returning to canada with the kids - lost in paperwork!

Ok I'm a Canadian born citizen and hold dual nationality with the UK but am currently living in Germany. I've been away from Canada for 17 years and need to get back to Canada due to the educational needs and lifestyle my British Husband and I have just launched ourselves into!
The huge problem I'm having is finding how to get back into Canada with my kids! Going through all the Canadian government websites has been a nightmare to the point where I was actually debating if I really was a Canadian citizen or not! The whole website seems to be aimed at foreigners emigrating to Canada and no real easy advice for us Canadians trying to get home!
My kids have UK passports so I can travel into Canada with them but found on the educational sites they needed to be landed immigrants or permanent residence or some other darn class to go to school.
I haven't applied for anything for them until now as I was always told my kids were Canadians 'cos of me. Obviously I was going to sort them out passports and citizen cards when I got back since time is short now as I have to get them into school by April/May.

Now has anybody got any advice as to what I need to get them into Canada or whether I can just travel there and sort out the paperwork when I get there and in fact which bloody paperwork they need?!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and stop my hair falling out!

Where were the kids born? In the UK? When they were born you should have registered their birth abroad with the Canadian consulte in the UK. You can still do that but I have no idea how long it takes. You'd have to make an appointment at the Consulate and take their birth certificates and your birthcertificate.

Not sure if there are restrictions about how many years you'd have had to have been present in Canada for them to have derivative status. The consul would be able to explain all of it to you though.

Since you are a Canadian born in Canada, your kids are also Canadians. You need to apply for proof of citizenship.

go to the Immigration and Citizenship Canada site and click in the apply for citizenship link from the leftnav bar. Then click on the Proof of citizenship link.

You can apply from inside or outside Canada. That means you can move back immediately and apply from inside Canada.

You fill out the forms as the child (it seems weird) but then you sign since the child is a minor. I applied for my kids and it took about 8 months.

Hope this helps.