Tuesday, April 30, 2013

April 2013 Learning

  It's been a bit of a lazy month. With spring so late in coming, everyone is anxious to get out and enjoy some outdoor activities. Finally toward the end of the month, Danny and Danica were able to get their bikes out. Danny's had to be fixed first.
   I've spent lots of time on pinterest looking for ideas for gardening and landscaping our yard, and ideas that the kids can help out with. Danny and Danica are both interested in having their own garden space, as well as some play areas.

Danica
  • Horizon's Reader 1- Danica is working her way through this reader. We started it last year, and then set it aside. Danica picked it up again and is able to read much of it with help.
  • Lot's of coloring, painting, play doe and other indoor activities!
  • Abc Mouse.com 
  • Danica likes to write song lyrics. I'm very impressed!  Here are some of them: 
         When you're walking through the darkness,and you're frightened,
          Jesus will be by your side.

          The snow on the ground, the sun in the sky,
          Melting the darkness and freezing the lies.

         So light up the world in the river of life
         To see how the world is so shiny and bright.






Danny
  • Reading- Ghost Stories of Manitoba/Call Of the Wild/King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table/Better Than A Horse/Living Sacrifice/Red badge of Courage/
  • After watching Caine's Arcade, Danny made a few of his own cardboard arcade games.
  • Danny spent a few days watching Steve Spangler's Science videos, and trying a couple of them.
  • Danny still spends a lot of time drawing, and watching drawing videos from Mark Crilly and Shoo Rayner
  • Danny is interested in Tiny Houses, and would like to attempt to build one someday. He's also wanting to find a way to earn some money. One idea is to sell veggies and cut flowers...once we have some! We have the frame of an old trailer; he's hoping Dad will help him turn it into a 'sales wagon' that he can set up and sell stuff from. 
  • Danny joined DIY, a site where kids can do projects on every topic under the sun. Danny has spent hours on there, watching videos and then doing his own projects demonstrating skills.  He's worked on a baking project and a block building project.
  • Steve Spangler Sick Science- another site Danny has spent hours on...watching various scince experiments, and then trying some himself.
  • Danny is also interested in woodworking. I've found many sites online for building with pallets. Dad is collecting as many as he can from work, and other places. We plan to use them for fences and planters, but hopefully use some for other projects.



Danny making cookies


Danny making salad


Danny's science experiment- egg in vinegar


Danny playing the glasses

Jerry
  • Reading- Call Of The Wild/Cool Technology/For What it's Worth, Paul Harvey/
  • Working through a math book
  • Jason and Paul were over for a Minecraft Party Night
  • Playing catch with Jason....impatiently waiting for the snow to melt
  • Watching Blue Jays ball games with Jason and Dennis
  • Dad bought Jerry some hockey pads (second hand) as part of his payment for all the work he did on the house.
Jerry's new hockey pads

All ready for next year's hockey season!


Computer
  • Arthur's First Grade
  • 3D House
  • Ratatoulle
  • Halo
  • Back yard Baseball


Netflix and Online
  • Heartland- we've now caught up to the new episodes, and are watching once a week.
  • The Art Of Flight Series- pro snow boarders
  • River Monsters
  • Cowgirls and Angels
  • Person of Interest
  • Ripley's Believe it or Not (cartoon version)
  • Wildlife Specials (BBC)
  • Creatures That Defy Evolution 

DVD
  • Journey To the Mysterious Island
  • Peter Pan
  • Parental Guidance- (Billy crystal, Bette Midler) I really enjoyed this movie. I think most of us have at least a few issues with how we were parented, and we feel that we can, or are, doing a better job with our own. This movie does such a good job of showing this, in a funny, and sometimes tear jerking way! The parents have very different parenting methods than the grandparents, and have very little contact, until Grandma and Grandpa are needed as babysitters. In the end, the mom finds out that her own daughter is no happier with the way she is being raised than her mother was with her parents...and comes away with an appreciation for her parents, and a better relationship with her kids. 
  • Avengers-again!

Games
  •  Xbox-Minecraft/Baseball 2k12/Skyrim
  • wii- wii sports/ wii fit/Tony Hawks Downhill Jam

Family This 'n That


 I made the mistake of looking at pictures of puppies for sale online....and found my favorite dog...a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. I found one last November, but managed to talk myself out of buying one at the time. This time we brought home Avalie, and she has taken most of my attention for the last two weeks of April. With snow still on the ground when we got her, I've trained her to go potty in a box. She's doing great, with just a few accidents, and now that spring is finally here, she has started going outside with Daisy and Chico.
Avalie had her check up at the vet and got her shots. We also found out she had ear mites, which the vet treated. We did another treatment two weeks later, as well as another deworming. We'll be taking her back next months for her next round of shots.
We've continued learning about pregnancy in dogs, as Daisy's belly grows bigger every day! The vet gave us some information on whelping, and we bought some vitamin powder for Daisy. She's always been a finicky eater, so I've been mixing canned food, and the vitamins in with her dry food and she's eating much better, and looking great!
Danny with Avalie

Dad with Avalie

Danica with Avalie


Mom napping with Avalie

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Tiny House

Posted for Danny.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Caine's Arcade

We all loved this video! It was a great inspiration for the kids to start coming up with ideas of their own.

Sunday, March 31, 2013

March 2013 Learning

As always, there are many links in the sidebar that the kids access that aren't all listed here.

Danica
  • Continuing ABC Mouse
  • Animal Jam, EZTales, 
  • Teach Your Monster To Read- Danica is really enjoying this free site we found.
  • Danica came up with a plan for reading- she reads a book to me, then I read a book to her. These are just little beginner readers for her, and character trait books for me.
  • Danica loves writing out word lists that she makes up on her own. Not all are real words, but she sounds them out, and asks me if they are words.
  • Animal Planet Dogs- checking out bichons, poodles,(Chico) and goldendoodles (Daisy)
  • This month we've had a four year old little girl stay with us, so Danica has had someone to play with...or fight with depending on her mood! They've had fun playing outside in the snow, painting, coloring, playing with barbies etc. Later in the month, we also added a three year old girl, which has given Danica opportunities for character building!
  • Horrible Histories- Danica learned about pyramids and pharoah watching one of these. She showed me the shape of a pyramid using coins.
  • While driving, Danica was telling me the different words for two, too, to. We talked about other words like write and right....and that right has different meanings- right there, that's right, right hand etc.
  • Danica brought me her coins and wanted to know the value of each. We then talked about how many pennies in a nickel, nickles, in a dime, and what coins make up a quarter.
  • We have a box of various flash cards. Danica picked out the ones for telling time and began going through them on her own.
  • Youtube- My Little Pony/Transformers-Rescue Bots/Greatest Story Ever Told- Easter Story
Making Jillian Jiggs Wonderful Pigs
Sewing eyes and nose on pig
Fabric paint smile!
Cutting snow peas for soup
Danica working hard
Danica's not sure about this!
Making Fiddle Diddles with Dad
Danica's horse coloring and map
Danica dancing to Danny's Band In a Box music creation
Danica doing Math

Counting Coins


Danny
  • Reading- White Fang/Heidi/Great Expectations/Huckleberry Finn/ Nasty Nature/ Sugar Creek Gang- The Treasure Hunt/Nancy Drew-The Triple Hoax/ A Light In The Castle/Danny Orlis- The Sacred Ruins/
  • Drawing- watching Mark Crilly art videos online
  • Started guitar lessons at Sprucewoods Community Hall, and is practicing daily at home. Dad decided to join him!
Danny Learning Guitar








Salad-made by Danny


























  Jerry
  • Reading- Royal Diaries- Marie Antoinette/Pierre Burton's Adventures In Canadian History- Trapped In the Arctic,Canada Under Siege, A Prairie Nightmare/ Doctor Proctors Fart Powder, FP-Bubbles In The Bathtub, FP-Who Cut the Cheese?
  • Working through a math workbook
  • Continuing to ride with Cameron
  • Various History Videos Online
  • Horrible Histories- History lessons made funny. Danny and Danica have been watching some of these too.
  • Forgot to mention previously- Jerry does an exercise program- push ups, chin ups, sit ups etc. every day.
  • Jerry went to the Brandon Career Symposium with Dana and Jason. He was most interested in the Military display, and the heavy equipment operator display. He was able to try out a miniature back hoe, and thinks it's something he might be interested in trying when he's older.
  • Jerry had a sleep over at Jason's house, for a Minecraft party. He also plays online with Justin, Jason and Paul now and then.
Jerry at the Career Symposium
Computer
  • Pyjama Sam - This is an old game that Justin used to play. Danica found it and has been enjoying learning about the weather.

Netflix
  • Continuing Heartland Series
  • Helicopter Canada- about 50 years old. In it's day, it was probably pretty good, but didn't hold anyone's interest!
  • Vegucated- we watched most of this, but got bored. I think we've seen enough of these types of documentaries for a while!
  • Arthur Series (science fiction)
  • Zaboomafoo
  • Ride the Divide- three cyclists attempt a 2,700 mile ride from Banff to the US/Mexico border (Danny watched this)
  • A Team is the new favorite!

DVD's
  • The Hobbitt (dad and the boys)

Games
  • wii- Batman Lego, wii Fit, wii sports, 
  • xBox- Minecraft- playing online with Paul and Jason, NHL 2012, Skyrim, Counter Strik
Family This 'n That
  • Dad and the boys went to the theatre to see Oz The Great and Powerful
  • We bought a new dog this month. His name is Chico, and he is a black miniature poodle. We are hoping that he and Daisy will have puppies together. We've been learning about dog reproduction and breeding. Daisy and chico 'tied' 3 times over a one week period...the first time happened unexpectedly on the deck on a very cold day! We found a canine pregnancy calendar online to know what signs to look for in Daisy at different stages of pregnancy.
Jerry, Danica and Danny, Daisy and Chico
Danny with Chico and Daisy
Danica and Chico
Danny and Mom bathed and blow dried Chico

If all goes well- puppies will arrive May long weekend

Danny and Danica enjoying the sun on Easter Sunday!
Brian practicing his guitar
Brian at Westman Jam




Friday, March 8, 2013

Magic Box For Percent

Years ago, I learned this simple method of calculating percent. 
The visual aspect makes it so easy to understand!

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Designing Your Own Learning

I liked this so much I decided to post it here, and see if this is something the boys might be interested in incorporating here.

Conception To Birth

Worth saving to watch again.

February 2013 Learning

Danica
  • Progressing quickly through ABC Mouse
  • Loves animal Jam!
  • Favorite book- The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs. As soon as we have the required materials, we're going to make some pigs.
  • Coloring, drawing
  • Leapster
  • Danica has been using our tub as a swimming pool,  practicing  going under water to get over her fears, in preparation for summer! She's also learning about water currents by floating bottles   round and round the tub.
  • An example of a conversation with Danica...While setting up a video game she said "Great!" then said, "I meant that the good way, not the bad way." Then went on to explain what she meant by that. I told her that when you use it 'the bad way' that is being sarcastic....adding to her already amazing vocabulary and comprehension.


Sweet note from Danica
On Wii Fit
Working on a puzzle...I do the border, Danica does the rest.
Danny

  • Reading- Continuing in Childhood of Famous Americans Series: Albert Einstein, Buffalo Bill, George Washington, Henry Ford/ Cool Technology Encyclopedia/Swiss Family Robinson/Paul Harvey's For What It's Worth/Charle Brown/Danny Orlis and the Strange Forest Fires/Worst Case Scenario/Flubber/
  • Drawing
  • Attended the Westman Jam with his dad Feb. 24th
Westman Jam
Danny decorated his own birthday cake!
Feb 13th, Danny's 11th birthday
Danny making Kraft Dinner



Jerry
  • Reading- Cool Technology Encyclopedia/ Success Magazine/Royal Diaries- Victoria, Anastasia/
  • Canadian Curriculum workbook
  • Continuing his riding and working with Cameron
  • Jerry spent two days at his friend's house....for Matt's birthday, and took a trip to the Winnipeg Airport.
  • Earlier in the winter, Jerry helped Cameron skin a coyote. The saved and cleaned the skull, which Jerry brought home and decorate. He also saved the teeth. Fun stuff!

Painted coyote skull
Necklace from coyote teeth


Justin is taking advantage of an opportunity to go to Alberta and work with his older brother, siding houses. The original plan was for him to go in June, but Lorne's helper on the job quit unexpectedly, moving the date up several months!
Justin will continue to work on his films and maintain his Youtube channel and FB pages while in Alberta.

He had to make one last video before leaving Manitoba!


Leaving on the train


Netflix


  • Zaboomafoo
  • Wonders of the Industrial World- The Panama Canal, The Line, The Hoover Dam
  • Super Size Me-The results of living on a diet of MacDonalds for one month; with negative results to his health
  • Fat Head- A guy goes on a fast food diet, with positive results to his health; opposite findings to Super Size me...which is what he set out to do.
  • Vegucated- Three people go on a vegan diet for 6 weeks, with positive results to their health...which is what they set out to do. What we learned from these three documentaries was that you can't believe everything you see on a documentary. It seems that people are able to find statistics and studies to back up whatever they set out to prove, very much like people who pick and choose scriptures to prove their own theology. The one conclusion we can come to is that a balanced diet is best...high in protein (from whatever source) and fruit and veggies, lower in carbohydrates....and we all need to exercise! 
  • The Blue Planet
  • Walking With Monsters
  • Walking On Water surfing
  • Being Elmo- The story of the man who plays Sesame Street's Elmo. Even Justin enjoyed this one!
  • Turtle- The Incredible Journey
  • Grossology- Who knew a gross cartoon could be so educational?
  • The Greatest Movie Ever Made- about advertising in movies
  • The Art Of Flight- Snowboarders travel to various locations around the world
  • Touching the Void- a mountain climber falls into a crevice and breaks his leg, but manages to climb out
  • Heartland Series- has become a family favorite! It's a fictional story about a horse ranch in Alberta that works with troubled horses, helping them to heal. Of course, Jerry and Danica both love horses, and jerry spends lots of time working with them across the road.                     *Note- we noticed Tim Bits and Tim Hortons coffee in the movie - an example of product placement advertising. We talked about how Justin could use this type of advertising on his short films. This ties in with the documentary on advertising.                                                   We  googled the  Heartland Website to find out more about the series and the location where they shoot it. With Justin and Lorne (and family) living in Alberta, it makes it even  more interesting. 

Dvds
  • Storm Stories-  stories of surviving various storms; tornadoes, floods, landslides, hurricanes, ice storms, 
Games

  • XBox- Minecraft, MW3, NHL 2013, Skyrim, Counter Strike Go, Halo 4,
  • Wii- Wii Fit, Wii Sports (various), Tony Hawk Downhill Jam, Super Smash Bros, Legend of Zelda, Mario Super Sluggers,
  • Play Station 2- Incredibles, Sly Cooper 3, 
  • PC- Deer Hunter 5, Age Of Empires,  Sitting Ducks,

Family This 'n That

Wheat Kings Game-Danny and Harley
Foster Family Bowling Party

Jerry Entertaining his niece and sister
Justin and nephew, Reid, playing piano
Danica and Danny building a snow fort