Homeschool Nations - British Columbia, Canada - Homeschool Blogger

Identity Crisis ~ Whose Homeschool Life Are You Leading?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 16:13:00 -0600

By now we're all in the thick of our fall semester, knee deep in readers, text books and trying to figure out how in the world you're going to get the bright green stain off the ceiling where the glow in the dark mountain dew somehow ended up! *grin*. Okay maybe you're the science queen but I'm still trying to figure out what went wrong with the dew LOL.

I wanted to share the following entry that I wrote on my personal blog at the beginning of this year when a close friend of mine began to doubt that she was doing the 'right' thing and felt that she wasn't keeping up with the other moms. This is a great story for both new & veteran homeschoolers and I hope you enjoy it :)

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,

Heart of the Matter 2009 Parenting & Home Education Conference Aug 3-7

Mon, 3 Aug 2009 01:36:00 -0500

Get Encouraged and Inspired!

Tomorrow is the start of the 2009 Parenting & Home Education Conference !!

I attended the HOTM conference last year and it was fantastic. Great speakers, door prizes, attendee goody bags and of course just listening to fellow homeschoolers was so inspirational. If you haven't heard about it or forgot to register don't worry there's still time! And even if you're late all of the seminars are going to be available to download after the conference is over so you can enjoy them over and over again throughout the year when you need a little wisdom, a laugh or two or some fresh ideas to keep you going :)

Find out more below and hope to see you there!!

Parenting & Home Education Conference 2009

August 3-7 2009

What God is nudging us to “proclaim” is that we, the parents, are our children’s primary teachers. It

is our biblical duty to “train them up in the way they should go” and that isn’t just for those of us who keep our kids home and teach them the educational basics.

It is the responsibility of all parents whether our children are in public, private, charter, co-op, or home schools. We are still their primary teacher; but many parents in this day and age have become lazy with that responsibility. That is why it must change now.

Parents should be excited about teaching kids to cook, plant a garden, read a story, and most importantly learn about our Lord and Savior. THAT is the ultimate homeschool experience. Every parent becomes a homeschooler the day their child is born. You teach them to coo and ga, how to sit up, how to walk, what to eat, how to dress, and so on.

We invite you to join us online for the second annual Heart of the Matter Online Parenting and Home Education conference. In addition to participating in sessions with all of these fabulous speakers and having a chance to ask them questions directly you will also receive hundreds of dollars worth of free downloads, a chance to win wonderful prizes, MP3s of the sessions (after the event), and lots of fun and fellowship with other parents like yourself.

Speakers currently scheduled are: Andrew Pudewa, Debbie Strayer, Linda Hobar, Sarita Holzmann, Sheila Wray Gregoire, Carol Topp, Sue Patrick, Debbie Maubach, Evonne Mandella, Lee Binz, Belinda Bullard, Paula Winget from Journey Through Learning Lapbooks, Tiany Davis, Dana Hanley, Graham Scharf, Leah Nieman, Anne Elliot, Debra Bell and more!

Click Here to register today!

FREE Preview of 45 Children's Books

Sat, 1 Aug 2009 11:36:00 -0500

I just LOVE books and what's equally exciting is when books & free are combined together *grin*.

Sylvan Dell Publishing has an amazing assortment of fantastic children's books for the elementary aged crowd! They're beautifully illustrated and at the end of each book is a little Q&A or information section where you can delve deeper into some of the topics that were covered while reading :)

So when I heard that they were offering to let the public preview them in their new interactive ebook format I couldn't wait to check them out!! You have access to 45 great titles, you can view them in either manual mode or auto-flip, and you have the choice to listen to them in either English or Spanish (more languages on the way later).

I just have to say that I am totally crazy about the auto-flip mode *grin*. You select the book you want, the language you want it read in and click on auto-flip and it reads the book to your child! Not that I think it's great that I don't have to read anymore *wink* but from a multi-tasking perspective when you have different aged children learning at home this could be a wonderful tool to use during times when you need to do a little one on one work with a different child. You can set the little ones up with the story book to listen to while you tackle some hard math equations with another child :)

Another perk to ebooks is that they are so much more economical than purchasing the real thing. For me that's a hard one because most of the time I really love to have the book in my hands opposed to sitting at the computer but this is definitely a cost cutter and makes it more accessible to more families and the language choices could be a fun way to practice language skills as you learn a second language :)

Okay enough babbling LOL. I'm sure you're thinking where's the link already!! Pop on over the the LOG IN page and you'll find the code already typed in. All you need to do is hit the 'validate access code' button and you're in :) And don't worry, you have plenty of time to get there and check them out as many of you are probably on summer holidays right now :) You've got until October 31st, 2009 to take advantage of this great trial!

Newest Edition of The Homeschooler's Guide Online

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:06:00 -0500

The newest edition of the 'Homeschooler's Guide' magazine is now available to view online. It's based out of Calgary, Alberta but is always a good read :) You can check it out HERE and to access the online version just click on the magazine animation that shows the new copy flipping through all of the pages. It will open a new page in your browser and allow you to read, zoom in, jump around to different pages and even download it as a PDF if you prefer.
Enjoy :)

NO MORE Free Shipping to Canada From Sonlight

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 01:00:00 -0500

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.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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

Fraser Valley Home Learning Expo ~ May 22nd, 2009

Thu, 5 Mar 2009 23:59:00 -0600

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

Get Your FREE Copy of the 'Symbols of Canada'

Tue, 3 Mar 2009 21:31:00 -0600

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 :)

Used Homeschool Resource Sale ~ Lower Mainland, British Columbia

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:01:00 -0600

Used Educational Resource Sale

Sullivan Community Hall
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

Calling All Canadian Unschoolers!!

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 01:54:00 -0600

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!!

Beethoven At Home ~ School Of Music

Sun, 8 Feb 2009 12:01:00 -0600

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!!!