Brott Music Education Concert

We met up with Granddad in Hamilton last week. Granddad did not ride his bicycle there - he brought it on a GO bus, and then used it within the city. We met up at the Convention Centre to see the Brott Concert for this year - Daniel Cook Explores the Orchestra.

One of our homeschool mothers had organized the Niagara Homeschoolers to attend as a school group. So it was a pleasure to run into some of our homeschooling friends there!

We came to this concert series last year, but this was Pip's first time to see a full orchestra. He started out sitting beside Granddad, but ended up on my lap.

The concert explained the different sections of the orchestra, and had a small feature on each instrument. Here's what they looked like from way up in the balcony:

After the concert, we went to lunch at an Indian Buffet - also educational! We said goodbye to Granddad, who was to ride back to the GO bus station, and headed home. We were able to tell Daddy about all the sections, and together I think we named all the instruments we'd seen. A good outing!

Marshwiggles See the Wiggles!

Quite a coincidence, the Wiggles and the Marshwiggles came to Toronto on the same weekend! In all seriousness, we knew ahead of time, and planned a family outing to see the Wiggles, as we have some Wiggles fans in our midst. Emmi still enjoys them, and Pip is old enough to behave well in a concert, and also to remember the experience. It seemed like a good time to go.

We started off with a supper at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and then walked over to the Rogers Centre, and found our seats.

Pretty soon, the Wiggles took the stage, along with a troupe of tumblers (acrobats). The concert was a lot of fun, and was enjoyed by all of us. The drive home was quiet, but since then I have been hearing snatches of "Fruit Salad.. yummy, yummy" and other well-known Wiggles tunes (the Big Red Car song is also popular) around the house!

Royal Winter Fair

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is on in Toronto! Our local homeschool group organized a school trip there, and so this week we loaded up the van and headed down the QEW to Exhibition Place!

Here is the group preparing to go in. We had Granny and Granddad with us, plus all six of us (David is taking the picture).

There is so much to see and do, that I am tempted to make two posts to show all the pictures we took! However, here are some highlights!

One of our first stops was an equestrian "detective" hunt where the children had to hunt for, and decipher, clues in a display. When they finished, and cracked the code, they were rewarded with very nice little backpacks. The backpacks had safety information inside, and were very useful to hold all the other cool things you get at the RWF, a good place to start! Here Tim is pondering a clue:

Another fun stop was a craft area where the children were able to paint a small figure of a horse.

We enjoyed the egg display, which (among other useful information) showed us how many eggs one chicken lays in a year. There were also 5 day-old chicks (cute!!) and real chickens, laying real eggs, to see.

There were many interactive displays which told us about farming, how plants grow, how to be healthy (etc. etc.). One neat game had us trying to raise a good crop (on a computer) by manipulating objects that represented water and different nutrients. Very engrossing!

And of course, there was more! Sheep shearing, cow (and goat) milking demonstrations, equestrian show jumping, SuperDogs..... it was a full day!

Fungi

Why did the mushroom like to get out and party?
He was one fun guy.


In our science program, we studied fungi recently. Did you know, that fungi are not plants? They don't produce their own food - but feed off other things. They are not animals either, they get their own kingdom. It seemed in order to get outside and find some of these amazing beings!

Granny and Granddad (our personal Field Botanists) accompanied us on a nature walk. The woods were beautiful with their carpet of bright leaves even though the day was dull.

It is neat to see "in the wild" something you have studied in a book. We also enjoyed just being together!!

Of course, there were lots of other things to do!

The variety and beauty of fungi is amazing. What an amazing God who chooses to beautify even the method He uses in the forest to dispose of dead material.