Feb. 5, 2010 - THE GREAT BACKYARD BIRD COUNT - FEBRUARY 12-15, 2010

Feb. 3, 2010 - InternationaL Space Station comes together LINK TO

Feb. 1, 2010 - THE CANADIAN OPERA COMPANY OFFER FREE DAYTIME CONCERT SERIES

These Free concerts are a great opportunity for homeschoolers as they are offered during the day, with a great variety of concerts offering dance, piano and opera's

I have attended a few events and found it comfortable with a nice relaxed atmosphere.

 noon5:30 p.m.noon hour and early evening concerts added throughout the schedule., with additional and the first Wednesday of each month at

This weeks program DANCE SERIES

February 3, 2010 12 p.m.dancer/choreographer

Denise Fujiwara,

Susie Burpee, dancer/choreographer

THE PROGRAM

Excerpt from Lost and Found 

Choreography and performance: Denise Fujiwara

Attachment and impermanence, loss and discovery; each moment reveals us to be simultaneously lost and found.

Excerpt from Fidelity.s Edge

Choreography and performance: Susie Burpee and Dan Wild

Music: Christine Fellows, John K. Samson

Intimacy through passion and indifference, darkness and light; an unflinching

www.fujiwaradance.com  www.susieburpee.com   www.danceworks.ca

Jan. 27, 2010 - NEW TECHNOLOGY TO TEND TO THE BABES NEEDS UHH?

New Technology is not beyond me but I found myself in hysterical laughter today when I was watching the news, today was the day that they announced the new iPad with all its gadgets. To highlight the capabilities of this wonderous product they were in the home of a Mom with her baby and they made a point of an app (short for application) that allows you to decipher the cry of your baby, when the baby cried the mother was able to figure whether he needed feeding? Changing? Etc etc.

Crazy I might sound, but I just find it quite hilarious that we have come to a point in time that we have progressed from looking after our own children with little tidbits of advice from family members or old sages in our neighbourhood, progressing (or not) onto letting others assume the care of our children, to this new let the machine take care of the baby’s needs.

I found myself laughing mostly because I had visions of the battery running out or the phone having been left in another part of the house, and the mother saying to the young one, “shh, shh now I will see to you in a minute, as soon as I find my iPad to see what it is you need”

There is often criticism of homescoolers not availing themselves of the opportunity to interact with others, yet it seems no one blinks an eye when a parent is relying on a computer to tend our young ones.

Jan. 25, 2010 - OLDER THAN DIRT

This came from a Forum I am on from my Home Town in the UK and I found it funny enough to share, though my guess is that most people reading this cannot relate.  Feel free to add your own memories to the list.

I'm older than dirt
Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him. 'All the food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained! 'Mum cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together
at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. My parents never drove me to school. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow).
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people... I never had a telephone in my room.The only phone was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line. Pizzas were not delivered to our home... But milk was. All newspapers were delivered by boys and all boys delivered newspapers.My brother delivered a newspaper, six days a week. He had to get up at 6AM every morning.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the
movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without profanity or violence or most anything offensive. If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?

Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember, not the ones you were told about
Ratings at the bottom.
1.Candy cigarettes
2.Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes
3.Home milk delivery in glass bottles
4. Party lines on the telephone
5.Newsreels before the movie
6.TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])
7.Peashooters
8, Howdy doody
9. 45 RPM records
10.Hi-fi's
11. Metal ice trays with lever
12. Blue flashbulb
13.Cork popguns
14. Studebakers
15. Wash tub wringers


If you remembered 0-3 = You're still young
If you remembered 3-6 = You are getting older
If you remembered 7-10 = Don't tell your age,
If you remembered 11-15 =You're older than dirt!

I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.

Jan. 22, 2010 - TEENS FOR PLANET EARTH - GREAT SITE FOR TEENS TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PRESERVING OUR PLANET

TEENS FOR PLANET EARTH  www.teens4planetearth.com

A great site where teens all over the world who care about nature and the environment will find:-

-Facts about the natural world

-The latest I conservation news

-Information on how to get involved in preserving our planet and make a difference in your own community.

Also on this site you will find neat resources and links plus a list of related books.

They also offer:-

The Teens for Planet Earth Service Awards that recognize teens around the world for service-learning projects that demonstrate their commitment to the environment. (Deadline: April 15) www.teens4planetearth.com/serviceawards

Jan. 19, 2010 - Share your story with a new homeschooler

It would be great to get information from those who are currently homeschooling/unschooling those of you who now have first hand knowledge and experience.

I would love to hear what your experience has been while on this home learning journey.  Perhaps you have homeschooled in another province and would like to share or compare that experience.  Or maybe you would like to share how you homeschooled and if and how that changed as you became more comortable with your daily goings on.

It would be good if newcomers can hear your cheers and challenges for homeschooling to give them a heads up on whats to come.

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 here. I'd be delighted with either form of communication.

Lynn

Jan. 19, 2010 - Finally! my books are organised. What next?

 Below is a blog i posted in the past and I can now follow up with the fact that I did finally catogorise my books and at the same time re-orgaise my shelves and reduce the numbers significantly (but still needs work),  I had not found a ready made program so I simply made one up with Xcel which was a feat for me as I have never used Xcel before.  What a difference It makes to be able to track my books especially those that are out on load.  You know the ones, those that never return.!

Now if I can keep up with my latest project (one of my many 2010 resolutions)of organising my family photos, get them all in one place so I don't have to scarmble when a family member requests a peak at a certain photo memory.

Or perhaps I should challenge myself to organising and searching more on my family history.

Then again, my home would look much nicer if I finally purchased those shelves that would hide and organise my collection of fabrics and craft materials.

Lynn

Help!  I bought more books

I have been keeping away from the bookstores and also avoiding magazine stands where I know I can pick up craft mags, it seemed to be working for a while, since the beginning of the year in fact but on Friday while visiting with a friend we made a detour to one of the bigger libraries in town and somehow, I found my way to their old book sales section and wham it happened I purchased 5 books without even realizing what I had done. 

My new finds include a homeschooling book, 2 craft books a sewing book and a genealogy book (probably outdated but I have to start somewhere).  Well so much for my new year’s resolution, It’s a good thing I don’t live close to this library.

Now I am seeking ideas on how to catalogue the books that I have, that is the 600 plus that I also need to cut down at least in half, but think it will be easier if they are catalogued.  Has anyone out there tried this and are you willing to share, if it worked, how it worked and what system you used.  I think I remember reading you can purchase a system for cataloging books, videos and CD’s but I don’t want to get into paying for a program.  Perhaps when I figure this out I can work on organizing the families CD’s which will need to include identifying who owns what.

For Now,

Lynn

Jan. 17, 2010 - DISNEY'S HOLDS HOMESCHOOL MONTH IN JANUARY

Jan. 17, 2010 - THIS BLOG IS MAEANT AS A PLACE FOR HOMESCHOOLERS TO SHARE

Jan. 17, 2010 - WHAT HOMESCHOOLING MEANT TO ME

Homeschooling was a BIG  eye-opener to me, I learned so much just from having the opportunity to homeschool my daughter, I just wish many more parents offered themselves that honour.   Here are some of the things I learned.

• Though I was the authority, as a parent their was so much more she could teach me now that I had the time to listen.  I finally got the message that my way was not always the right way.
• Children are more honest with themselves than we are to ourselves.
• Its OK to fill your home with collected items from nature e.g. stones, shells, acorns and tree bark.
• Homeschooling allows for the flexibility of the individual each child as an individual needs.
• More time is avaiable for learning because it is adapted to each child = more time to have fun with your child and more importantly more time for your child to have fun and be happy.              
• It is OK to show that adults can sometimes fail too therefore letting a child know failure is part of lifeipart of life; part of learning
• When it comes to covering a subject you don’t feel confident in there are numerous ways to cover it, from involving another family member; hiring a tutor; arranging a group class; or if it is important enough you could take the upgrade yourself so you can cover the topic.
• That many of us would be lost if not for books and public libraries; and nature within our reach.
• Learning can happen just as much when standing in the woods among the flowers, trees deer and butterflies as you can at the kitchen table with all your encyclopedias and cuuculum material.
• I was homeshcooling myself as i was homeschooling my daughter
• I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING

Jan. 17, 2010 -

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Nov. 22, 2009 - Toronto Online Library 'Learning Express'

I knew we had an excellent library system in Toronto but I haven't untiol today checked what you can access online (apart from ordering books) I was surprise to find that they have a 'Learning Express Library' I have not signed into it but thought the test section would be useful for homeschoolers to practice test taking. Theres a test prep section from Elementary to college, Also prep tests for GED, aviation, electrical and plumbing. Etc. Etc.

Lynn

Nov. 22, 2009 - 'Awesome Stories' -site worth checking out

Found this useful site its worth checking out.

‘Awesome Stories’ The story place of the web with lesson plans video clips relevant to the stories and lesson plans.

http://www.awesomestories.com

Need to register but well worth it and it is free.