Early Learning Mom

The first weekend of July was the Canada Day Long weekend, and we decided to spend the weekend at a cabin with friends. I have to mention, it was a nightmare trying to book a cabin. I think I applied for 4 on a cabin designed for private cabin owners to rent out their cabins, and was declined. Turns out the owners were often too lazy to change their calendars on the sign and they had all booked them out using other methods.

Finally as our last ditched effort, my friend told me to call this place directly that someone had recommended to her. Lone behold, they had 2 cabins left, side by side, right in front of the playground. This resort was totally kid friendly and our kids were in a safe environment for the most part to just play and have fun. I loved that people were only allowed to bring their vehicles up to the cabin to upload their belongings and load them up at the end of their stay. Keeping the roads in the resort safe.

Thursday after my daycare kiddos left, we quickly picked up my stepdaughter and head out. We arrived around 8:30pm, unloaded the van and got the cabin all set up. The kids played for a bit, then the boys went off to sleep and the adults hung around the fire relaxing.

Friday morning we woke up and the kids ran out to play. The resort was very comfortable with each cabin having air conditioning, a fridge and freezer, running water, washroom with a shower. However there was no TV and no wifi. However they did have a few shelves of board games and books for the kids. So we spent a lot of time playing board games and reading. iPads were reserved for just before bed.

We did take a walk to the beach near the cabin. But the water was full of debris as there had been a terrible storm in The Whiteshell the week before. While it was out of my comfort zone the kids didn’t seem the mind. I enjoyed hanging out on the shore with my little goddaughter.

That night we enjoyed a delicious steak dinner. Wes was kind of sick of playing board games and wanted to ride his bike around, so he was bit of the odd man out. Be he was so excited when hubby asked him to come help him bbq.

Since it was Canada Day, the community of Falcon Lake had planned fireworks for the evening on the beach. They were expected to go off at 10pm. So we walked over to the beach for 9:55. We were all working very hard at keeping Zakari awake. He had been talking about them all week.  However the fireworks landing up running late and we lost him at 10:25pm. The fireworks started 5 minutes later. Even though they were so loud, there was no waking him up from his slumber.

We walked back with the crowd to the cabin. I moved Little Z to his bed since I already had him in his pjs. Wes was acting like he was pretty tired to, so sent him off to bed too. Then the adults relaxed around the fire.

Saturday was a bit rough for me. We had been up late the night before and Z decided 5am was a great time to wake up for the day. On top of all the late nights for him this was way to early for him. When he’s tired it’s hard for him to function, and he tends to get into a lot of trouble. We tried everything to get him to sleep. I took him for a walk, my best friend too him for a drive,etc. Nap was not coming easy. Because I was sleep deprived, and we were out of our element my nerves were shot. I’m so blessed my best friend came in calm nerved and helped get him to sleep. Then she convinced everyone they needed to go to the beach. So I stayed behind, had a nap and sorted out the cabin while Little Z napped. It was exactly what I needed.

While I was getting Z down for the night, the rest of the adults made s’mores with the big kids. I was not forgotten sitting in the cabin waiting patiently for Z to fall asleep. There was a small knock at the door, then the door slowly opened and a hand came through the small opening holder a delicious s’more.

Once Z was fast asleep, I went outside and enjoyed the fire with everyone. We stayed out quite late. When we came back in, it was after 2am. I did a few dishes and tidied up a bit before I turned in for the night.

The next morning I was the first one up. I was actually quite glad because I needed to get things sorted out to leave. I had actually wanted to get everything done the day before and packed, but since my day didn’t go according to plan I left it for the next morning. I ate a leftover hamburger for breakfast and got packing. When I went outside I saw the clouds coming in and decided I needed to move fast so I wasn’t packing in the rain.

Luckily we got most of the stuff in the van before it started drizzling. The kids said bye to their newly made friends and we drove away and headed home.

Last year when we did not respond to the check light fast enough.

One the way home our low tire light came on. Now 9 times out of 10, this just means we are down a pound or two in one tire, not a biggie. But the last time we had this light come on we had a nail in our tire with a leak. Then we can’t forget last year when we were stuck on the side of the road with a blown out tire.

So when this tire light came on, it struck fear into our hearts. I was pretty sure Prawda was not too far, but I wasn’t 100% sure. I white knuckled the steering wheel and reviewed what to do if we blew out another tire. Relief came a few minutes later when I saw this little rundown restaurant. motel and gas station. We pulled in and locked but could not see an air pump. This place was creepy, like if I were to film a horror movie I might use this place. So I quickly ran in to ask them if they had an air pump. There was no gas station front desk or anything, just a restaurant, which a was dead. A man came from the back kitchen and informed me there was no air pump. I sighed and went back to the van. None of the tires looked bad, but I wouldn’t be happy till I could test them and make sure they were all good.

We drove up the road and about 5 mins away was a large, fancier gas station. We pulled in and found the air pump. Lucky for us, the light was only to tell us one tire was a pound or two low. No real emergency and we made it home in one piece.

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I often get asked by friends in real life what different education sites I would recommend to help their child with math, reading, etc. So I thought that I would compile a list of my Top 7 Math Websites for Kids.

1) Dreambox: Dreambox is a subscription based math program for children ages Pre-K to Grade 8. We have used Dreambox with Wes on and off for years now. While it is an amazing program, after a while I find my son would get stuck and frustrated. However we take a break from it for a few months and when we resume he starts flying through it again. Other families I have spoken to have said the same thing. I think it’s like anything, sometimes you just need to step back and come back to it later with a fresh mind.

I wrote a review about Dreambox back when we used it when Wes was homeschooling kindergarten/grade, you can read it HERE. I also wrote about it a year or two ago when we used it to prevent the summer slide, you can find it HERE.

2) Mathseeds : This is a super cute subscription based math program. The site says that it is for ages 3-6, however I feel that it is better suited for very young toddlers to maybe preschool. It is very basic, however will help make sure there are no holes in your child’s math knowledge. Compatible with the iPad.

If you do decided to go ahead with this program, consider spending the extra $10 for the year to get Reading Eggs as well. This is an amazing program, and as soon as our new to us iPad is ready we plan on purchasing a duel subscription for Little Z. You can read about our thoughts on Reading Eggs HERE.

3) XtraMath: XtraMath is a free, non-for profit website that offers a program to students, parents and teachers that help teach the basic math facts.

This website was brought to my attention by Wes’s 4th grade teacher. They were required to work on this website once a day as part of their math homework. This site helped to hammer down those basic math facts in just a few minutes a day.

4) IXL Math: IXL Math is a great paid for supplementary website. This website does not actually teach how to do the math problems, but it does give your child the chance to practice what they have learned. It also can show you any holes in your child’s math education.

I love that whether your are in Canada or the States, you can look up the grade standards for your state or province. They will also allow you to try 10 questions a day for free.

5) Khan Academy: Khan Academy is a FREE website you can use to learn math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more.

We use this site with Wes following the Easy Peasy Middle School Math Curriculum. I can’t recommend it enough. There are video explanations and follow up questions that help your child work to mastery. Plus the best part is, its FREE.

6) SplashMath: We are working with Little Z on this app. I was able to get the whole curriculum on Mother’s Day sale for a $3 in May 2014. I have seen it on sale over the years, but haven’t paid to close of attention.

No internet connection required after set up on the iPad, iPhone, iTouch apps. This is huge for parents who are on the go with their kiddos.

7) Crewton Ramone’s House of Math : Now before I go on, I should mention this site is not for parents looking for a quick fix without parent involvement. This site requires a parent to sit down and learn with their child. It requires the parent to read and filter through a lot of information. It also requires parents to order some manipulatives that take FOREVER to get to your mailbox. All that being said, the information available on that site is AMAZING. It’s just very parent intense.

After sitting down and watching some of the videos on this site, you will be amazed that math suddenly doesn’t seem that intimidating anymore. Actually what ran through my head was, “Well why didn’t anyone teach me it this way!!”

What math websites are your go to? Why do you like them?

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Every Monday I pack the boys up in the van and we head to Ms Cindy’s house. Wes has been taking music lessons on and off with Ms Cindy since he was 2 or 3 years old. But we didn’t start piano lessons with her till about 3 years ago.

Wesley’s first exposure to music was when I signed him up for a class through our city’s leisure guide call “Fun with Music 2s & 3s”. It was a lot of fun, but there was not much is the learning music department. It was more of a music appreciation style class.

I decided I wanted to find something a little more organized, that focused on the early music skills and consisted of smaller classes. That’s when I saw a sign on the side of the road for “Music for Young Children.” I called the number and registered Wes for his first sunshine class.

We did 3-4 sessions of the Music for Young Children’s Sunshine program. It was a nice small group, of 3 or 4 other kids. Wes loved it. Each term had a different character that thought he kids different bits of music. Buzzy the fly, Mellow Yellow the dog and so on.  But then we came to a cross road. We had completed the program but maturity wise were not ready to join a group piano lesson. Since we were moving across the city we took a little break from music lessons.

When we were settled in and ready to start looking into music lessons again we can across Suzuki. Wes did two years of Suzuki violin. He had two teachers, as his first one moved away. Suzuki focuses on playing the music by ear, they didn’t introduce reading music or anything. We just said the note name while we played.

But then I got pregnant with Little Z and I realized I needed to reevaluate. Violins are very delicate. Wes was a typical little boy who could sometimes be careless. I was about to have a baby and have less hands on time to practice with him. I needed to find something that Wes could play, but practice more independently. So a few months before Z arrived we quit violin.

A few months after Z was born and we were settled in with our new family member, I decided we needed to get Wesley back to music lessons. The last few violin lessons we had attended, his teacher was spending the last few minutes spending some time with him on the piano. She was impressed he already knew where Middle C was, and several other notes. I thank Suzie Piano Primer and BrillKids Little Musician. Because of these programs his new private piano teacher was able to skip the first music book and move on to the second. It was great to have Wes back in music. We stayed with this teacher for about 7 months until we bought our first home. At that point this instructor was too far away from our home to continue lessons with winter coming.

At this point I decided to give Ms Cindy a call. I was not very familiar with music teachers in our new neighbourhood. Since our old piano teacher was relatively new to Winnipeg, she did not know anyone in the area. But she suggested we call Ms Cindy, even if she didn’t offer private lessons herself, perhaps she could direct us to someone who did. Turns out Ms Cindy was happy to pick Wes up as a student again! We landed up skipping one more level and Wes has been her student for 2.5 years now.

I believe music benefits Wes in so many ways.

• It requires him to sit still and focus. This can be difficult at times for Wes, but piano lessons have taught him he can do it if he really puts his mind to it.
• Studies show it’s great for brain development.
• I believe music is a second language.
• It’s something for him to work hard at and showcase his talent 2 times a year.
• His biannual recitals are a good way to learn to get up in front of a crowd.
• Wes also loves to try and do things his way. Which can be good, but he also need to learn how to follow direction. Piano allows him to be creative, as well as learn to follow the notes and play a piece the way the person who composed it intended it be played.

Wes has just finished up another year of piano. To prevent the summer slide, I have him signed up for summer lessons at a local piano cafe. I have found it is better money spent to continue lessons through the summer months, then pay Ms. Cindy to reteach him concepts he has lost for the first month or two in the fall. He will be at the level she left him in the spring at the very least. But most times he is further ahead.

Check out Wes at his Christmas recital:

As while, here is Wes a few weeks ago at his year end, piano recital:

Do your children play and instrument? What benefits have you noticed?

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