NaNoWriMo page for Canadian Home Educators

Woah! It's been a long time since I posted. Life has been extremely crazy! Not only have I not posted, I also have not been reading or commenting on blogs much. Sorry about that, everyone, but sometimes you have to let things go for a while. We've had some stressful things happening and some major changes in our household. I really miss reading and commenting on the blogs and I'm hoping to find more time for it before too long.

DD#1 and I are loving working our way through the highschool hand book on the NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program site. It is great! We're getting excited about November! It's definitely going to be crazy times.

Because I noticed that a few of the participants in the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival have mentioned that they are going to be taking part in the NaNoWriMo, I decided to start a special group page for Canadian Home Educators, especially blog carnival participants, on the main NaNoWriMo site. You can find the page here. I thought it would be nice for us to be able to encourage and share with one another as we take on the challenge.

Hopefully my blog won't be totally neglected during Novemeber, while I'm working on my word count for NaNoWriMo, but I'm not making any promises. :)

NaNoWriMo

Have you heard about NaNoWriMo? How about NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program? If you haven't you should check it out. Tonia reminded me of it recently. I wrote a post about it on the HSN blog I manage. It's worth checking out, I promise. If you decide to try it out, let me know.

Little One Discovers YouTube!

I fear I've lost the use of my computer! Little one has discovered nursery rhymes and songs on YouTube!



It all started innocently enough when she crawled up onto my lap while I was working on the computer and asked me to sing to her. She fed me the songs she wanted me to sing. I got stuck on the words to one of her requests, Hush Little Baby, and did a google search to find them. That's when we discovered the world of YouTube Children's Songs and Nursery Rhymes.

We listened to a number together, with me clicking to different ones to try. Little one was enthralled! Finally I'd had enough and needed to do other things. Little one wanted more. I set her up to listen to one while I went to do some housework. She sat happily singing along.



Suddenly I noticed that the song I had set up was done and another had started! She had discovered how to use the mouse and start the next song! I was in shock! I had to be sure it wasn't a fluke. I let her alone and watched in amazement as she did it again and again.



All is lost! I know have to share my computer with my not quite 3 year old!

National Newspaper Week

Did you know there was any such thing? Did you know that this week is National Newspaper Week? I didn't. I never heard of it before, until last month when I was searching for possible learning themes for the month. It was listed on the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers Association (NLTA) 2008/09 Observances Poster. It piqued my curiousity and I went searching. There wasn't much to be found. I couldn't find any mention of National Newspaper Week in any Canadian or Newfoundland and Labrador resources. If anyone knows of any please point them out to me.

I did manage to find some American references to it and some resources for it. I also managed to find some Canadian resources that could be used in a newspaper themed study so I put together a post about National Newspaper Week for the HSN blog that I am co-ordinator for. You can check it out by clicking here if you're interested. There are some really great resources there.

Oh, and by the way, the 25th edition of the Canadian Home Educator's Blog Carnival has been posted. Be sure to check it out if you haven't already.

A saluate to my firefighters!

This week is Fire Safety Week. Earlier today I published a post about it on the Newfoundland and Labrador Homeschool Nations blog that I am co-ordinator for. In that post you will find all kinds of links to information and activities. Inspired by Fire Safety Week I decided to post a saluate to my own firefighters.

DH is the Fire Chief of our community's volunteer fire department. I searched through my pictures for a picture of him in his fire gear to post but I couldn't find one.

DS#1 has been a member of the volunteer fire department for almost three years. He couldn't wait to be old enough to join and he sent his application in the day of his 18th birthday. He loves the work and has actually decided that it is something he would like to do as a career.

Here are some shots of him in action:







Being on a volunteer fire department means that you are on call 24/7. They both have their pagers attached to them at all times during the day and the pagers are sitting on their night tables by their beds at night. The pager may go off at any time and if at all possible you are expected to respond ASAP. This is something that my men do quite willingly. Sometimes it's quite funny to watch them scrabble the second the pager starts buzzing.

I am proud of them for their willingness to give up their time to be an asset to our community. I am thankful for all the members of our volunteer fire department that do the same. They are a very important part of our community and today I want to send out a salute to them all.

Featured in the 25th edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival