The purpose of Communidée is to provide a physical space for the homeschooling community in and around Montreal to get together and get organized. We aim to build community among homeschooling families, expand educational opportunities, share resources and information, and promote a positive image of homeschooling.

Communidée is open to all homeschooling families. Our members include French and English families, kids and babies of all ages, and all styles of homelearning. We ask that respect is shown through our differences and choices. We are a not a faith-based group, and while religious homeschoolers are welcome to join us, our meetings, discussions and activities will be entirely secular.

Where, what:

Communidée is located in an old elementary school building in St-Henri, at 75 Sir George Etienne Cartier.  It is walkable from St-Henri metro, right across from a park, and just beside the Lachine Canal.  (Find detailed directions here.)  To start,  the center will be open from 10am to 3pm on Tuesdays and Fridays, with a variety of morning and afternoon activities taking place.  During that period, we have a classroom with a sink, fridge & stove, as well as a gym.  There is also some storage space, where we can leave some supplies.

For both philosophical and financial reasons, many of the activities will be organized and animated by members of our community.  If you have something to offer, please contact Sonya or fill out the online form and we will help you co-ordinate the details.  For other activities, we may bring in an outside expert.

We have many ideas and suggestions for activities, and some are already posted on the calendar as Communidée activities.  Just to give you an idea, in one series of activities we could make play dough (measuring), use that to make food items (modeling), and use those to play the shopping game (math, French).  Other ideas for activities include:

gym games (walking on stilts, relay races, basketball, ball hockey)
outdoor games (tag, treasure hunting, hide and seek)
indoor games (board games, cards, cooperative games)
math/science (measuring, categorizing, playing with shadows, magnets, a stop watch)
language arts (storytime, storytelling, show & tell, word games, French, Spanish)
music (band, singing, dancing, choir)
theatre (theatre games, a variety show, a theatre production)
building/tinkering (building model bridges, dams, kites, rockets, taking things apart)
computers (programming, making a website, virtual model making)
arts & crafts (painting, sculpture, sewing)
clubs (Lego-building, science, games, music)
projects (claymation, making a movie, a book, a website)
fundraising (newsletter, selling lemonade, crafts, calendars)...

You name it, we'll try to organize it!

This centre is for all of us, so your ideas and input are always welcome : )  Contact Sonya or at (514) 845-5421.