Have you heard about The Financial Fitness Challenge? I got an email about it today and was encouraged to pass the information on. It looks really neat. It is "an educational program designed to enrich the financial literacy of Canadian students sponsored by the Canadian Securities Administrators." There's a chance for children between the ages of 15 & 21 to win one of 13 scholarship prizes.

Here's some quotes from the email:

The Financial Fitness Challenge offers Canadian students the tools necessary to improve their financial education through the use of interactive activities, financial tips, and an online quiz. If students complete the quiz successfully they are entered into a draw to win one of 13 scholarship prizes worth $750, which can be used towards at-home curriculums. The contest runs February 2, 2009 to February 28, 2009.
This year, the Financial Fitness Challenge focuses on building partnerships with not only Canadian students, but with teachers, schools, parents and homeschooling networks like yours so that all Canadian students have a strong support system for understanding and enhancing their financial literacy. As a result, the Financial Fitness Challenge Website offers a multitude of resources to help parents and teachers engage their students with the program both at home and at school.

Be sure to take the time to check it out.

Have you heard of NaNoWriMo?  NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month and is celebrated in November.  The What is NaNoWriMo page on the adult NaNoWriMo site says, "National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30."  It started in 1999 and you can read it's history here.

There is also a NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program.   According to the history page "Ellen Martin launched the YWP website with Chris and the rest of the gang in 2005."  The What is NaNoWriMo page on the YWP site says "The Young Writers Program of National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a novel by midnight, November 30. The word-count goal for our adult program is 50,000 words, but our Young Writers Program allows participants who are 17 years old and younger to set reasonable, yet challenging, word-count goals." 

There is a Word Count Calculator PDF which gives suggested minimum and maximum word count goals for grades 1-12, but these are just suggestions and you and your child can set whatever goal you think is reasonable for your child.

A great resource available through the site is the Young Novelist Workbooks, downloadable printable work books for Elementary, Middle, and High School students.  Contents include a Novel Writing How-Tos section covering characcter development, creating conflict, plot, setting, writing dialogue; a Getting Ready For NaNoWriMo section with tips, goal setting helps and commitment calenday; Ready, Set Write...And Keep Writing section wtih a progress charts and additional tips on beginnings, plots, etc.

The How NaNoWriMo Works for Educators page, encourages teachers to sign up and write novels alongside their students.  When you sign up as a teacher you get accees to a Teachers Lounge where you find elementary, middle and high school curriculum units, divided into 13 lessons, specifically for the NaNoWriMo program and go along with the workbooks mentioned above .  You can also order a free YWP Noveling Kit and receive a poster, a Triumphant Chart of Noveling Progress and up to 35 "Novelist" buttons and NANoWriMo progress stickers.

The workbook and curriculum lessons could be started now to help prepare for the actual writing that starts on November 1st.  Families could do the program on their own or get together with other homeschooling families and do it together.

Be sure to take the time to check out it.  I am sure you will be inspired.  If you decide to join, let me know so that I can add you to my buddy list.  ;)

According to this post on the National Council of Teachers of English blog, National Newspaper Week is October 5-11, 2008 and this year's theme is "Public Notice: Good Government on Display".

Though I searched long and hard for Canadian and Newfoundland references to National Newspaper Week I couldn't find any.  I did, however, find a Canadian resource that would be useful in newspaper themed learning.  The Canadian Newspaper Association has a special site, Newspapers in Education, that is dedicated to making it easy for teachers to include newspapers in learning in their classrooms.  On this site the lessons are grouped according to grades.  As homeschoolers, however, we know that lessons can be adapted to meet different age/grade levels so be sure to check out any that interest you and don't let the suggested grades be a hinderance.  Here's a list of the lessons on the site grouped according to the suggested grades:

Grade 5 Lessons: 1. The Weather Report; 2. World Weather; 3. Canadian Government; 4. Organizing a Debate; 5. The Debate
Grade 6 Lessons: 1. The Purpose of Advertising; 2. Making the Connection; 3. The Target (Part 1); 4. The Target (Part 2); 5. Designing the Advertisement
Grades 7-9 Lessons: 1: Becoming a Reader; 2. Scavenger Hunt; 3. You Be the Judge, the Role of an Editor; 4. The News Story; 5. How a News Story is Organized; 6. Writing a News Story; 7. Student Handout Using Quotes in a Story; 8. The Breaking Story; 9. Where Does News Come From; 10. Writing a Review; 11. Bugs & Beefs, Editorial Writing - 2 parts

I provided a direct link to the Canadian Government lesson because this would be a good one to do now with the government so much in the news due to the upcoming elections.

October 5-11, 2008 is Fire Safety Week.  The theme this year is Prevent Home Fires.

Newfoundlander Michael Gaultois, who is a burn victim, was the guest speaker at the official launch of Fire Prevention Week in Ottawa on October 2nd.  Children's recording artisit Mary Lambert was also in attendance to preform Sing Out Fire Safety , a compilation of original songs she put together and are available from her site.

Local fire departments may have activities planned during the week so be sure to watch for them or contact you local departmen for information. 

The National Fire Protection Association is promoting a Great American Fire Drill "asking kids and families all across North America to practice their home fire escape plans."  If you do the drill you can report it on Sparky's special Fire Drill Reporting Page.

From the National Fire Protection Association, here is a quiz for grownups and older children to check how much you know about home fire safety.  The National Fire Protection Association also has a section on YouTube that is full of videos about fire safety.

At Fire Prevention Canada you can find information about the history of fire prevention week and a Fire Prevention Week Kit that you can download.  This kit is actually meant for fire departments to use in planning activities for Fire Prevention Week but parents can also use the information about fire safety and printable sheets for kids that are included in the kit.

Scholastic has a special National Fire Prevention Week section that is full of great stuff!   There's a Fire Safety Tips slideshow, a Hunt for Home Hazards online game using the white house as the sample but it can apply to any house, a Help Sparky Get Out and Stay Out online game, and an online tool to help build an escape plan.  There are also lesson plans, printables, and quizzes especially for grade k-5 available on the site.

Sparky the Fire Dog's site is also full of great great stuff.  There's a special Fire Trucks section which includes a Fire Truck Gallery of photos of different kinds of fire trucks and alarms for you to click on to hear what they sound like, a Get Out of the Way game where you have to push the space bar to blow the horn and the arrow keys to move the firetruck, and an explore Sparky's Fire Truck section where you click on parts of the truck and boxes come up with information about it.  There's a special Fire Inspection Checklist  and a Home Fire Safety Checklist  that you can print off and allow your child to use to be an offical safety inspector for your house.  On the Family Stuff page there's a step by step guide to home fire safety planning and practice, a Hunt for Home Hazards article ,  Sparky's Fire Safety Tips, and coloring pages.  Those are just some of the great things on Sparky's site.

Have fun exploring and learning.  If you decide to do something special to celebrate Fire Safety Week, I'd love to hear about it.

Did you know that today, Friday, September 26, 2008, is Living Healthy Commotions Day in schools across our province?  I read about it on a website last week and I've been trying to track down more info but wasn't having much luck, except at finding outdated information, until just now. 

I just discovered the Living Healthy Schools Website's special page for Living Health Commotions Day and the PDF's they have there for 2008.  There is a booklet and activity sheet you can download for information about the day and it also includes ideas on activities you can do.  There are some neat suggestions of activities that homeschooling families could use either just in their own home or at homeschool group gatherings.

Some other sites I discovered that would be good resources to use in teaching our children about healthy living are Mission Nutrition and Canada's Physical Activity Kids for Children and Youth

Canada is gearing up for a federal election.  Here are some resources and ideas you can use to make it a part of your homeschool learning.

Resources:

Nodice.ca, "an independent website which contains educational resources and links for Canadian teachers and students, and information about federal, provincial and territorial elections in Canada." This looks like a really great resource for any time there is an election of any sort.

Canada Federal Election 2008 is a portion of the site dedicated to the upcoming election. Lots of great information and links.

Students Vote Organization "a non-profit, non-partisan organization that works with educators to establish habits of democratic citizenship within young Canadians." "The Student Vote parallel election initiative was designed to give students an opportunity to develop and practice the habits of democratic citizenship during official election campaigns." This is their 5th year in operation. It says it is "open to all elementary, junior and senior high schools and there is no cost to participate. Any teacher is eligible to register their school. " I'm not sure if that includes homeschools or not but I'm trying to find out.

Link to Learning is a site "Linking you to web sites supporting the Ontario curriculum." Although it states it is specifically for Ontario Curriculum it can be a great resource to any homeschool.

This resource is not specifically for the election but I found this work sheet, about the different levels of government and their responsibilites, from the site. In reality there is nothing fancy about this worksheet and you could quite easily just make your own without printing it off.

Government in Canada is the site you are supposed to use to fill in the worksheet. It has great information about the different levels of government and their responsibilities.

Canadainfo is the main site where the page above is found and it is another great resource, not just for the election.

Election 2008 is a specific section of this site for the upcoming election. It looks like it will be a great resource.

National Post Election 2008

CTV 2008 Election

Canada Votes 2008

Ideas:

Contruct your own "Count Down to Election Day" poster.
Making a poster of the ridings in your area and fill in the candidates running for the different parties in each riding.
Make a little mini booklet about the party leaders.
Discussion the voting age limit
Discuss the history of the right to vote
Collect political cartoons
Make an Election 2008 lapbook

I will add to both the resources and ideas as I find more.  I'd love to hear what you do and what you find.  Please leave a comment.

Journey North is a great resource for Science, and also for Social Studies.  Here are a couple of quotes from the main page of the site:

Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America.

Widely considered a best-practices model for education, Journey North is the nation's premiere "citizen science" project for children. The general public is welcome to participate.

The site runs a number of different programs at different time of the year that you can get involved in - for free!  All you have to do is register at their site.  Here's what the registration page says:

Once you have registered, you are in the Journey North database and do not have to register for each project separately... If you request an e-mail subscription when you register, you will be notified when each study begins and receive news reports each week. If not, you can find the information on the Journey North Web site.

Here's a short run down of some of the current programs:

The Monarch Butterfly Migration Program has a fall and spring component to it.   News about the 2008 fall program started August 28 and runs until sometime in October or November, but it's not too late to join in.  Weekly news reports for this program are sent to each Thursday.  Even though we are not actually in an area where we will be able to join in reporting Monarch sighting, we can still follow the sightings as they are reported across North America.  One idea is to make your own paper monarch butterflies to place on a map in the area of reported sightings each week.  There are also printable booklets and online slideshows teaching about the life of a butterfly, how to distinquish between monarch butterflies and some look alikes, etc.

The Whooping Crane Program also has a fall and spring component.  News about the 2008 fall program starts tomorrow and runs until sometime in October.  Weekly reports for this program are sent out each Friday.  This is a very interesting program because you "Follow the story of 16 endangered Whooping Crane chicks making their first journey south as ultralight airplane "parents" teach them the way." 

There's also a Tulip Program.  There are monthly, rather than weekly, reports for this program.  Here's what the website says about it:

students plant and observe tulip gardens to track the arrival of spring. They observe and record when their own plants – and those in other school gardens in North America – emerge from the ground and bloom. As students track this one plant type, along with temperatures, day length, and other seasonal signs, they discover how different factors influence the wave of spring. This sets the stage for better understanding our changing climate.

These are just some of the programs that are active right now from the site.  There are other interesting porgrams that start up later in the year.  You can see a list of all the different programs and when they start on the Year-at-a-Glance page.

Let me know if you decide to participate.

Just heard about this from Dawn's post.

If you are into the Civilization Computer game you might like to try out the History Canada Game.  Check it out here.  If you try it I'd love to hear what you think of it.

I have been asked to do some research for an article on homeschooling regulations, re. funding, reporting, etc., in the provinces. I thought it would be good to get some information from people with first hand knowledge and experience about such things.

I would love to hear from you as to what your experience has been in whatever provinces you have homeschooled in. You can email me about it and/or write a blog post about it and let me know where to find it by leaving a comment on the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival. I'd be delighted with either form of communication.

You can pass this information on to anyone that you think might be interested in helping provide information.

Hope to hear from you soon!

Jacqueline

EDIT: I answered questions about this request in this post here.

Thanks to today's post, Online Game; Math Caching, by Denise at Let's Play Math, a great math resource in itself, I discovered MathBits.com.

The main page of MathBIts says:

MathBits.com is devoted to offering fun, yet challenging, lessons and activities in high school (and college level) mathematics and computer programming for students and teachers. Created by two teachers.

From this main page you can access a variety of different helps, most of which is free but some do require a subscription.

The part of the site that Denise wrote about in her post was the Math Cache Game.  The main page for the game says:

"Geocaching" (pronounced "geo cashing") is the sport of using GPS systems to locate hidden boxes at different geographical locations across the country. Directions and clues are left in the boxes to aid in the journey.

In the spirit of geocaching, we have created activities called "MathCaching" which use the internet to find hidden boxes to reveal clues to the continuation of the games. Your success at "MathCaching" is dependent upon your skills at solving mathematical problems.

This sounds like a really neat resource that could be used with highschool students to help make math more fun.  Let me know what you think if you decide try it with your children.

Maps of War is a great resource!  The really neat think about the site, as you can read in their Sharing Policy, is that they want you to copy, use, and share their maps, as long as you link back to them. 

I have embedded the maps that interested me the most into my personal blog.  I'd do it here but I don't know how to do it on this blog, so instead I'll provide you with links to them, along with the description on the website.

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/march-of-democracy.html - "This map gives us a visual ballet of democracy's march across history as the most popular form of government. From the first ancient republics to the rise of self-governing nations, see the history of democracy: 4,000 years in 90 seconds...!"

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/history-of-religion.html  "Our map gives us a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!"

http://www.mapsofwar.com/ind/imperial-history.html   "Who has conquered the Middle East over the course of world events?  See 5,000 years of history in 90-seconds."

I could see using each of these maps as a base to for study units.

Thanks to Thea at the Quebec Homeschool Nations site for pointing out this great site. 

The Poetry Archive claims to be "the world's premier online collection of recordings of poets reading their work."  Andrew Motion and Richard Carrington, an audio engineer, came up with the idea for the site because they thought there was "something special about listening to a poet reading his or her own work ".   Most of the poets on the website are alive today but there are also some historic recordings by poets who are no longer alive.   It is a growing collection as they make new recordings or discover more old recordings.

On the right hand side of the main section of the site you can browse the collection by poets last names, by poem titles, by poetic terms, by theme, by form.  This makes it a great resource to use in literature lessons.  If you are studying a poem by a particular poet you can check the site to see if that poem, or some other by the poet, may be available to listen to.  If your are studying a particular form or theme of poetry you can check the site for avialable poems in that form or theme to listen to.  If you are learning about a poetic term you can check the site for a definition of the term and also to listen to poems that illustrate the term.

Aside from listening to the poems, you can also read the poems as there is a print version available along with the audio.  The site also provides background information about each poet featured, including any prizes they may have won. 

The Children's Archive has great kid appeal in it's graphics and in the poems included.  Under the poems section there is a Poem of the Week feature which would make a great addition to weekly lesson plans.

This site is a great resource for teaching,  or simply encouraging enjoyment of, literature.  It has something to offer for all ages.  Be sure to take the time to check it out.

A nice while ago I saw this site - "Telling Stories: Narratives of Nationhood" - featured on a blog.  It is a great resource to use in teaching social studies and art appreciation.  Here are a couple of quotes from the site:

"In Telling Stories: Narratives of Nationhood, a diversity of art by Canadian artists is the medium for the exploration of Canadian history and heritage, identity, culture, geography, and politics."

"Complementing 4000 works of art with 400 lesson plans generated by a team of educators, the program uses the Confederation Centre Art Gallery collection and works of art from gallery collections across Canada to explore the symbols and icons that are used in the art to tell stories about the geographical, historical, and cultural make-up of Canada."

Did you catch that?!?  400 lesson plans featuring 4000 works of art!  Now that's a great resource, and it's all available through this web site.  Make sure you set aside a good chunk of time to check it out because it is a gold mine.

You enter either an HTML or flash version of the site.  I had a little trouble with the flash version on my computer but if really is so much more exciting then the HTML version.  In both version you can see that the material is divided up into 8 modules.  Each module starts with an introduction page.  In the HTML version there is a list of related lesson plans at the bottom of the page, while in the flash version there is a link for related lesson plans in the top right corner.  Grade levels are suggested for each lesson and there are lessons to cover all grades from 1-12. 

The site is a project of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Prince Edward Island.  The Centre's website is also worth checking out, especially the Art Gallery section where you can take a virtual tour of the gallery and also check the live web cam feed. 

Last weekend homeschooling families from across the island gathered in St. John's for the annual CHENL Conference on the Rock.

Friday night the president welcomed everyone and introduced the speakers.  This was followed by a number of different families sharing their stories - right from a family just now preparing to start to a family that has already graduated two of their children.  It was a great time of inspiration and fellowship.  The evening ended with a DVD presentation of homeschool research results.

All day Saturday there were sessions with the guest speakers.   Snacks and lunch were provided for the day so that there would be lots of time to fellowship between sessions. 

Rev. John Paul Westin, Rector of St. Thomas' Church in St. John's,  spoke about Raising Godly Children and gave us his 4 points at the beginning just in case he ran out of time and didn't get to cover them all.  He didn't need to worry, however.  He did a great job as he encouraged us to 1) be real or get real with God, 2) watch and listen because God is at work, 3) react or respond appropriately, and 4) enjoy watching the plants grow.  I heard comments afterwards about how encouraging it was to hear him remind us that we are not responsible to make our children what they ought to be, but we are to allow God to do it and to help them out as we can as they develop into the people God planned for them to be.

Carolyn Westin, Rev. John Paul's wife, who is a guidance counselor and private counselor talked with us about guiding Your Child Through the Teen Years.  She emphasized the importance of being present in our children's lives and being available for them, while being careful not to be smothering or controlling and discussed some very practical ways to do that.

Pastor Gary Steward, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, shared with us his enthusiasm for history as he talked about How to Teach History from a Christian Perspective.  He gave 5 tips for teaching history: 1) equip yourself with good resources, many of which are available on the internet through archive.org or google books; 2) be selective, because you can't cover it all; 3) create an interest a) in yourself first, b) by using historical fiction, c) by using literature of the time, but be mindful of purposeful messages, d) by using biographies, e) by using autobiographies, and f) by using films; 4) teach the big picture first, thus creating a mental grid on which to hang the details that will be learned later; and 5) pay special attention to world views. 

Marlene McDonald, a veteran home educator from New Brunswick and owner of Homeschool and More, talked about Getting Started and Choosing Curriculum and Planning Your Year.  She also had a wonderful display of homeschooling resources and curriculum for people to browse and purchase from all weekend long.

These are just some of the highlights from the weekend.  The conference committee did a great job and everyone left better equiped to face the challenges of homeschooling and looking forward to next year.

I first heard about the Historica Fairs in Heather's blog post telling about a group of homeschoolers in Ontario had their own fair and had judges attend it to judge the entries.  Her daughter was one of 4 homeschoolers chosen to advance to the Ottawa Fair.   She posted another post about their experience at the Ottawa fair and it sounded like such a great experience I went looking to learn more about the Heritage Fair Program.

You can learn all about the Heritage Fair program at their offical website.  On the What is a Fair page it says "The Historica Fairs Program encourages students to explore Canadian heritage in a dynamic, hands-on learning environment. Students use the medium of their choice to tell stories about Canadian heroes, legends, milestones, and achievements - and present the results of their research at a public exhibition."  According to the Rules and Criteria page the program is open to students in grades 4-9.

On the Fairs Sites page for Newfoundland and Labrador I discovered that there are 8 regional fairs in Newfoundland & Labrador.  The Newfoundland and Labrador Historica Fairs has their own Web site and there I learned that the regional fairs take place in May.  I contacted the provincial co-ordinator to find information about the fairs and how homeschoolers could go about becoming involved.  She was very helpful and told me that it was too late for this year but she would be happy to help us work something out for next year. 

Even though it is too late for us to participate this year, it is still possible to check out the regional fairs and get an idea of what the program is all about.  The Regional Fairs are open to the public at least part of the time for public viewing.  I contacted the regional co-ordinators listed on the website and heard back from most of them with information about the time and place of the Regional Fairs.

The regional Fairs are happening this weekend.  Here is a list of where and when:

Avalon Region -  May 3rd 1-3 at McDonald Drive Junior High School
Vista (Clarenville) Region - May 3rd 11-12 and 2 at the Rising Tide Theatre in Trinity
Burin Region - May 1st at Scared Heart Academy Marystown -
Central Region - May 2 in Grand Falls-Windsor at the Regional Education Office on Price's Avenue
Western Region  - May 3rd 1-3 at Sir Wilfred Grenfell College gym in Corner Brook
Labrador West Region - May 1st at Mennihek High School

Unfortunately I didn't hear back from the contact people listed for the Northern Peninsula/Labrador South Region  or the Labrador Region.

I hope some of you will take advantage of the chance to check out the regionnal fairs and hopefully next year we will actually have some homeschoolers participating in them.

At EcoKids Blog I discovered that April 19-27 is National Wildlife Week.  The National Wildlife Federation site has a special page announcing National Wildlife Week.  This page says "Register for National Wildlife Federation’s Wildlife Watch and become a citizen naturalist. You can even record your sightings online!"  Though it is an American site Canadians can participate in the "Tell Your Wildlife Watch Story" page.   You can pick the Province you live in in a drop down menu as part of the report .  I'd love to hear from you if you do post something there.  Leave a comment here so that I can go check it out.

April 22 is Earth Day Canada.  You can learn more about the history of Earth Day Canada and find some printable activities for it here.   You can find out about planned Earth Day Events in Newfoundland and Labrador here.  To register an event click here.  

The EcoKids site is hosting their 5th Annual Scavenger Hunt .  The deadline for submissions is April 25th, 2008.  You have to  "Search through the web site to correctly answer all the questions and be entered into a draw for some great prizes".  Open to ages 7-12.

Not much time left for this one but if you get on it right away you can still make it.