Book Sharing Monday :: Neo Leo: the Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci and his work are fascinating. I noticed this picture book last week at our library and was attracted by the bright illustrations. This is a wonderful picture book that compares Leonardo da Vinci's drawings with inventions that were created after his time.

For example, in 1903, the Wright Brothers created the engine-powered aircraft, but 400 years earlier Leonardo had come up with a similar design:

Every page of the book shows an invention, and the corresponding drawings from Leonardo. There are also some of his notes, written backwards, which were fun to decipher and gave extra information

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Gene Barretta is the writer and illustrator of Neo Leo: The Ageless Ideas of Leonardo da Vinci. He also has written one on Benjamin Franklin called Now & Ben: The Modern Inventions of Benjamin Franklin.

Air Show ~ part 3 ~ CF-18 Hornet and Lancaster Bomber

Continuing with the Air Show posts...If you missed the first two, you can see them here and here.

Another part of the air show, was the demonstration of other planes, besides the aerobatic kind. We saw the CF-18 Hornet fighter plane fly by a few times. It was amazing!

Another awesome plane was this Lancanster Bomber. There are only two left that are air worthy, and this one from the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum was at the Air Show!

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Year 5 :: Week 4 :: Starting Canadian History and sharing some of our Life lessons..

Math:

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  Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 - lessons 11 to 14. (Adrienne)
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  Teaching Texbooks 6 - lessons 12 to 15 and quizz 2. (Andre)
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  Miquon Math Red Book - lessons B5 to B8 (Celeste)

Language Arts:

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  Spelling: Sequential Spelling 1 - days 10 to 13 (Andre)
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  Spelling: Sequential Spelling 3 - days 9 and 10 (Adrienne)
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  Handwriting: Italics Book E - 2 days (Andre)
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  Handwriting: Italics Book B - 4 days (Celeste)
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  Explode the Code 1 - pages 8 to 12 (Celeste)
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  Elson Readers Primer - Alice and her kitten - introduction, sight words, reading practice (Celeste)
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   Poetry: Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization - Level 1 Poem 2 "Celery" - 3 days of practice (all 3)
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  Commonplace Books - independent reading notes - Andre: Eragon, Adrienne: A Study in Scarlet.
• 
  
  Every day over lunch this week, I read aloud Nurse Matilda (just the first story) to all 3 children. This was a very funny book, and perfect for all ages (something that can be difficult to find lately!).

World Geography:

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  Trail Guide to World Geography: North America Week 4 trails (trivia questions) + map work. This week, we continued studying North America with a focus on Canada and the United States. We read a short picture on North America. Adrienne and Andre continued work on their illustrated dictionary (bay, sound, island, plain). They also completed 2 country fact sheets (Canada, USA).

Canadian History:

We started our Canadian history study this week! We are using a few books as spine for this study.

This week, we started with the Aboriginal Peoples of Canada by reading the first chapter from The Story of Canada (Janet Lunn) and the Glooscap story in Footprints in the Snow. I gave a short assignment to Andre and Adrienne. Andre was to find out what type of food Iroquoians ate and one recipe. Adrienne was to find out more about the Iroquoians, where they lived, and tell me the story of an important person/character from this tribe.

We then read about the Vikings in the Story of Canada (chapter 2) and researched the location of L'Anse aux Meadows on a map. We continued in the Story of Canada and learned about more explorers. As we read, we followed some of the routes on a map.

We moved a little faster with these chapters because it is a review. We had started a study of Canadian History 2 years ago, but only got so far as the 3rd chapter in the Story of Canada. We will slow down soon!

I have been reading Canadian History for Dummies for myself as we go along and I am really enjoying learning myself about Canada and its history.

French:

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  Adrienne started French this week, using L'Art de Dire 6 with me. We covered 2 lessons.

Life:

After reading Living Simply with Children , I wanted to do the suggested activity of writing a family values and vision statement with my children. I decided to include it in our monday and friday meetings.

On Monday, I explained the topic/question for this week, and told them to think about it over the next few days. The question was: What do you think a successful life is?

On Friday, we met and worked through 3 more questions: What do you  hold most sacred, what characteristics do you value in your friends, what makes you happy, what activities do we like to do together as a family?

I was really impressed with all the answers my children were able to come up with.

Next week, we will combine all our thoughts and come up with examples to include in our family values and vision statement. 

On Monday, we decided to have a little experiment at the mall. We went to do some people watching and also to notice advertising at work.

I didn't want to take too many photos in the stores. I did take this one in the book store. Besides Celeste, who just enjoyed herself, my 2 older children and I were disapointed with what we saw. This store just renovated their children section and now it includes more toys than books. They also removed the tween book section from the children section. They have toys set out so that children can try some out. The focus is definetely on toys, not books, and we thought it was just sad for a bookstore.

Air Show ~ part 2 ~ Brazilian Smoke Squadron and Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Air Team

To continue with my posts on the air show, I am now sharing a series of photos from the Brazilian Smoke Squadron, also known as the Brazilian Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron.

These guys were amazing!

The photos below show the Canadian Harvard Aerobatic Team . These 3 little yellow planes, the Harvards, were built in 1941. The announcer explained that these planes were called the "Pilot Maker", meaning that if you could fly one of these you could fly anything. They were used as advanced trainers by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Their show was amazing, and the clouds had lifted by then.

Can you see the heart shape they made in the sky? That was a heart for all the volunteers for this air show!

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

hosted by SouleMama

Air Show ~ part 1 ~ B-52 and C-17 (CC-177)

Last weekend, the kids and I went to the Windsor International Air Show. We spent most of the day there, and learned so much about so many different types of airplanes. Two of my children are very interested in the Canadian Forces, and seeing several Air Force planes from Canada and the USA was perfect. We also watched all the amazing shows in the air.

I am going to split this into a few posts because I have many photos!

I hope you will enjoy seeing our adventures.

The first plane we visited was a B-52H Stratofortress from the US Air Force. This is a bomber, and we were able to walk underneath and see where the bombs would be attached and dropped from.

Celeste couldn't believe how big the wheels were!

Below is a photo showing the nose of the B-52:

Walking away from the B-52. The weather was actually really nice that day, at first it was really cloudy as you can see, but then cleared up for the air shows. At least, it wasn't super hot or humid!

The next plane we visited was from the Canadian Forces. The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III (called CC-177 in Canada) was our favourite of the day. It was huge! Canada has 4 of these. This plane can also be used for medical relief, we saw a photo of it set up with beds, but it is mostly used to transport other military vehicles and cargo.

Its wing span is 51.75 meters (169.8 ft), it weighs empty 128,100 kg (282,500 lbs)! The price tag, as of 2010: $ 191 million!

We went aboard twice, once through the back loading dock:

and the second time through the side door:

Andre asked questions to the loadmaster. He was curious to know what some of the tools were.

This huge plane only needs 3 people for its crew: 2 pilots and 1 loadmaster. The loadmaster takes care of the cargo in the plane. He explained many of the things that Andre could see on the sides of the plane. He also told him that this is the same type of plane that was used in the second Transformers movie. You can see it transporting Optimus Prime, and also the Autobots.

In the CC-177, we were able to go into the cockpit.

Celeste loved trying on all the seat belts!

Andre was pretty happy about this! Look at him!

In the pilot's seat of a CC-177.

He might have to grow a little taller to see above the dashboard!!

Adrienne's turn. The loadmaster was very kind and explained more to us. We learned about the armour plates on the floor of the cockpit that protects the two pilots and also the purpose of some of the buttons, screens, and levers...so many of them!

The front of the CC-177:

Next post I will share our photos of the Brazilian Smoke Quadron.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Her Style!

Change in name

You may have noticed the change in name on this blog. Canadian Home Learning is the name I started off with, and it's the name used for the blog address. I have been thinking about changing this blog's name for a while and instead of using a brand new one, chose to stay with the original. It represents us, we are Canadians and I feel that "home learning" is more fitting to us than home school.

Book Sharing Monday :: Where to Go When ~ The Americas

Where to Go When: The Americas is a book by DK Eyewitness Travel. This is not a children's book, but we are using it to supplement our world geography studies. We are studying North America right now, and it has been interesting to see photos of places in North America.

This book is set up by calendar months, and every month has a double page highlighting where to go that month, by categories such as festivals & culture, natural wonders, active adventures, and family getaways. The photographs are amazing and the information is short but relevant. At the back of the book, you can find a full atlas.

This might not seem to be an educational type book, but we love it!

What type of books do you include in your homeschooling that are not labeled as "educational"?
If you are participating in Book Sharing Monday, please include your link below! Thank you.

Year 5 :: Week 3

Celeste and Andre, collecting our vegetables in the garden

Math:

•Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1 - lessons 9 and 10, test 1 (Adrienne)
•Teaching Textbooks 6 - lessons 9, 10, 11 (Andre)
•Miquon Math Red Book - lesson B2, 3, 4 (Celeste)


Language Arts:


•Spelling: Sequential Spelling 1 - days 8 and 9 (Andre)
•Spelling: Sequential Spelling 3 - day 8 (Adrienne)
•Handwriting: Italics Book E - 2 days (Andre)
•Explode the Code 1 - pages 6 and 7 (Celeste)
•Elson Readers Primer - Spot's Kittens - Celeste read the story. Reviewed sight words.
•Poetry: Linguistic Development Through Poetry Memorization - Level 1 Poem 2 "Celery" - one day practice (all 3)
•Commonplace books - notes from their independent reading - Andre is reading "Eragon", Adrienne a Sherlock Holmes book "A Study in Scarlet", and I am reading "Alice in Wonderland" to Celeste.


World Geography:

•Trail Guide to World Geography - North America - Week 3 trails (trivia questions) + map work (all 3). This week we all learned about learned about North America and thematic maps. Adrienne and Andre made a Natural Hazards thematic map. They continued working our their illustrated geography dictionary (coastline, channel, sea, and harbour). 


World History:


•History Odyssey - lessons 105 and 106. We finished our lessons with  HO this week. We read a bit about the Huguenot wars and about the Reformation. We then finished our week with reading more tales from Shakespeare (As You Like It, The Tempest, Cymberline). Adrienne and Andre completed a written narration of As You Like It.


Science:


This week we didn't cover science at home, but learned about native snakes through a hands-on program at our local library. You can see more here.

French:


Celeste and I reviewed numbers and colours. I introduced shapes vocabulary.


Art, Handicrafts, Music:


Adrienne and Andre both continued with their stop motion videos creations.
Adrienne gave me a beautiful mermaid drawing this week.

Andre made many paper airplanes. He has loved paper airplanes for a few years now. We found a one-a-day type calendar a couple of months ago in a clearance section at Indigo, he has been working on catching up to the current date, and usually makes a week's worth of airplanes at a time, and tests them all!




This week was a lot lighter with our school work, but filled with social activities. We visited three of my aunts on Monday for the afternoon, all the kids played with their neighbourhood friends for most of Friday, and Celeste and I went to the homeschool park day on Thursday morning. Saturday was also a day filled with fun with homeschool friends!