On February 5, 2007 there will be a presentation on the underground railroad entitled "Freedom Train" by the same theatre company that performed "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" on December 5 in Asheville.
It it will be at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium. Show times are 9:45 and 11:45 and tickets are $6.00. If anyone is interested in going over to see it I would be happy to make reservations.
Please e-mail ctaylora@verizon.net to sign up for this homeschool outing.
This one is a bit far away (north of Asheville in Weaverville) but it looks interesting. We might consider doing this if anyone else was interested in carpooling..... - Mark Tyson
Amazing Children's Spanish Classes
The New Classical Academy in Weaverville is proud to be sponsoring an after school/homeschool beginner and intermediate Spanish, The class description follows. The cost of the class is$4.00 per class (payable by the month in advance). The classes will be held at the school on Mondays from 3:30 to 4:30. The next class series begins on January 8th and goes through January 29th. Please call Chama Woydak at 777-8899 or e-mail her at beginningwithbirth@yahoo.com if you are interested in registering or have any questions.
There are two age and academic levels available to fit your family's needs. If you are planning to register siblings in two different classes, the Academy has a nice assembly room and outdoor play space
where simple activities will be facilitated for children before or after their class.
CLASS DESCRIPTION:
Beginning Spanish for ages 4-6 from 3:30 – 4:00
Beginning Spanish with a Native Speaker! Arturo Olvera teaches a fun and engaging Spanish for Beginners Class. This class will cover colors, numbers, body parts and beginning conversation. Arturo teachers with kindness, compassion and warmth. A former Montessori teacher in Mexico, Arturo adds music, songs and games to his classes. This class will lay the foundation for Spanish as a second language.
Intermediate Spanish for ages 7 and up from 4:00 – 4:30
In this dynamic class with Arturo Olvera kids will build on beginning vocabulary, start to conjugate verbs, practice intermediate conversation, and begin to write in Spanish. This is a very interactive class with songs and games that are age appropriate. Handouts will be given and a small 3 ring binder with paper and pencil will be needed for this class. This class builds upon a beginning Spanish foundation. With Arturo's submersion teaching style, children who have no Spanish experience but fall into this age range are welcome and will be able to catch up quickly.
Beginning Spanish grades 5-8
Tuesday December 26, 2006
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
(This event repeats every week until Monday April 30, 2007.)
Location: Canton Public Library
Notes:
Books will be provided $3.00 per class per family fee each week. Class will run through end of April 2007
Homeschool Athletic Association:
Western Carolina Athletic Association (WCAA) is newly formed to offer a much-needed venue for homeschool athletes in grades 6 12. WCAA continues to move toward the inaugural year of teams! Athletes are training, skills sessions are growing in numbers and The Launch is scheduled for late Feb.
Now we need YOU to make the assist!
ANNOUNCING THE LOGO CONTEST. Submit an idea for an official team logo and mascot for The Trailblazers. The team colors for The Trailblazers are gold and green. Send sketches, along with your contact information, to:
P.O. Box 2077
Skyland, NC 28776
postmarked by 1/31/07.
Chosen entry wins $50 Dicks gift certificate.
WCAA is a 501c3 non-profit organization. Please feel free to make a
tax-deductible donation to WCAA. WCAA needs parent volunteers and a lot of
prayer! Please visit WCAA website: www.wnchsathletics.com
"Winter Gatherings"
at the
Mountain Heritage Center
Old Time Music and Bluegrass Jam Series
Thursday, December 7
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Riderschoice is a homeschool ski/snowboard club based in Western North Carolina (WNC). Riderschoice has negotiated discount ski and board rates with five WNC ski resorts. All discount ski days are set up for mid-week/non-holidays. All resorts require homeschoolers to have proof of
homeschooling! Please bring a copy of state/ local/ or national homeschool membership card to the slopes! Please see our web blog for ALL the Riderschoice ski/board information.
Go to: www.riderschoice.blogspot.com
Last chance to ski at discount rates until Jan. 2nd
To make reservations for Sugar Mtn. send all required information to riderschoicewnc@bellsouth.net. You may also send any questions you might have regarding any of the skiing opportunities to this address.
Please go to www.riderschoice.blogspot.com to see exactly what information we need from you to be able to make your reservation with Sugar Mtn
HOMESCHOOL SKI OPPORTUNITIES FOR WEEK OF :December 18th:
Western Carolina Athletic Association (WCAA) announcements for week of Dec. 18th
We are headed to see Eragon (PG) this Thursday the 21st at the Quinn Theater in Sylva, 7 P.M. show.
The more the merrier :)
Carole Shell
I have subscribed to the BrainPop service for Vance. Brain Pop is a website that contains hundreds of short, humorous animated clips on various school topics - Science, Social Studies, Health, Math, English, Technology, and Arts and Music. Each big topic is broken down into categories that contain multiple related subjects.
www.brainpop.com
Each clip is about 3-5 mins long, and comes with a 10 question quiz at the end. Each clip is narrated by a guy named Tim, and is accompanied by his friend, a robot named Moby. Most clips start and end with a joke that is related to the subject matter.
Vance loves them, and in my opinion the information is presented in a much more interesting way than simply reading the same text out of a book. We've been alternating between me picking out the lessons for the day and Vance picking them - often, he'll ask me a question (ex: why is too much caffeine bad for you?), and we'll view the 'Caffeine' clip the next day for school.
The service works great on DSL, and I'm pretty sure if you are willing to wait a min or two for the clips to download, dialup would work also.
BrainPop offers a 14 day trial, you can sign up on the website. The also offer a few demo clips in the science section without having to sign up for the 14 day trial.
Here is the good part - my subscription allows for 3 concurrent users and 15 logins per day. If you demo the service and like it, you are more than welcome to use part of our subscription as long as you coordinate it with me (i.e. let me know you are doing it) so that we don't collectively exceed the login limits. If you try the free trial and like, contact me and i'll share our login/password. The level of service I signed up for (Homeschool level) is tailored for multiple children, so we would not be violating any service agreements by doing this.
I really like this website - give it a look!
- Mark Tyson
>From the home-asheville newsgroup
Here is some information on sample high school level transcripts. Most of us are still couple of years away, but if your child is doing high school level work, you should start logging and tracking time to 'prove' the credits should you ever enroll in traditional schools or college.
Even though this page is not from our state, it is helpful information in order to know what is expected. I think it is the same as North Carolina basically:
http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/trans1.html#transcripts
As for the number of hours spent in study for a credit...it is looking like 120 is the expected number, generally speaking, for credit to be valid. Placement tests or entrance exams are given anyway for math or English if there aren't SAT or ACT scores.
As for folks that do not grade or haven't thought about GPA's yet...well, just come up with grades that seem right to you. You are the homeschool administrator and you make those decisions based on your own analyzation...No one else's. Here is a GPA calculator: http://www.back2college.com/gpa.htm
These are the basic requirements for highschool graduation here: http://www.ncdnpe.org/hhh112.htm
Sunday December 10 4-7pm
Christmas Candlelight Tours of the Vance homeplace (North Carolina Historic Site - Birthplace of Zebulon Vance, governor of NC during Civil War, later US Senator)
The Olde Tyme Strummers will play traditional music in the Visitor Center while families tour the homestead. 4-7 p.m. The Vance Homplace is located on Reems Creek Road outside of Asheville.
Factoid: Zeb Vance's brother Robert Vance was my great, great, great, great grandfather...Robert was a General in the Confederate Army, and later served in the US House of Representatives. Swain County is named after David Swain, president of UNC and a good friend of the Vance's. My great, great, great, great, great grandmother dated David Swain prior to marrying David Vance, Zeb and Robert's father!
- Mark.
Celebrate local history and heritage this season with the enchanting musical performance "The Woodcarver's Christmas." Set in the Beacon Mill Village, at the foot of Flat Top Mountain in Swannanoa, the Woodcarver's Christmas tells the tale of a poor woodcarver's magical encounter with the "wee folk" of the mountain on Christmas Eve.
The Woodcarver's Christmas is based on a story told by Wade Martin, a woodcarver from Swannanoa, who was known both locally and nationally for the fine craftsmanship he displayed in the carving of the human figure. Mr. Martin, or Gob, as he was nicknamed, grew up on the Beacon Village in a family of woodcarvers. His carvings, now collector's items, became nationally known in the 1950's through the influence of the Allanstand Craft Shop, which is now part of the Southern Highlands Crafts Guild. Wade Martin shared his story several years ago as part of an oral history collection of stories from the Valley. Playwright and dramatists, Jerry Pope and
Rebecca Williams, also of Swannanoa, took the story and turned it into a play, using both live characters and puppets. The performance features original music by Black Mountain native Bert Brown.
Beginning Friday, December 8, through Sunday, December 17, the hour-long performances will be held on Friday and Saturday nights (Dec. 8-9, Dec. 15-16) at 7 pm. Sunday matinees on Dec. 10 and Dec. 17 will be at 3 pm. All tickets are $10. The Center for the Arts, located in the renovated old City Hall at 225 W. State St., houses a small, intimate theater of 100 seats. For these 6 performances, reservations are encouraged; call 828/669-0930. Tickets may be purchased by cash, check, or credit card and can be held at the door until 20 minute before curtain time.
North Carolina History grades 4-9
Wednesday December 6, 2006
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
(This event repeats every week, until Sunday May 13, 2007.)
Location: New Covenant Church-Clyde
Notes:
Free except one time fee for workbook/handouts of $17.00. Class has lots of field trips and hands on activities
Homeschool Events for 2006
| ||||
| Dates: | Dec 11th | |||
| Cost: | $10 per student, $11.50 for parent: Annual passholders $7 per student, free for parents | |||
| Ages: | All Ages | |||
In Chimney Rock Park's Outdoor Classroom, the pages of textbooks come alive! The topic for December's program is Plate Tectonics
The theory of Plate tectonics has fasinated people for ages. Students will learn how the continents move and what that does to the land where we live. Volcanoes and earthquakes are both common natural disasters in today's world; learn what triggers these extraordinary events.
All homeschool programs are on the second Monday of each month from 1:30pm to 3:00pm. Each program will feature a different topic of study.
Pre-registration is required one week prior to program date. Some additional material fees may apply. Call 800-277-9611 to register!
"Winter Gatherings"
at the
Mountain Heritage Center
Old Time Music and Bluegrass Jam Series
Thursday, December 7
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Beginning Spanish grades 5-8
Tuesday December 5, 2006
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
(This event repeats every week, until Monday April 30, 2007.)
Location: Canton Public Library
Notes:
Books will be provided $3.00 per class per family fee each week. Class will run through end of April 2007
1st Wednesday is Free Day at Pack Place in Asheville
Wednesday December 6, 2006
3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
(This event repeats on the first Wednesday of every month.)
Notes:
Every 1st Wednesday from 3 to 5pm, there is free admission to all the museums in Pack Place - Art, Gem & Mineral, and Health Adventure. Hope to see you there!
Telling Mountain Stories
Folklife Series
at the
Mountain Heritage Center
Tuesday, December 5
Dear Friends:
I am writing to let you know of the latest happenings and upcoming events for the Marianna Black Library's Friends organization.
Regretfully, Meredith Lawson has resigned her post as President of the Friends. Jeff Delfield, Marianna Black Librarian has asked me to serve as interim president until elections can be held to elect a permanent slate of officers. I agreed, glad to be able to continue working to make our Library one of the best.
Teresa Maynard will thankfully continue to serve so ably as Treasurer. Elise Delfield and Jennifer Ohly have volunteered to help in this transition period and I have asked them to take on several important jobs. Jennifer has agreed to serve as interim secretary to help with communications. Elise will head up event planning and fundraising.
The 2006 Membership Meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m., Sunday afternoon, December 10th at the Library. Local author Bonnie Cochran will be the speaker. Bonnie wrote and self-published a book, Ways of Old, telling about her life growing up in the 1950s in the Great Smoky Mountains. Because of her many acts of kindness and generosity in her community, she was named one of three nationwide finalists for "Country Woman" magazine's 'Country Woman of the Year.'
And of course, there will be good food! Julia Hunt, famous for the Everett Street Diner will be providing some of her tasty dishes for us to enjoy. December is a busy month indeed, but I hope you will make time to join your fellow library supporters for what promises to be a delightful afternoon.
A Spring Membership Meeting will be held in April, date yet to be determined. Also being discussed are several fundraising events, including a book and author dinner and Everett Street Diner fundraiser. We'll need lots of willing hands to make these successful.
Lastly, note that a membership renewal form is enclosed with this letter. You are receiving this letter because you joined the Friends in the past. We are asking you to renew your membership and encourage your friends and neighbors to show their support of the library by joining as well.
I'm excited to be working with Jeff and all of you to make the MBL Friends one of the strongest not only in the Fontana Regional Library system, but in the state! I know all of you will want to continue the Swain County tradition of taking care of our own and will be generous in giving your time and monetary support of the library.
Thanks.
Gail Findlay
The Discovery.com Website is loaded with educational material. One of the neatest sections allows you to create your own crossword puzzles: http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/
There are a lot of other options- Word Search, Maze, Cryptograms, etc.... Give it a whirl!
- t.
Folks,
Friends of the Marianna Black Library will be having the 2006 Membership Meeting Sunday, Dec. 10th, 2:00 P.M. at the library.
Local author Bonnie Cochran will be the speaker and Julia Hunt will supply the food!
Gail Findlay is the interim president.
Membership Category Price per Year:
Individual $5
Family $15
Patron $50
Their address is ~
Friends, MBL
33 Fryemont Rd.
BC, NC 28713
Hope to see you there :)
The Waynesville Rec Center will be offering four homeschool swimming sessions in December and January. If there is a great turn out, they may offer this every Dec/Jan.
Cataloochee ski area in Maggie Valley is offering 'home school days' starting in January.
Check out the website for more details.
www.cataloochee.com
Happy (soon to be) Winter!
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