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Mara Sweeney

Awesome Field Trip to the Toronto International Film Festival!

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As part of homeschooling last year, we had an awesome field trip to the Toronto International Film Festival. It was one of my favourites! This is what I wrote in my journal about how much I loved TIFF:

“My favourite thing about homeschooling is that we go on lots of field trips. One of my favourite field trips was to the Toronto International Film Festival. We took the train and a subway to get there. We saw two movies and my favourite movie was And We Go Green. It was about electric race car drivers in Formula E (Formula E is car racing like Formula 1 but with electric cars). I liked it because Formula E cars are better for the environment and I got to meet people from the movie afterwards!

Next, we went to dinner at Momofuku, which is my favourite restaurant because I love ramen noodles and David Chang is my favourite chef! After dinner, we went for dessert.  I had sponge cake with fresh strawberries and whip cream and it was delicious. I want to go back to TIFF every year!”

  • Mara ready to take the train downtown TO to TIFF
  • Mara in front of TIFF screen after our movie
  • Mara excited to start eating her Raman noodles at Momofuku
  • Mara enjoying her Raman noodles at Momofuku
  • Mara having a mocktail and sponge cake at Shangri-La
  • Mara and Lisa having dessert at Shangri-La

Since it’s harder to go on big field trips now, we’ve been doing smaller activities. I really like music and art so I have outdoor drama classes, I watch concerts online, and we’ve visited provincial parks such as Crawford Lake and Mountsberg. We’re also planning a visit to the ROM since it’s back open now.

I hope we can go on big field trips again soon but there are fun things to do even if you have to stay home during the pandemic. Here is a list of museums that you can visit online. Here are more free online websites that I use for all subjects!

Quote of the Day:

“The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…music, dance, painting and theater are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment.”

  ― William Bennett, Former US Secretary of Education

Happy Homeskooling!

Mara

My 5 Favourite Things About Being Homeschooled

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My family and I decided to homeschool instead of sending me to school for grade 3. I wanted to homeschool but at first I was worried that I wouldn’t see my school friends anymore. My parents promised me that I would still see them so we started homeschooling! I’m so happy that I did because I love it and I still get to see my friends.  In this post, I’m going to tell you about my 5 favourite things about being homeschooled:

  1. Spending More Time with My Parents – My mom works from home most days and my dad works from home sometimes. When I was at school, I was gone most of the day.  Now I see them a lot more because I am home too. I love seeing my parents more often because we do fun things together.
  2. No Rushing – When I was going to school, we would always be rushing in the morning because I am very slow at getting ready and I like to sleep in.  Now, I can get up at a later time and we start and end our day whenever we want. Mealtimes are relaxed too.  At school, sometimes I felt rushed to finish my lunch or to switch subjects.
  3. Shorter School Days – My day at school was 8 hours long including driving.  Now, my school days are about 2-4 hours per day because it’s only me as a student and we finish subjects more quickly. There is also no homework because I do all my work during the day. The reason I like having extra time is that I can play more, read more and I even had time to start my own business selling my crafts.
Mara making cork crafts with all the extra time she has from shorter school days!
Me making my cork art that you can hang on the wall for decoration. Contact me at hello@happyhomeskool.com to order one for your house or cottage!
  1. Picking My Own Subjects – I didn’t like spending an hour on every subject at school and having a strict schedule. We also didn’t spend enough time on my favourite subjects like art, drama, science and music.  Some subjects were too long, and I spent too much time doing boring worksheets. Now, I get to help pick my own subjects and I can spend more time on my favourites. Also, we do more interactive things like games, online learning (see websites I use) and experiments. Sometimes we even have a free day where we can do whatever we want!
  2. Field Trips – At school, we only had a field trip twice a year. Right now, we aren’t doing many field trips because of COVID but before that we used to go on a field trip almost every week.  Some of my favourite field trips were a trip to Boston, the Toronto International Film Festival, the CN Tower and Ripley’s Aquarium.  We also go on mini field trips like hiking, swimming, visiting a farmer’s market or going bowling.

Overall, I love homeschooling! I don’t ever plan to go back to school. Those are my 5 favourite things about being homeschooled.  Here is another blog post about what other kids like about homeschooling that my mom showed me before we started. I think all kids would like homeschooling a lot. If you try it, I want to hear your favourite things!

Quote of the Day:

“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.”

  ― BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, ONE OF THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE U.S.A.

Happy Homeskooling!

Mara