a change of plans

I don't remember now if I've mentioned it here yet, but we've begun the process to enrol Liam and Simon in a private British school here in Bogota. There are several other families from the embassy that attend and a few kids that Liam and Simon have already met. It seemed like the best choice. 

Our reasons are mainly due to this pregnancy. It -as I may have mentioned *ahem* once or twice- has been hard. This has made homeschooling hard. It's difficult to be excited about learning and engaging, etc, when you can hardly managed the day-to-day requirements of preparing food, keeping said food down, or staying awake for more than a 2-3 hour stretch.

Initially, I wasn't too worried about it. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that you have the flexibility to change your schedule, take breaks when needed, and move faster or slower as life requires. I figured we'd just catch up when I started to feel better. But then another reason to enrol the boys in school became clear... they're lonely.

While they're all three generally really happy kids, their excitement any time we got together with other families was palpable. It's been near impossible to make friends their age here. Sure we know some lovely families from the embassy, who we see once in a while, but those kids are in school during the day. ALL KIDS are in school during the day here.

Although homeschooling isn't super wide-spread in Canada, it's common enough. In Gatineau we were part of a wonderful, amazing, and sorely missed homeschool group. Almost all of the boys' best friends were also homeschooled. We didn't set out for this to be the case, it just happened. And we got together with a number of them often a couple times a week, in addition to church on Sunday mornings and the kids group on Friday nights (for Liam). They were NOT lonely.

But here, we have to try to explain even the notion of homeschooling. Kids start full-day school here around age 3! Most all schools are in the outskirts of the city, and the kids are bused to them. Because of the heavy traffic and long commute, most kids are on the bus by 6:30am and get home some time after 3:30pm. Then there's homework, supper and to bed (so they can be up early enough to start all over). Seriously, there are kids in our building who we'd NEVER EVEN SEEN before Christmas break!

And really, I hate the idea of Liam and Simon being gone for such a long time each day. Over NINE HORUS is a long time for a seven and a just-turned-four year old. They're still so little!

In the end, I hope we're making the right decision for them. They're both excited about it, Simon probably a little more so than Liam, but even Liam assures me that he does want to go (I'm not sure what I'd do if he said he wanted to stay home instead). I do worry that, after that long a day at school, by the time they get home -tired and cranky- Peter and I are going to get "the worst of them", for lack of a better way to put it.

Although I might be jumping the gun a bit with all this speculation, seeing as their applications are on hold pending some private evaluations by occupational therapists (Liam for his writing and Simon for his speech)... but that's another post for another day.

I almost forgot... another concern...

What the heck is poor Andrew going to do all day when we ship off his playmates for the entire day?! 

Do you ever feel so impossibly behind in your blogging that you don't even know where or how to start?? I have so much that I want to post as a record of the time we spent with Peter's parents while they were here, Liam's birthday and my thoughts on having a seven year old (*EEEEEEK!!!*), the deck that Peter and his dad built, all the decorating ideas I have swirling around in my head, some of the recent photography sessions I've done, etc, etc, ETC... And I have this OCD, Type-A personality need to blog everything IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, but the sheer amount that I have to "get down on paper" makes me want to curl up and weep. 

I don't want blogging to be a chore -and it really isn't- I just need more hours in a day. (le sigh) So for now, I'll start with our trip to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum on a sunny morning a couple weeks ago.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Before leaving for the museum, Liam did a bit of school with Nana while killing some time before picking Peter up from his half day of work. He's already finished all his grade one readers and is breezing through his second grade books. 

(He's using a series of books by Pathway Publishers, an Old Order Amish publishing house located in Ontario. While the stories aren't filled with excitement and adventure, Liam really enjoys them and seems to be fully engaged when reading them. He laughs when reading about the young boys discovering a donkey for the first time or their attempts to harness a calf to a goat cart, or when the girls try to dress their kitten up as a doll only to have it run up a tree. The stories really reflect a simpler life. It's refreshing.)

We'd packed a picnic lunch, so were pleased to find some picnic tables set up under some trees near the entrance to the museum. There were some large tents set up with a couple dozen tables underneath (presumably for school groups), but we preferred the tables under the trees.

Because trees are more fun to climb than tent poles.

And tree branches can more easily be used as swords/lightsabers than tent poles.

(for more "Boys with Sticks" see here)

Once inside the museum, Liam and Simon went on a scavenger hunt, trying to match the pictures on the planes with the ones on a paper they'd gotten at the front desk. (What do you call those anyways? logos? insignias? icons? avatars? *ha* Tia, you should know. Or your hubby should.) After running laps of the entire museum looking for that one last plane, we finally gave up and asked one of the staff members. Turns out that particular plane had been moved, but the scavenger hunt never updated. The boys were rewarded with a Private Eye pin and tattoo.

My pictures from inside the museum will impress no one. That place is HARD to photograph! It's big and cavernous and kinda dark. There are no walls or ceiling to bounce light off of. So you get pictures that look like this,

This one (of my unwilling-to-have-his-picture-taken almost seven year old) gives you an idea of what the space is like. It's an old hanger of some sort. The museum collection contains more than 130 aircraft and other artifacts like engines, propellers, aviation instruments and equipment, and many little models of early aircraft.

The museum also houses some of the Canadian War Museum's collection of military aircraft from the First World War to the 1950's. My favourite was this big ole bomber with the guns in the back and in the belly (although the very thought of being that belly gunner guy makes me weepy). Wasn't there a movie that featured planes like this? Anyone?

Each plane has a small table with information about that particular model, in this case the Avro 683 Lancaster X.

Here are some of the models of the earliest flying machines. I love looking at each one and trying to figure out where the pilot actually sat.

Do you see the little chair in this one? Some housewife in the early 1900's was none too happy about missing a dining table chair!

If I could only find a big beautiful wooden propeller somewhere, I'd hang it on the wall in my living room. I love the one on this old biplane. 

The Aviation Museum is a great place for kids to run around. There is tons of empty space, lots of fun things to look at, and even a kids' play room full of different toy planes to play with.

And they have a few strollers for public use.

For those who forgot theirs.

*ahem*

The older two boys always look forward to trying one of three flight simulators... 

...with varying degrees of success.

After getting our fill of metal and engines and things with wings, we headed out to the van to make our way home. We were waylaid by a hill covered in dandelions all gone to seed.

Andrew was especially captivated by them.

If I'd gotten there a second earlier, the first picture in this series would've been of Andrew popping the entire head of a dandelion into his mouth. He was several feet away from me, holding the flower up to his face... and I could tell he was thinking about in... then he opened his mouth wide and popped it in. It reminded me of that scene in Bambi where Thumper is trying to convince Bambi to eat the clover flowers. Remember that one? 

I think fresh clover flowers would've tasted better than a mouth full of dry dandelion seeds!

did you see?

I posted over at Kids in the Capital about our visit to the Sheep Shearing Festival at the Canadian Museum of Agriculture. As usual, there are TONS of pictures, but here are some of the non-sheep related ones that I thought were still good enough to share, but didn't have much to do with the festival itself.

Thanks to Elise (the cute pregnant lady pictured above) for 
taking this last one of me. Gasp! A picture of ME!

To see the rest, head over here.

what did YOUR kids do in school today??

One of the great things about homeschooling is the flexibility it offers. 

Flexibility to be able to put your books away and head outside to play after a day of being trapped in the house by the rain.

Flexibility to tell your kids to go put some already dirty clothes on...

...because...

...you know things are going to get dirty.

Very, VERY dirty.*

Andrew's shirt says "who did you think you were saving the planet for?"

 

Andrew's shirt started off the colour of natural cotton/hemp.

He also started off with a shoe on each foot.

Half an hour of muddy fun later, headed to the backyard for a hose down...

 

...and to try making a homemade water slide...

 

...that Andrew decided it might be in his best interests not to try.

While other kids were sitting in desks, bent over notebooks and text, my three were enjoying a warm spring afternoon together. 

In a mud puddle.

Following some more water play in the backyard and a warm, soapy bath, we went back to our books to finish up the little bit of school we had left. 

Then I did laundry.

THE END

*check out the air Liam got in the picture second from the right, bottom row of the first mosaic! His feet are even with Simon's face!

sugarbush 2010

Last week, after seeing Dani's pictures on flickr of her trip to the Log Farm Sugarbush, I made a last minute decision to head out with the boys. I decided around 8:30am and hoped to be out there by 9:30ish to beat the rush. We didn't actually get there til almost 11am, because we were waiting on some friends who we invited (also last minute) but it was so much more fun to have this pile of kids along (their moms are pretty good company too!). Since we have so many friends who do school at home, there's always a good chance of finding someone to share our extra-curricular activities with.

Notice whose kids are NOT smiling nicely for the picture? Yeah. They're mine.

After a yummy breakfast of pancakes (I'd thought ahead a brought a couple GF ones for Simon and Andrew), sausage, eggs, hashbrowns, juice, coffee, hot chocolate and loads of fresh fruit (that I'd cut up and brought cause I'm super mom), we headed out in search of the farm and the sugar maples. It was a bit of a hike through a wooded area (around puddles, through mud and over a little bridge) and then across a big field, but it gave the kids the chance to burn off the gallons of pure maple syrup they'd consumed at breakfast. And run they did.

See?

Notice the grey sky in the picture above? That'll change.

The Log Farm was built in the 1850s and several of the original buildings remain. The main house/cabin is set up with period furniture, tools and "appliances". Apparently the parents had nine children, however I believe several of them died very young. There was also a neat "summer kitchen" which I think is a FABULOUS idea.

I think I could possibly photograph old buildings all day long. So full of texture and depth. LOVE. IT. And see what I meant about the sky? It was such an amazing day to be out. Just beautiful.

The farm is also residence to a couple completely oblivious to children friendly potbellied pigs, a goat, sheep and cows, a pony and some nimble chickens and roosters.

See the rooster? See those kids chasing the rooster? Yeah. They're mine.

For the record, they never did catch the rooster, who was obviously used to being chased and was more than able to evade his pursuers. He had a major advantage over all the little chicken-hunters in their squelchy, mud-covered rubber boots.

The pigs stayed much more stationary and all the kids enjoyed getting right up close to them.

See the pot belly??

Did I mention the mud yet? Cause letmetellyou THERE. WAS. MUD. It was quite a while before we even found enough dry ground to let the babies out to walk a bit. Poor guys. Kids running everywhere, screaming, laughing, chasing chickens, and them strapped in their strollers.

Do I see a new header image??

More old buildings. More blue sky. (le sigh) Did a little faux HDR on this image? Thoughts? Too much?

All of the kids went nuts over the pony and their ability to feed him hay (after a brief discussion over the difference between hay and straw and what a pony will and will not find appetizing). We might've even snuck him a few apple slices that were left over from breakfast. Shhhhh. I even managed to get a picture with all eight kids in it! No easy feat.

Andrew was particularly amazed. I have some cute video of him trying to feed the pony... but -let's face it- I'm not likely to get it uploaded any time soon. If I ever do, I'll post it here. Don't hold your breath.

Simon and Liam checking out the calf, who eventually came around to be fawned over.

Can I take a moment here to ask other moms-of-boys... WHAT IS IT ABOUT BOYS AND STICKS? I know you can poke stuff and hit stuff, pretend that they're swords, use them as walking sticks... I get it. I do. I guess I've just never been quite so passionately enamoured with a skinny piece of wood as this child. Of mine.

(Even as I'm writing this, he's standing over my shoulder saying, "That was a great stick. (heavy sigh) If we ever go back, I'm going to find it and bring it home with me.")

On our trek out to the sugar maples, we waded through more mud, around more puddles, and over another bridge. And we met the goat. But don't let this picture of Alexis and the goat fool you. That was THE ONLY PATCH OF DRY GROUND in the whole place. Promise. This is NOT INDICATIVE of   what we walked and pushed/pulled/dragged/carried the strollers through all day.

But it was all worth it to arrive at the end of the trail and be greeted by this...

mmmmm, maple taffy!

After collecting the sap, boiling it down into maple syrup and then boiling it down to that thick, golden, sludgy-looking deliciousness pictured above, they pour it onto snow to chill, sticking in popsicle sticks and rolling the taffy before it's completely set. 

Guess who was first in line?

licking his stick clean 

Does Liam sort of look like an albino in the picture to the left? 

Obviously I'm still adjusting to the shaved head...

I love the two pictures in the middle row taken just after Andrew's first taste 

when he's realizing how super good this weird brown stuff on a stick really is.

Remi, sitting with his beautiful ma tante Kim, was as equally pleased with his taffy.

After eating two or three sticks each, the kids picked up aluminum buckets and headed out to collect sap from collector buckets hung on the maple trees scattered throughout the forest. The fellow manning the sap station warned us that the kids wouldn't find full buckets, but the quantity they collect DID. NOT. MATTER. They had an absolute blast running through the trees from tree to tree and finding an ounce here and an ounce there. 

These are what they were after...

I like this picture...

and this one too.

See how much fun they had? I even let Andrew out of the stroller to toddle through the trees. There was such a thick carpet of leaves on the ground that, even with his many falls and trips over tree roots, he still loved it. LOVED. IT.

Simon spilled more sap than the actually collected (it's tricky trying to keep up with older kids while carrying a bucket that's almost half your size through a forest full of hidden tree roots), but that didn't seem to affect his enthusiasm.

My kids have cute friends, eh?

La belle Jade with her bucket of sap, and then with her 

mom (my friend Kim) and brother, Timothy.

After sufficiently filling their buckets with sap, each child got to empty theirs into a large tub where it was filtered and then boiled down into pure maple syrup. Aunt Jemima's got nothin' on this stuff. We've been using maple syrup as our primary sweetener for the better part of a year now, and I can hardly stomach table syrup anymore. Yes it's more expensive BUT IT'S AMAZING.

Look! I even managed to get into a picture!

After once again braving the boot-sucking, mud-filled trail back to the farm, the kids humoured me and let me take a picture of them and their muddy boots (and knees, in Simon's case... bum too, but it's not pictured).

If you're going to visit a sugarbush, this is the way to do it. Tasty maple-syrup-smothered food, gorgeous weather, amazing friends, lots of running around and fresh air, and actually getting to be part of the sap collection process. A huge thank you to Dani for the heads up on this one. My boys will never forget it.

(If I counted right, there are 89 pictures in this post?! Too much?? It is a bit of overkill, eh... Sorry. I couldn't help myself.)