Fall Rural Romp

On Saturday we decided to tour four local farms as part of the Rural Romp. The first stop was Milne's farm to see the Highland cattle, then Magda farm to learn about free range chickens and see the pigs rolling in the mud close to the apple orchard. We really enjoyed the next stop, Butt's Flower farm where we strolled through the gardens and Henri took lots of photos, and the last stop we went into the country store/butcher shoppe at Thatcher's farm.

U of G Honey Bee Research Centre

On Friday, Henri went with the Home School Group to the Honey Bee Research Centre. After a half hour information session, the group went outside to visit the hives and learn how they harvest the honey. The beekeeper used the smoker device to calm the honey bees and took out the frame so the kids could see the queen bee and sample fresh honey straight from the honeycomb. The research centre focuses on the health of the honey bee and ways to prevent parasites and fungus from impacting the bee population.

John McCrae House

Henri took part in the first GHG field trip to John McCrae House. They watched a slide show about what life was like in the days when John McCrae grew up in the house and then went outside to play games and crafts from 1880's such as croquet, ring toss, bean bag toss, hoop & stick, and Henri's favourite; walking on stilts. After the event, Henri decided he wanted to build his own stilts so we gathered the supplies and started on the project. Henri now has two pairs of stilts and with a bit of practice he is able to walk 5-6 steps before he has to stop.

NFB Animation Workshop

Henri went to Toronto on Tuesday to the National Film Board to attend an animation workshop. After learning the theory/principles of animation we started by making a mini-flip book and then a 24 frame on a film strip to create a one-second animation. After lunch we split up into three groups of 5 or 6 to create a story, make the characters and accessories out of clay and then created a short (about 10 seconds) animation by taking individual video frames after moving the clay subjects slightly on the set. Then they mounted all the shorts together and we viewed them in the theatre room (click below to see the video).

Not Back to School Picnic

For the past few years, the Guelph Homeschool Group has been celebrating September with a social get-together. The 'Not Back to School Picnic' was held at Riverside Park. Henri spent most of his time with about twelve other children gathering materials to build a 'mountain' under a large tree.

Chudleigh's Apple Farm

Henri enjoyed his day at Chudleigh's Apple Farm. He took a wagon ride out to the 100 acre apple orchard with over over 28,000 trees to pick McIntosh apples (his mom's request to preserve). Henri also enjoyed the farm animals, climbing area, and straw maze.

Julian's Pirate Birthday Party

Henri attended his cousin Julian's 4th birthday party. It was a 'pirate theme' in the park and they had the kids dress up as pirates, sword fitting, and secret treasure. The oldest pirate, Bud (grandpa) was a good sport and got his picture taken along with many of the kids.

Henri's Garden

Henri with the help of his parents planted his first garden this year. He decided to start many of the plants from seed in April and plant the long weekend in May. It took along time for the garden to start growing....with lots of weeding and some Miracle Grow he finally got some vegetables to pick and is now watching his pumpkin patch spread. The pumpkins & gourds came as a surprise out of last year's Halloween compost. The garden had pole beans, cucumbers, beefsteak & cherry tomatoes, pumpkins, gourds and scarlet runner beans.