Ausome Ottawa

Imagine for a second that you couldn’t register your kids in any kind of group sports, dance or physical activity program. How would that change your family life?

If you have a child over the age of four, I’m guessing that he or she has participated in some form of organized sports or movement program. It’s so much fun to watch our kids playing with a group of other children, learning new skills, and finding out what their little bodies can do. 

If my kids couldn’t participate, every day would look different for our family.

This is the situation for many families living with autism. Not only are mainstream programs often not appropriate for these kids, but they are costly. Families with one or more kids on the autism spectrum are financially stretched due to the costs of all the therapies the children may require. The first things to cut from a tight budget are activities that are perceived as leisure - like sports. 

Our son with autism is able to participate in mainstream sports and he derives a ton of benefit from it. It improves his self-esteem, reduces his anxiety, allows him to make friends, among many other things. We don't know what we would do if he didn't have sports. In fact, we don't know what we would do if he couldn't share sports with his brother and his father (and sometimes me). 

My husband and I know that many families living with autism do not have this opportunity even though they wish they did. 

So… we want to provide it. To this end, we have started an initiative called Ausome Ottawa.

What is Ausome Ottawa?

We at Ausome Ottawa are planning to deliver sports and movement programs for children with autism spectrum disorders. These programs may include siblings and will offer something for parents during the sessions, be it a place to enjoy coffee and cookies with other parents, or something more formal like a speaker or workshop.

The programs will all be offered free of charge to families. They will be one-on-one for the participants, employing facilitators specifically trained to work with children with autism. 

Two sports facilities, Capital Courts Basketball Training Center  and Nepean Corona School of Gymnastics, have signed on as partners. That is just the beginning.

Why should you get involved?

Ausome Ottawa is building a dynamic community of volunteers, sponsors, donors and participants. We are looking for innovators and entrepreneurs who want to get involved to make a positive impact on our community, learn from each other, and get things done. Your time and your support will always be appreciated. We are passionate about sport and its impact on quality of life. If you are too, we want you! Who knows? You may learn something too. 

What you can do today

1.    Come to our launch party on Saturday November 28th. Get your ticket now or make  a donation if you can’t come.
2.    Donate something for our silent auction. 
3.    Share our news with at least two or more friends and follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
4.    Purchase The Ausome Bracelet as a holiday gift for your friends and family members - and get one for yourself while you are at it. All the proceeds from this beautiful, affordable gift go directly to Ausome Ottawa.

We can’t wait to hear from you. Find us at AusomeOttawa.com.

Liisa Vexler is a health and medical writer who also loves to write about living abroad with kids. She is mom to two active, athletic boys, one with an ASD.

Halloween at the City of Ottawa Museums

The City of Ottawa has so many great museums, and I'm guilty of not having checked them all out. Living in the East end, we've been to Cumberland and Billings Bridge, but haven't ventured further than that. I think Halloween is the time to do so! Older building make for a spooktacular setting, don't they? Below is a list of upcoming Halloween activities that you don't want to miss!

Halloween Hijinks

Cumberland Heritage Village Museum, Sunday, October 25 from 10 am to 4 pm
Did you know that it’s only recently that Halloween has become a children’s event? In the 1920s, Halloween was a popular event, but mainly for adults. During our Halloween Hijinks, young visitors are encouraged to dress in costume and trick or treat safely at the museum, going from one heritage building to the next to collect period-appropriate candy treats from characters in all sorts of unique costumes.
Cost: Regular admission

Pumpkin Party

Nepean Museum, Sunday, October 25 from 10 am to 4 pm
Join is for a Pumpkin Party! Carve a pumpkin, get your face painted, and make your own Halloween costume! Professional face-painters will be on site to paint faces, either to go with your costume, or in the design of your choice!
Cost: $6/person, $10/pair, $16/family

Halloween at Horaceville

Pinhey’s Point Historic Site, Sunday, October 25 from 10 am to 4 pm
At our Halloween at Horaceville event, enjoy the treats that traditional Halloween pranksters did, carve pumpkins and listen to some audience-appropriate scary stories!
Cost: $6/person $10/pair $16/family

Halloween Party

Billings Estate National Historic Site, Saturday, October 31 from 10 am to 4 pm
Many houses in Ottawa are rumoured to be haunted, including our very own Billings Estate National Historic Site! This family-friendly event encourages age-appropriate explorations of Ottawa’s haunted past. Little ones can trick-or-treat at our custom, child-sized haunted houses, built to replicate Ottawa’s best-known landmarks. Each house will offer an activity, (including our monster shooting gallery) that visitors may participate in before receiving a treat!
Cost: $6/person $10/pair $16/family

Trick-or-Treat at Fairfields

Fairfields Heritage House, Saturday, October 31 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Trick-or-treat! Fairfields Heritage House will have a trick-or-treating station set up at the end of the driveway on Bellfield. Trick-or-treaters will learn a bit about the history of trick-or-treating along with delicious treats!
Cost: Free

Full Disclosure: The City of Ottawa is a sponsor on the blog, but we have not been paid to post this :) We just want you to have a BOO-tiful Halloween!!

DIY Halloween Costumes WITHOUT sewing!

I'm all for DIY (Do It Yourself). You will often find me on Pinterest searching DIY projects, not because I'm crafty, but because I'm cheap. I really hate paying for things that I don't value. And one of the things I definitely do not value are Halloween costumes.

Don't get me wrong, I love the traditional notion of Halloween - kids and adults celebrating the ghoulish, the dark, or maybe celebrating life by welcoming death with open doors. What I don't love is the commercial side of Halloween. 

This is really too bad, as I'm someone who SHOULD be purchasing costumes for my kids. Why? Because I can't sew! And even if I wanted to, I don't own a sewing machine and don't have time for a hobby at this point in my life.

But who needs a sewing machine for Halloween? There is so much you can do without that needle and thread. I put the question out on our Facebook Page: "do you have an example of a Halloween costume you've put together without the use of a sewing machine?" Here are a few examples!

Buying Used

Angèle made use of Value Village and a stapler for these three costumes! You can piece together a fabulous costume by scouring your local second-hand shops.

Astrid from How to Train your Dragon

Little Red Riding Hood

Mavis from Hotel Transylvania

Buying New but Reimagining the Costume

OK fine, I said I was cheap, but last year I DID spend a bit of money on my daughter's costume:

To make this Elsa dress, I purchased a white adult-sized angel dress ($15). I then used fabric dye from Michael's ($5 with a coupon!), as well as stickers, jewels and tulle (another few bucks and some stuff we already had at home). The dye didn't work well because the fabric of the dress is not a natural fabric but that was OK with me - I loved the icy blue that resulted!

Krysta V commented: "When my little guy wanted to be a bumblebee, we got dollar store Bee wings, black clothes, a yellow bow tie and yellow/black striped underwear to wear on top of his pants! Cutest bumblebee I'd ever seen! No sewing involved, so even better!"

Hot Glue Gun

I love glue guns. There's something so satisfying about the glue squeezing out of that gun....except when it leaves those strings everywhere!

Lara made this Creeper costume, and she shares the instructions here:

Shirt: take an old shirt that's stained or ready for giveaway. Buy some sheets of felt (I think I needed about 6-8 sheet of 8 x 10) and cut into squares. I didn't measure - you should measure.

Use a hot glue gun to affix them to the shirt.

Mask: Find a box that will fit well over your child's head. Draw a grid onto the box and let your child paint the squares in a variety of greens and black. Cut out the eye holes. You will probably need to create a bit of a crown in the top of the box so it will sit on top of the child's head instead of sliding around all over the place.

Have you made an awesome Halloween Costume without a sewing machine? Head to our Facebook page and post it there!

Schooling: which school board is right for your child?

As parents, we agonize over the decision of where to send our children to school. How close is the school to our home? Is it French or English (or a bit of both?) How big is the school? What is the academic performance of the school? The leadership? The teachers? 

The reason we agonize is simple

There are 168 hours in a week. About 70 of those will be spent sleeping, which leaves 98. School takes up approximately 6.5 hours a day, which is 32.5 hours per week. That means your child spends 33% of their time per week in school and that doesn’t even include before or after school activities. We want to know that our children are safe and happy in that huge chunk of time away from us.

The Ottawa Catholic School Board (OCSB) is reaching out to families to support them in making such a difficult decision. They strive to provide all of their students with a well-rounded education, inspiring and guiding children to realize their spiritual, social and academic potential. Here are some reasons parents of over 40,000 students in Ottawa choose to send their kids to an OCSB school:

French at every school

Bilingualism is one of the many things that makes Ottawa such a beautiful and vibrant city. It’s no surprise that when shopping for a school, “French” is often near the top of the requirements list for many Ottawa parents. 

Currently, every school in the OCSB offers pathways for your child to learn French. In junior and senior kindergarten, every student receives 50% of their instruction time in French, and 50% in English. To learn more about their approach to French, visit their website. 

Offering a values-based education

The OCSB encourages students to get involved in social justice initiatives. They’ve been working with schools on a campaign called Keep the Promise, with the aim of bringing an end to child poverty. Check out this video – it’s really inspiring!

The OCSB is also focused on faith-based education – not a coercion of faith, but giving the learner the opportunity to explore their spirituality. My daughter gets to hear faith stories that she LOVES. She has started to draw adorable pictures of these stories, which she proudly shares with her Catholic grandparents. Although my daughter has been raised in a United church, her school had space availability for her, and we are so happy with her experience thus far.

Encouraging care for the environment

I don’t know about you, but learning about our environment is a top priority for me for my daughter’s education. I can see the havoc that climate change is having on our ecosystems, and it’s SO important to me that my daughter learns by example.

The OCSB has strived to improve its energy efficiency track record. A great article published in the Ottawa Citizen features the newly designed St. Dominic Catholic Elementary School. The school is equipped with rooftop solar panels, energy efficient lighting, low flush toilets and more. The OCSB actually leads Ontario’s school boards in energy conservation as the top performing school board in the province!

Preparing our kids for the future

As our children grow up in an era of high-speed and high-tech, there are questions surrounding the usefulness of technology in the classroom. But what if we harnessed the incredible power of technology to promote learning? Recently, the OCSB was picked out of 35 school boards in Canada to become a case study in how technology can be integrated into the classroom.  The board has a “bring your own device” policy for students, and each teacher has their own laptop and tech support. How much paper waste do you think gets diverted with a high-tech school system? I’m thinking it’s a lot!

The OCSB also built their own curriculum called “Samaritans on the Digital Road” which teaches students how to be smart “digital citizens” from the lens of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Many parents are relieved and encouraged to know that their children aren’t just learning how to use technology, but they’re learning how to use it responsibly.

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When I ask parents what their number one concern is when it comes to choosing a school board, I rarely hear “academic achievement” as the top priority – although we all care about what our children are doing and learning in school, I think most of us realize that good grades are about so much more. Education is about children learning social and environmental responsibility, developing strong values, and being given the freedom to choose what’s important to them. The “A” that we see on a report card is just a tiny piece of the educational pie.  

Does your child attend a school with OCSB? What were the reasons behind this choice?

Giveaway: Imagination Movers at Centrepointe Theatres

Rich, Scott, Dave and Smitty – of the Emmy-winning Disney Channel TV series “Imagination Movers” – will be bringing their high-octane rock concert to Centrepointe theatres on October 24th! The Imagination Movers began in 2003 as a rock band for kids in New Orleans and have grown into the stars of a hit television series seen in over 55 countries on the Disney Channel. 

Didn't get tickets to the show? You may be in luck, because Centrepointe Theatres has given us a pair to give away! But if you're thinking about buying some, don't delay - head over to the website to purchase yours today.

What you can win

• A pair of tickets (2) to the Imagination Movers show on October 24th at 4pm
• A digital download of Imagination Movers latest album, License to Move

How to enter

• Comment below, and tell us who you would take (special date for you and one of your kids?) and WHY your kid loves the Imagination Movers
• You MUST be able to attend the show on October 24th at 4pm - please don't enter if you are unavailable that day
• Winner will be picked through a random number generator (random.org) and will be announced Tuesday October 20th at 12pm.