Wednesday, September 30, 2015


Dione and I would like run the mentoring course again. This this the first time doing it in the fall, but there is a bigger interest in homeschooling due to the sex-ed curriculum in schools, and it seems desirable to run it now. It runs for 8 weeks from 7-9pm on Thursday evening starting Oct. 15, 2015 at Dione’s house. If you are interested in attending or know someone else who is interested please pass this on. If you have taken this course, you are most welcome to join again, and it will cost you nothing since you already have the workbook! Please read below, and contact me at cynthia@bonzailandscaping.com if you are interested.

This will be based on Vicki Bentley's book, Home Education 101, and will require the purchase of the Parent Workbook, for $35, which will be due the first meeting. This just covers the cost of the book, nothing more.
This program is for any new home educating family interested in more personal mentoring from an experienced veteran – that’s “experienced” not “expert”.

This program may be for you IF:
- you are brand new this year with young children
- you are on the edge of a decision to home educate but want to know more about practical aspects
- you have been at this for a couple of years but still feel you require more of the basic information to go forward more comfortably
- you have older children recently removed from the public or private school system
- you are a veteran and would like to sit in on a session in order to become a mentor with CHEN 

 

Topics to be covered are:
Beginning the Incredible Journey
Choosing Curriculum
Organizing Your Time
Home Education with Style
Getting Dinner on the Table (The Same Day You Homeschool)
Testing and Evaluation
Teaching Tips
Organizing Your Home
Lessons Learned

You will notice that these topics are not all strictly home educating how-tos but deal with the general flow of your household. I believe that choosing to home educate your children is not about making an education choice. It is truly a lifestyle choice. How you organize (or don't organize) your home and household tasks can and do directly affect your "school" time. If you already have done the course you are welcome to join us again.

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

CM Book Study Meetings in Bradford


I want to extend a warm welcome for any home schooling parents to join our local Charlotte Mason Support Group in Bradford. If you are pursuing a Charlotte Mason style of education in your home - or are just interested in this philosophy of education, you are welcome to join us once or regularly. Our meetings are drop in and don't require registration (though it's nice to know how many cups of tea to prepare.) ;)

 

If you are unfamiliar with Charlotte Mason and her philosophy of education, she was a British educator about 100 years ago who strongly believed in the value and potential of all children. In fact, in a time when children were very much considered in light of the socio-economic class they were raised in, she felt that children were already persons of great value not potentially so. She saw them as intelligent, inquisitive and creative and so argued that all children should be given a liberal (as in broad in scope and deep in content), child-centred (meaning focusing on the needs of the student rather than the needs of the teacher) education. 

 

As such she advocated for three main tools of education: atmosphere, dicipline, and life. By atmosphere, she insisted that children not be isolated in an environment contrived for children but that learning should take place naturally in real life situations and that children should learn to love to learn for its own sake and not because they are compelled by marks or rewards or by the desire to please or appease their teachers. By discipline, she was describing the value of instilling good habits, life skills, character traits in children as these are just as much the measures of success as knowing specific subject content. And finally, life was meant to encompass the total sum of academic learning, not just limited to a few subjects in school but very broad in subject matter.

 

She a pursued these goals by using several key methods: narration (oral, written, and otherwise) as a method of testing, living books (written with great vocabulary by people who were passionate about their topics), lots of time in nature, short lessons, and much experiential learning over textbook work.

 

The goal she said was a science of relations, or that the student build a relationship with the subjects they were learning rather than simply learn many facts related to the subject.

 

If this style of educating resonates with your family, please be encouraged to join our discussions.  We will be reading For the Children’s Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay this year.  It is so inspirational; you’ll love it!  If you need a copy of the book, let me know as I have a few in stock now and will likely need to order more in before the school year starts.  They are $18.75 each, tax included.

We haven’t yet divided the book into readings for the year but will send that out once we have it.  As well, at our last meeting in June, we decided that we will, this year, make a bit of a change and will be adding in “Mother Culture” time rather than subject practicums as in past years.  We have often read books that are quite meaty and philosophical or just plain homeschool-inspirational and when that is the case, we have traditionally taken part of the evening to practically look at different ways to live out this educational life, looking at topics like spelling, geography or math.

This year’s change up is because we wanted to do some practical learning that was centred around our development as Mamas as we recognize that our own educational passion is reflected strongly on our kids. I will also pass on the subjects as we develop a list for the year.

Math Tutoring


MATH TUTORING

for homeschool families

 

-          Math tutoring for all grades K-12+ from a Christian worldview

-          I offer in-person tutoring at your place or mine (travel fees will apply if at your place).

-          I also offer on-line tutoring which allows students to access math tutoring without the need for travel.  Your student can access all the help she/he needs from the comfort of your own home – even on vacation - as long as you have a computer and internet access.  I use the same on-line platform as many university math departments.

-          Tax receipts provided.  Math tutoring fees are eligible for the Ontario Children’s Activity Tax Credit for children < 16.

 

Other Services:

-          Free consulting services for home school families

-          Free Math Resource Centre (Fridays)

-          Math Assessments. 

-          Test Prep for GED, SAT, ACT exams

-          High school, college, university prep, planning & admissions

-          Scholarship acquisition help

 

I am a Christian and a former home schooler; my sons are now at university, both graduated with math scholarships.  I have helped numerous home school families and can provide references upon request.

 

Contact Jill Scalzitti, B.Sc.


705-727-4634 for more information or to book your free consultation in-person or via Skype.

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“The universe is written in the language of mathematics”    

                                                                      Galileo Galilei