First Homeschoolers Hike of the year!

Not this past Friday, but the Friday before, some of the homeschooling families in our area got together for our first hike of the year. We decided to try out the new boardwalk that has been built in one end of our town. It's not completely finished yet but what is finished is beautiful. We had a great day for the hike and we got some great pictures. In the one above you can see little one trotting off after the others thinking she's just as big as they are. In the picture below she is enjoying a cookie from a stash of homemade cookies that one of the moms brought. They were yummy!





I took a group picture of all the children but I won't post it because I'm not sure how everyone feels about having their pictures posted on the web. Some of the older children weren't too pleased about posing for the pictures but it turned out really nice.

Here's my oldest dd clipped from the group picture:



And here's little one, my youngest dd, clipped from the group picture:



I even got DD#1 to take a picture of little one and I on the hike. Pictures of me are rare because I always try to hide from the camera but I'm realizing how silly that is and how important it is that my children have pictures of me with them as they are growing up, so I'm trying to be better about getting some taken.



The pictures below are beautiful scenery pictures DD#1 took while we were on the hike. She has a real eye for taking great pictures. She actually took all the pictures on the hike, except for the group pictures that she was in.





It was a great first hike and I'm looking forward to others throughout the year.

Election Candidates Trading Cards :)

Inspired by part of Renee's post today, DD and I have decided that the next project for her political studies will be to make player/trading cards for the candidates that are running in our province in this election. The front will be a picture of the candidate and the back will have information about the candidate. We will probably include something on the front to indicate the party the candidate is running for. We're pretty excited about this idea! It will be something neat to add to her election 2008 lapbook. I'll post pictures when we actually get some done, which will probably be a while as we gather information and work on a design.

Who knew elections could be so fun!?! :)

Another homeschooler watching election happenings

I've been watching Becky's blog for a while now. She often gives me food for thought. I kind of thought she would be having something to say about the federal elections. While I may not always agree with what she says, I like hearing what she has to say because she causes me to think. If she's okay with her, this is where I will link her posts on the election.

Cracking up II

Coming back with their marbles

On the shoulders of...

Opportunities and opportunism

Highs and lows on the Canadian Campaign Trail

A pause for what is truly important

Once again Ann causes me to stop and consider what is really important. I have been so caught up in so much. My blog has been overtaken by election posts as I try to encourage learning along those lines. It, too, is important, but I must not forget what is truly most important.

In Ann's post today, titled A Place for Everything..., she tells us, as only Ann can, about her prayer bench. It's simple, yet extraordinary. I love it. I want one like it. I love how she's thought it all out and made sure that it serves the purpose it is set to serve - to make prayer a visable, vital part of the every day, every moment.

Thank you, Ann, for the reminder to pause and consider what is truly important.

Consumer costs

According to this article, consumer costs, including the price of gas, is one of the issues that leaders will be addressing in this election.

In this article Jack Layton explains some of his plans in this regard.

Political Ads and Party troubles

Often times parties encounter all kinds of troubles during a campaign and often times these troubles are associated with ads and statements that are made without thought. Here is where I will collect links that have to do with that in this campaign.

This Toronto Star post talks about the Puffin Poo ad that the conservatives pulled.

This Canadian Press post talks about a statement made by Ryan Sparrow, a top Conservative Campaign official, to a father of a dead soldier.

CBC article about the same incident.

Conservative Candidate makes joke about listeria outbreak.

Leaders Travels

A great idea would be to create a map to use especially for tracking the travels of teh party leaders during the elections. It would be a good way to get some review of the layout of our country and the different provinces, along with following current events and learning some politics. You could make this as creative as you want. Design your own mini airplanes for each party, making it easily identifiable with the party, and park it at each place as you learn about the leader visiting that place. Create an individual mark of some kind for each party to leave on each place as they leave so that you have a permanent record of where they leaders have been.

Here I will link articles that I come across that talk about the leaders travels:

This article lays out the leaders travel plans for Thursday, September 11

This article includes information about the leaders travels on Friday, September 12

This article says that Layton and Harper will be in Newfoundland and Labrador on Saturday.

This article gives some information on leaders travels for Monday and also gives information on some issues.

Military Issues

One of the issues in this election is that of the Canadian military, especially as related to our role in Afganistan

In this article Taliban claims to increasing attacks on Canadians in attempt to influence elections

In this article party leaders react to Taliban claims.

In this article Harper commits to to a 2011 end date to the Afganistan mission.

Provincial Candidates

Here I will collect links about the candidates that are running in our province.

This post announces that Ryan Cleary will run for the NDP in the St. John's South riding.


This post announces Craig Wescott running as Conservative candidate in St. John's east and Merv Wiseman running as Conservative candidate in St. John's south.

This Western Star Article announces candidates in St. John's East riding - Craig Wescott for the Conservatives, Walter Noel for the Liberals, and possibly Jack Harris for the NDP

This Western Star article talks about the candidates for the Random riding - Liberal Judy Foote, Conservative Herb Davis, and NDP Terry White.

This Western Star article confirms Jack Harris running for NDP in St. John's East

This article points out how Westcott and Cleary have in the past publicly ridiculed the very parties and leaders they are now running for.

In this article Jack Layton laughs off Cleary's former remarks about him and his party.

This article is mainly about Cleary running for the NDP but it also mentions other candidates.

This Western Star article announces conservatives have candidates in 5 of the 7 ridings. Craig wescott in St. John's East, Merv Wiseman in St. John's South, Fabian Manning in Avalon, Herb Davis in Random, Andrew House in Bonavista.

In this Western Star article Gerry Byrne talks about his plans.

This Western Star article introduces Lacey Lewsis as the conservative candidate for Labrador.

This Western Star article announces Mark Kennedy as NDP candidate in Humber riding.

This Western Star article announces the candidates in humber riding - Liberal Gerry Byrne, Conservative Lorne Robinson, NDP Mark Kennedy, and Wayne Bennett for the Newfoundland First Party

In this article Fabian Manning says he expects to win, but some voters tell why they won't vote for him.

Labrador not happy that candidates running in their area are not from their area.

Reminder and update

DD learned a lesson today. She had used one site for information in making her poster about the candidates in the different ridings in our province. When my dad was visiting today he noticed that some of the info wasn't right. Turns out that the site we were using has some information from the last election posted and haven't updated it for this election. It was a well needed reminder for us to not just depend on one source for your information but to be sure to use more than one source and be sure your sources are reliable.

Also, I got a call from the Student Vote people today. Their program is available for homeschoolers so be sure to check out their website and register.

Williams' "ABC" Campaign

This is a topic that is of specific interest to us Newfoundlanders.

Newfoundland and Labrador's Premier Danny Williams thinks that Prime Minister Stephen Harper backed out of a promise he made to Newfoundlanders during the last election. The promise had something to do with the issue of equalization. As a result, Primier Danny Williams, though he is Conserative, has launched an "Anything But Conservative" Campaign and has said he will do his part to see that Newfoundland and Labrador has no conservatives elected in the upcoming federal elections. For the most part I really like our premier but his thinking in this matter baffles me. Maybe I'll understand it better once I research it, or maybe I'll just be all the more baffled, we'll see.

In this post I will be collecting links that have to do with Premier Williams' and his ABC Campaign.

I only have a rough idea of what the whole "equalization" thing is all about so I need to learn more about that. As I get time I will try to find links that will help with that and the equalization issue may end up becoming a separate topic but for right now I will deal with it here.

This article tells about Williams email to MHAs seeking support for his ABC Campaign.

This article states that only one of the MHAs, Elizabeth Marshall, has said she does not support the campaign

This article says that the ABC campaign is making it difficult to find candidates and volunteers for the Conservatives in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In this article St. John's East Conservative candidate, Craig Westcott, explains his argument against Williams' campaign.

In this article Craig Westcott and Merv Wiseman, another Conservative candidate, speak to the equalization issue.


This article tells about Premier Williams sending a letter to each of the main party leaders detailing specific questions to answer.

Here you can get pdf's of the actual letters.

This article tells about Danny Williams attacking Stephen Harper in a speech. I have debated whether I should just leave this as links to articles with no comment about them but I just can't resist with this one. Danny Williams complaining about Stephen Harper's cuts sounds a little like the pot calling the kettle black. Many Newfoundlanders are upset at the way that Danny has been running things in Newfoundland and Labrador. He has done many things that he deemed necessary for our province, even though they may not have been popular. I think Stephen Harper has done the same thing in running things in our country. Also, it seems crazy for a member of the Conservative party to say that "the future of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians — and indeed all Canadians — will be very bleak under a Conservative majority". It just doesn't make any sense!

In this article Danny Williams says he may take his ABC campaign to other provinces.

This Western Star article talks about local MHAs support of the ABC Campaign.

This article talks about the media emailing MHAs about stand on ABC campaign.

This article talks about the cost of the ABC campaign.

This article talks about Danny Williams increasing his attacks.

In this article Harper addresses Williams ABC campaign.

Article talking about Conservatives helping other parties.

Williams has a website for his ABC campaign.

Williams takes ABC campaing to Manning riding.

The Leaders Debate

The Leaders Debate is a televised debate between the leaders of the main political parties.

There has been a big fuss about who should be participating in the televised leaders debate during this election. Here I will collect articles about the leader's debate in general and articles about the debate. If you have any link you think I might be interested in adding, please leave a comment.

In this article the Green Party threatens to go to court if they are excluded.

This article reveals that the networks have ruled that Green Party will not be a part of the debate.

In this article Green Party Leader, Elizabeth May, accuses Harper and Layton of threatening to boycott the debate is she was a part of it.

This site was posted by the green party about the issue.

This article announces that the networks have changed their minds and the Green party leader will be a part of the debate.

A Toronto Start Editorial about the debate about the debate.

Information about the debates to be aired October 1 and 2.

This is ridiculous!

According to this news article, Elton John is playing back to back concerts in St. John's on October 2nd and 3rd, but rather than stay in St. John's over night he is flying back to Halifax after his concert the first night and flying back again for the concert the next night!

I am not a concert attender at all. I hate crowds. I also hate overly loud music, except on very, very rare occasions for very brief moments, like when DD and I occasionally bomb down the road singing at the top of our lungs to our favorite songs. I also don't understand the outrageous costs ($112.50 each!) for tickets to these concerts. I could find a lot of other uses for the money. But to each his own.

I am also not a big Elton John fan. Actually, I'm not an anybody fan. It's not that I don't like Elton John's songs or music. I do like some of it, but I like a variety of music at different times depending on my mood. After reading this, however, I am even less of an Elton John fan.

I take it as a bit of a snub that he isn't staying overnight in our province. It just doesn't make any sense to me! Maybe there is a logical reason, but I sure don't see it. All I see is a snob that thinks he's above staying in what he considers a lesser place. I could be wrong, but that's what I see. I'd love to know the reasoning behind the decision.

Thoughts anyone?

It's Federal Election Time!

I love to use current events as a jumping off point for our learning. This morning DD and I brainstormed about how we could do that very thing with the upcoming election.

She came up with some very basic questions to start with - why is there an election? what are the different levels of government and what are their responsibilities? We discussed this some and discussed how we could do more research into these questions and the different ways we could present our findings. She's thinking about doing a "Politics" lapbook.

I had already done a little research for possible resources last night and found a site called 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 that I hope to use in the future, as well as during the current federal election.

DD and I perused the Canada Federal Election 2008 portion of the site after our brainstorm session and had a great discussion time. Our perusual promoted more ideas. She plans to contruct our own Count Down to Election Day poster to keep it fresh in our minds and to get all of us talking about it. She's also planning on making a poster of the ridings in our area and filling in the candidates running for the different parties in each riding as we learn about them. She may also make a little mini booklet about the party leaders.

I was thrilled with how she jumped right into the topic and actually seemed to enjoy it. She reminded me that during an election a few years ago she had set up a voting booth in our house and everyone had to cast their vote for the local candidates. I had forgotten all about that. Then I told her about the Students Vote Organization I learned about through the NoDice site. I don't know if the program is open to homeschoolers or not but it would be a neat thing for homeschool groups to take advantage of if it is.

This lead to a discussion about the voting age limit, which lead to a discussion of the history of the right to vote, which is most likely going to lead to more research and project possibilities.

So, we're off and running! Are you doing anything to incorporate the election into your learning? I'd love to hear about it if you are.


Edit: Just found some more great resource sites!

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. It answers DD's question about the timing of the election, among other things.

I'm trying to decide if I should just added resources to this post as I find them, or make a new separate post each time I find new resources, or if I should make a special section in the sidebar for the resources I'm finding. Any thoughts on that?


EDIT: I have decided that rather than add to this post I will be making new posts about specific election issues. You can find all thet posts about the 2008 federal election by clicking on the federal election 2008 label at the bottom of this post.


EDIT: Just a reminder to be sure to check the validity of facts and statistics and not to rely on just one source of information. DD and I have discovered that the Nodice site information is not correct for your province, at least as of September 11. Also, the Students Vote program is available for homeschoolers so go register!

revised and published in the October issue of Homeschooling Horizons Magazine and also published on Homeschooling Horizons website

The drive to be number one

Debbie makes some great points in her recent post titled "One week in town and ranting all ready...". This particular quote is very thought provoking:

"I read somewhere online the other day that over 80% of parents encourage their kids to be at the top of their class!!! Over 80%!!! Now I know it's been awhile since I have sat in math class, but it doesn't take a genious to know that 80% of all kids will not be at the top of the class. So what about all those kids who fall short?? How do they feel when they know their parents want them to be number 1, or at least number 2 or 3, in their class, but they just can't do it?"

There's nothing wrong with encourging our children to be the best they can be, but there is something wrong in expecting them, and passing that expectation on to them, to be "the best" at whatever they are involved in. Failure is inevitable if that is their expectation because nobody is best at everything. We need to encourage our children to compare themselves to themselves, and steadily work at improving themselves, rather than compare themselves to others and try to surpass them. Big difference.

Comments lead me to great site

Just yesterday Julie commented on a post I made a while back. This lead me to check out her site. What a great find!

Homeschooling Ideas is where Julie, an experienced home educating mom of 6 years living in the UK, collects homeschool ideas to share. Lots of great stuff here!

Happy Anniversary to Me!

21 years ago to day was my wedding day.



It hasn't always been easy or fun, but we're still together today.

Author Fiesta - September's Author: Jim Arnosky

Thanks to Alex's latest post, I just discovered Author Fiesta. I had actually seen the term, and read blogs posts on the topic, before but I didn't know what it was all about. This time I took the time to find out.

Though I searched the Author Fiesta website for an explantion of what it was all about I really couldn't find anything except by going back to the first post on the blog. It appears the blog owner features a different children's author and/or illustrator to feature each month and sometimes provides links to information and activities around the theme.

I've decided to use this to guide some of my reading choices with Little One.

September's Author/illustrator is Jim Arnosky. I never heard of this author before but I'm off to see what I can learn.

The Complexity of Teens

Just read Barb's latest post on the Handbook of Nature Study blog and these words stood out to me:

But this time I noticed a different atmosphere, a feeling of "we've been here and done that" sort of attitude. I had to quickly remind myself that this is their normal reaction anymore to just about everything. I think they are not interested in something because they don't appear to be too excited on the outside. But later on in the day when they are talking to their dad, they relate a the whole experience in a different light. Apparently the outside of a teenager doesn't accurately reflect the inside at all times.

So if you have older children and they appear to not be interested at first, don't give up. It may be that they just aren't showing it outwardly but inside the experiences are deeply affecting them.

It is so true! Oh how I ached when my boys no longer showed excitement for the things we were doing. I got so upset because they weren't interested and I gave up doing a lot of great things. I wish I had had the wisdom of Barb in realizing that this is just the teenage way and that often their outside doesn't rightly reflect their inside. It is so, so, true! I saw that so many times. I wish I had remembered it more and continued with more.

I see the same thing now in my oldest daughter. Hopefully I will remember that just because she looks bored out of her skull does not really mean that she is. She's just growing up and changing. Its sad, but sweet.

And to think that I get to go through this again a few years time with Little One! Oh my! I wonder will I finally remember it then.

WiiFit Fun!

My sister brought her WiiFit out for us to try this weekend. What fun! I ache today because of it but I really love it. My parents, sister, and I all got together and bought the Wii system for the kids for Christmas and we really enjoy that, but now I want the WiiFit too. I'm not thrilled that it tells me I'm obese, but I really already knew that so it wasn't any big surprise. I think I could actually do something about it if I had the WiiFit to make the exercise fun. Here are some pictures I took of the family enjoying it this past weekend:

Here's DS #1 trying out the ski jump with DD#1 watching.


Here's DH doing the Heading the Soccer ball while holding Little One in his arms. Once again DD#1 is watching.


I have a really great video of DH doing one of the exercises but he's threatened me that if I post it I will lose all internet privileges, as well as my new camera, so I think I'll keep that to myself.

I wish I had a picture of Little One giving it a try. She loved doing the ski jump and the slalom. I also wish I had a picture of DD#1 doing more than watching, but she didn't do it when I was in picture taking mode.

I managed to get all the way across the tight rope walk! I was useless with the tree yoga pose, but I did pretty good with the rest of it. My calves and thighs are aching today from doing the lunges. It really is great fun, though. Thanks, sis, for letting us try it!

I have a camera!

My parents gave me a camera for my anniversary, which isn't until this coming Friday but Mom couldn't wait to give it to me. I'm so excited! I have been going crazy without a camera, but it just wasn't in the budget to replace the one I lost. I've been warned that I am to guard this one with my life. :)

We were at my parents cabin today so I had to try out my new camera. Here's a picture I took today of my parents with my children.

Lots of Fun Freebies!

Homeschool Freebie of the Day is having an End of Summer Bash. Hurry over and check it out! All kinds of excitement right until Monday sometime. One fun thing is the Treasure Hunt Time where you have to search through their past posts for the chance to download a previous freebie again, just in case you missed it the first time. Check it out!

Homeschool Memoirs: Agendas

The Homeschool Memoirs theme for this past week is "Homeschool Agendas". We were asked to share our 2008-09 School Plan. I've been avoiding doing this one because, to be perfectly honest, we're still working on our plan, and we probably will be for quite some time. In the past I have started the school year with plans all laid out for the whole year and then been terribly frustrated when they haven't unfolded as I planned, so I have become much more relaxed - maybe too relaxed.

The past few weeks I have been trying to make a conscious effort to jot down possibilities for the coming year. I only have one formal student this year - DD#1, who is almost 16 and if she were in school would be going into grade 11. For the past couple of years I have been encouraging her to become more involved in the planning process because it is her education and I think it is important that she own it. I am here to mentor her and help in any way I can but it's no good for me to come up with all kinds of plans without her input. We've done that in the past and it just doesn't work. We've been discussing this off and on this month and we will be getting much more serious about it in the coming week. We have a general plan of sort that we will be using to guide us to make a more concrete plan.

My plan is that we will be sitting down this coming week and writing out some goals for the year, looking at what subjects we need to cover, what subjects we want to cover, what texts and resources are available and appealing, and discussing how to reach our goals. I'd like us to break down the big goals into monthly and weekly goals and have regular meetings at the beginning of each week to plan for the coming week and at the end of each week to evaluate how we did and what needs to happen next.

We take advantage of a whole lot of resources but we are not slaves to any of them. We have Saxon Math, but we also use lots of online sites. We have an Apologia Science, but we also use online sites and the library. The library has always been our main source for language arts, and it will continue to be so, along with many online sites and old texts that I have on hand.

DD has a great interest in music and has taken voice lessons and taught herself to play guitar and is working on piano and violin. She will continue with this and I'm also hoping to interest her in some music history.

History is not something we've done much with but it's something I hope to do more of this year. I'm hoping to integrate it into the other subjects as much as possible.

Current events have also aways played an important part in our schooling. Watching the news and reading the paper and discussing the happenings are a given. We often use these as jumps of points for further study.

So, as you can see, I have a lot of ideas, but no definite plans in place yet. We will take it one day at a time.

A verse that is important to me in this area is "Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Psalm 90:12

Homeschool Memoirs #1 - All About You

It kind of feels like the first day of school at the Homeschool Memoirs meme and we're being encouraged to introduce ourselves, as the first theme is "All About You". Here goes...

Hi! My name is Jacqueline, not Jackie, but you're welcome to call me Jac if you must shorten it. :) I was named after my Aunt Jackie and it was always emphasized that she was Jackie and I was Jacqueline. I always introduce myself as Jacqueline and I still cringe when anyone calls me Jackie. When I became a teenager some of my friends started calling me Jac and I didn't mind that so much. My DH and my sister call me Jac often. One time it caused some trouble for Sis as a boyfriend got kind of upset about hearing her talk so much about Jac. ;)

DH and I will be celebrating our 21st anniversary in a few days time. Well, I should say our anniversary is coming up again but it will probably pass by yet again without too much celebration. DH is just not one for remembering or celebrating special days. Romance is not one of his strengths. He's a good guy, though, and a hard worker. He holds down a full time job and does lots, and lots of volunteer work. He's been going through a pretty tough time lately as his dad as been fighting cancer so I will be much more understanding this year than I have been in the past. ;)

When DH and I married I was a teacher in the public school system and I loved my job, however, when the little ones came along I couldn't imagine leaving them with someone else to go back to it. DH and I talked about that before we married and I told him that I thought my place was with my children until they went to school, than I'd go back to teaching again. So that was the plan, until I discovered homeschooling.

Way back in February I wrote a post called Our Homeschool History (Part 1) but I never did get around to writing part 2. :) Maybe some day. Anyway, at that post you can read about our beginning homeschooling. We started homeschooling when DS#1 was 8, DS#2 was almost 7, and DD#1 was almost 4. They are now 20, almost 19, and almost 16, and we have a new Little One that is almost 3 (she was a big surprise :)). The oldest two have finished their home education and are working in the field of construction at the present time. DD#1 is my only formal student this year, though I'm sure Little One will join us as much as she can doing her own little thing. She thinks she's as old as the rest of them. ;0)

Whenever I'm asked why I homeschool I say it's because I love to teach, I love to learn, and I love spending time with my kids. It hasn't always been easy but I can't imagine life any other way.

I am a proud Newfoundlander and a proud Canadian. I've lived on the island portion of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador all my life, except for the 3 years I attended college in Ontario. I love connecting with homeschoolers, especially fellow Newfoundland or fellow Canadian homeschoolers. That's why I started the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival.

Well, I think that's enough about me for now. There's lots more I could tell you but I'll leave more for another time. I've struggled big time in writing this and I need to just finish it and post it so that I can get on to the next assignment. By the way, I am a terrible procrastinator and often leave things til the last minute so you may find that I'm often one of the last to post in the meme. My motto is better late than never. :)

Looking for Ideas on what to Blog About?

I've come across a couple of great sources of inspiration for homeschooling bloggers, especially Christian homeschool bloggers.

Blogger Friend School is a new website for an idea that's actually been around for a couple of years. They are actually having a Back to School Giveaway to celebrate their third year together. The Blogger Friend School of 2008-2009 starts September 2 and goes to June 9, 2009, but you can actually join in any time. Every Tuesday assignments will be posted. The site states "Our homework assignments will be BIBLE BASED with the purpose of uplifting one another and strengthening our faith." On the class description page you can read about the chance to be named Head of the Class and to receive perfect attendance awards. Sounds like a lot of fun! I'm hoping to participate when I can throughout the year.

Homeschool Memoirs 2008-2009 is a part of The Homeschool Blog Awards. On the Homeschool Memoirs 2008-2009 page it says that the purpose is to help you keep a "memoir" of your homeschool year and also for homeschoolers to get to know one another. Each Wednesday they will be posting a theme. The first theme was posted August 20th and was "All About You" and at the time that I wrote this there had already been over 140 people sign the Mr. Linky for the theme. I'm going to try to remember to do that one in the next couple of days.

So, there you have it. If you're looking for ideas as to what to blog about you can check out the assignments at Blogger Friend School each Tuesday and the themes at Homeschool Memoirs each Wednesday.

More information on request for information

I received an email requesting more information about my request for input that I posted here. I thought it would be a good idea to answer those questions here because other people may have the same questions.

Who is the research for?
The research is for an article for a Canadian Homeschooling magazine.

Where will the info/results be posted/shared?
The information will be used in the article in the magazine.

Why?
It was a request from one of the readers to have an article comparing homeschooling regulations and funding in the different provinces.

Are there others working on this?
I am gathering the information and, with help from an editor, will be putting the information together for the article.

Are the info providers anonymous or listed?
I would not mention any names in the article without prior approval from the people involved. That's always been my policy with the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival that I run and with any work that I have done on articles for the Homeschooling Horizons Magazine, and it will always be my policy with anything that I do at any time for any reason. Any time I use someone's name, and/or any information they provide, I send them what I have written about them, or using their information, and receive their approval of what I have written.

I hope that answers some questions you might have. If you have any other questions feel free to leave a comment or send me an email.

Jacqueline

Homeschooling in Canada?

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 here. 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!

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

Love these ideas!

The Charlotte Mason Carnival hosted a Back to School Planning Bash. I love this idea! Lots of great links to check out there. Learned about this from our very own Canadian homeschooler Mamma Squirrel.

The Homeschool Blog Awards is hosting a Homeschool Memoirs 2008-2009 Meme. Another great idea! I learned about this from another of our own Canadian homeschoolers - Michelle.

Hmmmm....I wonder could I do something with these ideas for the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival?

Essential Ingredients to Homeschool Success

Just read a post by Terri at Knowledge Quest where she shares 5 Essential Ingredients to Homeschooling Success. Go read her post because it is great and she says much more than I'm going to highlight here.

After reading her post I decided to list the ingredients and share how I feel we're doing in each one:

1. "the desire to foster a closer relationship with each of your children and your kids with one another."

This has always been very, very important to me, and in spite of how important it has been, it hasn't been commpletely successful. We're going to have to discuss this one as a family and come up with some plans

2. "a teachable spirit on the part of the parent"

I have always loved to learn, but I have to admit that I'm not always teachable. Sometimes I'm too stubborn to admit that I need to learn something. I'm going to have to work on that one.

3. "creating a home environment that is conducive to learning"

Our home environment is pretty conducive to learning but there's definite room for improvement in that respect. I need to work on getting things in order to make it more conducive to learning. Part of that is that I need to be more organized and get rid of some clutter.

4. "2 hours of your time to devote to your children’s studies"

Need to work on this one too. I tend to get lost in the computer and I need to tame that monster. I've actually been working on that and doing better.

5. "a library card"

The library has always been very, very important in our schooling and we made regular visits - until last year. Need to get back on track with that one.

Having a Purpose and Specific Goals

Every since I read Jeannie Fulbright's post Homeschooling with Purpose some time last week I have been putting lots and lots of conscious thought into developing a purpose and goals for this coming year, and into getting it in writing. The gist of Jeannie's article was that you need to have specific prayed through goals for your children and then trust God because He had plans for those children before they were born and He intends to see them to fruition.

There seems to be two counter ideas there - planning goals and trusting God - but they are not really counter ideas and it is important to do both, and to do both together, not separately.

In the past I have planned and not really trusted, and I've also trusted and not really planned. Neither works on it's own and this time around I'm taking it slow but I'm also being purposeful. I'm spending much time jotting down my thoughts and praying over them and I'm gradually working towards developing a plan. I've talked to DD#1, who is my only official homeschooler this year, about what I am doing and have asked for her to join me in the praying and the planning. I've been planning on talking to DH about it but haven't done that yet. Finding time to talk to him is so hard but I have to make it a priority in the next day or so.

A long time ago and friend of mine told me how important it was to develop a philosophy of education for your homeschool and to have it written down. I think I'm finally getting around to doing that and it feels good.

Guiding, not pushing

Once again I am inspired by Ann's words at Holy Experience. Today she reflects on the coming school year and is inspired by words she over hears her mother speak to her children while showing them how to use a sewing machine, and it reminds her of a scripture that says the same thing. Gently guide, don't push. She gives us practical examples from her day. I hope I remember that that is How to Parent: Just Guide Gently.

Napier's Bones - Multiplying with Wood

Ever heard of Napier's bones before? I didn't, until I read Farm School's lastest post just now. This site gives a really good explanation of what they are and how they work, while this site tells you how to make your own neat set out of wood.

Lamenting vs grumbling

I am often moved by the posts at Holy Experience, and such was the case with today's post, Even when He doesn't: Learn to Lament. I have admired Ann's writing for a while now, and now I also admire their commitment to hold fast to their faith, even when it is difficult.

This statement stood out to me today "Lord, remind me today to voice my lament not as disgruntled frustration, but as longing, the language of the heart." I am so guilty of grumbling, and grumbling, and grumbling....and I excuse it by saying that God wants me to be honest with Him, and I may as well be because He knows my heart anyway. I need to learn to lament - to be honest, but not be grumbling. There's a difference. It's a difference of attitude, and of true faith. It's hard though. But I know through experience that it makes a difference. Why do I keep forgetting it? Thank you for the reminder again today, Ann. I needed it.

Fun Science Learning Downloadables

Thanks to Dawn's post which provided me with the link, I just spent a good chunk of time at Ellen McHenry's Basement Workshop. Be sure to check out the Free Products to Download on the left hand side. It provides you with links to all kinds of fun hands on activities.

A squatty potty!

Thanks to Molytail, I had didn't miss One Child Policy's post about The Squatty Potty.
I had actually heard about the squatty potty recently from a friend who has a brother on a teaching stint in Asia somewhere, so when I read the blog post this morning it wasn't a totally foreign concept to me, and after reading the post I can definitely see advantages to these types of toilets.

Nothing bugs me more than going into a public washroom, or any washroom, and seeing the toilet seat covered with pee. What really bugs me about it is that it probably happened because the person didn't want to sit on a seat supposedly covered with someone else's invisible germs but yet has no problem leaving full evidence of germs all over the seat for someone else to either sit in or have to wipe up. Gross! The squatty toilet would elminate that problem.

I have a cousin that recently did a teaching stint in China. I can't wait to ask her about these.

Anyway, this is a very different post from me but I just had to share it with the ones I love. The next toilet that goes in my place may just be a squatty potty. :)

Routines

Lifestyle Homeschool has a couple of excellent posts today on routines. Establishing Daily Routines talks about what a routine is and why it is important. Writing a Daily Routine outlines som very practical steps and tips to writing a routine. This is something I have done in the past and it was very, very helpful. I need to go back to it again and I just love the simple steps she's given to doing it. Looks like there's more coming to this series too so keep an eye out for it.

Two Kinds of Writing

Jeannie Fulbright makes some more good points in her blog post today, Academic Writing vs Creative Writing. It's definitely worth taking the time to check out. And she's promising more to come on the subject.

Good points...

...made in today's post by Jeannie Fulbright. I just wanted to put it here so I wouldn't forget about it. Here's a quote from it - "Anytime we make decisions based on fear of failure, fear of inadequacy or based on our emotions, rather than a strong peace from God - we are may be falling onto a trail that is dark and much more difficult to traverse - and it often leads us where we didn't want to go."

A couple of things...

...that caught my eye in my google reader today.

From Homeschool Nations Nova Scotia blog - Nova Scotia homeschoolers hold an annual end of summer "Not Going Back to School Camping trip". And they even have a facebook group. how cool is that!


From Stellae Boreales blog - The Stellae Boreales, an advanced performance group from SuzukiMusic in Ottawa, have arrived safely in China. You can follow their tour through their blog. I happen to know that there are some homeschoolers in the group. :)

A day of remembrances and celebrations

July 1st - Canada Day. A day to celebrate our country and the freedoms we enjoy. It has always bothered me how little the activities that I've seen at Canada Day celebrations actually have to do with what the day is supposed to be about. I'd love to see activities that teach, or review Canadian history, geography, politics, etc. There's no reason why that couldn't be incorporated in the games that are a part of most celebrations. Even the decorations could help in that respect, with a little bit of forethought. It seems, however, that people are content just to party. Oh well.

Mind you, with all that's happening in our country lately it seems our freedoms are slowly slipping away from us and we have less and less to celebrate in that regard. I'm still thankful for the freedoms that we do have, but I'm also sad for some that I see slipping away.

A few years back, while studying with my son the book No Man's Land, by Kevin Major, I discovered that there are a lot of Newfoundlanders that actually struggle with celebrating Canada Day on July 1st. July 1st to them is Memorial Day - the day they remember the terrible battle at Beaumont Hamel when the Royal Newfoundland Regiment was nearly wiped out. Kevin Major's book is an amazing read about that battle.

Many communities in Newfoundland start the day, July 1st, with Memorial services and end the day with the Canada Day celebrations. It's a day with a mixture of remembrance, mourning, and celebration.

Maps of War - great resource for Social Studies

I love this site! - Maps of War I almost didn't check it out because the name didn't appeal to me, but luckily the blog where I discovered it had a map from the site embedded into their blog so I actually saw how neat it was. What made me love it even more is when I read their Sharing Policy. They actually want you to copy, paste, and share their maps, as long as you link back to them.

Here are my favorite from the site:











I can so see using these maps as a base for unit studies. I want to incorporate at least one, if not more, of them into my plans for next year. I will show DD the map and then we will dissect it bit by bit and do more research inspired by the map bits.

Thanks to Phyllis for posting about it!

Gardening

Cloudsome hosts a Sunday Garden Tour on her blog every Sunday during the summer. This year she explained the tour and started it in May. I love the idea! I discovered it thanks to Becky at Farm School. Today Becky posted pictures of her blooming lilacs and I'm so jealous! I love lilacs but every time I've tried to grow one my DH has mowed it down. I'm thinking maybe he doesn't like lilacs. :)

I'm a gardener wanna-be. I've been one for years. You'd think I would have learned something by now but I'm still struggling. A few years back I wrote a gardening column, called Green Thumbs and Greenhorns, for our local newspaper hoping that I would learn something from other gardeners. It was fun and I did learn a lot. We even started a gardening club for a little while, but it dwindled out, much like my garden.

I even have a blog called Green Thumb Wanna be. I started it way back in 2004. It dwindled out too. Every spring I get the gardening bug and I think this will be the year, but it doesn't happen. Same thing happened this year. Back in February I had big plans, and they were good plans too. I was really looking forward to fulfilling the plans, but then life got in the way. I guess I should probably go back to that blog and explain what happened. Maybe it's not too late to do something with it.

I do have a small corner garden in my back yard where I have some lovely perenials donated by family and friends. They have managed to survive over the years. I was actually out weeding them a little yesterday and dreaming of doing more. I'd love to be able to take pictures of each of the plants that I have back there and make a little book about them, naming and describing their growth. Some day.

For now, however, I content myself with virtual garden strolls such as the one Cloudsome allows me to enjoy. Maybe some day I'll be able to participate rather than just watch. :)

Teachable Moments

Today little one and I had some fun making letters and shapes with hair clips. It wasn't a planned activity - it just happened.

She was sitting on my knee as I was checking my email. I had some hair clips on my desk. She started playing with them and I got the idea to make a letter A for her with them, as that is the first letter in her name. She was thrilled. Then I moved the clips and made a tringle, which she also liked, and she proceeded to ask me to make a square.

I was hoping she was going to attempt to make some of these things herself but she was more content to tell me what to make and watch me make it. We didn't stay at it long but that's okay. I'm sure we'll do it again soon and one day she will be making attempts to make things on her own and tell me what she made.

I love to look for teachable moments in the day. You don't have to have a big lesson plan or certain supplies. Learning can be a natural part of ordinary moments in the day.

Check out Melissa Wiley's post

Today Melissa Wiley has an excellent post, that is actually a repost of something she wrote a while back - "Home Education: Delicious and Nutritious". In the post she addresses a lot of the questions and comments homeschoolers often encounter. It really is worth reading.

Speaking about resources...

...the June Edition of The Heart of the Matter is now posted. You can download the whole edition as a PDF or you can read it online. Lots of good stuff there.

Two great resources - the internet and the library

My two favorite resources for homeschooling, and everything else, are the internet and the library. I find both invaluable.

We have always made great use of the library. We made it a point to visit regularly. The kids would pick out books that they were interested in and I'd pick out books that I hoped they would be interested in. :) We would get books to read purely for pleasure and books that would hopefully be pleasureable as well as educational.

Unfortunately for us our small local public library became a part of the high school library and we were not comfortable in going to it during school hours. Instead we took advantage of a library in a bigger community about an hour away. We all looked forward to library day when we would pack up the van and take off for the day. We'd spend an hour or two at the library and then we'd head out to eat somewhere and then hit the stores for a little while before we'd head home. Usually the kids were busy checking out their books during the ride home.

As the children got older I discovered more and more what a great resource we had on hand in our own house with the computer and an internet connection. Through this resource we could connect with people from all over the world. We also discovered that there were lots of great learning related sites for all different subjects available through the internet and we've taken advantage of a lot of them over the years.

In my mind a library card and an internet connection are two very important and very useful resources.

Licking beaters

I made cookies today and I was reminded about a funny that happened here a nice while back.

Around my house it's a normal thing that whenever I use my mixer, which is often, someone comes running to lick the beaters when I'm done. I think that's why the Dairy Queen Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Blizzard commercial - the one where the guy talks about getting his tongue stuck in the beater - struck me so funny.

A few months back I was looking after a couple of little guys, ages almost 1 and 3. I made cookies one day while they were here and my Little One, 2, came running to get a beater. I gave one to the 3 year old and he looked like he wasn't sure what to do with it. He watched my little one and soon started in to licking and making "mmmmm" sounds of joy. I asked him, "Doesn't your mommy let you lick the beaters when she makes cookies?" His reply to me was, "No, she washes them."

My older kids were aghast at the thought that there were little kids in the world that didn't know the pleasure of licking a beater! DD, 15yo, wasn't impressed that I gave what normally would have been her beater to the little guy. I had to get another beater out of the drawer, dip it in the batter, and give it to her. :)

In his mom's defense I have to say that I mentioned it to her, hoping I hadn't taught them something she didn't approve of, but she assured me she was fine with it but she hardly ever baked so that was why licking the beaters was foreign to him.

His response cracked me up because he apparently thought that I didn't wash my beaters, but let people lick them clean instead. I assure you that isn't so. The beaters do get washed once they've been licked clean. :)

I've had the same little guys here the last few days and today when I used the beater I had three little ones running to get a beater. Last time the 1 year old wasn't quite old enough to get the pleasure but this time he came running too. I had made cookies the day before when they were here and I had taken an extra beater and dipped it in the dough for him. He loved it! Today he came looking for his as soon as he saw the others with theirs.

And yes, I did wash them once they had licked them clean. :)

Little One Makes Her First Letter...

...quite by mistake, but that's okay. :)




Quite some time ago I read about Tot School on this post at Love's School and meant to join in the fun, but I didn't get around to it until now. Carissa started and hosts a Tot School meme. I love the idea of posting about Little One's growth and learning. I wish I had started it long ago.

Little One loves to join us at the kitchen table when DD and I are worked on school work. I give Little One a piece of paper to scribble on and provide her with one writing instrument at a time from a big assortment of markers, crayons, and leads. She happily scribbles while we work. - at least for a while. Some days she'll sit there a long time, other's not so long.

Friday she was happily scribbling when she decided she wanted me to scribble with her and she started asking me to make different people's names. This is a game we have played many, many times. She actually learned to recognize the first letters of our family members when she was quite young through playing this game. She didn't know the letter names, and still doesn't, but she knew who they stood for. Anyway, I wrote the names as she asked me, in between helping DD with her math, and Little One continued scribbling away. Suddenly she exclaimed, "I made me!" and pointed at a spot on her paper. I was shocked to see that, sure enough, she had made a scribble that looked very much like the first letter in her name. I know she didn't try to do it but it is still exciting to think that she recognized what the scribble looked like.

I don't know why I never thought about it before, but that day I decided I'm going to start saving her daily scribble sheets and using them as records of her learning. I'll date them and write little notes on the back and put them all together into a little booklet for her. It will make a great record of her growth and learning and will be so much fun to look back on.

A cleaning fit at our house means...

...company's coming

...mom's cranky

...mom has something she should be doing but she's avoiding it

...we've just come back from visiting someone else and Mom realizes what a state our house is

...mom's been reading blog posts about other people working on cleaning and she's feeling guilty


Got this idea from Dana's post, and she got the idea from Sylvia's post, who was inspired by Dawn's post. I changed it up a bit though because I wanted to ask like one of the commentors on Dana's post "What is this clean of which you speak?". Loved that comment! I sometimes go into short cleaning fits but seldom, if ever, does one last long even to actually end up with a clean house. :0)

Dawn's post is a wonderful, inspiring post and I really wish I could have her great attitude, but when I read her statement "We don't clean up messes to have a clean house. We clean up messes so there is room for more mess!" I just can't seem to take the next step with her and "think of cleaning up after my kids as replacing a canvas". I wish I could, but I can't. My response is, "Why clean it up if it's only going to get messy again." Sad, I know. I was really, really inspired by Dawn's post, until Dana's and Sylvia's post revived the real me.

I have to share a funny that happened while I was typing this post. I originally titled it "A cleaning frenzy at our house means..." until I looked in the dictionary to double check the spelling of "frenzy" and I discovered that it means "wild excitement", and I just couldn't bring myself to use it because cleaning does not excite me at all. I decided to try "spree" as a replacement, until I discovered that it means "a noisy frolic", and decided that wasn't right either. It may get noisy when I clean, but it's not fun and I associate frolic with fun. So I decided to try "fit" as a replacement. "any sudden, uncontrollable attack; an outburst, as of anger; in an irregular way". Yep, that's the right word. :)

"Whereever you are, be all there"

Anne included the quote "Whereever you are, be all there", by Jim Elliot in her amazing post today, How to Practice Being Present to the Presence of God, and it jumped at me. You need to go read her post because it goes in a different direction than I'm going here and it is so inspiring. Don't miss it.

Anyway, the quote itself reminded me of the two blog posts that I referred to in my Become involved with the kids and have fun post from yesterday. I kind of get the idea that God is sending me many differently worded, but same meaning, messages.

This year has been different. DD, almost 16, is my only "official student" and, while I started the year all excited about the fun we were going to have together, it hasn't been as much fun as I thought it would be. I'm realizing, however, that I'm probably to blame for this. I was not as present with her in her studies as I could have been. Instead of my dream of us enjoying our time together she ended up spending much of her time holed up in her room working on her own, with me checking in once in a while to see how things were going.

Off and on throughout the year I would realize that I needed to be more present for her and I would work on doing that for a while, but I soon forgot as I got caught up with other things. The posts the last couple of days have been a great reminder for me and the last two days have been some of the most fun of the year. We worked, talked, and laughed together. It was great. I hope I don't forget again soon.

Cool Mom Song!

You have to check this out!

Go Fish - The Mom Song

Become involved with the kids and have fun

In Melissa Wiley's post Drawing Together she tells about some "family drawing time" they've been enjoying as she "strewed herself" by becoming involved in the activity and instantly became a" child magnet".

I read Melissa's post right after reading Dawn's post Letting Go and Having Fun where she shares about "one of the most plugged in and conscious days" she's had with her kids in a long time.

The two posts just seemed to go together so well that I couldn't not point it out.

I really wanted to title this post "strew yourself and have fun" but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it because of how it might be misread. Sad, because it would have made a great title.

It's Carnival Time!

The 5th edition of the Canadian Home Educators Carnival is up with visits with homeschoolers in 5 of our provinces. Sure would be nice if we could get visits into each of the provinces. The Carnival blog has a new feature in the side bar - blogs featured in past editions are now listed in drop down menus according to their provinces. Right now some provinces don't have any blogs listed but hopefully it won't take long for that to change. There's a call posted for the next edition, which is to be posted May 27th. Sure would be great to see every province represented in it. Help spread the word about it to increase the chances of that happening.

The 125th Carnival of Homeschooling is also up. Sure hope the Canadian Carnival reaches that mark at some point and that it has grown as big as the Carnival of Homeschooling.

Some people may wonder about the need for a Canadian Carnival of Homeschooling when there is already a general carnival of homeschooling. I don't know about you, but much as I like to read about people from all over the world that have the same interests as I do, there's always something special about reading about people closer to home that share your interests. I think both Carnivals are important.

We all need somebody to lean on

Let's face it, there are times when we all need someone to lean on. In this day and age it is great that when we don't have people near us to turn to we can still get the help and support we need through the internet. For the 5th Home Educating Blog Carnival, in order to learn about different support systems that are available for Canadian Home Educators, it was suggested that we write about our local support groups, or online support groups, that we enjoy.

Homeschooling in Newfoundland and Labrador is not always easy, because our geography has us so spread apart. There is a fairly large group of homeschoolers in the St. John's area, but the rest of us are spread out all across the province.

CHENL, Christian Home Educators of Newfoundland and Labrador, is a provincial homeschool association that was formed in 2003 and is still active today. They offer an annual conference, I attended this year's conference just this month, and also have an email discussion group for members.

In our area this year we have five families that are homeschooling and we have made an attempt to get together regularly. Every second week the moms have attempted to get together one night just to relax and chat. In between these weeks the mom's and children have attempted to get together one afternoon a week for some learning and fun. I say attempted because it didn't always happen, but it sure was great when it did.

These are my only two "in real life" support groups and I am grateful that I have them, but I truly don't find that they completely meet my need for support. For that reason I am so thankful for the online support group that I have been privileged to participate in.

My greatest form of support has come from a private email list that I have been a part of since 1999. It was started by a lady that was at one time living and homeschooling in Newfoundland and knew the need for homeschooling support in Newfoundland. She and one of her friends moved away from Newfoundland but wanted to continue supporting Newfoundland Homeschoolers, so she started the email list. The list, however, has evolved over the years and is no longer specifically for Newfoundland Homeschoolers. New members can be invited to join by present members and members have come and gone over the years. We are presently a group of approximately 20 ladies all across Canada in different stages of homeschooling. The founder just graduated her last child this year. Though there are many miles, or kilometers :), between us we have grown quite close and we support each other through all of the different aspects of our lives, not just the homeschooling. I am so thankful for this group of ladies.

My newest form of support has been checking out homeschooling blogs - both personal blogs and blogs of different homeschooling organizations and resource people. I love getting a glimpse of the lives of homeschoolers around the world, but I especially like checking in on Canadian homeschoolers.

I think it is important to connect with someone, somewhere, somehow, to help you along the homeschool journey. It's not an easy road to travel on your own.

Learning to Appreciate

Life has been really crazy around here lately. Just the past two weeks we have traveled from one side of the island to the other. We spent a week with DH's family in a small community near Lance Aux Meadows. We came home for a day before repacking to go to St. John's for a weekend. Our provincial Home Education Association held it's annual conference in St. John's. It was very tiring for us with all the travel, but it was so good to connect with other homeschoolers. DH is gone to his parents again but I opted to stay home this time.

I was inspired by Ann's post, Dandelion Wine, today at Holy Experience. So often I find her posts refreshing, challenging, and encouraging. Today's post really struck me. We've been struggling with what could be considered the weeds of FIL's cancer. Ann's post reminds me that God allowed it, so He must have intended it for good, and we definitely have seen good in it. It doesn't mean we don't struggle, but we will get through it.

At times like this you learn to appreciate the everyday normal things and to pay attention to the beauty around you that you so often over look. You make the most of every day. Other things fade in the background and you reassess your priorities. You learn to overlook things that are not important. You're more aware of the importance of relationships and understanding. I hope they are lessons we won't soon forget.

My Home Schooling Mentors

When I think back on my homeschooling journey there are two ladies that stand out to me as invaluable mentors. They each inspired and encouraged me in different ways.

I learned about the concept of Homeschooling in a parent's magazine article. It was a totally foreign concept to me, but one that immediately caught my interest. Shortly after reading this article I was told that a new family that had moved into our community, and had children in the same classes as two of my children, had been homeschooling before they moved here. I was intriqued and determined to find out more about it by getting to know the mother. Little did I know how important this lady would become to me.

Kathleen became my first homeschooling mentor. I asked her about her homeschooling experience before she moved here and told her about my interest in it. I think that my interest may have resparked her interest and before long we were both homeschooling our children and looking to each other for support and encouragement. We became very close friends and confidants, and remain friends even though Kathleen ended up moving many, many miles away.

Shortly after I started homeschooling I somehow heard about a number of families that were homeschooling in a community about 2 hours away from my community. I wish I remembered how contact was made but I don't, all I know is that I ended up getting an invitation to join their families for a Valentine's Party.

Kelly stood out to me at that party because her family was like an older version of my family - two boys, one girl. I was so impressed with her children and seeing them gave me confidence that I could do this. Kelly ended up moving away a year or so after this but she had the foresight to do something which I am so thankful for. She felt for those of us that would be left behind and she started an email list for us to keep in contact so that we could continue to support and encourage one another. I have continued to be encouraged by Kelly's family as I have watched her children complete their studies at home and grow into young adults taking their place in the world.

Thank-you, Kathleen and Kelly, for the part that you played in this incredible journey I've been on.

3rd Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is up

...you can check it out here. Be sure to visit all the contributors and to leave them a comment.

We're having a nice visit with the inlaws. One of the advantages of homeschooling is that we can do this without worrying about missed schooling - we just take our school work with us and take advantage of learning topics and activities that come our way wherever we are. DD was checking out some history and geography information about this part of the island this morning and she was having a grand time learning things she wasn't aware of before.

Little one has been keeping everyone entertained. She's a little out of sorts sometimes. I think that's partially from missing her toys and not having the channels to watch some of her favorite TV shows. She told her grandfather this morning that he had to go to bed because she wanted to watch TV and she was afraid he was going to change the channel. How do you teach a very vocal 2 year old about respecting her elders? Especially when everyone laughs at her when she does stuff like that!

I managed to do a bit of scrapping the last couple of days. I made a card and envelope set each day and I'm really pleased with both. I'm hoping to post some pictures on my scrappin blog when we get home again.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Some of you may not be aware but today is National Scrapbooking Day. I was introduced to Scrapping as a hobby about two years ago and it's something I greatly enjoy. I've been in a bit of a scrapping slump for quite a while now and haven't done much scrapping but I still keep on eye on what other people are doing and every once in a while I get out of my slump for a little while and enjoy creating again.

Carla, one of my local homeschooling friends is also a scrapbooker. Actually, she's the one that got me interested in it. The last time she was the host of our bi-weekly homeschooling mom's get together she had us all making cards. It was great fun! Shortly after that session we all gathered at another homeschoolers home and scrapped again and this time the teen girls joined us. We had a great time.

Carla helped plan an all day National Scrapbooking Day party in our community for today. I'd love to be there but I'm 6 hours away visiting with the inlaws.

The second edition of the Canadian Scrapbookers Blog Carnival was posted yesterday. It was a special edition with people sharing their plans for celebrating National Scrapbooking Day. Drop by and check it out.

Fun Get Together

Last Friday was my turn to host our local homeschoolers for our bi-weekly get together. Because I thought it was National Wildlife Week I decided to plan some activities based on that theme.

I wrote about National Wildlife Week on the Newfoundland and Labrador Homeschool Nations Blog that I am co-ordinator for at the moment after I had heard about it on another homeschoolers blog. I really liked the "Tell Your Wildlife Watch Story" that I found on the National Wildlife Federation website while researching for that post. We have a local homeschool family that is very into watching nature and I knew they would like that idea and I thought others might too.

The day before our get together I went searching the internet for other ideas and possible materials that I could work into the get together and I discovered something that threw me right off for a little while. I don't know why I didn't discover this information when I was doing the research for my post about National Wildlife Week, but for whatever reason I didn't come across that information then but I did come across it that day.

Through this website I discovered that Canada actually celebrates National Wildlife Week the week that April 10 falls on, in honor of Jack Miner's birthday "to create a perpetual memorial to honour him for his pioneer work in wildlife conservation". There's lots of interesting information about Jack Miner on that site - like the fact that the outdoors was his classroom because he was not suited for school and only attended 3 months, and the fact that he included scripture verses on the bands that he put on the birds he banded.

Then I found this site all about National Wildlife Week in Canada and how the theme for this year's National Wildlife Week was "Pollinators – from flowers to food to our future". I tried printing off the Pollinator Puzzle cards from the learning center part of the site but my printer was out of ink.

I decided to go ahead and still use National Wildlife Week as the theme for our get together and to share some of what I had learned. DD and I brainstormed about possible ways to do this, and I'm pleased to say we came up with a plan that worked out really well.

When the homeschoolers arrived we all sat around and chatted for a while before I told them how I thought this was National Wildlife week and I found a neat site where they could report nature findings. We all took turns sharing our recent experiences in spotting different animals in the outdoors. There were some great stories - like the one about the mom that was playing tug of war with a weasel in their cupboard recently!

After that I told them about my mistake in thinking it was National Wildlife Week and I shared with them some of what I had learned about Jack Miner and Canada's National Wildlife Week. I had also printed of Jack Miner's Testimony from the homepage of the site for them to take home.

Then came the fun part! The night before DD and I had brainstormed a list of creatures that are common to our province. We had cut this list into strips of individual creatures and put them in a hat. We had each homeschooler pick out one, which they were to keep totally to themselves and not tell anyone else what they had. Then we gave each of them a clump of white homemade playdoh, which we had made the night before, to make their creatures. We also supplied them with markers to use to color their creatures once they were made. What fun we had! Some even decided to pick a second creature to make while they were waiting for others to finish their first ones. They did a great job and of course they ended up chatting while working and everyone pretty well knew what everyone was making before they were finished. One of the mom's took pictures of the creations which I will post when I get them.

I need your help

The next edition of the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival is supposed to be posted May 5th and so far I only have one submission. I would love for you to help me get the word out about the carnival so that hopefully I will get more submissions. Also, I've made some changes to the Canadian Home Educators Blog Carnival Blog and added a couple of polls to the side bar. I'd love it if you would take the time to check this out, participate in the polls, and leave a comment letting me know what you think of the changes, and encourage others to do the same.

Thanks. Hopefully I'll soon be able to stop begging people to help me out with this thing. :) I'm really looking forward to getting back to using my blog to post about my life instead.

Thanks for your help.

Hope in bad times

Our family received some sad news this week. FIL's tumor is back already and the doctor says there's nothing they can do. They say that time is short for him.

It's at times like this that I am especially thankful for my faith in God. I was reminded of that again this week as I read the Death is Not a Threat post at the Desiring God blog. Philippians 1:21 says that "to live is Christ, and to die is gain". When a life is dedicated to God dying is not a threat, it is a promotion. Sure it still hurts when you get news such as we did this week, but you have an ultimate hope and peace that lessens the sting inspite of the sorrow.

We are still praying for healing for FIL, that he would get to live whatever days he has left in praise and honor to God, but, because he has let us know that he has made his peace with God, we have a peace that when his days are finally over we will see him again in eternity.

Canadian Home Educators Carnival now has it's own blog

I decided to make a blog especially for the Carnival of Canadian Home Educators. From now on the Carnival calls for submissions and different editions will be posted at the Canadian Home Educators Carnival.

My purpose in creating the carnival was to unite Canadian home educating bloggers, not to increase traffic to my blog, and I just thought it would be better for the carnival to have it's own blog space. I also created an email account just for the carnival. It just seemed like a better idea than using my own personal email. From now on any email about the Carnival can be sent to canadianhomeeducatorscarnival@gmail.com .

I have posted a call for submissions to the Third carnival of Canadian Home Educators here. The deadline for submissions is May 2nd.

Please help spread the news about the new site and also about the new call.

Menus Moved to New Blog

I've decided to post my menu plan posts and recipes at a blog I had orginally started for my family to share recipes on. As nobody else seemed interested in it, I have now taken it over. :) If you're interested you can check out my menu plan for this week here.

Second Carnival of Canadian Home Educators

Thank you to those of you that took the time to submit a post to this edition of the Carnival of Canadian Home Educators. We have one return participant and three new participants.

Jackie's been around the block in education and she talks about a "life long love for learning" and Why Homeschooling is a Wise Educational Alternative. Her blog is a new venture. Be sure to visit and encourage her.

In her post Osmosis School, Audrey shows how her son is exhibiting that love for learning as he asks for an opportunity to "suck up" his schooling while he is having a sick day.

Dawn confesses to a problem that I think most of us experience when it comes to planning - going overboard, and then having nothing come of it. She's decided to combine some Restraint and Scheduling

On her family's nature blog, Jessica, a homeschooling preteen, shares some great pictures of a squirrel that visited their yard recently. I love the idea of a family nature blog where everyone has a turn to post.

Carla asks us to Look at these two as she catches a rare moment of peace and togetherness between two or her crew that are usually at odds with one another.

And there you have the second edition of the Carnival of Canadian Home Educators. While the submissions are few, they give you a small glimpse into the varied lives of homeschooling families across Canada. That's what I was hoping to accomplish with this Carnival - a chance to see similarities and differences in home educating families across our country.

It looks like the Carnival of Canadian Home Educators is going to be as hard a sell as the Dominion of Canada. :) Though I searched my sp*m folder diligently I didn't find any extra submissions this time around. I'm not ready to give up yet though, even if I am a little discouraged.

I'd love your thoughts on this venture, and any suggestions you might have on how to improve it. You can leave a comment below or you can email canadianhomeeducatorscarnival@gmail.com .