So much has happened in the last year. I spent most of 2013 up in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, homeschooling my nieces. In retrospect, I should have regularly uploaded lesson documentation while I was teaching. However, better late than never (but never late is better, ha ha).
A teacher from Surrey, BC contacted me to take part in her Flat Stanley project. She sent me "Flat Roan" so that I could take pictures with him in the Great White North. As it happened, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was up in little ol' Rankin Inlet for Excercise Trillium Response 14, a training unit formed to acclimate soldiers to the harsh Arctic weather. Fortunately for me, I found two soldiers who were kind enough to take a picture with Flat Roan. Kind of funny seeing these soldiers with our fragile little friend, eh?
A teacher from Surrey, BC contacted me to take part in her Flat Stanley project. She sent me "Flat Roan" so that I could take pictures with him in the Great White North. As it happened, the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) was up in little ol' Rankin Inlet for Excercise Trillium Response 14, a training unit formed to acclimate soldiers to the harsh Arctic weather. Fortunately for me, I found two soldiers who were kind enough to take a picture with Flat Roan. Kind of funny seeing these soldiers with our fragile little friend, eh?
My nieces were with me, and they learned quite a bit from this experience. In fact, I turned our little outing into somewhat of a Socials lesson. The Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLOs) that I covered were:
Grade 3
The great thing about homeschooling is the flexibility and depth of learning that can happen. My nieces were able to meet Canadian soldiers, hold their (unloaded) weapons, eat their vacuum packed food, and enter their arctic-grade tents. The flexibility of homeschool has allowed my nieces to see the world first hand. They have probably been on more plane rides than the average middle-aged person!
Grade 3
- B4 - Identify characteristics of Canadian society
- D2 - Assess how technology affects individuals and communities
- C2 - Summarize the roles and responsibilities of the local government
The great thing about homeschooling is the flexibility and depth of learning that can happen. My nieces were able to meet Canadian soldiers, hold their (unloaded) weapons, eat their vacuum packed food, and enter their arctic-grade tents. The flexibility of homeschool has allowed my nieces to see the world first hand. They have probably been on more plane rides than the average middle-aged person!
Here are my nieces on the left, in front of the town inukshuk.
A quotation from the town website reads: "An immense stone inukshuk overlooks the downtown area. Representative of the stone figures that guide people on the land, this 15 foot structure was designed by Joe Nattar and built by a team of Inuit in 1991."
The photo is beautiful, but nothing beats seeing the inukshuk in person. On the hill, the wind is piercing but fresh against your face, and the vast white snow, sprinkled with specks of sun, is peppered with houses and buildings of old town charm. However, as other-worldly and majestic as Arctic towns are, there are also dark social problems that exist because of colonization and systematic oppression, terms that I have already introduced my young nieces to.
I don't think my family will ever forget our time in Nunavut. We've met such wonderful, warm people there, and I hope that our paths will cross again one day. ;)
A quotation from the town website reads: "An immense stone inukshuk overlooks the downtown area. Representative of the stone figures that guide people on the land, this 15 foot structure was designed by Joe Nattar and built by a team of Inuit in 1991."
The photo is beautiful, but nothing beats seeing the inukshuk in person. On the hill, the wind is piercing but fresh against your face, and the vast white snow, sprinkled with specks of sun, is peppered with houses and buildings of old town charm. However, as other-worldly and majestic as Arctic towns are, there are also dark social problems that exist because of colonization and systematic oppression, terms that I have already introduced my young nieces to.
I don't think my family will ever forget our time in Nunavut. We've met such wonderful, warm people there, and I hope that our paths will cross again one day. ;)