An announcement to all my readers {Updated July 2015}

To my dear readers, *updated September 2015*

My oldest daughter, Adrienne, has graduated high school. Only my son is now in public school (grade 11 in September). I continue to homeschool my youngest daughter, who is eleven years old. 

I will keep this blog Canadian Home Learning open, but will no longer post here. I want to keep it open so past posts and links are accessible for everyone.

I now blog about our family's adventures on PEI, book reviews, homeschooling, and yoga.  I hope you will follow us at Life on a Canadian Island.

Thank you,
Alex.

Exploring PEI :: Province House, the Birthplace of Canada

This weekend, Charlottetown celebrated its 157th birthday. We attended the celebrations at Victoria Park. We had a lot of fun there. We visited the library and then sat in front of Province House to have a quick snack and noticed it was open, so we went in!

We love exploring new places and playing tourist when we move to a new area.

Province House is a national historic site of Canada and is known as the birthplace of Canada. The building is beautiful and spacious. There are two main rooms you can visit, and a library.

The photo below shows part of the library:

 

The Province House is still used today for the Legislative Assembly:





Province House is known as the birthplace of Confederation. In September 1864, 23 political leaders from the British Colonies of Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Canada (Ontario and Quebec) began the discussions that led in 1867 to the creation of the Dominion of Canada. (text from the Parks Canada).

The Parks Canada staff told us that the table and chairs (in the photo below) are the original ones from 1864. Andre noticed the spittoons right away! The staff member also explained that no one sat in the preferred seat (with the red curtain around it) during the historical meeting. That chair was used before during the Prince Edward Island Legislative Council. I thought it was very interesting to visit this room, especially since we learned about Confederation in our Canadian History last year. We will come back again this summer and see the sound & light show and historical vignettes.

If you would like to learn more about Confederation, you can visit the following site:

Confederation for Kids 



Book Sharing Monday :: Usborne Boys' Activity Book --- + a small update on our move

We moved last week from Ontario to Prince Edward Island. I apologize for the poor quality of the the photos in this post. The moving truck hasn't arrived (I am typing on the floor!). We just hooked up our computer yesterday and I don't have my camera out yet, so these photos are from our iPod.

Our big move went well. My two youngest children and I traveled by train from Windsor, Ontario to Moncton, New Brunswick. This was a long train ride and I didn't bring many things along because we had to change trains twice. We then made our way to PEI for our final destination!

My son (13) has his own iPod Touch and Celeste (8) used mine at times. I had uploaded audiobooks from the library to each iPod and they listened to those. I also had brought Dutch Blitz card game and the two activity books seen in the photo above. My daughter didn't use it as much as my son. This book was a hit with him!

The Usborne Boys' Activity book is filled with a ton of puzzles, codes to crack, jokes, did you know? facts, mazes, stickers, writing prompts (finish the story) and doodle suggestions. The book is organized by themes, monsters, cars, space, etc..Hours and hours of fun, really!

If you want to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please leave the link to your book sharing post below. Happy reading!

Book Sharing Monday :: Countries of the World Series by National Geographic

We have been using a series from National Geographic called Countries of the World this year for our High School World Geography course from Harmony Art Mom(which all 3 of my kids participate in). She recommends using Enchantment of the World series, but our library didn't have many of the titles so I chose this series as a replacement. This National Geographic series turned out to be a great choice for our family.

Each book covers one country and follows the same format. You can see the contents in the photo below. Geography, nature, history, people & culture, government & economy are covered.

There is also a section with extra informative facts at the end of the book, along with a glossary, bibliography, and a section called further information that contains more web sites suggestions. Each section is filled with interesting texts, photos, and maps. These books are colourful, captivating and perfect for reading aloud in my opinion.

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, you can add a link to your book sharing post below. Happy reading!

Book Sharing Monday :: The Boy Who Grew Flowers

The Boy Who Grew Flowers is the story of Rink Bowagon, a boy who grows flowers on his head! This fictional story is a beautiful tale of courage, acceptance and friendship. I originally picked up this title because we are learning about flowers in science. It didn't really relate to our studies but it was such a nice story, I had to share it with you. Like all the Barefoot Books we have read, this one moved us through its illustrations and its story. 

"Climb to the top of Lonesome Mountain to meet a very special boy named Rink — every full moon, he grows flowers all over his body. This heartwarming story celebrates difference and friendship, as Rink meets a girl with her own secret, and they discover ways to help each other." from Barefoot Books.

"The Bowagons were the only folks who lived on Lonesome Mountain. The townspeople argued as to whether it was because they were such strange folk that they lived there, or whether it was because they lived there that they were such strange folk."

 

You can participate in Book Sharing Monday by adding a link to your book sharing post below. Thank you and happy reading !

Wordless Wednesday :: We ♥ Hooping



Book Sharing Monday :: Splat the Cat "I Can Read" Series

I had to take a short break while I was getting our home ready for our big move to Prince Edward Island! Now that packing is almost complete, I have re-opened Canadian Home Learning blog.

I wanted to share with you this fun series of "I Can Read" books. We love Splat the Cat by Rob Scotton and Celeste absolutely loves reading these readers over and over. This says a lot because she is not a strong reader and doesn't usually enjoy reading a lot!

Splat the Cat is a fun and silly black cat. His adventures always have an unexpected twist!

Celeste's favourite is Splat the Cat Good Night, Sleep Tight. In this story, Splat the Cat is camping in his backyard and is looking forward to it until he finds out that his mom invited two of his friends too. He doesn't like them very much...

Feel free to add a link to your book sharing post below. I am not sure, unfortunately, how regular my posts will be, but I will try to keep going!

Book Sharing Monday :: America is Under Attack

"American is Under Attack" is written and illustrated by Don Brown and is part of a series called Actual Times.

When I noticed this title at the library, I was intrigued by it and how it would explain this horrible event to children. Don Brown does an excellent job at explaining what happened. He includes many details and stories about the firefighters and other individuals.

"High on the 88th floor, Frank De Martini, the building's construction manager, hadn't heard anything from the rescue operation based in the lobby. He didn't even know about the plane crash; he thought someone had planted a bomb or that a mechanical room had exploded."

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please include the link to your book sharing post below.

Earth Hour 2012 Tonight!

We are participating again this year, are you? And go beyond the hour, in how you live every day.

Earth Hour, Saturday, March 31 starting 8:30pm.

To find out more, you can visit the official site: Earth Hour.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world" Ghandi.

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore - Complete Movie

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It is beautiful and as book lovers, we adored it! If you have 15 minutes to spare, I recommend you watch it too.

You can also go visit Morris Lessmore website for more information. I enjoyed looking at the art of Morris Lessmore (click on gallery at the bottom of the site).

Wordless Wednesday :: Hello Robin!

Book Sharing Monday :: The Thinking Girl's Treasury Series

We discovered the Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses a few months ago and have read a few titles. On a more recent library visit, we noticed another series by the same publisher, Goosebottom Books, called "The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames". I am sharing the two series with you today because I feel that both of these series would make a great addition to history lessons, or could be enjoyed on their own.

The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Real Princesses highlight one princess in each book. Each biography is filled with illustrations, photographs, and interesting text. We learn about what the princess wore, ate, along with her life story.
Both photos below come from "Nur Jahan of India":

"Nur Jahan was not born a princess, although she was a distant cousin of the Persian royal family. In fact, she was not born Nur Jahan at all. Her birth name was Mihr al-Nisa (Sun Among Women), and her father was a Persian nobleman who had come to India to work in the Moghul court."

The Thinking Girl's Treasury of Dastardly Dames highlights the stories of women through history that were a little more "nasty". These are also queens, princesses, empresses, but their reputations aren't as polished as the ladies presented in the Treasury of Real Princesses!
We read "Cleopatra: Serpent of the Nile" and I am sharing with you "Cixi: The Dragon Empress".

We read about the last empress of China. In a similar layout as the real princesses' books, we found out where and when she lived, what she ate and wore. We also learned how she treated others and how she was able to rule her country through her son.

"Cloistered within its thirty-foot walls, Cixi had lived a pampered life while her people starved. Her extravagant lifestyle, displays of bad temper, and brutal punishments on those who opposed her earned her the nickname, the Dragon Empress."


Goosebottom Books has extra resources for each of the titles. You can visit at this site: Resources. 


If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please leave a link to your book sharing post below. Thank you and happy reading!

Wordless Wednesday :: Spring is here!

~ In our garden ~

Book Sharing Monday :: Bubble Homes and Fish Farts

Bubble Homes and Fish Farts is written by Fiona Bayrock and illustrated by Carolyn Conahan. We picked up this title from the library to add to our fish study. This book talks about many more animals than just fish! It is all about bubbles and how animals, from Violet Sea Snails to Pearl Gourami, use bubbles. 

"Bubbles are soft and squishy and full of air. They shimmer. They float. And they are very handy. Animals make bubbles, ride bubbles, breathe bubbles, and even live in bubbles. Animals use bubbles in amazing ways."
To participate in Book Sharing Monday, please leave the link to your book sharing post below. Thank you and happy reading!

JN Mystery Class :: Week Seven

This week were were given the regular sunrise and sunset data for the 10 mystery classes and longitude clues. These clues are very helpful in determining the longitude coordinate for each location. Journey North gives very clear instructions on how to calculate these, along with a map where you can place your findings.

We placed each chart based on the information we found out. I added labels on the photo. The black horizontal dotted line represents the equator, the vertical orange one is the prime meridian. We forgot to add our home location for the photo, it would be in the top left corner, the Western Northern Hemisphere.

The Hunger Games - Homeschool Fun!

The Hunger Games will be in the movie theatres in one week and the excitement is building all around us! It almost feels like Harry Potter and Twilight all over again!

In our home, my two older children have loved reading this trilogy and I am currently reading aloud the first book to my youngest so she can come watch the movie with us next week.

I searched this morning for interesting activities but came up only with ones that had fees attached. I voiced my disappointment on my blog FB page and right away two friends shared their findings! Thank you :)
I then created a Pinterest board and it soon filled with ideas for activities that would be perfect for homeschoolers in my opinion. Fun, creative and without the need for a crowd (many activities that I was finding before were classroom based or for library groups).
You can have a lot of fun with this book trilogy!

my pinterest board - just starting!

JN Mystery Class :: Weeks Five & Six

We have continued working on our Journey North Mystery Class charts. I am only behind in posting our updates!

Update for February 27 sunrise & sunset data

Celeste helps too!

Update for March 5 sunset & sunrise data

Tomorrow we received Longitude Clues as well as the sunrise and sunset data! Here is a link to a helpful teacher's practice packet.
Another helpful link is for the slideshow: A Clue About Longitude Clues.
We like to use the form below to calculate our longitude clues. I am not sure where I first found this form. I wish I could give credit to whoever created this!


<><><><><><> <><><><> <><><><><><> <><> <><><><><><><><><><>

Mystery Class # _________	Sunrise in UT/GMT and Date
Step #1 Fill in Sunrise Time and Date GMT/UT	BOX A ____________time ______________date
Step #2 Fill in Greenwich Sunrise Time on March 20	BOX B 06:02 am
Step #3 Difference in hours and minutes between A and B	BOX C _____________hours ___________minutes
Step #4 Convert hours into minutes from BOX C	BOX D ___________minutes
Step #5 Divide by the number in Box D by 4	BOX E __________degrees
Step #6 Eastern or Western	BOX F East or West

Our next home...on Prince Edward Island!

We haven't found a home yet, but our current house in Ontario is sold. We will be moving out at the end of May. My husband is already living and working on PEI. We are all looking forward to this move and can't wait to be together again under the same roof.

Sandstone Arch - Prince Edward Island - photo from Wikipedia

We are also looking forward to exploring the East Coast of Canada and the Island especially. PEI has so much to offer, history, culture, nature, and so much more. I will try to share our discoveries as much as possible with you on this blog, until then I will be busy packing (but still sharing our favourite books every Monday and whatever else of interest along the way).

Book Sharing Monday :: LMNO peas

LMNO Peas by Keith Baker is a very cute and fun alphabet book focusing on occupations.

My youngest loves this book and I think it's wonderful that it shows so many different types of jobs people do with great illustrations.

"We are peas - alphabet peas! We work and play in the ABCs."

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, please add the link to your post below. Thank you.



Book Sharing Monday :: Robot Drawing Book

Ralph Masiello has a great series of drawing books. We have enjoyed the Bug Drawing Book, the Dragon Drawing Book, and the Ancient Egypt Drawing Book.

This time, we checked out the Robot Drawing Book from our local library. Andre and I tried our hand at some robots while we were watching a movie Friday night.

We particularly liked that each page gave us a  basic robot to draw and that we could add details "spare parts" to make each robot unique.

Extra resources can be found at the back of the book, books and websites for younger and older robot fans.

"If you can draw a square, a circle, and a rectangle, you can draw a ROBOT!"

If you would like to participate in Book Sharing Monday, you can add your link to your book sharing post below. Your post can include photos of the book, a quote from the book and what you liked about it. Thanks for sharing!