Bonner County Homeschool Group

This is from an e-mail I recieved from the Dept of Lands:

We hope your 1st through 5th graders will participate in our contest this year. This year’s contest includes portraying Smokey Bear and his message “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires” or Woodsy Owl with his message of “Lend a Hand – Care for the Land.” We believe the contest helps youngsters understand fire prevention and basic environmental conservation principles as well as contributing to the importance of personal responsibility.

Local Sponsorship for your school includes us at the Priest Lake District of the Idaho Department of Lands along with the Priest Lake Ranger District, US Forest Service. Nationwide, the USDA Forest Service and the National Garden Clubs, Inc. sponsor the Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl Poster and winners are recognized at each school those first place winners become eligible for awards at state, regional and national levels.

We like to pick up poster entries as soon as they are ready but no later than Friday, December 4, 2009. Questions, please contact Dan Brown or me here at the Priest Lake office, 443-2516. Thank you for your participation!

Pam Aunan

Priest Lake Area Idaho Dept of Lands

4053 Cavanaugh Bay Road

Coolin, ID 83821

(208) 443-2516 Telephone

(208) 443-2162 Fax

paunan@idl.idaho.gov

Poster Contest Rules

Posters must feature Smokey Bear or Woodsy Owl and must not feature both together.

Smokey Bear posters must be based upon and include Smokey’s fire prevention message: Only YOU Can Prevent Wildfires!

Woodsy Owl posters must be based upon and include Woodsy’s conservation message: Lend a Hand – Care for the Land!

The entry posters should encourage children to take a personal role in preventing wildfires or conserving natural resources.

Each entry should be 11 x 17 inches in size.

Materials that can be used include: crayons, markers, poster paints, water colors, etc.

No three-dimensional posters, computer scanned, or electronically generated images will be accepted!

The artist’s name, grade level, school, and teacher’s name must be printed on the back of the poster in the lower right corner.

Posters will be judged 20 percent each for originality, design, slogan, artwork, and overall effectiveness of the message.

Tips:

A good poster has a bold & simple design.

Its message is delivered both in the picture and in the slogan.

Its message is easily understood.

Since 1971, Woodsy has been helping parents and teachers inspire children to observe, explore, and care for the environment. He challenges children to “Lend a Hand - Care for the Land!” Woodsy Owl encourages children to join him by taking an active role in caring for the land through recycling, reusing, and reducing waste; planting and caring for trees; using resources wisely (such as not wasting water or electricity); not littering; and generally caring for the planet we live on.

Smokey Bear is recognized nationally and internationally as the symbol for fire prevention. You’ve seen him dressed in a ranger’s hat and blue jeans and carrying a shovel. The original Smokey Bear appeared in 1944. Smokey’s message, “Remember, Only You can prevent wildfires,” is one that children have heard for many years. It encourages personal responsibility for fire prevention. Smokey Bear teaches children and adults to be careful with campfires, barbecues, trash fires, and matches.

Please: Deadline is DECEMBER 4, 2009

Join in our summer reading program!  Just keep track of books the kids read, or have read to them and at the end of the summer, we'll have a potluck dinner and honor our readers!

If you are a homeschool parent you can enroll your kids in the Pizza Hut Book It program online.  Registration for the following school year closes at the end of June . . . hurry.

An instructor of the Carden Method is coming to Bonner County.  To become certified to teach this method, you must take their course.  You can then teach your own kids using this academically rigourous method.  The Carden Method produces well rounded, articulate young adults. 

Preliminary plans for the class are that they will take place beginning the 27th of July, 2009 and proceed for five days. 

Costs are as follows:

Developing the Carden Charts $150

Teaching Carden in Preschool Three- and Four-Year-Old Program $125

Teaching Carden in Elementary School: Grades K/1, 2/3, 4/5 $185

Teaching Carden in Junior High: Grades 6 and Above $125

An additional cost of paying for the travel expenses of the instructor will be split between class participants and will be dependant on the number of participants.

Everyone must take the "Developing the Carden Charts", which is taught in one day.  The remaining classes are optional, but recommended.

Contact Emalee Zehnter at emaleezehnter@yahoo.com for more information or to sign up.

My favorite resources for learning are books, but rarely text books.  The best value is the public library.  We use it extensively to support our reading addictions. 

I've listed some of my favorites below.  My oldest child is 12 and so most of the resources mentioned are for kids up to that age, but not beyond, since we've not used more advanced materials in our homeschool yet. 

English:

• Explode the Code series: for teaching phonics and spelling
• English For the Thoughtful Child 1 and 2: for early grammar lessons, beginning in about 2nd grade
• Simply Grammar: for grammar for about 4th through 7th grade
• Stewart English Program: grammar for middle schoolers through about 9th grade
• Writing Strands series: for teaching creative and expository writing

Math:

• Saxon: use year 1 through Adv Math or Calculus, use the manipulative kit for the early grades

Foreign Language:

• Rosetta Stone: it's the best and the easiest for the parent, but also the most expensive
• Power Glide: my kids actually like this program better, it relies on an adventure story to teach, rather than drill like Rosetta Stone. It's still expensive, but not so expensive as Rosetta Stone and you can find inexpensive used copies online.

History:

• Usborne History Encyclopedia: provides a good outline of history to follow and flesh out with books from the library, best for the early grades 1st-4th
• Kingfisher History Encyclopedia: similar to the Usborne book ,but with more detail, perfect for grades 5th -8th

Science:

• DK Science Encyclopedia: as in history, this book provides a good outline to base your study of science on.  Fill out the details with library books and experiments.  Kids from about grade 4-8 can read it on their own.  Parents of younger kids should use it as a guide, but not expect kids to listen to it.
• Janice Van Cleave's Science Experiment Books: That's not a title, but a series.  These are written for pre-k through middle schoolers to learn about basic science principles.  The experiments are easy, use cheap, readily available supplies and almost always work.

Art:

• Mark Kistler's Draw Squad: teaches kids to draw.  It uses a cartoon style of drawing, but does a great job of teaching line, perspective, shading, and other drawing techiniques while entertaining.
• The Story of Painting from Usborne: gives an overview of art history.  It could be used for grades 1 through 8.  Add projects relating to each topic and you have a full art course for younger kids.

Music:

• Music Masters Series from Vox: these are CD's of the life story of individual artists interspersed with the musicians pieces.  They are interesting, well done and inexpensive.  Use them in the car for an awesome, no effort music appreciation course.
• Great Composers coloring book from Dover: inexpensive enough to buy one for each kid.  Get the CD from the library that matches the composer of the day.  Have the kids color the picture while listening to the music.  Easy.
• A Young Person's Guide to Music from DK: This book is more advanced, appropriate for middle school to high school.  It covers the instruments of the orchestra, describes how a symphony is written and the ways the instruments are used.  It has an accompanying CD which completes the experience.  The back of the book has a timeline of great composers.  Kids can use this to study one composer at a time, until they've worked through the list.

Geography:

• Children Just Like Me: for elementary age students.  Each double page spread talks about a different kid from countries all over the world.  Read it, color a map of the country, cook food from the country, check out books or videos about the country from the library, and you've filled a year with geography studies.
• Children's World Cookbook: for those recipes to add to round out your geography studies.  It's internet linked online, so you can find even more recipes or food from countries, which are not covered in the cookbook.
• Encyclopedia of World Geography from Usborne: The first two-thirds of the book covers concepts like physical geography (landforms, etc.), populations, economics,  types of maps and so forth.  The last part of the book includes maps of countries and regions on earth.  This book is best for the middle grades. 

Every family educates their children differently.  That's ok.  There is no one right way for either the parents or the kids.  But you do need a vision.

Check out books and read online.  Talk to other people who homeschool. Figure out what your goals for your kids are.  When they turn 18 and get ready to leave your homeschool and move into the world what kind of people do you hope your kids will be?  What skills do you want them to posess?  Write it down. 

Next take your own (the teacher's) character and decide what level of formality or informality you will feel comfortable with.  Do you want a school room with dedicated desks and bulletin boards, is the kitchen table adequate, or do you prefer the couch, the great outdoors and the real world?  Do you prefer the ease and control of textbooks and workbooks, would you like to use library books and bookstores to put together your own curriculum, or do you prefer to use primarily active experiences to teach (or rather allow your kids to learn)?

Now you can begin to plan how you will run your homeschool.  Browse through the library catalog online, look at homeschool resource catalogs and listen to recommendations from friends.  Think through the areas of expertise you or other adults you know possess and would be willing to teach.  Make a plan and then be flexible through the years.

Above all don't stress out that your kids will be behind or unprepared or that you are unqualified.  Any parent who cares deeply about their children's education can and will succeed.  I've never seen a homeschool kid who wasn't way ahead of his or her public school educated peers--except the kids whose parents pull them out and then do nothing.  So be proactive and set goals and then work slowly and relentlessly toward them.