Apr. 28, 2009 - Newest Edition of The Homeschooler's Guide Online
Enjoy :)
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Mar. 12, 2009 - NO MORE Free Shipping to Canada From Sonlight
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.
Below you can find the information on why they are discontinuing the free shipping and how to break down your estimated shipping costs that will be charged.
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I am Tim Heil, the Customer Relations Manager for Sonlight Curriculum, Ltd. It's been my privilege to assist you with choosing and receiving your curriculum over the last several years.
According to my records, we have shipped orders to your Canadian address in the past. If your order was over $100, we shipped it with little to no shipping charges. Up until last spring, the cost to us for shipping was small enough that we were able to cover it in full out of the purchase price we charged you.
Over the last year, however, our shippers dramatically raised their fees for shipping to Canada. For example, in addition to a general increase in per-package shipping costs, due to the wild increase in oil prices last year, fuel surcharges for shipping to Canada soared as high as 34% over the summer months--$45 in fuel surcharges alone (on top of the base fees our shippers charged), for an $800 order! Put it all together (the base cost plus fuel surcharge), and we spent about $170--over 20% of the order's value--to ship such an order to Canada during the summer (when most orders were shipped). For smaller orders, the proportional costs for shipping were even higher. And the upshot? We lost money on most of the orders we shipped to Canada last year.
John and Sarita agreed simply to "eat" the losses last year. After all, a promise is a promise.
But going forward, they said, we have to charge our customers a shipping rate that is reasonably close to the actual cost of shipping (less a subsidy equivalent to what we pay, on average, for shipping to our "lower-48" customers).
As a result,
Shipping fees for 2009 and following will be calculated at the time you place your order--in order to properly reflect current costs.
Considering how wildly energy prices fluctuated this past year (the fuel surcharge at this moment is down to only about 2.5% of an order's value!), John and Sarita said they would like us to take the reduced-cost base fees we have been able to negotiate with our shippers, subtract a subsidy equivalent to what we pay to cover domestic shipping in the lower 48 United States, and then add whatever the actual fuel surcharge is at the time the order is placed.
You can find the base fee (minus subsidy) in the chart below. Beginning April 1st and throughout the coming year, you will be able to find the then-current fuel surcharge online at http://www.sonlight.com/shippingcalc.
In case you didn't know: We have diligently negotiated extremely favorable shipping rates with FedEx to offer you quick, insured, and trackable shipping at a significantly discounted rate.
To repeat: beginning April 1st, as we enter the 2009 sales season, when you place a new order, Sonlight Curriculum will charge you a shipping fee based on the chart below plus the current fuel surcharge.
| 2009 Sonlight Subsidized Base Shipping Rates (SSBSR) to Canada (to calculate final cost, add Fuel Surcharge to SSBSR) |
|
|---|---|
| Order Total ($) | 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.
Despite this unsettling turn of events, we look forward to serving you and your family in the near future.
Thank you for choosing Sonlight. I pray you have a great school year.
Sincerely,
Tim Heil
Customer Relations Manager
Sonlight Curriculum
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Mar. 5, 2009 - Fraser Valley Home Learning Expo ~ May 22nd, 2009
The second annual Fraser Valley Home Learners Expo is happening this year on May 22nd, 2009 at the Abbotsford Recreation Complex located at 2499 McMillan Road, Abbotsford, BC. This conference is designed to encourage families to explore all of the homeschooling opportunities available in our province and is an extremely affordable and worthwhile event!
Your $15 admission includes the keynote address, access to the vendor hall which is jam packed with over 50 fantastic vendor booths to browse, and your choice of three parent workshops. Another bonus to attending this conference is that children can attend for FREE when accompanied by an adult and there is lot's of free stuff for them to do! Science world will be on location and there will also be music lessons, martial arts, fencing lessons, dance classes, and visual arts running throughout the day.
Some of the featured speakers & topics are:
David Smith ~ Materials & Methods for Geography and World-Mindedness
Science World ~ Start a Family Science Night at Home
Geneva Scoville (EBUS) ~ LA: An Exciting Way to Meet Elementary Learning Outcomes
Lisa Pearson (Accomplished Learning Centre) ~ Train the Brain for Improved Learning
Jill Whitehouse (Early Minds Education) ~ Multi-Sensoral Learning
And More...
For more information and to register online visit their website at
www.fvhomelearningexpo.ca
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Mar. 3, 2009 - Get Your FREE Copy of the 'Symbols of Canada'
I just learned of an excellent resource to add to your Canadian studies that I want to share with you :) The Department of Canadian Heritage is providing free copies of the Symbols of Canada booklet to anyone who requests it via mail or online at their website as a PDF download which you can access directly here.
It is full of color illustrations, loads of information on how Canada got its name, official symbols of Canada, the Commonwealth, historical flags and boundaries, plus it goes into depth on each province and territory providing info on their individual mottos, flags, symbols, stats and more! A really nice perk at the end of the booklet is a full color fold out poster that condenses all of the Canadian symbols into a nice format to hang on your school wall for easy reference and they also provide suggestions for classroom activities!
I phoned today and requested my copy and I would suggest that you do the same if you want your own because there is a limited quantity available :)
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Feb. 19, 2009 - Used Homeschool Resource Sale ~ Lower Mainland, British Columbia
Used Educational Resource Sale
6306 - 152nd St., Surrey, BC
April 4, 2009
10am - 1pm
The BC Home Learners Association (BCHLA) is hosting another fantastic homeschool resource sale that you don't want to miss! With the recent closing of Learning Lane many wondered where they would be able to sell their no longer needed homeschool materials, but wonder no more. Start checking out your bookshelves and manipulative bins for stuff you no longer need and bring it down to the Sullivan Community Hall on April 4th.
The sale is going to be advertised throughout the entire province, including a billboard on the outside of the community hall for the week prior to the sale, so it's sure to have a big turnout! You can help spread the word as well by passing along the sale date to your support groups and any email lists you may belong to :)
Table Rentals - $20 per table (BCHLA members receive one table for free)
To book a table, contact Sherri at info@bchla.bc.ca
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Feb. 12, 2009 - Calling All Canadian Unschoolers!!
I just learned a really exciting bit of information about a Canadian unschooling conference happening later this year!!
The 2009 Alphabet Soup Calgary Unschooling Conference will be taking place this fall, September 18th - 20th at the Delta Calgary South (corner of Southland Drive and Macleod Trail SE) and you should plan to register early because this conference is going to be a sold out event!
Some of the featured speakers on the roster are:
Lisa Rouleau
Judy Arnall
Linda Clement
Jay Fiset
Suze Casey
Cindy Bablitz
To find out more about the speakers and how to register for the conference visit the Alphabet Soup Unschooling Conference website. And make sure you mark your calendars for their registration lauch which will start March 16th. You don't want to miss out on what sounds like a great conference!!
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Feb. 8, 2009 - Beethoven At Home ~ School Of Music
I want to introduce the Beethoven at Home School of Music to you today. They provide music lessons for ALL instruments including traditional Chinese instruments to families in the Greater Vancouver area of British Columbia. It looks like a fabulous program for homeschoolers because they strive to meet your schedule needs by offering times that work for you to come to them or you can even have the music teacher come right to your home. Plus they have graciously given me a coupon to pass on to you to get your first lesson free, all you have to do is let them know that you read it here on the BC Homeschool Nations blog :)
You can find out more about Beethoven At Home and their services by visiting their website HERE and by reading the press release below celebrating a very successful first year of making beautiful music :)
Beethoven at Home Celebrates First Year of Making Beautiful Music With New Promotions and Staff!!!
Vancouver’s premium music school is celebrating its first year of making beautiful music with new promotions and staff appointments!!! Beethoven at Home has flourished in its first year of operations offering a premium alternative to the traditional format of music schools in the GVRD. The company offers screened music teachers that can teach either in your home or in a teacher’s studio near your home. In addition they offer free family admission to a family concert series, musical instrument rentals and more!!!
“I’m so excited that things have taken off as well as they have!” says co-owner Peggy Tong of Beethoven at Home ( www.beethovenathome.com ). “We’ve really gotten off the ground very quickly and are expecting great things in 2009. We’ve defined that there is a need for our service and are working to make it better and better. With the addition of our new GVRD territory agent Francois Levesque we will be able to serve more clients and offer new promotions while making our administration more efficient. Just a year ago if you needed a mandarin speaking flute teacher in Burnaby for at home lessons there was no service available and now there is.”
Francois Levesque adds “I am very excited about joining Beethoven at Home because I have always thought that the way music lessons were handled needed a little help. Traditionally teachers were found by chance and if they moved away, or became too busy the student or family had no real choice in how things could be dealt with. This way Beethoven at Home can make sure that a student’s musical development continues with a minimum of interruption and where unavoidable we can deal with the matter professionally to minimise impact on the student. That , and the fact it makes a real benefit to the environment when students study at home or near their home instead of driving both ways every lesson.” Francois Levesque will be the first point of contact in teacher recruitment and student placements in the GVRD. He holds a Master of Music degree from UBC and is fully bilingual hailing from Quebec City originally.
Co-Owner Dr. Neal Andrew Bennett is excited about the new promotions for 2009. “We have always strived for benefit to the student and the family. Our first promotion will give back to the existing students in Beethoven at Home. In this program all existing students and families can refer another student or family and will receive a full lesson credit for each and every successful referral. We are confident this unique program will garner the interest and attention of our musical family. The second is a special coupon promotion available to homeschoolers in the province of BC. ” To learn about this promotion readers can visit http://beethovenathome.blogspot.com . “We’re going to be using this blog to promote our services and to update our musical family throughout the year.”
“In 2009 we have our eye set on increasing the value of our service in the GVRD and expanding to other markets in Canada. We look forward to serving you better and wish the very best of the season to our existing clients and teachers” says Peggy Tong.
Best Wishes in 2009!!!
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Jan. 5, 2009 - Storytime Writer's Contest
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is hosting a great writing contest for both children and adults with some really great prizes! Below is a blurb about the contest and you can go to the official contest page for all of the rules and requirements.
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The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is very excited to be hosting our second Storytime Writing Contest! We have two creative fiction categories: adults (16 and up, 2,500 words or less) and children (15 and under, 1,500 words or less). We will begin to accept submissions on January 5, 2009, and continue through midnight, March 16, 2009.
Staff from The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, as well as independent contractors, will review each entry and select fifty finalists in each category. Those finalists will be listed on the TOS website by title, author, and city. From there, a panel of judges who are "experts in the field" will select the Grand Prize Winners!
The Grand Prize Winners (one adult and one child) will receive:
• $100 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store
• Grand Prize Package valued at more than $1,000 from our sponsors! (See list of prizes below.)
• Publication in the Summer 2009 issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine
• Publication on www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com
• Certificate of Achievement
The top two winners, as well as eleven finalists in each category, will have their stories published in an E-Book, which will be available for sale at the Schoolhouse Store!
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Jan. 3, 2009 - Canadian Home Educators Carnival Needs You!
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!
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Dec. 14, 2008 - Experiment/Craft ~ Borax Crystal Snowflakes
Looking for a great holiday craft that is both educational and fun?? Then you've got to make some of these Borax Crystal Snowflakes! They are quick to make and you only need a few common items that can be found around your home :) Check out the complete instructions HERE.• 0 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link
Dec. 14, 2008 - Great Spelling Website
I just ran across a really great site called SpellingCity.com and I am really impressed! Right away when you hit their homepage it lets you enter in your child's spelling words and from there you can let it test them. The program actually 'says' the word out loud for them and there is also the option of having the word used in a sentence. Once the test is complete they then have the option to have it teach them any misspelled words or use all of them in some fun learning games :) The beauty of this site is that it is completely FREE and you can create a free teacher's account where you can create your own word lists and save them so that each time you use the site your word lists are ready to go. There is also the option of printing out your child's spelling test results which is great if you are putting together portfolio's for DL requirements! If you don't have lists that you are using for spelling already there is also a handy page just chock full of spelling lists for grades 1-7 that you can use and there's even a forum if you want to ask for spelling help :)
It's a hit with my son so far and he seems to really enjoy doing it because he can type instead of print by hand. Anything that doesn't require him to do the writing seems to be a big go for him *grin*.
Go check it out! You won't be disappointed.
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Nov. 26, 2008 - 3rd Annual Black Friday Sale
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30.
Please don't miss out. Your one-year subscription will pay for itself time and time again as you receive practical tips and Biblical encouragement to keep going strong in your commitment to homeschooling and to the Lord. Since it's a quarterly magazine, they even have a monthly subscriber's only E-Newsletter called Teacher's Toolbox that will give you seasonal teaching ideas and a free E-Book download! It's like joining a unit study of the month club! The free E-Books alone are valued at almost $250/year. It's really perfect for people who are homeschooling on a shoestring or just wanting to add in some little extras to your teaching.
Visit The Old Schoolhouse store at: www.TheOldSchoolhou
Order Yours Today! And don’t miss out on this great price!!!
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Nov. 22, 2008 - Rosetta Stone ~ Free 1 Week Trial
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Nov. 22, 2008 - Cornerstone Learning Resources ~ Christmas Coupon
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Nov. 21, 2008 - Do You Want To Be An Olympic Torch Bearer??
On October 30th, 2009 the relay will begin in our capital city of Victoria, BC and will make its way to northern Vancouver Island, northern BC, down and around our province and then across the rest of the provinces and territories. The torch will travel a total of 4500 kms in 100 days, visiting 1020 communities, ending at BC Place on February 12th, 2010 with the lighting of the Olympic fire signifying the start of the winter games! You can view an interactive map here that shows all of the stops the torch will be making.
So do you want to know how to become a Torch Bearer??
It's really simple. Visit the 2010 Olympics website and then follow one of the 2 links offered via RBC or Coca Cola to apply to be a torch bearer. From there you make a pledge to do something towards a better Canada, fill out the information and you are entered into the torch bearer draw :)
There are a few things that you are required to do, so check them out before entering though. Below are a few:
- carry/run/walk with an Olympic Torch for approximately 300 metres
- find their way to and from the assigned collection point
- participate fully in the two- to three-hour Olympic Torchbearer experience
- be 13 years of age by October 30, 2009
- complete all required documentation including a security check
- submit an application as per the requirements of Coca-Cola and/or RBC
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Oct. 21, 2008 - Grand Finale ~ Finish Celebrating BC's 150th Year With A Bang!!
Sir James Douglas was British Columbia's first governor and proclaimed the area as a colony for Britain during the time when the gold rush was booming in the Fraser River Canyon and many Americans were flooding the area seeking the precious metal. It is thought that his actions to bring in British Sovereignty over the mainland in 1858 were to keep the peace between the Native Americans and American prospectors as tensions escalated and to thwart Americans from claiming part of British Columbia.
On November 19th, 2008 from 10am - 5pm join in the celebrations as Parks Canada offers free admission to Fort Langley (23433 Mavis Avenue, Fort Langley, BC) celebrating the birth of British Columbia. Enjoy the bagpipes, theatrical presentations, tours and more!
If you get a chance to go, we would love to see photos of the events. There are supposed to be period costumes and more and I know I would love to see them and I'm sure other families that cannot attend would enjoy them to :) Let me know if you would like to share them.
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Oct. 15, 2008 - It's Finally Here!!!
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Sep. 25, 2008 - Studentvote.ca ~ Do you want to participate in the 2008 Federal Election??
It is open to all students in Canada, even homeschoolers! And yes your elementary aged children can participate as well :) It is crucial that you sign up right away since they will be closing down registrations tomorrow evening, September 26th at 5pm. Sorry about the short notice, I just learned about this today. When asked for you school name make sure you include 'homeschool' in the title if you want to be recognized as a homeschooler.
Participating in studentvote.ca is completely free and you will have access to:
- Instructional resources – Containing a variety of lesson plans, covering the democratic process and informed citizenship. Both elementary and high school level resources are available in both official languages.
- Campaign guide – A planning guide with a calendar of important dates and suggestions for organizing the project in your school.
- Posters – To help you and your class increase awareness within your school.
- Elections Manual – Detailing polling methods and procedures for Student Vote Day.
- Ballot boxes and voting screens – To use on Student Vote Day.
- Ballots – With the names of local candidates, based on your voting district or municipality.
Local newspapers, local news casts and online sources are also an excellent resource to beef up your election studies. The Globe and Mail has a great Federal Election 2008 Political Webpage that you can use to keep up on nation wide topics and statistics and they also have an Election 2008 Newsletter & Alerts email subscription that you can subscribe to so that you can get all of the breaking news, election stories, polls and analysis. Don't miss a thing! *grin*
British Columbia is a key player in this election with the Conservatives and the New Democratic Party being the key players battling it out, so make good use of the hot topics!
This is just like the real thing and a great way to educate our children on how the electoral process works. Nothing like a little practice before the real thing :)
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Sep. 25, 2008 - Teens In The Sea-To-Sky Area Needed For 2010 Olympic Games
They just announced this week that they are inviting teens between the ages of 15 - 19 to sign up for volunteer opportunities.
"Its new "Youth Participation Program" has about 250 spots for young residents between the ages of 15 to 19 to work in customer service roles or help stage events during the games.
Preferrence will be given to sports participants, who are members of a sports club or who have competition experience.
Prospective volunteers are required to form a team of 10 - plus an adult chaperone - before they sign up."
To find out more about this exciting opportunity read the entire article at CTV.ca or log onto the official Olympic website and check out the Volunteer Opportunities Link for the 2010 games.
Hurry 250 spots will fill up fast!!!
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Sep. 25, 2008 - Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the 23rd edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is up and running! There are some really great entries this week :)
Some of my favorites are: Pam in Alberta sharing about 'Mug Up', her homeschool mom get together and she shares some really fantastic ideas for topics, Lorraine in New Brunswick lets us know about some really great Canadian magazines available for our kids (I've got a subscription to one of them, fantastic stuff!), and in Newfoundland, Jacqueline and her daughter are studying the upcoming election and have a great idea about trading candidate cards! So make sure you check it out :)
The deadline for the upcoming edition is September 29th and we would love to see what you and your family are up to :)
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