Playbook Blog Tour... it's on this week.

Did you know that Raincoast books and I are working together to promote a new book?

YEAH I KNOW.. first blog tour I've ever done and it's on a great new book by Kwame Alexander.

Anyways, here is who is doing what on which day this week.  As you might notice, my turn is coming up on Friday.

Anyways, I hope you'll come back and see what I have to say about The Playbook.

2107 It's here...what's in store?

The Crew Round-Up this week is all about Goals for the year.

I have to admit, I don't tend to make a lot of goals.   I tend to take the year as it comes and make plans in my head about what I want, but you know how plans are?   They build upon each other until you reach overload (at least that's how it tends to work for me).

So I make longer term goals with small steps leading up.

This year goal planning is in flux because hubby is needing to find new work, we may end up moving by year end, my life might end up looking quite different.   So most goals are dependent upon that.

HEY!!! Happy New Year. Reflections on 2016

Happy New Year dear readers...

Did you stay up late?  Bring in the New Year or did you find yourself exhausted and head to bed early?   Regardless of what you did... may this New Year be one of growth, enlightenment and the knowledge of God's goodness in your life  :)

At this time of year you tend to find a lot of "this is my word for the year" or "this is my verse for the year" posts.   I find those posts fascinating reading.   I really do, they give insight into the person behind the blog you know?   When I find some that I particularly enjoy I will link them up here.  :)

Some word posts: Life.  Cultivate.  Growth.  Simplify. Restore. Crave.

So my top post of the year on this blog has been

Spring has Come!

I have to admit.. I LOVE spring flowers.. Don't you? I think my favourite are what I call my grass peepers. :) Small tiny flowers the peep up through the growing grass. Every year they cause my son to ask "Mom, why didn't you put them in a proper garden?" And every year I answer... "because when they peep out of the grass they make me smile lad". Then my lad just shakes his head at me. He is SO like his father. His father shook his head at me when I planted them in the lawn. Ah my fellows... they just don't understand my pleasure at my little grass peepers... and that's okay. :)

Last fall I moved dirt and some plants around and somehow (I know not how) one of my grass peepers ended up in one of my raised beds. I discovered that it brings me almost as much pleasure to see them come up in my gardens as well. :)

Another one of my joys in my daffodil/tulip garden.    When my mom moved off the family farm she dug up all her bulbs and moved them with her into town, and when my father moved into a nursing home, mom went to visit him so often that he gave up her big flower bed, leaving her with lots of daffodil bulbs to rehome.   I got a bunch of them.   So seeing them come up has that added bonus of a smile of history remembered.  :)    Some of these bulbs I purchased myself, but a good 2/3's are history bulbs.

Should we ever move from this place it'll be a job and a half.. but I'll be digging up all my bulbs.. except for my spring peepers... those I'll leave to hopefully bring a smile to the next people to live here (hopefully, unless they be head shakers like my boys). 

Practical homeshooling and it's results

We learned about gardening....from a very practical standpoint.

We learned that maple tree saplings need to be removed from gardens.

We learned how to trim a bush so it doesn't go over the doorstep.

We learned about killing ant hills that are too close to the house.

We learned about watering plants when you transplant them.

We learned about using maple branches as a fan and that giving them to bunnies is perhaps NOT a good idea (said bunnies will say LUNCH!).

We had fun going to the store and finding presents for daddy when he goes away next week.

We had fun handling chickies and baby ducks at the feed store.

I was very proud of my helpful boy child and his ability to prune a bush by himself, and pleased to honour his request to not throw out those particular branches until he was ALL done with them.

I was pleased with his willingness to help and to learn.

I was filled with joy at his ability to chat with complete strangers even as I wish he was chatting about something OTHER THAN mommy's thing for chickens. :)

My lad was pleased at his own efforts.
He was disappointed we couldn't find any black bugs.
He was angry at bunnies making lunch of his maple leaf fan.
He was happy he was able to do good work with mommy.
He was uncertain about using poison to keep ants out of our house...but happy he was able to help daddy find where the ant hills were.

It was a good day.  :)

Cats are not easy homeschoolers :)

 while doing our "imagine a place"

 Everyone involved had a different interpretation

 and some well....imagined while ON someone else's work

and caused grins and distractions

Reading, Writing and Drawing.

Today we did chapter four in "the Lamb".  I love the pictures in the book and the lad likes answering the questions at the end of each chapter.  They are simple.  It's a good book thus far.

Also finished off our section on Knights And castles in our world history book.    Today we learned about how the knights divided up into orders and how other countries had knights as well.   Next up will be pirates.

Then we learned about the masked shew in The ultimate guide to North American Wildlife.

This was followed by going out for a walk in the field behind the church and picking up golf balls.  The lad will keep some and others he will sell at my annual yardsale.

We did some guided drawing using pastels.   Homeschool freebie of the day had a link to Pastels today.    Here is the lad's first ever  drawing done using pastel's.   It was a bit of challenge for him, he likes to draw using heavy lines but with pastels sometimes you need to use a lighter hand.  :)   Did not half bad with the sun I thought, and a good effort with Darwin the dolphin.  :)

In the mid-afternoon we decided to organize all this junk stuff.   That's what hubby calls it.  You know all the toilet paper rolls, empty containers, styrofoam trays that people keep in order to have craft supplies for ones children?   Well we got it organized and out of the basement and main floor of the house.  This of course inspired the lad to do some more boat building.

Legal issues on the homeschool front

two similar events happening in homeschooling lately here in Canada.

1. in Alberta they want to pass a law saying that every child educated whether in public, private or homeschool needs to be educated in the same way regardless of religious convictions.   

ERGO: if the government says that it's okay to be gay/lesbian.. then you MUST teach your children that it's okay as well.  

In spite of the well articulated concerns of homeschooling families, the Alberta Government is continuing to drive toward the swift passage of their intrusive legislation.  Bill 2 is the new Education Act that will mandate compliance with the Alberta Human Rights legislation for all students in Alberta, including homeschooled students in their own homes.  The government’s spokesperson, Donna McColl, has stated, “Whatever the nature of schooling – homeschool, private school, Catholic school – we do not tolerate disrespect for differences.” Although these statements were later repudiated, they clearly show that even within the government, there are those who would use this legislation to limit the freedom of parents to pass their beliefs on to their children

 My concern with this law is two-fold
1. how can they prove if a person educated (as part of their schooling) that we must love each other but we can disapprove of sin being actively lived out or if one is merely educating their children in one's faith stance?
2. it's putting an extra requirement on homeschooling families that they aren't putting on same faith, non-homeschooled families.
Since I don't live in Alberta I'm not sure if there is much I can do.   But I'll be looking into it.


More information can be found here at the HSLDA blog.   understanding what to do politically can be found here.

2. in Ontario they want to pass a law saying kinda the same thing but they don't specifically mention homeschoolers.   This is a bill that is anti-bullying.  Sounds good eh?  BUT when one group or groups  is/are elevated over other groups it just becomes government mandated bullying over the non-protected groups.  The legislation will only address bullying on a selective basis, and will discriminate against children with traditional faith values.

here is where you can learn about bill 13. 

based on the statistics given, out of 1000 students, 330 report feeling unsafe in school but only 13 of those students on this special interest group.  So I have to ask why is the legislation focusing so much attention and resources on a special interest group – favouring the 13 LGBT students who “feel unsafe” when 330 other students actually report being bullied?

The school director has stated the human rights come before faith issues and the human rights commission does not take a pro-faith stand.    So where does this leave children of faith?   How are they protected?

write your MPP, become acquainted with this law, and let's see what we can do to help our fellow brothers and sisters in the faith.   Seriously.  If we do nothing... the social engineering of the government wins out and our children lose.

Christmas Bureau

This morning the lad and I helped at the Christmas Bureau.

We had a good time and did some good work.

It was interesting how accepting this group of people are about a six year old volunteering. Some folks aren't. They just say.. a child...he can't help, he'll just be a hindrance. But this group of folks, to a tee, were quite helpful and accepting of him helping.

Today we helped stuff the goodie bags...this meant putting in a wood toy, socks, mittens, hat, scarf, stuffie, and small toy. We stapled and organized the bags.

When the lad needed a break he ran up and down the hallway.

He was polite and talkative. He made some good decisions about what stuffies would make good toys for boys.

After lunch we helped with sorting out the toys from the local schools.

They made a GREAT lunch, and even had a boston cream donut for one six year old...how much better could it get? :)

article link

history/reasons to homeschool.

The McGurk Effect

The query is of course... how does this affect different age groups.
I ask, because the lad didn't get it at all.

overwhelmed? perhaps not any more

So I've been feeling panicky and overwhelmed at the thought of teaching my lad this year. I'm not feeling very organized or planned out or anything.

Hubby dear gave me the idea of planning our next day for 15-20 minutes the night before and I think I'll be doing that. I've been a bit concerned about doing TOO Much planning as I know what I'm like what I get a list I just feel "argh" if I don't complete everything on it and I can get snippy and snappy and I do not wish to be like that.

Therefore I went to the ministry of education (Ontario) tonight to see just what they expect children to learn in grade one. And though a few things leave me wondering HOW will I teach that? Overall it was like okay....he knows that already, this we already do and he'll get better at, and OH>>> I can teach that! It overall left me with a feeling of relief. Overtime I will be able to plan out better what we do. EVEN IF at times it is haphazard it will work out in the long run I think.

I am feeling a bit more settled again...knowing that I can teach my son, but I do need to be a bit more organized about how I go about doing it. AS LONG AS.... I remember that we are FIRST a family, and second a homeschooling one. Homeschooling will continue to fit around our need to be a family first, and one that honours God while doing so.

i want to look at these sites more:

Notebooking is having an anniversary

Top 25 homeschool blogs some of them look intriguing.

Corn and oil have some science stuff here.

Programs to look at

this place makes blank board games. :) it's called Bare Books

then there's a reading program called FUNNIX. I need to do some research on it. But it looks interesting.

Blog is being weird lately

not sure what's up with the blog lately, but it seems to be displaying incorrectly.

Will have to see if I can figure out just what is up with it.

Look at these sites a bit more

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Level2.php

http://www.currclick.com/cclick_wintersale.php?page=8

http://www.classicalcurriculum.com/ModelCurriculum.htm

Cookies!

Today we got together with a family from our homeschool group. We made cookies. :)

We had fun.

Got to know each other a bit more.

The lad played with her four children.

Different Sites.

The Dollar Stretcher. They have a variety of sections, this one on Christmas.

Shelley Lovett's Video Teaching Tips Library

Shelley Lovett's ChildCareLand site offers a huge library of short teaching tips and learning activities videos (in streaming format) for preschool and kindergarten age students — over 300 brief, practical, helpful ideas and demonstrations that will enhance any pre-school or kindergarten age learning time.

freebie of the day.

Every weekday, Monday through Friday, we’ll post a new homeschooling “freebie” to this site. What kind of “freebies”? Stuff like: Unit Studies… Ebooks… Audio Programs… Games… Samples… Lesson Plans… classic books… and other quality resources! This is the REAL THING.

Many of these will be products that you would normally pay for on their regular websites… but here on the Homeschool Freebie of the Day site, they’re 100% free… at least for that one day! Just download your copy and enjoy! It’s as simple as that!

Do know that if you sign up for freebie of the day, you'll get an email every week telling you what they will be posting. They occasionally post "you can buy this inexpensively" items, and will send you and email or two about that item. They don't send those type of emails out all the time though. Some of them are indeed good deals. Each weekly email includes a freebie that you get by being a subscriber and some of them are pretty neat. :)

A Variety of Things

Homeschooling-ideas.com sent me their newsletter which is filled with a variety of good ideas. Sign up for it yourselves and get all these ideas sent right to you. :) I have to admit, I really liked the idea of doing a photography week... and using that as a time to make photocalenders as gifts. Use a theme, teach light/shadows etc. I can see this one being a good one for hubby to work on with the lad as he's our camera man.

Medieval Japan Is is a lapbook/unit study that dynamic mom is making with her family. She also has one on the Renaissance.

Apples 4 teachers. Note this site will ask you to join a newsletter.
Elementary Creative Arts and Crafts
Interactive educational games and online activities for kids

Hoagies Gifted Education Page

(Free) Online High School Courses & Curriculum Materials

Laura Chandler has educational resources.

Doorposts

52 character building thoughts for children

November holidays and special days

November Holidays and Special Days

I just might do some of these. :)