It's been awhile but...we're back!

Wow. 2 whole years? Really?
How did I survive computer less for SO LONG?!

I'll have many more posts to come, along with links to our home schooling page and our videos.

Can't wait to update all my files and start writing again!

Hope you'll follow along our journey as a family and as unschooly homeschoolers.

Peace and love.

Cool Easy Snacks

Peanut butter and Jelly frozen pops

I love to make home made snacks as much as possible, and ones to keep us cool in the heat of summer are no exception.
The simplest cold treat to make I think are popsicles. All you need is some fruit juice (or other beverage) and some molds and sticks. I have been able to find molds for popsicles all over the place, from the local dollar store to my local major chain store.

To make you simply pour some juice into the molds, add a stick and freeze until solid. To step it up a notch, you can add some fresh or frozen chopped berries, or blend them all together to make fruit pops.

Making what we call smoothie pops is also a popular activity in the home here. What I do is take our favorite smoothie recipe and (strawberry banana, here) and freeze it into molds like the juice.
To make the pops melt more slowly you can add unflavored gelatin (or flavored as well if you prefer) before freezing.

You can also take different flavors of packaged instant puddings and make frozen pudding pops, or yogurt and freeze into yogurt pops.

What a few hectic weeks!

Well, we are right into the new year, and no, I didn't forget about the blog. We have been really busy, playing, doing "school", visiting playgroups and generally trying to keep the cabin fever away.

It's April FIRST! and we are still below zero last time I checked the temperature.

I can't wait to get outside and plant our small balcony garden, build our garden boxes and plant some seeds. Even the pots were frozen to the ground and I haven't been able to find dirt in the stores yet. I had my partner bring in a large frozen pot of dirt last night and plan to get planting by tomorrow (it's still frozen!?)

I hope you all had a merry winter and I'm sure if you are in this hemisphere you are also looking forward to a wonderfully long awaited spring.

Have fun and PLAY today :)

5 Great ways to get Moving (inside) this Winter

Hey there! A lot of us understand the feeling we get after having to spend weeks on end playing and staying inside for everything. Here are a few great ways to get moving indoors when the weather is too bad to go outside for long or at all.

1. Indoor Hopscotch
I took masking tape (I think painter's tape would work better because of the colour) and made a short hopscotch down the hallway on the way to the bathroom. The idea is that as you pass the grid you hop it to get to the bathroom. We used rolled up socks or small toys instead of stones if we were just playing the "right" way.


2. Kicking a ball down a hallway
I clear out the long hallway on a regular basis, and let the kids use it as a place to play and run. It's as simple as it sounds. They just stand at either end of the hall and kick the ball back and forth. Sometimes they chase it as well. We try to see who can get the ball past the other the most.


3. Bowling
Buy or make a bowling pin set and take turns trying to knock down the pins. See who can knock them all down at once 3 times in a row, or try to think of another way to play that is different. (Maybe backwards or upside down) 


4. Dance Party!
Pick some of your favorite songs and dance away! Kids can make up their own dance to show their family or friends. Remember, the music doesn't have to be typical kids music! What an awesome way to expose your children to the music you enjoy listening to and broaden their musical minds.

5. Animal Moves
What kinds of animals can you pretend to be? Monkeys? Big stomping elephants? Tiny squeeking mice? Hopping frogs or kangaroos? Try to think of how many different animals you can be and which movements and sounds to go with them.

What other ways are there to keep active and get the jiggles out?

Have fun, get messy and PLAY!

Experiments with soap: Propelling a paper boat

I am reading an old science experiment book and decided to use the book as a basis for some of our activities. One of the experiments that deals with surface tension is to propel a paper boat using a drop of soap and since the kids like to play with water, I thought this would be a fun thing to try.

I got DD and my Petit Monsieur together and told them we were going to try something neat. Immediately they were interested and gathered around. I had already gathered my materials: some thin cardboard, water, a tub, and some liquid soap (and a couple of small slivers of soap to try out. They didn't seem to work as well.)

I cut the cardboard into a small rectangle and cut the corners off one end so it was pointed. I also made a small notch in the back of the boat. That is where the soap will go.

DD very carefully placed the boat on the surface of the water, so it would float on top. I had her place it close to one end of the bath tub, so we could watch it move forward if the experiment worked. Next, I dropped a small drop of liquid soap into the water where the notch was in the boat and voila! The boat moved forward. I tried to get it onto video, but every time I tried, it didn't work. I will be trying again to get a video made and posted to my youtube channel.

All 3 of the kids and I were amazed. We wanted to try it again, but after a few more tries with no success, I realized that we couldn't use the same water again and emptied the tub. I filled a baby size bath tub with a few centimeters of water and tried again, this time with daddy there to watch.

The idea is this: when the soap breaks the surface of the water, the stronger pull from the water in the front pulls the boat forward.

December Activity Countdown: 10th, 11th and 12th.

We worked for a few days on a paper chain garland. I like to try and bring "oldskool" crafts back to light in our household. I look through many older science and craft idea books for my inspirations, and since we had no garland, when I came across this idea I decided what better way to decorate and have fun than to make one out of paper?

I spent some time cutting strips of different coloured construction paper the night before, and set up this invitation for them to play.

While all 4 of the kids (ages 2 to 12) used stickers and markers to decorate strips, mommy glued them into rings and attached them to make a beautiful paper chain.

This was only a small portion of the chain, and I think next Christmas season we will be trying other ways to make garlands to decorate the house.

Happy holiday crafting!

December Activity Countdown: Dec 7 and 8

I have to admit we didn't do much in the way of "activities" on these couple of days. Not all the children were home, so we mostly just read some favorite winter and Christmas/holiday themed books, and snuggled in together to watch a couple of our traditional Christmas movies.

One of the favorite books and videos here is How the Grinch Stole Christmas.Every year I pull out the Book and the old VHS tape (we really have to get a dvd version one of these years) and watch the video over and over again.

We sit together and read the book throughout the weeks before Christmas, and talk about the spirit of the season. About how it's not all about us, and about how we must live the spirit of the season throughout the whole year. About how we must all care for each other and the planet around us.

There are other books and movies that get pulled out for the Holiday season around here, of course. This is just our favorite.

Here is a list of some other books and videos we use throughout the Christmas holiday season to get into the spirit of the season.

Videos

1.Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
2.The Polar Express
3. A Charlie Brown Christmas
4.A Christmas Story
5. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
6. The Christmas Train
7. Dot and Spot's Magical Christmas Adventure
8. The Nightmare Before Christmas (I can categorize this into Hallowe'en fun, too)
9. Little Drummer Boy
10. Frosty the Snowman

Books

1. A Letter to Santa by Gaby Goldstack; Illustrated by Caroline Pedler
2. A Cricket's Carol by Mark Kimbell Moulton
3. Richard Scarry's Christmas Mice
4. The Elf who lived next Door
5. Santa's Magic Bag by Susan Karnovsky
6. Franklin's Christmas Gift by Paulette Bourgois
7. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad by Mercer Mayer
8. The Littlest Christmas Elf  by Nancy Buss
9. Silent Night a pop up book
10. I Spy Christmas: A book of picture riddles