How You Can Learn From Geoboxing.

It's been a few years now that we have been homeschooling.. In the beginning we tried various swap groups it was a real let down when you put all of your creativity into making a cool flat traveler or card and never received one in response despite your best efforts that can happen. What we have learned is that some groups are more prone to that because of the anonymous nature of the groups. One year the kids made Christmas stockings and filled them with special goodies for a stocking swap. They were so excited by the prospect of getting a stocking in return. They never got those stockings....

Read More

Day Tripping in the North.

Day trips are a favorite pastime with our family. We love to get out in nature and enjoy everything this great piece of the Canadian Shield has to offer. One enjoyable trip we try to do at least once a year is to the Canadian Carver in Pancake Bay, Ontario. It's full of wonderful gifts but more exciting to us, is to look at all the terrific woodcarvings made by Canadian artists. It's about an hour up the Trans Canada Hwy to get there from here but well worth the drive. Today the kids were hoping to squeeze in some summer swimming along the shore of Lake Superior. It's only +13C though...

Read More

Canadian Content Sources.

With school around the corner you may be asking yourself if finding Canadian curriculum or content is even a necessary piece of the homeschool environment. We can't answer that question for you. However we would like to share with you some choices you may not be aware of. All of these materials, companies, and resources that we are sharing with you aren't ones we've tried necessarily nor are we being paid in anyway to share themwith you. I just believe in helping other homeschoolers locate materials that may prove useful to them.       The Homeschool Beaver Kaleeka...

Read More

Chore Talk.

Raising children is an ongoing task. For years I have been 'training' the kids to do this chore or that chore. We have used incentive programs and we have used various programs like the chore jar popsicle stick method  to get them involved. My view is if we are all home and making messes we all pitch in to keep things tidy and clean. Finally after years of struggle I am seeing an end at the tunnel. Why? Consistency folks. It boils done to that one hard to follow rule. I am spending my summer 'vacation' from book work to train the kids to do their chores. Get up, take care of pets (they...

Read More

Accepting the Clutter as Messy Perfection.

When I started homeschooling I was like a lot of housewives. I prided myself on my clean and orderly home. Clutter was kept to a minimum and cleaning was scheduled regularly. Okay maybe I had aspirations of living in one of those glossy magazine images. But when you have kids and definitely when you are busily homeschooling cleaning can take a back seat to enjoying the fullness of life. So as time passed I struggled on letting go of the immaculate counter tops, sparkling clean floors, and neatly put away laundry. Then it occurred to me. Do these things really matter. You may have noticed...

Read More

The Fairy Kingdom 2014.

 This year after much admiring of other fairy gardens all winter, my daughter and I decided to undertake a fairy garden that was a little different. Why be confined to a small area when we had a whole area of yard freshly filled in. We had a large pond in our yard for a number of years but decided we wanted to fill it back in this year. Although I do miss the birds and other wildlife that came to have baths and drinks from it. I admit this fairy kingdom is coming along nicely. The main part of the garden is separated from the upper garden area by the fence by a walkway aka the bridge we...

Read More

Pinterest the Revolution!

 You know when I was growing up etch a sketch was the coolest toy on the market. Internet was a word not in our vocabulary. Computers were just hitting the market at insane prices and had black screens with green dot matrix writing. If you wanted to be creative you had to do it yourself. I once made a fancy pattern on paper and showed it to my mother. She smiled and said that although it was lovely she was certain someone somewhere had already made that pattern. I couldn't claim it was an original design. As disheartened as I was at the time when she told me that, I realize now it's true....

Read More

Letter of Intent for Ontario Residents.

Every year the same questions seem to be asked by the new homeschool crowd. So for any Ontario resident who may stumble across this blog. Should you not know how to proceed it's quite simple. Fill out a letter of intent which can be found on the OFTP (Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents) website here. Send it in to your local school board and they will send a return form saying your child is exempt from regular schooling because you are teaching them at home. You don't have to wait to get permission. Begin homeschooling as soon as you are ready and able. Picking curriculum can be a tough...

Read More

New Look and News

So you came here looking for a blue page with pencils? Find our new look instead? We hope you like it as much as we do. In an effort to streamline the page and see it grow this year we needed to make a change. Please note we have coupled our environmental science links page with the science page. All the links remain the same. We did away with our early learning resource page as our children are reaching middle school age. We also dropped our unit studies page as it was clunky and not as functional as we would have liked. You can still find all the other great free resource links as befo...

Read More

Learning Never Ends.

Summertime is cool this year in Northern Ontario. We have to come up with ideas to keep us amused on occasion inside as well as out when the rain and wind kicks in. So today while the kids were playing I was investigating how to blog more efficiently. How to find and add affiliate links. Affiliate what? Affiliate links are links that lead you to another site, generally a business. It's a form of advertising which is said to skyrocket in the next few years. I was happy to find easily a few companies offering such programs. Why would I want to do this you may be asking yourself. Why add ads...

Read More

Summer time!

Normally summer has meant year round schooling. We decided this year to take off the nice months of the year. In Canada there are so few anyway. Most of the winter is book work and we needed the break. So we put the books away, got out the sandals, and sunblock and got to work on a large fairy garden..pics to come.. We started learning wire crafting to make some decorations for the garden. We leaned landscape design with garden making, laying of landscape fabric, soil, mulch, plants. My son has also developed an interest in herbs and their medicinal, culinary, and aromatherapy uses. So we devoted...

Read More