These are older post that are archived by the current MASH Board and should not reflect the current MASH Board. Any current homeschooling questions should be directed at Manitoba Homeschooling Office. This information is only to be used as reference.
Updated July 15, 2024
Achieved everything before Oct 2022
Join us for a virtual tour of the Winnipeg Public Library for homeschooling families
November 29, 1 pm
There is so much more to the Winnipeg Public Library than first meets the eye. Most of us have taken books out of the library, but did you know about all the other multi-media, digital, and special services available? Gather your family together, and join Nadine McCaughan for a free virtual tour of all the Winnipeg Public Library has to offer.
A few details: -If you wish to do the hands-on dye activity, please bring a t-shirt, bandanna, wool yarn, or other natural fibre (cotton, linen, hemp, wool, alpaca only) to dip in an indigo vat. -This is an outdoor event. There will be canopy tents to keep out the rain or sunshine, but there are no indoor facilities.They recommend footwear appropriate to the weather (rain boots if its rainy or running shoes). -Please bring a water bottle and your own lunch. -There is an outhouse on site. -Covid protocols: The farm follows provincial guidelines. Mask wearing inside the outhouse and the mill (for tours) otherwise everything is outside and folks can choose to wear masks as they are comfortable. –Here is what can be expected re accessibility at Long Way Homestead. The driveway, walkways, dye studio and outdoor workshops spaces are a mix of grass and gravel with some bumpy terrain and accessible by wheelchair. The outhouse, indoor studio space and wool mill all have one step access and not wheelchair accessible. They are working to build wheelchair accessibility into the entire farm, mill and field school.
Join us on Wednesday, September 15, 2021, 11 am – 2 pm at the Nature Playground in Assiniboine Park for the annual MASH Not Back to School Picnic. Bring your lunch and picnic blanket for this fun meet up with other homeschooling families. From babies to teens, come one, come all!
Please see the attached new, interactive resource, Minecraft Manito Ahbee Aki Project. Greg Kiesman (Coordinator of ICT at LRSD) presented the following Minecraft world created in partnership between educators at LRSD and Microsoft Minecraft. He said that:
In the Manito Ahbee Aki Minecraft world, students experience Indigenous community, culture and knowledge and are immersed in the living history of Canada’s Anishinaabe Peoples. The project includes the Minecraft world, teacher and student guides, and a video to support student learning about Anishinaabe Peoples.
MASH is pleased to present occasional field trips, classes, and outings for your homeschool family. During this pandemic time, most of the options will be virtual. In-person events will resume when restrictions lift, and we can safely do so. Find out more about these opportunities by signing up for the MASH newsletter here.
If you have ideas or suggestions of activities, outings or classes you’d like to see, please email [email protected].
MASH Advisory Team member Rachael Fecyk-Lamb has had some discussions and email correspondence with the Manitoba Homeschooling Office Government Liaisons about the requirements for the Homeschooling Progress Reports which all homeschoolers need to submit by January 31, 2021.
In this Zoom session, Rachael will discuss how to write the reports in a way that the government liaisons will accept.
For homeschoolers who received “Insufficient Homeschooling Program Outline” emails, Rachael will explain how the liaisons would like us to write up our resources in January. Within this discussion, she will also address the format for reporting usage of the Manitoba Curriculum if this is a resource used in your homeschooling.
MASH is hosting a FREE online Zoom event intended to address your questions about writing and submitting your January Homeschooling Progress Reports. There will be a presentation followed by an opportunity to ask questions.
MASH Advisory Team member Rachael Fecyk-Lamb has had some discussions and email correspondence with the Manitoba Homeschooling Office Government Liaisons about the requirements for the Homeschooling Progress Reports which all homeschoolers need to submit by January 31, 2021.
In this Zoom session, Rachael will discuss how to write the reports in a way which the government liaisons will accept. For homeschoolers who received “Insufficient Homeschooling Program Outline” emails this fall, Rachael will explain how the liaisons would like us to write-up our resources in January.
Within this discussion, Rachael will also address the format for reporting usage of the Manitoba Curriculum if this is a resource you’re using in your homeschooling.
Please only sign up if you are sure that you can attend on the evening of December 14th. There is a limited number of spaces available, and we do not want people to miss out on this opportunity if others sign up but do not attend. If you will be sharing the viewing with a partner (ie. using the same screen) you only need to sign up once.
This Zoom session will be recorded and made available later to all homeschoolers through the MASH website.
Veteran homeschoolers share their experiences and insights on homeschooling through the teenage years.
Did you blink your eyes one day only to find yourself homeschooling someone taller than you? Congratulations, you’re now the parent of a teenage homeschooler. The breed is fairly rare and, if given plenty of food and the right blend autonomy and support, can make a wonderful companion! In this session, veteran homeschooling parents share their experiences of homeschooling cool people through adolescence.
Panelists: Roxie Ateah, Marilyn Firth, & Deanna Momtchilov
Roxie Ateah writes: I’m a mixed nations decolonized person, advocate, healer, & educator. I’m a hereditary homeschooler and unschooler. Both my grandmother & mother were homeschooled throughout their lives, and from them, I have always been exposed to & encouraged to access different modalities of learning. I’ve homeschooled our 6 children who are now all adults ages 39-19 years. The eldest 4 experienced public school in alternative education classrooms, but when the public school failed them I homeschooled them. Our youngest 2 have been homeschooled without grade levels from the beginning. We’ve homeschooled both in the inner city & east beaches area. I teach via decolonized & what would be considered alternative child spirit acknowledged learning. Our children have different occupations. Some have attended university & colleges, others have not. I continue to teach my 4 grandchildren in the same way. I decided very early on in the nurturing & education of our children to decolonize.
Deanna Momtchilov is mom to four children, the oldest of whom will graduate this year! She currently navigates homeschooling her younger two in elementary and her older two in high school, while they also pursue their passions in acting and dance.
Marilyn Firth, with her husband Bruce Berry, provided home learning for their three sons for over 20 years, from early childhood through the high school years. While their style was initially quite structured, they soon switched to unschooling as their home learning style, supporting the interests of their sons by providing resources and mentorship. They are opposed to standardized testing and value discussion, debate, and critical thinking over rote learning. Their sons, Noel, Liam, and Graeme are now adults and successfully engaged in career paths in computer game development, music composition and teaching, and electricity, respectively.
Choose between play and learning? No way! Explore the science behind play-based learning.
Many people, including some educators, believe that we need to choose between play opportunities and rigorous academics. Yet the science actually tells us that one is necessary for the other. Play is a primary component of learning. Play fosters healthy brain development and emotional maturation. Play lowers anxiety and frustration and fosters independence. Play is the most important part of childhood. This session will touch on the science behind play-based learning and discuss practical strategies for incorporating play into our homeschools.
Speaker: Jennifer Gehman
Jennifer Gehman (BA, BEd.) is a veteran homeschooling mother of five children – four have graduated from homeschool to university and beyond and her fifteen-year-old is still learning in the living room. She is a co-founder of Wildwood Curriculum, past-president and online liaison at the Manitoba Association for Schooling at Home, and a facilitator at the Neufeld Institute. She is passionate about developmental attachment and play and has created family playgrounds around cosplay, board games, historical reenactment, and children’s theatre.
