Life's Whirlwind Adventures

I always had a love for school, even when it irritated me I loved school. I loved learning new things, I loved finding new books, I loved hanging out with my friends, all in all I loved school. Sure there were times when I didn't like a teacher, or I didn't like a subject we were taking, but in the grand scheme of things I enjoyed school.  So it would not surprise anyone that one of my favourite rainy, non school day activity was playing school.  I would set up my sister and our stuffed animals in a classroom area of our basement.  I would then set up colouring or writing or story activities to do with them. Sometimes I even let my sister be the teacher, but she was younger and did not know as much as me, so that was only sporadically. It's ironic right, kids complain about school, yet when they are left to do free play they play school.  I find it funny, but I think it's one of the best games or activities that I as a parent can foster.  Do I want to guide th...

I am feeling the need to stand on a soap box right now.  I've recently heard that some schools are considering doing away with recess (this is an older report)because they are unable to meet all the objectives of the curriculum in a school year.  I think this will only make the situation worse, it will not improve it!! Kids need unstructured time in their day, especially the 4 and 5 year olds in Kindergarten and grade one.  Kids are being pushed to hard to be academic, being pushed to hard to grow up and they are missing out on their childhood.  Ok that last statement may be a bit of an exaggeration, but come on, school is putting a lot of pressure on kids now a days. Now it's been many years since I was a student in an elementary school, but I remember my school days very clearly.  School started at 9 am, but the buses started arriving at 8:30.  I was a town kid, so I walked to school, now because I liked to play before school I would get to school jus...

I love early mornings, truth be told I'm a morning person and I've always been a morning person.  Seems to me I've got a little one now who shares my love for mornings so having quiet hours by myself in the morning are going to be rare commodities in the future.  But it is so peaceful and serene to sign in my house while the boys sleep, traffic rolls by creating a peaceful beat as the furnace kicks in and my coffee brews in the Kuerig. Today the baby is up, but he's happily playing on the floor.  He has learned to crawl over the past month and takes every opportunity to get around and find things I thought I had picked up.  Chandler and Lil man are still sleeping, Lil Man thought getting up at 6 was an idea, but I told him we still had to sleep, so I laid still in bed until his breathing evened out.  After his breathing evened out, I stole from my room with Prince T and we came downstairs to sit in the solitude of the morning. Unless I want to get up at 5:30...

We'd decided years ago that we would put our Lil Man into a school that would focus on a second language, whether it was Spanish or French we hadn't decided until last year.  As you can tell we went with French. The reasoning was actually really simple, though we both thought it would be amazing for him to be bilingual in Spanish, it wasn't necessarily a program we would be able to keep him in long term, so we decided that since French Immersion is offered in more communities that would be the more appropriate route. I didn't want him to get started going to school in one type of program and not be able to continue because we moved from that community. I like consistency. So Lil Man is in French Immersion, and I'm not even sure where to begin to help him out.  I took french for 8 years in school as a second language, I have a great understanding of French, but I'm not a fluent speaker.  I can decipher French in books and can usually pick up enough French in ...

My boys are growing up and they are doing it so fast!! I feel like it was just last year that Chandler was in Kindergarten and now he's going into Grade 11, 12 years he's been attending school, he has two years left and then he will be onto post secondary school.  And now his little brother Lil Man is in Kindergarten!! He's started at Camille J Lerouge school and he rides the bus to school by himself!! He's so big!! I worry about school sometimes because I think my kids are wonderful, unique little individuals (not so little anymore for Chandler), and I don't want school to conform them into minions that don't have unique, individual thoughts in their heads.  I want my kids to explore and discover things through play, and if I could home school I would, but we need the dual income in our family.  I can't work at night all the time and my kids aren't night owls who would learn better at night so home schooling isn't really a feasible option right no...