Blogging Re-Boot.... Again :)

Another school year, another attempt at blogging some of our learning. This year we've enrolled with Hands-On Home Learning through Oak & Orca Bioregional School, and as part of the deal we've got to submit weekly work samples, so here we are!

The following are a few snap-shots from our past week.

For the second year, Maelle has received a packet in the mail each month from Little Passports. Every month is a new adventure in a new country, with some written info, learning activities and souvenirs. This month's location was Iceland. She hasn't been through all of the materials received this month yet, but so far has done an activity to learn some Icelandic words for animals and decoded a message to learn which country will be next month's destination.

Beavers met last week at Esquimalt Lagoon for a walk on the beach, as well as their annual investiture ceremony. Here, new Beavers receive their neck ties and troop badges, as well as the beaver 'tail' which represents whether they are first, second, or third year Beavers. Maelle received her white tail, as a third year Beaver and is looking forward to having more of a leadership role in the group.

Maelle is really enjoying her first year playing soccer. She is a good hustler, usually playing forward and going hard after the ball whenever she's on the field. Her dribbling skills are improving and she's worked hard to learn how to do a proper overhead throw-in. Her accuracy is improving all the time!

On Saturday evening we gathered to celebrate one year since 'our' Syrian newcomer family arrived in Canada. It was a great evening of eating, playing, laughing and chatting with each other, enjoying one another's company. Near the end we all sat down to watch a slideshow of photos of the family from the last year, beginning with their arrival at the Victoria airport and ending with some beautiful family portraits that our friends and co-sponsors took of them on Mt. Tolmie. Maelle had a great time playing with the boys. Beforehand we spoke a bit about why the family left Syria, what is happening there, and why we helped them to come to Canada. I didn't get great photos, unfortunately - the one below is of a couple of the boys goofing around on-stage before the slideshow :)

At the library...

One of the things we checked out from the library was a set of audio-cds for Volume 1 of the Story of the World. Maelle has been devouring listening to these. I do have an accompanying activity guide that goes with this, so my intention is to get it out and see if there are any activities she'd like to try.



The same afternoon she started listening to Story of the World, we stumbled across a PBS series called "The Greeks" which was about the very same historical period and which she also found very fascinating.

During Levi's soccer game Maelle ran on the track. She did one whole lap of the 400m track and we timed her. Unfortunately, games will no longer be held at this field so we won't be near a track unless we make a special trip.

Those are all of the pictures I managed to snap this week. I will do my best to get into the habit of documenting what we're up to!