Crabs, Magical Islands, and Final Science Classes,

I sorta feel like it's the end of the year in a lot of ways, but it really isn't. You may or may not get more posts.

We are moving in a couple of days back to good ol' Alberta.

But we having been living it up in the mean time.

Josh and Chelsea, our good good friends took us crabbing thanks to Maxwell's insistence. That boy helps me get off my duff and do fun things. It was AMAZING! We ended up catching three crabs, and Dustin even got some video of crabs crawling into our traps under the ocean.

We also went to Tofino. It was MAGICAL! We went to a "forbidden" island that was only open two days of the year.

We went with the Schafers and Salas to this hotel ON the beach. You could get to two different islands depending on the tide, and one was like it was out of a fairy tale with forts made out of natural fallen trees and hidden places of moss covered beauty. I could not get photos to show how magical it was. But here's a magical baby instead.

We also went to "Cathedral Grove" where the oldest trees on the island are.-Hear no evil speak no evil see no evil.

The beaches there are sandy and long, and Maxwell made a shell collection.

And this weekend we went to two fairs, but the one my sister help put on was more fun that the one we paid $50 bucks for.

Holidays made it so I couldn't report about school. Last week we did our last electricity lesson. We learned about open and closed circuits, and played the game where you try and not close the circuit of wire or the light will go off. Always a hit.

And I FINALLY got a battery working!!! I fixed the kit I had.

This week was our last science of the year. It was all about magnets. How can you go wrong? I had bought a couple sets, and we had a very grand time exploring all about magnetism. Although, for some reason, (i think it was that my needles were the cheap kind) I couldn't get my homemade compass to work. I've got them working in the past...hummm.

It was really rewarding. During the lesson Hyrum piped up about how it is magnetic storms coming from the sun that get sucked into the poles of the earth that create the Aurora Borealis.  We studied that last year and he remembered! Sometimes I think Hyrum doesn't pay attention, but apparently some things sink in!

And Maxwell piped up how in order to break magnetism you needed to heat up the iron until it glows red hot or hit it hard with a hammer. We haven't talked about that for FOUR years, yet he remembered our experiments from way back then.

ANd (drum roll please....) Hyrum is DONE with Barton book 2!!!

We went on a little date to celebrate. I'm proud of my little guy (and me!) I would say we are solidly at grade one reading and spelling levels now. We have started book three, and I must say am very grateful for Dianne Craft's suggestions on how to make sight word cards or our life would be very unhappy right now.

As I teach Daniel phonemic awareness, I remember teaching Hyrum, and I then remember how far we've come.

Daniel's doing great. He brought a book to me today and showed me a couple words he could read. BUT his speech needs work. It's hard for him to say his "th"s but all my boys have had that, but he also has trouble with his "r"s "l"s and blend distinction. I think I might put him in speech next year. UUUGHGHGHG I don't want to----RED TAPE NIGHTMARE!