Life at Oak Grove

I just discovered an interesting new social media site called Shweet! What is Shweet? Well simply put you have a change to win something every time you share a link with your friends. Every day, you can include links on twitter or facebook to funny videos, trailers, stores and much more. Once you have shared the link with your contacts in facebook or twitter, you have a change to win something.

The site is pretty easy to use I find. One column is showing you the prize to win and the other one is giving you the link which you can share on facebook or twitter. How do you win? Apparently when enough people have shweeted a link, the swwepstakes is closed and a random draw is made. You can only shweet once through facebook and once through twitter. That's it!

Also every time you shweet, you earn points. What the point are for I currently have no clue whatsoever since they have not explained this on their site just yet. I think they are trying to figure it out.

I suspect that some people will go overboard and shweet about anything and everything. Me? I am the kind of person who will pick and choose the post to shweet. For example as my first shweet, I decided to pick the one to promoto CoolCanucks and I have now a chance to win a 25$ Starbucks gift card.

The idea is original and very creative I find. A way to encourage people to spread the word on products, sites or other things and give them a chance to win something for their efforts. It feels like have a carrot in front of you to use a French Canadian expression... The funny part is takes literally two clicks to get two chances to win something.

Shweet can be found at http://www.shweet.com , on their tumblr blog, on facebook and on twitter.

What do you think of this innovative way of helping to spread the word on something?

Would you be interested in signing in? Why or why not?

What kind of prize would interest you?

Exciting News from TOS! 

Attention writers!

Grab your pencils and get those creative juices flowing!

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is hosting our second Storytime Writing Contest! We have two creative fiction categories: adults (16 and up 2,500 words or less) and children (15 and below 1,500 words or less). Deadline to enter is March 16, 2009. $7.95 fee per entry.

Grand prize winners in both the adult and child categories will receive prize packages valued at over $1,000, publication in the Summer 2009 issue of TOS, and publication in our Storytime 2009 Compilation E-Book. Eleven Honorable Mentions from each category will also be included in the E-Book in addition to receiving gifts from top homeschool companies.

We look forward to reading your entries!

For a detailed list of prizes, official contest rules, to meet our judges, and to upload your story, please visit: www.TheHomeschoolMagazine.com/Short_Story_Contest.php.
 
Need help teaching writing? We have over 200 writing products in the Schoolhouse Store!

A while back my friend Heidi had a contest on her blog.   I won the gift certificate at Little Piddles!!!

After much debate about what buying...  I had picked something that unfortunately was not available anymore.   Soooooo I picked a tutu and was willing to pay the difference and the shipping.   It was planned to get it shipped to my friend who lives in PA since I was going to visit her in June...

Well, I got blessed like no tomorrow.   Not only I just received the package at home but they waved the extra charges and the shipping.   How nice from them!   Thank you so much for the nice gift...

Jasmine needs to grow up a bit before putting this tutu... but I am certain she will like it.    For now, I will keep it safely in my wardrobe until she is 2-4 years old.   Right now she is 4 months... quite a few months to go before she can wear it.  

I love it.  So nice in turquoise with the brown and turquoise ribbon.

Once again, THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, Heidi, Little Piddles and Fuzzy Me!!!!

Last year, Alexandre won 50 books through a contest with Scholastic.  They were celebrating their 50th anniversary in Canada and he was one of the fifty winners.   50 books fill a bookcase believe me.  But I am glad because they are all in French...

This year there was another contest.   This time we had to write an acrostic with Junie B Jones...  The contests is close since April 20th and the winners won't be contacted until May.   So I am being very patient (yah!  Right!) and hope that he wins again this year.  

We could get the whole collection of Junie B Jones in French as well as a bunch of "Mots Mystères".   That would be nice.

Recently, we ordered a whole set of Geronimo Stilton (books 1-26).  Alexandre read the #31 about the Olympics and he loved it.    Since there was a good price on the May catalogue - we ordered that set...  I think we will miss only 5 books from the collection when we get them.   Anyhow, it's so nice to see your child enjoying books as much as I did...   The fun part is I read them too!   Now I will be able to surprise him with some new books for our trip in June.  

We have being doing Rosetta Stone in our Homeschool to perfect the French Language.   We love the quality of the software.   It is amazing how fast Alexandre is grabbing things.  Mind you - French is his first language , English being the second one.   We want to get the Spanish version this year and prepare to go on mission with the kids eventually.   But this morning I learned about a contest on the blogosphere...  So here it is - if you want to win a Rosetta Stone Language Training software please see below...

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How many children do you have / homeschool?

We have currently 3 children and I homeschool my oldest.   My 3 year old is also interested in school and sometimes he would sit with us to work in his preschool book.   We are expecting child #4 with a c-section schedule for Dec 19th.

How long have you been homeschooling?

I started homeschool during the summer of 2007.   This is our first year and we enjoy it very much.

Have they always been homeschooled, or did they ever go to public/private school?

My oldest son has been in French Catholic school for 2 years before we decided to homeschool.  He did his junior and senior kindergarden at that school.

Do you plan on homeschooling until graduation?

Hopefully yes but I am taking it on a day to day basis.   So far so good... We are planning to continue next year!

Do you belong to a co-op?

No.   I want to take it easy for the first year and not put too much on our schedule.   There was one in my area but I think it is not meeting anymore as most of the families had teenagers...

Do you school all year long, or use some other schedule?

I would see it is sort of year long but we do take some time off.  For example, right now we are taking it slow with the coming of the baby and me having high blood pressure...  We are doing minimum schooling in the morning.  Also, we will take a break during Christmas time as well as most probably February.

Do you use textbooks only, or do you like to supplement with other materials?

We do have textbooks but we also complete with other things like computer software as well as devotions and outside activities.   This past Fall, we had swimming and gymnastics.   For Winter, it will be mostly playing outside and getting adjusted with the new baby.

Are field trips included in your school plans, or are they just family time?

I would say both - in September the homeschool association organized a field trip to Upper Canada Village and we had a good time.  We also go to museums in the area as we have a membership with three museums in our city.  This membership allows us to access other museums for free when we travel - which we take advantage!   Our trip to Toronto allowed us to go to the Ontario Science Centre for free...

Do you and your kids do crafty stuff together for school time?

No much... We will do something this week for Christmas decoration and we plan to do a Gingerbread Nativity Kit as well.   However, I am planning to introduce more crafts and sciences in 2008.

Would you consider everyday household life stuff ‘home ec’?

We already do!   There is cooking classes in a grocery store for the kids and we do cook with them at home too!   My oldest helped his dad to install Windows Server the other day and they learn how to take care of the household with both of us... They help with folding the laundry, emptying the dishwasher, putting the dirty dishes on the counter...etc.

Do you have any advice for new homeschoolers?

I would say to start slow with the basic to be covered and then when you feel comfortable to add more things in your planning.   Don't get discourage and take some days off.   It is a family affair and it takes adjustment for sure!  Investigate before diving in the homeschool...  We had about 10 families in my church and I've sent an e-mail to each moms to ask them questions.   A friend even sat down with me to show me how she schedule her day.   She took the time to encourage me.   Go to a homeschool conference before making your final decision.   Get connected with homeschoolers and don't hesitate to ask questions.   Read books on homeschooling - it was a great help too!   Be realistic...  some days are harder than others.... 

Do you have advice for homeschoolers with little ones under foot?

Encourage them to play by themselves but if it doesn't work take out the playdoh, the crayons and paper, educational toys related to their age, or even a video which they can watch without disturbing the older siblings...