Sentient

As part of our continuing Canadian History studies we spent yesterday at Papineau Manoir. We have been learning about the Upper and Lower Canada rebellions so a visit to the country home of Louis-Joseph Papineau was well timed. Louis-Joseph Papineau was a rebel leader of the Parti Patriot in the 1830’s. We were treated to a private tour which lasted twice as long as the grand tour usually lasts. Our guide was excellent; she shared a wealth of historical information with us, entertained us with Papineau family anecdotes and showed us every bit of the manor she could.

The restoration of the manor has been going on for some years now and will continue for a long time to come. Currently the major project is the gardens, which were once quite beautiful, but have declined over the last century. Papineau was very particular about his views of the Ottawa RIver from all the formal rooms. Photographs show views across the gardens to the water. Looking out the windows now the river can only be glimpsed through trees and overgrowth.

We were intrigued to hear stories about Papineau and his family. It is one thing to learn the facts of a rebellion, but to see the rebel leader’s house brings history alive. We heard how his wife rarely came to the manor as she believed all mosquitoes were born there, his son hoarded so many artifacts from Europe that he had to build a museum and Papineau himself built a medieval style tower to house his vast library. We peaked through the tunnel connecting his office to the tower where his books once filled the shelves. We loved the furnishings and stories that went with them, many pieces are originals which have been returned to the manor over the years, more are away being restored so they can once more be displayed.

Yesterday I spent the morning teaching my two musicianship classes and then raced across town to attend the RVHEA conference. I have always enjoyed attending the yearly home educators’ conference but since I started teaching at the classes on Saturday mornings it has been harder to get to it. This year I was asked to co-lead a workshop on ‘Starting a Co-op” which I agreed to do during one of the afternoon sessions.

The workshop was attended by a small group of people who were happy to hear my experiences and those of my co-leader and then ask us questions. Although the other speaker and I had never met, it was great to see how well our presentations worked together. Her experiences were different from mine but between us we were able to present a range of styles and possibilities for co-operative learning groups both large and small.

After the workshop was over I spent an hour or so browsing in the vendor hall and catching up with friends I don’t see very often. Although I didn’t get to hear any of the other speakers I thoroughly enjoyed my few hours there. I ordered the MP3 version of all the day’s sessions and speakers so I will be able to listen at my leisure. I did get a chance to talk to a couple of curriculum providers about their products, particularly a revamped and extended version of the French curriculum which we have been using in Group of Four. I was assured that it provides all my child would need to complete highschool French. I am going to do some further investigating but it sounds promising.

This week is Kiwanis Music Festival week for us. We will be there every day for some event or another. Both L13 and A11 are competing and Stellae Boreales is performing in a non-competitive class. Hopefully we will squeeze in a little regular work as well.

We spent the day at the Canadian War Museum on Wednesday attending the Ottawa Historica Fair. It was held in the LeBreton Gallery, where the projects were displayed in front of the many tanks and armored vehicles. Over 100 students, from grades 4-9 were participating. L13 was one of the four homeschooled students competing.

For the students the day was divided into three sessions. During one they were encouraged to visit all the other projects, to read the boards and talk to the students. Another session was spent in workshops creating morse code gadgets, clay sculptures or metal name tags. The remaining session was spent by their own project so they could be judged by two judges and answer questions from other visitors.

A11, B7 and I enjoyed wandering around the projects, seeing the many creative approaches and gathering ideas for next year. It was interesting to see the amount of laptops or portable dvd players which were incorporated into the displays this year. When A11 participated several years ago there were hardly any. I asked the children which projects impressed them most and they named those which had incorporated some kind of model along with their display board. The winner of the “Student’s Choice” award was a project on the history of the Giant Tiger chain of stores. I was not surprised as she had created an eye catching board, a fabulous model of a store and was very enthusiastic about sharing all her research.

In September we began a study of Canadian History. Over the years we have worked our way through Ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece, the Middle Ages, and last year the Renaissance and Reformation. We decided it was time to learn about the land we are living in. I knew very little about Canada’s history having only lived here seven years myself. Whenever I heard the phrase “the Plains of Abraham” or saw a reference to “the War of 1812″ I knew they were significant but I couldn’t tell you why. That is changing as the weeks go by.

We have joined with another family and meet once a week to learn about the people, places, practices and events that have shaped and impacted Canada. As an outline we are using two books by Donna Ward: Courage and Conquest and Canada’s Natives Long Ago. Courage and Conquest provides us with a week by week order and an extensive reading list, both fiction and nonfiction titles.  I intend to go into a little more detail later about our methods and program, highlighting  resources that have been helpful and the activites that have worked well.

Last week we did not meet for our usual lesson as all the children were participating in a History Fair.  We joined with four other families and spent the afternoon listening to fourteen children talking about their particular area of research.  I was very impressed with the quality and variety of projects presented.  Secret Secretaries was an intriguing topic about one girl’s great grandmother who had been a decoder during World War 2.   The New England Planters introduced us to a group of people who moved into Nova Scotia to take over the farms left by the expelled Acadians.  They are  a group we had not read about in our history studies as they are rarely mentioned.  We learnt about the Air cadets, the McIntosh  apple, Tim Horton, Terry Fox, L. M. Montgomery, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, as well as aspects of the fur trade and pioneer life.

As we have been working through our history studies, the children have completed some small research projects on famous Canadians and the changing lifestyle of those who came and settled here.  We decided to use some of that research as the basis for the History Fair projects.  A11 wanted to delve a little deeper into the battle on the Plains of Abraham and investigate General Wolfe and his British soldiers in more detail.  B7 followed the process of turning a forested lot of land into a productive farm and explained nine steps the farmers went through from the clearing of the land to the eating of the produce.  His display board was covered with pictures he had drawn of the processes, tools and methods used by the farmers of the early 1800s.  L13 started out researching early education in Ontario or Upper Canada as it was initially called.  She soon discovered that her topic was huge and narrowed it down to a study of Egerton Ryerson a Methodist Circuit rider who became a influential advocate of public education.

Three judges joined us for the afternoon and using a rubric provided by the Historica Fair organisers they gave everyone feedback on their projects and chose four people to advance to the Ottawa Historica Fair on April 9th at the War Museum.   L13 was one of those chosen so she will spend the day at the fair, present her project to judges once more,  participate in a couple  of history workshops and peruse the other projects on display.

I have not kept up to date with my news about the group of four lately but we have still been meeting on a weekly basis. We had begun talking about the possibility of studying French as a group earlier in the term. The idea definitely had its pros and cons. None of us were doing any French, even though several of the children were very keen to learn. We needed a teacher or a suitable program or both.

We now have both a teacher and a program and are into our sixth week. I am pleased with the way the program is building vocab and conversation each week but I know we won’t get far without daily practice. I need to schedule in time for both listening to our vocabulary and conversations on cd, as well as practising the phrases we have learnt. L13 has been spending some time with French children’s book and tape sets which is helping her pick up some sentence structure and grammar as well as vocabulary.

As I sat on the bus today I listened to several French conversations going on around me but unfortunately could not understand anything. I am finding that I can decipher a bit more of the French dialogue in some of the Canadian history novels we have been reading lately. Only a bit, but it’s a start.