Blog Archives

Blogging through the Alphabet: A is for Anger #ABCBlogging

4/29/2014

Marcy over at Ben and Me is starting a new round of blogging through the alphabet. :)

My boy raises mice.
He does does this to raise money for his own needs, to practice math and business skills, to learn how to care for animals well.
This week I had surgery. Was away for a whole day and rather drugged up last night.
Someone saw fit to jump the fence of our backyard and steal his most recent tank of two moms and their offspring. Just babies yet.

Second time they've done this. They've stolen rabbits from me, which makes me upset...but when they steal from my boy... it's just makes me very angry with them.
My son is still away visiting friends to give me a chance to recuperate a bit and I feel angry. I haven't told him yet, but I'm making plans that perhaps my son's friend could raise up his mice for him.
I know my boy will be upset.
They are taking away his business opportunity.
They are taking away his pets.
He's eight years old and trying hard to learn new skills and care levels for critters and what not and they take it away from him.

I'm trying hard not to think nasty thoughts, to remember that God knows what he's doing, but when it comes right down to it, I'm angry at what they are doing.

Review: A Table by the Window

4/29/2014

Cooking, God, relationships, family dynamics, fulfillment, questions, intrigue...this book has it all.

Product Details

Received: Ebook format
Book: A Table by the window
Author: Hillary Manton Lodge
Pages:322
Price: $10.00-34.02 through Amazon.ca
Reviewed for: Edelweiss books (random house)

My Review

I have to admit, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and as I read it I thought, wow.. wish I had a hard copy of it so I could loan it to my mother.   She'd like it as well.

It's a gently told story, focusing in on Jules, daughter in a family that cooks as a matter of making a living, and of being alive.   Jules is a food critic and wanna be restauranteur.

Jules is the youngest in a family of five and is used to plugging into help wherever she is needed, whether that be a food critic for the local paper, or doing demonstrations on TV, or helping a brother get a restaurant started.

One day at dinner she realizes that she's tired of being alone and goes to an on-line dating site where she meets Neil.    Neil and Jules quickly connect despite distance that separates. Jules grandmother dies living her the prep table from her kitchen.    Nico wants to start a new restaurant and Jules happily helps, she takes in her grandmothers dog Gigi. She learns about her mothers illness. She is just a happily involved single lady learning who she is and what she wants.    The intrigue comes in from finding a picture in her grandmothers cookbook who reminds her of her brother Nico, and this sets Jules off on a quest to discover who this man is. This quest culminates in a trip to France.   Through it all Jules comes to a better understanding of who she is and what she wants.

Well-written.   Characters are alive and well-written, I feel like i could sit down and just start chatting (in English, not French or Italian) with most any of them.
Each chapter starts with a quote and ends with a recipe.
The book finishes with discussion questions.

I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed with how the book ended. I really wanted her to meet the family of the man in the picture.   But it was not to be.   But at least we learned who he was and why he was important to grandmother.   Overall though, it was a book well worth reading.   Filled with good food, conversation, laughter and moments of sadness, I would have no problems reading more about this family or even more books by this author.

A good read, check it out for yourself if you get a chance. :)

Tabs Open In My Browser

4/26/2014

Solomon's Portico from Bible History.   I can't remember why I looked this up, but I thought it interesting reading. History is just fascinating. :)

Oxford Owl.    A homeschooling friend recommended this site to me.    Oxford Owl is an award-winning free website with 250 FREE tablet-friendly eBooks and activities to help you support children’s learning.

Someone also recommended Imagination Station to me.    Science Studio Is an exhibit space at Imagination Station where you can explore science on your own terms. At our activity bench you can make slime, build rockets or look at bugs under microscopes.

a free frog resource book. Do you have frog-loving kids? If so, this unit is for them! Below you’ll find lots of links, videos and activities that will guide you and your children on a fun learning adventure about frogs and toads.

then there is sprouting tadpoles history memory cards, these are for ancient history.

Deliberate mom talking about Kidoodle TV. I signed up for it but never got a chance to really use the free trial. Sometimes that's how life goes.

Lighthouse Classical Academy talking about some favourite math books. I thought some looked interesting and wanted to keep the tab handy.

Here's a rather large book list you might find interesting. I did. :)

This post on gamifying your homeschool intrigued me.

bible copy work pages.

Lego for upper elementary. I want to do lego chemistry with my homeschool group.

Jesus and Lazarus.    Science with bible. A good thing this.

10 neat science experiments. I'll be putting this on my science page as well. :)

Life of Christ series.    This month on Coffee for the Soul we are going to do something a little different. We would love for you to join us as we chronologically cover the main events of the Life of Christ as accounted in the Book of John. We would love to have you join us as we learn about who Christ is and what He did for us

This Chocolate Sauce lesson intrigued me. I think it's missing something, but haven't quite figured that out yet....

A Child’s Book Of Art: Free Printable Discussion Questions.   You can actually use many of the questions to discuss the artwork in whichever books you own. In fact, using these questions will help teach you how to talk about art with your child whether you are looking at books or walking through an art museum.

and last but not least
the Visual Periodic Table. :)

Five Minute Friday: Friend

4/25/2014

Five Minute Friday Rules
1. Go to Lisa-jo Baker and learn what the day's word is. Today it is Friend.
2. Write your post in FIVE MINUTES. That's the rule. No editing or looking back, just five minutes of pure writing.
3. Link up.
4. Encourage the person who linked up before you. I tend to do two as link-ups sometimes mess up the order. BUT encourage those who have gone on before.
5. If you wish be kind, add the logo at the bottom of this post. :)

Today's Word: Friend
Three
Two
One
Go

Friend.
Hmm.. that's a word that makes me ponder.
I've never ever had lots of friends. Lots of acquaintances, and stop on the street and talk to you people, and let's share a coffee sporadically people, but friends.. not many. And those I've had I treasure dearly.
See the mug there? It's from a friend. A real-honest-to-goodness friend, who goes away, who never buys stuff while she's away. Goes to a place for a meal, sees tons os chickens everywhere and what does she do? She buys me a chicken mug.

She makes me heart smile.

Do you know how lovely it is to have your heart smile?

It's a lovely thing indeed. :)

Pause for child break, sorry but sometimes children need you at inconvenient moments.

Anyways, where was I?
A friend who makes your heart smile.
Jesus is a friend too you know. He's a friend who sticks closer than any other. He's right there ALL THE TIME.
I have to admit, I've been lonely here ... feeling bereft without a friend wondering at times if I would always feel lonely in my heart.

I've had people that I can talk with, learn from, do things with, share pieces of my life with, God has opened doors for me. It's a good thing that.

It's been hard at times for sure, but in the midst of it all, it's been good too.

But I have friend who makes me heart smile with a silly (but oh so great) chicken mug.

Tis a good thing that! :)

STOP

So come on over, join us! A promise you... tis a good thing indeed! :)

Review: The Brinkman Adventures

4/25/2014

Who among us doesn't like listening to a well-spun story?
In this household.. listening to audio books is an excellent way to pass the time while travelling about. And over the past few weeks we been able to listen some life-based stories done by The Brinkman Adventures.

Product Information:

Vendor: The Brinkman Adventures
Product: The Brinkman Adventures Season 2: Episodes 13-24
Received: MP3 Version download
Age Range: These are stories for families so all ages.
Price: Cd $25.00, MP3 $17.00 are the recommended prices.
The Brinkman Adventures operates on a donation basis.

What you Get
In CD or Download version you get the following episodes:

1. The Mystery Ring
2. Blue Hat & T-Shirt Bible
3. How Big is Your God, part 1
4. How Big is Your God, part 2
5. Mexico by Bus
6. Treehouse Academy
7. Pirates of Mayan Island
8. Sapphire Slaves, part 1
9. Sapphire Slaves, part 2
10. Hadi’s Choice
11. Castle of Secrets
12. On the Run
There is a bonus episode with a song.

What are they?
Stories based on the true life adventures of missionaries from around the world.
The real stories behind the stories is given on their website. You can check them out over here.   It's a neat way to further learning.    :)

How We Used It.
We enjoyed listening to the stories while travelling around. A couple of stories we listened to while at home on a weather temperamentally difficult day. :) My son's reaction varied:
My son laughed about children chasing chickens.
He queried WHY? Why mom?   Why would he climb that tower?
He stated: MOM.. If I Had been there with all those bugs I would have been trying to catch them all.
He got alarmed: MOM>>> if you sprayed bug spray all over yourself...wouldn't it make you sick?

He thought a couple of the stories didn't really seem real (like the ring being found, the owner being discovered after it was sold and the events that transpired after that).

Hubby's reaction. Stories are interesting, but not compelling. I don't have this strong desire to know what happens next.

My reaction: I enjoy listening to them. I'm happy with their length. Pleased that they aren't hugely compelling so then I don't need to listen to "MOM... PLEASE.... can we just stay in the car and listen more PLEASE.     They are enjoyed start to finish and rarely leave a person on a cliff hanger.   An excellent (if I could figure how to do it) bedtime story for a child as one story satisfies.

Would I recommend?
YES. After the second time listening to them, my son said "Mom, can we get more of these?   Now that I have heard them again I like them more and I want to listen to more of them. Please, can we get more?"

The Brinkman Adventures is also on Facebook.

Why I love homeschooling

4/22/2014

So I while back I was using a random topic generator... I was just curious about what it might suggest to me as topics to blog about.   I was impressed at first and then I started plugging in different words and discovered that it really wasn't all that impressive.   It just had a bunch of sentences and then just plugged the words you gave it into the different sentences.   So I got "why I love homeschooling (and you should too) as well as the variation of rabbits, guns, babies, boys, places etc... so it was a bit of a let down after that.

Anyways, I put this suggestion into my drafts folder just in case I ever felt like doing a "why I love homeschooling post" and since I'm needing a reminder I thought I'd talk about why I love it.

1. My son.   I adore my boy and I love spending time with him.   He's a bright, inquisitive lad with a firm love for critters of almost all sorts.   Tonight when we were reading we were learning about a fish that spits water at bugs to make them fall into the water and I asked him "did you see that when we were at Ripley's?"
He was shocked.. they had them at Ripley's?   "Where, where were they mom?"
"In the same spot as the mudskippers son" was my quiet response.   "You may have been off with J looking at the sharks or something.."
He was so upset to have missed them and wants very much to go back so we can see them again.   So I told him I'd go see if I could find the picture I took and he was somewhat mollified.

2. Time to learn at one's own speed. This is important you know. To be not rushed or left behind or held back. It's good to savour the learning you know?

Like when we went the Elgin County Museum. It was such a nice visit and we had the place virtually to ourselves.

taking our time at the Elgin County Museum last year. We so enjoyed our visit there.

3. To learn new things together. Did you know there was such a thing as a eusocial animal? This was actually something hubby and son taught me after they learned it. Rather neat eh? To think of a mammal living much like an insect. Just blows me away the creativity of God.

I know that there is much more to homeschooling. And I could list the whys and the wherefores of why and what we do....but what I wanted to do here was just talk about what I love about homeschooling. My son, time and learning. That's what's good to me.

Tell me please my reader... what do YOU love about homeschooling? If you don't homeschool, what do you think you might love about it?

Review: CTC Math

4/22/2014

Over the past few weeks our household has been blessed with being able to useCTC math, the online math tutoring program. Even though I don't get requests of "mom, can I do my math now". I don't get the resistance I've grown used to of "Do we have to do math mom?" For this I am so pleased. :)

Product Details:
Vendor Company Name AND Link: CTC Math
Product Name AND Link: 12 Month Family Plan
Price: $297/year with various monthly and six month plans. Currently homeschoolers are getting 60% off. You can find the link here and is accurate at the time of review. Means you can purchase the family plan for $118.80 or the single plan for $78.80. With various monthly and bi-annual rates as well.
Age Range: This is for every age and grade, K-12.

How I used CTC Math:
I used CTC Math to help my son like doing math.
I would log him on daily to this online math tutor program, and then some days I would set him a task, and other days he would set himself a task. Whatever he chose to do was fine by me. As you can see in the image below I have open the grade three window and also the first section in grade three math. He is making progress through different sections. BUT you are not limited to only doing grade three.. you can also (if able) to do work in other areas (my son did work in basic math and elementary geometry as well).

I set him a goal that he needed to get 90% in whatever area he was doing in order to "pass it". This meant that for some of the tasks he would repeat them 2-3 days in a row in order to get the mark that he also wanted. (He likes getting 100%)
You can see in the image below how he has passed four of the five areas. He is currently at the silver level, if he brings up his grade in the last area he will get a gold level and he pushes to getting that.

Things I liked:
1. Getting emails that state :

Congratulations (person's name)!

You have received a new Silver Certificate for successful completion of the topic Mental strategies from the 3rd Grade course.

Please find your certificate attached.

Yours sincerely,
The team at CTC Math.

2. That I can sign up for an account as well so I can practice my math skills. Good for the lad to see me learning as well. :) I didn't anticipate what I boon this would be. He was actually asking questions about math instead of trying to avoid it.... :)
3. That once I had him all set up I could just leave him to do the work and I knew he could complete it. He could complete the lesson and then do the worksheets. Below is as screen shot of one of the worksheets.

Things I struggled with
1. Having to log in all the time AND that the computer wouldn't remember the login for me either. The security is a tad bit too tight. I asked hubby what he thought about this and his response was "Why do they have security so tight for a math program? What is the need for that?"
2. I couldn't figure out how to print off pages for being able to do some of the work with triangle. You can't always eyeball triangles and need to learn how to use a compass to do the angles.
3. The circles are too small and finicky. I thought it was just my older eyes having troubles when I worked through some of the exercises but then I heard MOM!!! I DID THAT!!! MOM!!! THEY said I was wrong!!!!!! MOM! I clicked on that and the computer didn't listen to me!!!! So I'd really like to see the circles made bigger so they are easier to click on.

So what do I think overall?
1.My son likes this program. This online math program has done what I wanted it to. It has given my son confidence that math isn't as hard as he likes to think that it is. :)
2. It has offered me some challenge and helped me to understand some math that over the years I have gotten fuzzy on.
3. I would hesitate to use this as a solo math program due to the nature of some math....for instance... one needs to use a compass in order to understand angles well, so I wish there was a print out option as well.
I am very happy that we have it.
I am adept enough to find materials to support this program as needed and I think it gives an excellent basis from which to work.
So on that basis yes, I would recommend that one gets this.... particularly if they have a student who is resistant to math. This math program with it's online tutoring breaks each aspect of math down to a simple form helping students gain a thorough understanding of what is needed.

Social Media Links

Facebook CTC Math -
Facebook Aus (Maths Online)

Review: Philippians in 28 Weeks

4/21/2014

Memorize a book of the bible? Could it even be possible? How would this work? Can we manage it? Wouldn't it be cool if we could? All these thoughts ran through my head as I considered signing up for this review. And I have to tell you, I am happy that I did. :)

Product Information:

Vendor: Home School Adventure Co.
Product: Philippians in 28 Weeks (ESV)
Age Range: For read aloud and discussion as a family: ages 9-11. For ages 12 and up, also great for family discussion and/or parental/teacher guidance. High schoolers can do this on their own.
Price:Available in KJV and ESV print $28.95 ebook $14.95 memory cards alone $9.95

Other products being reviewed by the TOS Crew:
Philosophy Adventure
Mere Christianity Journal
The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions

Mom.. what does it mean "to preach Christ from envy and rivalry"?
Mom.... when it says Selfish Ambition... what does that mean?

For those questions (and others like it) I heartily recommend doing this bible curriculum with your children. I LOVE the questions. And I didn't get those questions the first week that I read from Philippians... I got them in week three... when we'd read it enough he was starting to say words with me. And that is when the questions started to come. Mom.. what does it mean. Mom.. why? Mom.. what happened? Mom, I don't understand.

I DID NOT anticipate that.

I figured you hear something once, you don't understand, you ask then.
I didn't expect the slowness of the questions. So it surprised me and totally delighted me. :) But when the questions started, they continued...and so one eight year old boy has a better understanding of the first chapter of Philippians.

And I say the FIRST chapter of Philippians.
I have to admit, I could not keep up the pace of the program. And that's one of the nice things about this program. We could not keep up the pace of learning 5-6 verses a week so we slowed it way down. We could manage two-three. So we'd do the copy work. We'd say the verses together. We sometimes could get a rhyme/rhythm/tune going which makes it easier to say and remember. We'd think about the verses, and we were aided in that thinking with questions provided.

That worked for us and that's what I like. We have the challenge ahead of us of seeing if we can learn Philippians all the way through, but in the meantime we are gaining more familiarity with the book. This is a GOOD thing. :)

So just what is Philippians in 28 weeks all about you ask?   Well, it's a program (I received it as an e-book) whereby you set out to learn Philippians (the whole book) in 28 weeks.   They come with nifty little scriptures cards (I have to admit, I found the print of them too small and needed to rewrite them) so you can carry the verses with you to learn... though after I expanded the text I got this brain storm and downloaded an ESV bible onto my phone and VOILA, even my boy could find the verses easily AND I could make it into a font size I could read easily!   TADA! I was so happy I had that brainstorm.    So now we could do it in the car as well. :)   With it comes sheets for doing bible copywork as you write out each verse. Have to admit.. my son DISLIKED this intensely. Oh my... the first time he did it he had a minor meltdown so one verse a every other day.. that worked for us. :) Prevent melt-downs and continue to learn... that's what it is all about.

Check off sheets, memorization aids, a log to help you remember the steps of read, reflect, repeat, recite, and to read through the entire book of Philippians every day.   You also need to retain those verses by saying what you know before you start the new verses.   Once again, I have to say.. I didn't read through the entire book of Philippians every day. We caught a lingering cold, so doing that much reading simply wasn't going to happen (sorry... we're just getting over it and it was a long three weeks).   But we did read the first chapter over and over again... really helps with the retention to do so eh? :)   But all kinds of little things like that aid in the recall of Philippians and I can say we have a much better understanding of it now. :)

Would I recommend this course?   Yes.   EVEN THOUGH we didn't quite work this out the way I had intended (with Dad taking an active part in the reading and memorization) ... I had failed to take into account memory issues that have lingered since his stroke four years ago. My bad.. sometimes I get ahead of myself that I forget to think that aspect of things through. I do think that if you have older children say... 9 years old and up it might be easier for them to work on memorizing it on their own, but my eight year old gave it a game try with me.. we worked on learning Philippians together... and we did manage to get a good portion of the first chapter of Philippians memorized. (We surprised dad). :) AND I'm glad that we did do it more together as it gave me a chance to be surprised by my son's questions.

Guess what! If you want to try this program with your children... you can until May 15 for 10% less! Isn't that great? Go to Home School Adventure Co. and check it out. :)

Anyways, I have given you my experiences with using this scripture memory system, we on the TOS crew have been reviewing a number of different items for the Home School Adventure Co.

Philosophy Adventure
Mere Christianity Journal
Philippians in 28 Weeks
The Wise Woman with Literary Analysis Journal Questions

Go check them out by clicking the image below. :)

Social Media Links:

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Review: One Realm Beyond

4/20/2014

A coming to age type of fantasy book. Cantor, a young realm walker, learns his powers while developing friendships and finding his way through a treacherous world.

Product Details:
Book Title: One Realm Beyond
Series: Realm Walkers
Author: Donita K. Paul
Publisher: Zondervan
Pages: 414
Price: $12.79 on Amazon.ca
Reviewed for : BookLook Bloggers.

I have to tell you how much I enjoyed this book, it made me chuckle from the get go. My son heard me laughing one night and came running "Mom, whats funny?"   I explained to him how I was reading a book about a lad who was learning his job as a realm walker and how he needed to find a dragon to be his best buddy and EVERYONE knew that dragons don't have companions.. and here he found a dragon with a pet cat!   And how confounded the lad Cantor was by that.   The lad laughed as well.. a dragon with a pet cat?!?!?!   That's just too funny.

Overall the book was well written, it frequently made me chuckle and I'd occasionally read lines to my hubby.   When I was done it I said "hun, you need to read this book too.   He looked at it and said "Donita Paul... you've liked other stuff by her as well".   So he's going to give it a read as well.

Cantor is the character the book focuses on. He's a young fellow just about to set off on his realm walker journeys. First off.. find a dragon, second... get your training in.   His folks give him some solid advice and set him off.   He meets an "unconventional" dragon, a fascinating young lady who apparently is a princess, a clever physician and a Primen warrior.   All are important to the growth and development of Cantor as a character and they assist him (as he assists them) in various adventures and tasks they undertake.   Great teamwork, learning, development of character, fun, sadness... as there are some dark human emotions in there.    The other characters just add so much to the book. Magic, dragons, faith, lack of faith, selfishness, greed, giving of one's self for others... all types of things to discover in this young adult fantasy.

A well-rounded book worth reading! :)

So go on out... get it!

Social Media Links
Website for Donita K. Paul.
Facebook.
Google+.
Twitter.

Ditching the books for outdoor fun ... er.. Learning right. :)

4/19/2014

I'm writing this post as part of the TOS Crew Carnival topic Spring Studies.   When I thought of spring studies I immediately thought of our recent day that we took off from doing book work.

My son was ABSOLUTELY delighted!
"Mom.. you mean I can help you and look for bugs too?"
Sure can lad. :)
"YEAH!!!   This will be the best day ever!"

Our goal is to move the veggies gardens over.    We have clay and digging in clay is NOT my idea of fun so when I moved in (after we got married) I set up raised beds to do my gardening.   It was otherwise much to hard to work with. I have to say.. between the dirt I originally brought in and the rabbit waste.. I have the best soil around for miles.   :) I actually have people come and buy it off me in the spring. :) But I digress.

We are moving the gardens in order to resituate our rabbitry a bit. I'm allowed 20 rabbits in town and was housing them 10 x 20 portable garages but someone complained and now I need to put them in to 10 x 10 shelters... seems silly but hey, it means we can resituate and make it work better in the long run.

In the process of our digging the lad is finding many interesting critters to study and we often take breaks to discover what they need to survive. Take for instance the big headed ground beetle. The image below is from theBugGuide. My son is finding these guys everywhere in our gardens. We've learned they like to live in moist places and are often found on rocks and other debris. They eat small insects and arthropods.

Click image to go to source, BUG GUIDE.

Having learned that information, everyone one of these nasty looking bugs (though they really aren't nasty as when you find them they "freeze". This means you can easily handle them and discover that they have reddish/brown highlights.. they aren't the solid black you first think they are. They are actually quite nice looking if you give them a chance, and very easy to handle. Anyways, my son built this habitat for them. under that ground cover (he didn't want me lifting the cover off) is a whack of damp dirt with stones, small insects, and rotten wood. The beetles seem quite happy and when you put them in (once they unfreeze) they immediately burrow away. Fascinating to watch how quickly they disappear.

He's also managed to find three different grubs and he's really hoping that this habitat is good for them. Other than the fact that they live in the ground and they come out when the weather is nice, we've been unable to learn much about what they need to survive. One thick white one, one skinny white/yellow one and one brown one that kinda looks like a caterpillar. He's also found what looks to me like a corn grub but he thought that one icky and tossed it over our back fence. I don't like that one mom.. it makes me think of a centipedes and I don't like them.

But we saw some really neat bugs... an iridescent blue one, some tiny springtails, baby centipedes, millipedes, NO snail eggs! WOOT WOOT, some small VERY FAST black bugs, different coloured worms, a flat brown bug that the lad said "he's ugly mom, I'm not keeping him. I'm sure the toads won't like him either". A colony of small brown/yellow ants that we didn't expect to find as there was no outward sign of them. "Watch them mom, they are scared you wrecked their home". Oh, and the lad had the extreme joy of finding his first wolf spider of the season. He just LOVES spiders (whereas I think of them as he thinks of outdoor centipedes).

I must mention, my boy loves all things buggy and animaly.. EXCEPT for centipedes. For some reason they just give him the creeps. "you know how you don't like spiders on you mom? I don't like centipedes.. they are red and they can bites and all those legs mom... I just don't like them." He tried to be brave and keep some for feeding the toads but he just couldn't do it. Speaking of our toads. The lad has successfully kept three toads all winter. He did so by feeding them crickets and the other day we fed them some worms. Boy that was funny to watch. They all gathered round with this look of intense concentration and then flick.. a worm would be snatched up. I hope you can see at least one of them in this picture getting ready to have his breakfast.

The lad has discovered how wood breaks down when exposed to dirt. It gets all soft and crumbly and bugs like to hide it. It's such a treasure trove for a lad.

And he had a great deal of fun smashing apart two old gardens that had degraded too much to be moved. "MOM!!!! Look how the worms stick into the cracks! I can't get him out he's so stubborn mom. What do you think the worms thinking with me pulling on him? Do you think he's saying AH.. let go of my butt!!! (giggle). MOM!!! See this huge root that grew through the wood!!! Did you know roots could be that strong mom?"

He has a bucket for worms now to feed his toads. The worms on the table there were picked out for feeding the toads. The lad has so much fun making up conversations for the toads. "ah, we were having a nice breakfast and AH!!! This huge predator has grabbed us AH!!!! oh good, we get to relax, we're not being eaten, hold on ... why are we on this hard surface, what's going on... AH!!! OH No... TOADS!!!! HELP!!!!"

While gardening I asked my lad if he checked the vole traps recently. "Oh no mom, I haven't! Oh.. I better do that we don't want them to die!!!" To his absolute delight there were two new ones today. They joined the rest in our basement tank. The new ones are still quite timid and let my boy handle them nicely. At the end of the month most will go to the raptor rescue to be a breeding colony there and the offspring used to help the raptors get "release ready".

Hmmm.. what else... We talked about the joy of finding the first flowers of spring. It's been a full week now since we discovered the snow drops are blooming. I have to admit.. I don't like this time of the year when it's all mucky everywhere you go. BUT what I like is looking for the beauty of the season...the birds returning, the first flowers of spring and what not. The muck annoys, but hidden within it is beauty. Kinda like how God sees us eh? Amidst the muck of our lives he sees the beauty of his son in us and calls us out of it.

I almost forgot. The lad is conducting an experiment that we really hope works. He found a tiny ground bee. He thinks it's a female since they hibernate over the winter. He put her in this largest jar with the hopes that she'll settle in, make a burrow and then he can let take the lid off and let her come and go. That way he won't have to struggle to feed her, she'll be safe with a good spot for her burrow, and he can watch bees do their thing. I am so hopeful for him that it will work. Bees are threatened in Ontario (and well all over Canada). So many pesticides are wiping them out or weakening them so they are less resistant to disease.

We felt very accomplished by the end of our day...and the lad got to enjoy a chocolate bar as the fruits of his labour.   Certainly were tired and sore after our days work/fun.

On Good Friday my lad had the joy of showing his beloved gramma all the bugs that he caught, and she was duelly impressed. :)    I so much appreciate my husband's mom and how interested she is in everything about her grandson.   Even if she doesn't like 'em, she still takes an avid interest in everything that he is interested in.   :)   So nice to watch their interaction...I never thought that would bring me so much joy as a mom. :)

Anyways, do come on over and visit us.   We, of the TOS Crew, would be delighted to have you learn how we do spring studies in our homeschooling adventures. :)