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Cassius and I fell in love with this story told in pictures and words. We both read in a 24 hour period, separately, fighting over it.
Before turning the page into part two Cassius exclaimed, “Oh I got a that excited feeling in my heart – when I know I’m going to find out the answer to the mystery when I turn the page!” He turned the page and his eyes lit up. Then he turned the page again, “Oh I got that feeling in my heart again, all has been revealed to me!”
I don’t want to give away any of the story, except to say much of it is based on fact. We spent the week watching old black and white movies featured in the book and researching automatons.
The painting in these pictures happened when Tamara and I were sewing in the other room. They used ALL the paint about 20 pages of paper. (it was still cheaper than all of them talking an art class for an hour) They had an amazing amount of fun. We had been looking at Marla Olmstead’s (The now 5 year old painter) website earlier in the day and had noticed that she poured paint right onto the canvas. The kids decided to try it and loved it.
- Anja kept exclaiming, “I’d forgotten how good paint feels on your hands! I haven’t done this in so long!”
At the next painting session the pouring started in earnest and we realize we really need to set that garage up. Maia and Kate did one that looked exactly like marbled paper. It was so wet and heavy- I threw it out, but seeing how well the other two dried I wish I had kept it.
A Painting by Anja
- A Painting by Cassius
A captive audience
Trying to get it out was challenge!
Rosalind found a leach in her fish tank and brought it over for the kids to look at. She loves Biology and could tell the kids about it and answer all their questions. Rosalind thought this was a vegetarian leach but she wasn’t positive. Anja & Rosalind wanted to dissect it, so they could see what was inside it but all the other kids (especially Cassius) out voted them. It would have been much easier to see the parts of the leach if it was dead ,But Rosalind told the kids that you can often find things that are already dead if you want to get a better look.After looking at it under the microscope they all walked to the pond at Hastings Park and set it free. Then they picked grapes from the arbor in the Italian Park
.
top of the leach
bottom of leach
The kids turned the microscope upside down and put the plate on top of it to get this picture.
I wanted to share my latest stop-motion with everyone. Can you find Cleopatra?
“The much anticipated sequel to The Chase. A Stop Motion non-stop Thrill Ride that will leave you wanting more. Part 2 of 8 year old Cassius’ Trilogy. **Contains Violence, viewer discretion is advised.**”
done
It is becoming clear to me that community (not what kids are learning or doing or how many wonderful classes they are going to) is one of the most important things for homeschooling and life in general.
This summer, my friend, neighbour and fellow homeschooling mom, Tamara, got very excited about Sudbury Valley School & The Little New School. She loved the idea of renting a house together with ten other families and having our own House School.
I wondered what we could do on a smaller scale with the few families that live near and the houses we had – since running a program would be expensive and time consuming. Then Tamara exclaimed,“Your house is Sudbury Valley School!” She was kinda joking but I really liked the idea. We talked about it with our other homeschooling friend and neighbour, Rosalind, and she was thrilled! It turns out she came to homeschooling through reading about Sudbury Valley School.
We talked about it and decided to give it try, using my house and Rosalind’s down the street.
I have a huge heated garage that we would like to set up as a workshop, pottery and painting room. We have a great yard and tree house that needs some improvements. Rosalind has a great big room in her basement and a wonderful backyard and garden. Rosalind was trained as a scientist and Tamara as an artist, and they both have a lot of wonderful knowledge and passion to share with the kids.
We moved our weekly drop-in from Strathcona to a room in hospice in a beautiful park a few blocks from our house and renamed our group Burrardview Co-op. We also have this space for three hours on Tuesdays. I have a background in theatre and am really enjoying working on Romeo and Juliet with the kids.
At first we thought it would take a lot of planning and that we would have to have a lot of rules and guidelines – but so far things have fallen into space spontaneously and effortlessly. It is becoming impossible to separate Cassius’ and Paris’ learning from that of Tamara and Rosalind’s kids. They come over to our house most days Monday to Friday and seem to be in a constant creative state. Rosalind, Tamara & I are all amazed about how much easier our days are and how happy our kids are. We are doing hardly any structured activities and we’ve never been so busy.
For example, Last Monday we went over to Rosalind’s house and washed a whole bunch of fleece and lay it out to dry in the sun in her back yard. (I had a meeting and I was able to leave my kids there for a few hours knowing they were happy and safe, and not a burden on Tamara and Rosalind, since all the kids are so busy entertaining each other.) The kids would help us and ask questions when they felt like it and then run off and play.
