Exciting Opportunity for Tyler

Tyler has successfully completed his third year in the animation program at Loyalist College and while not all of the marks are in, he's received well over 90% in the ones that are.  In addition to this, his professors have selected him to showcase his work in the Student Showcase section at  DIGIFEST in Toronto.  (Digifest is an international digital festival which takes place in Toronto)

A bit about the student showcase part from their website:

"Come see the best digital projects from across the province and abroad!

From May 8th to 10th, Digifest will be hosting the "Best of the Best" Student Showcase ....
 Come by this free event to see the incredible work being done by tomorrow's leading designers, artists, developers and innovators.

40 projects from 13 post-secondary institutions will be on display for 3 days only.  The Student Showcase will feature the best student works selected by their schools under the categories of Integrated Media, Social Innovation, Animation and Moving Image, Interaction and Gaming, Visual Art and Design and Beyond the Screen.  This unique exhibit brings together under one room the most exciting cross-disciplinary student work in Ontario, and you won't want to miss it!"
(Above excerpt copied from here:  http://www.torontodigifest.ca/2014/student-showcase/

~~ and ~~

"How does it work?

1)  Each participating school will select the top projects from the graduating class to be juried during Digifest.

.....

5)    Those exhibiting their work will have the unique opportunity to speak to festival attendees about their project.  A jury of industry professionals will choose the "best" project from each category, which will be presented with an award at a ceremony ....."
(Above excerpt copied from here: http://www.torontodigifest.ca/2014/student-showcase-participants/ )


Complete info about Digifest 2014 available from their website:  http://www.torontodigifest.ca/2014/

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After year three

Tyler is nearing the end of year three (final year) of his college program.   Here is the link to his website.  Once on his site, there are tabs along the top....be sure to check them all out!

Click here for Tyler's website

Well done, Tyler!

Tyler's Animation Project

In order for Tyler to complete second year at college, he needed to do an internship.  Three students from second year and a five from third year worked as a team to produce this 30 second animation for the Kingston, Ontario Police Force.  It was to have the look and feel of a video game.

Here is their finished product ---  (best viewed in full screen mode -- click on the "youtube" symbol in the lower right hand corner.  Once at youtube, click on the broken rectangle icon in the far right corner to bring it up to full screen)

Distracted Drivers

It's been awhile!

Thought I'd drop in and post and update, seeing as it has been almost a year since my last post.

 Tyler has now finished his second year of post secondary education. It's interesting to see the changes in him each time he comes home and we're more than proud of the person he is becoming.

 I remember our first year of homeschooling, he was starting grade five and Brittney grade three. We were only about one month into it, when we received in the mail, a hand-written letter from a very concerned relative. The tone was very condescending as she made quite clear her thoughts on how we were ruining our children by homeschooling. There was a bit of everything in there and all the usual (plus some) "concerns" about homeschooling were covered. I was still a bit nervous, even though I'd researched it for a whole year. One of the assurances from seasoned homeschoolers seemed to be, "the proof would be in the pudding". 

We now find ourselves at that point.

 Tyler completed his second year with an overall average of 89%, which included a final mark of 100% in one course. He is well-adjusted, very focused on his studies and has great social skills (the concerns of most people when they hear "Homeschooling".) He worked during his first year of college and on all of his breaks (Christmas and summer)in order to put himself through school.

 Brittney is doing equally as well. Her average is well over 90%, she is self-motivated as she completes her courses through distance and on her own. Weekends are spent working as she too saves for her next set of courses (which she will most likely go away for).

 Jake continues on at home and is also growing in areas he previously had difficulty with (ie... sitting still lol) 

I'm often tempted to write a letter of response to the well-meaning but misguided relative to let her know, all is well. Homeschooling didn't ruin them and is one of the best decisions we ever made.

Brittney's Graduation

Another homeschooling family we know in central NL has a daughter 11 days older than Brittney. They wanted to do something to mark her graduation from "high school" and asked if we'd like to join in with them....which we did.

There are many things I like about homeschooling, but one thing...it allows each child to develop into who they are and doesn't push them in to being like everyone else. This was evidenced in many ways but really shone through with their choice of dress. Each had a very different style from the other and neither felt pressured to dress like the other one.

Here are some pictures. I took these with my phone and can't get the captions to line up with the pictures, but you'll see them as you scroll through them. The cake was really beautiful -- even had a cool pink grad cap on it!

Jake made a speech to his sister. I told him I had to read it first. He said he wasn't going to write it, just wing it as he went along and he wanted it to be funny. I responded with funny is ok, but not silly and reminded him that he didn't want to embarrass himself. He didn't miss a beat and came back with, "No, but I want to embarrass you." Sigh..... He didn't embarrass anyone though, it was a lovely speech to his sister. He did mention that he and Tyler were Brittney's brothers, but that Brittney liked him best (which drew a lot of laughs ha ha)

Lots of balloons. The other mother made the cap and gowns. All in all a nice night. Thanks guys for inviting us!

Click on the pictures to enlarge them


Brittney and Sara at home before...




Brittney

Jake and His Magazine Interview

.

Jake was recently interviewed by the Homeschooling Magazine Homeschool Horizons about his cookie business

The story starts with...


"Young Entrepreneurs – Pouch Cove Cookie Company
by SHANNON RATCLIFFE on FEBRUARY 16, 2012

Here at Homeschool Horizons, we recognize that the Entrepreneurial Spirit is alive and well in the homeschool community. With parents who encourage children to develop their passions, and budding business people who are not trapped all day in a classroom, we believe that the future of creative business is in these vibrant youngsters.

We’d like to introduce you to Jake, the future Cookie King of Newfoundland:"
For the rest of the interview...click here


.

Next Steps for Brittney

Seems like yesterday she was like this .....




and now.....




It's hard for me to believe, but we now have two children in post secondary education.

Brittney has been busy for some time mapping out a route for her future. She took into consideration many things...such as...

~ Her deep interest in Science (Biology). Many times she's gotten way off track from her other studies because she couldn't put the Biology book down.

~ Her life-long interest in food *grin*

~ My health issues and improvement through alternative treatments (homeopath, naturopath, holistic nutrition)

~ Her own health improvement and overall well being through the same naturopath and holistic nutrition


A Holistic Nutritional Consultant.

From there she researched schools and courses until she found one that met her needs. It was a long route tweaking here and there but now that she's decided, it is a perfect fit for her. Once done this course, she wants to also pursue massage therapy but will concentrate on one area at a time.

She's registered, the books have arrived and she's now on her way. She's also started her own blog found here in case you want to follow along her journey.

Way to go, Brittney!

Off to College

Last week, Tyler learned he's been accepted into the program of his choice, so come the fall, he'll be heading off to college.

Way to go, Tyler! Congrats!!!

This means moving to another province (about 3000 kms away....not that I'm counting or anything).

A lot of mixed emotion at home, I must admit. Jake was quite upset at the thought of his big bother moving so far away. He expressed many thoughts about it as well, statements like:

"I like this family just the way it is and I don't want it to break apart."

and

"I'd rather be stupid and stay home than go away to college just so I can be smart."

After a lot of talks though, he's more accepting of the idea.

Tyler has worked hard to get to this point. Being a homeschooler, meant no "official high school transcript", which was a road block he had to work around.

The thing that goes against conventional thinking though, is his program of choice.

Animation.

That in itself is not unusual, but the fact he has ended up choosing this field, is. In our years of homeschooling, we covered the academic subjects: Math, English, Science, Chemistry, Physics, French, History/Geography/Social Studies and Music (through outside piano lessons). Phys. Ed. was covered through normal, everyday activities, like bike riding, walking, road hockey etc. We never, however, covered art. Never. Not one single class.

In the beginning, our work days started at 7:45 a.m. The deal was, when the day's book work is done, you're done for the day. This schedule usually translated into working until about 11:00, followed by lunch, practicing piano and then chores. That left the rest of the day "free" for them to explore something of their own interest. Some may think they would choose to spend this time watching tv or playing video games, but this was not an issue.

It was during this "free" time, Tyler developed an interest in cartooning. At first, he didn't tell us. He wasn't hiding it, he just didn't think it was a big deal. When I walked into his room one day though and saw all of them arranged over the bed....I was more than a bit surprised. There were several of them, all cartoon stories, all drawn, coloured and written by hand.

Here are some of his first cartoons... (click to enlarge)



From that point on, he'd use any spare time he had to work on his cartoons -- Holidays (he'd lug all of his materials from van to hotel room), while waiting for Brittney and Jake to complete their piano lessons, even some nights after lights were supposed to be out.

One time he showed his work to a professional artist and his comment was, "Wow, you're art teacher must be very impressed with your work." Wish I could take some credit, but I can't. Up until this point he's been all self-taught but that is about to change. He's looking forward to this next challenge and it's one we're certain he's up for.

Dissection

A local homeschooling family asked Larry if he'd be willing to lead a dissection. As with most Biology teachers, this sort of thing is right up his alley. It was decided a frog and a cow's eye would be the specimens of choice for this session. The other family graciously looked after ordering the specimens and they hosted the event at their house. I was self-appointed photographer and kept my distance from the.... ummm...."fun" (ewww....dissecting -- not my thing ;) )


The teacher is the first one to the table....anxiously wanting to get this show on the road...


Frogs were first on the agenda..


Everyone's suited up with cut out garbage bags for aprons, gloves and goggles



Down to work...













They worked away, learning as they went along. Judging by all the "Oh wow!"s and "Cool!!" statements....it seemed to go very well.

Congrats, Ty!

As I've posted before, Tyler finished up his last year of homeschooling in June. He's been homeschooled for 8 years (most of them in Ontario). Since graduating from grade 12 last June, he's been doing a couple of University courses as well as working at Swiss Chalet.

Monday, he wrote his first University Exam (actually, being homeschooled, it was his first exam ever). Today, he got his mark back.

........ 80% (Entrepreneurship)

Way to go, Ty! Congrats!

Shaking Things Up...

A while ago, I wrote about Jake's spectacular encounter and the next installment of the story.


He hasn't been challenged enough by our current reading curriculum, so we've decided to shake things up a bit. What better book for him to read, than the one written by Ron Joyce (Ron Joyce being the person who took a single-location Tim Hortons and turned it into the empire it is today).




Being an autographed, personalized copy...just added to the excitement. Notice Mr. Joyce writes to Jake "Don't compete too tough on Tim Horton" (I think he is very nervous ;) *grin* )



A two page note by Mr. Zarboni, the man who sent Jake his cookie stand, the book as well as had the book personalized for Jake (more about that in the above link "Spectacular Encounter"







Jake has come alive reading this book. He's learned new words "humanitarian", "vigor" to name only two. Both of these resulted in lengthy discussions.

It talked about Mr. Joyce's resort in Nova Scotia. That added a personal touch because that's where we met Mr. Zarboni...in a Tim Hortons in Nova Scotia. He was on his way to that very resort and it was there he told Mr. Joyce about Jake.

It talked about Tim Hortons surviving economic downturns. That, of course, sparked questions by Jake... "What is an economic downturn???" More discussions about economics and downturns and what they mean for people and the country.

He didn't want to put the book away. Hmmm...I'm thinking this reading 'program' will be much easier to get through...as well as make more sense to Jake. Not to mention, cover many other areas.

Interesting few days

for those who have been following Newfoundland Politics!

Jake with Mr. Brad Cabana



As I've discussed here before, Jake has always had a real interest in politics.

What an excellent learning opportunity this has been for a first-hand look at our political system and how it (democracy) works (or should that be...how democracy is supposed to work?). It has been a real eye opener for sure! We've covered so many topics in these past few days (because it has touched on so many things), as well as watching history in the making. Not something we could ever learn from a text book.

Springdale Craft and Trade Fair

This past weekend we took part in Springdale's annual craft and trade fair. Springdale is about a six hour drive from here...so after working on chocolate for the previous couple of weeks, we (or should I say Larry) loaded up the van and off we went. Tyler was unable to come with us because of job obligations and university courses. I think he was just as glad to stay home alone anyway (but mom still worried about him home alone and driving back and forth to work ;)

It was a great show with a lot of people in attendance. We met a lot of friendly people over the course of the weekend. We're already looking forward to next year!

Jake looked after a big part of our sales. As I've mentioned here before, he absolutely loves doing this and is right in his element while doing so. In addition to this, he also managed to get around the stadium and meet most of the other vendors taking part in the show.


All ready to go.... "Welcome to Candy Box Creations" was his usual opening line..



Here Jake is excited about starting. He's giving his spiel to one of the other vendors before the show opened to the public



Jake learns so many practical, hands-on skills from doing events such as these. We count this as an important part of his homeschooling.

We got talking to (or should I say Jake got talking to) the vendors on each side of us. We were pleasantly surprised to learn the couple on one side are the grandparents of a homeschooler we know (well..know of...she is in the next town). How cool is that?

The booth on the other side of us was occupied by a local college. I've never been able to pin down an answer from them regarding admission of homeschoolers to their college....so when there was a lull in the action, I was able to talk to them about this and homeschooling in general. The rep was very nice to talk with. She mentioned she'd never had that question before...but promised to look into it further for me.

We're very thankful to our friends, Soraya and Fred and their five children. They so graciously opened their home to us and put us up for the four nights we were there. (Ohh...and Soraya is a wonderful cook...and her cheesecakes are TO.DIE.FOR!!)

Soraya, Fred and Jael




Jael (as well as all of their children) made quite the impression on Brittney...




and Jake....




As I mentioned, it was a great show. We enjoyed ourselves very much and are hoping to go back next year. On the CFS and fibro front though, I must admit it caused these two ugly conditions to remind me they are still around. I ended up spending a big chunk of the last day, sleeping out in the van. I did help them take down our booth, but on arrival back at our hosts' house, I could barely stand. I was embarrassed but had no other choice...I had to lay down. I went to bed and spent most of that evening sleeping...and right through the night. For the drive home on Sunday, the fibro pain was quite present. Once home, Larry unloaded the van while I rested. I then slept through the night. Monday brought more of the same. I was in and out of sleep most of the day and barely remember the kids fooling around on the computer beside my bed or them saying goodnight.

Apparently, Larry tried to wake me around ten and then again around midnight...but was unable to. (I don't recall any of this either) He eventually gave up and threw a cover over me, where I slept soundly until the alarm went off at 6:00 a.m. I was still fully dressed. More of the same today (and at times like this, I'm grateful for my adjustable bed, laptop and ocean to look at ;))

I'm thinking from now on, I may leave the selling part to the 'experts' and I'll stick to the making part.

New Job!

I got a new job today...and a badge to prove it.

Jake hired me as a "Cookie Advizer" for his Cookie Company. I guess that's because I insist on supervising him in the kitchen (much to his dismay...he'd prefer me to go and leave him to it...but he hasn't had much success with that idea)

Anyway...here is my company badge.

Open for Business

Last Saturday was Opening Day of the season for Jake's cookie business. He is so independent in all aspects of his life and his cookie business is no exception. He would prefer to do everything on his own ... except mom likes to keep an eye on things. Silly mom...(we 'discuss' this point quite often lol)

Oh well....it was a good day and he sold out in just over an hour. Half way through, one of his friends showed up and they sold cookies together. Jake paid him for his help.

A couple of more grad pics

Homeschool, Highschool, Graduate

We have a highschool graduate in our home today!

(Click on pictures to enlarge them)



Congratulations, Tyler!!

Last night our homeschooling group held it's annual graduation/year end celebration. The kids always look forward to this night and this year there was an extra special event....Tyler, along with one other girl graduated from grade 12!! A member of the board mentioned to us, they wanted to do something extra to make it a bit more special for the 'graduates'. It was decided they would wear a cap and gown.

The first part of the evening was a talent show. Each child could perform something of their choosing. Many played the piano, but there was a clarinet solo, a couple of drum solos, a skit, some singing and a couple of poetry readings. The only glitch to this part of the evening.....for some reason, Tyler, Brittney and Jake's name/activity/song title did not get onto the program. They were upset, but Jake was devastated. He wanted to come home...and even though we spoke to the MC and he easily made a spot for them, Jake was still quite upset. All through the other performances, he kept saying he was too upset to go up and play..but I kept encouraging him and reassuring him all would be ok. When his turn came, the ole' Jake we all know came through and he played his piece (Home Run Harry) very well! (Complete with Jake jumping off the stage after his performance...which prompted the MC to comment that "Harry obviously got a home run.")

Tyler performed "Moonlight Sonata" and Brittney played "Pastoral"

All the kids of the group did well and it was great to see what a wide variety of talent present in our group.

After the performances were done, the kids retreated to another room in order to get organized for the certificates. While that was happening, a video (made up of pictures that we each sent in of our family taken oven the year) was shown to the parents/grandparents/friends etc.

After some instruction....the K - 11 group entered the room. Each one was called up and received their certificate. They all looked so happy and proud as they received their certificate (and so they should...they've all worked so hard!!).

With that part finished, the lights went up, the music started (Pomp and Circumstance) and the two graduates entered the room. It was very emotional moment for me....It seems like yesterday I was taking Tyler to kindergarten....and now he is graduating?!? ...... What happened to all that time in between?

After they arrived on the stage, Tim, (the MC) spoke to them...congratulating them on all their hard work as well as encouraging them for their future. Hmmm...did I mention it was an emotional night??

Congratulations Tyler!!!



Tim (MC for the evening), Sarah (chair of our homeschool board), Tyler




Tim, Sarah, Tyler and Jake




Leah (the other graduate), Tyler




Brittney receiving her certificate



Jake receiving his certificate




Tyler performing his piano solo




Brittney at home before we left




Jake at home before we left



Tyler at home before we left





Some of our homeschooling group. In the first picture, the other little guy making the face, is a good friend of Jake's. Go figure, eh?