Where to start? Well, first and foremost, William and Daniel got education assessments by our fabulous educational psychologist, Conrad. I LOVE Conrad. I aspire to be like him one day. He is empathetic, a good listener, very informed, insightful, and spiritual. I feel so blessed that he has been the education psychologist for all of my boys so far.
Shockingly (not) they are both dyslexic.
(Oh my goodness, I just got this photo from the internet, and I didn't notice the misspelling until RIGHT NOW....yes...yes I'm dyslexic as well.)
Interestingly, both of them had supper low spelling and letter-word identification, BUT their "applied problems" were in the superior rage! Go Rightstart Math! I'm sure that is the reason for their success.
It was pretty funny: As Conrad was diagnosing William, he comes up to me and says "Have you ever noticed that William has trouble concentrating? Have you ever thought that there may be a chance that he may have ADHD?"
"YESSSS"
So yeah, William is now diagnosed with ADHD as well.
So nice to have these assessments so they can get future help if necessary.
As for summer though, the main thing we did was camp. We mainly camped with the Peavoys and Mein-Wildes. I'm so glad we had something to get us away from COVID monotony.
We camped at Writing on Stone (one of my absolute favourite places EVER.) But be warned. In the morning there are RATTLE SNAKES!
And Daisy May which rained for a little and brought out all the HUNDREDS OF SNAKES-not the rattling kind or the poisonous kind-thank goodness. The kids were in heaven.
When we would camp, Ezra and Daniel would get out their fire sticks and do a fire show for us. Daniel got one for his birthday, and he is loving it! Ezra has been so kind in teaching him.
I also had a WRITER'S CAMPOUT!!!! So fun. I wrote more of my mom's book and did yoga, and just had a blast.
The morning before this campout I became a Canadian citizen! I'm so excited! Now I can leave Canada (no, really, one of the things that got me to finally become a citizen was the fear that I might be out of the country longer than what a permanent resident allows!)
We also went camping in BC!!! I was sooo excited to travel a bit. We drove to the coast and camped with my nephew's family. It was so serendipitous because we really wanted to camp with Dustin's sister at Englishman Falls, but everything-all camping, hotels, air bnb, EVERYTHING was booked up. Then we saw my nephew and he said he was camping at Englishmen and had an extra spot for us!!! It was only a few spots down from Dustin's sister! It was fate!
It was so good to see family and be on the coast. I missed it.
One of the main reasons we went to the coast was because our friend, Brother Redd invited us to sail with him on his group's boat!!! We needed this experience, and it went better than I could have imagined. I realize how little I know, but it was so great!
And we were also able to learn a bit about ocean fishing from my knowledgable brother-in-law. We caught four fish! Actually more, but we had to throw them back! I was so happy!
It's been a weird summer. Some parts of it were record heat. We were able to escape to Wally's beach when that happened.
But one time we went to the spray park on a hot day and William climbed UP the water side and got his teeth knocked out.
And then, after all that heat, Cardston fasted for rain, so we had some crazy hail that flooded our town. (Maybe that's not too weird for here.)
But thankfully, COVID restrictions lifted a bit, and we even went to library activities and the movie theatre!
I guess this hasn't been too educational a summer, BUT Daniel did plant a garden,
And Dustin taught the kids how to make epic jello molds (very educational.)
Maxwell sold freeze dried candy to make some money:
The four youngest had Acting classes that they LOVED with the Carriage house Theatre company. Hyrum played a steller store keeper, Abraham played one of the three little pigs, William played a duck with a pizza, and Daniel played the big bad wolf getting falsely accused.
Those four also had swimming lessons which they all loved:
And our kids learned a bit more about how to ride horses thanks to their cousins:
Last but not least, It was William's birthday
And that's about it!
Wow that was a long post for what was actually a pretty uneventful summer!
This is kind of a sad post for the end of the year.
I have been homeschooling for 11 years. Besides kindergarten, Westwind Alternate School has supported me all along the way. In Alberta, you need to tell the government that you homeschool. You can choose to go off the grid completely and not get any support, but if you want to, you can go with a school provider.
When I first started Westwind, the founder of the Westwind homeschool program, Granny Wendy, was my facilitator.
She would do one on one tutoring with Maxwell every week. She was a wealth of knowledge and love, and I sincerely appreciated everything she taught.
Then she retired.
That was okay because her son took over.
John. He is full of enthusiasm and love of learning. I was in good hands again.
And then a year or two later, Heather Burton was hired. She had so much to bring to the table. She has studied the Arbinger Institute philosophies and helped our kids think deep and broad. She also taught them to love plants.
This was an excellent time to be part of Westwind Alternate school. We even had two full-length plays: Neverland and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It was amazing.
Then there was some government audits of homeschooling facilities, and our school had to figure out how to make a clear distinction from "distance learning" and "home learning." I know it doesn't sound like it should have been a huge issue, but....it was.
I was considered "distance learning" and nothing much changed except I needed to have the school's secretary order all my school supplies instead of being reimbursed.
That was in 2016.
Then, this year...I believe in December 2020, Alberta changed a sentence or two in their definition of distance education, and just like that:
I was no longer in distance education.
Mike, our principal, spent hours and hours and HOURS trying to figure out what parents wanted and how to make a distance education that would work. They are trying it out this year. I hope it works, I sincerely do, but I knew from the on set that it wouldn't work for me.
I want more freedom in my curriculum and learning style, and I'm going to be gone for half the year. Ironically, that doesn't work with "distance" education.
This means that I have to give up Heather and John. No more collaborations. They won't teach my kids any more.
It's pretty sad, actually.
I'm still going through Westwind for homeschool. They're even letting us homeschoolers use their facilities for "mom school" and Mike is still over me, but I feel like it's not a team effort any more.
John made me this video of all the years he was my facilitator. It made me cry:
There's still my group of homeschool moms, and through it all, we've stuck together. We all go to different facilitators, but we still support one another. So at least the main reason I even live in Cardston hasn't changed.
Anyway, let's go over what we did our last month of school (yes I'm writing this on September 1st....stop being so observant!)
I'm just going to write about what I have pictures for, because I'm lazy:
Okay so social studies: we learned about latin immigration. I decided to have us watch a bunch of news reports and mini documentaries PRE Trump to get a more unbiased view of what went on. Guess what? We saw cages for children in those documentaries done during Obama's reign.
Then we briefly watched the current news. It's all so depressing. I certainly don't know the answers.
We made a pinata for our activity.
Then we learned about the women's movement. I really taught differently than most would. That's for sure! I did a pendulum of women's struggles. On one side it showed how bad women can have it. The men get paid more for the same work, men are womanizers and that is deemed alright, women should be domestic slaves, the male gender is better than the female gender, judges chose the men's side when at court, men are predators, women are useless without men, and there is a stereotype of what the perfect man should be.
Then there is the opposite side of the pendulum swing. (Where much of society is right now.) Where all men are considered womanizers until proven innocent, all men are idiots and ridiculous, the female gender is superior, motherhood is not something to aspire to, in fact, it might wreck your life. Men's rights are overlooked in court. All men are predators until proven innocent, and a family with no dad is great. No one needs a dad.
And then we talked about how there is a balance that we should strive for and to stay away from each of the extremes. This balance includes getting paid the same for the same work, mutual respect for each gender, an involved dad who is needed in his family. Getting equal rights in court. Realizing each gender has household duties. Men should be the protectors of their family of predators.
Yep. That's the kind of men I want my boys to be. And ones not ashamed for being born the way they are.
We also got our McDonalds burgers out. It was pretty depressing. The fries worked (the homemade ones were gross and the McDonald ones were perfectly preserved) but the burgers were both gross. So much for that lesson.
We also learned about GMOs and the green revolution. I tried to be pretty non-partisan about it, but some of it....do we really know the long term effects of these things? Specifically on bugs? We quickly went through the history of agriculture, and man, we've done some dumb things that we've had to correct. Some dumb dangerous things.
For our activity we did the "before and after" of GMO crops.
Oh and we also learned about Nelson Mandela. I haven't studied enough about him, but he appears to have decided, that instead of raging war against white people, he refused to be bitter towards them. That is truly remarkable if you think about it. Boy, South Africa sure could use his leadership right now.
We watched "Invictus" as our activity.
And lastly (well I don't have any other photos at least) we learned about Sept. 11 2001. We did talk about Malala, and the fall out of 9/11 as well, but that was just a refresher since we had an impromptu unit on Malala earlier this year.
We took balloons and wrote messages of hope on them as our activity.
Also, since this lands in the social studies sector, we observed May 31 as another Orange Shirt Day. We've always been taught the horrors of the residential schools, but the graves were finally found and brought to light. We went to the residential school 10 minutes away in recognition and we also put shoes and stuffies on the gate of the reserve.
Now onto science.
We learned about the ear and we dissected...just kidding we didn't dissect anything, but we did make a model of an ear. If you clapped in front of it, it would make ripples in the water.
We also learned about DNA and heredity. I wish I spent more time on this. I remember loving learning about this from my highschool biology teacher.
Did you know you can make it so you can see the DNA of strawberries? Well you can, so we did.
Also, we turned ourselves into strands of DNA to understand mitosis.
We also had a class on plants. This is of our flowers that we put in coloured water.
And I think that's it for science.
And as for other subjects, Westwind had an art show:
And here's some random worksheets:
It was also Abraham's Birthday. He wanted an EYEBALL birthday party. A SIX LEGGED eyeball party. That is his cartoon character he's been drawing all year. Eyebee is his name.
And Hyrum's birthday where they went to laser tag (thank goodness they were open! COVID rules had recently changed or something.)
And last but not least, MAXWELL WENT TO PROM! Well, not really. It was "homeschool grad" that Naomi put together. It was SOOO cute. I loved it.
Maxwell has been doing a lot this semester, and I need to prove that to his facilitator, so here you go:
He's finished with his YALE course that he got a certificate in
This is the description of the class: In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life. The syllabus can be found here: https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being#syllabus
He's been taking an economics course from Brigham Young University Idaho and getting college credit with their concurrent enrolment program. He is currently getting a "B."
This is the course description: This introductory course in macroeconomics studies the national economy as a whole and its interaction with the global economy. Measurement of economic health and the use of fiscal and monetary policies to address unemployment, inflation, and growth are analyzed.
I don't think a link to the syllabus is possible, but here are the outcomes of the course:
Evaluate the health of a national economy.
Demonstrate the impact of fiscal policy on the national economy.
Demonstrate the impact of monetary policy on the national economy.
Illustrate the impact of trade policies on the relative health of two or more economies.
And here is proof of his enrolment and progress:
He also started his own business of making dog houses. He makes them using out CNC machine. He taught himself how to use the Carbide Create program so that it could carve the pieces for the house from plywood sheets.
He as already sold one house, and he has an agreement with a furniture store in Calgary to place the other houses he's been working on.
We've also been taking a Amateur Radio course in preparation to sail. This is the course description: Does everyone on your boat know how to call for help?
Get your ROC-M Restricted Operator Certificate (Maritime) Self-Study. A requirement for all operators of a VHF Marine Radio.
Here's the link: https://www.cps-ecp.ca/
He took a 6 week Essay writing course. The class description is here:This course provides students with all the tools necessary to independently compose an A+ essay! It includes weekly video instruction, printouts to assist in taking notes, simple homework assignments and meaningful feedback on all assignments.
Here is an example of a worksheet done in this course:
This is an essay he did for this course, written in their format:
Throughout all of time, there have been islands all around the world. There are many different types of islands. Some are snowy, while others are desert-like. Most people agree that tropical islands are the best type of islands. This essay will prove that Vanuatuhas the best tropical islands.
What is the definition of best? Google defines best as “the most excellent or most suitable manner.” Many people say “I want the best thing,” best can mean something that makes your life easier as well. Some people may say that what is best is subjective, however, when something is excellent and life easing, it is the best. Ultimately, the best tropical island is Vanuatu.
In Vanuatu, tropical foods are one of the easiest types of food to get. My dad used to have lots of headaches. However, when we lived in Vanuatu, he found out that drinking coconut water got rid of his headaches. He had at least one coconut every day that we were there. He would just drive maybe two minutes to pick it up from a local fruit stand for 1 to 2 dollars. There are many kinds of tropical fruit that have a short shelf life, so you are unable to get them in colder climates. You have to actually be there to eat it. In summary, the easiest types of food to get in Vanuatu is tropical foods. Another significant component, is that the rainy season provides a lot of the freshwater on the islands of Vanuatu.
In the rainy season, there are short bursts of rain, and there are warnings for when hurricanes hit. When I lived in Vanuatu in the rainy season, I was reading outside and all of the sudden it started to rain. As soon as I realized that it was raining, it had stopped. When Hurricane Cook hit Vanuatu, we had a few days worth of warning to know it was coming. Because we had so much warning, we were able to put up the hurricane shutters. Ultimately, before hurricanes hit anywhere there is a warning for the people that live there a day or more in advance. On another note, unlike the Native American tribes, the people in Vanuatu do not do rain dances.
Vanuatu is a very culture rich environment. One way that you can see this is when you look at the 138 languages that are spoken. With only 0.3 million people, different languages makes this country the most dense concentration of language today. Not only do they have the highest number of languages per population, but people who live there usually know two to four languages including their native language. So if you ever go to Vanuatu you can most likely find someone that can help you in your own language. As shown here,The environment in Vanuatu is full of culture. Another important element, some people that live in Vanuatu are very scared of snakes even though the snakes are harmless.
Vanuatu does not have many poisonous land animals. When my family and my cousins lived in Vanuatu for over a year, we saw only one poisonous type of land animal. It was the centipede. We saw a few centipedes, which were around five inches long and were reddish brown, but we were never bitten by them. There’s also a red snake that will bite you, but it’s not poisonous. There are huge spiders as big as your hand, but they aren’t poisonous, so I was never worried about them. There are not many poisonous animals that live on land in Vanuatu.
This essay has proven that the greatest tropical islands are in Vanuatu. Tropical islands are most people’s favourite type of island, but this essay has shown that there are many reasons why Vanuatu is the best. Some other kinds of islands kind be dry and sandy or winter wonderlands, and this essay has proven that tropical islands are the greater type of island. Besides these types, there’s even a greater variety of islands out there, and this essay argued that tropical islands are one of the best. The earth is spotted with all kinds of islands, and there are many islands that are going to be found.
1. Read five fantastic classics (the book list is below, in the FAQ section).
2. Write an essay about each book, and receive feedback to improve their writing. 3. Participate in live virtual group discussions about each book with their peers. 4. Play fun online quizzes with other students to test their reading comprehension. 5. Learn vocabulary (in context!) that allows them to take part in intelligent discourse around themes, characters and plot development in stories.
These are the books they studied:
1. “Summer of the Monkeys” by Wilson Rawls 2. “The Birchbark House” by Louise Erdrich 3. "A Little Princess" by Frances Hodgson Burnett 4. “The Long Winter" by Laura I. Wilder 5. “Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl” by Anne Frank
Here is an example of an essay he wrote for this course:
Many people these days have diaries, but only a small amount of them are read by more than a few friends and parents. Some diaries get famous and are read by millions. These types of diaries influence the people that read them. This essay will discuss why Anne Frank's diary helped show how we shouldn't persecute because of religion or race.
What is the definition of persecution? Google defines "to persecute" as “To oppress or harass with ill-treatment, especially because of race, religion.”
When you get to know someone of a different religion or race, they are people just like you. How do you think that the people that bring the poor souls into the gas chambers think about the people that they bring in? Do you think that they try to find out anything about them or just think of them as some type of pest? In Anne Frank’s Diary, you learn that she has her own fears and worries that were just the same as anyone else. If the people who worked in the gas chambers read journals like Anne Frank’s, they most likely would resign. They would realize that they are hurting innocent people.
The diary can also help the reader see how persecutors' choices can hurt common people. Anne Frank was just a normal girl like any girl here in North America. And what happened to her? She had to hide in a secret location so that she could live. All because she believed in something different than the people that were in charge. Obviously persecutors' choices can hurt any one, even innocent, normal people.
When living through being trapped with Anne, the reader realizes everyone deserves freedom. As you are reading Anne Frank’s diary, you find out how it is to be trapped. Trapped doesn't necessarily mean behind bars. It could be trapped emotionally, mentally, or physically. Anne was trapped by all of these in different ways. Ultimately When living through being trapped with Anne you see how it affected Anne.
This essay has considered why Anne Frank's diary aided in how we shouldn't ill-treat others because of religion or race. Like Anne Frank’s diary, there are diaries that are celebrated and influence many people. However, almost all journals are only seen by people that are close to the person that created them and have the thoughts that go through the person's head in it. Most of the population have journals on their phone.
And I hope that's enough Information to prove that he's been working hard this semester to further his education!!!!
