Timberdoodle is a fantastic homeschool resource for curricula, games, and more! Recently they called for families to submit videos featuring their favourite Timberdoodle products. These videos are a ton of fun to watch, and may spark an interest in videography in your own children.
You Decide Who Wins
Now, it is time to vote. Your vote will determine who wins these prizes:
1st place: $300
2nd place: $200
3rd place: $100
You Get $5!
Every person who votes will receive a $5 gift certificate online; good even toward those items which never seem to go on sale!
How To Vote
To vote, simply visit the Timberdoodle blog here and watch the videos. Then comment on the video or videos you want to vote for. The 3 videos with the most comments/votes win.
Wow! Knowledge Quest is giving away THREE FREE memberships to their Homeschooling ABCs e-course for new homeschoolers. Recently, I posted a review that you can read below. To enter the giveaway, simply go to the Knowledge Quest Blog and follow the directions. Also on the blog is a link to download Lesson 13 for free.
World Math Day is a worldwide, online math competition for students aged 5-18. 2009 is the 3rd annual competition. The levels are set up as follows:
Level 1: Ages 5 to 7
Level 2 & 3: Ages 8 to 11
Level 4: Ages 12+
World Math Day runs for 48 hours from your local start time, which you are given upon registration. Registration is free, simply click on "register here" and fill out the form. Once you register, your child can
start practising, even from their iPhone or iPod.
On March 4th, students play against each other in mental arithmetic games on the website. Equations are displayed on-screen, and the child solves as many as possible correctly within 60 seconds.
Congratulations to Claudine Broussard of Port Hawkesbury! On Saturday, February 21st the 13 year old homeschooler spelled the winning word "untraceable". She will be traveling to take part in both the upcoming Bee in Ottawa as well as the Scripps Bee in Washington D.C. You can read the story in The Cape Breton Post, which sponsored the event.
My 10 year old son also participated. He very much enjoyed his day and is looking forward to next year. I'm proud of him for finishing in the top half of all those spellers :)
Financial Fitness Challenge is an educational program designed to enrich the financial literacy of Canadian students, sponsored by the Canadian Securities Administrators.
Designed to offer Canadian students the resources and tools necessary to improve their financial education through the use of interactive activities, financial tips, and an online quiz, it is primarily for those aged 15-21. 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 any at-home curriculum. 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 homeschoolers 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.
Here is a snapshot of a few fun and useful resources and activities that might be of particular interest.
Children (ages 15-21) can take The Challenge for a chance to win one of 13 scholarship prizes across Canada.
If your children are not ready for The Challenge quite yet, have fun with some of the warm-up activities and tips, or feel free to join the new Financial Fitness Challenge Facebook page where students can interact with other challengers and friends.
Attention writers!
Grab your pencils and get those creative juices flowing!
The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is 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 below 1,500 words or less). Deadline to enter is March 16, 2009. $7.95 fee per entry.
Grand prize winners in both the adult and child categories will receive prize packages valued at over $1,000, publication in the Summer 2009 issue of TOS, and publication in our Storytime 2009 Compilation E-Book. Eleven Honorable Mentions from each category will also be included in the E-Book in addition to receiving gifts from top homeschool companies.
There's still time to register for Canwest Canspell 2009! The deadline has been extended to November 30, 2008. Thanks to the generous lead sponsorship of Canada Post - it's a Free Bee! - with no cost to schools or students. The Bee is open to students from Grade 4 through Grade 8. Homeschoolers have to register as a "school" at Canspell Spelling Bee Registration. Once you register you'll receive a package in the mail which includes information about when your regional bee is, and entry forms to fill out for each student in your homeschool who will be participating. Last week the Spell It! 2009 study guide was published in newspapers, but if you didn't get your copy you can still download it at Spell It! Download.
The regional winners get to travel to the national capitals of both Canada and the U.S. to further their competitive skills where they'll enjoy sightseeing, special events and the company and friendship of other super spellers!
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.
The only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.
Make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of strange stuff, and some of it will be just plain bad. But that's a good thing! For 30 days, you get to lock that inner editor in the basement, let your imagination take over, and just create!
As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants of all ages are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel.
In 2007, over 100,000 adults participated through our main site, and 14,000 young writers participated through our Young Writers Program.
So, to recap:
What: To meet your word-count goal, and write a novel from scratch in one month's time. You will be able to enter your chosen word-count goals in your profiles starting September 1.
Who: You!
You should sign up on the Young Writers Program site if you are:
17 years old or younger participating on your own.
In a K-12 teacher-lead class that is participating in NaNoWriMo.
An educator facilitating NaNoWriMo in your classroom.
If you are 13 or older you can choose to sign up on the main site at www.nanowrimo.org. Just know that you will have to write 50,000 words since the adult site doesn't allow you to set your own word-count goal.
Why: The reasons are endless! To write freely without having to stress over spelling and grammar. To be able to talk about how cool our novels are any chance we get. To be able to make fun of real novelists who take far longer than 30 days to write their books.
When: You can sign up whenever you'd like to add your name to the roster of budding young authors and to participate in the forums. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach your word-count goal by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the celebration begins.
Prizes include: College Scholarships (for US citizens only) and Free Critical Thinking Products
Seaside, California (October 1, 2008)The Critical Thinking Company, award-winning
publisher of complete curriculum and supplemental educational books, software and DVDs
for all ages, announces The Critical Thinking Company 50th Anniversary Essay Competition
for middle and junior high school students during the 2008-2009 academic year. The essay
competition consistsof two separate topics each with a limit of 500 words. The first topic
challenges students to describe how they benefit in their everyday lives from critical thinking
educational materials published by The Critical Thinking Company over the last 50 years.
The second topic requires students to imagine how their everyday lives, 50 years from now, will benefit from
strong critical thinking skills. Complete details for the competition can be
found below.
50th Anniversary Essay Competition
Part of The Critical Thinking Company's mission is to inspire a love of
thinking while developing important critical thinking skills. Our hope is
that the essay competition will inspire and encourage middle school students
to continue practicing higher order thinking in high school, college and
beyond. The essay competition asks middle school students to write an essay,
500 words or less, in response to one of the following topics:
Topic #1
Describe how you benefit today in everyday life due to The Critical Thinking
Company educational materials from the last 50 years. Utilize product
information, articles, and research material found on the www.criticalthinking.com website, along with personal experience to outline
gains from critical thinking materials that are common place in everyday
life.
Topic #2
Describe, 50 years from now, how your everyday life may benefit from strong
critical thinking skills. Utilize product information, articles, and
research material found on the www.criticalthinking.com website, along with
personal experience and your imagination to explain how your daily life will
be better, 50 years from now due to highly-developed reasoning skills.
Students may submit two separate essays, each responding to a separate
topic, if they so choose. For specific details on entry requirements, see The Company Porch
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