What a wonderful Canada Day we had! My father, along with Dawn, Emily and myself headed down to Leduc to take part in the festivities away from the drunken city. We watched the parade, played in the park, then went to watch a Fred Penner concert. It’s a toss-up as to who had more fun…the children, or the parents whom all grew up when Penner was popular on TV!

I am happy to announce that my stay at the Glenrose is now up, that we have found suitable housing (thanks to dad’s help!), and the girls and I are planning the move at the middle of this month. It will be wonderful to be with them again! I’ve missed them so much and all of this has been so tough on them.

Hopefully things will have wound down by the middle/end of the month that we can get into some kind of semblance of normalcy. I’ll post some great Canada Day pictures as soon as I get a chance. Thanks everyone for your continued patience and support!

Several of you have been wondering why I haven’t been posting to my blog in quite some time, so I thought I’d catch you up on the situation.

I’ve been in hospital since March 15th due to an MS relapse which has so far kept me from being able to use the lower part of my body, among other things> My daughters are with their father and until I can get a bed for the neuro-rehab program at the Glenrose hospital and then secure accessible housing, there they shall remain. They are doing well and while I miss t hem dearly, they are in good and capable hands (I hope).

In the meantime, I only have Net access through my Blackberry and I am unable to post to my blogs from there. I’ve opened up a temporary blog at Blogger regarding my current situation at http://laurabeaudin.blogspot.com

Happy homeschooling!

Happy Princess Day!

Yesterday, out of the blue yonder, Dawn decided that today would be “Happy Princess Day” Her afternoon was spend dressing up as a princess, building herself a crown and running around the house singing a song she invented “Happy Princess Day!”

It was amazing to see how she spent literally hours preparing for her ’special day’ and the moment she woke up this morning, the first words out of her mouth were “Happy Princess Day!!” We celebrated our day by going to the library (her favorite spot these days) and getting her first library card! She’d been wanting her own card for a while now! She sang her Princess Day song and we found some videos of “The Little Mermaid” that I checked out for her as follow up to the book “The Little Mermaid” by Hans Christian Anderson that she asked the librarian for last week.

She has such an interest in mermaids these days that I think I’m going to create a Unit study on them for her. What do you think? Any good resources?

One thing about the internet is that if you don’t have access to a computer, you can’t use it! My PC had been onthe fritz for a while and I fnally reformatted the Beast a few days ago.

Dawn and Emily continue to amaze me in how quickly they are growing and changing!

Please stay tuned for more regularly-scheduled posting!

This video puts a lot of perspective on how fast your society is progressing. It makes me wonder whether it’s worth cramming our children’s brains with knowledge that will be useless within only a few years. There will always be a need for basics, but why instill an education in technology for things that won’t even exist in 5 years? 

Thus comes my firm belief that teaching HOW to learn and how to research is more valuable than actually memorizing facts and functions that will be useless later on. Let them learn it when it’s relevant. Watch the video and share your own thoughts on this subject!

This post was authored by Vered Deleeuw, owner of mommy blogger as a guest post on Zen Habits. Vered reminds us to look for the simple things in life when it comes to having fun together as a family…

Do you remember to have fun every day?

I’m sure you remember to brush your teeth, to eat, and to go to work. I’m confident you have a handwritten or a technology-based to-do list that you carefully go through each day. But if you read this blog, it means you want more from your life. You want to de-stress, to be present, to enjoy the journey instead of rushing through it like a madman.

Having fun with your family, especially the simple kind of fun - the one that doesn’t drain you emotionally and financially, is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy life. And in times of economic uncertainty, it is especially important to enjoy family time that does not involve spending lots of money. Here are 30 ideas for high-quality, low-cost, stress-free family fun.

1. Play together in the snow or in the rain, then go inside for a cup of hot chocolate made with real chocolate and marshmallows.

2. Make a large bowl of popcorn and snuggle in front of the DVD to watch a family movie.

3. Have a picnic. In wintertime, it’s just as fun to have a picnic indoors.

4. Snuggle together in bed on a cold Sunday morning.

5. Go out for a leisurely Sunday brunch. Many restaurants offer great Sunday buffets, and prices these days are more reasonable than ever. Kids often eat free of charge. Although buffets can be challenging if you’re trying to lose weight, or maintain your goal weight, once in a while is probably OK. Since kids usually have very limited choices as far as food goes � they eat what we give them - they really appreeciate the selection and choice a buffet offers.

6. Just talk. The older my kids are, the more interesting our conversations become.

7. Try tongue twisters. Last week when we waited forever for the check to arrive at a restaurant, my husband started a tongue twisters game. We laughed so hard, I nearly choked. My favorite tongue twister: “She sells seashells by the seashore.” Repeat three times, FAST!

8. During dinner, ask each family member to tell one good thing and one bad thing that happened to them that day. The good things are obviously fun to share. The “bad things” are a great opportunity for your kids to talk about things that bother them and for you to be more involved in their lives.

9. Create a story together. Each family member gets to add one sentence at a time. These stories can be seriously funny, especially if one of the kids happens to be in a silly mood.

10. Look at a picture album together and tell your kids the stories behind the pictures.

11. Make cookies or cupcakes together and decorate them. Try this fabulous recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies.

12. Watch old family movies.

13. Visit the library. Browse the children’s books together. Read them a story or two. Listen to Story Time if the library offers it. Browse the grownups’ selection too: it’s good for your kids to see you’re interested in books.

14. Have a family make-your-own-pizza night. Prepare several topping options. Let each child decide what kind of pizza they want. More tips here.

15. Play a board game. I don’t know about you, but my husband and I play to win. We don’t believe in letting the kids win. After all, their friends won’t let them win. The good news (or bad news, depending on your point of view): they often win anyway!

16. Go for a hike. We love to go to a local park that has beautiful redwood trees in addition to a small playground and a shaded picnic area.

17. Go to the museum. If your kids are younger than 5, take them to the children’s museum. If they are older, they can probably handle an hour or two in a “real” museum. A natural history museum is great, but many kids enjoy modern art museums as well. Many museums are free of charge for kids under 12, and many offer free admission for the entire family on monthly “family days.”

18. Go ice-skating.

19. Go to the movies. While going to the movies is not as cheap as it used to be, matinee tickets are usually reasonably priced. It’s entirely possible to find PG-rated movies that are appropriate for elementary school kids yet are fun (or at least not mind-numbingly boring) for the grownups. During winter break we took the kids to see “Marley and Me” and “Bedtime Stories.”

20. Make breakfast foods for dinner, together. It never fails to make the kids happy. We like to make pancakes together. When they’re ready, we decorate them with berries to make fun “faces.” If your kids have milk and fruit with those homemade pancakes, it’s a pretty balanced meal. And if you’re really brave, try making whole-wheat pancakes.

21. Go to the beach. The beaches here in Northern California are cold and windy, even in summertime, and very rocky. But even though they don’t provide the classic beach experience, we love to go tidepooling. We often manage to spot interesting sea creatures and shells.

22. On a warm summer night, it’s fun to go camping in your own backyard and sleep in sleeping bags, under the stars.

23. Jump rope. We do it outside in the yard in summer and inside during the winter. My kids are already experts. I’m still learning, or rather relearning.

24. Make the most of power outages. During a recent power outage, we all sat together in the kitchen. Since we were bored (no technology!) and had to use candlelight to light the kitchen, we used the candles to make s’mores. Seriously. It was one of our best nights ever. More tips for making indoor s’mores here.

25. Exercise together. I exercise at home using a yoga mat. My kids love to watch me exercise and they love even more trying to imitate what I’m doing on our extra mat.

26. Dance together. Play some loud music and go crazy with the moves. Don’t tell anyone, but I love to dance to ABBA music.

27. Bake homemade bread. You can use a bread machine if you have one, or you can knead the dough by hand. This takes time and is great for a winter day when you’re inside anyway. There’s nothing like the smell of bread as it’s baking, and there’s nothing like eating it fresh with homemade butter on top. Try this bread recipe.  To make homemade butter, simply whip heavy cream with a pinch of salt until it turns into butter. Separate it from the remaining liquid (buttermilk) and spread on the freshly baked bread.

28. Write letters to the grandparents. Even if they live nearby, they will love getting letters from their grandchildren. If you join your kids and write a few words too, you will not only set a great example for your kids but will also make your parents very happy.

29. Read a book together. You can read to your child, or she can read to you, or you can simply snuggle together, each of you reading her own book.

30. Watch TV together. TV is not just a convenient babysitter: it can be an opportunity to share an experience with your kids. Once in a while I join my kids when they watch one of their favorite TV shows. They snuggle close to me, and whenever something funny happens on the show, they watch me closely to make sure I get it. When we’re done watching, we talk about what we saw. I often use it as an opportunity to talk about advertising, since there’s so much of it these days aimed at children.

To read more from Vered, see her blog: mommy blogger.

In an article dated today, the Globe and Mail reports a story of a physics professor at the University of Ottawa who has been suspended, pending dismissal, for giving all his students an A+ grade. 

I think that it’s time that society re-evaluate the purpose of grades and if they truly help us to judge a person’s knowledge. 

Professor makes his mark, but it costs him his job

Among the books Dawn chose from the library last week was the book Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Ginger Garrett. 

It’s a nice little book which, in simple terms, explains the difference between solid, liquid, and gaseous matter. I wanted her to gain a better understanding of what the book was talking about, so I decided to illustrate the matter in the kitchen. 

Waiting to see what happens to the ice...

First going over safety rules of being near a stove, I took the ice I had in the freezer (and probably long-freezer burned by now) and we emptied it into a pot. I turned on the burner so that the girls could watch what happened. 

I showed Dawn how the ice was hard (solid) and how, with heat, it was starting to melt (transforming into a liquid). Ice, turned into water when the temperature rose. 

After that, the ice disappeared and started to get hot. Vapour rose and I showed Dawn that this was steam (not smoke) and steam was the water turning to gas. 

This was a very simple lesson, but a great one to illustrate what happens to things under different temperatures. I don’t expect her to give a lengthy explanation of the process, but now she knows that ice, water and steam are the same thing in different forms.l

Pumpkin came to us on Friday thanks to the 4PawsRescue Society. I hunted around Craig’s List and Kijiji and strangely, couldn’t find anyone giving away a cat that interested us (usually there’s an over-abundance).

I then did some research and found out that PetSmart had an adoption program. Instead of selling cats or dogs, they have a section showing rescue animals that are up for adoption. 

It was love at first sight. Pumpkin was friendly and couldn’t wait to get to know the girls. In my experience, new cats will get home and hide! Not this one! She got out and immadiately started to play with the girls. That first night, she joined us on the bed and slept along side us…taking time out to try to play…thus waking me up 5 or 6 times. 

She’s six months old and looks pretty healthy. I need to make a vet appointment to have her checked (included in the adoption fees), as well as find a scratching post for her. The kids are having a blast with her and I’m hoping that they’ll learn a lot by having this new friend around.

Workers came in to change all our windowson Thursday and it being winter, that translated to our having to leave and find something to do for the day. I decided to take the girls to the Telus World of Science since we hadn’t been in a while and they had a LEGO exhibit that I had been wanting to see.

We went with some friends and everyone seems to have had a good time. My girls had a blast sharing some of their favorite spots with their friends and as usual, there was lots to discover!

Emily and Dawn exploring.

Checking out the exhibits.

The LEGO exhibit was somewhat disapointing...I had already seen all of these online.

Despite their love for all things LEGO, the girls weren't really into this exhibit either. I guess it's much more fun to create than to look at what other people have done.

Emily's favorite part was the water table.

Ditto for Dawn!

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