October is here! It's that time of the year where I start waxing philosophically about how time flies, my girls have grown and yes, what to buy them for their upcoming November birthdays.  Do you remember last year's birthday list? (The post is right here). I ended up buying the girls cameras and tablets after all and this year, I've had a revelation.  I'll pause this blog post to say "Johanna, you were right!" When I first wrote the post, she gently commented that I should consider buying the girls "real" cameras instead of the V-Tech cameras as the cost different was ..read more

So this was our first full month of being socially-distanced, working from home and schooling from home. After 2 weeks in March spent figuring out this new normal, April was the month rules were defined and routines established. Schooling at home best practices:  Established wake up times and bedtimes for the girls. They set alarms for when to get up on their ipads and understand that this is a weekday requirement Created and printed out a weekly schedule for their schooling. This schedule incorporates the work their getting from their teachers as well as the work I'm assigning to them ..read more

This is Part 3 of my collection of homeschooling resources and focuses on supplementary skills and subject resources viz coding, art and second languages. CodingThe world of teaching kids to code has come a long way from the BASIC computer language classes I attended in grade 6. Here are some of the online resources helping to grow the coders of the future. Scratch This Massachusetts Institute of Technology project has been an explosive success among parents and kids alike. It's especially designed for kids from ages 8-16 to get a foundational knowledge of coding. One bonus is that this webs ..read more

While the first part of this series focused on general resources, in this post I'll be listing subject-specific resources for elementary school primary subjects (English Language Arts, Science and Mathematics) English Language Arts Storyline Online Features videos of celebrities reading children's books. Each book reading includes a recommended grade level and run time. ReadTheory A free K-12 reading comprehension resource. My kids were introduced to this in grade 4 and became instantly addicted. Sources of free books The free section of Amazon Kindle library Your public library (usually ..read more

As I alluded to in my previous post, this era of social distancing has led to me (and most parents in the world) to try our hand on serious homeschooling. In the past, I have accessed several resources to teach the girls but this was a supplement to the primary learning they were receiving from their schools and teachers. With all the unknowns of the initial lockdown, I had to revise my role to that of primary educator. In that role, I struggled with finding decent, reputable resources for teaching older elementary kids (grade 4). Sure a quick Google search will yield some results but I found ..read more

I confess, when I chose the word "HOME" as the theme for the year, I really did not envisage that the world would be in full pandemic mode and our family of 5 would be spending the whole day at home... together... like 24 hours. To be honest, it's gone way better than I could ever have imagined. I thought our house was too small for 5 people but we've managed not to go stir-crazy or get on each other's nerves. All in all, things have been going splendidly and I feel lucky and blessed. On to the updates Staycations: We haven't ventured too far out of the house but we did manage to s ..read more

Well Happy Leap Day to you. Keeping with the theme for the year, here are the highlights of our 29 day February. House: Decluttered the one small but very messy corner of the garage. More baby steps! Bought a dining table from Pier 1's closing down sale. The dining table we had at home was actually inherited from the previous owners of our home. I never liked it but it was useful enough that I always procrastinated about replacing it. My ideal dining table was one I had found on the Pier 1 website. Once I heard that Pier 1 was going out of business, I dashed to the store and w ..read more

REUPPING AN OLD POST I've been navigating the childcare terrain in Calgary since moving here in 2011 and we're not done yet. With 8+ years of this hustle in the bag, I thought I'd put a few guidelines together. Childcare Choices in Calgary The first step is to determine the childcare choice that is most attractive to your family. The options that are available include dayhomes, daycare centers and nannies or au pairs. Each option comes with it’s advantages, disadvantages and costs. Childcare Costs in Calgary Dayhomes: In this situation, the provider is offering childcare in their own ..read more

So barely two weeks ago, I shared that my word for the year is Home and my goals are centered around that theme. Here's the first of what I hope will be a monthly progress report. House: Almost bought a home that was perfect for us but the inspection turned up some flaws we could not ignore. Decluttered the guest room closet.  Staycations: Participated in the Lunar New Year celebrations in Calgary's Chinatown. It was freezing cold and BabyBoy was not impressed by the dragons trying to get up close and personal but all in all, it was a decent first attempt at enjoying our cit ..read more

I just noticed that I have a folder of bookmarks on my browser that's labeled "Girl Child". It's a collection of articles hosted on fairly reputable websites that share tips on raising girls in today's world. In no particular order, here's my collection of resources on raising girls 30 Critical Tips for Mothers Raising Daughters from the Family Education website Raising Awesome Girls from the Girls Scout website Raising a Powerful Girl from PBS Kids for parents.  Raising Daughters from Psychology Today International Day of the Girl Child - a collection of resources from the United ..read more