Wednesday April 23

Recap of the week

We had my cousins 14 year old stay with us this weekend, this was fun.  Nathan said his brain was exploding with all the information Ethan was shainrimg with him.  

We went to yokas birthday party.  The kids had a good time.

 

Saturday we decorated eggs and we attempted to make some Easter baskets.  We cut the paper into 1/2 inch strips and weaved them.  It was difficult, even the 14 year old found it difficult.  Baskets were abandoned 3/4 way through :)

Sunday we went to north Vancouver to my aunts house.   We went for a walk and kids had a good time looking for crabs

We decided to stay the night at my aunts house in North Vancouver, Nathan really wanted to take the seabus the next day.  Monday we took the seabus into Vancouver.  We went to soaring over Canada, the kids liked this, very beautiful!  We went out for breakfast and then walked to china town.  We went to a few shops in china town, and went and visited the gardens.  We enjoyed going into the shops and seeing what was all of the different things, and the gardens were beautiful.  It was great to do this as our trip to china town last time, we did not do these things.  Next we spent a few hours at science world.  It was then almost 6 and time to go home!

Tuesday, we read chapter 1 of sara plain and tall.  Nathan was determined not to like the book before we read it.  After the first chapter, he did like it.  The kids wrote an add looking for a wife and a mother.  They had fun writing these.  We had piano as well.  And after piano we went home and made some sculpted clay.  The easter bunny brought oven bake polymer clay, and a book for kids.  We spent a few hours playing with the clay and making our jewelry.

Wednesday - physiotherapy
After physiotherapy, we did some school work, and put the chains on our clay jewelry for necklaces.  We also had a visit from a family who has just started homeschooling because their daughter has EDS.  This is the first time we have met anyone who has eds who is not family.  The kids played together, and showed each other their tricks while I talked to the mom and grandma.   It was wonderful talking to another family who has experienced so many of the things we are going through as well.  The kids built some more clay jewelry with their new friend as well.  Gigi had soccer tonight as well. 

Thursday - we did a couple of units from our social studies book.  We are working on mapping skills right now.  We did a few worksheets with cardinal directions.  The kids were getting antsy so they got sent outside to do some renascence work and make a map of our neighbourhood.  Nathans map was pretty precise :)  Genevieve had tumble practice for an hour and then cheer for 2 hrs today!  It is now bedtime, but Nathan is working on beast academy, and still not asleep, but in bed.  Nathan has just figured out the pattern for multiplying by 11's.  I think if I would have told him or tried to explain it to him it would not have worked.  Instead he was writing it out what skip counting by 11's is.  He found the pattern himself.  I then asked him what 11 times 2 is and all the rest he was wow, that's easy :)  Genevieve right now at 9:30 is still reading a book.  Thankfully the library is free, because gigi, reads at least a book a day, she is a very fast reader.  I love the variety of books she picks out as well, all over the place, classic books like little house on the praire, or right now I think she is reading an archie comic.

Saturday March 1st 2014

I guess I should start with what we did on Friday. We went to tla class. OT for Nathan, genevieve wrote a story while Nathan was at OT on Nathans computer. On the way home, Nathan was writing a story using classroom suite and cowriter, and genevieve was playing math in a flash. Today we had to be in Richmond for 8:30 for gigi's cheer competition, ugg this is way to early for a Saturday! Here is a video for gigis I think the team did really well, they had a mixup with the music, and did not get to use their own music! this is another teams music, they did well and carried on and counted instead of relying on the music to give them cues!

It's a scary world out there

today was a good day.  Nathan woke up in a good mood, the past two days he has woken up grumpy, not sure why?  Tired maybe.  Nathan worked on a comic book today.  He is wanting to make his own comic book, based on a story he wrote last year when he was a patient at childrens hospital.  It's called lightning boy.  Genevieve wanted to get on board with this project as well, she has been hired as the editor :)  Not sure how she is going to edit Nathans work, but they are having fun!

we went to Physio, and music for Genevieve.  I am so thankful for the special needs funding providing for Nathans physiotherapy.  I can not believe the gains he has made this year.  Janet, (his physiotherapist) and I were talking about how, Nathan at the beginning of the year, would not have been able to sit up on a horse the way he is now.  We agreed that now is the perfect time to get him on a horse and gaining all the skills while doing horse therapy!

Genevieve made her own song up on the piano, and I taped it today, it has a guest appearance of Nathan :)  It is very different from the song she made up in her music class today!  This is the first time I have seen her act out the evil part :)

Oh we also went to the library, Nathan got out a horrible history book and a horrible chemistry book, I think he will like those, and gigi got out 10 books and requested more as usual :)  She also got out a couple of drawing books.

monday april 14

we started off with moving beyond the page Sara plain and tall lesson 2.

here is what we learned

Questions to Explore

• How are story elements used to create a story?
• Why are story elements important to a story?

Facts and Definitions

• Characters are the people or animals in a story.
• Setting is the time and place of the story.
• Theme is an important message the author is trying to share through the story.
• Plot is what happens in the story and includes problem/conflict, events, and resolution.

Skills

• Make predictions about a text. (LA)
• Recall main ideas, facts, and details from a text. (LA)
• Explain and describe new concepts and information in own words — plot, setting, characters, and theme. (LA)
• Plan and make judgments about what to include in written products. (LA)
• Write structured narratives when given help with organization. (LA 

Nathan and genevieve worked on a worksheet about story elements, they had to give examples in complete sentences from their favorite books.  Next they were given a list of story elements and they had to pick the elements they would like to use to write a story.

Nathan woke up a little grumpy today, not wanting to do schoolwork.  Once he started he was enjoying it.  They were able to work independently on their stories, while I went and had a bath and got ready for the day.

Next was an amazing experience!  Nathan had his first horse riding lesson.  I don't think I can explain how awesome this was for Nathan, I wish I took some pictures!  He started off by getting to know his horse, brushing it (fine and gross motor skills being used).  He was then shown how to get his horse ready.  He had to apply wraps to the horses feet, these are like tensor bandages, this was difficutlt for Nathan to do, but he perservered, his instructor is awesome and let Nathan do it and work thru it, even thought it took a while, Nathan did not feel rushed at all.  Nathan has felt rushed for the last 4 years of public school and told he is too slow, he has a really hard time feeling rushed.  He had to use his fine motor skills to buckle up buckles, and harness hooks.  So he had a workout before he even started on his horse.  He then got to ride his horse.  He was able to hop on up without a mounting block, he was impressed with himself.  His smile as he got on was amazing to see!  Nathan is a cautious boy, and even though he was so excited he was a little nervous.  Within minutes, he was able to ride the horse wihout looking like a bobble head.  Jim (his instructor) was so good with him, right away he made sure Nathan had the right posture and was not hurting himself as he was working.  Nathan progressed quite quickly, he was able to ride with his arms out to the side.  He looked at jim like he was crazy when he asked him to do this.   Jim then said I think you can tell ziggy to go faster.  Nathan then said, I think I should know how to stop him before I go faster :)  Oh how I love my little sensible and cautious Nathan!  Jim laughed pretty hard at that one!  Jim was holding and leading the horse at this time, so he had confidence that Nathan was safe :)  So Nathan learned how to stop ziggy.  He then learned how to trot with him.  He practiced and got better at going longer with the trot, and getting ziggy to listen to him.  He then was given the steering wheel :)  He was able to handle the reins and steer ziggy.  Did I mention how many times Nathan said this is awesome!, and his face, wow the excitement on his face.  So he got so good at steering, Jim let go of the lead and let Nathan control ziggy around half of the ring!  He then went through obstacle courses.  He could not believe how quickly his lesson was over.  he then went and had to get ziggy ready to be put back in his stall.  lots of fine and gross motor skills happening. 

I am so happy that Horse therapy is going to work for Nathan, I was worried about his ability to ride the horse, his ability to hold his body upright.  He is sore today, I see him flicking his neck around, but I think he will get better at keeping his neck firm but flexible while riding.  Also Nathan does not like OT very much, he finds it boring, he does not see that he is getting much out of it.  he loves physio, as he feels better, and he can feel the results.  Nathan is frustrated with his hands though.  I think all the horse therapy will most definitely help with his strength in his hands!

And I cant forget genevieve, Jims youngest sisters who homeschool were there, she was so shy.  Eventually I went to go check on her and she was playing with the girls age 10 and 12.  I think gigi will enjoy her time at the barns

Here is a video of Nathan practicing piano.  He hates practicing , but once he starts and gets better at the song he enjoys it, but it is torture trying to get him to actually sit down at the piano!

Sunday April 13

IWe went for a hike today up to the lookout on mount hope.  Nathan was tired before we left, he's had a busy week with lots of physical activity.  Unfortunately Nathan's hikers did not fit him, and I offered mine but those didn't work either.  So I should go buy him another pair.  There goes $200 :).  He wore his runners today, but he tweaked his ankle a little comming down.  Gigi had lots of energy and raced up and down, frequently saying come on guys your soooo slow :).  

I forgot to take a picture from the top, it was very beatiful!

Here is a picture Genevieve drew this weekend as well. 

Thursday April

We woke up early and left the house by 7:20.   Traffic was horrible and took us forever to get to children's.  Our appointment was for 9:30, we were not done until 12:30.   This appointment was Pediatric ophthalmologist.  We went over new symptoms, she checked everything out.  She felt bad that she has no answers for us, she recomended we see neurology again, she was asking well what does neurology say.   Ummm neurology doesn't really tell me anything :).   She has moved us back to yearly exams, unless we need or would like to see her sooner.  My first appointment with her, I didn't really like her, I didn't connect with her, I have definitely changed my mind.  Our first appointment she was researching eds, as she didn't know much about it.  It scared me at first.  But since seeing other drs who pretend to understand, I will take the drs willing to learn from me.  It just scared me at times that I must be the expert :).  Last appt with the ophthalmologist I didn't bring our big medical binder, she asked me to bring it to this appt.  I didn't bring it because I think I can look intimidating to drs when I bring it, and look like I'm trying to run the show, I don't think our neurologist likes that :)

Anyway stopped for lunch on the ride home, it was then close to cheer time so we didn't go home.  I got Gigi out of cheer at 5:45 15 minutes early so we could get Nathan to his soccer game in chilliwack at 6:30

Nathan loved his soccer game, he is back to big fields and big nets, he had an awesome game.  He even scored his first goal in 3 years!  Nathan plays defence and loves it!  He really is an awesome soccer player.   

Wednesday april 9

We started our social studies unit on "the Land", in moving beyond the page. 

We then had physiotherapy.

here is a video of genevieve singing and dancing to music at her music lesson :)

Went to the library, and the park.

And tonight was gigi's first time playing soccer, she had a great time, and she really played well.  She got right in there and into the game!  Very impressive for her first time out.  Nathan took her outside this afternoon and gave her some pointers on the game, and explained the rules to her.  He really enjoyed that.

And lastly we stopped at DairyQueen for a dessert, because it was jus that kind of day, and banana splits were on sale for 2.49 :)

Oh and I got a phone call from childrens to confirm Nathans appointment tomorrow, I knew I had an appointment in April, I just forgot when it was!  9:30 am tomorrow, how I love to wake up early...

Tuesday April 8

Today we took daddy to the airport early in the morning.  We then went for breakfast at ABC, this is our usual custom after dropping off daddy.  I then had a DR's apt, and then we had a special surprise today of babysitting a baby!  We got to take Makela to piano lessons with us.  Both Nate and gigi adore her and fought over who got to hold her and sit by her.  We stopped on the way home, to buy Nathan some cowboy boots for his riding lessons :)

 

 

gigi being little mommy

Nathan being very cool :)

So we had a wonderful afternoon of learning how to take care of babies!  They got to change a diaper, feed her, and each of them had about 1/2 an hour where they were the one solely responsible for the baby.  And then finally Mikala's big sister and brother came over for a playdate.

Monday April 7

Here is genevieve posing in front of our house, she wanted to get a picture with all of the flowers we have planted this week.  We went to the store and the kids picked out all the flowers and had a great time planting all of them

 

 

 

 

Here is a picture of Genevieve with facepaint on.  After Nathan and jeff went to the hockey game, I painted genevieves face.  We ordered pizza for dinner and watched Pride and Prejudice.  Yeah she loved the movie and wanted to watch it again the next day.  I am soooo thankful she liked it, since how can you not love jane austen.

 

 

                                           
                                       
                                               Nathan ready to go watch the canucks


fierce Nathan


 

Nathan is super excited

So this weekend we did some light schooling.  We watched the new science show called cosmos.  The kids also watched into the arctic, this was Geneviève's favorite, she loves learning about animals.  This was a great movie to watch as we are still working on learning about the arctic.  We played a few math games as well.

 

 

Monday

 

We started our moving beyond the page unit Sarah Plain and Tall.  We started by learning that the story would have 2 settings, we reviewed what the term setting is.  I told them the story would take place in Maine and in Kansas.  We then coloured some maps, of the area called New England.  When I asked the question why do you think this area is called New England Nathan was able to come up with the answer.  We also learned about the prairies also called the heartland.  I then copied a map of Canada and got the kids to colour the praire lands in Canada.   We discussed our trip to regina this summer, and how different the climate and environment was in the prairies compared to where we live.  We looked at the difference between Maine and Kansas, and talked about possible differences.  We then did some research on each of the states. 

 

I then showed the kids the title of the book and asked why some works are capitalized and others are not in the title.  We then talked about that Sara is a noun and Plain and Tall are adjectives.  Nathan said that Plain and Tall may not be adjectives, but maybe they could be the names of the children.  We also discussed and is a conjunction.

 

 

 

                                                                        Nathans work

                                                                                  Nathan

                                                                              



                                                                           Genevieve

I almost forgot we met with Jim Greendyk, Nathan really liked him and fell in love with a horse he will probably be riding :)  Nathan is pretty excited, I am as well.  I think it will be a great fun way for Nathan to improve his core strength.  I so want him to be able to sit comfortably.  Jim said that riding a horse takes an incredible amount of core strength, like trying to sit on a moving exercise ball, I think Nathan is up for the challenge.  He also said that depending on Nathan and what they accomplish Nathan may be able to show a horse as well!  Now to go buy cowboy boots :)  And he did suggest jeans as if he does really get into it, jogging pants can chafe, well that may be an issue, as I haven't found jeans that don't have buttons but I can sew! 

Oh and we have had lots of road hockey going on this week as well.  We have been taking advantage of all the awesome weather and getting outside to play lots.   Including a play date on Friday, with a bunch of kids playing roller hockey :)

Friday April 4

Wednesday we played math games in the morning, then physio

We then went to the park and played roller hockey.  

Lots of fun, we played for about 2 hours and had lunch.  

Thursday am.  Our last science lesson on weather.  We read and talked about how different environments and weather affect animals and their adaptations.  

Nathan's work

Gigi's

We read these books that we had at home, we really liked could a polar bear survive in the dessert, we were surprised to find many similarities between Camels and polar bears!  Did you know polar bears don't drink water!  

We answered these questions from the book.  

We also used the books on Canada's animals to do some of our research.  

They also had a map and had to label and colour in the Mohave, Sahara desert, Antarctica, and Greenland.  

I really enjoyed our lesson today, I really like when we can cross connect all that we are learning together, today we really did that.  We discussed the arctic, environment, geography, animals, and habitats.  I can really see the connections being made when we cross connect on different things we have learned.  

April 1st

April 1st already.

We have 1 day left in our unit study on tornado, and weather from moving beyond the page.  The kids are excited.  I am really pleased with the progression they have made in a short period of time.  They usually put up a little fuss before we start, but are then engaged and do not want to stop. 

Here are pictures of summary of skills from both our science and literature unit.  We completed all but I think 2 activites, they are just all so good, hard not to do them and even the ones I thought oh why are we doing this, they turned out to be so engaging and great for the kids...

summary of skills