K-3 Field Trip to Shop and Save

Hello Everyone,

Those who signed up for our field trip to the Middletown Shop and Save should plan to meet in front of the store this Friday. (We will meet inside the front of the store, if it is raining.)

Our field trip begins at 10:30, so if you are late you will need to ask the front office where the field trip groups currently are. Our guides will divide us into two groups, and we will proceed through a behind-the-scenes tour where the children will get to make a mini pizza, decorate a cookie, and get to ring up something on a register.

This will be approximately 1 1/2-2 hours, so we should be done around 12:30.

If you have any questions, just call me at 304.363.0944.

Labels for Education--Food Lion, Giant Eagle and Kroger!

Hello Everyone,

Just a reminder to visit this link: FoodLion.eLabelsForEducation.com to register your Food Lion shopper card. Once you bring up this link, click the red "Sign Up" button to the left of the screen and follow the instructions. You can also register your Giant Eagle and Kroger cards. (Enter each card separately, even though the screen will bring up all three stores. If you put in all three numbers the system gets confused.)

Please be sure to select THESIS, Fairmont, WV, 26554 as your school, so we will be awarded the bonus points.

There is a promotion for Food Lion that awards 250 bonus points for each person who registers their Food Lion shopper card by tomorrow, March 27th!

After registering a shopper card, THESIS will get one bonus point for every qualifying item you purchase at that Food Lion, Giant Eagle or Krogers ( in addition to the actual points we get for clipping that item's UPC).

So, will you please take a moment and register your shopper cards for these stores?

If you have any questions, please give me a call 304.363.0944.

Thank you!

Selena Campbell

Friday Class Reminders

Just a few important reminders for tomorrow, March 23rd:

• Last day for the Labels for Education food drive. If you have non-expired non-perishable items to donate, please put them in the box marked for the food drive.
  
  
• The K-3 field trip to Middletown Shop & Save will be Friday, March 30th. There are 5 spaces left, so if you haven't signed up please do so tomorrow.
  
  
• No regular classes on Friday March 30th. There will be play practice at 10:30, which is also the same time that the elementary field trip is scheduled.
  
  
• No classes on Friday, April 6. It is Good Friday and the church is closed.
  
  
• If you haven't done so recently, please check your mailbox folders. Some family folders are quite full.
  
  
• As we did last week, we will have some classes give presentations during announcements. Please be on time (12:45) so you won't miss hearing what our students have been doing this year!

See you tomorrow!

Fundraiser and Food Drive

If you have not had the pleasure of viewing a Rada Cutlery catalog yet, please be sure to approach one of the THESIS drama students.

A great feature of this fundraiser (which is being held to cover the royalty fees for our play, The Trouble With Being Tucker Dowt), is we earn 40% of the monies we collect!

Rada products are made in the U.S.A., the prices are extremely reasonable, and those who have used them say they are wonderful. Please be sure to check them out soon, because the orders have to be submitted by March 30, 2012.

If you have any questions, please contact Kelley Richman at 304.745.5246, or by email at: david_richman[at]frontier[dot]com.

Thanks for supporting our THESIS thespians!

On another note, we will be collecting non-perishable food items again this Friday. If you have any items you would like to bring for the Labels for Education food drive, please place them in the marked box this Friday. These items will be donated to the Union Mission's food pantry, and we will earn an extra 500 points for our account. Thanks for your help!

Labels for Education Food Drive

Hello Everyone,

I hope you are enjoying this lovely weather we are having!

You may be aware that THESIS collects Labels For Education, which is much more than Campbell's brand soup and such. In fact, you can see a list of participating products if you click here.

One way for our group to earn 500 extra bonus points is for us to hold a food drive. So, beginning tomorrow, I will have a box out in the café area for collection of non-perishable food items. Please bring canned goods or boxed items that you would like to donate (but please be sure to check that they are not expired).

Thanks for participating!

Happy Pi Day!

"Pi, Greek letter (), is the symbol for the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. Pi Day is celebrated by math enthusiasts around the world on March 14th.

Pi = 3.1415926535…

With the use of computers, Pi has been calculated to over 1 trillion digits past the decimal. Pi is an irrational and transcendental number meaning it will continue infinitely without repeating. The symbol for pi was first used in 1706 by William Jones, but was popular after it was adopted by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler in 1737 "(http://www.piday.org/).

Since we are homeschoolers--and homeschoolers are a fun and exciting bunch--I thought it would be great to celebrate Pi day (with it being 3.14 and all).

Here are some suggestions for you:

1. Bake a Pi pie!
2. Read Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi
3. Have a Pi memorizing contest to see how many numbers of Pi you can recite!
4. Try to find your date of birth in the sequence of Pi
5. Make a paper chain with a different color for each number.
6. Make a graph to chart the frequency of numbers as they appear.
7. Bake cookies and calculate their circumference and diameter!

Oh, the fun you can have with Pi...

If you have anything planned, leave a comment so we can all share in the joy! :)

Curriculum Reviews

Hello Everyone!

Yes, the school year is winding down--just a few more weeks to go, can you believe it?

If your thoughts have turned to what to do for next year, and you aren't sure what curriculum to use, we are here to help! Beginning soon, we will be posting reviews of various curricula, written by actual local users of said products, so you will get a first-hand idea of what they are like (and you can ask the users more questions, and possibly examine the materials yourself).

Here are a few we will cover . . .

Sonlight
Konos
Saxon Math
Horizons Math
Miquon Math
Winston Grammar
Explode the Code
Beyond the Code
Mystery of History

If you are especially interested in reading about one of the above, or if you are interested in a particular curriculum that is not listed, please leave a comment. We will do our best to get some info posted regularly over the next few months, so you will have some time to make an informed decision about next year.

Speaking of making a curriculum decision, this video lists 5 mistakes that families make when buying curriculum:




If you have you used a curriculum (whether listed above or not) and would like to write a fair, balanced (pros and cons) review for the product, please contact me.

In the meantime, click here to visit a link with curriculum reviews written by other homeschoolers.

Blessings,
Selena Campbell

Valley Worlds of Fun -- THESIS Fun Day!

Hello Everyone who is happy we are done with testing. Today is a day to just play, and Valley Worlds of Fun is the place to be.

Our group will meet at VWOF at 10:00 am this morning, and we will play and relax until 2:00 (or whenever you want to leave). In the middle of this time frame (noon-ish) will be a pizza buffet.

If you signed up, I'll see you there!

One More Day of Testing

Although we are having tons of fun testing and snacking and hanging out together, there is, alas, only one more day of testing.

I post this note merely to remind all of you happy testers and testees and otherwise testy persons that tomorrow we must all meet at the front/main entrance of Trinity at the start of the day. The fellowship hall and gym area will NOT be available to us, at all, tomorrow. Please do your best to be on time for pre-testing announcements (8:30ish), so you will know where you are allowed to roam and frolic during breaks tomorrow.

Any questions? Just let us know. Our contact info is here.

Testing Time!

Yes, the school year has flown by and, once again, the week of assessment testing is upon us. Beginning tomorrow, all test-takers need to report to the fellowship hall at Trinity by 8:30 a.m. Here are some reminders for all of us:

1. Bring two #2 pencils for each child, and some scratch paper.

2. Bring a great snack and, if desired, a lunch to eat once testing is finished (around noon)--especially if you are going to the NASA workshop after testing on Tuesday!

3. If you are a mom waiting for your child to finish, and you don't have a testing "assignment," please bring a book, or your notebook computer (there is free wireless at church), and/or some toys and things to keep your little ones occupied while testing is going on.

4. Please remember that all parents are responsible for the safety of their children with regard to playing and snacks/lunches. If your child has allergies, please make sure that they don't eat from the "community" snacks that are set out in the fellowship hall for the parents and test administrators/proctors. No snacks will be given to students by test administrators. They will provide appropriate breaks where the children can retrieve their own snacks. Only water may be taken to the classrooms for testing--no other drinks or food are allowed outside of the fellowship hall.

5. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly...relax! Testing is only as stressful as you make it! Yes, some children react negatively to testing, but our behavior plays a big part in how our children look at testing. Treat it as something fun--a change in routine!--and your child will go into it with a better attitude than if they feel the world will shift its axis based on their test results.

Testing will run from Tuesday through Thursday, Lord willing and weather-permitting, with our Friday fun day being at Valley Worlds of Fun. If you haven't signed up for Friday's fun, please do so (and pay for your admission) during testing. Payment in full is desired BEFORE Friday.

Any additional question or concerns? Please contact us and we'll be glad to help!

Blessings!
Selena