A Great Week!

If you stopped by here over the last couple of weeks you know that we were on vacation. We had an amazing time! You know the saying " all good things are worth waiting for" ? After waiting almost 5 years for a family vacation, our trip definitely proved that saying right! The kids who had been begging for a chance to fly in an airplane (none of them could really remember ever being on one) were beyond thrilled when we told them we were going to Florida. You can see the reaction here...


We spent a week in Orlando, Florida and had a great time visiting Sea World, the Orlando Science Center and just enjoying some family time. Here's a quick look at some of my favourite pictures:

AIMS Getting into Geometry (A Review)

AIMS Educational foundation is dedicated to helping teachers give students a solid conceptual understanding of math and science. They are a non-profit foundation, driven by passion to produce exceptional math and science experiences for children. They provide hands-on activities which are captivating, motivating and downright fun! (adapted from their website).

I had never heard of AIMS until I was asked to review one of their activity books.  We were sent a downloadable e-book called Getting into Geometry.  It is basically a teacher's guide to over 40 activities to help students learn basic Geometry.  Some of the topics covered are 2-D shapes, 3-D solids, symmetry, and spatial relationships.  The e-book included all of the printables necessary to do the activities. In addition to the printables, other items needed all seemed easy enough to find around the house (drinking straws, scarves, chalk, pipe cleaners).

I was going to go through the book and randomly choose a few activities to do for the purpose of this review but as I flipped through the book I was so impressed at the quality and the types of activities, I decided it was best to start at the beginning and work our way through.  Hence this review is written having only been through the first seven activities in the book.  The book stated that it was for K to 1st grade but these first lessons I used very easily with Eden who is in PreK.  Eli, my first grader loved the activities and even though they were not very challenging for him, they were great to reinforce what he has already learned.  Having read ahead,  I am sure as I go through to the end of the book Eli will be provided with more of a challenge and Eden may or may not be ready for some of the concepts covered.

fun with chalk shapes on the driveway

making shapes with clay and straws

Each lesson is laid out similarly in the book.  It describes the topic covered, a key question, the learning goal, materials needed, the procedure and questions to guide learning. The material is definitely written to be used in a classroom but most of the activities can be adjusted very easily to be used at home with one or two kids.

The activities in Getting into Geometry are great for kinesthetic learners, engaging both gross and fine motor skills.  The activities are short and precise, easy to do and don't require a lot of prep. 

The company also  have many other math and science activity books for all levels between K and grade 9 covering topics such as:

Fractions
Addition and Subtraction
Engineering
Botany
Money
Biology
Earth Science
Electricity
Density
Gravity
Time
Magnets
Weather
Problem Solving
Statistics

...and lots more!!

The books are available as bound books or downloadable e-books and cost around $20 to $25 dollars for either version.  The bound books come with a CD containing all of the printables needed for the activities.  The company also sells math manipulatives and lab kits for one stop shopping!

We will definitely continue to use Getting into Geometry and I have also started looking at several of the other titles which look like they would be a good fit for us.  Go over and take a look and see if you can find something for your kids!  You can also check out some other reviews over at The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew.

*Disclaimer -As a member of  TOS Homeschool Crew (Review Team) I was provided one downloadable e-book for the purpose of this review.  I was required to provide my honest, (positive or otherwise) opinion in exchange for this book. 

Tot School - Marcus at 14.5 months

If you read our Week in Review post and our Preschool Corner post, you may have been wondering what Marcus was up to all day. Last year this time he was still a newborn and would sleep a good part of the day but now he is a toddler and likes to be involved in whatever everybody else is doing... which can be a challenge! I try to spend some one on one time with him each day and also give him enriching things to do while the others are working on projects or school work. Here are some highlights of our first two weeks.

 Lacing beads in a mini muffin tin...Marcus kept busy moving them from one place to the other and also throwing them on the floor.  As he gets older we can work on sorting them by colour and shape.

 I let him have a little homemade play dough.  He enjoyed sticking things in the dough and seeing the prints it made. 

Marcus loves touch and feel books.  Eden was showing him the fluffy chick.

 He was facinated by caterpillars that the big boys were using for caterpillar races.

 There is always plenty of noise music everyday!

 I laid out items I found outside of various shapes, textures, weights.  We talked about heavy, light, rough, smooth, wood, rubber, stone etc.  I let Marcus explore each item as he wished.

 He liked stacking them all up.

 I punched holes in the top of a canister and stuck chenille sticks in.  I knotted the top and bottom of the sticks so that they couldn't go through but the stick could move up and down.  This kept his attention for a little while but it wasn't one of his favourites.  As he gets older I can give him the sticks to push through himself.

 I gave him a couple of stampers and some scrap paper and let him do his thing.

This activity was one of his favourites.  I stuck clothes pegs around a plastic box and he pulled them off.  He isn't able to put them back on by himself yet but we can work towards that.  For now he likes pulling them off and throwing them on the floor.


 In addition to all of these activities, he has lots of free play, play time with his siblings and what he likes more than anything... time outside.  He is an outdoors child for sure!

 So that's how Marcus spends his days!  As you see all of these activities use things I had around the house. You don't need a huge budget to engage the mind of your little one.  Just look around your home and see what you can turn into a learning opportunity!!

This post is linked to Tot School where you can see what other moms are doing with their little ones!

Preschool Corner- All About Me

Eden has started preschool and is loving it! We will be using the Raising Rock Stars Preschool (RRSP)material as a base this year and adding preschool packs, lots of hands on activities and free play.

Before starting with our RRSP program, I decided we should start the year with an All About Me theme. Here's some highlights:

 Our verse for the week was Psalm 139:14  "I Praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made."  I printed the verse and let Eden put her fingerprints all around it.  We talked about how God made each one of us special and unique.

One day we talked all about her name.  It's meaning, how to spell her first, middle and last name.  We read a custom made book that she was given for Christmas one year called My Very Own Name from a company called i see me inc.  (Thanks Auntie Robyn :) 

Another day we talked about her age and her birthday.  She glued candles on a cake to represent her age.  I also put together an activity using our count down cake.  I put 11 blocks numbered 0-10 in a gift bag.  She reached in and pulled out a "present" and then put the corresponding number of candles on the cake.

On the day we talked about our family we used the cutouts from our All About me sensory tub.  Eden had to put the family members in size order and then match the name cards with the person.  She loved playing with the cutouts and did so several times during the week.

 We practiced our phone number using number magnets and made a "Me on the Map" book which you can read about here.

Another day we talked about body parts and continued our discussion about how God made us special.  I traced Eden's outline on a huge sheet of newsprint and let her colour it however she liked.  (the first thing she did was give herself nail polish... truly a girly girl but I have no idea where she gets that from!)  We labeled the body parts when she was done and then hung it up on the wall.  (Unfortunately Marcus thought it was there for him to pull down and tear apart!)

In addition we did some painting, played with playdough, had lots of fun with the boys and Eden attended her first ballet class!

It was a great start to our preschool year!

Linking up to Preschool Corner @ Homeschool Creations