The Tree House Cafe ...

Tree House Cafe

Salt Spring is full of lots of great cafes and little restaurants but the one that I keep gravitating back to is the Tree House Cafe.  It is just very cool.  They do great food (gluten free options too), have some nice wines and serve the most wickedly delicious Polar Bear hot chocolate (with peppermint liqueur and kahlua) .... yum!  It is here that our 'staff meetings' occur - R. and I enjoy an afternoon glass of wine while discussing the summer curriculum plans (no bad coffee and bickering over yard duty rosters thank you very much!).  Last night, we headed in for the open mic night and enjoyed some good music and watched the sun set.  At last, I have found a cafe with some character in Canada ... no Starbucks here!

And yes, it is built around a tree

On the way into open mic night at the Tree House

The 'hang' drum at open mic night

The way home

The joy of learning ....

School time on the island


The island really is a magical place to learn.  There is something just so cosy and joyful about having 'school' in a cottage in the middle of the woods on an island.  Or going to the beach for a reading session.  R, B and I are getting right back to the heart and soul of learning - asking questions, reading, exploring ideas and playing games.  A huge benefit of home-schooling is not having to rigidly stick to particular units of study.  We have complete freedom to build the curriculum around the children's interests and wherever we are in the world.  Right now, Ten year old B is fascinated by the world wars, so we're jumping straight into high school history with a unit on World War I.  I'm a little nervous about it given my lack of historical knowledge.  Six year old R and I are reading and exploring fairy tales - tomorrow, we are hiking the 'Fairy Door' track again to spend time reading and gathering inspiration for our own fairy tale.  My only worry is ... how will I ever go back into a classroom again?!

Views from Deadman Island .....

Looking out towards Ganges, the main town on Salt Spring Island

Despite the fact that I didn't leave the island yesterday, I still managed to take a couple of pictures of the views from this spectacular place.  Deadman Island has some interesting history behind it.  In the 1850s, two indigenous Canadian tribes had a battle on the island, with the winning tribe placing the heads of the dead men on the beach, hence the name, Deadman Island.  Quite a gory history for such a tiny island.

The beach that once held the heads of the losing indigenous tribe.  Now, it is home to children's swings

Looking out towards the family's other small islands

Sunset towards Ganges

North American menus ....

A 'doughboy' - 10 year old B. convinced me that this was a 'must have' at the Salt Spring market.  For me, it was a 'once only' experience.  If this doughboy was on a menu, it would be described as being 'piled high with fruit and smothered in berry sauce and whipped cream' (unfortunately, the stall had run out of whipped cream)

When you travel and therefore dine on your own, there is plenty of time to people watch and read the menu.  Recently, I have noticed a theme in the language used in North American menus.  The language consistently refers to the quantity and size of the menu items.  Terms such as 'loaded with', 'smothered with', 'bottomless' and 'piled high' pop up on these menus with alarming frequency.  Perhaps there is a link between this and America's obesity rate?!  Obviously, this observance has been made in mid-range restaurants, not high class places like Ilili or Giorgione, two places that I was lucky enough to visit during my stay in New York.  Perhaps, I need to find a dining companion so that I can occupy my time with conversation rather than analysing the menu?!

An island adventure ....

Long Harbour

My brother often asks if I actually do any work and the answer is "Of course!"  The truth is that I do work.  In fact, I work very hard - I spend an intense 7 hours with the children each day and another hour or two planning and getting ready for the next day.  The reason I have so many adventures is that my free time is simply jam packed with exciting things.  Particularly here on the island, where I spend most of my spare time with the family.  Plus, it doesn't hurt that I live in such a spectacular place.

Private docks

The picnic site

Today's adventure was blessed with the first hint of summery weather - blue skies and the beautiful warmth of the sun.  The day began with a pancake breakfast party to celebrate Canada Day at a beautiful property in Long Harbour, about 20 minutes by boat from Deadman Island.  Here, I sampled a Canadian breakfast of pancakes piled high with bacon, sausages and maple syrup.  Interesting combination.  Following breakfast, I offered to help the children rowing on the lagoon but I think I hindered more than helped.

A warm lagoon

Hidden houses

Following a wonderful morning soaking up the sunshine, we headed into Ganges, the main town on Salt Spring Island.  Summer time Saturday mornings bring all the locals and summer residents into town for the famous Salt Spring market where farmers sell their produce and local artists promote their wares.  We were too late for most of the healthy produce but there were still plenty of not-so-healthy home baked goods for us to sample.

According to local sources, this is Barbara Streisand's boat.  Check out the helicopter!

Ganges Harbour

The afternoon provided great people watching as hippies and well-to-do summer visitors mingled together in the sunshine.  As we sat and watched the goings-on, B. and I tried to define the word 'hippy' and had fun categorising people based on the number of facial piercings, the cleanliness of their hair, and the presence of underarm hair in the women.  Salt Spring also produces an enormous amount of marijuana, which further adds to the hippy label.  We had an interesting encounter with an old hippy who makes wooden contraptions that are spun in front of your closed eyes, causing you to see strange pyschedelic patterns.   A weird sensation.

The famous Salt Spring market

Pyschedelic lighting experience

I must not be used to the summer sunshine because I returned from today's adventure feeling a little weary and ready for an afternoon nap.  No rest for the wicked though, another dinner is on the cards tonight.  Tomorrow, however, I will return to 'work' mode and do some planning and catch up on my uni reading.  So, while I do work, I somehow manage to fit a lot of adventures into my spare time.

Funky music

Happy Canada Day!

Sunset over the Gulf Islands

Yesterday was Canada Day, the birthday of this surprisingly young nation.  Officially, Canada Day celebrates the joining of the British North American colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and the Province of Canada into a federation of 4 provinces on 1 July 1867 (thanks Wikipedia!).

Like Australians, Canadians love a public holiday, so of course, the country's birthday is celebrated with a public holiday, complete with the usuals - BBQs, picnics, drinking and fireworks.  Since we (my employers and I) have complete flexibility in our scheduling, it was decided that we would take today off instead of actual Canada Day, which was yesterday.  A sensible decision, given that there was a large party on the island last night and both the students and their teacher were up later than normal.  At the party, I met lots of other summer time 'locals', families that live on the Canadian mainland and spend their summers here in the Gulf Islands.  Good company, good wine and good food, all served up in a spectacular location, what more could you want on Canada's birthday?  Well, some fireworks of course and perhaps a rendition or two of 'O Canada'.  Happy birthday Canada.

Post conference observations .....

Throughout the 3 days of the ASCD conference, there many opportunities to observe the goings on as well as chat to some very interesting people.  Because I don't have too many people here to share my thoughts with, I will take the risk of boring you and share my observations with you.

Firstly, the conference was supposedly a ‘green’ conference.  The string of pre-conference emails stated that ASCD was ‘going green’ and therefore encouraging participants to do likewise and not print the session handouts.  Some of the handouts were nearly 100 pages long.  Most of the participants chose to ignore this and printed out reams of paper.  Different learning styles perhaps or simply no inclination to be environmentally friendly?

Which leads me to my next point.  Technology.  In the 21^st century and with many of the sessions focusing on either 21^st century learning or technology, I was surprised to see so few participants with laptop computers.  Those that did have computers seemed to use them before the session began but shut them once the session began, reaching for their printed handouts or note books. 

Most of the sessions were fairly passive, which I found particularly surprising, given the content that was being presented.  Perhaps this was because of the time constraints.  The most experienced presenters (ie.  the ‘big names') were the most interactive.  I enjoyed these sessions the most beause of the opportunities to have interesting conversations with the various people at my table.  Through these discussions, I learnt a lot about the American education system and also American geography (I had a Google map open all the time so I could work out where everyone was from!)  People were intrigued by my unique teaching situation and the most common questions from others were ‘So, what curriculum do you use?’ or ‘Which standards do you use?’  

A weird observation .... Lots of people seemed to treat the presenters as celebrities.  Over and over, I saw people lining up to take a photo of or with them.  Odd.

Now that the conference is over and I’m feeling inspired, I have my sights set on next year’s Annual Conference which is being held in March in San Francisco, another US city on my travel list.  But in the meantime, my desire for new ideas, collaboration, discussion and group reflection has been satisfied and I’m enjoying implementing some of my new ideas.