weekending 27 . 11 . 20

Last week was just another week of learning. Rainman figured out that the multiplication table does not end at 12...woah...that's a big learning curve.

Moonface is reading everyday and is really improving. An extra 10 minutes of daily reading has made a huge difference for her. She is learning how to write letters, and to address an envelope. Friends, this is a long process. It seems simple to me, but holy moly, she has found a way to make it tedious :)

She's currently learning about Meteghan. She's caught the travel bug and post Covid, we will definitely travel more.

Wildrose's online Zoom class has come to an end, and we are trying to find a new balance with her, although I assume this new rhythm will be disrupted slightly when we go on Winter break anyway.

I rarely have time to photograph  anymore. There's always some troubleshooting to do. Either my printer hates me, or it just likes attention, because every single day there's an issue. There is an unfinished project sitting in my dining room, cookie dough already to go, and a gingerbread house that we are going to get to...in time. It's a busy season for us.

What are we up to? There’s a lot of planning for the winter break, and completing assignments. We are also going gah gah gah (WildRose and Moonface are anyway) for Mme Amy’s advent activity Here. 

 

I want to listen

Years ago, when Moonface was about 3 years old, she stated matter of factly one afternoon at naptime, that there was “no fun behind her eyes”, and that's why she didn’t like to sleep. That was one of the truest truths, if I ever heard one. I think I’m beginning to feel how she felt back then. I’m exhausted, but I’m fighting it, because I am too busy ignoring my reality, while dealing with the daily rituals of Covid 19 home life simultaneously.

It has been really loud around here. As a mom of 5, I am used to loud. But now, as we bunker together, day and night, all around, to the left and right my household has fallen into a busy and vociferous routine, where everyone has a quarrel with another. 

When it comes to communication, I want to listen, I really do. But sometimes the children know that they do not have my attention. That I am not actively listening to their complaints, or questions. Most days one of my children can be heard saying "...you're not even listening to me...". It's true. I own it. I am not listening.

A few years ago, I implemented an "Ask Before Whine Rule". It was around the time that we discovered, or at least it was confirmed that Autism lives here. At that time, I stopped taking advice from well-meaning, and not so well-meaning mamas. I simply didn't need another self-help book, or la di da anecdote.

It was an agreement found at the end of a long line of whining, crying, screaming and pleading. Pretty much the children realized that mama was more or less open to compromise - even if that word was not in their vocabulary. They realized through trial and error, I suppose, that if they asked for another 10 minutes of media time, rather than whining or throwing iPads across the floor when the timer went off, I would almost always say "yes"! So we ran with it and it has been a blessing.

There are days however, when I've got a million things in my head, or I don't feel well, and I just want to hide away. On those days, I am out of sorts, and if I could,  I would avoid any and every human in sight. But, I can't. Because these little humans are mine, and as much as they annoy me most of the day, as the evening materializes, I look back at the silly, ridiculous, and sweet things that they did, and I grateful to be here.

There is something that has prompted me to write this post. Lately, I have been ignoring my children when they are rude, or as I interpret it - when they stress me out. Before you judge I want to say that this isn't technically because they are rude, it is because I NEED A MINUTE TO PROCESS.  It seems I am at the point in my life where I need a full minute to figure out what's happening, and why it's happening, and then I need another ten minutes to figure out what to do about it.

I think we've got some information overload going on right now. I cannot imagine how the children all over the world are processing what is happening. Our new schedule...lifestyle...(fill in the blank) means a lot of housework for of us (mostly me of course).  It means learning how to manage and doing it gracefully. 

At the end of each school day - usually around 3 pm, I promise myself that I will do a little bit for myself, nothing extravagant, just the practical needs of most women. By 7 pm, as the children begin to wind down and get ready for bed, I think I still have time. Then I awake the next morning, often too early, but just late enough. Seems like a trick, a never ending cycle.

So, I want to listen, and I am working on it. Sometimes I forget that parents need to be vulnerable at times. One year ago, none of this was a reality.  We are trying to find our way in this frightening maze of confusion, trying to keep our feet on the ground, steady, and strong, unwavering. 

And so the story goes, we are stumbling around in the dark sometimes, and we don't always have the capacity to fully listen to the external, because firstly, we must turn inward and listen to our hearts, and find all the reasons why we get up every morning, and try to keep moving - no matter what.

weekending 20 . 11. 20

I've been folding too much laundry for my liking. 

But it's also been so nice to not have to worry too much about who has clothes for this or that occasion. I have also lowered my standards, as my 7 year old, sometimes fashionista, wore her pjs to music lessons. She surrendered when she saw an empty drawer, four days in a row...gasp. 

Yes! She spent four days trying to find clothes. She even wore jeans one day. And if you know her, you already know that she does not wear jeans. In my defence, I put away all summer clothing, and we are definitely going the minimalist route so that's that, no more drawers stuffed with clothes. In addition, there were dresses, and skirts that she's not allowed to wear at home, so she wasn't completely without clothes.

So how's living? How's life for us? We are simply feeding off the positive marrow (of sorts) off each other. We are a family of many traditions, and for that I am so grateful. Added to year after year, built from our faith and values, we have been clinging to the small trifles that we hold dear.

With birthday season officially over - for now, and many snow days reminding of what is to come, we stick to the things that bring us joy. 

Last week, we tuned in to a few of the stories from the Festival de Conte/Storytelling festival, shared by some wonderful storytellers at the Ottawa Public Library. We made soup together, spent some time in nature - we need to do so much more in this department, and Rainman walked a friend's dog. 

Oh, and the photo above of the lovely bees was taken in Victoria, BC. WildRose has become obsessed with bees - what a beautiful thing. She saw that photo as I was deleting photos from our trip from my SD card, and she squealed with delight. I don't know how she noticed the bees, as they are a bit hidden.

Now she has taken to reminding us that honey is for the bees, and she wags her finger if we eat any honey. Uhm, she eats honey and she loves it too. This is her favourite book of the moment, pretty much of all time actually.  She loves to listen or read it when she's tired. I'm not sure if there is a connection, now to think of it. Perhaps, she's just become routinized.

Plan for the next few days include:

-writing letters to friends...long over due
- baking cookies & possibly a Christmas bark
- slow cooking soup, soup and more soup 
- listen to more stories from the storytelling festival

- painting

- hot chocolate with marshmallows

- wrapping sugar cubes (we'll show you what we do)

- making our winter vitamin - we are late on this one

- probably washing and folding more laundry

Happy almost end of November? 

We went to Iqaluit (well...sort of)

I know, I know, the title of this post is tricky, and sort of a stretch from the truth, but with the help of @conorgoddard on Instagram (you must visit this page to see this lovely family), we sure felt like we landed in the deep north. 

In our social studies/geography unit, Moonface and Rainman are following the same curriculum. Being in grade 2 and 5 means there are differences, but as our studies focus on Canada, I am so pleased that they have been able to explore at their own pace (mainly), what life is like in Canada for many different families. And this means learning about the present as much as learning about the past.

After reading all about Nunavut, and watching various Youtube videos, we decided that we wanted to dig a little deeper and get to know what life is like in Nunavut. Moonface decided she wanted to ask someone. 

So she conducted her own interview with the Goddard family (online of course), and we learned so much from this wonderful encounter. Thank you to the Goddards for helping us on our learning journey. 

Interview with the Goddards

Please excuse the lack of accents on the french words. The interview was conducted via Instagram, so I wanted to leave the answers as they were received.

Qui est dans votre famille?

Who is in your family?

**Tracy (mere), Conor (pere) et deux enfants, Callum & Caitlin.  Je (Conor) viens est nes a Montreal et Tracy est nes a Kuujjuaq (Nunavik, le Québec Arctique) qui est une autre village Inuit. 

Pourquoi avez-vous déménagé à iqaluit

Why did you move to Iqaluit?

**On a venu ici pour des opportunites qu’on n’avais pas a Kuujjuaq.  C’est important pour nous comme famille d’avoir access au terrain traditionelle de Tracy et mes enfants donc on peut pratiquez leurs culture traditionelle.

Depuis combien de temps vivez-vous à Iqaluit?

How long have you lived in Iqaluit?

**On habite Iqaluit depuis Fevrier 2017, presque 4 ans. 

On a demenager ici de Kuujjuaq avec nos enfants et notre equipe de chien a traineau.

Qu’est ce que vous aimez à propos de Iqaluit?

What do you like about Iqaluit?

**On aime surtout la communite et le terrain.

Qu’est ce que vous n’aimez pas à propos de Iqaluit?

What don’t you like?

**On n'aime pas les haute prix dans les magazins. Une carton de tropicana coute entre $17 et $19 dollars.

Comment vous réchauffez-vous à la maison

How do you keep warm at home?

**Notre maison est chauffe a l’huile

Où achetez-vous votre épicerie

Where do you buy groceries

** On achete notre nourriture a l’epicirie, comme dans le sud.

Avez-vous des animaux domestiques

Do you have any pets?

**On a une petite chienne chez nous et une equipe de chien de traineau

Est ce que le lac est toujours congelé?

Is the water always frozen?

**L’ocean est gelee de Decembre a Juillet. He viens de chasser des phoques par bateaux aujourd’ui

Avez-vous un jardin?

Do you have a garden?

** On n'a pas une jardin.

Comment voyagez-vous en Iqaluit?

What do you drive (how do you get around)?

** On se promene a pieds, en camion, par bateaux, par skidoo et par traineau a chien.

You guys my 7 year old did this!!! She needed help with the spelling, but these are all her questions. After learning about permafrost in the north, she was very interested to know if the family had a garden. She was quite concerned that they had no food. So that question needed to be asked lol.  

She was also very excited to see how the Goddard children hunt, and learn how to live "with" the land (her words). But she also realized that the children enjoy doing some of the same things that she does, like doing arts and crafts (a fave of hers), playing sports, and the piano and soccer.

And just going back to the interview...$17 to $19 for a carton of orange juice. Oh my word! I am quite intrigued. I would probably never drink orange juice again.

Here are some photos of her work: These page are from a booklet that she made.

Moonface learned all about Northern Lights, and she is enamoured. Here's one of our attempts to draw a landscape pic based on some of the things that Moonface and I learned.

So tell me, what's happening in your homeschool? I'd love to know!

Also, coming soon...the kiddos will be learning about the Native American legend of the 3 sisters, something that I introduced a few years back, but will be so exciting for both of them to do the lessons together this time around.

Photos of Nunavut courtesy of Conor Goddard. 

Rainman 10 years around the sun

Super shocked that I am so late in posting this one...

 Ten! 

Ten years

Ten candles

Ten kisses

I am so proud and in awe of him.

My Rainbow baby has hit a wonderful milestone.

...what a lovely little thing. 

Weekending 13 . 11. 2020

There are so many unfinished posts in the queue. I don't know how it got this way. Rainman's birthday post has not been posted...I cannot believe I dropped the ball. There are also  a few weekending posts-especially those showcasing 2 activities that the kiddos did at the end of October, lovely Remembrance Day art created by all 3 kiddos and one of my playschool kiddos, and some of Mme M's baking.

So while I do not have all the photos on hand,  this post will be filled with photos from the past 3 (ish) weeks. There's a pic below of a casserole that Rainman and Moonface made (thumbs up...smile). As you can see there's lots of food happening lol, very typical for autumn, as we begin to hibernate. Enjoy!

Btw, Ottawa Children's Storytelling Festival November 16 - 21st and there are quite a few French storytellers from across Canada participating in this virtual event, check it out here!

One of the reasons why we got involved in the Ottawa Public Library is because it offers French programming. Teaching a 3, 7 and 10 year old from a French immersion perspective is enough for me. Rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I love to find activities and implement them in our curriculum. And to be honest, French resources are not cheap, so anything that we can find online for FREE, we are on it.

How are you managing?