Book Review - Minding Frankie

This was such a nice, easy book to read.  Just what I needed.  I always enjoy Maeve Binchy’s writing.  Whenever I need something light . . . a nice story to sit and relax with, she’s one of the authors I turn to.  This story was about all the various people in a little community in Ireland.  They are all from different walks of life but their lives intertwine and they all end up helping each other and looking out for one another.  I particularly love how this book emphasizes the fact that families are made up of people that love each other . . . not necessarily related by blood.  I fell in love with the characters in this book as they are very true to life.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for something light and easy to read.  

Colour Changing Shirts

This year when Grandma and Grandpa came home from Florida they brought the kids some really cool t-shirts.  They're just regular t-shirts with black outline pictures inside the house . . . but when you head outside in the sun, they explode into colour right before your eyes.  It was still winter when the kids received them so there wasn't much opportunity to enjoy them.  But now that the sun is out in full force, the kids have been able to wear them outside and see the pictures turn to full colour.  

Here they are inside the house:  

And here they are outside in the bright sunlight:  

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for super cool t-shirts!  

Climbing

Last week Victoria and Austin had an opportunity to go climbing.  We've never done anything like this before so I wasn't sure what to expect.  The kids both said they wanted to try it and were pretty excited when we were on our way.  On their first climb, they both only went about halfway up.  I guess they just needed to get warmed up because after that, they were up to the ceiling every time.  Once they got the hang of coming down, that was pretty fun too.  Samara and Denver and I even had a great time just watching them climb.  

Harnesses on and ready to go!

Hoping to do this again next year and maybe more of us (even me!) will climb next time. 

Book Review - Wave

Although this book is really well written, it’s just so horribly tragic that I’m not sure I would say it’s a “good” book.   The author writes the story of her experience being swept away in the tsunami that took place in Sri Lanka in 2004.  Her and her husband and two boys along with her parents were vacationing during their Christmas holidays when the tragedy struck.  She was the sole survivor in her family.  The book goes on to describe the immense grief that followed this event and how she forced herself to go on living after having lost the people closest to her.  I can’t even comprehend what she has gone through.  As I said, it was a well written book . . . but definitely hard to read.  

Book Review - Brain on Fire

This book fascinated me.  From beginning to end, I couldn't put it down.  It was hard to believe the story was real.  The illness that started with flu like symptoms and lead to the author's very strange mental symptoms was crazy.  She goes into a lot of detail about how the brain works and what was going on when she was dealing with her illness.  I've done a lot of reading about the development of the brain and the effect of trauma on the brain - plus the kids and I have just finished a unit on the brain as part of our anatomy curriculum - and so I found it extremely interesting.  However, even if you're not interested in things having to do with the brain, this book is still a good read.  I loved how her family stood by her and fought for the doctors to do more when they wanted to just chalk it up to withdrawal symptoms from an alcohol addiction or schizophrenia.  The loyalty and commitment particularly on the part of her parents and boyfriend was remarkable.  The author did a great job telling her story, which is notable considering the fact that she didn't remember a good chunk of her hospital stay.  She clearly did a lot of research and interviews with those involved in her care to be able to present the story in the way she did.  Overall an incredible book.  

Monster Art

For art last week we just did a simple - but fun - monster activity.  I just took regular paint and watered it down quite a bit.  The kids dabbed different colours here and there on their page and then blew through a straw to make their monster shapes.  I got the idea from this website.  I realized after I took these pictures that I forgot to have the kids put mouths on their monsters . . . we might still have to do that or it's gonna drive me crazy!  

Here are the finished works of art:  

Denver's masterpiece

Victoria's masterpiece

Samara's masterpiece

Austin's masterpiece

Op Art

Wow . . . has it already been a month??  I have a good excuse . . . more on that in another post.  

Here is an art project we did a few weeks ago.  I can't find the link to give credit where credit is due so I apologize in advance.  This was another op art project that the kids worked on while we did our read aloud.  

It was a relatively simple project.  They started with drawing a circle in the middle of the page and then all the lines.  

They each picked two colours and starting filling in the squares . . . every other colour.  Here are the results.  Another job well done.  

Samara's masterpiece

Austin's masterpiece

Victoria's masterpiece