Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise: The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home
Diane Flynn Keith: Carschooling
Carol Topp: Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them and Not Burn Out
~Fall Pumpkin Harvest~
Jul. 22, 2009
We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program.....
Posted in Homeschooling
...... to bring you this super exciting announcement. I'm back!! *grin* After my not quite intentional blogging hiatus I'm going to start updating my HSB blog again. Woohoo! LOL
I have really missed catching up with all of my great HSB friends plus all of you other fantastic visitors that frequent my blog and sharing what we've been up to. You might have already noticed but if not I've added a handful of new entries today below this one to help bring everyone up to speed on some of the activities we've been doing for the last couple of months and I have a new blog look in the works behind the scenes to :)
Our days have been chocked full of nature outings, weekly museum field trips, mass amounts of camping and generally silliness *grin*. On top of all that I've also decided to start my own home based business called 'RosyUndPosy' and have been selling eco friendly reusable cotton bags for lunches, the market, produce and more! I'm really passionate about creating everyday items that will help reduce all of the plastic waste we throw into our landfills everyday :)
Keep an eye on my blog as I'm planning to share some of my bags with all of you next month!!! I just love to share eco-goodness *grin*.
Phew! My blogging skills are a bit rusty but I'm ready to go full steam ahead and I'm really looking forward to the start of the upcoming school year. I've been flipping through my homeschool catgalogues and I've picked some good old favorites and we're trying some new stuff this year to which will be fun to share with all of you :)
How about you... have you started to think about September yet or is swimming and sunbathing the main priority still? LOL.
Mar. 13, 2009
TONIGHT ~ Universal Pre-K on 20/20 with John Stossel
Posted in Homeschooling
Just in case you are interested, the 20/20 news program on ABC is airing a show tonight discussing universal Pre-K with John Stossel.
Dianne Flynn Keith of the really great Carschooling website & book helped put together the panel of moms that John Stossel interviews. Looks interesting and you can watch a mini trailer for it also that aired earlier this morning on Good Morning America :)
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=7070646&page=1
Below are some of the points that Dianne has made as to why Universal Pre-K would be harmful to your children. Now while this is an American program there has also been recent talk of the same sort of Universal Pre-K type program being started right here in Canada and there were even articles in some of our local papers supporting it!!
She is asking that if you have time to please leave a comment after you view the trailer voicing your opposition to this plan and I don't think it would matter if you are an American or a Canadian, we should voice a strong opposition to this!
Universal Preschool will:
*Increase government debt
*Extend the already failing public school system
*Threaten the existence of private preschool programs (many of
which are owned and operated by women and minorities)
*Harm the intellectual, physical, psychological, and social
development of young children through forced academics that
includes standardized curriculum and testing of 4-year-olds!
(See http://www.allianceforchildhood.org)
Nevertheless teacher's unions and corporate interests are
teaming up with government to institutionalize young children
in this mega feat of social engineering that will grease their
pockets with tax-payer dollars.
UNIVERSAL PRESCHOOL IS BIG BUSINESS. It is NOT about quality
early education and it is NOT in the best interests of MOST
little kids.
We have a rare opportunity for opponents of universal
preschool to be heard. Please, TAKE ACTION NOW! Watch the
program and post your comments TODAY.
Blessings,
Mar. 12, 2009
NO MORE Free Shipping to Canada From Sonlight
Posted in Homeschooling
That's right. I am very sad to say that Sonlight will no longer be offering Canadians the free shipping option that we have all appreciated so much in the past. 
You have until March 31st, 2009 to order all of your new books and materials from them and any order over $100 will be shipped free. So don't delay!!! Large orders for complete cores of $700 or more will cost you more than $100 dollars come April and I know that I for one can't afford that so I'm going to be digging out my catalogue and shopping up now.
I'm not sure what this will do to the future of my orders to them or for many other Canadians for that matter, but I'm not sure that I will be able to continue buying all of my books with the already high exchange rate on our dollar and now the astronomical shipping costs :( I love their books and IG's but I think I will have to try and find most of it used from now on and buy local to get more for my dollar.
Below you can find the info on the new shipping changes, how to calculate what they will be and contact info if you need anymore help figuring out what to do next.
Blessings,
Shipping fees for 2009 and following will be calculated at the time you place your order--in order to properly reflect current costs.
Considering how wildly energy prices fluctuated this past year (the fuel surcharge at this moment is down to only about 2.5% of an order's value!), John and Sarita said they would like us to take the reduced-cost base fees we have been able to negotiate with our shippers, subtract a subsidy equivalent to what we pay to cover domestic shipping in the lower 48 United States, and then add whatever the actual fuel surcharge is at the time the order is placed.
You can find the base fee (minus subsidy) in the chart below. Beginning April 1st and throughout the coming year, you will be able to find the then-current fuel surcharge online at http://www.sonlight.com/shippingcalc.
In case you didn't know: We have diligently negotiated extremely favorable shipping rates with FedEx to offer you quick, insured, and trackable shipping at a significantly discounted rate.
To repeat: beginning April 1st, as we enter the 2009 sales season, when you place a new order, Sonlight Curriculum will charge you a shipping fee based on the chart below plus the current fuel surcharge.
2009 Sonlight Subsidized Base Shipping Rates (SSBSR) to Canada
(to calculate final cost, add Fuel Surcharge to SSBSR) |
| Order Total ($) |
Subsidized Base Shipping Rate |
| 0-50.00 |
$13.00 |
| 50.01-60.00 |
25% of Order Total |
| 60.01-70.00 |
23% of Order Total |
| 70.01-80.00 |
22% of Order Total |
| 80.01-90.00 |
21% of Order Total |
| 90.01-99.99 |
20% of Order Total |
| 100.00-149.99 |
18% of Order Total |
| 150.00-199.99 |
17% of Order Total |
| 200.00-299.99 |
16% of Order Total |
| 300.00-699.99 |
15% of Order Total |
| 700.00 + |
14% of Order Total |
And why am I telling you about this?
If you place your order before April 1st, you can still enjoy last year's shipping fee structure.
Heirloom or Core Club Member from this past year or before? Your free shipping benefits are being grandfathered in. They will last until your Club Membership expires--i.e., for Core Club Members, until one year from the time you place(d) your order this past year.
If you place an order by Midnight (Mountain Daylight Time) March 31, 2009, we will honor our 2008 shipping rates and provide free shipping to you for any order you place over $100.
If you have any questions regarding our shipping rates and policies, feel free to contact my Customer Relations team at 1.303.730.6292 or at main@sonlight.com. We will do our very best to answer any questions you may have.
Feb. 19, 2009
Canadian Bloggers ~ We Need You!!!
Posted in Homeschooling
Calling all Canadian homeschoolers.... I know you're out there! *grin*
The next edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is due to be published Monday Feb. 23rd and it needs you. We would love to meet more fellow Canadian homeschoolers and see what has been happening in your school room :) Feel free to share anything, there are no weekly topics and it doesn't even have to be something that you just wrote. Dig out an oldy but a goody from your archives if you like but get it in by tomorrow night if you want to make the Monday list of links. To much pressure, no problem submit something next week and we'll catch up with you next time :)
Hope to see you there!
Feb. 13, 2009
FSA Testing ~ To Test or Not To Test... That is the question
Posted in Homeschooling
There has been a lot of publicity lately regarding the annual Foundation Skills Assessment (FSA) test that is administered to grade 4 and grade 7 students this month between February 2nd through February 27th. The BC Teachers Federation strongly opposes the testing because they feel it can be harmful to children, they threatened to not test, and even went as far as to offer a letter for parents to use to excuse their children from writing the test. Unfortunately they were ordered to comply, under protest, by the BC Labour Relations Board to continue to administer the FSA test for this year.
So what does this mean to us homeschoolers? Well a lot actually. Not only are all public and independent school students expected to write the tests, but all enrolled homeschoolers in a Distributed Learning (DL) program such as Ebus, SelfDesign or any of the others offered in our province are expected to do it to. All DL school boards sign an agreement with the BC government each year that requires them to try and get all of their students to write the test and since they are getting funding from the government for their enrolled homeschool students there is a lot of pressure to show that they are doing this and doing it very successfully or at least trying very hard to do it.
But... yes there's a but *grin*, DL students actually do not have to write the test if they choose not to. We are enrolled in a DL program which somehow I got roped into (silly, silly me) and last week I received a package with a test booklet and online sign in information for my oldest for this years FSA test. I was always under the impression that no matter if you were registered or enrolled you had the choice to be able to refuse participating, but when I posed the question to a Canadian homeschool list I belong to everyone told me I had to do it. So I contacted our DL contact teacher who informed me that I had no legal responsibility to participate. While they are obligated to push for it because the government wants that 100% compliance rate I can in fact refuse it if I want to. I just need to mail back the empty booklets that were mailed to me and let them know that we won't be participating and I am happy about that.
Now you may be thinking, what's the big deal with a little test?! It just measures how your child is doing in reading, writing and mathematics and doesn't hurt a fly! True enough and I'm not saying that it is damaging in any way. The problem that I have with it is that I put together my own curriculum, and a christian one at that which the BC Ministry of Education does not condone at all. I teach my children my own way on my own, and even though I am enrolled with a DL program and technically have a teacher supervisor that I only see when it's time to make sure we've had some form of productive learning happening and in no way 'teaches' my children in any form or shape.... I am expected to count towards their teaching statistics. I'm sorry that just doesn't sit well with me, but that's just my opinion.
I know that there are going to be some of you that read this and be completely against what I feel and that since we are enrolled in a DL program I should just suck it up and do it because as part of a government program we should have known we would be expected to do it, and you're right, I should have known but I guess I was naive. But naive I am no more *grin* and I wanted to share with other homeschoolers that may be in the same situation of being not sure of whether or not they actually have to participate in the FSA testing that they don't. As for us, we will be ending our relationship with DL programs so that there won't be anymore confusion as to what I can and can't do. I want to be free to test what and when I want without feeling pressured to do it :)
Blessings,
Feb. 8, 2009
Raising Small Souls ~ Inspirational Short Video
Posted in Homeschooling
I want to share with you a link to a beautiful short video that illustrates the unfair way that children are sometimes categorized. While this video was actually created (I believe) in hopes that it would be used in public schools to bring awareness to the fact that not all children fit the 'cookie cutter' mold that they want them to follow, I thought that it was a very inspiring visual as to one of the many reasons I chose to homeschool my children. Take a moment to watch it. It's about 5 minutes long and well worth the message with beautiful wildlife imagery.... it really pulls on my heartstrings.
Follow this link and then click on the image that says 'Raising Small Souls' presents 'Animal School'. If you have trouble you can also go directly to the video by clicking HERE.
Blessings,
Feb. 3, 2009
Blog Carnivals & The Disappearance of Nature From Our Dictionaries
Posted in Homeschooling
Just wanted to let you know of a couple great blog carnivals that are new this week :)
First is the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival , a tour across our nation visiting homeschooling families letting you have a peak inside their homes to see just what sort of fun things they've been up to *grin*. New participants are always welcome and feel free to share anything that you want. There is no weekly topic and if you don't have anything from this week to share, how about last week? We would love to come and visit you :)
The next carnival I want to share with you is the 162nd Carnival of Homeschooling that is over at Dewey's Treehouse. There are loads of fantastic articles to read and this week's theme centers around 'Homeschool Identity Crisis'. Gee... now that's a familiar topic *grin*.
And last but definitely not least is the Charlotte Mason Blog Carnival which is being hosted by 'A Peaceful Day'. This is one of my favorite carnivals and I can't wait to spend a little time there later on tonight after everyone has gone to bed :)
Now for some 'food for thought'. Earlier this morning I ran across an entry at Eco Child's Play that really struck a nerve with me. She writes...
"To make way for modern tech terms such as BlackBerry, blog, voicemail and broadband, the latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary has opted to drop terms pertaining to nature. No longer can a child check this dictionary and learn more about the blackberry, dandelion, acorn, heron, otter, magpie, sycamore, or willow."......
What is wrong with this picture?! I can see adding in more technological words into the dictionary because we are surrounded by mass amounts of technology these days, but to do it at the expense of nature is completely NOT acceptable in my books! With the current push by the government to get our children outdoors and more active because of the growing amount of inactive children, plus the new requirements for DL homeschoolers to log 30 minutes of physical activity each day, 5 days a week in addition to regular PE requirements you'd think that we would be trying to bring more nature into our lives and the lives of our children to get them 'plugged into' the outdoors.... not erasing it from their memories. What do you think??
Make sure you head over to Eco Child's Play to read her entire article, Nature Words Dopped From Children's Dictionary! It's definitely something that we should take an interest in since we may be the only ones left to teach our children about the outdoors soon :(
Blessings,
Jan. 21, 2009
Identity Crisis ~ Whose Homeschool Life Are You Leading?
Posted in Homeschooling
Homeschool support groups for moms are supposed to make you feel good.... right? Well what happens if yours doesn't and you feel inadequate after you leave or find yourself second guessing your choices on your drive home? DON'T!
Do not feel that you are not teaching your child the right things or that you aren't using the right curriculum or that your child isn't at the same developmental age as the child of the mom sitting to your left. Every family is different as is every child's needs. This is a very easy trap to fall into when you are first starting your homeschool journey and I'll admit that even I got caught up in it when I first started. I had carefully chosen to use Sonlight materials because I was very happy with their classical approach to education, christian content and the daily schedules that I can't tell you how much I appreciated in those early days :) We were happily learning at home, things were going wonderfully and I had absolutely no doubt that we were doing just what we were meant to be doing.
Then like many other moms, I joined a local support group so that I could meet up with other like minded moms and learn from their experiences. Learn I did! There were so many great ideas and books that I had never heard of, different learning philosophies and schedules and children that were way ahead of mine. I wanted to suck up all of their knowledge and I wanted to know how I could be just like all of them. That's right... it was like having an identity crisis.
All of a sudden I wasn't so sure that what we were doing was the right thing. Maybe if we switched our language arts program I could expedite K's reading comprehension, or if we tried miquon math we'd get to use those cuisenaire rods and math would magically be easier. I bought more books, manipulatives, read everything I could get my hands on about different teaching philosophies and pushed K harder to be smarter. All of a sudden somehow I had jumped from my own ship and was swimming frantically after someone else's.... someone who wasn't me.... and someone else's schedule that didn't meet what K or I needed. I needed a life preserver and I needed it fast!
Thankfully I realized that I needed to do what was right for us and that it was okay to be different from everyone else. That's the beauty of homeschooling, we are free to be different, free to follow our child's lead, and free to work at a slower pace if our child isn't quite ready for what the education system says we are 'supposed' to be learning.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking support groups! I belong to the same one that I started with and I treasure our monthly get together where we can chat over tea and share with each other. It is a wonderful feeling that you can go and share openly with each other using one another as sounding boards for the most glorious to the most disastrous moments of our days at home and be received by smiling faces that are ready give you a hug if you need it. But what I found was I needed to find my own identity and only I could figure that out for myself. Living in someone else's shoes was not going to magically make homeschooling perfect or easier (not that it's super hard *grin*).
This year we have been joined by many new faces, many unsure and worried faces at times as they start their homeschooling journey. They're facing the same feelings of inadequacy and insecurity that I felt when I started and it feels good to be able to share that with them that they can't go wrong if they follow their hearts. They are the best judge of what their children need and there is nothing wrong with going as fast or slow as they need to or switching curriculum if something they chose isn't working just because someone else said it was the best.
I encourage you to seek out one of those new moms at your next homeschool support group meeting and reassure her that she is doing great. And don't forget the veteran moms, we have our moments of doubt to but we have each other for support so just ask and there will always be someone there to lean on :)
Blessings,
Jan. 17, 2009
A Homeschool Co-op ~ How To Start One
Posted in Homeschooling
As homeschooling parents we are the primary educators of our children and with this comes the responsibility and challenge of making learning fun while covering all academic subjects. It can be overwhelming at times to say the least! That’s where co-ops come in. They are groups of like minded moms coming together with one common goal of creating great learning opportunities for their children while sharing the teaching role amongst each other.
There are many benefits to belonging to a co-op. It is a great place to connect with other homeschooling families in your area and an opportunity to involve your child in activities that you may not be able to provide at home. It is also an amazing support group for moms where you can find encouragement and advice from other moms just like you.
Co-ops come in many different shapes and sizes. From the large group that meets at the community hall to the ultra small with two best friends that share their kitchen table together. They are not a ‘one size fits all’ situation either since they may range in teaching philosophy to age groups to how many classes they offer, and they are definitely not just for homeschoolers!
Mothers of toddlers and pre-schoolers may want to join forces and create art classes, a music and movement group, or a tumble/gymnastic class. If you are looking for a more educational spin you may want to have story time using a great unit studies like Before Five In A Row which is perfect for 2-4 year olds using picture books to teach readiness skills like brushing your teeth, things to do in the kitchen and more, or Come Sit By Me for 4-7 year olds which uses Canadian picture books and activities to cover art, language arts, science and so on. Older children may be interested in after school co-ops involving book clubs, language or music lessons, sewing, woodworking, drama, photography, entrepreneurial skills and the list goes on.
Generally when you think of a co-op you think big and lots of kids, but it can actually be baking with Grandma or woodworking with an Uncle. You may be really lousy at art and a whiz with mathematics while your best friend is super crafty but couldn’t crunch a number if her life depended on it. Choose one day a week where you both get together and teach the subject that you are good at to all of the children and you have just created a small co-op. It’s that easy.
So you want to start a co-op, but where do you begin? First, find a friend to start it with. Don’t do it all alone! Share the workload with each other so that you never feel like you’ve taken on to big a task.
Start by doing a little bit of homework. Figure out what the main focus of your co-op is going to be. What does your family need or expect to get from a co-op and what are you willing and not willing to do or offer? Do you have a certain teaching philosophy such as Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, or Montessori that your family follows, and will it be limited to a certain age group only or will you offer a combination involving multiple ages? These are some of the big questions that will shape your vision of how you see your co-op.
Next, what sort of size do you envision it being? Just your family and a few good friends or do you want to open it up to the community? There are a couple of really good pros and cons to having large and small co-ops. Small co-ops are easy to run involving a handful of families, can be operated right out of your home, don’t require a lot of book keeping to keep your funds organized and can be highly focused on a certain teaching philosophy or academic subject. Cons to a small co-op are that you may be limited as to how many learning options you can offer due to limited funding and it will include a lot of parent involvement.
Large co-ops will create more funds available to offer a broader range of activities and academics, you may be able to hire outside teachers to come in and lead some of the classes if you wish, and with more parents the shared teaching responsibilities can be spread out with less parent involvement. Cons to a large co-op are that you will need to open a separate checking account and have a treasurer to keep track of your budget and enrolment fees, find a suitable space to meet at such as a church or community hall that will be large enough and offer the facilities you wish to use such as a kitchen, playground etc. and you may need to provide your own liability insurance in case of an accident. If you are planning to run a larger co-op, figuring out your rent and liability insurance costs will help you to determine the minimum amount that you will need to charge per child.
With all of that answered you are ready to move on to the next step of sending out an invitation to other members of the community or your group of friends, working out which programs you will be offering, deciding which day and time is most suitable, and then watching your co-op flourish. Remember though, don’t do it all alone. The more the merrier!
Some of you may be interested in joining a co-op with your children but not interested in helping out with the managerial aspect of it and that’s great to but keep in mind that it is still a big commitment if you do decide to sign up. As the name co-op implies it is a co-operative program between all parents and will include some degree of participation from you. This varies from group to group. Like I had previously mentioned, small co-ops are usually very parent intensive and most likely you will be expected to take on a portion of the teaching in a subject that you enjoy and feel comfortable doing. While with a larger co-op you may only have to help out once or twice a month with craft preparation, monitoring outside playtime or perhaps making the snack at break time.
Don’t be shy though if asked to help out with some of the teaching responsibilities. It is a fantastic way to share some of your knowledge and talents with the children and be a positive role model at the same time. No matter what role you play as a member of a co-op both you and your children will come out enriched in many ways.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Need a step by step guide on how to start a co-op? Carol Topp’s new book, Homeschool Co-ops: How to Start Them, Run Them and Not Burn Out is a must read. She covers every aspect.
Pros and Cons of being in a homeschool co-op
Checklists and worksheets to get you started with your own co-op
Different types of co-ops
How to run a planning meeting
Defining your purpose and mission
Writing co-op policies
How to pick your board members
Money management
Legalities and more!
Carol’s book can be found online at www.homeschoolco-ops.com . You can also find it online at places like Chapters or Amazon, and some homeschool supply websites also carry it such as CHER. It is a print on demand book so delivery times can vary depending on which company you purchase through.
I originally published this article on the Comox Valley's Our Big Earth website and I would encourage you to take a minute and check their site out. It is full of top notch articles on topics like family, food, crafts, education, pregnancy & children, plus so much more!! And it is written by moms for
moms :)
Blessings,
Jan. 14, 2009
A Great Day
Posted in Homeschooling
We had a fantastic day today :) K has been diligently working on his schoolwork and with minimal whining which is such a welcome change! He's been learning to multiply using double digits and he totally blew me away today and whizzed right through it. A couple of weeks ago I thought that we would never learn the times table and today it's like a light bulb just turned on. Boy do I love it when the lights come on. LOL
I actually find that quite often if K is having a lot of trouble grasping a certain concept and we seem to be beating our heads against the wall trying to learn it.... we drop it. I totally just leave it in the dust for a couple of weeks maybe even months sometimes and pretty much every time we come back to the subject it is magically easier than it was the first time :) I'm not sure why it works. Maybe his brain continues to process the concept while we vacation from it? Or, maybe he just wasn't ready for it to begin with and needed that little bit of extra time. Anyone else find that this works for them?
Blessings,
Jan. 9, 2009
Experimenting with Handmade Paper
Posted in Homeschooling
We're still slowly getting back into the normal routine of school and it hasn't helped that K has come down with an awful cold. Yesterday he was so wiped out that we had to cancel any lessons that I had planned so that I could make him endless cups of lemon & honey tea :) Today though he seemed to be a little bit perkier so we decided to try our hand at making some handmade paper! Talk about fun :) We rounded up scrap computer paper that was in the recycle pile, leftover chunks of construction paper from art projects, newspapers and then started to cut them into small pieces for blending. Our instructions said that we needed a screen, which I didn't have, so I fashioned one out of a cookie rack and cheesecloth *grin*. It worked out really great. We whizzed up our paper pulp, caught it on our screen and our pieces of paper are now drying by the fire :)
We did learn something about pulping up newspaper.... it isn't a very nice color. It turns a dark shade of gray and we actually didn't use it since it would have made our paper an unattractive color. The computer paper and construction paper blended into a nice light brown, and I guess in order to have a cream colored paper like I see quite often for handmade papers, you would have to use mainly white colored paper only. Oh well, trial and error :) Can't wait to see how it looks tomorrow and if it will come off of the tea towel it is temporarily stuck to *grin*.
Blessings,
Jan. 3, 2009
Canadian Home Educators Carnival Needs You!
Posted in Homeschooling
The Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is back with a whole new year of great Canadian homeschooling families!!! Make sure you stop by this coming week and check out what your fellow homeschoolers are up to across the country and say hello to everyone on your way across the country, we all love to hear from our visitors from time to time *grin*
Maybe you even have a blog entry that you would like to submit?? It doesn't have to be something you just wrote, it could be something from a couple of weeks ago even! Feel free to share anything. We would love to hear from you :)
See you there next week!
Dec. 7, 2008
Homeschool Christmas Party Success :)
Dec. 5, 2008
Christmas Parties & Letters to Santa
Nov. 20, 2008
Map Of Our Home
Posted in Homeschooling
In our Outlooks 4 social studies textbook we are using it has been talking about mapping skills and how to use the grids (A1, C3, etc.) that you find on some maps to locate certain places. So I thought it would be fun if K mapped our property. Above is an aerial view of the entire 40 acres. He went into extreme detail which is his thing *grin* and has the houses, fields (F), shrubbery, creeks, nature trails, quarry and more. Next we are going to add the grid to it and make up some questions to go along with it :)
Blessings,
PS: I would really appreciate it if you could add me to your prayers this week as I pulled something in my back and am in excruciating pain :( Today is going on day 3 and I am not feeling much relief yet and find it hard to sit or stand. Thanks so much :)
Nov. 20, 2008
Special Offer from Trivium Pursuit & Christian Logic
Posted in Homeschooling
I just received an email from Laurie Bluedorn about the following specials that they are having right now until November 30th and I thought you may be interested as well. We subscribe to the Trivium Pursuit newsletter and really enjoy it, so go and have a peak :)
Blessings,
Our readers have the opportunity to receive two free ebooks from Trivium Pursuit.
1.The 73 page ebook of the entire text of Chapter Twelve: Ten Things to Do With Children Ages Ten Through Twelve from the book Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn
2.The new 94 page ebook Ancient Literature: Significant Excerpts from the Books of Classical Authors Which You Can Use to Supplement Your History Curriculum - Volume Two: Alexander the Great.
You will receive both of these ebooks when you subscribe to the Homeschooling with the Trivium newsletter. This offer is only for new subscribers to Homeschooling with the Trivium and is good only through November 30. Go here to subscribe.
http://www.triviumpursuit.com/list/
In addition, if you subscribe to Christian Logic's Fallacy Detective News you will receive two lessons from the logic textbook The Thinking Toolbox by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn (Lessons 12 and 13, along with exercises and answer key). This offer is only for new subscribers to The Fallacy Detective News and is good only through November 30. Go here to subscribe.
http://www.fallacydetective.com/news/
Nov. 11, 2008
Remembrance Day Ceremony ~ Please Join Us
Posted in Homeschooling
November is the time of the year when we wear a red poppy in memory of those who sacrificed their lives for us during wars.
The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month marks the signing of the Armistice, on the 11th of November 1918, to signal the end of World War One.
At 11 am on the 11 of November 1918 the guns of the Western Front fell silent after more than four years continuous warfare.
 Please stand with us to sing the Canadian Anthem
O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
We will now recite 'In Flanders Fields' by John McCrae
In Flander's fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard among the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flander's fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flander's Fields.
Please join us now in listening to 'The Last Post' and then followed by 1 minute of silence
And in closing we will sing the hymn "Eternal Father Strong to Save"
Lest we forget
Blessings,
Nov. 10, 2008
I Finally Have A Desk
Nov. 2, 2008
Check Out My Very First Article on How To Start Lapbooking!
Posted in Homeschooling
I am so excited!! I just finished writing my very first homeschool article on Lapbooking for the Our Big Earth website, formerly known as the Comox Valley Kids site :)
I met Robin through the absolutely fantastic nature walks we joined in during the summer and one afternoon she asked me if I would be interested in writing a monthly homeschool column for her website. I was a little hesitant at first. What do I know about writing homeschool articles?! I can blog and blab about things we are doing, but it's completely different when I'm on a deadline, plus there are lots of eyes going to be reading and perhaps critiquing what I write. Not to mention these are the eyes of people I actually know in real life *grin*. There goes my blogging anonymity!! I can't hide behind my lovely geese avitar anymore. LOL.
Anyways, I thought that I would share the link to it since it is all about lapbooking, where to start, lapbooking websites, books and more. Plus I shared a bunch of links for the fall lapbook that we just completed above which you can find on the sidebar alongside the article :) Hope you enjoy it or at least find it useful. *wink*
Blessings,
Oct. 24, 2008
Our Book Club ~ The Last Safe House
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~About Me~
Hello from Canada! I am a homeschooling mom to 3 very rambunctious children ages 10, 6 & 3 years old while holding down the fort as tug boat captain 'Dad' sails the seven seas *grin*. We're located on 40 acres in a tiny rural community in beautiful British Columbia and this is my quirky journal about our homeschool journey, running my home based business 'RosyUndPosy' making 'Eco Friendly Bags 4 Green Living', and everyday life home on the farm. Hope you enjoy your visit :)
Want to have a peak at what the weather looks like here today? Here's a cam showing the lovely scenic view looking east down Johnstone Strait past Helmcken & Hardwicke Islands.
And this one is looking north across Johnstone Strait towards Hardwicke Island. Hit the refresh button on your browser to update the picture and make sure you stop by during daylight hours :)
~Eco Bags 4 Green Living~
~Sweet Mentions~
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~ Nature Study Books ~
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