Free Newby Workshops for the Summer of 2015

Dear Friends,

This year it seems that there are more parents than ever considering this crazy homeschooling life and so once again this year, in partnership with Henry and Corrinna Kiezebrink, I am offering free workshops to new homeschoolers (and those thinking of homeschooling) at my home in Bradford, Ontario and in the Kiezebrink home near Barrie, Ontario.

Whether you have made a firm decision or are still investigating your options, whether you are doing this based on a conviction you have or because the ability to school in a different way just seems to fit for your family, please feel free to come for a visit. These are interactive (question and answer style) small group workshops. If you, or someone you know, are interested in coming please RSVP directly to me at cori@mapletreepublications.ca as soon as possible as attendance is limited to 15 people (since we do have a very cozy space to meet) and the evenings usually do fill up.

You may come either to the home of the Kiezebrinks near Barrie, Ontario on Tuesday, July 21^st or to my home in Bradford, Ontario on Thursday, August 13^th. Both evenings will run from 7:30-9:30.

Both Mom and Dad (and Grandma and Grandpa or other adult supports) are welcome to attend though I respectfully ask that only parents and nursing babes attend as a full house and a late evening often make it hard for little ones to allow the adults the opportunity to get the most out of the workshop.

We will cover topics like:

Yikes! Can I do this!?!

Where can I go for support?

What are the legal implications?

Do I have to contact my local school board?

What about curriculum?

What is a “normal” homeschooling day like?

What about socialization!?!

Please come with questions!

And expect some yummy handouts too!

Henry and Corrinna Kiezebrink bring to these workshops 25 years of homeschooling experience while our little homeschool was established only 12 years ago.  While we aren’t experts, we do have a few years under our belts and hope to share the real deal on homeschooling, the good, the bad and the ugly.  We are obviously a bit biased towards homeschooling but will gladly share the truth about the pros and cons of adopting this crazy lifestyle.

Please feel free to share this invitation with friends and family who are new to homeschooling or who are considering it. You are also welcome to forward this information to your church group or other homeschool groups. See you in the summer!

Peace,

Cori

Maple Tree Publications

905.778.9412

www.mapletreepublications.ca  

cori@mapletreepublications.ca

Juggling…

One of my sweet friends reminded me recently that this life that we are living is always going to be a juggling act and that we are always going to be dropping the ball.  The trick is to choose which ball to drop and when and to make sure that we alternate which one gets dropped from time to time. 

I am sure that many of you also have a similar story: there’s my job as wife and then mom and teacher and small business woman.  I need to feed little people, and make sure I get some exercise in, and that the laundry is relatively under control, and pack book treats into boxes and envelopes and write.  Writing.  I miss that.  Writing has been the ball that has been dropped lately and it’s time to dust it off and pick it up and get in touch again.  I think I am a bit of a modern day old fashioned girl: not much for talking on the phone but I do love to write and exchange notes.  If we can’t sit down and have a proper conversation over a cup of tea, then the written word is one of the best ways to communicate.

Writing soothes me.  I think that’s why I am a journaller.  I write even when I hope that no one will ever read it.  And while this sunny little spot Under the Maple Tree isn’t a very large community, I thank you for joining in this conversation.  It encourages me to hear from you and to hear of your struggles and your victories.  Thanks for indulging me and letting me share my little part of the world with you.  I’ve missed this time.

I can’t wait to tell you a bit about what’s been going on here.  Most of it is mundane and everyday-ish, some is exciting and exhilarating.  Dropping the writing ball has allowed me to do a little better at a few other things.  I have become fairly consistent in exercising and eating better, which has lead to me adding a few new treats to the shelves of our store: the book Trim Healthy Mama and some of the specialty foods that they provide like healthy natural sweeteners. 

We have also done a bunch of the boring behind the scenes work that needs to be done, updating computer programmes and hardware to make Maple Tree run better.  I thought that changing my email address (to cori@mapletreepublications.ca) would be less cumbersome than it proved to be but now we have an address that won’t need to change again as it matches our website. 

We’ve tripled the number of books that are available on the webstore as we continue to work towards being Canada’s Charlotte Mason resource provider, www.mapletreepublications.ca.  Check out all the Simply Charlotte Mason books that we now stock in addition to publications by Maple Tree as well as Life of Fred math, Mystery of History, Story of the World, Jonathan Park, Learning Language Arts Through Literature and much more.

On the home front, the girls are in senior kindergarten to grade ten, if you want to talk schoolish.  I can’t wait to tell you about our experience reading through the whole Bible at the beginning of this school year.  Many of you have asked and so I will update you about that soon too. 

For now though I should leave you with a few more practical updates as I anticipate the excitement of a few more conferences coming up in the next several weeks.  It has been so refreshing to me to see many of you and to serve you at both the KWCHEA conference in Kitchener and the RVHEA conference in Ottawa.  Next weekend Maple Tree will be at OCHEC in Ancaster at Redeemer University.

If you are at any of these upcoming conferences, please come by and say hello.  And, of course, I will happily pack up an order to bring to you at the conference if you have something that you need and want to make sure it’s available when we meet up.

Here’s where Maple Tree is setting up shop in the next little bit:

May 1-2 OCHEC Convention in Ancaster.

https://www.ochec.org/?q=convention
*I will be speaking on “Enjoying Math?”*  (Really, it will be  fun one!)

May 30^th KATCH Conference in Peterbourough.  http://www.katchpeterborough.org/Conference.html

*I will be doing a three part series on Charlotte Mason’s philosophy of education: Education is an Atmostphere, a Discipline and a Life.*  I am really excited to be able to share these ones.  Don’t miss out!

June 6^th Used Book and Curriculum Fair and Small Business Expo in Barrie. https://www.facebook.com/events/768354386584075/

June 12^th TEACH New and Used Curriculum Fair in Brantford.

http://groupspaces.com/TeachHomeEducators/item/911069

Looking forward to seeing many of you soon in person and to hearing from you Under the Maple Tree as I get back to adding the writing ball into this jumbled up mess that I juggle.

Peace and blessings,

Cori

www.mapletreepublications.ca

Free Newby Workshops for the Summer of 2014

Dear Friends,

Once again this year, in partnership with Henry and Corrinna Kiezebrink, I am offering free workshops to new homeschoolers (and those thinking of homeschooling) at my home in Bradford, Ontario. We will also be offering one in the Kiezebrink home near Barrie, Ontario.

If you are new to the homeschooling world or are considering this crazy lifestyle, then please feel free to come for a visit. These are interactive (question and answer style) small group workshops. If you, or someone you know, are interested in coming please RSVP directly to me at mapletreepublications@sympatico.ca as soon as possible as attendance is limited to 15 people (since I do have a very cozy living room) and the evenings usually do fill up.

You may come to my home on either of two dates: Thursday, July 24^th or Tuesday, August 12^th. Both evenings will run from 7:30-9:30. The Keizebrinks are hosting their workshop on August 7^th from 7:30-9:30.

Both Mom and Dad are welcome to attend though I respectfully ask that only parents and nursing babes attend as a full house and a late evening often make it hard for little ones to allow the adults the opportunity to get the most out of the workshop.

We will cover topics like:

Yikes! Can I do this!?!

Where can I go for support?

What are the legal implications?

Do I have to contact my local school board?

What about curriculum?

What is a “normal” homeschooling day like?

What about socialization!?!

Please come with questions!

And expect some yummy handouts too!

Henry and Corrinna Kiezebrink bring to these workshops 24 years of homeschooling experience while our little homeschool was established only 11 years ago.  While we aren’t experts, we do have a few years under our belts and hope to share the real deal on homeschooling, the good, the bad and the ugly.  We are obviously a bit biased towards homeschooling but do hope to share the truth about the pros and cons of adopting this crazy lifestyle.

Please feel free to share this invitation with friends and family who are new to homeschooling or who are considering it. You are also welcome to forward this information to your church group or other homeschool groups. See you in the summer!

Peace,

Cori

Maple Tree Publications

905.778.9412

www.mapletreepublications.ca

mapletreepublications@sympatico.ca

 

Free Newby Workshops!

Dear Friends,

Once again this year I am offering free workshops to new homeschoolers (and those thinking of homeschooling) at my home in Bradford, Ontario.  I will also be partnering with Henry and Corrinna Kiezebrink to offer one in their home near Barrie, Ontario again this year.

If you are new to the homeschooling world or are considering this crazy lifestyle, then please feel free to come for a visit. These are interactive (question and answer style) small group workshops in my home. If you, or someone you know is interested in coming please RSVP directly to me at mapletreepublications@sympatico.ca as soon as possible as attendance is limited to 15 people (since I do have a very cozy living room) and the evenings usually do fill up. (Perhaps they will more so this year as City TV has done a story on us recently that we understand will air soon and will include information about these workshops!)

You may come to my home on either of two dates: Thursday, July 18^th or Tuesday, August 6^th. Both evenings will run from 7:30-9:30.  The Keizebrinks are hosting their workshop on August 20^th from 7:30-9:30. 

Both Mom and Dad are welcome to attend though I respectfully ask that only parents and nursing babes attend as a full house and a late evening often make it hard for young people to allow the adults the opportunity to get the most out of the workshop. 

We will cover topics like:

Yikes! Can I do this!?!

Where can I go for support?

What are the legal implications?

Do I have to contact my local school board?

What about curriculum?

What is a “normal” homeschooling day like?

What about socialization!?!

Please come with questions!

And expect some yummy handouts too!

Henry and Corrinna Kiezebrink hope to attend all of these workshops to share from their 24 years of homeschooling experience as well.

Please feel free to share this invitation with friends and family who are new to homeschooling or who are considering it.  You are also welcome to forward this information to your church group or other homeschool groups.  See you in the summer!

Blessings,

Cori

Maple Tree Publications

905.778.9412

www.mapletreepublications.ca

mapletreepublications@sympatico.ca 

 

A Messy Muddle and Up-Dates...

I was talking to a friend today – on the phone!  (Just talking on the phone while my kids are awake is something that I gave up on years ago but we had business to discuss so I squirreled myself away in my room during quiet time and hoped for the best.)  She mentioned how I didn’t really have a 9-5 job and I agreed.  My jobs as wife, mom, teacher, writer, and small business guru tend to mush together and overlap in so many messy muddled ways.  Perhaps you can relate?  Just finding time to do work on only one job at a time is often hard.  It’s also hard to find moments of still and quiet while the family is awake.

I love my moments of contemplation and sharing when I get to chatter with you all here Under the Maple Tree but I know they have been few and far between lately.  I’ve missed it but I have also so enjoyed bringing Come Sit by Me back to life for you all.  While it was still looking great on the outside, it sure does look amazing with a face lift.  More than that, there were issues behind the scenes that needed a little TLC.  I didn’t realize that when a book gets to be nearly 15 years old, it is possible for the old file digital technology to fail to keep up with new computing.  We weren’t able to continue to print with the files that were available.  Come Sit by Me needed to be rebuilt on a new platform.  I am so glad that now, at the end of the process, we are still able to provide the Canadian Homeschool community with this spectacular resource.  I am also glad to have a few moments to share with you what is coming up in this little place.

First of all, it’s conference season - so let the visiting begin.  This is the season when I get to come out from my little corner and see so many of you at conferences and sales.  Kitchener’s KWCHEA Homeschool Conference was spectacular as usual.  Smile-per-dollar it is a great conference to go to because there is so much packed into one day! 

Now, I am quickly packing up the last of my supplies so that I can pull out for Ottawa in the morning…  And in two weeks: Kelowna!  So many events to look forward to!

And so many other yummy ideas that I wanted to share with you, but for now I think I will simply let you know about what is coming up so that if I find myself in your neck of the woods, that you might come and say hello if our paths cross. 

This Spring’s Conferences, Sales and Events where you will find Maple Tree:

April 4^th – Charlotte Mason Meeting

April 6th – KWCEA Conference, Kitchener

Workshops:
            Homeschooling for “Newbies”
            Working Together

April 13^th – RVHEA Conference, Ottawa

April 26^th & 27^th – BCCHEC Conference, Kelowna, BC

Workshops:

Day by Day and Side By Side

          Enjoying Math?
          Single Income Living in a Double Income World
          In Search of the Secret: The Practical Road to Contentment

May 3^rd & 4^th – OCHEC Conference, Hamilton

May 9^th – Charlotte Mason Meeting, Bradford

May 25^th – Parent’s Guide Conference, Barrie

June 1^st – Toronto New and Used Homeschool Book Sale

June 13^th – Charlotte Mason Meeting, Bradford

June 14^th – TEACH New and Used Curriculum Sale, Brantford,

July? – Newby Meeting, Bradford

August ? – Newby Meeting, Bradford

Also, check out the new website!  It is, as always, a work in progress but we hope that our new look will again be more user friendly and easier to update.  If there books that you would like to see that we don’t carry, let me know.  Often I am able to order them in but just don’t carry them all the time.  Also, if I you have an order that you want to place and might be seeing me at an upcoming conference then let me know.  I can bring your books and save you the shipping!

Whether I see you at this weekend’s Ottawa conference or not, have a great weekend!

Cori

www.mapletreepublications.ca

Perspective

So many of you have asked about our daughter that I realize that it is time to update you. 

Just reading over my musings of a year ago, I realize how I still get so relentlessly caught up in the mundane and overwhelmed by things that are so transient.  (This week, in addition to life’s everyday blunders and the usual financial frustrations, we have been dealing with BOTH fleas and lice in the Dean household.  When will “normal” arrive, please, Lord?!)

I have been feeling sorry for myself, wishing someone would step up to this plate that I have been given and run the race for me for a little while.  My husband and I have spent the week going to bed sore and exhausted, hoping for relief the next day but finding a new set of challenges with each morning: the dog gets out of the yard AGAIN, a computer crashes and people treat us like we are carrying the plague.  I think that it is the stress of it all that made us turn our backs on the fact that that nasty cold was creeping into the house as well.  Par for the course. 

Yesterday, in the midst of it all, we were brought back to the basics.  (We will conquer the fleas and the lice.  I’ve never dealt with fleas before but have with lice, it’s a lot of work but we know how to overcome it.  The colds will move on, eventually the bills will be paid and our friends won’t be afraid to see us.)  On the other hand, there we were on the floor of the little girls’ bedroom dealing with a tantrum, not the everyday grumpiness that you occasionally encounter but a full out kicking and screaming 3 year old.  And then she went pale, her eyes rolled back and the screaming eased.  My baby nearly fainted.  Now to most this would be happy justice for a kid that had cried it out.  For us fainting can be life threatening.

Suddenly lice, fleas, colds, and harsh words from friends didn’t seem so important.  Surviving the moment was all that we had. 

Now, as soon as the spell overcame her, she started to recover.  She certainly had lost the wind in her sails but she came back to us.  The normal procedure for days like this with a girl with a heart condition like ours has been to see the doctor immediately (get to the ER!) which has resulted in one weekend stay at the hospital so far.  The thing is that our most recent visits to our local paediatric cardiologist and to Sick Kids confirmed that our prayers are working, her heart is holding out and is more stable than they had originally anticipated.  Praise the Lord!  That being the case, we are now told that the pacemaker won’t be inserted into her heart until they see some quantifiable difference in the testing that they do or until this “starts to affect her quality of life”, meaning until dizziness leads to actual fainting.  We do hope to see our doctor this week but for now are closely monitoring her and seeking your prayers.

All of this has brought back some much needed perspective: God is in control.

            “I am the LORD, and there is no other;

            apart from me there is no God.
            I will strengthen you,
            though you have not acknowledged me,
            so that from the rising of the sun
            to the place of its setting
            men may know that there is none besides me.
            I am the LORD, and there is no other.
            I form the light and create darkness,
            I bring prosperity and create disaster;
            I, the LORD, do all these things.” – Isaiah 45:5-7

He allows us to go through the things that he does because He trusts that we will come out on the other side closer to Him and more able to be all that He wants us to be.

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” – James 1:2-4

Friends, my family and I have so appreciated your kind words, your prayers and your inquiries about our daughter that show that you care.  They have made such a difference to us.  Please do continue to keep her in your thoughts and prayers as we journey along this crazy road.  It has made a difference as she had gone a full year now without need for pacemaker surgery and we hope that she will be able to go longer and grow more in order to better be ready for the hardware that is best suited to her needs.

Thanks,

Cori

Maple Tree Publications

www.mapletreepublications.ca 

New Stuff!

It's been a while since my last post since we officially entered "conference season" at the end of March and I have had to spend more time in the "real world".  I wanted to send you all a quick note though, before I head out to Ottawa for this weekend's RVHEA conference, to let you know a bit of what is going on here Under the Maple Tree. 

For more than a decade, Maple Tree has been committed to bringing you spectacular homegrown Canadian homeschool resources.  In the past few years though as I have been out at conferences and enjoying many yummy chats with all of you we have often talked about wonderful books that weren't on our publication list.  After a chat about one great resource or another the inevitable question was, "Can I get that from you?"  I was pleased to be able to point my friends to where they could seek out some of these yummy resources but have decided to stream line the process for you (and to work harder at paying for our own piano lessons rather than at padding some other retailer's bottom line). 

So, in light of the fact that we love the principles of Charlotte Mason's Philosophy of Education, we have expanded out product line and now carry many of the essentials of a Charlotte Mason education. 

I do plan to send you some more info in the near future on these products but, in short, we can now provide you with:

- Life of Fred Math
- Learning Language Arts Through Literature
- Mystery of History
- and Apologia Science

As well as many Charlotte Mason style Bible and parent resources.  We have been slowing adding products to the website so check back there as we continue to make updates but also feel free to email or call for more information.  I'd be happy to try to help you find the resource that you are looking for.  For now, our product line is fairly simple (though it is a big and exciting change here in our little corner of the world) as we aim to provide at least some essentials of a Charlotte Mason education.

Don't forget that Maple Tree was founded on amazing Canadian resources that we continue to provide: Working Together, Come Sit By Me and the Great Canadian ArtPak to name a few. 

Please stop by our virtual store as you plan to visit your local conference or to order books for you next school year.

And if you are going to be at one of the remaining conferences that I will be at (Ottawa, Hamilton, Barrie, Brantford, or Toronto) please come and say hello!  I'd love to chat with you in real life!

Blessings,

Cori

What's New?

Hey there Friends!

I just thought I would drop you a short note (for once) to invite you to come on over and visit my newly refreshed website, www.mapletreepublications.ca.  While this "work in progress" is still likely to morph and change over the next few months, we hope that we can use it to be useful to you.  The resources page will contain more and updated links and likes lists.  The link back here to the blog is prominent.  We also hope that, though our product list is still small, you will consider buying some of your homeschooling resources through Maple Tree. 

At Maple Tree we would love to become Canada's Charlotte Mason resource provider and so please let me know if there are resources that you would like to see us carry and we will try to get them in for you.  For now, being a cheap homeschooler, I am trying to focus our product list first, of course, on the spectacular resources that we publish and secondly on the most essential learning tools that we homeschooler all have to invest it. 

For now, since there is so much out there that is cheap or freely available for our kids to learn from so I would rather help you to find where you can get free ebooks than to try to sell you reprints.  I love the idea of borrowing books that will only be used for a short time from a library rather than cluttering your house up with them even though they may be very good.  So if you take a look around at the website now, you will find that there are a lot of parent resources, math, reading, science and history curriculums but not so much the typical cornucopia of Charlotte Mason style wonderful novels and other books to read.  In time...  it will come.

One thing that I do want to point out though before you toddle of to peruse the dusty shelves of my little store is that the last of the Life of Fred Elementary Series is now racing across the United States in a FedEx truck toward my door!  That means that if you are interested in using this most engaging and entertaining of math curriculums then you can now order them on my website.  Need more information about Life of Fred?  Check it out here.  Updated pricing that includes the newest books can be found at www.mapletreepublications.ca under products.

Thanks for checking us out!

Peace,

Cori

Newby Workshops - Last Call

Dear Friends,

I just thought I would post one last call for this month's upcoming Newby Workshops.

This Tuesday, August 9th, will be the last one at my home, in Bradford. For more information about this workshop please see my blog: http://mapletreepublications.blogspot.com/2011/06/newby-workshops.html. You can register for this workshop by contacting me at mapletreepublications@sympatico.ca.

The final Newby Workshop for this season is on Tuesday, August 23rd at the home of Henry and Corrinna Keizebrink near Barrie. Registration for this workshop is through Henry at s.c.h.i.l@hotmail.com

Both workshops are free and are for anyone who is relatively new to homeschooling or who is thinking of homeschooling.

There will be lots of Q&A time and some yummy handouts and freebies. Please feel free to pass this information on. The July workshop was packed full and a lot of fun. I wouldn't want anyone to miss out on these as I won't be holding these for free again until next summer.

Looking forward to Tuesday!

Blessings,

Core

Newby Workshops

Dear Friends,


Just a quick post to let you know that I have <finally> set a couple of dates for this year's Newby Workshops!  They will be held on Thursday, July 21st and Tuesday, August 9th from 7:30 to 9:30 pm in my home in Bradford.

If you are new to the homeschool world or are considering this crazy lifestyle, please feel welcome to visit in my home on one of these dates!  This is a workshop that I have presented at homeschooling conferences but that I love to be able to share in my home even more as we will have a limited size (only 15 spaces available - sign up soon!) and will have two hours rather than one.  There will be a big pot of tea and my daughters are likely to come up with some yummy treats to share. 

Though we will try to look over some of the most common questions and concerns that new homeschoolers have in a sturctured way, there will be lots of time to discuss those questions that are foremost on your mind about this way of educating.  My plan is more for an open forum than for a lecture. 

Some of the things that we will discuss:

Yikes!  Can I do this?!?
Where can I go for support?
What are the legal implications?
Do I have to contact my local school board?
What about curriculum?
What is a "normal" homeschooling day like?
What about socialization!?!

Expect some yummy hand outs too!    

Please share this invitation with friends and family who are new to homeschooling or who are considering it.  You are also welcome to forward this information to your church group or homeschool group.  I look forward to meeting many of you in my living room this summer!

Blessings,

Cori