Oceanside Hockey Tournament

Those mandatory mouth-guards make for a goofy photo!

Our second week of Spring Break was spent in Parksville at a hockey tournament. George's team received Bronze.  It was their final game together as the hockey season draws to a close.... Ah, except for the June/July Skills Camp and Spring Ball Hockey :)  It is always nice to see how close the team has become by the end of the season - some good friends were made this year.

Mr. Thompson will appreciate George's hat-trick in the final game!

Just in case you forgot what Banana Bread looks like.

Trophy for Best Little Sister!

Joyful hockey mum,
Caz.

Prince George Dance Festival

Muffin Mouse competed in the Prince George Dance Festival this past weekend.  It was a great day of dance and fun to win a trophy at the site of her first competition 5 years ago.  For those of you who follow So You Think You Can Dance you will appreciate why Muffin Mouse was so pleased to see Stacey Tookey's name listed on the trophy from some years ago...

The Laddie

The Highland Reel (right)

The Sailor's Hornpipe

The Sword Dance

Joyfully Scottish,
Caz.

Portfolio Assessment in Homeschooling

George's Science poster presentation

 We're home from Spring Break holidays and I am starting to wrap my head around our third, and final, term for this school year. As I work on this, I thought you may be interested to see the check-list for George's 2nd term assessment portfolio.

We mailed the portfolios before we left for holidays and look forward to Mr. Thompson's feedback arriving in the mail shortly.

February 2012

(A compilation of work from December 2011)

Portfolio Checklist

GEORGE, Grade 5

Language Arts

• Dictee completed: Exercises20, 26, 38, 44, 49, 57, 59 from Spelling Wisdom: Book 1 by Sonja Shafer.
  • Include a sample dictee.
• Novel Studies including weekly oral narrations: The Little Duke by Charlotte M. Yonge, and The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit.
• Writing projects: Conversations, description of a character, details in a story, poetry, journalism.
  • Include Creative Writing Journal
• Independent Reading List:

- DiCamillo, Kate. The Tale of Despereaux.

- Covell, Cressida. How to Train Your Dragon.

- J.K. Rowlings. Harry Potter. Books 1-4.

Personal Planning

• Weekly Goal setting (submitted by email.)
  • Include a sample.
• Read: On Your Mark, Get Set, Grow! By Lynda Madaras.
• Revised daily schedule.
  • Include learning story.

Science

• Books studied including weekly oral narrations: The Wright Brothers, and The Mathematicians Lament by Paul Lochart.
• Reindeer and cooling the Brain.
  • Include report and notes.
• Marine Biology project.
  • Include report and notes.
• Maya Misunderstood project.
  • Include documentation of poster presentation and notes.

Math

• Log in to www.ixl.com to review progress report.

Social Studies

• Novel studies with weekly oral narrations: Lost in the Barrens by Farley Mowatt; The Incredible Journey by Shelia Burnford.
• Taking Out the Space Junk project.
  • Include project and notes.
• Syria: On the Brink project.
  • Include project and notes.
• Sinking of the Costa Concordia project
  • Include documentation of Poster Presentation and notes.

French 8

• Submitted to M. Caron.

Fine Arts

• Music
  • Include Music Report
  • Include video of Christmas Recital
  • Include video of Music Discoveries
• Visual Arts – poster presentation & creative writing illustrations.
  • Include sample work.

Physical Education

• Daily Physical Activity – weekly learning goals outline DPA and goals.
  • Include photos of DPA activities (1.5 hours outside each morning M-Th)
• Scheduled physical activities:
  • Monday – 50 min hockey practice
  • Tuesday – 1.5 hour swim practice
  • Thursday – 1.5 hour hockey practice
  • Friday – 1.5 hour swim practice
  • Saturday & Sunday – 1.5 hour hockey games each day.
    • Include hockey video.

Joyfully refreshed,

Caz.

Big White Skiing Pictures

Well, homeschooling really is all work and no play!

The kids and I went to Big White ski hill near Kelowna, BC yesterday with friends. It was the big kids' first time snow boarding and they can't wait to get back there on Thursday.

Joyfully snow-covered,
Caz.

Muffin Mouse after her first lesson.

George taking a break.

George in action!

Gondola Girl. Banana Bread and I rode the Gondola a lot!

Not a bad view

Banana Bread warming up inside.

George (foreground in blue) and Muffin Mouse in the back (in red helmet.)

Lesson 1 begins :)

Muffin Mouse in action (in red helmet.)

The Snow Board Gang

Homeschooling: Arts Education

One of my biggest aspirations for homeschooling has been to help Muffin Mouse follow her interest in fine arts.  As I reflect on our year so far I realise that this is easier said than done.  My hope is that she will study with artists who are passionate about what they do.   I guess this year has been a bit of a buffet of fine arts programming, perhaps giving her a taste of what she would like to study in-depth as she grows.  Here are our current plans:

•   Dance - She has been Highland Dancing for 5 years and is very self-motivated in her attendance and practice. We are open to new dance styles to compliment her current classes twice a week, but have not found the perfect fit in terms of time/genre/price yet.

• Music - This is her second year with her music teacher learning the Clarinet. She participated in the school strings program last year, playing the Cello, but she decided this year to give one instrument her focus and dropped the Cello (figuratively:) for now.  We've complimented her private instruction with the Music Discoveries weekend & performances at our church.  

• Literary Arts - Attending bi-weekly creative writing classes has given her a much wider sense of how creativity and writing are supported by visual art, and visa versa.  Blue Octopus Studio.

• Visual Art - We've struggled to get the visual arts program going this year. We have had the pleasure of collaborating with a variety of art schools working to develop a diverse program, but have had difficulty getting the ideas into a program. She currently attends art class once per week at 4 Cats.

I recently joined a local Yahoo List-serve for homeschoolers. There is a wealth of information shared in this group and sifting through the options is my current goal. Some exciting ideas include a Theatre Program for teens & pottery classes to look into.

I'm also going to start watching some of the Art 21 series from PBS to support our goal of art education.

Joyfully creative,
Caz.