Thursday, June 25, 2009

Meeting Tonight

Just a reminder that our monthly meeting is tonight - 7pm downstairs at Bean to Cup. I'll be there - hope to see some of you there!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Homeschooling Options

Hi All:

Here is a copy of an email I sent to the Kelowna homeschoolers. If any of you are interested, let me know. It is possible that we could do something in Lake Country if Kelowna and Vernon kids want to participate.


For those of you who don’t know us and our story. I am a single mom and I have an 11 year old boy Daniel. We homeschooled for 3 years and then in October Daniel returned to public school. After 8 months of schooling I find myself feeling conflicted about what to do for September. I now see what works for our family and what doesn’t work for our family with regard to homeschooling and public school.

I really wish that there was a third option. For our family what would work perfectly would be a program where Daniel could attend some sort of alternative ‘school’ program 2 full days a week. My vision would be that there would be 10 to 15 kids between the ages of maybe 9 and 15. Then there would be 4 or 5 ‘subjects’ – each led by a really passionate expert in that field who would bring his or her enthusiasm to the group and do really interesting activities with the kids.

For example I could imagine that there would be a personal trainer type person who would lead a physical education portion one afternoon each week. This person would then organize activities and outings in which the kids would have the opportunity to experience different sports and forms of exercise. I would love to see something really broad where the kids would learn different sports and also go for bike rides, go swimming, bowling. Ideally the kids would be involved in choosing the activities. The goal would be to inspire the kids to want to be active and healthy, to help them discover what activities they enjoy and to give them an opportunity to build skills in those areas.... and of course to have fun.

Another example would be a social studies portion – led by someone (or perhaps more than one person) who loves history and is socially activity. I could imagine that there would be different sections throughout the year where the kids would focus on different time periods. Then they would also have sections where they learned about social awareness and got involved in some programs in the community. I would love to see a really hands on, fun approach that would really hold the kids’ interest.

As I think about it I can think of other ideas around a science class, maybe a foreign language class – the possibilities are endless. So what I was thinking is that the kids would have a regular place where they meet, but would also have lots of outings. There would be perhaps two subjects each day – like one in the morning from 9 – 12 and then they would have lunch together and then have another subject from 1 – 4.

All of these are just ideas that have been running around in my mind. Is something like this possible? Well, I am not totally sure, but I am beginning to think that it is worth looking in to. So first I thought I would send an email to see if there is any interest from other families. I have a few ideas of spaces that may be available and potential instructors. If there are around 10 kids that are interested, I will do some more research. So if something like this is of interest to your family please drop me an email and let me know how many kids there are and their ages. If you have any ideas around the structure or content of the program, send those too.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Half-Price Usborne Books

Sandi, in Winfield is closing her Usborne Book business and is offering a large selection of books at half price. If anyone is interested in seeing the list of books, email me (maristar2000@yahoo.com) and I'll send it to you. It's too long to put on here.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Free admission to Kelowna Falcons Baseball Game Tuesday June 16th

This was posted on the Kelowna website for any of you baseball fans:

Hi All,

I just found out that the Kelowna Falcons Baseball team is offering FREE admittance to their opening game of the season. Check out the link for info.

http://www.kelownafalcons.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=222&Itemid=1

I don't know if I can make it, but hopefully some of you can!!!

Beach Day in Vernon Friday June 19th?

Hi everyone,
I understand some people will be going to the Beach Day in Kelowna the day before, but just wondering if anyone will be coming out to a beach in Vernon the next day, Friday June 19th?? I would like to go, if anyone else can. We could meet at between 11 & 12? Is there a particular beach people have been meeting at? (I've been kind of out of the loop lately). If not, does Paddlewheel Park work?

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Some Ideas for Next Year's Fun Day for Homeschoolers

Here are some of my ideas: Cooperative Fun Day and Personal Best Events
1st half: multi-age groups that include all ages (6-16 years) rotate through fun stations/games/activities with a team captain (responsible 14-16 year old)
-siblings together on one team
-have fun and accumulate points for team
-At end announce points for each team, everybody cheers for everybody and participant ribbons are handed to all

2nd Half:
-Inflatable bouncers and Personal Best Events
- Students choose to do their activities/attend as individuals
-Personal best Events: short race, long race, ball throw, long jump/standing long jump
-Students take a little photocopied index card to each event and record times/distances on their card with goal to beat their last years times and distances
-Any/all ages can line up for race/field event of choice. They can run in pairs of any age
-Only times/distances are recorded for individuals
-Participant ribbons awarded for completing each Personal Best Event
-Students of all ages can line up/do age-appropriate bouncers of choice during second half as well

Friday, June 12, 2009

Beach Day Thursday June 18th 9:30am Beasly Beach

The Kelowna homelearner's will be having a beach day in Winfield next Thursday, June 18th and would love to have the Vernon learner's join them. They will be meeting at around 9:30 am again since that seems to work best for most people who have afternoon activities. Here are the directions to Beasly Beach, part of Reiswig Regional Park

Directions:

Woodsdale Road in Winfield, Lake Country. From Highway 97 driving South turn left on Woodsdale Road at the first traffic light in Winfield. The park is on the left side of the road.

We are going to plan on being there. Hope we see you!

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Atlantis Waterslides

I have booked June 25th as the North Okanagan Homelearners waterslide day.
When I booked, she wanted us to have everyone show homeschooling ID at the gate UNLESS we all arrived at a scheduled time and entered all at once. I choose the later as the option, since that seemed to be the most practical, to me anyway.
A bit of a nuisance for some though possibly.
I suggest for those who can't arrive at 9:30 am to show up with some form of homeschooling ID, say you are with the North Okanagan Homelearners and I will ask her to honour those as well.
So .....June 25th last full day before school is out and until now without any other schools booked to be there!
at 9:30 am at the entrance gate.
$7 for 4 to 12 year olds
$9 for teens and adults.
See ya then.

annette