Gorman's Mill

What an absolutely fantastic field trip this was!  One of the things that Samuel has been studying is BC Resources, so together with some other 5th and 6th graders from our co-op, we headed off to Gorman's Mill.  We learned so much the production of wood and the way the entire mill functions.  This was really a great trip.



An entire load of logs right off the back of a huge logging truck.  Incidentally, it was about -15 this day!  Our guide said it was definitely the coldest trip he'd ever done.



The technology in the mill is amazing.  The computer does a scan of each log that comes through and, in a second or two, decides what width boards to cut the entire log into with the least amount of waste.



Papa came on the trip with us.  He's standing by the huge saw blades to give us an idea of their size.



Our guide was great.  Here he is showing and explaining to one of the groups the different things that get caught in wood and that have damaged the saw blades.  Any metal is usually detected, but some things, like rocks can grow within a tree and cause damage.  The blades must be changed immediately.



The work ethic and expectations at the mill were very impressive.  The production expected is 100%.  What they are doing every minute is posted across from them where they can see.  They don't let the employees stay at any job for more than two hours so that they don't get tired, unproductive or dangerous.



Some of our motley crew in full safety gear with their sample boards.

Nature Explorations and a few other tid bits

Throughout the fall, we have enjoyed some fantastic hikes and explorations with a wonderful naturalist. We have seen many different animals, and learned so much from him.











This is a game that we made up with verbs, nouns, adjectives and adverbs.  It's straight grammar and the kids really enjoy it!  They have to match the name (V, N, Adj or Adv in green) with the description (in red), together with a word that fits.  They do it together or separately and try to beat each others times!



This was at AWANA.  They had to come dressed as a Bible character.  Take a guess who everyone is and I'll tell you at the bottom of the picture.



Liam is Ezekiel and the valley of dry bones!  Teigan is Queen Esther (in a real salwar kameez) and Samuel is King David ready for battle.  We joked about going as King David when he danced before the Lord - he didn't think that was funny!  (We sure did.)

My Favourite Photo Cards

This is the second year in a row that I will be using Shutterfly to make my Christmas Photo Cards and not just because they are giving me 50 free cards for doing a post!  I already had my 2010 card designed and ready to go before I found out about this promo.  I loved my cards from last year, and this year's are going to be even better!  I want to show you - but I'll have to wait until later... besides that might ruin the surprise if you get one in the mail.  They have hundreds of fantastic layouts, not just for Christmas cards, but you can make EASY photo calendars, birthday cards, stationary and SO MUCH MORE.  The great thing is because it is so easy, that I actually made a few different mock ups to see which one I liked the best.  When I got my cards last year I was really pleased with the quality.  This year I'm doing something a little different and getting the card stock ones instead of photo paper.  I'm excited to see how they'll turn out.  I know I'll be thrilled.

If you are a blogger, give Shutterfly a try - 50 free cards!  Trust me, you'll be thrilled! I only wish that I had my cards done about a month ago. :) They may end up being New Year's cards...

Science and anatomy... pint size

We have been having an amazing time learning about anatomy.  This day we looked at our hair, our blood, spit, and skin under the microscopes!  SO VERY COOL.  It was funny, today Liam had a pretty good fall on his bike; skinned his knees and gashed the palms of his hands.  Through his tears he says, "can you get a slide so we can look at some of my blood under the microscope?"



While we do need to invest in a serious microscope, these little pocket explorer microscopes have been fantastic.  The boys bring them on hikes and pull them out to get a closer look at anything from pond water to fungi.





See why we call it the "wonder room"?  It's so much fun to watch them get all excited when something comes into focus.  "MOM!  You gotta see this!" 



This day with the microscopes, we actually did science for three hours!  Complete with illustrations of what they saw and write ups.  Overheard more than once were comments like, "this is SO cool!"  "Hey, come and see mine", "what are you looking at?"

Another very wonderful addition to our wonder room has been our little dissect"able" friend here.  Complete with "organ-izer".  You can see in the second picture, Teigan has the intestines out and and is just thinking about the stomach and the liver.





There are so many times and reasons that I am thankful for the opportunity to school and learn the way that we do.  These kids LOVE to learn, and have such a fantastic sense of wonder and curiosity. How amazing for me to guide and learn along side them, exploring the incredible wonders of science (and everything else).  I am truly blessed.

A little bit of math...

What?! Poker chips in the classroom?!  Ah yes... whatever I can get my hands on that the kids will enjoy "playing" with math, I will use.  Poker chips have been a fantastic manipulative for place value, games, scoring... lots of great math.  Teigan and Liam are building addition and subtraction (with regrouping) problems for each other to solve.  They check to make sure that the other one solves it properly.  Straight math, but the difference is they're "playing a game".  And I love hearing things like, "make a really hard one for me!"  or "this one looks like fun", or "Mom can you make a board into the millions?"  Math - only more fun.





Oh wait... more math!  Engineering this time.





I almost didn't get this this summer, and yet it has turned out to be one of the best purchases from my "planning weekend"!  Made by Keva, Contraptions is basically what you see... 200 little blocks of wood and two little ping-pongish balls.  Plus some great instructions and ideas to get the kids started.  And all they needed was to start.  Samuel and Liam built an incredible contraption that the ball stepped down one side to the other, back and forth all the way to the bottom.  Fantastic engineering, lots of trial and error, but in the end they had built an amazing tower and step shaft.  (The puppy came running through and ruined it before I thought to get the camera - they were not happy about that!)

We do math in a book sometimes too.  Just in case you're wondering.  :)

Beaching in October

I love when God gives us unexpected gifts... like one last day of summer when we're already into October.  So of course, what else do you do around here on a fabulous "summer" afternoon but call up some friends and head to the beach?!  While the water was certainly chilly, the smiles and laughter, and warmth of the sun kept us all nice and toasty.  The joy of kids.  The simple joys of friendship. 













We'll be skiing in a couple of months... but for now we're still relishing in the beautiful weather, and all of the outdoor joys and activities that we love about this time of year.  And as always, enjoying our friends.

Samuel's new blog - Journey to Destiny

Samuel decided that he wanted to start a blog.  He doesn't love to write, so anything I can do to support any form of writing that he will enjoy... I AM IN!  He came up with the name himself;  Journey to Destiny.  Which I absolutely love.  When I asked him about the name he said that he thought about the top of my blog - Enjoy the Journey.  From there he was thinking about his own "journey" and where he was going.  He said that even though he doesn't know where life will take him yet,  he knows that God has a plan for his life.  His destiny.  So he is on the journey to destiny.  LOVE IT!   Go ahead and check it out.  It thrills him to have people look at it and leave feedback.  It makes him want to write more on it.  Which of course - I completely support!