Today would turn out to be our last day in Montreal, but it was a good one, just like the others. It’s not that some days aren’t more challenging, but overall, everyday has been a gift.
Roadschooling is the bigger challenge we face, as we try to balance out sightseeing and driving with educational experiences and learning for Ethan.
Morning
One subject that we don’t have to worry about is art, as Ethan does something art related almost daily. He finished the first part of the sign about our trip before breakfast.
And breakfast consisted of tomato, milk, yesterday’s smoked meat leftovers with scrambled eggs and the bread from yesterday, too.
Ethan really wanted to go back to the Montreal Science Centre. We weren’t sure if science centres are as educational as they are supposed to be because Ethan doesn’t get in depth experience or learning with any particular topic.
He simply runs from station to station, seemingly for the stimulation and “fun.” We feel that learning in this way is superficial and want to give him richer experiences.
But first, we wanted to visit St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal and Mount Royal, itself.
St. Joseph’s was an impressive sight and even though the church was packed, Ethan got to see how Roman Catholics behaved in church.
The view from the church was nice, as was the view of the church from in front. It also made a great place for fun GIFs.
Afternoon
It was now time for some Montreal bagels and the place we went to was the iconic St-Viateur Bagel. They are open 24/7 and make the bagels right in the store, as you’re waiting in line.
And yes, they were delicious! Probably the best bagel I’ve ever had, and we only had them plain.
Ethan commented that bagels look like donuts, but that donut’s don’t look like bagels.
We now had to decide whether to go back to the science centre or go to the planetarium. Ethan really wanted to go back to the science centre because of the fun he had. But we had our concerns, as mentioned above.
When talking to Ethan about what he learned or what he’d like to learn more about, we couldn’t get an answer from him. That’s what I mean when I say that the science centres seem like amusement parks or entertainment centres.
So we said that we would go under two conditions: 1. That we could get free parking again; and 2. That Ethan would agree to choose one or two areas of interest and do some follow up observations of what he did and learned.
When we arrived on Rue St. Paul O., the free parking spots we found yesterday were taken, of course. We were going to give up and go to the planetarium, but decided to circle back one more time. There was a car with people in it, just sitting and waiting. After finally getting their attention, we found out that they were leaving! So, much to our amazement, we got the free parking spot. Ethan was naturally very happy.
And when he was at the Montreal Science Centre, he chose to stay at one particular area. This part of the centre is more in line with what we hoped for, as it contained tools and all kinds of materials for building. And what they were building, were machines that could travel down a length of wire track with nothing more than gravity.
Ethan loves engineering, so he came up with this initial design:
But it didn’t perform as well as he had hoped. He tried adding more weight to the clothes pins, but it was either too heavy or there was too much friction for the device to travel the length of the cables. So he made a simpler design based on what he saw other children working on.
This one was a success and it made it quickly to the end of the cables. While he was trying to figure out how to make his machines go faster, we talked about friction and how the feathers he used, though cool looking, might have slowed down and stopped his first design. So for the second design, he simplified it and tried to reduce friction. It worked.
He made several more devices to try on the cables and really enjoyed the challenge of conquering this challenge.
One other thing he did was help another child with her project. She only spoke French and was seated next to him. She had a developmental condition and Ethan was very patient and helpful with her.
Before the science centre closed, he worked on an electricity experiment, too.
What was interesting to observe was that Ethan seemed to be trying to pay attention to the French speaking family beside him. If we spend more time in Quebec, we think that he’d pick up French much faster than us because of his natural curiosity.
Today’s trip to the science centre was a better learning experience for Ethan and we hope we can replicate this at the other centres we will visit along our journey. Ethan is already excited about visiting Science World back home because we said we can go as often as we like.
Evening
For dinner, Ethan was craving a hamburger. We thought about going to a local hamburger place but, in the end, decided it was better to visit the local A&W because we at least have some knowledge of how the cows were raised.
And since we’re traveling, we often need Google Maps’ navigation function. So, we let Ethan use the phone to navigate to A&W.
Just before having his burger, we talked about the animals and about how what they ate would also go into our bodies. Ethan had a greater understanding of what we always talk about in terms of how animals should be treated and why we always look for healthier choices in meat and poultry.
He also said sorry and thank you to the cow that enabled him to enjoy his dinner.
After the burger, we decided that our time in Montreal was up. We had seen what we wanted to see and knew we could find poutine in Quebec City. So we drove about 45 minutes to St. Hyacinthe and set up camp at the local Walmart.
When we got there, Ethan wanted to make a new video about a pyramid shaped origami fidget toy he created. He wanted to make the video more funny, so he added “fails” to it.
While Ethan worked on his video, Dong Eun and I were hungry, so she prepared some Korean noodles. After he finished his video, Ethan had some, too, and it was the perfect way to end the day.
If you’re just reading this blog for the first time, we are a family of three traveling across Canada (and likely beyond) in a 1994 VW Westfalia camper van called Juju Jr. Our son Ethan, age 9, is unschooling and so we want him to learn from being on the road and traveling. So he’s also now a roadschooler and we are documenting the trip and his learning on this blog.
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