homeschool

Apples in SW Ontario

September 7, 2020 By Annette1 7 Comments

Apple season is gathering in close, and so the Homeschool Review Crew issued the challenge “all about apples”. Since I have very few apple recipes on my blog, it got me thinking about some of the fun apple things we’ve done over the years. Apple picking has always been fun. Where do you find apples in SW Ontario? So glad you asked!

Apple Orchards

Our family has had tons of apple picking fun at Farmer Jack’s, but they are no longer open which is rather a bummer.

We did a field trip to Apple Land and found it a nice place to go for apples, it’s a bit of a drive from our house though! 🙂 One of the nice things about doing a field trip with them is they give you a small bag you can turn in for a discount on your next apple purchase. When we did the tour last time we also got to visit their bees which was rather fun.

Crunican Orchards is one I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting yet. I like the variety in the apples they raise.

Great Lakes Farms in Port Stanley might prove of interest. They have a good group of apples to choose from.

Over Kitchener way you’ll find Martin’s Orchards. Nicely organized, good apples. I’ve been to this location and gotten good apples.

The Apple Orchard Can be found in the Hamilton area.

Ingram’s Apple Orchard in Bayfield is so close, I can hardly believe I’ve never been! I guess I’ll need to check it out eh?

If you are looking for apples in SE Ontario, here are 15 you might try out. Or better yet, all across Ontario you’ll find apple orchards.

Am I missing any? What orchards to find apples in SW Ontario do you know of?

Apple Recipes

Apple PanDowdy.
Swedish Apple Pie.
Rhubarb Apple Crisp.
Variety of Apple Dishes. Dutch Apple Loaf, Apple Fritter cake, Apple Crisp, Apple Strudel Muffins, Applesauce

Are they really needed? Pens & pencils in your homeschool

August 31, 2020 By Annette1 11 Comments

Pens and pencils, I don’t know about you but I use one everyday. I thought about sharing my favourite pens and pencils but realized that really, I don’t have any. I will happily use whatever I have on hand. It got me thinking, are they really needed? Pens and pencils in your homeschool. Can you get away without using them?

Are they really needed? Pens and pencils in your homeschool

There are two sides to every question aren’t there? With the plethora of on-line resources, and laptops one could argue they aren’t needed. BUT then there’s art and science and…. where it’s hard to argue against the need. So let’s discuss it shall we?

No, you can’t

You can’t run a homeschool without using a pen and a pencil. They are as necessary to life as bread and butter.

Art (drawing, 3-d, illustrating, etc), science notations, something to fiddle with, note-taking and imprints. Add in emergency drum practice, crafts, filling in worksheets, figuring out math problems, and much more. You might be surprised by 100 uses for a bic pen!

My son loves Ticonderoga pencils. Some new pencils were a birthday request, and he SO much enjoys them! 🙂 I have to admit, my teenager is a bit more particular about his writing implements than I am. 🙂

Yes, you can

Take a moment if you will to imagine a world without needing pen and pencil. A world filled with narration, physical activity, spelling bees, hands-on activities, on-line forms, simply telling what you know, computer games for math, language arts and more. The other day I ran into on-line chem labs! You can even find complete curricula on-line, it’s amazing how learning can happen with video, editable PDF’s, and other projects. One could say we’re reaching for a world without primitive technology. 🙂

Do you really need pencils and pens for your homeschool adventures? Can you imagine your homeschool moving into such a world?

Four Approaches to SchoolhouseTeachers.com

August 13, 2020 By Annette1 3 Comments

One of the questions that frequently pops up on the ST facebook page is “how do I use this?”. Today I thought it might be helpful to point out the four main approaches to SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

The four approaches to SchoolhouseTeachers.com are in a nutshell Use by Grade, Use by Skill or Use by interest. The final approach which combines the three…. which might actually be the easiest method. 🙂 BUT more on that later.

Approach one: grade level

SchoolhouseTeachers.com has recently done this amazing things. They have started school boxes! They put together a package of what you need to educate your children per grade level.

Let’s pretend I was going to use ST for all my son’s grade 10 needs. I click on the grade 10 box which will open up this page.

Inside each box you will find links to curriculum to use. For instance, grade 10 art brings up this.

Clicking on the link will bring you to a teacher’s guide about what to do when, during what week. Everything you need to keep you on track whether you are using one resource, or four like this area. If you don’t like something in the boxes, just pick something else from grade 10 list of curriculum and follow the lesson outline for that. It might not be quite as straightforward as using the boxes, but the option is there.

Approach two: skill level

Because children mature and advance unevenly, you might decide that skill level is a better approach in your household.

You might then find yourself pouring over (for your technically grade three student) the grade 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 materials. Or deciding that your grade 3 and grade 5 student can both do grade 4 science.

Just in case you wondered, it’s perfectly okay for your children to be ahead in one area and behind in another. We don’t all learn things at the same rate as adults either. (Much to our consternation at times eh?)

Know your children, get to understand their strengths and weaknesses, and build upon both. It’s a good thing to do. Who knows.. by the time they are in highschool they might well have gained HUGE ground in a subject they struggled with earlier.

Consider if you would art classes. This is a subject where the skills of students vary widely. A beginning drawing class might not work for your creative 10-year-old genius… but might be just the ticket for your highschool student. Each person has their own abilities, right?

Approach three: interests of student

Following the interests of your student can assist them in learning new material. Does it really matter if when you are learning spelling rules if you use ocean-based words or land-based words? Does it matter if they are learning about the lifecycle of a butterfly, bird, bee, shark or spider? Like really, does it matter?

Does it matter, if practicing speech and enunciation if you read a picture book about Canada or Europe? Or when writing a persuasive essay if it’s about the merits of playing minecraft or understanding genetic diversity in rabbits? Any interest that a student has can be used to further their education.

Parents who understand this will often let their children guide their own education. And with ST having so many options to choose from, why not use it as fully as you can?

Just look at all the options for grade 10 beyond the school boxes!

Approach four: combination

The best of these approaches to me is using a combination. Not many children will say yes, I really want to understand grammar.. it’s totally my thing. But understanding grammar will help them pursue their other interests and being able to communicate well about those interests.

Having a grade guide often helps parents in planning where their children should be educationally speaking. So if you know your boy is 8 years old, about the level of grade 3 it helps you at least in knowing where to start.

Knowing where to start allows you to more easily make adjustments either up or down. If children are really interested in a topic you’ll often find they can do work above their grade level because they are so VERY interested.

My suggestion… choose the math and language arts that your students need to meet their future requirements. Meet them at their skill level and help them move forward. Then use their interests, help them broaden their doors, intrigue them with science starting with what they are interested in. Develop their love of history with their desire to understand where their grandparents came from, or how computers were developed, or … the list is endless. 🙂 My son wants to understand this country he lives in so, the geography of Canada beckons him. Good yes?

blur cartography close up concept — Photo by slon_dot_pics on Pexels.com

So… did you know that SchoolhouseTeachers.com is on sale right now? Two years for the price of one. Can’t beat that deal now can you? Snap it up before it’s gone! If you already are a member, which of these approaches to SchoolhouseTeachers.com do you take?

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares Help How do I teach High School at Home?.

Yvie @ Homeschool on the Range shares Teaching Teens – Note-taking Skills .

Annette @ A Net in Time shares Four Approaches to SchoolhouseTeachers.

Vickie B @ Tumbleweed News shares How I taught 20+ kids at home {Blog Hop}.

Teresa @ Teresa Brouillette shares How to Teach Homeschool.

Dawn P @ Schoolin’ Swag shares How to Teach… What I Don’t Know.

Laurie @ School Days shares How Do I Teach…?.

Lori @ At Home: where life happens shares Teaching It All.

This is day four in the not back to school blog hop.

Starting A New School Year

August 10, 2020 By Annette1 13 Comments

My son and I were talking the other day about when we’d start his new year. He’s still working on finishing off grade nine due to some poor decision making, so he’s pushing hard to get things done. But this is what we do, we talk together about how we’ll start off the new school year. Every year is different, but every year we have the same conversation. I suppose it’s one of our traditions, this starting a new school year talk.

What have we done? We’ve gone camping, organized materials, set up schedules, and attended not going back to school picnics. What kind of things do you do when your school year starts?

Camping

Last year my fellows (Dad and son) were talking about how to start the new school year and they decided that camping would be just the ticket. They headed up and three days later I joined them. They had time away, I had time to plan things out a bit, totally a win-win.

NGBTS

NGBTS picnics… we did about three of these. The Not Going Back to School picnics were hosted in nearby London and drew in homeschoolers from all over the place. We’d always have a good crowd with a variety of activities to engage the youth. Scavenger hunts, soccer games, chasing geese and looking for water critters. Laughter and conversation filled the afternoon, people staying for just as long as they wanted to. Free books and curriculum were often at hand…the lad and I got SO many books to read, and then in turn passed them along. It was great!

group of girls taking groufie — Photo by Aline Viana Prado on Pexels.com

Organized Schoolwork

My son recently spent a week cleaning his room and making way for organizing his school work for next year. I’m “NOT ALLOWED” to take pics and show you the results of his hard work.

Suffice it to say… he has a spot for everything and even more besides. I still have my stash of materials that I really have to go through yet… hopefully, this coming week. He doesn’t want books in his room that he isn’t immediately using so I need to make sure they are all easily accessible for when he needs them. Grade 10 will be a busy year for him.

Set Up Schedules

Even though I have this section entitled Set up Schedules, I’ve learned over the years that schedules don’t tend to work well for us. Setting up routines work much better for us. We’ve tried making summer schedules, some of which worked and didn’t. But mostly we’ve learned follow a routine and simply do the next thing… it’s what works best in our household.

This coming week we’ll be working together to make a routine that will help him get his school work done in good time this year…no more working all summer to catch up! 🙂 Since we don’t know exactly what the school year will look like we’ll have to work with generalities.

Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses shares Homeschool Traditions.

Yvie @ Homeschool on the Range shares 20 Best Educational Subscription Boxes (we let the kids choose a new one at the beginning of each school year)

Dawn @ Schoolin’ Swag shares Back to School Traditions.

Vickie B @ Tumbleweed News shares Homeschool Traditions {NOT Back-to-School Blog Hop}

Adrienne B @ Practicalmindedness shares on Traditions that seal the heart.

Teresa B @ Teresa Brouillette shaes Homeschool Traditions.

Annette V @ A Net in Time shares Starting a New School Year.

Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach shares Homeschooling Taditions for the New Year.

I hope you’ll stick around and follow along with the 2020 blog hop. Visit others in the blog hop won’t you? See how others are starting a new school year.

Summer Blog Hop is coming!

August 9, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

WELCOME! The summer blog hop from the homeschool review crew is about to start. For the next five days we’ll be sharing information on some variation of the following:

Monday – Traditions
Tuesday – Must have resources/supplies
Wednesday – Curriculum
Thursday – How do I teach … ?
Friday – Planning/Record Keeping

Doesn’t it sound fantastic? Everyone will be writing on these themes in one way or the other. They won’t all be the same. For instance I’ll be touching on what my son will be doing for Grade 10, what supplies are most important, and how to use SchoolhouseTeachers.com well.

I do hope you’ll stop in and join us with the Summer Blog Hop!

All Five Days:

Homeschool Mascots

August 8, 2020 By Annette1 2 Comments

The crew has a challenge for us. Talk about homeschool mascots. I have to admit, I can’t really say we have a mascot… not like when you are in public school and have a large bird, pig, or wolf. But we do have critters about the place so I figured I could introduce you.

Homeschool Mascots – Lizzy the cat

Miss Lizzy came into our lives when our boy Chase passed away. I told the fellows I didn’t want another cat, that one was enough, but they nagged away at me. I finally said “Fine, you want another cat, it will be MY choice this time.” After all, I knew if I left it to them we’d get another brown cat and I didn’t want another brown cat. 🙂

Lizzy came from a home about an hour from here. Free cat, didn’t fit well with her owner, and … honestly when she was first here I wasn’t overly fond of her. She had TONS of attitude and would bite. I wasn’t sure we’d be able to turn her around until she had her first bath. I expected a fighting, snarling mess. What I got a cat who simply stopped once she realized I wasn’t giving in. She stopped. Won my heart in that instant as I knew then I could work with her.

She’s become my girl. I often say “Where’s my baby girl? and she’ll come running”. A super smart cat who I am fairly sure was removed from her momma too early, and wasn’t given the stimulus she needed in her previous home. She still has some bad habits, but she’s learning “NO BITES!”, and if she does means no attention will be given her and she’s not fond of that. She jumps up on a chair to be petted when asked. Purrs more often than growls now and is a good girlie overall.

Milo the cat

Milo here is my son’s cat. He’s an older boy now, three years younger than my son, he was an early birthday present. My son has loved cats since he was wee little and he chose Milo out of a box of nearly identical kittens.

Milo is a soft touch, not particularly intelligent, but a great cat for a lad. In his older age, he developed diabetes leading us to make our own homemade cat food. It keeps him in remission and means no more ear pricks for a “getting testy in his older years” cat.

Having a couple of cats has served us well in our homeschool. You’ll often find Milo laying on the bed with my lad keeping him company as he works. My son was given a stem challenge and chose to make toys for them. The making up cat food for them means practicing his math skills and following directions. He’s learned about parasites found in wild mice/voles and how freezing and cooking destroys viruses in meat. But most of all, he’s discovered the joy of loving on a cat… even a testy older-age cat! 🙂

Milo has been ever present as the lad learns, perhaps he’s learned a few things along the way too! (like not eating Mr. Friendly)

The Budgies

We started with one budgie, added two more, sold one because ganging up was happening, and then one died a year later. Now we just have YellowFeather. She’s a bit of a nut, but she likes to talk, loves seed bells, and if someone is getting loud, or an argument is happening… SCREECHING happens. Oh my! 🙂 She makes me laugh, and belongs to the lad.

He’s learning financial responsibility for her as he pays for her feed. I pay for toys, seed bells and gravel. We think she’s doing fine on her own and aren’t in a rush to get a second. The lad ALMOST has her coming to his palm to eat so patience is being rewarded, and more of an incentive to just keep YellowFeather on her own. She’s learning to be more people-friendly. Cleaning out is a pain, but less work with one than with two for sure.

Fireheart, our snake

We’ve had Fireheart the common garter snake for a few years now. She was discovered as a little snake along with two others. They had some damage, we kept them long enough to get better. We let two go and Fireheart stayed behind.

She ate lots of worms and we learned you can switch them to mice so we learned how to do that. Dealing with a somewhat stubborn animal allowed us times of rejoicing! 🙂 Eventually she learned to take deceased newborn bunnies too.

I recently learned while watching Snake Discovery that garter snakes can also eat bits of chicken, heart, beef and so forth. Small meals going over better than bigger ones (this part we had learned already). So we’re hoping to convince Fireheart to expand her repertoire of food a bit.

My Bunnies

Although MOST of my bunnies aren’t pets OR even remotely a mascot they are a part of our everyday lives. My lad and I have an agreement. If I sell his mice I get a 10% commission, if he sells one of my rabbits, he gets the same commission (FYI…it works out better for him). 🙂

Now Gregory (pictured below) is MOSTLY a pet but he also helps us with our meat rabbits. A total love he is.

What does the lad learn from bunnies and even his mice?

early lessons in reproduction
balancing feed costs
customer service
website building
cleaning, waste removal/care/disposition
anatomy
dissection
vetting your own animals
parasitology
animal welfare vs animal rights
insurance requirements
financial management
and more

The mice

I used to raise mice for pets or feeders, but my lad wanted a way to earn some change so asked to take them over. Over the years he’s assumed more responsibility for them which is good to see.

Managing the mice teaches all the above plus more hands-on research. Testing out what food they like, learning to grow meal worms, fixing dry-tail, managing aggression, group sizes, colour management/genetics, and other things I haven’t considered.

So how about you? Do you have a homeschool mascot? Or even just friendly critters running about the place? Perhaps you think the idea of homeschool mascots is silly… and that’s okay too! If so, add a linky or leave a comment. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Where to shop for curricula

August 3, 2020 By Annette1 10 Comments

The question of the day is just where does one do their homeschool shopping? There are so many options for getting your course material, I thought I would run through a few places for where to shop for curricula.

Free Shopping Online Multi-grade/subject

Seriously… shop for free if you can. It’s SO easy in the early years there are TONS of things available for free for preschool through grade three. Just look for literally whatever it is you want to do and print it off, or follow the instructions and simply go to.

Otherwise there are free curriculum sites that are multi-subject such as the ones below. These are just a few of the sites I’ve listed in an earlier post on how to homeschool without the boxed curriculum.

Easy Peasy Homeschool is a completely free curriculum for all subjects grades K-12. They have a facebook group to help you out, lots of good resources, and it’s not hard to figure out. Just take your time and work through what you need.

PlainandNotSoPlain has free curriculum for most elementary grades and a bit of highschool.

AmblesideOnline offers full Charlotte Mason Style curriculum completely free for every grade and subject. You’ll find schedules, lessons plans and even a library. Explore it and learn with it.

CK-12 has excellent science and math curriculum for free for a variety of grades.

Old Fashioned Homeschool offers quite a few online books and worksheets along with a schedule.

Khan Academy has excellent videos on math, science, computing, and history. Video with questions to determine understanding.

School Express gives unit studies for a variety of topics. Multi-age unit studies.

CoreKowledge offers free curriculum for almost all grades through grade five, I haven’t found a lot beyond that.

HomeSchool Share offers unit studies and lapbooks. Perhaps not a complete curriculum but covers a large amount of information.

Freedom Homeschool has a ton of free resources for every subject and grade.

photo of woman lying on bed while using laptop — Photo by Elijah O’Donnell on Pexels.com

Free Specific Subjects Online

adult blur books close up — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Lower Cost Curricula

Though not as prevalent this year as others, used book fairs are a great place to get curricula. Homeschool parents will gather up their used materials and bring them to a central location for sale to others.

You’ll also find curricula listed online via facebook, kijiji, amazon, and more. Looking on Facebook for local buy/sell homeschool groups in your local area will be your best bet.

Use the library instead of buying! Seriously, you can get some excellent books there. Also consider, if you have an audible account using it for getting some of your needed reading materials. You can also use Librivox (did you know they have an app now?). On Apple and google.

books in black wooden book shelf — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Curricula and Resource Companies

If you can’t find what you are looking for used or free, you’ll need to look into purchasing new. There are so many places where to shop for curricula I’ll be just be listing a few.

You can order directly from companies such as Home School in the Woods, UnitStudy.com, TechieHomeschoolMom, The Canadian Homeschooler, and TeachersPayTeachers, etc

A physical resource place such as The Learning House, Scholar’s Choice, and so forth.

Or online resource distributors such as Christian Book Distributors, Rainbow Resouces, etc

You might even consider renting curricula from a place like Yellow House Book Rental.

man sitting in floor of room full of books — Photo by Guilherme Rossi on Pexels.com

What about you?

Have I missed anyplace about where to shop for curricula?

I know I didn’t list that many companies, but there are SO many out there it would be impossible to list them all. Basically google what you are looking for and something new will pop up, or ask in your local homeschooling group for ideas and you’ll get a multitude of suggestions.