What We Did This Summer
Let’s give this (“this” being using this blog as a record of our learning activities in order to easily be able to write my end-of-year report) another try! I thought I’d start off our school/not-school year by recapping a few neat things we did over the summer.
We started off in June by taking a little day trip from Calgary to Blackfoot Crossing. It’s about an hour’s drive from Calgary, east on the Trans-Canada. I have wanted to go for a couple of years now, but we made more of an effort this time and actually set a date, as I had already started our learning plan for fall (in June?! What has gotten into me?) and it included learning about the First Nations of Canada and especially our region. I wish we had gone sooner, and we will definitely go again! It’s an absolutely beautiful site, and readily apparent why it has been a sacred site for centuries. You’re driving through dry prairie, nothing too exciting, and suddenly the prairie gives way to a lush valley and the scenery is gorgeous. Above it sits the interpretative centre (top righthand corner of the photo).
The view of the river valley at Blackfoot Crossing.
In the interpretative centre, we learned about different aspects of the Blackfoot culture, such as dances, migration, dwellings and traditions. We learned about residential schools (I added a bit of my own information to the write-up, which was very diplomatic) as well.
Our favourite part was strolling around outside, checking out the stone mounds, noteworthy sites and the traditional dance competition area. There is a walkway up to a lookout point (the vantage point of the photo above), and from here we could see pelicans circling, deciding where to land on the river below.
In July, Neko spent a week in Edmonton with friends of ours. She was lucky enough to attend Odysseo, the Edmonton Science Centre, and the Alberta Legislature. She took the full legislature tour, which, happily, is in the Grade Four curriculum.
August was a blur of day camps and swimming. She can now jump off the diving board and swim to the edge, and dive all the way to the bottom of the pool, both of which are huge for her.
And the day before school started (September 15), we attended Homeschool Day at the Telus Spark. Neko attended the Junior Architects class and the tour of the building which covered all the aspects of their LEED certification. Great options for a little girl who dreams of being an architect or designer!
Junior architects building a wobbly tipi from PVC pipe at Telus Spark.
She also experimented with gears on the gear wall in the Creative Kids Museum (and later in the week went over gears and pulleys in her workbook), and of course the crowd favourite was the new Brainasium outdoor playground! The 63-foot slide was a blast.
63-foot slide in the Brainasium park
On the climb up.
Next up! Back to school! It’s been a hectic week!
On Never Being Taught to Read
Once upon a time, I was the mother of a four-year-old child who showed pretty much zero interest in learning to read. My brain, as it is wont to do, split into two opposing camps. Camp one was freaking out perpetually that I ought to be doing more, that this was my first big chance to FAIL as a homeschooler, that this crazy experiment called unschooling wouldn’t work at all. Camp two, meanwhile, was resting easy in countless studies and articles that reassured me of the importance of pre-literacy skills and the benefit of letting kids learn to read on their own time and those Scandinavians who don’t teach academics until age seven. Camp two was also trying to believe the librarians who assured me that Neko was right on track with her pre-literacy to be a strong reader, and believing whole-heartedly my unschooly friends who related that their child had not read until 6, 7, 8, even 9 and within a year was reading at or above grade level.
This is my brain on a daily basis, with all things. Yeah, I’m used to it, but it doesn’t stop the camps from debating.
So then, time passed. My mom, a kindergarten teacher, supportively lent us tons of little phonics readers, and I tried to get Neko to try them out. She staunchly resisted. I decided it wasn’t worth a fight.
When she was about five and a half, we signed up for Reading Eggs online. She used this sometimes, and it was a bit helpful.
Neko looking at a book on the hammock.
But when it came down to it, she learned to read when she was ready, which turned out to be around six and a half to seven. What did we do? We provided her with tools and resources – Reading Eggs, lots of books, reading aloud to her daily, several trips to the library each week, watching Electric Company, and letting her see us read. We never did sit down and “teach” her, and I did my best to quiet the voice in my head that was freaking out about her learning to read later than some other kids. I also did my best to reassure my mother and father, who would sometimes comment that children younger than Neko, in my mom’s kindergarten class, were further ahead in their reading.
Of course, it helped to read on Facebook about the kindergarten and grade one homework my friends’ kids were being sent home with. I never wanted reading to be a chore, so it was reassuring to know that we were avoiding setting up that dynamic.
If you’ve read this far and you happen to be able to closely identify with the me-of-the-past I’m describing, specifically because you have a preschooler or primary kid who is “late” learning to read – here’s the whole point. Let me tell you about where we are today, at 8.
Though she couldn’t read, she loved looking at books.
Neko ended up really taking an interest in reading when she was almost 7. At that point we started to do a bit of work at home, such as BrainQuest workbook activities, more Reading Eggs, and writing projects – journals, stories, letters (though not much. Really – not much at all.). She was interested in learning to read, so we didn’t find working on it to be a chore. Still, we spent very little time working on reading with her. We mostly answered questions as she posed them and continued to make resources and tools available.
When she started at the blended homeschool program in the fall of 2013, a young member of the grade three class, she was reading at grade level. That’s nine months of reading to catch up on two school years of instruction. Now, halfway through grade three? She’s been named one of the more advanced readers in her class and given a part in the radio play that has tons of lines. She’s also reading Wildwood, which is labelled as an age 8-12 reading level but is, I have to agree with this writer, far above that. At any rate, I’m proud of my kid who has the perseverance to keep picking up this 541-page hardcover and getting through it two pages at a time. And then coming to tell us about plot developments – yay reading comprehension!
So take heart. Try not to worry. And keep the end goal in sight. Do you want to boast that your pre-schooler can read*? Or is it more important to you to raise an adult who loves reading and does it well?
Neko learning about feminism early thanks to Bust.
(*Please note: yes, I know there are plenty of pre-schoolers who learn how to read of their own accord, and love it. Just don’t sweat it if your kid is not one of them.)
My Favourite Miso Gravy (Recipe)
I want to pin my favourite miso gravy recipe to Pinterest, but the page has no photos! So I’m reposting it here with photos just so I can pin it. Oh yeah, and maybe you’ll enjoy it, too.
This is good anywhere where you would use gravy (you know like… with a spoon. I mean, wait. I don’t EVER just eat gravy with a spoon. How about with french fries?!) – but we like to eat it over roasted root veggies. What a perfect fall meal! (Full disclosure – the kid doesn’t like the gravy, and the husband doesn’t like beets, so I’m the only one who ends up thrilled about this meal. But he eats around the beets and the kid eats all the veggies happily without the gravy.)
For the root veggies, you could use whatever your favourites are, but I toss together cloves of garlic (or sometimes pearl onions instead), parsnips, carrots, potatoes and beets and usually also mushrooms (yes I know those are neither a root nor a veggie) with apple cider vinegar, olive oil and nutritional yeast. Sometimes I’ll add thyme, or sea salt, or whatever else sounds tasty that day.
Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, beets, garlic and mushrooms roasted with ACV, olive oil and nutritional yeast.
Healthy Miso Gravy (from Dr. Ben Kim – links to original site)
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons of unbleached flour
1 and 1/2 cups of water
3 tablespoons of red or yellow miso
2 teaspoons of minced fresh basil or 1/4 teaspoon of dried basil
Directions:
1. In a medium-sized pan, bring olive oil to medium heat, then add onion and garlic and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until onion is tender and translucent.
2. Reduce heat to low setting and add flour and nutritional yeast. Stir steadily for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add water in a slow drizzle while stirring briskly. Bring heat up to medium setting and continue to stir regularly for about 10 minutes, or until gravy begins to thicken.
4. Once the gravy has just started to thicken, reduce heat to medium-low setting and add miso and basil. Keep the pan uncovered and stir occasionally. It typically takes about 15 minutes for the gravy to fully thicken and become smooth.
And, granted, I know this doesn’t LOOK super appetizing, but if you’re looking for a tasty miso gravy (and a simple fall meal that is hearty and doesn’t make a ton of dishes!), here it is!
Roasted root veggies with miso gravy
So This One Time, We Went to Cabo…
… and I wrote about it! And then I let the post sit for ummm… eight months. Yep. I really did. But it was already written and the whole point was that although I really dislike Cabo San Lucas (boo, hiss, throw the rotten tomatoes), we managed to somehow make our trip affordable, fun and educational. Now, how was that?! Let me tell you…
Our Trip to Cabo and How We Made it a Homeschooling Win
When Justan told me last fall that we’d be going to Cabo for a destination wedding, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. Cabo San Lucas isn’t exactly the type of destination we would choose for a family vacation – or a trip at all.
I had been there 13 years ago when I was 18 years old, right in the middle of spring break. Now, I was 18 and reasonably happy to just spend my two weeks in Cabo taking advantage of cheap and free drinks, but even at that point I found the pursuits of choice in Cabo a bit a) vapid or b) expensive. Justan first told me that he felt confident in my researching skills to find us more authentic attractions and a richer cultural experience. I was sorry to break it to him that these things are extremely hard to come by in Los Cabos.
But, he was asked to be the best man in the wedding, and it was important to us to be there for these friends, so we started planning. Here is how we made the best of it and had a great (and even educational!) family vacation in Cabo San Lucas.
Accommodations:
We started by searching out an apartment. Resorts are really not our thing, especially resorts that are located along a tourist strip outside of town, like many of those in Los Cabos are. On the recommendations of friends, we first tried Air B’n’B, a website that matches up travellers with locals who have a room, bed or flat to rent out. We quickly found a one-bedroom apartment along the main roadway in Cabo, for $50 CAD per night. For one week, this little suite with a kitchenette and room to sleep four would cost us $400. Sign us up!
When we arrived, we were pleased to find that our flat was on the ground floor of the complex and opened directly onto the courtyard and pool deck. We discovered that the complex used to be a suite hotel, but in the economic downturn it had been sold off as condo apartments – there was a clover-shaped swimming pool with a defunct swim-up bar to prove it.
The pool outside our room with the swim-up bar. (We really should have bought some drinks and taken turns serving them to each other, haha.)
This suite turned out to be really great, as we could buy our own food at the local market and eat a lot of our meals at home, and Neko could play around the pool in the morning and at other times when we were busy, because it was right outside our door. There were also a couple of families with children living in the complex, and Neko spent some time playing with the kids, who didn’t speak much (if any) English.
Transportation:
To save money, we booked flights on the way down and back with one stopover each. This was a bummer, but not so bad. Neko is seven now so the wait times weren’t awful. She even did well getting up at 4 am for our trip down.
Waiting at the Calgary Airport, 5 am.
For amusement on the flights (and for downtime in our flat while we were there), we had a colour-by-numbers book from Melissa and Doug; a word search book and a book of mazes; several comics and thin chapter books; blank notebook paper and pens; and her LeapPad with a couple of new games (the Eye Spy game went over well, as did Finneus and Pherb). I also packed lots of snacks – Goldfish crackers, beef jerky, fruit bars, Larabars, and Emergen-C, powdered coconut water mix and tea bags to liven up some water along the way. We were very thankful to have all these snacks along the way.
While in Los Cabos, we traveled mainly by bus. Don’t be afraid to try the local transit – we actually found it nicer than the public transit back home (we mainly took the Subur Cabos buses and avoided the old school bus-style buses), and it was affordable and very convenient. The buses will stop if you flag them down, even anywhere along the highway, and they will let you off anywhere you want. This made it easy to hit out-of-the-way beaches along the InterPeninsular highway. We did have to take cabs a few times, such as home after the wedding, but it was a much nicer experience to be on a bus with locals and have to figure things out for ourselves.
Day One: The Improbable Sunset Dinner Cruise, Humpback Whales and Flying Manta Rays
Mostly a travel day, we were scheduled to land at the Los Cabos airport outside San Jose del Cabo at about 2:30 in the afternoon. We found out after we booked our flights that the bride and groom had booked a sunset dinner cruise for all their guests as a part of their wedding package – at 4 pm. We didn’t hold out hope that we would make it in time, but when everything went according to schedule, we decided to try. We dropped our luggage in our room and took off on foot for the marina, flagging down a bike taxi before long so we might just make it in time.
We did end up getting there just in time, and it was a good thing. This cruise would have cost us almost $200 for the three of us, though even at that price it might have been worth it. Mid-December to mid-March is whale calving and mating season in the Sea of Cortez, and it’s easy to spot humpback and grey whales breaching, even from many of the resorts along the coast. We followed one family of humpbacks (cow, bull and new calf) for about an hour, and they breached countless times – though we didn’t get to see them jump, nor see their tails. This was really neat, especially considering that we had only been in the country for a couple of hours and this was basically the first thing Neko saw.
She relished riding on the small boat on rough seas, although she made me nervous getting so close to the rails. This was her first real ocean experience.
Neko enjoying the choppy seas on the dinner cruise.
Near the end of our cruise, someone mentioned that there were fish jumping. I looked just in time to see a couple of manta rays sail through the air, flapping, then splash back into the sea. This was something I had read about while researching our trip (have a look at my Pinterest board of pre-trip research if you’d like), but I hadn’t been able to find more information on how or when to view this show for ourselves. Scientists say they can find no reason for the rays to display this behaviour – not mating, nor evading predators – and have surmised that it’s purely for fun. We discovered on this trip that the reason you can’t find more information on how or when to see the rays “flying” is that it’s so common and easy to see. It might only be during a certain time, but when we were there in early March, they were visible from some beaches (we saw quite a few off Hotel Beach in San Jose) and in the sea near the shore (if you take a cruise, whale watching tour or fishing trip, for instance). This was definitely the highlight of my trip – so cool to see!
A manta ray jumping at sunset.
Day 2: Day at the Beach and a Sunset Wedding
Neko was itching to get to the beach, so after an unsuccessful attempt to get to a restaurant called Campestre Restaurante (18 blocks from the marina on Hidalgo – through some fairly “authentic” Mexican streetscapes) and a much more successful trip to Cabo Coffee (sorry, but we don’t travel outside of the country just to hit up a Starbucks), we headed for Robin and Jenni’s (the groom and bride) resort to check out their beach. Justan needed to be there early to prepare for his best man duties, so Neko and I dropped him off at Robin’s room and we went down to the small beach below the hotel. We took the bus to get to the resort and walked about half a kilometre past vacation villas and desert scrub to the entrance.
The beach was fairly nice (below the Sirena del Mar by Welk Resorts), and here we saw crabs scuttling over the rocks at each end. The water is quite rough (and not safe for swimming) at most beaches in Los Cabos, because of the merging of the Sea of Cortez with the Pacific Ocean, so I mostly asked Neko to stay back from the water. In my opinion, this is a major strike against Cabo as a family beach holiday destination, though there are beaches you can visit that boast calm, shallow waters. There are also not many shells here, because the Sea of Cortez doesn’t send much up onto the shore. There are lots of small pieces of white coral to be found though, thanks to the nearby coral reef. Neko didn’t mind too much, though she did hope to find more, and bigger shells.
Neko after just being hit by a wave on the beach.
We didn’t ever have a problem walking through resorts, so if you need to cut through one to get to a beach, don’t worry about it. No one ever questioned us.
We had fun at the wedding, and Neko had a ton of fun at the party, dancing with the other guests. Being one of two kids (the other was Robin and Jenni’s son, who is almost three) didn’t bother her as long as she had adults to talk to, joke around with, and dance with.
Neko dancing with the bride.
Day 3: Chileno Bay and Authentic Tacos
The two beaches I had seen recommended for families were Playa Santa Maria and Chileno Bay. The former supposedly has pink sand beaches, and calm waters perfect for snorkeling (we didn’t plan on snorkeling as Neko is afraid of swimming and of sticking her face in the water), while the latter is great for calm waters and tide pools. We took the Subur Cabo bus to Chileno Bay with no issues and walked down the road to the parking area. This beach is fairly nice, and at low tide I think the tidepools would be great. We were there halfway between low and high tide and saw lots of spiny sea urchins and crabs, as well as some other small creatures we couldn’t identify. There are beach umbrellas here for shade, as well as a bathroom. We brought our own snacks and drinks, though.
Looking for crabs at Chileno Bay.
The gulls and pelicans were also amusing here, and we spent about half an hour watching children feed them before we left. It was pretty easy to get to Chileno Bay, so even though it’s not all that spectacular, it was still worth going. Neko had a good time while we were there and it was nicer than some of the main beaches.
That night we trekked across town to Gordo Lele’s for some authentic tacos, a recommendation I found on Trapper’s List. Trapper’s List is a list of eateries in Cabo, created and maintained by a longtime gringo resident. The tacos were very good, and the whole experience was worth it even just to see the proprietor serenade some other customers via karaoke. The prices were also much more reasonable than the tourist joints in town!
Neko enjoying a taco while the proprietor sings to other patrons in the background.
Day 4: Crashing the Resort
If you’re looking for a resort experience but don’t want to stay in (or pay for) a resort, I recommend crashing one for a day. We were there legitimately (to visit our friends), but no one blinked an eye at us walking in and using the pool. I was thinking that you could probably look up resorts online to find the one with the most spectacular pool, then just walk in like you’re staying there. Keep a friendly look on your face and act like you belong and chances are, no one will care. Oh, and remember that the resort supplies towels, so don’t bother stuffing your own in the backpack!
Crashing the infinity pool.
In the evening, we paid about $100 for an “all-you-can-eat” buffet and “authentic Mexican culture” entertainment. I recommend this less highly – the idea is to feel like you’re getting the resort experience without having to stay in one, not to feel like you’re paying out the butt for nacho chips.
Day 5: San Jose del Cabo
Word on the street was that nearby San Jose del Cabo was much more authentic and quiet than Cabo San Lucas. I had never visited, even on my previous trip, and a day in a different town (perhaps with less pushy/overpriced vendors) sounded like a nice change of pace.
We took the Subur Cabo again, which only cost us a few dollars even though it’s a 40 minute drive. Once in town we made our way toward historic town centre. It’s not the most spectacular historic town centre as far as such things go, but it was definitely a nice place to spend the afternoon. There were plenty of shops to check out, and the quality of the goods was better than in Cabo, and the vendors were less pushy (most things were still just as overpriced though). Even though online sources had suggested there might be a festival happening, they were only just setting up a stage in the town square. There is also supposed to be a good farmers market in San Jose but judging from the map, it looked like we would have to walk quite a ways to get to it and then we would be even further from the bus, so we decided not to attempt it.
We did, though, make our way from the town centre toward the estuary park. It’s a bird sanctuary, and we weren’t disappointed. The estuary itself was quite pretty, and there was an egret and tons of ducks and other birds hanging out. The estuary is right next to Hotel Beach, the main beach in San Jose (yep, you read that correctly – Hotel Beach). This beach is very long and not all that interesting, and the water is very rough. The one great thing about this beach was that we saw more Manta rays jumping – lots of them! They were very close to the shore and easy to see.
Neko playing near the estuary.
Day 6: A Tour of Land’s End and a Night Out
We started the day by walking down toward the marina with the goal of catching a water taxi to Lover’s Beach and Land’s End. We had aimed for low tide so that we could walk under the arch (El Arco). We had a price in mind – 30 pesos or $24, in a glass-bottomed boat, both ways for all three of us, including a tour before they dropped us off. Right away, someone stopped us, and Justan immediately said “No,” but I asked how much… and he was offering exactly what we wanted, at the price we wanted! This may be a sign that we should have haggled. It probably is. We don’t like to haggle much (though it is the way in Cabo, as in many other tourist locales).
This tour was definitely worth the money for all the things we got to see, more for Neko’s sake than ours. Before we had even left the marina, we saw funny pelicans hanging out on moored boats, a “pirate ship,” and sea lions following tour boats as their passengers threw fish. As we passed Pelican Beach, we moved in close to the shore and could see all sorts of colourful fish through the glass bottom of the boat. Neko loved this! Further out past the arch, we saw the colonies of sea lions basking in the sun both on the rocks and in the water, which was also neat. We toured around on the rough water on the Pacific side, and our captain pointed out different caves and beaches of note. After about half an hour or a bit longer, he dropped us off at Pelican Beach. We spent about two hours walking around between Pelican, Lovers’ Beach and Divorce Beach. In my opinion these weren’t the best beaches, unless you plan to snorkel (in which case Pelican is great), though Divorce Beach is worth seeing for the wild surf – just don’t get anywhere close! People are snatched by rogue waves and killed by the ocean here every year.
The family on the glass-bottomed boat the The Arch.
Also worth noting – you normally cannot walk under the Arch. In fact, the tide only goes low enough to allow access every four years. So don’t get your hopes up like I did.
This was the night that my best friend’s mom had offered to take Neko for a sleepover so that Justan and I could go out and do some adult things. We had a nice seafood dinner and then went out to a couple of dance clubs and were reminded of just how extremely disturbing spring break is.
Day 7: Swimming With the Dolphins
Finally, the day came that we could take Neko for our big surprise. She didn’t even know there was a surprise coming, and we walked to the marina without telling her that anything was up. We actually made it right inside the dolphin swim centre before she realized that we would be swimming with the dolphins ourselves.
The dolphin swim was pretty great, though very pricey. I would advise against booking the swim from home, and instead book at one of the tourist booths in town and haggle the price down. We paid nearly $500 for the three of us, which is way more than some other people in our group had paid. And then afterward, they want you to pay $25 per photo to get prints of your swim, which also sucked. It was still worth going, and we’re glad we did. Neko got over much of her fear of water after swimming with the dolphin in the deep tank.
Neko gets a kiss from Andie the dolphin.
Also, I feel that as an animal activist, I need to say that I feel really guilty about going. I don’t even have a good excuse. Between the price and the fact that they are captive dolphins, I personally wouldn’t have chosen to go. But, my husband was so excited to do it, and I didn’t really fight it.
TOP TIPS:
Accommodations: I definitely recommend Air B’nB, and finding a place where you can cook some of your own meals. The eggs are great here, and so are the avocados – what more does one need, really?
Food: Look no further than Trapper’s List! I wish I had known about it sooner! I spent literally hours trying to find restaurant recommendations that went beyond overpriced American chains – and Costco.
Transportation: if you plan to tour around a lot (like, say, to check out Todos Santos), I’m sure a rental car would be worth it. But frankly, roads there terrify me. The public transportation was great, and super cheap! Just don’t expect them to speak a lick of English nor understand your attempts at flailing sign language.
Attractions: Honestly – there is just not a whole lot to do here besides sit on beaches where you can’t swim; shop at expensive stores you could find anywhere in the US; haggle over overpriced souvenir tchotchkes; or drink till you can’t see straight. My best advice is to not make the mistake of planning your trip to be too long. If you can be amused by simply wandering and exploring, or if you like water sports (or any of those things I just listed), you’ll be fine. Otherwise, at least you can look forward to napping!
Alphabetization??
When I wrote “Alphabetization” on Neko’s Learning Plan, I found myself amiss under the heading of “Resources.” Ummmm… I don’t know. How does one teach alphabetization? She’s not a Virgo, like me, compelled to organize all her books by either alphabetization or colour. And I’m not about to have her sit down and do worksheets on alphabetization.
But only a week later, Neko has announced that she’d like to do a research project. She didn’t use those words, of course, but there it was. She wanted to learn all about the rainforest, and write about it. Great!
So, we pulled out some reference books from her shelves, and she asked how she was going to find rainforests in any of them. “Well,” I responded, “You use the index.”
Bingo! As if sent by the Universe, here was my first lesson in alphabetization! I showed her how to use the index and explained how the entries are alphabetized. For the rest of this research project she has embarked on, she’ll have to practice this new skill.
I love how sometimes, the answers just come to you.
(For the record, I mostly just left that part of the learning plan blank… trusting that we’d figure it out. 😉 )
What We’ve Learned Lately: Compound Words, Regrouping, Harvest, Dewey Decimal
Compound Words
This week, one of Neko’s favourite games has been Compound Words. We’ve been having a lot of fun playing it in the car. I don’t remember how it started – for some reason, I explained to her what a compound word is, and before you knew it, she was brainstorming compound words. We chucked around compound words for days! Some were confusing – they seemed like compound words, but were actually two words. Some were only one word, but didn’t actually contain two words within. Others, I was unsure of and had to look up. It was actually fun to see how many we could come up with, and we congratulated each other regularly on our brainstorming. Compound words – check!
Regrouping
Neko also had a really good time with a worksheet on regrouping numbers in subtraction – what you do when you try to subtract 18 from 23, for instance (steal a one from the 20 place, creating a 13 from which you can subtract the 8…). She was confused at first but soon she was really pleased with herself and did the whole page. Regrouping – check!
Harvesting Root Vegetables and Winter Keepers
We were lucky to attend a free harvest at a local CSA. Neko and some of her friends spent a couple of hours digging potatoes, pulling greens, plucking carrots, playing hide and seek in the dill, and more. They had more fun that we expected, and we came home with so many pounds of produce! We’ve been eating them all week. I consider this a very important part of her education – knowing where our food comes from, what grows here, how to store it, and how to prepare it.
Dewey Decimal
At the library on Monday, I gave Neko an introduction to the dewey decimal system and the electronic catalog. I know she doesn’t get it yet, but she knows the basics of searching by subject, and a general idea of how to use the dewey decimal system to search for books on the topic she’s interested in. She’ll need help with it for a long time to come, but it’s nice to have introduced it!
Kitten Care
And lastly, our other ongoing project is kitten care. We adopted an 8-week-old kitten named Olive from my parents’ ranch last week, and Neko has claimed her as her own. She is a very sweet little kitten, but of course keeps us busy. Neko has seen her vaccinated and has seen deworming medicine administered, she has been attempting to litter train her, she has fed and watered and snuggled her, and learned how sharp those claws and teeth are. She has also learned a lot about kitten proofing, and facilitating a friendly relationship between a kitten and an older, very grumpy male cat.
What This Blog Is Now
I wish this were an update, fully documenting what we’ve been up to, or how awesome homeschooling has been going (for the record – it has!). However, I’m just writing a quick post for now to update and say that this will be one of my primary forms of record-keeping for Neko’s Grade Three homeschooling year.
She has begun a blended program that is half public school, half unschooling – she will be in a school setting one day a week, with a second day every other week, and some Friday sport days and field trips as well. The rest of the time, she is unschooling as she has been so far.
Neko’s first day of Grade Three. So thrilled!
While not a full update, I’m happy to report that her reading and writing are up to grade level, and I would say that her math is close (more importantly to me, she finds it fun and we don’t fight about it. She has no context for math as punishment nor difficulty. And that is my longterm goal.). Science and social studies are not a concern, as they never have been. Phys ed, music, art and all the rest are going great (how could they not be? So fun!!).
Our learning plan for the year is complete, though I freely admit that I’m not beholden to even my own plans, and these are nothing but loose goals. That said, we’re aiming for the following this year:
Math: units of measure, charts and graphs, describing quantities to 1000 using different methods, multiply to 5×5, beginning division concepts
Language arts: proper spelling (moving away from just phonics), learning to access reference materials (dictionaries, encyclopedias), punctuation, capitalization, alphabetical order, story-telling (describing characters and setting), using electronic library catalog, typing skills
Science: build and test structures, describe and classify rocks and minerals, explore the nature of sound, plant growth and changes, waste and our world, magnets
Social studies: nothing specific aside from Hawaiian culture (we’re going to Maui this winter) – we generally wing it with social studies.
Physical education: improving swimming skills, winter sports – downhill skiing or snowboarding, gymnastics, hiking
Fine arts: guitar basics, appreciate different styles and media in visual art, experience the performing arts, create art using different media and techniques, understand and appreciate rhythm, explore a variety of folk dances
We’ll be tracking Neko’s progress through this blog, her personal student journal, a portfolio, and of course parental observation and even the odd worksheet.
How to Be Prepared Even If You Think Doomsday Preppers is a Comedy
(**Top portion is my recounting of the 2013 flood in Calgary, AB. For practical information on preparedness, please skip to the first subhead below – or, for the super-quick and dirty version, read my Top Five Tips at the very end.)
When we went to bed in Calgary on Wednesday, June 19, it was pouring rain, but I don’t think anyone thought much of it. Sure, there might be some flooding – it’s happened before – but we knew what to expect even if that happened. I had our annual Solstice camping trip planned for the weekend and Neko and I were so excited to hit the road for this cherished annual tradition in our favourite spot.
But we awoke on Thursday to some serious news. Canmore, an hour west of Calgary, was practically washing away. Already, the Trans Canada highway there was closed due to flooding and washing out. There were mudslides all through Kananaskis Country and campgrounds – including the one we were headed for – were being evacuated.
Throughout the day the situation became more dire. There was an H2S (sour gas) leak in Turner Valley, near where we had been meant to camp. The town of High River evacuated completely, and soon it was under water. By the afternoon, evacuations in Calgary had begun.
Now, Calgary is not a place that gets evacuated. I’ve heard about some explosions over the years (industrial accidents) and other such random things, but they are few and far between. Tornadoes happen near us, but so far never here (it’s not out of the question, but it’s certainly not the norm). We get some pretty bad hail storms, especially in the northwest corner of the city and south of the city, and there have been some incidents with high winds, particularly downtown. And we get droughts. We don’t tend to see very serious blizzards here (by Canadian standards), wildfires aren’t generally a danger, even flooding has never been all that serious before now. Aside from the remote prospect of a terrorist attack during Stampede or something, even the serious preppers here feel quite safe (hell, I’ll admit that a lot of us stay in Calgary for these very reasons I’ve listed).
So when the evacuations started, many Calgarians scoffed – somewhat understandably. I, on the other hand, saw it this way: in Calgary, we don’t get evacuated. Therefore it follows that if the Mayor (our beloved Nenshi) is telling us to get out, we need to GTFO.
I won’t give a play by play of what followed over the next week, as it has been covered extensively in the news and on other blogs. Basically, it was beyond anything any of us could have imagined possible. Everyone in the city watched in shock and horror as the muddy waters rose far beyond our wildest nightmares, and we wondered what we would see when those waters eventually subsided. Then, when evacuees were allowed back into their homes and power began to be restored to evacuated and surrounding areas, we all rolled up our sleeves and began the hard work of cleaning up and rebuilding.
This is the view on June 20 from the ridge near our house – before the water got *really* high.
We were very lucky. Though near one evacuated area (one that was, thankfully, not very hard-hit), we were never in any danger of evacuation nor flooding. Our two favourite riverside parks were basically obliterated, which, to me, is tragic, and many of our friends lost a little bit, or a lot. Justan lost a week of work and I worked from home because I couldn’t get to my office. Later in the week, we chose to leave our home when a train bridge about two kilometers away collapsed, leaving six rail cars full of “petroleum product” (three of distillate used in the oil sands, one of glycol and one empty) dangling dangerously close to the river. But all told, we lost nothing material, nor any family members.
There were times during the week that we were basically isolated in what felt like our little island community, cut off on three sides by river and tied up roads. Our only way out was into the country. Other Calgarians reported feeling the same way, depending on where they were located. It was very surreal knowing what was happening in the rest of the city, seeing it on the news, on Twitter, on Facebook, seeing our friends’ photos showing their homes and neighbourhoods, and not being able to get out and see it for ourselves nor help, yet. It was almost more surreal walking into our neighbourhood grocery store and seeing full shelves and no people (though we still had access to three large grocery stores, the population that was contained within our area is quite low).
So what did we do? We talked to our neighbours. We went for walks in the rain (and prayed for it to stop). We had a bonfire.
Walking in the rain to a neighbour’s house on June 22.
The one thing that neighbours (and friends, via text and social media) asked me again and again was how they could be more prepared in case anything even remotely similar ever happened again. I’m fairly vocal about our family’s preparedness, and while it worries me that many of my friends joke that their “emergency plan” is simply to come to my house and live off of all my food and water and skills, I’d rather spread the word about prepping than try to hide the fact that I’m prepared. Plus – we’re Canadian. Through all of this, people in Calgary have been mostly polite, even humourous. When residents decided to rush out and buy all the bottled water just in case the water treatment plant went down, there were long line-ups and the shelves emptied, but shoppers mainly reported that people were polite and good-natured. The stories from around the city, throughout the State of Emergency, were of friends and neighbours and strangers helping one another – not looting, not rioting, not climbing over one another to provide for themselves. In fact, if anything, there were too many volunteers in many cases, too many homes and not enough evacuees to fill them, and many eager Calgarians chomping at the bit for ways they could help out.
Even at the “Crisis Cafe” (volunteer and resident refuelling station) in Sunnyside, there was recycling!
So How Do I Prepare Already?!
I promised my friends that I would provide them with information on how to be prepared. This is written not for the doomsday prepper nor the survivalist, though if you follow these instructions and suggestions you’ll be more likely to survive. They are for the lazy, the overwhelmed, the busy, the more… er, shall we say, “moderate” (ie. those of you who DON’T think we’re due for a civilization collapse). I will say this: ANYTHING you do to be more prepared is worth the effort. If you feel drawn to do one particular thing first – be it working out, saving up, storing water, storing food or learning a new skill – do it. Read over this list and try to do a bit from each section, but don’t feel like you have to follow anyone else’s protocol. If there is one thing I have learned this week, it’s that every single thing I have stored is useful. I might not need it personally, but I can help out affected friends by sharing my supplies and tools with them. In most States of Emergency, there is a high likelihood of essential services like power and water being affected, as well as municipal services such as garbage collection. Taking action now to reduce your waste and be less reliant on municipal power and water supply WILL be helpful during a State of Emergency – take my word for it.
What to do first
There are tons of resources out there on emergency preparedness. Generally, you’ll see two extremes. At one end, you’ve got government recommendations to create a 72 hour emergency kit with food, water and supplies. This is a great place to start, though I urge you to keep your own unique needs in mind as you follow their instructions – for instance, do you have special medical needs? Are you breastfeeding or pregnant? Where do you live, what services do you rely on and what hazards are around you? At the other end, you’ve got survivalist guidelines. These are the ones I love, personally, because they’re thorough. However, if you’re new to this and just looking to coast through the next power outage comfortably, you’ll probably find them overwhelming and possibly even silly. My suggestion would be to check both, use your common sense, take everything with a grain of salt and then prioritize for yourself. I have included links to my favourite resources on both ends of the spectrum at the end of this section.
The very first thing you should do is try to visualize what you would like to prepare for. I’ll speak directly to Calgary here (and this is largely transferrable to most other major cities on the Canadian prairie), but please, if you live elsewhere, superimpose your own location onto what I’ve written. When I sit and think about preparing for, hopefully, any eventuality (except nuclear fallout. I’ve decided that if that happens, I’m just shooting myself like the mom in The Road.), I try to identify what could happen, and in which particular cases we would stay at home or get the heck out of dodge. Then from there I picture either what we would need to take with us, or what we would need at home. So in my planning, I have mainly prepared for blizzards, power outages (and the combination of the two), tornadoes, flooding and general societal collapse (okay that’s a whole other post and one that you might not be preparing for. Just, you know… full disclosure.). We are lucky in that we have a location outside the city which we can easily reach on a quarter tank of gas, that has food and all the tools we could need in the event of a longterm crisis. However, for many disasters, we would stay home – in a blizzard, we would, in fact, be forced to do so.
My recommendation as the next step you should take would be to either buy a couple flats of water or, if you have water jugs for camping, fill them and store them full instead of empty. Also, start to think about preparedness as part of your regular line of thinking. When you go to the grocery store, if you see a sale on a food that doesn’t require cooking (and that you like!), buy an extra box. If you’ve been wanting to learn to can or dry foods, maybe now is your time. Keep an eye out for tools and simple camping gear at yard sales. Any extra item that you have in your home is an extra bit of security. Other than that, I do recommend making copies of important documents. I printed a list with all our account numbers on it – bank accounts, credit cards, insurance policies and utility service provider account numbers – then photocopied our passports, drivers licences, birth certificates and marriage certificate. I gave one copy to my parents, who live in a different city than us, kept one copy in our office, and put the last copy somewhere else – I’m not telling you where. I can tell you that when we were worried we might be evacuated due to the train derailment, it was very reassuring to know that all of those numbers were gathered up in one place far away.
Next, I would make an emergency plan. This takes up a bit of time, but again, it’s very reassuring to have in place. It limits confusion and streamlines a tough process like evacuation. My emergency plan includes phone numbers for all family members as well as some neighbours, all contact information for my daughter’s childcare, phone numbers and addresses for my parents (choose a close friend, family member or someone else – whoever would be your point person outside your area), as well as the fastest and lowest-risk route out of the city from our house. I’ve also included phone numbers and email address for an out-of-country contact person. In other, larger scale emergencies such as 9-11 and the Japanese earthquake, I have heard that local circuits can get tied up and rather than attempting to call a number nearby, it can be helpful to have a backup point person far away. It’s crucial that family members (in this case, my parents) know this plan, though. Also in my emergency plan are instructions for shutting off water and gas, and the location of the electrical box and the floor drain. I printed two copies of this list and put one in the glove compartment and one in our house, then printed three copies in small font, done in three columns – when trimmed and folded, these fit perfectly into our wallets and the ID pocket in Neko’s backpack.
The last thing that I believe is very important is physical fitness and the ability to travel without a car. During this disaster, bikes gave many citizens mobility when traffic was tied up. People who have kept themselves in good physical condition were more able to help with demolition and cleanup, for days on end. If you are able, I highly recommend keeping fitness as a top priority, for so many reasons. I don’t mean trying to be skinny. I mean taking part in activities that keep you functionally fit – maintaining your cardiovascular fitness, especially through interval training; and focusing also on strength, whether that is through Crossfit, resistance training at home, lifting weights, or otherwise.
Of course there are all sorts of tools and items that would be great to have on hand. And there is no end to the lists out there that people have made based on their opinion of what you need. My favourite way to make my own list was to go through the “List of Lists” on the Survival Mom site (see links below). I also have a bunch of lists myself – if you’re a personal friend I’d be happy to sit down with you and go over them.
This is the very least you should be doing. My last word of advice is to start thinking like a prepper. You don’t have to go overboard. But say you’re at the grocery store and you notice toothbrushes on sale for 88 cents each. Why not buy four, or ten? Little actions like this add up (not to hoarding, hopefully) – whether it’s having extra items on hand when money is tight, being prepared for a longterm disaster, or simply having donations to contribute to others in need during an emergency situation, these extra items are good to have. Simple actions like keeping an emergency kit, some water and some snack bars in the car; or keeping a few days’ worth of extra food in the pantry bring you one step closer toward being comfortable in the event of an evacuation or emergency.
Favourite websites:
The Survival Mom (an endless source of great tips for families)
Ready Nutrition (general preparedness advice)
Get Prepared: the Government of Canada’s 72-Hour Preparedness Page
City of Calgary: 72-hour preparedness kit list
On research: I find social networking sites are best for keeping abreast of emergency situations. I generally hear about things on Facebook and then research them on Twitter. Be aware that Alberta also has an emergency broadcast system that is available on basically every radio station – but this means you have to have the radio on when the alert plays. Building community is another way to stay in the know. Connect yourself with someone who stays on top of things and ask them to contact you if they hear something. Once you know there is a situation unfolding, try Googling a plausible Twitter hashtag for the event, complete with the “#”. For instance, when I heard about the Vancouver riot, I Googled “#YVRRiot” (remember to use the airport code where applicable). Even if you’re not on Twitter, Googling a term like this with the hashtag will bring up any existing tweets, allowing you to view the tweets right on Twitter without an account. You’ll then see other hashtags being used, which you can then search. I usually find the top couple of hashtags and have a couple tabs open, one with each hashtag going. Then I refresh regularly. When the emergency is in your area, this is the absolute best way to get to-the-minute, on-the-ground reports of what’s happening.
On evacuating: Don’t be the douchebag who decides to stay. If the cops are telling you to evacuate, just get your stuff and go. If you’ve ever wanted to thank a first responder for everything they do, do so by showing them some respect and evacuating when they tell you to. Have a bag ready so this is easy to do.
My Top Five Tips in Case You Didn’t Want to Read All of That
- Buy a couple flats of water (they’re cheap!) or fill your camping jugs with tap water (now, not when the emergency actually happens.
- Keep your car’s gas gauge above the halfway mark.
- Get to know your neighbours.
- Learn how to follow unfolding current events on Twitter. Even if you don’t have a Twitter account.
- Keep at least a week’s worth of food in the pantry, and have more than one way to cook it (or include food that doesn’t need cooking).
Dance Walkin’ (to the tune of Jive Talkin’)
I’ve organized an outing to go dance walking here in Calgary, and thought I’d put it up here on my blog so that maybe the general public could find it. We’ll be dance walking down Stephen Avenue at 1 pm on Friday, June 1 – you should join us! You can find the event on Facebook (whether you’re on Facebook or not) by clicking here.
We, The Dancers 