Support Group Leaders Need Your Support
Planning a Homeschooling 101
Have You Hugged Your Support Group Leader Today?
Our Support Group in the Local News
Yes, Some of Us Do Need Support Groups
Something Nice Happened Yesterday
Showing posts with label Support Groups. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Support Groups. Show all posts
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Upcoming Seminar with Linda Hobar (The Mystery of History) --and JenIg, too!
My friend Amy has been working long and hard on organizing this fantastic seminar here in Blount County: a day with Linda Lacour Hobar, author of the award-winning world history series The Mystery of History! We also welcome one of the homeschooling blog world's favorites, Jen Igarashi, as our lunchtime roundtable hostess! So for anyone within a 2 hour radius of Knoxville, you will NOT want to miss this incredible opportunity to spend a day with Linda, whose history series receives rave reviews in the homeschooling community!
WHEN: Saturday, September 27, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sign-in begins at 9 a.m., keynote address begins at 9:30)
WHERE: The Blount County Public Library, Maryville. Sharon Lawson Meeting Room.
COST: $5/members of BHEA or $10 for general homeschooling public
RSVP: You MUST RSVP for this event, as seating is limited. Please email Amy Brown at ARAJBrown1993 (at) aol.com to get on the list and she'll tell you where to send your check. Your registration will not be considered complete until your check is received. Please make checks payable to BHEA.
LUNCH: Will be brown bag if you plan to stay for the roundtable. If not, there are lots of restaurants in the vicinity. The library also has a cafe that serves desserts, coffee and other drinks.
9:30 a.m.
Keynote Address “The Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of Homeschooling” by Linda Lacour Hobar
Who are homeschoolers today? What are we doing and how are we doing it? You might not ask yourself these questions every day, but on hectic mornings or sleepless nights it’s good to have perspective on the ever-growing movement of home education. Linda Lacour Hobar (wife, mother, homeschool teacher, and author) will help paint the “big” picture of homeschooling to inspire you with the “little” pieces that make up your school days.
10:30
The Mystery of History Vol I: Crash Course from Creation to Christ”
Interested in teaching world history? Meet Linda Lacour Hobar, author of The Mystery of History, as she shares five heartfelt distinctives of her award-winning world history series, which is Classical, Chronological, Christian, and Complete. As a peek into the first volume, the author will give you a crash course from Creation to the birth of Christ in about 30 minutes – integrating Biblical and secular history into one amazing timeline.
11:30
“The Mystery of History: Making Sense of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance”
From Pentecost to the printing press to the paintbrush of Michelangelo, listen to author Linda Lacour Hobar make sense of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance based on Volumes II and III of her popular series, The Mystery of History. Through kings and queens, samurai and explorers, a great epic is revealed through the history of mankind, which lures our curiosity and beckons our understanding. Prepare to be inspired, informed, and better prepared to teach this rich and riveting time period.
Lunch- Brown Bag Roundtable hosted by Jennifer Igarashi: Approaches to Homeschooling Panel
1:30 - “Managing Your Child’s Meltdowns”
We all lose it once in a while. We call it a meltdown. But some children melt down far more easily than others! Listen to Linda Lacour Hobar, a veteran homeschooler and author, share real life accounts of meltdowns in her household and ways she learned to manage them. According to Linda, meltdowns have a lot to do with the intimate environment unique to the homeschool family. You will laugh a little, be encouraged, and leave with a few ideas to help your “melters.”
QUESTIONS: Please contact Amy Brown at ARAJBrown1993 (at) aol.com.
WHEN: Saturday, September 27, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. (Sign-in begins at 9 a.m., keynote address begins at 9:30)
WHERE: The Blount County Public Library, Maryville. Sharon Lawson Meeting Room.
COST: $5/members of BHEA or $10 for general homeschooling public
RSVP: You MUST RSVP for this event, as seating is limited. Please email Amy Brown at ARAJBrown1993 (at) aol.com to get on the list and she'll tell you where to send your check. Your registration will not be considered complete until your check is received. Please make checks payable to BHEA.
LUNCH: Will be brown bag if you plan to stay for the roundtable. If not, there are lots of restaurants in the vicinity. The library also has a cafe that serves desserts, coffee and other drinks.
9:30 a.m.
Keynote Address “The Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of Homeschooling” by Linda Lacour Hobar
Who are homeschoolers today? What are we doing and how are we doing it? You might not ask yourself these questions every day, but on hectic mornings or sleepless nights it’s good to have perspective on the ever-growing movement of home education. Linda Lacour Hobar (wife, mother, homeschool teacher, and author) will help paint the “big” picture of homeschooling to inspire you with the “little” pieces that make up your school days.
10:30
The Mystery of History Vol I: Crash Course from Creation to Christ”
Interested in teaching world history? Meet Linda Lacour Hobar, author of The Mystery of History, as she shares five heartfelt distinctives of her award-winning world history series, which is Classical, Chronological, Christian, and Complete. As a peek into the first volume, the author will give you a crash course from Creation to the birth of Christ in about 30 minutes – integrating Biblical and secular history into one amazing timeline.
11:30
“The Mystery of History: Making Sense of the Middle Ages and Early Renaissance”
From Pentecost to the printing press to the paintbrush of Michelangelo, listen to author Linda Lacour Hobar make sense of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance based on Volumes II and III of her popular series, The Mystery of History. Through kings and queens, samurai and explorers, a great epic is revealed through the history of mankind, which lures our curiosity and beckons our understanding. Prepare to be inspired, informed, and better prepared to teach this rich and riveting time period.
Lunch- Brown Bag Roundtable hosted by Jennifer Igarashi: Approaches to Homeschooling Panel
1:30 - “Managing Your Child’s Meltdowns”
We all lose it once in a while. We call it a meltdown. But some children melt down far more easily than others! Listen to Linda Lacour Hobar, a veteran homeschooler and author, share real life accounts of meltdowns in her household and ways she learned to manage them. According to Linda, meltdowns have a lot to do with the intimate environment unique to the homeschool family. You will laugh a little, be encouraged, and leave with a few ideas to help your “melters.”
QUESTIONS: Please contact Amy Brown at ARAJBrown1993 (at) aol.com.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Our Support Group in the Local Newspaper
March 28, 2008
Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.
We had a nice, informational article in our local newspaper today. We had contacted the school section editor of the paper a couple of weeks ago asking him if he'd do a story before our upcoming Homeschooling 101 tomorrow. He was quite agreeable to it and we arranged to have him come to our enrichment class (co-op) program. (We did ask him NOT to put the name of the facility in the article, but it managed to show up in the photo caption. Ergh.) Interestingly, he'd just come from a 4-hour "educational summit" of sorts. He was intrigued by the differences between "us" talking about nurturing our children and understanding their individual learning styles and "them" referring to the children as "products" and the school as the "market." Anyway, THAT didn't make it into the article (surprise, surprise), but it is a nice, benevolent article that hopefully will get some people intrigued enough to come to our HS 101. There is also a nice link from there to a brief about a local credit union adding a $1000 scholarship for a local homeschooled graduating senior to its annual High School scholarships program. (If I didn't already love my credit union, I'd sure switch to this one!)
All in all, it was a positive experience. The reporter, a recent college graduate, was brand new on the job. Initially he seemed to have trouble forming questions, but about midway through the interview, I could see lights coming on for him: he was starting to get it. As I mentioned above, he'd spent the morning listening to public school educators, and he began making connections between the lifestyle of homeschooling and the business of public education. At one point Marj, who is quoted in the article, commented on the original German purpose of education--to make good citizens. He asked us, "But isn't your goal to make good citizens?" Marj and I kind of looked at him blankly, because it seems so obvious. We said something to the effect of "Our goal is to help our children be well-rounded individuals who can think for themselves and come to their own decisions and opinions, rather than regurgitating what they've been told." We said a bit more than that, but that conversation didn't make it in the paper, either.
One more thing: as I said, he seemed to be having trouble forming interview questions at the beginning. Of course, anyone who had just come from a 4-hour educational summit would have trouble forming coherent sentences, so I have to completely excuse him for this: right off the bat, he commented that my husband and I both have post-graduate degrees. I was trying to figure out where this was going when he said something to the effect of: "So you have a master's degree and were certified to teach public school, but you're not using it?" Yes, he actually said that. I laughed and said, "Not using it? I use it every day!" He sputtered then, but I told him I was glad he voiced that, because this is such a common misconception not only toward homeschoolers but toward stay-at-home moms in general. But that's another whole subject, and I'm pretty sure he'll not make that particular faux pas again. (And one more thing, as I am a grammar fanatic, I have to defend myself and say that I did NOT say “People wish there was alternatives..."!)
Here's the first part of the article but you can click on the link to read the whole thing:
*********
Program to present basics of home schooling Saturday
By Matthew Stewart
of The Daily Times Staff
Patricia Hoffman recently took her two children to Marble Springs, the home of Tennessee’s first governor: John Sevier. The three dressed up in period clothing and provided the “background color” for the day’s guided tours. The kids also made bead necklaces, listened to a lecture on how to cook over a wood fire and learned about weaving in a loom house.
read the rest of it here.
Brief on scholarship from credit union here.
Comments
Friday, March 28, 2008 - nice write up
Posted by Jennifer in OR (69.88.229.219)
Thanks for sharing that! It was pretty positive, even though the author certainly left out some important details. But really, most liberal papers would have at least mentioned "socialization" so be glad for that! :-) It sounds like a wonderful group.
www.diaryof1.com
Friday, March 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by TheMonkeyParade (65.6.43.157)
Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.
Our Support Group in the Local Newspaper
March 28, 2008
Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.
We had a nice, informational article in our local newspaper today. We had contacted the school section editor of the paper a couple of weeks ago asking him if he'd do a story before our upcoming Homeschooling 101 tomorrow. He was quite agreeable to it and we arranged to have him come to our enrichment class (co-op) program. (We did ask him NOT to put the name of the facility in the article, but it managed to show up in the photo caption. Ergh.) Interestingly, he'd just come from a 4-hour "educational summit" of sorts. He was intrigued by the differences between "us" talking about nurturing our children and understanding their individual learning styles and "them" referring to the children as "products" and the school as the "market." Anyway, THAT didn't make it into the article (surprise, surprise), but it is a nice, benevolent article that hopefully will get some people intrigued enough to come to our HS 101. There is also a nice link from there to a brief about a local credit union adding a $1000 scholarship for a local homeschooled graduating senior to its annual High School scholarships program. (If I didn't already love my credit union, I'd sure switch to this one!)
All in all, it was a positive experience. The reporter, a recent college graduate, was brand new on the job. Initially he seemed to have trouble forming questions, but about midway through the interview, I could see lights coming on for him: he was starting to get it. As I mentioned above, he'd spent the morning listening to public school educators, and he began making connections between the lifestyle of homeschooling and the business of public education. At one point Marj, who is quoted in the article, commented on the original German purpose of education--to make good citizens. He asked us, "But isn't your goal to make good citizens?" Marj and I kind of looked at him blankly, because it seems so obvious. We said something to the effect of "Our goal is to help our children be well-rounded individuals who can think for themselves and come to their own decisions and opinions, rather than regurgitating what they've been told." We said a bit more than that, but that conversation didn't make it in the paper, either.
One more thing: as I said, he seemed to be having trouble forming interview questions at the beginning. Of course, anyone who had just come from a 4-hour educational summit would have trouble forming coherent sentences, so I have to completely excuse him for this: right off the bat, he commented that my husband and I both have post-graduate degrees. I was trying to figure out where this was going when he said something to the effect of: "So you have a master's degree and were certified to teach public school, but you're not using it?" Yes, he actually said that. I laughed and said, "Not using it? I use it every day!" He sputtered then, but I told him I was glad he voiced that, because this is such a common misconception not only toward homeschoolers but toward stay-at-home moms in general. But that's another whole subject, and I'm pretty sure he'll not make that particular faux pas again. (And one more thing, as I am a grammar fanatic, I have to defend myself and say that I did NOT say “People wish there was alternatives..."!)
Here's the first part of the article but you can click on the link to read the whole thing:
*********
Program to present basics of home schooling Saturday
By Matthew Stewart
of The Daily Times Staff
Patricia Hoffman recently took her two children to Marble Springs, the home of Tennessee’s first governor: John Sevier. The three dressed up in period clothing and provided the “background color” for the day’s guided tours. The kids also made bead necklaces, listened to a lecture on how to cook over a wood fire and learned about weaving in a loom house.
read the rest of it here.
Brief on scholarship from credit union here.
Comments
Friday, March 28, 2008 - nice write up
Posted by Jennifer in OR (69.88.229.219)
Thanks for sharing that! It was pretty positive, even though the author certainly left out some important details. But really, most liberal papers would have at least mentioned "socialization" so be glad for that! :-) It sounds like a wonderful group.
www.diaryof1.com
Friday, March 28, 2008 - Untitled Comment
Posted by TheMonkeyParade (65.6.43.157)
Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Yes, Some of Us DO Need Support Groups
January 21, 2008
Like Mama Squirrel at Dewey's Treehouse, I've been surprised at the number of editorial-type blogs I've read lately that almost sneer at support groups. Sort of a "who needs a support group" kind of attitude. It's true--not everyone needs a support group. But what is sad, so sad, is that sometimes a support group needs you. Sometimes new homeschoolers really, really want to talk to experienced homeschoolers, but find their would-be-mentors are too busy maintaining their "I don't need a support group" stance to help. Sometimes experienced homeschoolers wish they had more experienced homeschoolers in the group, but they've all dropped out because...they don't need a support group. They "have all the friends they need." Yep.
And so I was going to blog about why I am happy to have a support group, but instead, Mama Squirrel did it on her blog. And her post is so similar to what I would have said, that I shall just link to her. Thanks, Mama Squirrel (who I wish had a real name because that just sounds weird but then again, I go by SmallWorld so who am I to talk) for taking the words right out of my mouth.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Ornament and Cookie Exchange
December 21, 2007
Leigh is a fabulous game-finder. In the photo above, the ladies are playing a game in which you must figure out a Christmas song by a rather twisted cartoon picture. This year Leigh also took a popular game and gave it a homeschool moms' twist. She has granted me her permission to print this here, because it really is perfect for homeschoolers. In this game, participants stand in a circle(s). (We had over 20 people and so formed 2 circles.) Each circle gets a gift, and the following story is read. Whenever the words "right" or "left" are read, the participants pass the gift to the person on their left or right, depending on the word. The person who is holding the gift at the end of the story gets to keep the gift. And the story:
have a knock-down-drag-out-fight to politely exchange ornaments. Somehow, year after year, BrownSugar falls madly in love with an ornament that gets stolen from her over and over again. I wish I could buy her all the ornaments that have been so brutally stolen from her...
And then, finally, the cookie exchange itself. Everyone brings two dozen cookies and takes two dozen home. I believe ours are all gone now. I am telling you, we are complete cookie gluttons around here. It is truly frightening to thinking about how many cookies have been consumed in this household in the past two weeks. Thank goodness Small World's maximum weight capacity is being revamped.
I sure had a fun evening. Have I mentioned how much I love having such an incredible support group? I find it so encouraging to have such a diversity of women in our group, and last night's attendance of 22 was a microcosm of our group of 220 families. We had moms who have been homeschooling for 20 years and moms who are brand new; moms who are grandmothers and moms with toddlers. We come from various parts of the country, have different educational backgrounds and cultural experiences, and go about homeschooling in many different ways. But we meet like this and feel immediate comfort and acceptance. We speak a language that is familiar and don't worry about offending or compromising. It's a good place to be.
And cookies make it even better.
Last night was our support group's annual Ornament and Cookie Exchange party. Traditionally this fabulous event is hosted by Blogless Leigh. This year, however, her home was in a potential state of disrepair (i.e., plumbing issues), so I volunteered to provide the gathering spot, while she continued to play hostess. We begin with an assortment of finger foods (thanks to Caroline and Blogless Leigh for helping me out with those!) and launch into games.
Christmas was coming, RIGHT away! All the homeschool moms were asking, "How much school do you have LEFT?" We all wanted to finish RIGHT now, but some of us had Biology LEFT, and algebra LEFT, and three chapters LEFT in our history book, and we couldn't stop RIGHT at the good part! Some of us LEFT our schoolwork undone, and some of us LEFT our housework undone to make cookies every afternoon! I heard one Grandpa say, "These sugar cookies are RIGHT good!" and one Dad say, "I hope you LEFT some for me!"So that was lots of fun. People are always happy to win a little prize, and it's great to see the competitive natures of these normally calm moms take over as they get into Game Mode. After all the games, we
The homeschooled kids were asking their moms, "How much school DO we have LEFT?" All the kids were LEFT wondering, "Does making cookies and ornaments really count for school?" and all the homeschooled moms were wondering, "Is this the RIGHT thing to do or will I be LEFT with regrets?"
Most of us will tell you the RIGHT decision is LEFT up to each family. We hope this time of year you are LEFT with some sanity. May you feel like you are making the RIGHT decisions and not LEFT with any doubts. We hope you have picked all the RIGHT gifts, wrapped up with all the RIGHT tags, and have all your cards labeled with the RIGHT addresses. We hope you celebrate with the RIGHT spirit this Christmas. I guess there is nothing LEFT to say except Merry Christmas, RIGHT?
I sure had a fun evening. Have I mentioned how much I love having such an incredible support group? I find it so encouraging to have such a diversity of women in our group, and last night's attendance of 22 was a microcosm of our group of 220 families. We had moms who have been homeschooling for 20 years and moms who are brand new; moms who are grandmothers and moms with toddlers. We come from various parts of the country, have different educational backgrounds and cultural experiences, and go about homeschooling in many different ways. But we meet like this and feel immediate comfort and acceptance. We speak a language that is familiar and don't worry about offending or compromising. It's a good place to be.
And cookies make it even better.
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Something Nice Happened Yesterday
October 30, 2007
I think most homeschooling groups--except those fortunate enough to have their own facilities--have experienced the "great church search" phenomenon. In 8 years I've been part of our support group here, we've had our enrichment classes in five different churches. The first two were willing to host us but just too small. The next one--my church--we were at for three years. The facilities were wonderful, and our members really considered this church as home base. But from my side of things, they were very difficult years. While the church leadership was always kind and willing to work with us, a handful of church members were adamantly--and often loudly-- opposed to homeschooling itself and homeschoolers just because. They made things very unpleasant for those of us on our support group's leadership team. I learned all kinds of ugly truths about how Christians can behave. I did some bad behaving myself. Fortunately, few of our group's members knew the behind-the-scenes grief. But it was exhausting and heart-breaking, and it was time to move on to our next facility.
Our support group currently has 220 families, and about half of those take part in our weekly enrichment classes (4 hours' worth of classes on one weekday). The process for finding a weekly meeting place for what amounts to around 150 kids per hour is arduous, to say the least. One of our enrichment team members called and visited dozens of churches that spring. Too small, too few classrooms, preschool programs, and just plain, "No, we are not interested." We always have several churches say that hosting a homeschooling group would be offensive to the public school teachers who attend their church. There is really no proper response for that one, other than, "Huh?"
But at last, a wonderful facility opened up for us. And we made it a policy to only stay at a church for two years, so as to avoid wearing out our welcome. Year 1 at this church was wonderful. Year 2 brought all kinds of conflict, again instigated by just a couple of the church staff--not the church leadership. And the search began again. We always go to our membership when it's time to look for a new church, and ask if they have a church that would be willing to host. This time another enrichment team member checked out all the members' hot tips and came up with a bunch of "no's." She then began calling through the Yellow Pages and visiting churches. Again, a series of closed doors.
And then, the unimaginable happened: A church offered itself to us. A church that not even a single one of our 220 families attends regularly. One of our members visits there sometimes, and she mentioned the need to the pastor. And the congregation voted us in, without us even asking.
They told us to use anything we want to. While other congregations say it, this one truly believes that "it's only a building." The church wanted to reach out to the community. What a novel concept! And when we gave them a check for facility use for the first 12 weeks of classes, they said, "Oh! We didn't expect you to pay us!" The pastor pops his head in frequently just to say hi. The secretary smiles at us. I am seeing a beautiful display of love in action.
And yesterday? Yesterday they baked us cookies. Trays full of perfect chocolate chip cookies. Yesterday, something nice happened. A church said to us, "We love you. We're glad you are here." And wow--that did my heart some good.
Comments
Wednesday, October 31, 2007 - Amen....
Posted by fyftn (70.43.26.212)
... to Christians behaving like we Christians say we should. I'm so glad to hear that they are so welcoming.
And imagine my surprise when you told me they had a link to Feed Your Faith and our logo on their web-site. I've been inside that church only once (for a BHEA event) and have no idea what prompted it.
Glad they did. =)
Thursday, November 1, 2007 - Untitled Comment
Posted by jennfromtenn (69.254.97.221)
I must be really hormonal today, but that brought tears to my eyes. How incredibly kind! What a blessing. I had no idea it had been so difficult to find churches willing to open their doors. Thanks, Sarah, for sticking it out and helping to get the group where it it today.
Have a great day!
Jennifer
Thursday, November 1, 2007 - That brought tears to my eyes, too!
Posted by QueenoftheHill (72.12.53.46)
I had the pleasure of meeting these people before we committed to going there and truly kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. It never has. They view us as a ministry (I think most of US do, too) and really do think their building is a blessing that must be shared and used.
The cookies were soooooo nice, too!
Thursday, November 15, 2007 - Beautiful story!
Posted by HomeschoolCPA (208.102.7.92)
Thanks for sharing your beautiful story. I know the search for a church for a large group can be tiresome. My co-op of 60 families (120 children) has had 4 host churches in 6 years.
We've run into "our public school teacher members wouldn't like you meeting here" also. When will people see that the choice to homeschool is not necessarily a criticism of public or private schools? Its simply another choice. That's like saying I have something against all other men because I chose my husband to marry! Silly.
Maybe someday more churches will be like your new host church!
Carol Topp, CPA
www.HomeschoolCPA.com
Helping Homeschool Organizations
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
On Being Offensive
July 17, 2007
Our support group had a meeting last night to go over dress code issues, so you can imagine that the boys (i.e., Jesse and a friend) have only one thing they want to talk about today: what exactly is offensive--and why? The problem is, I don't have the answers to that. Go the the Scriptures, I told the boys. I like how The Message translates this passage from Romans 14:1-9:
(1) Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. (2-4) For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help. ...(7-9) None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It's God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
(1) Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. (2-4) For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help. ...(7-9) None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It's God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That's why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.
T-shirts have been the big issue around here today. They want to know, as if I have the answers, why some t-shirts are offensive and others aren't. Where do we draw that line? It's a slippery slope, for sure. These are issues that make me want to run away, perhaps to Australia. I did a google shirt for "offensive t-shirt" and came across all sorts of candidates--including lots of ones I wouldn't post here. (Interesting that no band t-shirts were on the first 10 pages--after that I stopped looking.)
So are these band t-shirts offensive?
What about this?
Or this?
Or this?
Surely nobody would be offended by this shirt, right? Aren't we all in agreement that clowns are a little creepy? No? You mean some of you actually like clowns?
Surely we can all agree that we did the Native Americans wrong, right? So this shirt shouldn't offend anybody. Well, unless, you think something else...
And then there's this one: great saying, right? But--hmm. Didn't Jimi Hendrix die of a drug overdose? So probably he couldn't have said anything important...
I'm thinking Rick needs this on his blog. His brother and Mike have been pretty dangerous over there lately with all their thinking...
And, well, this is my personal favorite. Anyone offended?
I'm not making light of this issue. I want my children to rise above and "treat others gently." I don't want them to "cross people off the guest list" because they wear their shirts tucked in and pants too high. Somehow it is difficult for them to make the connection that the fact that they are being judged--based on the length of their hair and the band on their t-shirt--is no different than them judging their peers because they are "preps" or whatever.
Phew. It's exhausting to be a parent, especially when we are stilling figuring all this out ourselves.Friday, April 20, 2007
Planning a Homeschooling 101
April 20, 2007
I’ve had several emails about how to have a Homeschooling 101, so I’ll share here what our support group does. We started holding an annual Homeschooling 101 about six years ago, and it has continued to be an excellent way of providing information to potential homeschoolers in our area.
Planning
1) The first step is to gather a crew. You’ll need a leader and a few willing workers initially.
2) Pick a date that works for you and your crew. We like March or April because this seems like the time when parents are really thinking about the next year—and because our public schools do “Kindergarten Round-up” about this time. We’ve done weekday evenings or Saturdays with equal success. Whatever works for your crew is the best choice.
3) Have someone order (and store) catalogs. One mom called or emailed dozens of curriculum providers and asked for 30 catalogs each. She ended up with 2 full tables’ worth of catalogs, from the hefty Rainbow Resource to one-page flyers. The new Sonlight catalogs went like hotcakes!
4) Reserve your location. We have traditionally used a church; however, this year we reserved a room at our local public library for a nominal fee. We had our best turn-out ever this year, and I suspect that having the meeting in a neutral location helped.
5) Advertise—for free. About 3 weeks before the event, I send a blurb to our three local papers (one daily and two weekly). They post this in their “Calendar” section for free. We also send the announcement around to several homeschooling yahoogroups, both local and state-wide. Some years we have put flyers in the library and at local Christian bookstores, as well. This is the blurb I send to the papers:
“Homeschooling 101: Are you considering home education but don't know where to start? Blount Home Education Association (BHEA) will be holding its annual Homeschooling 101 seminar at the Blount County Public Library's Dorothy Herron rooms on Saturday, April 14, 12-2 p.m. This free program will present the basics of home education, including getting started, registering, choosing curriculum, socialization concerns, and much more. Curriculum tables will also be set up so that participants can examine various types of curricula. This seminar is free and open to the public. For more information, please call Sarah Small at ___-____ or visit BHEA's website at www.BHEA.net.”
6) Ask for help from your members. We try to get 6-10 members to set up “Curriculum Share” tables the day of the event. Basically, they just bring a bunch of their materials and set up a table. After our Intro talk, they chat with newbies in a casual setting. No sales, just sharing. Often our current members will come just for this part of the session so that they can get their hands on specific books and talk to a user. This is always a highlight of the day! Not only do people get to really look at what homeschoolers do, but they get to talk to veterans—and find out that we’re not super moms. Just regular folks who educate at home.
7) Have your group’s membership person get information together: membership forms, nametags, brochures, ID cards, or whatever your group offers. Ask your membership coordinator to be there that day, or assign someone to man that table.
8) Enlist someone to present the Basics talk. More on that later.
The Event
1) Thirty minutes should be enough to set up, unless you need to set out tables, etc. (The library had this all ready for us.) Make sure the registration/membership info table is in an obvious place. We have people sign in, pay for membership if they wish, and give them the hand-outs. The can pick up catalogs at this time, too.
Our Hand-out packet includes:
* Outline of Homeschooling Basics Talk
* 50 Reasons to Homeschool
* List of Umbrellas (Church-related schools) in our area
* List of Resources for Homeschooling Information (not exhaustive, but includes a decent number of internet sites, books, and magazines);
* List of curriculum providers (obviously not an exhaustive list, but we try to hit “the biggies”);
* List of activities, services our support group provides
* List of possible field trips and opportunities in our area
* Article: Dispelling the Myths of Homeschooling
2) We start with a Homeschooling Basics talk. We cover: Introduction (including reasons to homeschool at); State Homeschooling Regulations; Approaches to Homescholling; Joining a Support Group; and Choosing Curriculum. This talk takes about 50 minutes. I take a very casual approach to this and ask for questions during and between each topic. Several of our veteran members are scattered throughout the audience and interject information as appropriate.
3) Curriculum Tables: After the questions seem to have stopped, we send people off to browse the tables for the next hour. This is when a huge amount of learning and networking goes on, as our members talk with new/potential homeschoolers in a one-on-one setting.
4) We were limited to 2 hours at the library, and this worked perfectly. In other years, we’ve had an all-day event in which we break for lunch and then have concurrent sessions in the afternoon. Our sessions have included: what to do with the little ones while you are schooling; what does a day in homeschooling look like; how to homeschool high-schoolers; discovering learning styles; how to start kindergarten, etc. This was also a wonderful approach to Homeschooling 101, but it does require a lot more work on the coordinators’ parts, more volunteers, and a bigger time commitment all around. This past year we’ve had monthly roundtable discussion groups that address these topics and others while we have coffee at Panera.
*************
Offering a Homeschooling 101 is a fantastic tool to reach out to those considering homeschooling wherever you live. Anyone who has homeschooled for any amount of time has something valuable to say or share, and you never know who in your city might be searching for someone else who has chosen this journey!
Planning
1) The first step is to gather a crew. You’ll need a leader and a few willing workers initially.
2) Pick a date that works for you and your crew. We like March or April because this seems like the time when parents are really thinking about the next year—and because our public schools do “Kindergarten Round-up” about this time. We’ve done weekday evenings or Saturdays with equal success. Whatever works for your crew is the best choice.
3) Have someone order (and store) catalogs. One mom called or emailed dozens of curriculum providers and asked for 30 catalogs each. She ended up with 2 full tables’ worth of catalogs, from the hefty Rainbow Resource to one-page flyers. The new Sonlight catalogs went like hotcakes!
4) Reserve your location. We have traditionally used a church; however, this year we reserved a room at our local public library for a nominal fee. We had our best turn-out ever this year, and I suspect that having the meeting in a neutral location helped.
5) Advertise—for free. About 3 weeks before the event, I send a blurb to our three local papers (one daily and two weekly). They post this in their “Calendar” section for free. We also send the announcement around to several homeschooling yahoogroups, both local and state-wide. Some years we have put flyers in the library and at local Christian bookstores, as well. This is the blurb I send to the papers:
“Homeschooling 101: Are you considering home education but don't know where to start? Blount Home Education Association (BHEA) will be holding its annual Homeschooling 101 seminar at the Blount County Public Library's Dorothy Herron rooms on Saturday, April 14, 12-2 p.m. This free program will present the basics of home education, including getting started, registering, choosing curriculum, socialization concerns, and much more. Curriculum tables will also be set up so that participants can examine various types of curricula. This seminar is free and open to the public. For more information, please call Sarah Small at ___-____ or visit BHEA's website at www.BHEA.net.”
6) Ask for help from your members. We try to get 6-10 members to set up “Curriculum Share” tables the day of the event. Basically, they just bring a bunch of their materials and set up a table. After our Intro talk, they chat with newbies in a casual setting. No sales, just sharing. Often our current members will come just for this part of the session so that they can get their hands on specific books and talk to a user. This is always a highlight of the day! Not only do people get to really look at what homeschoolers do, but they get to talk to veterans—and find out that we’re not super moms. Just regular folks who educate at home.
7) Have your group’s membership person get information together: membership forms, nametags, brochures, ID cards, or whatever your group offers. Ask your membership coordinator to be there that day, or assign someone to man that table.
8) Enlist someone to present the Basics talk. More on that later.
The Event
1) Thirty minutes should be enough to set up, unless you need to set out tables, etc. (The library had this all ready for us.) Make sure the registration/membership info table is in an obvious place. We have people sign in, pay for membership if they wish, and give them the hand-outs. The can pick up catalogs at this time, too.
Our Hand-out packet includes:
* Outline of Homeschooling Basics Talk
* 50 Reasons to Homeschool
* List of Umbrellas (Church-related schools) in our area
* List of Resources for Homeschooling Information (not exhaustive, but includes a decent number of internet sites, books, and magazines);
* List of curriculum providers (obviously not an exhaustive list, but we try to hit “the biggies”);
* List of activities, services our support group provides
* List of possible field trips and opportunities in our area
* Article: Dispelling the Myths of Homeschooling
2) We start with a Homeschooling Basics talk. We cover: Introduction (including reasons to homeschool at); State Homeschooling Regulations; Approaches to Homescholling; Joining a Support Group; and Choosing Curriculum. This talk takes about 50 minutes. I take a very casual approach to this and ask for questions during and between each topic. Several of our veteran members are scattered throughout the audience and interject information as appropriate.
3) Curriculum Tables: After the questions seem to have stopped, we send people off to browse the tables for the next hour. This is when a huge amount of learning and networking goes on, as our members talk with new/potential homeschoolers in a one-on-one setting.
4) We were limited to 2 hours at the library, and this worked perfectly. In other years, we’ve had an all-day event in which we break for lunch and then have concurrent sessions in the afternoon. Our sessions have included: what to do with the little ones while you are schooling; what does a day in homeschooling look like; how to homeschool high-schoolers; discovering learning styles; how to start kindergarten, etc. This was also a wonderful approach to Homeschooling 101, but it does require a lot more work on the coordinators’ parts, more volunteers, and a bigger time commitment all around. This past year we’ve had monthly roundtable discussion groups that address these topics and others while we have coffee at Panera.
*************
Offering a Homeschooling 101 is a fantastic tool to reach out to those considering homeschooling wherever you live. Anyone who has homeschooled for any amount of time has something valuable to say or share, and you never know who in your city might be searching for someone else who has chosen this journey!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Homeschooling 101
April 14, 2007
Homeschooling 101 makes me happy. I am happy that it is over--that is true. It's one of those BIG checks off the never-ending To-Do list. But I love the opportunity to get to speak to people who are earnestly seeking out information about homeschooling. It actually thrills me to be able to encourage them. Our support group started this about 6 years ago. We take about 45 minutes to give the bare bones of homeschooling: homeschooling law in the state, approaches to homeschooling, reasons to homeschool, how to figure out what to do in your own home, etc. We open up the floor to Q&A and then take the next hour for curriculum browsing and more personal Q&A. Usually 6-12 members set up their own "Curriculum Share" tables. Participants can get their hands on the materials and talk to the users in a no-sales environment. This is an awesome time for new folks to really see what is available out there. Their faces get so excited when they see the possibilities for real, outside the walls, learning! (Current homeschoolers also enjoy this part if they have been wanting to see what others use.) We also have stacks of catalogs provided by various companies that folks can take home and peruse. (And TOS was lovely enough to give a free subscription as a doorprize.) We had about 30 potential homeschoolers attend today's seminar. I am so inspired to see all these families taking a long, honest look at their children's education. I know that our goal is to encourage them, but they certainly do encourage those of us in this journey already!
Next on the list: should I get my classes ready for Monday or find a warm blanket and read my latest book? Um, book.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Support Group Leaders Need Your Support
April 10, 2007
I am not a support group leader anymore. For four years, I poured hours and hours each week--physically, mentally, and emotionally--into serving our support group. A year ago I gave my notice and then stepped off the board at the first of August (the beginning of our new year). I began as the newsletter editor/communications coordinator and ended as a communications support person and as part of the enrichment class team.
Our group's mission has always been to support and encourage area homeschooling families in various ways. But keeping one's eyes on the mission is difficult in the midst of dissension. And there is nearly always dissension. Homeschoolers are an independent and opinionated lot in general. Some are downright difficult. Right now I am heavy with empathy as our leadership struggles with rumors and hearsay. What is so difficult about being in leadership is that you just can't tell "the whole story" without airing "the victim's" (and I say that with very large quotes around the word) dirty laundry. You have to trust the Lord that all secrets will be revealed in their own time, and that the Truth will prevail. Phew. That is hard to do when your name is being dragged through the red clay. Even if only a couple of people are doing the dragging.
But here's what pulls a leader through: the sweet voices of encouragement. It is in our nature as humans to dwell on those tiny out-of-tune soloists of criticism while ignoring the choir of support. Isn't that crazy? And here is my message to anyone who belongs to a support group: let your leaders know you appreciate them. Send them emails. Tell them how important the group is to them. Don't buy into the rumors you might hear circulating, and by all means, don't participate in the speculation that stems from such situations. Chances are that most members have no idea of the dramas that go on, because I have seen gentle, kind-hearted women take a verbal beating and go on to plan classes or prepare an upcoming seminar with smiles on their faces. Don't forget to pray for your leaders. And if you have something you can add to a group--and everyone does--don't hesitate to offer. There is nothing more encouraging to a leader that these two phrases: "Thank you!" and "How can I help?"
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