“All your children will be taught of the Lord, and great will be your children’s peace,” (Isaiah 54:13).

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Parenting with Scripture

This is an excellent book to use in teaching godly character traits to your children. The topics are in alphabetical order ranging from anger to worry (and there is an indexed list, as well), with key symbols that mark familiar Bible passages, such as a cluster of grapes for fruit of the Spirit.

Each topic starts off with a basic definition, and then lists four to six applicable scriptures for memorization. There are a few discussion questions, followed by "Take Action," points--ways to apply scripture to the issue being covered.

I've used this book many times in the several years since I bought it, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in working on discipline issues, or for use as a type of Bible-based devotional.

You can find this book at ChristianBook.com as a paperback or an e-book.

Blessings,
Selena

Monday, June 27, 2011

Registration & Used Curriculum Sale

Does anyone else think that summer is flying by? I can't believe that we've already peaked at the longest day of the year. When the weather is cool and breezy, I find my heart already beginning to yearn for fall...And, speaking of time flying, our registration for next year is less than two months away!

We are trying something new this year. On Tuesday, August 23rd, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., in the fellowship hall at Trinity, we will be holding a drop-in registration. You can "drop in" anytime during that period to sign up for THESIS membership and classes, and to select an area in which to help out. We hope this format will limit some of the chaos of having everyone there at the same time, and that it will allow for members (new and returning) to get questions answered. (There will not be child care during this registration period. Your child(ren) may play on the playground outside the fellowship hall, but everyone is responsible for their own child(ren).)

Also during that time, we will have a cash-n-carry used curriculum sale. This will also be held in the fellowship hall, and sellers will be responsible for clearly labeling anything they put out by using this method:

  • Label a small envelope with owner's name, the title of item(s) for sale, and the price.
  • Tuck envelope inside for-sale item and place it on the table.

Anyone who wants to purchase an item will remove the envelope and fill it with cash, then place it in the designated area. (Please, no checks or IOU's without approval of the specific person selling the item.)

Sellers may stay with their curriculum, or they can come back at the end of the sale and pick up their money and/or unsold items. All sellers displaying things for sale are responsible for retrieving their unsold things by 3:45 p.m.

**Please note: sets of encyclopedias, and other dinosaur-era learning materials that are highly unlikely to be sold should not be brought to this event!**

If you want to sell something, you may come to the fellowship hall as early as 12:45 p.m. to display things. If you are looking for something particular, just post the item as a comment to this blog entry, and hopefully someone will have it to sell!

Questions? Just give one of the administrators a call.

Blessings,
Selena

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Curriculum Chaos

Anyone who has seen the Rainbow Resource catalog -- a full two inches thick -- knows how overwhelming the curriculum choices can be to homeschoolers. There are literature-based curricula, unit-studies, classical method and scripted curricula, to name a few. And you may ask, "Who is Charlotte Mason and what is a living book?"

All homeschoolers, even the seasoned ones, have curriculum quandaries at times. If you are new to homeschooling, the endless sea of materials and styles can be bewildering. With that in mind, click here for a website that can help you peruse some of your options.

More importantly, THESIS is a support group, and we want to support our homeschooling families by helping each other with this all-important decision--what and how to teach our children.

Future posts will address some basic styles of curriculum, and cover different teaching approaches. If you have any questions or concerns about something, feel free to comment and we'll do our best to get you an answer promptly!

Blessings,
Selena

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Year-End Assessments

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick reminder -- if you submitted a letter of intent to your county school board for this past school year, your year-end assessment results are due to your county Superintendent by June 30th.

It is helpful (for record keeping and peace of mind) if you send these via certified mail with return receipt requested. Then, staple the receipt to your copy of the assessment.

Also helpful is including your next year's letter of intent along with the assessment.

Questions about this? See one of THESIS's administrators for help.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

THESIS is a Co-Op

Did you know that our homeschool group, THESIS, is a co-op, or cooperative?

The definition of a cooperative is:
something owned collectively by members who share in its benefits.
And, of course, cooperative comes from the word cooperate, which means: to work together with others.

Therefore, the definition of THESIS is:
a homeschool group where we all work together and collectively share in the benefits of doing so.


And so, here comes the wonderful part -- Moms, we need you!

If you have some amazing ability when it comes to teaching a certain subject--math, art, basket-weaving--please let us know! As of the writing of this post, five elementary classes still need teachers, which includes two classes each for grades K-1 and 2-3, and one class for grades 4-5.

And, senior high students--are you proficient in a subject? Are you well organized? Please feel free to volunteer to teach a class (as long as it is okay with your parent).

Please know that we have an amazing year coming up, with more classes to be taught than ever before, and possibly even more families joining our group (we had 50 families representing ~100 children this past year). While this is exciting, it definitely requires that we emphasize that we are a co-op, and we all need to pitch in and help out, in some way.

With that in mind, when the registration happens in August (which is going to be different this year--more about that in a later post), we will have sign-up sheets for class helpers. Please take time to review these sheets and choose a class (or two) to help out with. Due to the volume of students that we have, we will be assigning helpers for each class, if we don't fill all the blanks with volunteers. So, if you'd like to pick out the class where you want to help, be sure to take a look at those sign-up sheets. (There will be a reminder of this, closer to registration.)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer--the days are going to start getting shorter after today--and that you are keeping cool. When you are inside enjoying some a/c on the super-hot days, please give some thought to possibly teaching a class this year, or helping to coordinate an area of our group.

If you have any questions, or want to teach a class/be a coordinator, please give Selena (304-363-0944) or Liz (304-534-5822) a call.

Blessings!
Selena

Saturday, June 4, 2011