First Wednesdays @ the Burlington Public Library

Join us for a special start to the new year on Wednesday, January 5th from 1-2 PM with guest presenter, Kyler Schubkegel. Kyler is a repeat winner of Skagit Valley's Geography Bee and will be sharing amazing facts from around the world. This will be a wonderful opportunity to learn how a geography bee is run, how to prepare for competition, and learn more about our amazing world.

We will have several games set up to help you learn more about geography in a fun and interactive way! Game time may run until 2:30 PM. This event is geared for 4th grade students and up. Other activities will be available for younger students.

Parents: If you have a geography curriculum or books that you've found especially helpful please bring them to show other families.

Make this New Year Special!

The following list was taken from the blog, A Magical Childhood. It has great ideas that you can make your own as you and your family make 2011 special!

1.  Get out the wine glasses (plastic if you like) for New Year’s supper and serve sparkling juice.  Go around the table making wishes for the new year for each other.

2.  Together, make up some fortunes (both serious and silly, but all good) and write them on slips of paper.  Roll the paper up into tubes and tie with ribbon, then place in a bowl.  Take turns drawing fortunes and read them aloud.

3.  Take out the calendar for next year and randomly fill in dates with fun things to do.  They don’t have to be big things.  Make an appointment to eat supper in the back yard in June, to go to a matinee with your toddler in October, to all wear blue on February 9th…

4.  For each family member, take a sheet of paper and record the highlights of the past year.  Make a list of accomplishments, challenges, milestones, bad & good events, best friends, favorite activities, etc.  Take the time to make it beautiful and either slip it into a scrapbook or photo album.  Invite the kids to help decorate the pages.  Don’t forget to do one for you, too!

5.  Make a goal collage for next year.  Grab some old magazines and have everybody cut out words, pictures and images that represent good stuff for the new year.  Either fill a scrapbook page for each person or start a family altered book from an old textbook and have each person make her/his own page.

6.  Make a symbolic fresh start.  For each family member, clean a small area somewhere on New Year’s Eve.  Each person should help clear & organize her/his own space.  Whether it’s cleaning off mom’s desk, organizing a toddler’s book shelf or making a teen’s vanity table beautiful again, start the new year with a peaceful, tidy spot to focus on.

7.  Make breakfast wish roll-ups.  On New Year’s morning, spread crepes or warmed flour tortillas with spreadable cream cheese.  Fill a plastic baggie with blueberry (or other berry) syrup and snip just the tip of the bag.  Help pipe symbolic one word wishes over the cream cheese (friends, $, A+, love…) and then roll up.  Serve with extra syrup for dipping and eat your words!


8. Invite each family member to make a list of goals for the new year.  These don’t have to be resolutions but merely things each person wants to accomplish.  Some can be simple, some hard, some humorous… anything goes.  Save the sheets in a safe place for next year and then take a look at what everybody has accomplished (and what doesn’t seem to matter anymore) a year later.

9.  Take the piles of art you’ve saved from this year and all of those old math papers, activity sheets and history quizzes.  Ask the children to put aside the special stuff and cull a nice pile of them to make streamers by running them through the paper shredder.  At midnight (or an earlier hour for little ones), do the countdown and toss it all in the air.
As long as there are no strange papers in there, the whole mess can be cleaned up and used as mulch on the garden, meaning that the art and history will help flowers grow in the new year.  No garden?  Mulch some house plants. 

10. Write a letter to your child, summing up the past year and expressing all your love and pride.  Date it & leave it on the pillow New Year's Eve.  (For younger kids, read it to them before bed and put it someplace safe for later.)

His Place Homeschool Ministry Presents: Winter Swing Dance!

Friday, January 21 from 7:00 - 10:00 PM in the main building at His Place Church right on Burlington Boulevard. All ages and ability levels are invited to come and dance. Swing Dance attire is encouraged! Any era, 1920's on. Admission is only $5.00 at the door. This special event includes a dance lesson with instruction from experienced teachers. There will be instruction for the very new beginners and some advanced steps for the ones who have been at this longer.

Come and try it, You Know You Want To!

Visual Journaling

Homeschool Families -- FREE Program for K-12

First Wednesdays @ Burlington Public Library 

The Burlington Public Library  is excited to offer a mini-workshop with Bellingham artist, Ellen Clark on visual journaling. This workshop is for homeschoolers as part of First Wednesdays @ BPL. Visual Journaling is similar to keeping a journal/diary but rather than placing the focus on words, the focus is placed on pictures. These pictures can take many forms as it is up to the artist who creates it. Ellen shares her love of art and journaling with children of all ages and encourages creative exploration with templates and fun tools that make the experience positive. This workshop is free and and recommended for grades K-12. Join us in the Community Room at BPL on Wednesday, December 1 from 1-2 PM.

Homeschool Showcase

On Thursday, December 9th from 4 - 7 PM the Sedro Woolley Homeschool Partnership program is holding a Homeschool Showcase in the HSP portable beside Clear Lake Elementary. There will be student project displays, curriculum assistance, pizza and refreshments, and program informtion. If you need more information call Linda Heyne at 360-855-3533.

Date Change For The Geography Bee !!

It’s not too late to get involved with this year’s Geography Bee. Mark your calendars now for a fun-filled evening! Homeschool students in grades 4-8 are encouraged to participate in the Geography Bee sponsored by National Geographic. The Bee will not be held on November 19 as previously announced, but is now scheduled for January.


Date: Friday, Jan.7, 7:00 PM
 Location: Trinity Lutheran Church – Mount Vernon


To pre-register or for more information, contact Beth Schubkegel (bshoopz@hotmail.com)

First Wednesdays @ BPL: Forensic Science

Forensic Science was explored during the month of November at the Burlington Public Library. Teens; Dallas, Nathan, Austin, and Tim assisted with narration, acting, and being responsible for different learning stations. There were six different stations that ranged from chromatography, cryptography, footprints, fingerprints, photo ID's, and trace evidence. Thank you to all of our volunteers and everyone who joined us for an afternoon of learning and fun!! Keep an eye out for December's program that will involve Bellingham artist, Ellen Clark and visual journaling!

Skagit Speech “Open House”

Wednesday, November 17, 2010 from 3:00pm to 5:00pm

Faith Community Fellowship

1427 Monte Vista Drive

Mount Vernon, WA  98273

Learn about and support homeschool speech in the Skagit Valley! The first year of Skagit Speech Club is progressing very well and is preparing for their first tournament in December. They are inviting friends, family, and community members to join them for this special afternoon. Enjoy refreshments and watch the students perform their speeches. A judge orientation and opportunity to “practice judge” will be available for those who are interested. It is still not too late to get started for those interested in homeschool speech competition. They will provide information about how to enter their tournament described below.

Skagit Speech Round Robin Tournament

Saturday, December 4, 2010

First Christian Reformed Church 

701 West Blackburn Road

Mount Vernon, WA  98273

Judging and Speech opportunities are available for speech events such as informational speeches, interpretive monologues, and limited preparation speeches. We believe that you will find the experience rewarding and fun.  Judges must be 18 years or older and review an outline of rules and judging tips. No prior experience is needed.

7:30 AM           Coffee, snacks, and brief orientation for judges and timers

8:00    Round 1A

9:30    Round 1B

11:00                 Free lunch provided for judges

11:30                 Review for judges newly arrived or as needed

12:00  Round 2A

1:30    Round 2B

3:00 PM            Worship and closing

To register, go to https://sprr.homeschooldebate.net/, click on judge registration and follow the instructions. You may also email Christine Blankenship at kcblankenship@gmail.com with questions. Invite a friend or spouse, or children to join you. This will make it more fun for you and will help us with our need for volunteers.  

Speach league information is available at www.ncfca.org  (National Christian Forensics and Communications Association). This speech league is for Christian, homeschooled students 12 to 18 years old. Our purpose is to equip homeschooled students to communicate, represent, and defend the Christian faith.

Homeschool Science Week @ His Place Church

Calling all Homeschool parents.

We are forming a team to bring back Science Week for our students.

It is on the drafting table to bring Science Week to His Place Homeschool Ministry again in the new year. (probably late February or early March)

In the past this has been a very exciting event for all school aged students. Our past program included many hands on experiments, amazing speakers, interesting field trips, and an assembly program all in one amazing week of half day sessions.

If you have any interest in helping to make this happen for our Homeschooling Community, would you please contact me to learn more about our needs to take this plan to the point of Blast Off!  You do not need to be science oriented to help. We will need parents with ideas and many different talents, but most of all a willingness to give a little time to make this successful.

If you are willing to help organize or if you just have some good ideas to pass along, we want to hear from you!

Jacqueline Hendrickson

His Place Homeschool Ministry Director

jacquelineh@hisplacechurch.com

422-5435