Watch Andrea Vance from WestCoast Families on Global Noon News Hour Parenting Segment, Mondays.
Next appearance: Monday, May 21, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Do you know where your food comes from?
Global TV Parenting Segment April 30, 2012
Intro
More & more families going local, concerned about what they’re feeding their kids (and themselves).
Lower Mainland is a goldmine for local produce, and organic food.
Smaller, family oriented businesses
Quality products
Local Organic Farms
Goat’s Pride Dairy – Abbotsford
Goat milk, yogurt, cheese
Store on site, or from many grocers around Lower Mainland (Choices, Organic Grocer, SPUD, Planet Organic, etc)
goatspride.com
Sumas Mountain Farms
Beef, chicken, pork, eggs
Can preorder from website & pickup in Abbotsford
Look at the page for rideshares with/for other orderers
sumasmountainfarms.ca
Two EE’s Organic Produce
Family owned since 1960 – daughter & son-in-law of original farm owners now run the store operation, and a son runs the produce farm.
Lettuces, Kale, Carrots, beets, cauliflower, brussels, Fava Beans!
More than 48 kinds of vegies
wegroworganic.com
See the April issue of WestCoast Families for more profiles on local organic farms
Farmer’s Markets
Complete Family event. Meet the growers themselves, talk about the food. Artisans and crafters too!
Lunch, Entertainment
Schedules vary
Vancouver: eatlocal.org
North/West Vancouver & Burnaby: artisanmarkets.ca
Coquitlam: makebakegrow.com
Richmond-Steveston: sfam.ca
Surrey: surreymarket.org
See “Listings” section of WestCoast Families website for FULL Listing of Farmer’s Markets in the Lower Mainland.
April 9, 2012
SLEEPAWAY CAMPS FOR SUMMER 2012
Global Parenting Apr 9
Are they ready? First time? Lots of camps have “sample sizes”
Interests & Challenges. What are they about? Sometimes pushing boundaries outside “normal” life. Meeting other kids. Boosting self esteem. Take on new challenges.
Length – varies from 3 days to 4 weeks +
Cost – varies from $200 to more than $10,000!
Ages – 5 & up. Usually grouped with similar ages. Younger ages usually have shorter camps (ie. 3-4 days)
Religious Camps:
Camp Qwanoes – youth focus, year-round, Christian camp.
Camp Luther – Christian camp, outdoor adventure,
Stillwood Camp – Religious camp. Program of Challenge & recreation.
Camp Squeah – Mennonite Church, natural setting for kids to build relationships, grow, be nurtured.
Timberline Ranch – religious camp, horseback riding, biking, skateboarding, and lots of outdoor activity.
Outdoor/Adventure Camps:
Sasamat Outdoor Centre – Experience wide range of outdoor activities: kayak, geocaching, swimming, campfires, archery,
Evans Lake Forest Education Camp – Eco Fun Forest Education, outdoor skills & leadership
YMCA – Camp Elphinstone – camping adventures, ocean, growth of campers through community & friendships. International!
YMCA – Camp Deka – lake, adventure camping, unique personal experiences.
Specialized Camps:
GIFTS – Act, Direct, and make your own movie!
Dave Murray Ski/Snowboard school – skiandsnowboard.com
Digital Media Academy – computers & digital media at UBC Campus – digitalmediaacademy.org
Click HERE for a full listing of camps in the April 2012 issue of WestCoast Families magazine
February 20, 2012
EDUCATION ALTERNATIVES
Preschool
Play based
Montessori – multi age classes, learn at own pace.. and learn through hands on doing instead of teaching. Free to move about, work alone, or with others. montessori.org
Waldorf – start with belief & trust in the good in the world. Beautiful. Imagination & creativity. Academics come later. vws.ca
CEFA – junior kindergarten – core subjects like reading & math, incorporating fine arts like dance, yoga, drama. Freedom to learn & grow through play. cefa.ca
Elementary & beyond
Independent
Montessori & Waldorf
Sports & Outdoor
Language Immersion – Mandarin & French
Religious
ESL
Gifted
Learning Disabilities
Community based schools
Home Schooling
Distance learning
Parent led.
bchla.bc.ca
openschool.bc.ca
Distributed learning
Teacher led, provincial curriculum.
learnnowbc.ca
Great resources
alternativeeducation.ca
gov.bc.ca/bced
GLOBAL TV PARENTING SEGMENT
January 23, 2012
DANCE PROGRAMS FOR KIDS
Arts Umbrella
Vancouver
Early learning programs – Creative Dance for 3-5 yrs
Musical Theatre, starting at age 8
Artsumbrella.com
Brightstars
Vancouver
Triple Threats 5-11 yrs
brighstars.ca
Gabriela’s Movement Studio
Richmond
Creative Movement 2-9 yrs – music, props, instruments… discovering dance!
Movementstudio.ca
Place des arts
Coquitlam
Hip Hop for 8-18 yrs, performing in competitive events too.
placedesarts.ca
Pacific dance arts
Vancouver
Specializing in Ballet… but also includes jazz, modern, & contemporary dance. General Dance programs use ballet as a base, but cover lots of genres. Professional programs too.
pacificdancearts.ca
Vancouver Academy of Dance
Richmond
ALL kinds of dance –Ballroom, chinese dance
vancouverdanceacademy.ca
Community Centres
LOTS of dance classes for all ages.
Very inexpensive, often fill up.
GLOBAL PARENTING SEGMENT
JANUARY 9, 2012
Education (and FUN!) at home
Rainy dull days of Jan & Feb can be spiced up.
Creative ways to spend days indoors when the outdoors is really not an option.
Building sets
Find building blocks around the house: egg cartons, toilet roll inserts, cardboard boxes. And a lot of tape!
Create large scale buildings that inspire creative play. They can use the creation for their cars, dolls, or whatever else they like to use their imaginations with.
Science
Get a magnifying glass and inspect everything! Great for boys & girls. Trap an insect for a short period of time and really take a close look. Brave the cold & rain for a short time and collect rocks, leaves, tree bark, and anything else that may look more interesting closeup.
Life skills
Cooking, sewing, knitting, woodworking… whatever you’re good at. Immerse you & your child in it for a few hours one day. You’d be amazed at what they are capable of creating. Never underestimate!
Create a book
Have your child dictate a story about herself. Type or print it on paper, fasten the paper together, and have your child illustrate each page to make a personalized picture book.
