M.E.S.S. has moved!

That's right folks this site will be coming down in the next few months once all appropriate people have been notified. Our new site M.E.S.S. is better than ever. Complete with the ultimate in curriculum listings from all over the web. Be sure to stop over and see all that it has to offer.

Fall recap.

The group has been very active this fall partly due to the increase in extra individual arts and craft classes. We are still running the swimming classes at John Rhodes and have expanded to three days a week due to demand. Upcoming in the winter there is also scheduled a gymnastics class.

We unfortunately lost our photographers for back to school photos and are currently looking for someone to replace them for next fall.

We also are looking for a French instructor for those who would like to take that class off their personal schedules. We would like to point out that True North Christian Academy has opened their french class for beginner's 8 and under. As well they would like to invite people to their under 4's music class at the Algoma Conservatory of Music.

We look forward to upcoming events and encourage all members to take part by coming up with events both big and small to keep the kids engaged and making friends throughout the year.

We have been very happy to see the growth of the group this year and look forward to what the New Year brings.

As always if you have any questions about M.E.S.S. you can email them to messfriendsgroup@gmail.com We will try to answer your questions as timely as possible. Thank you!

Another change.

If you are arriving here for the first time I encourage you to look around at the newsletter, links, and resource page. For those of you returning to the website you may notice the background has changed again. This time it's going to stay for awhile. It has been tricky finding the right formatted background to work with all the pages we have. This one not only works but looks inviting as well. And invite you we do. You will notice at the end of this month's newsletter and survey link. Please fill it out so that we can serve everyone in the group better.

Who is M.E.S.S?

M.E.S.S. Moms, Education, Support, and Socialization. A Sault Ste. Marie, Homeschool Group. What we offer. Friendship Support Planned activities Spontaneous activities Monthly newsletter to inform you of all planned activities. No membership fees What we ask of you the members. Be kind and respect others. We may be from different walks of life but we are all walking on the same path of schooling at the moment. It is our hope you will find a few friends along the way to share your experiences with. Have fun ideas? Please share them. No idea is too small. It is with collaboration that small ideas become great ideas. If you have an idea for an activity or event please submit it to the publisher no later then the last weekend of the month for the following month. You are not obligated to partake of all the activities that are scheduled. We all have busy lives and recognize that. We do ask that you attend as regularly as possible to benefit from the group as much as possible.

New Layout...

After much searching I have opted for this simplistic dynamic layout. If anyone has issues with this layout loading or anything else please email.

Changes.

With the coming of the end of December some parents may return their kids to the regular school system. Should you be heading this way it's okay. However we will be doing a roll call on Facebook to make sure we keep our page and members up to date.

Also swimming sign up for the Tuesday swim class is Dec 11th so please be sure to get signed up for the next term if you are interested. J.Lees is still in charge of that group so contact her for further info please.

Deleted.

 Due to lack of use I have deleted the library page.

Attention Members

M.E.S.S. has had a lot of new people join this year which is fantastic. I would like to share with everyone a couple of points. When I started M.E.S.S. a couple of years ago it was originally just to find more social opportunities for all the kids. Classes were great of course but social opportunities for just play weren't always so easily found. So M.E.S.S. was born of a need to find social ties for the kids. It has since evolved to be a full on homeschool group. Which is great!

 It is my hope to see all MESS members jump in with any ideas that you may have and share them with the group. When creating events it's okay to create similar events. Sometimes people can't make a specific date for one event and having another option is helpful. Newsletter articles would also be greatly appreciated. We all have different teaching styles, methodologies, ideas, please share! That's how we grow as homeschoolers and teachers.

As said in previous newsletters my family has asked that I step back and take some down time. So if anyone who is a member would like to post an event for the group I ask that you email all the details.
*Name of event
*Time of event
*cost of event if any
*limited number of attendees?
*if any help would be appreciated?
*venue for event
etc...to messfriendsgroup@gmail.com
I will then happily create a facebook event page for the event. In this way we can keep the facebook page a tad less confusing for all.

Don't be shy about creating events. It can be as simple as setting up a field trip or play date. If you have just wee kids and are looking to make some connections, it's okay to set up an event for just the littles. If you have teens and want just teens to attend that's okay too. The group is here to facilitate everyone who is homeschooling or thinking of homeschooling.

As always remember to invite friends who may be interested!

Visually Fall Art Show Recap.

  This was the first kids art show MESS had put on and we learned a lot from it. We raised $70 for our local soup kitchen. Way to go! Many thanks to the kids number one, for putting so much effort into the artwork. Thank you also to my husband who worked on his off days to make the display boards and who helped immensely with set up and take down. A really big thank you to the mothers who helped arrange their kids works, brought treats to share, and were just generally awesome.The kids spent a great deal of time making some amazing art and had a lot of fun discussing their pieces with the guests!

Now without further adieu......the Gallery! (Note this is in no particular order...sorry for my bad camera work...and sorry I didn't get everything photographed)

Welcome Visitors!

If you have stumbled across this page via a link or other method we welcome you! This page is a homeschool group page for our area in Northern Ontario. Should you like more information please feel free to email messfriendsgroup@gmail.com Feel free to stay and look around!

Micheals Store Discount

  After lodging a formal complaint about our local Micheals Store for not allowing myself as a homeschooler the teacher's discount, I was rewarded with a positive response. The company does indeed allow  homeschooler's a 15% discount as long as you have proof of homeschooling. In other words if you bring your letter from the board of ed that you recieved after filing your letter of intent you will qualify.

After this experience I am encouraged to know that even though some people don't view us as teachers there are those who do.

Letters Of Intent.

 Please remember that in Ontario if your child was registered with the Board of Education it is your responsibility to send in your yearly letter of intent before the new school year begins. You can download and print the form from the OFTP They also have wonderful information for new to homeschool families about the policy regarding homeschooling in Ontario.

Whether to ignore the weather.

Recently we have been experiencing a lot of rain which has been putting a damper on outdoor events. Please know that we are very sorry for having to cancel our events. When possible we will try to reschedule and continue with events as planned. Thank you for your understanding.

Group Changes

As of last night the S.Area Homeschool Association has decided to fold into our group. What that means is M.E.S.S. will be the sole homeschool group in the area. M.E.S.S. will continue to run as before. We welcome everyone to the group. If you are interested you can located us on Facebook as well. Above you will find links to our monthly newsletter, lending 'library', and free resources page.

We will be holding a large amalgamation party at the end of Sept to celebrate the new school year. Or for those who school year round to just have fun with friends. We encourage everyone to join who homeschools in the area as having a good support network can often be a great lifesaver when needed.  Our group is very active with a minimum of four events held monthly throughout the year. It allows everyone an opportunity to join in and make friends. We hope to see you at the next event!

If you don't have Facebook know that we will be working over the summer to update the website so that you can access easily the events that are happening. In the meantime we give a list monthly on the right of the page about the events and you can email messfriendsgroup@gmail.com to learn the details about each event. We do not post full names or places on the webpage as it can be read by anyone surfing the web.

Further if you wish to have an event listed please submit it via the facebook page to Amber or via the email before the last weekend of the month. We post at the beginning of each month so it gives everyone time to plan their month's accordingly. We realize though that this isn't always possible so we also do take spontaneous events and add them in from time to time. Also if you would like to submit an article you wrote, a recipe, anecdote, poem, funny, etc for the monthly newsletter please email before the last weekend of the month so it can be included. Thank you and we look forward to seeing everyone throughout the year!

New Look.

 You may be swinging by to check on the newsletter for the month and notice that things have changed. In an effort to clean up the page and make it more readable I have tweaked a few things. I hope you find the new layout easy to read. Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns. Thank you.

With the growth of our group we have decided to reduce the newsletter to those who have dial up or no internet access. The rest of us will have to read the newsletters online. You will see the new link at the top of the page. In the coming months I intend to start a link pages that will include free resources for all of us to use. One stop shopping if you will. Please be sure to come back next month to see what's happening and read the January newsletter.

 M.E.S.S. is growing. We have had more members join in the past two months and would like to welcome them. We encourage you to spread the word of our group so that others who are homeschooling, may be thinking of homeschooling, or are interested in learning more can contact us. We have moved the information about our group to the sidebar for permanent easy access. We also will now be updating the events at the bottom of the page. Again we ask that if you would like notice of cancellations/postponements that you send us your email address or phone number so we can contact you. Often life, weather, and circumstance can change our plans. Although we do have a Facebook page we are aware that some members are not part of Facebook. This page is for those people to stay informed.