May 5th, 2013
Meredith loves doing science experiments. She has really wanted to do a particular one that involves building a volcano out of clay and then using baking soda and vinegar for the lava. We don’t have everything we would need to do it indoors right now, but we suggested she build a volcano outside using mud.
First she built up the base around a jar.
We added red food colouring, a few drops of dish soap, and some vinegar into the jar. Then she spooned in some baking soda…
And was thrilled to see the “lava” explode out immediately afterwards.
She had a blast playing with the “lava”, spreading it around, watching it soak into the dirt and mud. She noticed that it always went in one direction only, and thought that might be because the jar was a little crooked. She then scooped everything out of the jar and we did it again. I think this instantly became one of her favourite experiments we have done. Definitely one we will be trying again. It reminds me of this project which we have done twice now, and I think will be repeated again this summer for sure too.
May 4th, 2013
Life is moving along right now. It’s busy as we prepare not only for a new baby, but for a new gardening season. Also, it seems that the local home learner’s group is much slower in the winter, and then picks up over the spring and summer, rather than the other way around like the public school system.
One of the newest highlights has been our latest venture: beekeeping. I’ve written a lot more about that on our other blog though, as well as updates on our garden and will be writing some new posts about our chickens and ducks as well.
Meredith recently participated in an art project and then a totem pole walk with a local home learning cooperative group, where she discovered a love of (and affinity for) mapping. We may wander around and map our neighbourhood or look into geocaching or something, as she really wants to do more mapping and similar-type activities. While Meredith was in the art studio (they were doing a Mother’s Day project so I wasn’t “allowed” to know what they did), Fiona and I walked around downtown and found a spot In a park with lots of ants and flowers, and Fiona had a great time just watching the ants working. Afterwards, we all walked to a nearby playground and played until the kids were exhausted.
We also organized a co-op with the local home learning group to get some caterpillars to watch grow into butterflies, that we picked up this past week. Meredith spent the first day drawing pictures of how they look, and looking up what to expect in the chrysalis and butterfly stages and drawing those as well. They’re not very exciting yet, but Meredith does make sure to check on them every day and see if they’ve changed, and is looking forward to the butterflies.
We signed up for a 30×30 nature challenge, and so far have been able to get out every day. We do try to get out every day all year, but sometimes we forget to stop and look around us and see the nature even in busy places (like the ants Fiona found in the middle of a small city park), so I’m hoping it will give us some new ideas and motivation to get out even on not so nice days.
April 14th, 2013
 Meredith had asked several times for her own mei tai to carry the new baby around in. I put her off at first, thinking it might be just a passing request, but it was definitely something she was serious about as it kept coming up. She wanted it to be pink, and when I [...]
March 15th, 2013
My sweet Fiona turned three this week. Kris always takes their birthday off and for Meredith we have done things like gone to Saltspring Island, but the weather isn’t nearly as predictable in March. She originally said she wanted to ride a pony, but there are no places that have pony [...]
March 10th, 2013
 Things have been busy around here, as usual. With a baby due in just over three months(ish) and lots of gardening and other things happening to prepare for spring, it seems like we are always doing something! I also co-admin a local car seat page and the website to go along [...]
November 26th, 2012
 The first “term” of Meredith’s first official year of home schooling is coming to an end. I use the word “term” loosely. I had to fill out something for the school we’re enrolled with, that took about ten minutes, and that’s about all that marks the end of the term from anything else. Really, [...]
September 16th, 2012
 Here are some pictures of the new baby chicks. I’m hoping for more hens, since we ended up with mostly roosters last time.
There are six in total this time.
This little guy is about half the size of the rest and has fuzzy feet, so I [...]
September 13th, 2012
 Well, this week would have been Meredith’s first week of kindergarten. (Or would it have started last week? I don’t actually know.) So what have we done lately to kick off this important milestone?
We took care of a broody hen and were rewarded today with new baby chicks. (I’ll update with pictures as [...]
July 9th, 2012
 This is cross-posted from my other blog again, but is relevant here too. Some friends came over today and we were able to get our sand box filled with sand as well as put up our swing set.
The kids were thrilled (and tired!)
It took about a [...]
July 1st, 2012
 We built a giant sandbox today for the girls. More pictures and details are here.
I’ve started watching a friend’s son two days a week and the situation is pretty ideal. They live close, her schedule is flexible, and the little boy is just the sweetest, mellowest little [...]
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