, our bank account needs to recover from the outlay for the treehouse first!)

Amidst all this flurry of activity, both Nathan and Noah came down with the chickenpox (just to add a bit more excitement to our life). Thank goodness they're on the mend and will be mostly recovered (just a few residual spots but no longer contagious) for our camping trip next week - we leave Tuesday morning!

(Wo)man Against Nature, Part I

2006-05-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

After all my excitement about getting serious with my vegetable garden, I had my first major setback today. I spent a couple of hours planting my very healthy looking seedlings yesterday afternoon. It then proceded to pour down with rain for a good while after that - I was hoping it wasn't hard enough to damage my seedlings. Early this afternoon, I went out to survey the damage. As it turns out, I needn't have worried about the rain. The &*#@^$$ squirrels had done enough damage that the rain was irrelevant. They had dug up almost all of the seedlings and had a nice little feast. Wah!! My beautiful scarlet runner beans, turned into squirrel food. I'm not a person given to violent tendencies, but let's just say I'm tempted to get a BB gun and become a squirrel sniper. I planted some beans directly into the ground to replace all the damaged bean seedlings. Most of the cabbage and zucchini were salvageable (apparently the squirrels have a fondness for beans). Joe rounded up a bunch of mason jars for me and I used those as "cloches" to protect the surviving seedlings. Meanwhile, the kids were trying to console me, and ready to join me in the squirrel hunt.

Okay, squirrels, I lost the first battle, but I'm not surrendering yet. Stay posted to see who wins round II!

Experiments in Urban Agriculture

2006-05-14T19:06:00.000-07:00

Inspired by another unschooler's blog (Blue Skies Urban Farm), I'm going to try and document a lot of our adventures with growing our own food this summer. Previously, we've dabbled in fairly standard backyard vegetable gardening - a few tomato plants, peppers, and zucchini, with some herbs thrown in for good measure. I've been wanting to branch out a bit more for a few years, but the last few growing seasons have been crazy-busy for us, and it just hasn't happened!

This year, I found a copy of Small Space, Big Harvest by Duane Newcomb at the library and was instantly intrigued. Using his methods, the author claims you can grow more than 200 lb of produce in a 5' x 5' plot. Since space is definitely at a premium around here, I quickly dove into the book and started making some fairly ambitious plans.

We have 1 raised bed that's roughly 8' x 8', plus another long, skinny strip I've divided up into 3 sections, roughly 4' x 4'.

This is half of our 8'x8' raised bed (that's garlic chives starting to shoot up there in the bottom left corner)

This is one of our smaller 4'x4' ish beds.

The soil doesn't look great because I hadn't turned any compost or topsoil into it yet!

I also decided to try my hand at starting a few seedlings this year, which is something I've never done before.

I took this photo a couple of weeks ago, when the sunflower seedlings were just starting to come up. I've also got scarlet runner beans (which have gotten huge and really need to go in the garden ASAP!), zucchini, cabbage, thyme, oregano, and some morning glory and sweet peas growing away.

The last frost date here is May 20th, so any day now I will be heading to the nursery to get the rest of my vegetable plants! We are also going to try some strawberries and blueberries along with the vegetables, as well as a variety of herbs. The thing that attracts me most to the Small Space method is that you interplant everything close together in the beds, rather than growing rows of individual vegetables. It maximizes the space, and it looks a lot more eye-catching too!

Since it's the beginning of the growing season, my enthusiasm is high. The trick will be to keep up with the garden maintenance once I get it all planted!

Toronto Unschooling Conference

2006-05-08T17:13:00.000-07:00

We got back last night from the first (and hopefully not the last!) Toronto Unschooling Conference.

It was quite the whirlwind of activity for us all weekend. I'm just going to do a brief recap!

Friday:
We checked in to the hotel (Delta Toronto East) around 3 p.m., after getting caught in typical Friday afternoon Toronto traffic! The boys had their swimsuits on about 8 seconds after getting into our room. They'd been scoping out photos of the pool and giant waterslide on the hotel website for the last month and had come prepared to get wet ASAP!

After a quick dip, we got ready to meet our friends Jenn and Bruce for dinner. We had planned on driving to meet them (in the High Park area) but after checking out the traffic on the 401, we decided the TTC (subway) was the only way to go. Twenty-three subway stops later (yes, really, twenty-three, Noah counted them on the way there *and* on the way back!) we finally met up with our friends. The kids played on the castle playground at High Park for a while (a definite must if you're ever in the area with kids!) then we finally got some dinner at a local pub around 9 p.m. We made it back to the hotel around 11 p.m. and crashed!

Part of the castle playground at High Park - it's enormous! That's Nathan in the photo (although this one was taken in the fall, not this weekend - that's why the trees are bare)

Saturday:
I managed to get out of bed early enough to make it downstairs to hear Anne Ohman's "This is Where Unschooling Lives" talk. I need to remember to bring Kleenex to Anne's talks -they always make me tear up (and I notice I wasn't the only one!!) There were some truly adorable little babies in the crowd for me to make faces at too.

While I was listening to Anne, I left Joe and the boys in the kids' fun room. I found them in the pool after the talk! Joe and I did a quick switcheroo in the swimsuit department (me into mine, him out of his) and he headed off to hear Wendy Priesnitz's "The Spirit of Life Learning" talk, while I hung out with the kids in the pool (actually, I enjoyed the hot tub while watching the boys in the pool!) Somewhere in there, we also hooked up with John and Kim from Ohio, who we met at the Peabody Live and Learn conference in 2004.

We all regrouped for lunch (sandwiches and fruit cups in our room) then the guys headed for the fun room while I went to Sandy Lubert's talk on Crossing Over to Unschooling: If You Can't Build a Bridge, Try Flying. Afterwards, I went to check in on the guys- they were happily gaming with some new buddies. I then went to hear Anne speak again (reading her essays "I Am What I Am" and "In Search of Riverglass...Finding Unschooling") - more kleenex required! I have some photos of the kids gaming and playing Twister, but I'm not going to post them here since other people's kids are in them (and I know some people don't like photos of their kids on the internet).

After that, most of the rest of the day was spent in the pool and hot tub. Sadly, none of us made it to Pam's talk on Unschooling Passions or the talent show - we were all too comfy in the pool!

When we finally dragged ourselves out of the pool, we hit the dinner buffet (lots of tasty stuff!) then headed back for the pool yet again. We hung out there almost until the pool closed at 11 p.m. and I chatted with Sandy Lubert for a while.

Here's a very dark photo of Noah standing at the top of the very large waterslide.

Joe and Nathan in the pool together.

Sunday:
We were all really, really, tired when we got up after all the activity of the last 2 days. It was time to summon all our energy reserves and hit the Toronto Zoo! We were hoping to make it there in time to meet up with some other unschoolers, but we arrived just before 10:30 a.m. and no one else was in sight. It was sunny but a bit brisk, not a bad day at all for traipsing through the (very large) zoo.

Very cool "Wall of Fish" at the Toronto Zoo.

Noah and Nathan make a new friend at the zoo!

I think it's just about impossible to do the whole zoo in one day (particularly if you've just spent the past 2 days in a flurry of activity like we did). We managed to see all the important stuff - all the animals from Madagascar (including King Julian!) plus other funky critters like tree kangaroos and electric fish, plus Joe's favourite, the tigers.

As we were leaving the zoo, who should we see heading out behind us but Sandy Lubert and her gang! The only other unschoolers we ran into all day were John and Kim and their brood. Ah well, a good day was had by all. We didn't hit too much traffic on the way home, and arrived safe, sound and exhausted around 5 p.m.

Thanks to Pam L. for putting it all together - I hope it's the first of many Toronto Unschooling Conferences!

Introductions

2006-05-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

Since I'm going to be talking a lot about all of us, I thought I ought to introduce all the members of the family.

This is Nathan, age 6, doing a fine gargoyle imitation.

This is Noah, age 8, also doing a fine gargoyle imitation .

This is Chloe. She's looking really ticked that I took her picture. I had to chase her around the yard for a while before she finally plonked herself down and I snapped this one quick.

This is Jessie. She's a big suck. She's Chloe's daughter (not that you can tell by the way they behave) and we've had her since the day she was born (in our bedroom closet!)

This is Spark the Bearded Dragon. He looks kind of unimpressed that I'm taking his picture. What is it with the attitude on these animals?

He's been part of our family for 2 years now. Beardies rock!

Last (but certainly not least) here is hubby Joe busy painting our front porch. When you buy an 80-odd year old house, there's always something that needs to be fixed (more on that later!)

Well, that's the motley crew, except for yours truly. No pictures of me exist, because I'm always the one behind the camera . Well, you have a little one up in the corner there, that'll have to do for now. Maybe someone around here will take my picture someday.

That's all for now, got to go get everyone to bed!

"Spontaneous" Learning

2006-04-30T09:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes (often, in fact) my kids astonish me by seemingly learning something "overnight". Such has been the case lately with Nathan (age 6 1/2). Up until about a month ago, he had on only one occasion (to my knowledge) picked up a pen or pencil and practiced printing letters. That was way back when he was four, and as a matter of fact, even that time he certainly wasn't "practicing". He wanted to write his name, so he asked me what it looked like. I carefully printed it out for him. He then proceeded to pick up a pencil and do a very admirable job of printing his name.

Back to the present. A few weeks ago, we were goofing around with the magnetic letters on the fridge. He then asked me how to spell "yes". We spelled it out together with the magnetic letters, then he wandered off (to do something entirely unrelated, I was sure - that's usually how our days go; flowing in and out of a wide variety of things and making connections here, there and everywhere). A few minutes later, he appeared with the word "yes" printed very carefully on a scrap piece of paper (and a big grin). WOW. Over the next few days, he copied a wide variety of words down, and continues to randomly ask for words to copy.

Around 11:30 last night, it was "treehouse". We were all up, having a late-night pow-wow about our plans for building a playstructure in the back yard. We had been surfing online, looking at a variety of pre-fab kits, but not only were they phenomenally expensive (some of them cost twice as much as we paid for our [used] minivan!) but they also weren't quite what the kids wanted, either. So Joe (dh) started drawing up some plans, trying to come up with something that contained a suspended treehouse, swings and a climbing wall, and that would also fit in the space available in our small back yard and not totally smash our budget. He came up with something that met all the requirements, and while Nathan sat watching the drawing take shape, he asked what the word "treehouse" looked like. So, as usual, I copied it out for him. He sat there happily printing it out, then observing that it was actually 2 words put together, "tree" and "house", and playing around with that.

Of course, all of these connections didn't really happen "overnight". Nathan's been watching, observing, and picking up all the skills needed to print proficiently in a million different subtle ways that I can't begin to imagine, since he was born. I have to think that all the furious Lego building he's been doing for years (with all those little bitty pieces) played a big part in building his dexterity and fine-motor skills. I've also noticed he developed an intense interest in colouring pictures a few months before this magical "burst" in printing ability. It's so wonderful to realize that it's not necessary to force a kid to slave over workbooks, struggling to print letters by rote for untold hours, until they finally get the hang of it. Like everything else that matters in life, they'll learn it in there own time, and in their own way. Naturally!

Finally, a Family Blog!

2006-04-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

It's about time I got around to this. I've had my professional blog going for months, and haven't managed to quite get round to starting a personal blog to document all the many adventurers of our radically-unschooling family.

So, here it is! I hope to chronicle our many and varied experiences (on a somwhat regular basis)as we journey together through this amazing thing called life.

Karen