Environment Canada is forecasting temperatures in the positives for the next three days. Even overnight, we won’t go below 0°C between Tuesday morning and Thursday afternoon (Thursday night will go down to -8°C.)

Will this be enough to melt the snow on the roofs of Lester B Pearson schools? Or will the 60% chance of snow on Wednesday just add to our troubles?

As of 7 pm today the school board has announced that they did, indeed, inspect roofs and continue their snow removal procedures. In fact, they say they had an independent structural engineer evaluate the buildings, and everything is safe for normal activities. They are reopening all facilities tomorrow morning, and all staff normally expected to work during the ped day are expected to report to their posts as usual. All classes resume as scheduled on Wednesday, 26 March 2008 failing notice to the contrary.

Here’s the board’s official notice:

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As Moms & Dads we often worry more about the the kind of helper you cook up with your ground beef, but our kids are listening to music which for a number of us is really not familiar, and maybe we really could use a Hip Hop Helper.

Want to relate better to your kids? Learn a little something about their favourite rap artists by reading their biographies, and listening to some of their songs. This web site charts top tens for all the usual things - top artist, top album, top song.

Concerned that your kids’ favourite artist may be singing songs that are a little too grown-up? Take a look at the lyrics or listen to the actual songs. You may discover that some of the artists are more positive than you had expected! And if you like a particular song there are links for you to buy a legal copy for download. Your kids will love you for it

My husband is the one in our house who keeps up with the kids’ music, and they love spending a Sunday morning around the computer listening to MP3’s with Daddy. We feel it rounds out their music education very nicely: they get classical and folk music with Mama, and then when they listen with Daddy it’s rock, hip hop, rap and even reggae. He’s wonderful with this! They learn about the influences of one style on another, and they discuss an artist’s inspirations. When it comes to “grown-up” or controversial lyrics he takes the time to discuss with them, and explain how he feels about the words.

Much the same way that we discuss some of the language used in literature!

It’s given our children a more mature approach to music, and they know that if they come upon a song that leaves them with mixed feelings they can come to Mama or Daddy to talk about it. I believe when they make more of their own decisions about music in future, having taken the time to share with them this way will help them make choices we can be proud of.

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24 March 2008

Parents of students at the André-Laurendeau high school in St-Hubert should watch for updates tomorrow after 10:30 am, when the board will announce news of the return to classes. The Montreal area school closed after a fire last week, and officials are working on getting the students back to school as soon as possible.

If you have been trying to reach the parent hot line (450 678-2080) over the weekend and got no answer, please try again anytime after 8:30 am tomorrow. Clothes and other belongings that were not collected last Thursday will now be sent to a cleaning service at the school board’s expense, and parents should hear more about when and how to collect their children’s possessions, later this week.

Here is the school board’s official communique in French.

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The Grand Opening and Easter Egg Hunt are now over, but CurrClick is still a terrific source for homeschool curriculum and support materials. I picked up the Trail Guide to World Geography this week, and will get a proper review put together for you shortly. In the meantime, watch for publisher discounts as well as the weekly CurrClick free download.

Amy Puetz offers us a collection of four old-time recipes in Tea Time. This free e-book will be of interest to all those whose daughters (and sons!) who enjoy throwing tea parties. If you want a little extra material for your explorations you might also want to look at Heroines of the Past - Victorian 1870-1900 - which has collector cards, games from long ago, biographical information, craft patterns and more.

As we begin to make plans for our next homeschool year I’m sure my readers are compiling lists of those “gotta have” texts to purchase. Remember to check CurrClick before you look elsewhere! Often the e-book version of a popular text is less expensive, and it’s certainly more flexible when it comes to anything consumable like worksheets and reproducibles! E-books are a boon to the large family who intend to use a certain text for several children, as the price of printing is usually less than paying for a hard copy, tax, and shipping - and you can print as you need, to spread the cost out.

The other great advantage with CurrClick is that the transaction is almost instantaneous, and books are never out of stock. Pay with a credit card or use your PayPal account. As soon as the payment clears (under a minute) you’ll be able to download your text. No waiting!

If you’ve never downloaded an e-text don’t worry, CurrClick is a very “forgiving” merchant. All purchases automatically come with repeat downloads, just in case something goes wrong. You just need to click and save to your computer. Most computers come preloaded with a PDF reader, so the rest should be as easy as clicking on the file to open it. Print only what you need. It’s that easy!

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Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

The Commission Scolaire de Montréal is on the ball today, and has announced the total reopening of its facilities by tomorrow. Lester B Pearson School Board lags behind, with no updates since the weekend. The CSDM notes that all its facilities were inspected last week and are being inspected again today. Best we can tell no inspections or special measures are being taken by Lester B Pearson, other than leaving their buildings empty over the weekend in hopes the snow on the roofs would melt.

Tomorrow is a scheduled pedagogical day for the board and should be the first day back after Easter, for staff. We’ll see if the board makes any kind of announcement today or tomorrow morning, but it seems everybody associated with this school board is pretty complacent. Has the teacher’s union fallen asleep at the switch? One fall when our son’s school had heating issues that caused a single classroom to be too hot (I think it was around 80°F or 27°C) the union threatened a workplace safety visit if the situation was not remedied immediately. The class was moved until the heating could be fixed. Granted, working in an overheated space isn’t entirely healthy - but how about having a roof fall in on your head??

Here’s the CSDM’s official update, in French. Essentially it says that all facilities will be open by 25 March 2008, and the board thanks everyone for their understanding. If you are unsure of anything you can call the hot line (514 897-4444) today between 6-10 pm ,or tomorrow from 6am-noon. Local schools will also be able to take calls from parents.

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Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!