Here’s what I read last month. As you can see, I read quite widely—fiction and non-fiction, so if you have a suggestion for me please leave it in the comments. I am always looking to add to my already unwieldy reading list! :-) Hover over image for title and author.

A fascinating autobiography from a woman who spent part of her childhood virtually unschooled in the Australian outback, then attended well-to-do schools in Sydney after her father died. She eventually went to university and became a professor, and was the first female president of Smith’s College. I found this book quite hard to put down once I got into it—her childhood was so unique, so tied to animals and landscape, so tragic (both father and older brother died), her relationship with her mother so complicated…. Highly recommended.

I have read a number of books by Richard Dawkins over the last year or so, wanting to read about evolution first-hand. River Out of Eden is a very accessible book to the lay reader, though it does not go into near as much detail as The Selfish Gene (hard read, but worth it—arguably the most influential science book of the late 20th century). I’d recommend starting with The Blind Watchmaker to get more of an accessible overview of his theory; River Out Of Eden was his next publication. Very engaging, humourous, and accessible writer—expect your brain to be exercised!

A book I really enjoyed in terms of content, but the formatting was awful—tiny print! Looked at all kinds of ways in which folks in North America (mainly US, but several Canadian examples too) have chosen to live in small spaces. I really liked that this book did not just consider the “off the grid” living; it also considered inner city townhomes, community living in suburbs, modifying your existing space and so on. It also included folks from all walks of life—not just single crunchy granola types without kids. I particularly enjoyed learning how families made the most of the space they had, and the most environmentally-friendly use of the amenities on offer while living in the city—just like us. Lots of ideas here, no matter where you fall on the lifestyle spectrum. I was also surprised to learn that despite massive gains in energy efficiency over the years, the main factor in how much energy a house consumes comes down to square footage. Energy efficient McMansions are an oxymoron!

 

Oh, how do I describe this book? It was unusual. Thursday Next, a member of a sort of police force for literature (with a inventor/tinkering uncle, a pet dodo, a time-travelling father and a complicated love life) is up against a notorious criminal who steals original copies of famous works and damages, destroys or alters them. It was bizarre, it was funny, it was literary (densely packed with references so I don’t think I got all the allusions), it moved reasonably well along…. I’ve never read a book like it. The story climaxes when both Thursday and the criminal enter Jane Eyre and interact with the characters, both in the novel and later (and before) in the real world. A surprise ending and change to Jane Eyre that everyone—save the hardcore scholars—loves. Worth a try, and if you love Jane Eyre or are well-read in terms of ‘canonical’ fiction, you’ll probably get even more out of it than I did.

 

This book is by a well-known parenting expert, peppered with catchy quotes from a variety of people…but I liked it so little I didn’t even finish it. The basic problem for me: repetitive. Each chapter focussed on a particular topic with a brief discussion, followed by advice given in point form. The advice was broken up by age: for babies, for toddlers, preschoolers, school age, teens. Often the exact same sentence was repeated in the different sections! Without this breakdown by age, repetition of sentences, and space dedicated to quotes by others…well, the book would be a whole lot shorter, too thin to publish as a parenting book, IMHO. There are better resources out there. Next…

If you know someone raising a child with autism (and these days, it seems, who doesn’t?), or any other special needs child, read this book. It is a superb biography of life with his son, the difficult decisions, the day-to-day moments, the misunderstandings by others…and above all, the wonderings of this father about what the world seems like for his son. I absolutely loved this book as it presented an intimate view into their lives, rather than a medical treatise, or a how-we-miraculously-overcame-his-problems story. A touching book, both heart-warming and heart-breaking. The author is a BBC radio journalist.

Over the weekend Jim and I watched the Michael Moore documentary, Sicko. It was both fascinating and very, very disturbing. I can now see more clearly the opposition to “two-tier” healthcare in Canada (privatization of some procedures), and have come to the conclusion that medical care (and health insurance) cannot ethically be run for profit. The Hippocratic oath—first, do no harm—seems to me incompatible with trying to maximize profits for shareholders of HMOs. Asking someone in dire medical need to switch to an approved hospital, or not treating until proof of payment (or demanding pre-payment), or denying necessary medical treatment, does them harm!

Some of the bits that I am still mulling over:

The major cause of bankruptcy in the US medical bills. And 75% of those so affected had health insurance!

The personal stories are heart-breaking: Health insurance companies in the US denied coverage for procedures recommended and argued for by one man’s doctor; he died shortly thereafter. Another woman’s 18-month-old daughter died after she had taken her to hospital with a temperature of 104F. Medical personnel would not care for the child as they phoned the HMO who insisted she be transferred to a different hospital. The child died in cardiac arrest. One woman’s costs for an ambulance ride after a serious car accident in which she was knocked unconscious were denied because she had not called the insurance company to pre-approve the ride; another was made to pay back money for a totally unrelated procedure because she had failed to disclose a trivial yeast infection years earlier. And the videos of patients who cannot pay being “dumped” by hospitals—literally, out of taxis on the street in front of homeless shelters in skid row—stunning. I am grateful that I cannot fathom these things happening in Canada.

But don’t get too smug fellow Canadians. Moore visits our country and is perplexed that his Canadian relatives will not even visit his home for a day in the US without taking out additional travel health insurance (though most Canadians have heard the horror stories of the heart attacks in Buffalo on a shopping trip that destroyed a families’ savings, so we understand.) He presents the Canadian system in a favourable light—but then he goes and visits Britain and France. Unlike in Canada, in the UK dental is included in universal health, as is drug coverage—all prescriptions have a standard low charge. And France? Don’t even get me started about their family-and-health friendly policies. It puts us to shame, Canada. Perhaps we ought not to always look south of the border for ideas, or to assess how we are doing in the world. I am very grateful to live here, but there is definitely room for improvement.

Moore’s final visit is to Cuba, where several Americans get the treatments they have been unable to access or afford at home. And you can see the confusion in their faces as one thing after another that Americans have been told about Cuba are challenged by their own eyes. (Again, Cuba is one of the most popular destinations for Canadians for winter vacations, so our perspective and knowledge about Cuba is somewhat different). 

In sum, go watch this movie—and all the additional material (some really interesting stuff there too). It makes you think, no matter which side of the border you live on.

Here’s what we read this past week, in addition to finally finishing the A to Z mystery, The Lucky Lottery. Hover over the image for title and author.

Ask Mr. Bear is a classic older book about a little boy who asks various animals what he should give his mother for her birthday. The chicken offers an egg, the cow milk, etc. but the boy says Mom already has eggs, milk, etc. One animal suggests the boy go ask the Mr. Bear, which the boy must do solo as (it is presumed) the other animals are scared of him. The boy returns empty-handed, but on the final page gives his mother a big bear hug. Gareth (age 4) loved this story—in part, I think, because the little boy was named Danny, as is one of Gareth’s good friends. I Love You, Stinky Face is a superb book about unconditional love. A child, being told “I love you—good night” asks, “But Mama…what if I was a ______ (big scary ape, stinky skunk, swamp creature, green alien from Mars, etc.)?” The mother reassures the child that no matter what, she would love him/her and take care of him/her. Lovely message, lovely book.  The Paper Princess is about a paper doll a girl makes, and the doll’s adventures when she gets blown away in a gust of wind. Unusual storyline that engaged both boys, and me too.

We’ve only read the first story, Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit, from Hop To It!, but the collection looks good with lots of pictures to engage all levels at Easter. Vroomaloom Zoom had both boys giggling, as a father drives over hill and dale—with various sound effects—trying to get his daughter to fall asleep in her car seat. “Are you getting tired yet?” “Not yet, Daddy! Keep driving!” Little Pea is a silly nonsense story about a family of peas, where Little Pea had to eat all his candy before getting spinach for dessert. Yum!

Common Ground was my favourite read from this week; we read it right before Earth Hour began. The story is simple enough that Daegan (age 6) could understand the so-called “tragedy of the commons” problem. Highly recommended. Wings Along the Waterway is a wonderful book to share with a young birder, with detailed information and pictures about 20 different water birds, and how we can help them. Pssst! was a funny and unusual book in which zoo animals request different items from a child—tires, bike helmets, corn, etc. It is not clear why the animals ask for the particular things they did until the final page—they create a very homemade Zoo Cruiser to drive around and alleviate boredom. Daegan got the humour, but it was a bit too out there for Gareth.

Happy reading!

And here’s a T rex skeleton drawing Daegan made today, as a gift for Gareth. Jim and I were blown away by the level of detail he is now putting in his drawings. I was in the middle of making curry for dinner, so I asked Jim to snap some pictures. At this rate, I think Daegan will be keen to enter the Royal Tyrrell museum’s Prehistoric Arts contest for 2010. You can click to see some of the best entries for 2009 here.

Here’s a very recent drawing of a T Rex by Gareth, made without any help. I was impressed to see him label it with the name—that’s “T REX” on the bottom, spelled backwards, with an extra line on the E. That is the first writing of his that recognizably matched what we has trying to write, rather than random letters / scribbles. Way to go, son!

 

We started buying a new juice product because it contained added vitamins / minerals (and it was on sale, and we had a coupon). The boys love it. It’s Oasis FruitZoo juice, and each flavour of drink box (recycleable in Alberta) has a different animal on the front. One day while giving Gareth the apple juice, which has an elephant on it, Jim called it “mammoth juice”, playing up the boys’ love of all things prehistoric. Ever since, Gareth has referred to it as mammoth juice—“Can I have a mammoth juice with lunch please?”

I guess Gareth got to thinking about how the company could expand its product line, as a few days ago he came to us all excited. “They should make a new juice…an elasmotherium juice!” Oh yeah. That’d be a big seller. :-)

Did your family participate? Here’s what we did for Earth hour this year:

- Read Common Ground by Molly Bang shortly before lights out

- Munched on homemade apple crisp (still warm from the oven) and soy ice cream, with tea to drink, by candlelight

- Freaked Gareth out with Daegan merely mentioning ‘spooky stories”. I tried to be funny by talking about 4 ghosts—a Mommy, Daddy and two little boy ghosts who were sitting around their table drinking tea and having ice cream and apple crisp. Gareth laughed at first, but then got freaked out by the darkness and shadows from the candles. He spent 5 or 10 minutes crying and saying, “I don’t like this!”

- Jim brought out the guitar and played some music, which the boys sang and hummed along to, and Daegan got a T rex skeleton (Gareth’s favourite) and danced it to the music to “cheer Gareth up”

- I read snippets of nonsense poetry to the boys.

- I asked Jim about playing some Beatles music and I would sing along. Daegan chimed in excitedly “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds!” Last night we watched a video from Bill Nye about evolution, and it talked about how one of the earliest hominid skeletons ever found acquired the nickname Lucy—the discoverer named her after the Beatles song. This led to me getting the Sgt. Pepper CD and Daegan and I singing the song with the lyrics in front of us, which oddly echoed the nonsense poetry I had been reading: “newspaper taxis” “marmalade trees, and tangerine skies” “plasticine porters.” Who’d have thought you could get your kid interested in Beatles music via his love of science? :-)

When I woke up this morning, Daegan had already been hard at work creating what he called a “dinosaur puzzle”. He drew the separate bones / parts of an Allosaurus, cut them out, and then put them together with a bit of tape. (Note to self: keep buying the better-quality construction paper—the cheaper stuff would have been too floppy).

Over the course of the day he made several more, including a few that Gareth custom-ordered. Amazing what kids will do when you give them resources and get out of the way. :-)

Today is International Waffle Day, a holiday that originated in Sweden. Arriving exactly 9 months before Christmas, Swedes celebrate the arrival of spring by serving waffles for dessert. We had ours for dinner, along with some veggie sausages. Before they were served, I had the boys locate Sweden on the world map hanging at kid level in the hallway—a mini-geography lesson! The boys are in favour of any holiday involving syrup. :-)

Here’s the waffle recipe we made tonight, a veganized version of this recipe. Can’t say the ingredients were terribly Swedish. :-)

Pineapple-Coconut Waffles

1 c white flour
1/4 c whole wheat flour
2 T sugar
1 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
2 T powdered egg replacer (or 1-2 eggs)
1 14 oz. can coconut milk
1 14 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained
2 T melted margarine (or butter)

Preheat your waffles irons. In a medium bowl, mix dry. In a blender, combine coconut milk, pineapple and margarine until fairly smooth. Pour wet into dry and combine. Scoop onto waffle irons (I use a small ladle) and cook for usual amount of time (on our irons, 7 minutes). Serve with margarine / butter and syrup.

Happy Vaffeldagen!

I’ve been keeping a list for a while now of books I’ve read so far this year—we’re all bibliophiles in this house! Here’s my thoughts on what I read in January (hover over image for title and author):

A very interesting read, even for a near vegan. He looks at where our food comes from over the course of four meals: a typical fast food burger-and-fries meal, an organic meal, a locally raised meal, and a hunted/foraged meal. I learned a lot from this book: the first meal and how much of it is ultimately traced to corn and corn products is worth the read alone! The similarities between organic farming and large-scale agribusiness was also eye-opening: we eat a lot of organic food here, and the ways in which this sort of food is raised and distributed was unsettling. The locally raised meal was also fascinating, as by farming on a smaller scale and working with nature rather than trying to dominate it (leaving north-facing slopes fallow/treed, thus improving water retention, recycling animal wastes as compost for crops, only farming at a level that piece of land can sustain) the farmer Pollan visited was actually more productive (in calories per acre) than large-scale agribusiness. The point was also made that animal-based food raised this way had a different nutritional profile than that raised on factory farms—the milk and meat folks consume today is not the same as the milk and meat your great-grandparents ate. And while Pollan’s personal favourite meal was the one he hunted and foraged, he also acknowledged that given the amount of time and effort it took him to do so (weeks!), this was not a feasible alternative for a planet with more than 6 billion mouths to feed. And to his credit, Pollan investigated and reported accurately the living conditions of animals in factory farms, voicing his desire for change, despite being and remaining an omnivore. Highly recommended.

I read this one for my book club, and don’t have much to say. It’s about a girl with some sort of learning disorder—she screams if anyone has their mouth covered, she’s obsessively fascinated by rats, and is picked on by the kids at school. I liked seeing such an original child character in a novel, especially when I know so many parents who are raising ‘quirky’ kids—kids who are wired differently. But that was about all I liked. I found the other characters to be stereotypes, and the plot obvious and a little too tidy (it turns out that Olivia’s very disorder causes her to scream when a neighbour girl is in the middle of being abducted with a man’s hand over her mouth, so Olivia saves the day and now everyone likes her and comes to her party.) Let’s move on…

A book I liked for the most part, though it got a bit long-winded at times. The photographs were wonderful, and I enjoyed learning more details about the space program (largely, but not exclusively, of the U.S.). I also learned about the importance of the space program to environmental studies—it’s because of space studies of Venus that a lot of awareness and research money went into looking at the atmosphere of Earth. I also recall being struck by a section about what is and is not science, in which Sagan talks (in part) about the claim that the Earth and universe are billions of years old. He talks about how the evidence for this view comes from many fields, not just from palaeontologists or ‘evolutionary theory’—among them, space studies.  The nearest star system to Earth is about 4 light-years away, and this means it takes light from this system 4 years to reach Earth. Other systems are millions of light years away—thus implying that the universe is millions of years old, and a recent burst of gamma rays was detected that was 12.8 billion light years away. It just made me wonder—and I mean no offence by this—why there is so much emphasis from some religious circles about questioning dinosaurs, palaeontology, and evolution, but very little about astronomy. Of course, it is logically possible to hold that the Earth was created at a different time than other parts of the universe (in fact, as Sagan points out, some religions—Hindu? Buddhist? I can’t quite recall—do hold this), but I can’t see this sitting well with those who claim the earth is 6,000 years old. If anyone has a link to writings questioning the science of astronomy and the dating of time and light years, I’d love to read it first-hand.

   

I had high hopes for this book, but in the end I found it disappointing. All the essays come from one of the two authors, and expound their particular views about wilderness and children. Interesting, but nowhere near as thought-provoking, well-researched and well-argued as Last Child in the Woods, which I read a few years back. If your time is limited, read Last Child in the Woods instead.

I was looking for some easy chick-lit on the paperback racks a few months back, and stumbled across a Jane Green novel. It was just what I was looking for—a light read, with great characters and humour, and a plot that moved along nicely. The Beach House doesn’t disappoint, and like her other recent books (and paralleling her real life) this book is set in the US rather than the UK. It’s also nice to have some diversity among her characters—the main character is a 65 year old widow, rather than in her earlier novels where it was mainly a young UK career gal kind of thing. A fun light read with characters you come to care about by the end.

Happy reading!

For a few years now I’ve been mixing my words up. It started with reversing initial letters of common expressions. While driving in the country one time I was commenting on the scenery, and out came “hales of bay” (bales of hay). On another trip outside Boston, I commented to Jim about all the “out of plate states”. You sure saw a lot more of them in the North East, with the small states, than you do out in the giant western provinces of Canada!

More recently, I’ve started mixing up entire metaphors or idioms. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the oak tree” (in reference to the boys’ love of books); “bite the buckle” (we need to bite the bullet / buckle down) and my personal favourite: “shoot the fat”. You know, you and some old friends on a lazy summer afternoon just ‘shooting the fat’ (shoot the breeze / chew the fat). :-)

Anyone else experienced this phenomenon after having kids, or as we’re getting older? Got any to share?

This week is Spring Break / March Break for public-schooled kids in Calgary, so the Science Centre offered different day camps. Yesterday Daegan went to Bug Camp in the morning (he told me he doesn’t feel ready for a full day camp as yet). Here’s the highlights:

They got a camp T-shirt to wear and keep (partly a safety thing I would think, as the Science Centre was open to the general public at the same time and this way its easier to keep track of the camp kids). Jim took Gareth down later that morning for a bit of play before they picked Daegs up.

They watched a show called Bugs, featuring millipedes, grasshoppers, caterpillars, butterflies, mantises, and beetles, among others.

They got two plastic magnifying glasses to keep—or what I thought were magnifying glasses. One was, but the other had multiple lenses and gave kids a “bug’s-eye-view” of the world when they looked through it.

They got to interact with some live bugs: giant millipede, mealworms and darkling beetles (aka adult mealworms)—these two they also got to touch. They also saw a live tarantula and tailless whip scorpions (aka cave spiders) which they did not get to handle.

They practiced drawing different insects. Daegan drew a stick insect, a millipede, a darkling beetle, and an ant.

They made little terrariums out of low wide canning jars. They put different coloured flowers and leaves inside, and were to make insects out of pompoms (which he did not have time to complete, but will finish at home). They put a piece of mesh across the top, and screwed on the canning jar ring.

Overall, Daegan said he had ‘some fun’ (the options were: no fun, some fun, all fun). His favourite thing was looking at the live bugs. His least favourite thing was “sitting around in a small classroom, inside, with too many kids!” Jim had a brief word with the instructor when he picked Daegan up and she said the usual: bright boy, knows his stuff….but he needs to work on listening, sitting still, and doing what we tell him to do when we tell him to do it. We’d need to transition to the next activity and Daegan would want to keep engaging with me. Um, yeah. We know. :-)

And just to clarify, he’s not that way because we homeschool—he’s been that way since he was a infant. We homeschool (in part) because he is that way.

Here’s what we read this past week. Hover over images for title and authors.

Old Turtle and the Broken Truth was a story that grabbed Daegan. In this story, a ‘truth’ falls from the sky (like a meteor) and is found by animals and then people. The truth is broken and has writing on it: “You are loved.” At first, this truth is well-received, but in time it causes bad feelings and wars and much destruction, so much so that in time everyone believes conflict between groups of people is the way of things. A little girl goes to see Old Turtle and asks if there was a time when things were not this way, and he eventually gives her the other half of the broken truth, which she takes back to her people. When the two sides of the truth/rock and joined, they form a heart, with the message, “You are loved…and so are they.” Verdi is a less well-known animal story from the author of Stellaluna, this time about a young python rather than a bat, and some of his challenges growing up. Both boys enjoyed this one.

Our Family Tree is a kid-friendly introduction to evolution, tracing ‘our family tree’ back to single-celled organisms. One of the very few books about Darwinian evolution for the 4-8 year-old crowd. The Girl Who Loved Caterpillars is a fascinating 12th century tale from Japan about a very unconventional girl and her love of caterpillars and other creepy-crawlies. She defies convention in many other ways, like not plucking her bushy caterpillar-like eyebrows and associating with boys of ‘lower-standing’ families, whom she gives playful (and unladylike) nicknames, like “Mantis Boy” or “Centipede”. When her parents suggest she collect butterflies like the lady next door, she says, “Why so much fuss about butterflies, but no wonder about the creatures they come from? It is the original nature of things I am interested in.” A shockingly modern tale about being true to yourself and questioning convention, from nearly a millennia ago. 

Zen Shorts is a superb introduction to some classic Zen stories for children. Three siblings meet Stillwater, a panda, who tells each of them a story that somewhat connects with their lives. Includes the monks- carrying-a-woman-across-the-river story (“I put her down hours ago”) and good luck / bad luck of a farmer and his son (horse runs away—bad luck; horse brings back 3 wild horses—good luck; son breaks leg trying to ride wild horse—bad luck; broken leg prevents him from being conscripted when the army comes for all young men the next day—good luck). 

Grandfather Tang’s Story was one of my favourites from this week, in which a grandfather tells his granddaughter a story about two wolves that change form (with accompanying tangram pictures), in the end almost getting themselves killed (as geese) by a hunter. A wonderful way to teach math through literature, and very accessible to even the youngest, as the tangram pictures show the outlines of all 7 shapes, so it is easy to make each animal shape as you read the story. Choose Your Own Adventure stories, for anyone unfamiliar with them, are a chapter book series in which a multitude of paths through the book are possible, and the reader has to decide what to do. “If you decide to look for your lost friend and delay the expedition, go to page x. If you decide to proceed with the expedition, go to page y.” I enjoyed them as a child, and my experience as a teacher is that they are often successful with boys otherwise reluctant to move beyond picture books. 

Small Wonders is a very well done book about a variety of young animals and how they survive. The text is brief and to the point, but with enough specific details to keep both my boys (4 and 6) engaged. Under the Ice is a fascinating look at one woman’s experience as a marine biologist, scuba diving to study lifeforms living under Antarctic ice. Worth your time even if you read only the pictures and captions, as we did our first time through.  

Grandad’s Prayers of the Earth is a story that will touch your heart and perhaps even choke you up (it did me!), about a boy and his walks and talks in the woods with his grandfather. One day they discuss prayer, and his grandfather talks about different types of prayer, including ones given by the Earth and the animals and rocks and trees. At the end of the story the boy is older and his grandfather has passed away, and he has a hard time coming to terms with it, until one day he walks in the woods again and feels the prayers of the Earth, and his grandfather’s memory/presence. Gorgeous artwork too.

Happy reading!

I stumbled across the blog Free-Range Kids a while back, and have been enjoying reading it ever since. It’s really making me think: of course we want to protect our kids and keep them safe, but are there negative consequences of this constantly supervised up-bringing? Are we creating a generation of anxiety-ridden, fearful kids, with little experience negotiating the world until we send them off to college? Some of the stories on her website are shocking to me, like the one about a 10-year-old boy who was picked up by the police after folks called 911 seeing a child by himself outside. What was he doing? Walking 1/3 of a mile (a less than 10 minute dawdle) to soccer practice. Sheesh!

I know the folks who called 911 were only trying to be helpful. But it seems to me we are creating an inter-generational problem in two ways: parents are so scared for their children’s safety that kids are inside or in programs (before care, school or daycare, after care, various lessons, tutoring, camps, etc.) an awful lot, and interacting with very few adults. But this also means that most adults in our society have little exposure to kids outside their own families (unless their career involves kids, like teaching or pediatrics). The result? Kids have little experience and are often uncomfortable talking to adults (and taught that doing so is dangerous), and adults have also become uncomfortable talking and interacting with kids. It goes both ways. And when we lose that inter-generational connection, we lose perspective. In my GenX generation 10 year olds routinely walked 1/3 of a mile to school solo (or further!), or had paper and flyer delivery routes longer than that. I have a relative about a decade older than me who was a ‘latch-key kid’, and at age 9 walked home after school and took care of herself—homework, making some food, some chores or household responsibilities. Kids today aren’t inherently incapable of this.

But I’m also a parent and I can see both sides. It’s hard (and possibly unsafe!) to send your kid outside to play when no other kids are around, when no other adults are home to keep an communal eye on the kids outside. I understand why many of us parents do things the way we do. But I think we do need to start to think about the long-term implications of our so-called ‘helicopter parenting’.

The author of the Free-Range Kids blog has a book coming out soon that I plan to read; the introductory chapter is available to be read online here. My favourite bit is where she talks about how things have changed over the generations: our Moms sent us outside to play after dinner and said “Come in when the street lights come on.” Their moms allowed them to ride to grandma’s house via streetcar or bus without an adult. And their grandma’s sent their children across the Atlantic by ship with little more than pocket change. Funny and thought-provoking!

We woke up to two signs of spring in Calgary: robins and snow. I counted at least 7 robins (males only; the females follow about a month later) pecking at the remains of the crabapples in our tree—my first robins of the year. Here’s a robin in lower centre, another on right, and a black-capped chickadee up in the upper left:

 

We also woke to our other sign of spring: snow! March is the snowiest month here, but we get surprisingly little snow here: on average, Toronto gets 4 times as much snow, and last winter they got almost 10 times as much! The boys are excited to have a good dump of snow to play in again.

 

Hard to believe there were six boys playing on grass and digging in the garden out here in 13C / 55F sunshine on Friday!

For the past 8 weeks or so, Gareth has been taking a drama class on Friday mornings—his second go at an unparented class, and this one he has absolutely loved. His friend Danny is in the class, and he has made a new friend, Alfie, both of whom came over (with their elder brothers) to our house for a playdate after their big performance on Friday. Six boys in one wee bungalow—wow! I think we lasted about 45 minutes, enough for them all to get a snack, before we shooed them into the backyard to play. It was a lovely sunny spring day too.

Here’s some pics of the performance. The storyline involved 2 princesses and 4 mice who lived in a castle, a wolf who came to the castle (who turned out to be a vegetarian, or friendly wolf) and 2 dinosaurs who talked to the princesses on the phone. Eventually all became friends and had a dance party. The story was cute and created completely by the kids. Gareth played the Mouse King, Danny was a princess, and Alfie the wolf—the kids selected their own characters.

Here’s Gareth the Mouse King with the other mice:

Here he is with Danny (the Princess) and Alfie (the wolf, who was wearing the long hair as a disguise, which was foiled when The Mouse King noticed the tail and yelled “Wolf! Wolf!”:

Apparently Alfie found the hair irritating to wear, as he took it off about half-way through the performance. At the end, Gareth played with the hair, throwing it around and using it as a sort of dance partner at the big dance party at the end. I caught him mid-jump:

The kids lined up at the end, getting ready to take their bows:

Daegan congratulating Gareth on his performance. Both Daegan and Gareth will be doing drama classes next session:

A close-up of Gareth, who was itching his face, saying, “This face paint is making me itchy!” Yes, his eczema is something we simply have to manage and live with; it doesn’t really ‘get cured’.

And one last pic, where he was looking up at Jim, saying, “Can I take these ears off now? They’re itchy!”

Here’s what we read this past week. Hover over the images for title and author.

My Big Dinosaur Book is an excellent board book for the very young dinosaur fan, with realistic pictures. The dinosaurs are grouped according to visual characteristics. The Trouble With Dragons is a tale of dragons who foul their planet, but learn to reduce, reuse and recycle before it is too late. Fairly well done, and it took only a couple leading questions from me for Daegan (age 6) to realize the book was really sending a message about people, not dragons.

Project Puffin is a wonderfully inspiring true story of one man’s quest to bring puffins back to one of their historic nesting islands off the coast of Maine. Working with wildlife agencies in both Canada and the U.S., for several years in a row they brought young chicks to the island and hand-reared them…and then waited. Young puffins stay at sea for 2 to 4 years before returning to land to breed. In the meantime, decoy puffins were painted and distributed on the island so any returning puffins would not be lonely, and the aggressive sea gulls were discouraged from nesting. What has been learned from this project has been applied to other projects with different sea birds around the world. This is a detailed account with excellent photographs—well worth the half-hour read. Look-Alikes is a very quirky, playful book where scenes are created using everyday objects in unusual ways. For example, in the cover picture a coffee pot forms the engine, potatoes are boulders beneath the tracks; inside, my favourite is a chair made from various shaped pretzels and a ritz cracker. The more you look, the more you see. One of a series. Digging Canadian Dinosaurs was a very interesting read for my future Canadian palaeontologists, and very up-to-date in terms of research and theory. One recent idea that caught our attention was that of the feeding of ornithomimus (an ostrich-like dino). Its beak has been found to have filters inside, and their bones have only ever been found in rocks indicating wet, swampy areas, so palaeontologists are now wondering if they filter-fed in water, more like ducks or flamingos than ostriches.  

The Boxcar Children is a classic older chapter book about 4 orphaned siblings who live out of a boxcar and make the best of things. I am pleased that it is engaging Daegan’s interest despite being dino-free. :-) Over Under in the Garden is a lovely alphabet book. Look for the chipmunk on each page…and then a snake shows up…and opens its mouth wide beside the chipmunk, who cannot be found on the next page. Oh no! Turn once again to the "T” page and you’ll find the chipmunk hiding among the tomatoes. Gareth loved both the book and the chipmunk-snake subplot. The Talking Eggs is a very engaging and unusual folk tale from the American South, about two sisters and not being deceived by appearances. Highly recommended.

Carlo Likes Reading has all kinds of household and neighbourhood objects labelled (like on the cover), and often in amusing ways. A big hit with Gareth who is currently at the ‘emergent reader’ stage.

 

McDuff Moves In is one of a series of books about the adorable little pooch; my boys love these stories. Piggie Pie is an interesting idea, combining elements of fairy tales and Old MacDonald’s Farm, but it didn’t work here, and rather scared Gareth. Imogene’s Antlers will be a hit with any child who loves the absurd, and Llama Llama Mad at Mama is a must read if you have a child who gets frustrated on shopping trips. I heard about the book on my friend Tiffany’s blog, and I second her recommendation—a child-friendly book talking about a real life issue in a compassionate and humourous way.

Marvin One Too Many tells the story of a boy who is having a hard time adjusting to school, especially when it comes to learning to read. When he finds out his father—a smart, smart man—was also the last in his class to read, he feels better and with his father’s help he is soon on his way to coping better with things rather than grumbling, “Reading is stupid!” A superb book if you have a ‘late reader’, or, as we used it in this house, to talk about how people learn at different rates and in the end it matters not one bit. Tracy’s Mess is a funny book that every child who has been asked to clean their room will giggle along to.

The Fat Cat Sat on the Mat contained a surprising amount of humour for a quasi-basal reader, and had both boys giggling at points. But Here Comes the Cat was the surprise smash hit here, and had all 4 of us laughing heartily when the cat was finally revealed. The book consists of a mouse running all over town yelling “here comes the cat!” in both English and Russian (cyrillic script, which I stumbled my way through pronouncing as I studied Russian for a year in university). Excellent artwork with a Russian feel, and a very funny and surprising ending. Very unusual and highly recommended.

Happy reading!

Inspired by the wordless book Flotsam, which the children have now “read” countless times, Jim took some photos of the boys last night and turned them into ‘infinite pictures.’ The boys were thrilled with their pics, and have copies in their rooms. Here they are:

As some of you know, I studied philosophy in university and have an M.A. in the subject. Nonetheless, I was a little taken aback by the following conversation I had with Gareth just before our final family Clay class.

Gareth: After this, will the story be finished?

Me: Ummm….Well, this is the final clay class, so after this the class will be finished.

Gareth: OK….So the story will be finished then?

Me: This is the last class, but I’m not sure what story you mean, Gareth.

Gareth: The story we are in.

Me: (laughing) We’re not in a story! Life is not a book.

Gareth (after a pause): Are we real?

Loving these deep thoughts of a 4-year-old. Reminds me of the passage in Descartes Meditations where he wonders if we are part of a someone’s dream or real, and how we could tell. As Jerome Bruner would say, “The questions of the kindergartner and the graduate student differ in degree, but not in kind.”

I mentioned a while back that all 4 of us were taking a family clay class. Last Saturday was our final class, and we picked up our completed projects. Here’s what we made:

Week 1: Worlds

Both boys created prehistoric worlds, and Jim and I were so busy helping them we had no time to make our own creations that week. Here’s Gareth’s world. You can see a frog, turtle, shell, tree, snake and dinosaur. The base of the world was kept rounded by stuffing it with newspaper, which disintegrated to ashes in the kiln.

 

Here’s Daegan’s world. This was the world that caused him much grief when we were unable to remove it from the base support without damaging his creation. So many of the details he put in have been lost; in particular he covered the base of the world with bones and fossils, in enough detail to tell one species from another. All had to be cut off to get the rest of the world to a kiln-able state. :-( I hope what remains still conveys how much effort he put into this particular project:

Note the detailed texture of the elasmosaurus’ head:

And the small clutch of dinosaur eggs:

Here’s the meganeura (prehistoric dragonfly with a 2-foot wingspan) perched on top of the tree:

And lastly, the detail on the prehistoric creature hiding behind the tree—those are awesome ears, eyes and mouth from a 6 year old!

 

Week 2: Masks

In the second week we made masks. We spent the first part of the class experimenting with the clay and making as many different types of eyes, ears, noses, etc. as possible. This rather annoyed Daegan, who I think was also still reeling from last week’s prehistoric world problems. I think his mask conveys his anger quite clearly! I have included a picture of a ‘self-portrait mask’ he made in a class last spring by way of contrast.

Here’s Gareth’s and Jim’s mask, both of which have a rather devilish aspect to them to my eye:

Here’s mine:

And finally Daegan’s (which I am not sure I photographed right way up!), followed by the one he made last year:

Week 3: Banks

We made variations on a piggy bank this week, starting by making “pinch pots”. It was hard work getting the clay just right with a ball of air inside! And by the time you did, the edges were drying out and beginning to crack, making detailing the outside rather complicated. It was too hard for Gareth who simply played with clay during this class. Jim made an apple; I made a snowman. Daegan and I made a ladybug together.

On his own, Daegan made a Comsagnathus bank. Unfortunately, the dinosaur could not be found come painting day (week 5), giving Daegan yet another chance to master the art of dealing with life’s disappointments. Oy! He had a tough time, and was in tears—how I wished it was my snowman or Jim’s apple that had been lost! Turns out someone screwed up at the arts centre and it hadn’t been fired in the kiln yet. Rather annoying since this was 2 weeks before painting day! Still, Daegan was very happy to see his project at the final class (pick-up day). We honestly thought it was lost forever, perhaps exploded in the kiln or something. We are going to get some paint and finish it at home.

Week 4: Containers

We made containers with lids this week—and bless my friend Anna for coming along to help Gareth with his project. Jim was away on business that weekend, so I had secured her help a few weeks back; as it turned out, even if Jim has been here he would not have been able to help as he broke his wrist the previous Sunday. Making these containers was again quite a challenge; Anna and I made the ‘boxes’ while the boys made the inner contents and decorations. One piece of advice: do NOT make a square container like Daegan and I did. Rounded is much, much easier!

 

Gareth’s pterosaur container:

Daegan’s stegosaurus container, with stegosaur, fossilized dino nest and fossilized footprints inside:

All in all, a unique and enjoyable way for our family to spend time together over the winter months.

Last week we finally saw our regular winter visitors, bohemian waxwings. They are a very striking bird—mainly grey, but with bright yellow and red colouring on the wing and tail tips (hence the name—it looks like bright blobs of wax on their wings), cinnamon undertail coverts, and a distinctive head crest. Their sound is the first thing I notice about them if I am outside—a thin lispy whistle with a rising zweeeeet! call—it has always sounded insect-like to me, which rather grabs your attention in the dead of winter. “A high-pitched buzzy trill” is how many birding books put it; to me, it sounds more like a grasshopper buzzing to its neighbour, “Man, it’s cold!” :-)

Here are some pics, taken from our living room picture window. It’s hard to describe the sight and sound of these birds en masse; they descend on backyard crabapple trees and especially mountain ashes in flocks of hundreds to thousands.

Here’s what it looked like in the neighbours’ trees out front at the same time.

And the neighbour’s crabapple tree. I nearly got hit in the head from these very tame birds flitting from one food source to another while I took pictures and videos in –20C weather.

And lastly, here’s a video of the waxwings attacking the remains of crabapples on our tree. In the first clip, which I shot outside, you may be able to hear their thin calls and occasional rising buzzy “zweeet!” noises (as well as me struggling to breathe at –20C). The rest of the video I shot from our living room; in the last clip you hear our pet budgies (parakeets) tweeting, not the waxwings. :-) Enjoy!

Tip from Jim: click on the ‘HD’ at the bottom of the youtube screen to see it in high definition (clearer picture).

We’ve been feeling in a bit of a rut lately, so last weekend I went down to the homeschool supply store to check out some new curriculum. I found this book, and just had to get it:

Daegan immediately took it, a pile of paper, and some pencils to his room. The book taught how to draw via different base shapes. “Line-a-sauruses” start as a curvy line, usually the backbone, like in this camarasaurus:

Other dinos start from an oval:

Or a triangle:

Daegan drew and drew:

For hours. He went to bed reading the fine details of the book, which I see reflected in some of his drawings (shading, drawing background plants or animals). It’s amazing to watch a child when he finds his passion!

Here’s what the boys and I read a couple weeks back, when Jim was away (and we were sick, and winter was roaring on outside—i.e., lots of reading!) In addition to these, we finished the chapter book, Lady Lollipop, which I highly recommend. Hover over the images for title and author.

My Aunt Came Back is your better-than-average rhyming board book, about the various things a girl gets from her world-traveling aunt. The child gets no souvenir on her aunt’s final journey—she gets to accompany her on her travels instead.

What Is A Scientist? gives a very child-friendly account of what a scientist does (measures, records data, asks questions, etc.) and how a scientist thinks. All the pictures show kids engaged in hands-on science.  Daegan continues to enjoy the chapter book series for Canadian Flyer and Dinosaur Cove.

Ten Seeds is a cute counting book about what happens to ten sunflower seeds planted by a young child. One gets eaten by a bird, one by a mole, of the 7 or 8 that sprout one gets nibbled by a mouse, one crushed by a ball (and a further one by a child’s foot) when a child plays baseball in the yard, etc. The one seed that survives to flower then produces (more than) 10 seeds for next spring. The Lorax should need no introduction; it was Gareth’s (age 4) first time listening to it with full attention. Why Do Dogs Do That? answers all kinds of questions kids sent in about dogs and their behaviour. Both boys enjoyed it. 

The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza is a playful version of the classic Little Red Hen story, with a lovely twist at the end. The ‘lazy’ cat, dog and other character I forget now, do indeed avoid doing any work in the preparation, yet get to eat the pizza. But afterwards, they do the washing up while the hen sits at the table with her feet up and a good book.

Who Hops is a book my boys have enjoyed for years; the humour in it tickles their funny bones. The text goes through different animals that hop, crawl, fly, slither, and swim but the final animal in each section is always a joke. e.g. “Who Hops? Frogs hop” (picture of frog hopping); “rabbits hop” (picture of rabbit hopping); “kangaroos hop” (picture of kangaroo hopping), “cows hop” (picture of a wide-eyed cow looking rather shocked and confused.) Turn the page: “No they don’t! Cows moo and give milk, but they don’t hop!” The book concludes by asking who hops and crawls and flies and slithers and swims? (“You do!”) Very simple yet playful book. Animals that Walk on Water is one Jim read with Daegan that they both enjoyed and learned from (its a more dense book that takes 30 minutes to 1 hour as a read-aloud). Cactus Soup is a southwest version of the Stone Soup classic tale.

Loonies and Toonies is a charming picture book to read with a Canadian kid. It uses numbers a back drop to introduce all kinds of facets of Canadian culture. Each page has a short poem and large picture, with more detailed information in side bars. e.g., 2 is the number of official languages, 6 is the number of time zones, 7 fathers of Confederation, 8 is about Terry Fox (“8 left shoes and just one right, to carry him to dark from morning light….the hero of Canada’s cancer fight…”), 11 is Remembrance Day, 13 the number of provinces and territories, etc. Even I learned things from reading it! Miss Suzy is a sweet, if dated (from MY childhood!) story about a female squirrel who loves to care for her home but gets booted out by some bullying red squirrels. She finds a new home in an attic where she meets some toy soldiers who help her get her home back. A lovely older children’s book.  

Happy reading!

While Jim was away last week the boys and I got into a pattern of playing games between dinner and bedtime, and this was one of Gareth’s first major forays into the world of games. He and Daegan have played a couple of board games before—Cranium Cariboo and Snail’s Pace Race—both of which I highly recommend for a child’s first exposure to board games. Daegan and I taught Gareth some card games for the first time, and he loved Go Fish. (We played with sets of animal cards to make it easier). Once he had mastered that we moved on to Uno, and Jim told me that just this afternoon he and the boys played Uno and Gareth was able to play his hand properly, all by himself. Yippee! I grew up playing tons of cards games and board games, as did Jim, so this is a major milestone in this family.

We also tried Chutes and Ladders tonight, with some success—we decided to play until everyone finished. Gareth was done first, and Daegan shortly thereafter. Jim was doing ok, but I kept sliding down chute after chute, which led to lots of giggles from the boys. It took me three tries to get past the chute on square 16, and when Jim finally got his token to the end (square 100) I had for the first time just made it over square 50. Not my game! :-)

Gareth’s other major activity while Jim was gone was doing jigsaw puzzles. We have several large floor puzzles, as well as smaller tabletop puzzles. The boys and I completed a 200-piece puzzle over a couple evenings, and Gareth and Daegan did several by themselves (of dinos, frogs, sea creatures). Daegan needs little help now with puzzles up to 60-ish pieces; Gareth can complete the same size puzzle by himself if you help him do the ‘frame’ (outside edges).

Sorry I haven’t been blogging for a while—and thanks for all who sent notes checking up on us. We’re fine; it’s just been a very busy past couple weeks. We’re all adjusting to life with Jim having a broken wrist; we all were sick with yet another cold/flu; Jim was away for a week on business, which left me little time for writing; ALL the schedules for summer camps and springs classes have come out and I’ve spent quite a bit of time planning out the next few months; we’ve had medical appointments (Jim wrist, boys dentist)…it just all kind of hit at once. But I’m back!

So now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. :-)

Inspired by our recent package from Big Green Rabbit, Daegan made this archaeopteryx craft. Note the details of his creation, which of course match the song:

Archaeopteryx, a bird-like flying dinosaur
Archaeopteryx, with a mouth full of teeth
Archaeopteryx, a long bony tail and then
Two feathered wings with three claws on each.

Gareth thought it was so cool he asked Daegan to make one for him too!

We finished both books in the Canadian Flyer Adventures series from last week, and read or started the following. As usual, hover over the image for full title and author.

The Gruffalo is an engaging tale in which a mouse describes a (supposedly imaginary) ‘gruffalo’ to outwit various enemies that want to eat him. But then the mouse meets a real gruffalo, with surprising results. Daegan (age 6 1/2) got the humour, but the book served only to scare Gareth (age 4). The Three Little Javelinas is a southwest adaptation of the Three Little Pigs story, with a coyote as the wolf, and building materials such as tumbleweed and adobe. The twist at the end—the explanation of the coyotes’ howl on desert nights—tickled Daegan’s imagination.

Both boys giggled and guffawed their way through The Day Jimmy’s Boa Ate the Wash, a tall tale told by a child about her class field trip to the farm. Sylvester and the Magic Pebble is the 1970 winner of the Caldecott award. Sylvester the donkey finds a magic red pebble, but on his way home encounters a lion. Flustered, he wishes himself to become a rock (hence safe from the lion) but in turning to stone Sylvester is no longer holding/touching the pebble, so he cannot wish himself back to a donkey. His parents search for him, and are very distraught when he cannot be found. A year later they go to have a picnic on the rock that is Sylvester, with heart-warming results. Quirky and held both boys’ attention—I love finding older books like this that have fallen out of favour.

Math-terpieces is a very unusual hybrid of art and math. We did the first two puzzles. The first showed a ballet picture by Degas, with a little poem that both conveyed art history info and posed a math puzzle: can you arrange the groups of ballet shoes on the next page to make 7 shoes? There are three solutions. The following puzzle had you arranging groups of water lilies to make 8, with four solutions and Monet’s famous ‘bridge over water lilies’ picture on the other side. I quite like it, and the puzzles were at just the right level for Daegan who is mastering his addition facts. Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children was recommended to me (by several sources), and we read the stories of Arachne and Icarus. The stories are simplified, but not dumbed down or substantially altered—Icarus still flies to close to the sun and crashes and drowns; Arachne is destined to spend the rest of her days as a spider. A good first introduction for Daegan, who is developing an interest in myth. He keeps asking to play Professor Noggin’s trivia game about Creatures of Myth and legend, among the many other titles (like Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Mammals). :-) 

Snack Time, Tyrannosaurs Rex is one of a series of beginning readers from the Smithsonian Institute—a good choice for early readers who prefer non-fiction. Lady Lollipop is a delightful book from the author of Babe, about a spoiled princess who demands a pig for her 8th birthday. We’re about half-way through and Daegan is loving it; he asked for “just one more chapter” which almost never happens in a book that involves no dinosaurs! Five Minutes Peace is about a Mom trying to get “just 5 minutes peace from you lot” (talking to her 3 kids) and retiring to the bath with a cup of tea…not that she really gets the break she wants. A book my children giggled to as the scenario was one they are quite familiar with. :-)

Maiasaura is one in a series from Virginia Schomp—we have yet to find a poor title in the series. Daegan loves them. Baby Science is a surprisingly engaging book about babies—how they look, eat, learn, sense, etc. Both boys were fully engaged. Granny’s Dragon is a cute idea that didn’t quite work for us. A young girl tells her grandma she can’t sleep due to monsters in her room, and Granny listens sympathetically and eventually describes a protective dragon for her. It was a book about a common young child fear, but Granny’s solution and humour went over Gareth’s head—it served only to scare him.

Bug in a Rug is a wonderful find full of games and activities for emergent and beginning readers. Gareth found all kinds of things to play with me; his favourite were some rebus rhymes we read together. Here’s a photo of one of Gareth’s favourite pages—he wanted to read it over and over until he could read the whole thing by himself. Highly recommended!

Happy reading!