I sent out the January newsletter over a week ago and completely forgot to post it here….the sub-zero temps we’ve been having must have caused my brain to freeze up. Here it is; if you’d like your own free subscription, just say so. 🙂
For those of you homeschooling in Wisconsin (plus those in other states who like to drive!), here’s some information about an upcoming homeschool conference:
Greetings, Fellow Wisconsin Homeschoolers!
My name is Tina Hollenbeck. I currently serve on the board of the Green Bay Area Christian Homeschoolers (GBACH), and I am writing to invite you and your group members to a special one-day homeschool conference that we are sponsoring on Saturday, April 25, 2009.
On that day, we are hosting a phenomenal, internationally-known speaker (and author of two books published by Moody), Dr. Kathy Koch, the founder and president of Celebrate Kids, Inc. (www.celebratekids.com).
Dr. Kathy is a former university professor of education who was called to start her ministry over 15 years ago. Through Celebrate Kids, she seeks to help “parents, educators, and children of all ages meet their core needs of security, identity, belonging, purpose, and competence in healthy ways. Through a problem-solving framework of these integrated needs, the ministry’s programs…provide solution-focused strategies that improve people’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual health.”
Dr. Kathy is known for sharing key, relevant, and practical truths with passion. Her clarity, illustrations, down-to-earth manner, and humorous style will make it easy for you to listen and learn. The time will fly by and you’ll apply new ideas and see them work within days! And, though she speaks in many venues, April 25 will be homeschool-specific.
During our conference, Dr. Kathy will address two key topics that are extremely relevant to homeschoolers:
Got Hope? Optimistic Living During Challenging Times
How Am I Smart? A Practical Guide to Multiple IntelligencesYou can find details about these seminars by going to our website, www.gbach.org.
We would love for many in your group to take a “field trip” and be our guests that day. :^) And any who register by January 18, 2009, will receive an amazing 33% discount off the full conference price. What’s more, one registration fee (of only $30 by January 18) covers either an individual (if only one from a family can attend) or the cost of a husband and wife and any children in grade six or above!
I would greatly appreciate if you could pass on this information to every Wisconsin homeschooler you know (and, actually, virtual schoolers are welcome as well) as soon as possible, especially so that those interested might be eligible for the steepest discount.
Any interested individual or family can simply print out the registration form and return it with the proper fee to the address listed on the form. Of course, if you or anyone in your group has any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will be more than happy to provide any additional information or clarifications.
We look forward to hearing from you and your group members – and to meeting many of you on Saturday, April 25, 2009.
Most sincerely,
Tina K. Hollenbeck
http://tinahollenbeck.blogspot.com/
http://tinahollenbeck-celebratekidscolumns.blogspot.com/
Blog carnivals became popular a few years ago, but most lost steam (and participants) as the novelty wore off. But not the Carnival of Homeschooling. Check out this list of education-related carnivals. Many have not published a new edition in months. Yet, of those still in the game, most are not as old as the Carnival of Homeschooling.
Who gets credit for this? First of all, the Cate family, who initiated the Carnival of Homeschooling and organized it so that, week after week, other bloggers could sponsor a weekly edition using a template, so to speak, set up by the Cates. (I was so happy to have a post in the first edition.)
Also, we have to give credit to the many, many bloggers who live the homeschool lifestyle and are willing to share regular little peeks into their lives so that other homeschoolers (and potential homeschooling parents doing research) can benefit from their experiences and advice.
I write books about homeschooling. So do many other homeschooling parents. We’ve worked hard and I think we publish some pretty helpful books. But I always recommend to new and prospective homeschoolers that, in addition to reading books about homeschooling, they visit the Carnival of Homeschooling. Surfing through the various editions of the past as well as the current Carnival will give you a very wide-ranging, informative and true-life look at the homeschooling life. As they used to say in the old Bell Telephone commercials (I’m dating myself here), “it’s the next best thing to being there.”
President-elect Barack Obama’s daughters just finished up their first week at their new school, the pricey private-school-for-children-of-the-elite Sidwell Friends (the same school Chelsea Clinton attended). It has apparently earned favored status among hypocritical politicians who vote against vouchers and tax credits that would allow other children to attend the kinds of schools they choose for their own children.
In an op-ed piece in the Washington Times, writer Gary Jason reminds us of Obama’s anti-school-choice stance, then points out that the teacher’s unions that helped put him in office will surely use their newly acquired power to go after homeschoolers. Nevertheless, I found this to be quite an optimistic article.
For many years, we were the only homeschoolers in our neighborhood, our church and our family. We got used to being the oddballs. Even after homeschoolers began popping up in our town, we remained the only homeschoolers in our church (other than a brief period when Indiana Jane and her family attended there) and our family. Until now.
I have three sisters. Ironically enough, two work in the public school system. The third has been a radio personality in California for over 20 years. But last year, she lost her job when the station she worked at switched to Spanish-only programming. A single mom, she’d had her son in daycare during the day. But the daycare recently closed down because so many out-of-work parents had brought their kids home. So she’s decided to homeschool our 3-year-old nephew for a while.
I’m no fan of formally homeschooling a child before the age of five or six, but I understand why she wants to keep this very bright little guy challenged until she finds a job and puts him back into daycare.
She asked me for suggestions of online resources she can use with him. Here’s what I wrote back:
You’re homeschooling! 🙂
Read to him A LOT, do little fun crafts, play games like Chutes and Ladders so he picks up number concepts (not just identifying numbers) easily. Keep it low-key, a little a day, very little desk work. Anything with music is a big plus.
Some cool sites with lots of free and fun stuff, like printables:
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html
http://www.atozteacherstuff.com/
http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/
Animal cams: http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/default.cfm
Printable preschool games: http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/filefolder.shtml
Can any of you (particularly those homeschooling young children) recommend any other sites for them? Thanks!