SONORAN DESERT HOMESCHOOLERS
May Newsletter
Sonoran Desert Homeschoolers is an open, not-for-profit home education network, providing social and creative outlets for homeschooling families. We are not devoted to any one homeschooling approach, political platform, religious outlook, or philosophical ideal. Our homeschooling community supports all families, regardless of their personal lifestyle or educational choices in the area of home education. Our motto is "Hohzo'," a Navajo word meaning "harmony" or "walking in beauty or friendship."
-- mission statement, Sonoran Desert Homeschoolers, Tucson, AZPLEASE NOTE THAT THE PARK TIME IS 12 NOON
MAY CALENDAR: (See Related articles for the following.)
THURSDAY, APR. 27--Pima College Homeschool Information Night
TUESDAY, MAY 2: 11:30 AM-1:30 PM--FT. LOWELL SWIM PARTY; Eegees from 1-1:30.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY, MAY 5 & MAY 6: 2 PM--SDH DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS: "The
Story of Beauty and the Beast"
***PLEASE NOTE CHANGE IN PARK MEETING SCHEDULE--PARK MEETINGS START
AT 9:30 AM FROM NOW UNTIL THE COOLER FALL WEATHER ***
TUESDAY, MAY 9: 9:30 AM--POTLUCK BRUNCH; Reading Clubs at 8:45,
Potluck at 9:30 am, announcements catch as catch can HAVE A WONDERFUL
AND RELAXING SUMMER!
SUMMER CALENDAR
TUESDAY, MAY 16--INFORMAL SUMMER PARK MEETINGS BEGIN LAST WEDNESDAY
OF EVERY MONTH, 7 PM--CRABBY...OOPS! I MEAN CRAFTY...LADIES
TUESDAY, AUG. 15, 7 PM--ORGANIZATIONAL COFFEE
TUESDAY, AUG. 22, 9:30 AM--FORMAL PARK MEETINGS RESUME
RELATED ARTICLES
PIMA COLLEGE HOMESCHOOL INFORMATION NIGHT: Dr. Poedel, who is experienced at working with homeschoolers who attend Pima Community College while they are in high school, will be holding an informational meeting on April 27 starting at 7 PM. This meeting will be at the East Campus Student Union. Currently there is construction on the campus, so you might want to leave yourself time to find your way there. If your child is even considering taking courses at Pima while being homeschooled, this would be the perfect time to get information.
FT. LOWELL SWIM AND EEGEES PARTY: This is our first end-of-the-school-year party! Entry to the pool is 50 cents for children and slightly higher than usual for adults ($1.50) to pay for the cost of the additional lifeguard. At about 1 PM, SDH will purchase Eegees to get our members even cooler! The Eegees will be set up just outside the pool fence.
SDH DRAMA CLUB PRESENTS: Our members have been preparing this year and are ready to perform! We will be presenting "The Story of Beauty and the Beast" on May 5th and 6th at 2:00 PM. The stage we will be performing on is located in the LDS church at 6901 E. Kenyon. Take Broadway to Langly (6900 East -- about one block west of Kolb) and turn south. Langly will go past Palo Verde Park and shortly after that, you will come to Kenyon. Right there on the corner of the two streets is the church. The play is about 40 minutes in length and we will have a brief question and answer period with the actors and directors afterwards. Our actors are very excited to be performing for the group -- come and lend your support!
UPPER ELEMENTARY READING CLUB: We will have our last meeting of the school year on May 9th at 11:15 am. The children will be presenting their own short stories or poems. Also, please bring a list of books your child has enjoyed reading this year. We will combine everyone's lists into a suggested summer reading list. See you there!
LOWER ELEMENTARY READING CLUB: Please contact Sybelle V. for more information. POTLUCK BRUNCH: Our last formal activity of the academic school year is our second end-of-the-school-year party--a potluck brunch. If anyone has announcements they can spread the word or shout above the chewing noises.
INFORMAL SUMMER PARK MEETINGS: During the summer there are no planned field trips or academic activities, such as reading clubs. Those who dare brave the heat just meet to chat and let the kids play.Since many families are away on vacation, the number of families who come is variable and always less than during the school year, but there is a relaxed and intimate feel. If you are near Ft. Lowell park on a Tuesday morning, please drop by!
CRAFTY LADIES: So far it has just been the ladies who meet to sip, talk about the travails of homeschooling and parenting, and catch-up on projects. If you have a project you just can't get to or you just need time to get away and recoup, please join us at 7 PM at Borders on Oracle. There is an outdoor seating area for beautiful summer nights and an indoor cafe for when the nights get too hot. Please
contact Sara S. or Sybelle V. for more information.
ORGANIZATIONAL COFFEE: A parent's meeting to start off the year will be held at Danetta M's house at 7 PM on the third Tuesday in August. We'll plan for the year and find out who is volunteering to organize activities. We'll also discuss the ideas suggested in the survey. If you are interested in volunteering time or ideas, please come, as many of the positions on the Who's Who list will change and be available at the start of this new year. We need your energy! Mark has promised to make the coffee.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
COME JOIN THE FUN AT A STAMPIN' UP! WORKSHOP! Interested in making your own cards, stationery, gifts, and more? Come to my home on Saturday, May 6th at 2:00 p.m. for a FREE demonstration of several rubber stamping techniques and a 'make it and take it project'. Catalogs will be available if you choose to order stamps or accessories, however there is no obligation to do so. Call Lalita K. to RSVP and to get directions.
HOMESCHOOL INFORMATION NIGHT: I am going to organize a public information nite for folks interested in homeschooling. I already have some folks semi-committed to speak (briefly!) but I envision
many families available to just talk to people and share ideas (curriculums, non-curriculums, tricks, treats...) I'm thinking this will take place at the end of August (2 nites -- one west side, Mission Library, one east side at Wilmot) then again at the end of September, again 2 nites, and then perhaps again in Jan. I am open to ideas, participants, or simple encouragement. Please contact me if you are interested, call or email (I'm on the list). Thanks, Karen M.
ARTHUR PACK PARK DAYS: I am organizing a bimonthly get-together for homeschooling families at Arthur Pack Park in northwest Tucson. There is a dearth of homeschooling activities in NW of an inclusive nature, and hopefully this will be a way for homeschooling parents and children in that part of town to get acquainted. People who came to the get-together in March said that they were interested in meeting twice each month, so the next date for Arthur Pack will be this Friday, April 28, at 11 a.m. If you are in the northwest area and have been looking for other homeschoolers, please stop by on Friday.
Please contact Debbie G. to let me know if you are interested in participating and to find out when and if the park meetings are scheduled over the summer.
CITY-WIDE USED CURRICULUM FAIR: CHET-SE is hosting a City-Wide Used Curriculum Fair on June 3 from 8:30 AM - 2 PM at Palo Verde Christian @ 2151 N. Palo Verde (Palo Verde & Pima). The cost is $3 per table if you are selling. I'll have set-up times later. If you are interested in selling, send an e-mail to: chet_se@hotmail.com and put "ATTN: Janice" in the subject line. It will get forwarded to her and you'll be able to pay & reserve your table. You can check for updates at: http://www.geocities.com/chet_se/special.html or check out the home page at: http://www.geocities.com/chet_se and follow the links.
FREE SURVEY TO HELP DESIGN A MAC GAME: Do you own a Macintosh computer? If so, you may be interested to know that I, Jordan M., have put up a free survey on the Internet, where you can vote on what you want to see in a free small game, sent to everyone who participates! Suggest all kinds of original characters, weapons, items, ideas, and stories, or just vote on the genre. If successful,
you may see more surveys in the future. Support the concept of publicly chosen games by going to:
http://appblast.desktop.com/am/jj10dman/mygamedevelopsurvery.
HEM-NEWSBRIEFS: Home Education Magazine announces the premiere of a new weekly online newsbrief, produced specifically for homeschooling support group leaders, newsletter editors, website managers and others who work with homeschoolers in an information-sharing or networking capacity. Our goal is to provide a reliable source of timely news, press releases, announcements, resources and
encouragement for the people who work for homeschooling families. To subscribe to HEM-NewsBriefs send a blank email to the following address: HEM-NewsBriefs-subscribe@onelist.com. Or you may sign up at the onelist web site: http://www.onelist.com/community/HEM-NewsBriefs. We welcome feedback
and suggestions for future briefs. Please address your email to editor Helen Hegener at HEM-Editor@home-ed-magazine.com.
SPRING SDH ADDRESS DIRECTORY: Please see Mary Beth for a copy of the spring 2000 SDH address directory. Also, let her know if there need to be any changes or updates. Here's one: Laurie I. has a new address and phone number. If you can't find someone new on the list, try calling Mary Beth at 881-8834. Eileen D. has volunteered to take this job for next year. Thanks Eileen!
HISTORY OF SDH: I am compiling a record of activities and events that Sonoran Desert Homeschoolers offered during this year, starting in August 1999. I will be going through the newsletters to cull information, but if you want to be sure that your activity or event is noted, please contact Debbie G.
ANNUAL DUES FOR NEW MEMBERS: Annual dues are $10, payable after May 1, prorated to $5 after January 1st. This entitles you to our monthly newsletter and our membership list, which is, of course, not intended for commercial use. Returning members, please pay by October 1 to ensure that there is no disruption in receiving your newsletters. See the treasurers Carol T. or Lalita K. about membership.
NEWSLETTER EDITOR: Thank you for all of your help and cooperation during this year. Everyone got announcements to me quickly, even if scratched on a used grocery receipt. They were also forgiving when I flubbed up and left something out. Special thanks to typist Diane C., layout lady Alayna V., and distribution manager Mary Beth D. Please welcome Michelle Y. as she undertakes this all-important activity. If you have announcements for the August newsletter, please send them on to Michelle by the beginning of August. Thank you Michelle! Let us know if we can help make your job easier in any way. Contact Michele if you are interested in helping with typing or layout, etc.
GENERAL ARTICLES AND USEFUL INFORMATION MUSIC RECITAL REVIEW BY Patricia H. A big thank you to all who helped with and performed in the Music Recital held on April 14. It was a great opportunity for those learning music skills to share them with others. We were all very impressed with the talent from our group. We hope to plan another for mid September. Keep up the good work over the summer and be ready to perform for us again in the fall.
CORRESPONDENCE AND COLLEGE CLASSES by Danetta M. In Arizona, we have fine homeschool laws, and we don't require an umbrella school or approval of our homeschool course of study. My family has been homeschooling for a little over 6 years, now, and we really never considered institutional high school. We are very happy and comfortable with home education. Nevertheless, we have had occasion
to use individual courses, either through correspondence or as a class. This article describes our experience with these, both the highlights and the pitfalls.
My oldest son Aaron worked with a biologist studying birds when he was 13. He was pretty sure that he wanted to be a biologist. He originally took a correspondence course just in that one area of interest to have a grade for his potential college major. Not only did he love biology and want to study it in more detail, but we thought that it might be a good thing to have at least one objective grade in this one area for college applications. So we started out just with a high school correspondence course in biology through the University of Arizona. The University of Arizona did not give out a high school diploma, but the biology department is quite good and I thought the quality of the course might be high.
In fact, it was excellent. I was impressed with the clarity and detail of the book. The course cost $79 for each semester, and the book for the entire course cost about $65. However, the course was initially quite challenging for my son. He was an 8th grader who had not been in school for 5 years, and had
very little experience writing. This course required him to write out the answers to questions at the end of every chapter. At first, Aaron was paralyzed with the writing and the spelling. We solved this problem by my typing up the answers while he dictated them to me. Sometimes he had no idea what the answers were, and I taught him that a school textbook never really expects you to think too hard--the answer is always right there somewhere in the chapter. I helped him spellcheck and proofread every assignment.
The other problem is that a correspondence course really requires a lot of self discipline. He didn't mind reading the chapter, but he hated answering the questions so much that he would postpone working
on them. It took us over a year to get that first semester done! But he did improve as the year went on, so that he could begin to type up the assignments on his own.
At the end of the semester he had to take a proctored test. I told him to study for the test, but he didn't really believe that it was necessary. He had gotten an "A" on nearly every assignment, and he
understood it, so why study? Well, he got a B on the final and a B for the course. He learned that tests don't see if you've got the general idea, but that they ask for details. You have to remember the
names of things and a precise vocabulary. I felt that this had been a valuable learning experience.
He worked much better the second semester. Much of that had to do with his increased maturity. He had also learned how to find the answers, how to write complete sentence answers, and to just do the
spell check on his own. It helped that he got immediate feedback--when he mailed in his assignments, he had his corrected assignment and grade back within a week. He finished that semester in about 10 months. In addition, he studied for the test and got an "A" for the second semester. I honestly thought I would swoon with happiness when that one year course, that had taken him two years, was finally complete!
Then my son's interests began to change and he decided that he was more interested in business and finance. He asked me if he could take economics. We were so pleased with the quality of the University of Arizona's high school biology correspondence course that we decided to give their economics course a chance.
We are delighted with the book. Aaron is very interested in the subject and loves to read ahead in the book--sometimes way ahead. But the actual writing out of the assignment is much more tedious. Aaron
does this completely on his own. I don't even proofread anymore. He has 9 months to do the 11 assignments and take the proctored test. I have had to ask him when he is going to send in his next assignment when I don't see anything being produced, but he has done the first 4 of 11 assignments in 4 months completely on his own.
He has really been slowed down this year because of another project that he has undertaken. He decided to take German, so he is taking that at the university as an unclassified student. Our university
allows students in good standing to take up to 2 courses that are not offered at their local high school. So if a junior or senior wants to take an elective (like anthropology) or advanced course (like third
year calculus) not offered at their high school, they can take it at the university. Well, German is not offered at our "high school"--I speak French!
The university asked for the same things from me that they would ask of a high school--a transcript of completed courses and a letter from the counselor or principal. So I made up a transcript as best I could
of what he had completed so far, and I wrote a letter explaining his course of study and his need to complete his high school language requirement and why he needed to complete it there. I was pretty
anxious about this, but the class was quickly approved and I think the letter and transcript were almost a formality.
This class has really been a huge commitment for the whole family. My son has just turned 15 and doesn't drive yet. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that the German class met for an hour every day! It was also very expensive--about $500 because it is a 4 unit class! If the community college had not been a 45 minute drive each way, it would have been more economical to go that route. As it is, I drive Aaron down every day, then go to a coffee house or bagel shop in the university area and study for an hour with my 13 year old. It is actually a very pleasant time for us! Then I pick up Aaron and we
head home for the rest of our homeschool day.
Aaron likes the class, but again has discovered that "getting it" does not make a great grade on a test. He's a bad speller in English, and he has to spell words exactly right in German on the quizzes and
tests. He has finally learned how to study over the weekend and review and memorize for a test. So he has spent hours working on this course, to the detriment of his economics and chemistry and math. But
the course will be over in one more month and he will spend the summer catching up on his math and economics. Yesterday, Aaron came up to give me one of his big bear hugs and told me that he had
learned how to study and how to take notes this semester. He told me that he wasn't afraid of college anymore, and that he now knew what it would be like. I told him that I thought that he had learned a lot
more than just German this semester, and he nodded. So my feeling is that no matter what the grade, this semester was worth it!
We didn't need all of Aaron's classes done by correspondence. We have only done courses that I was unwilling to put together (I don't want to learn German at this time!) or that he thinks he may wish to major in once in college. I would not have been satisfied with a course that was not excellent and at least as good as we could put together on our own.
Correspondence courses do interrupt the flow of your homeschool day. If I want to read to both boys, but Aaron has to get an assignment in the mail or study for a German quiz, then I have to think of
something else to do with Jordan. The German course has been expensive and we have done a lot of driving this semester.
On the other hand, Aaron has gained some useful skills that will come in good stead in the future. He has learned some study and test-taking skills. It does make it easier and it IS convenient when I only have one or two big classes to prepare each semester and he can take good courses from another source to fill out his program. The German course is a dual-credit course. He will not only have his
high school requirement for foreign language completed, but will have college language credits as well.
The other great sideline of this is that he has outside evaluation of his work and a paper trail of classes and grades to confirm my saying that my son is "the greatest student in the world" on a homemade
transcript. Aaron will have a home made transcript with several grades from the University of Arizona and the University of Arizona high school correspondence program. There are many correspondence
programs that will not tie us down to a full curriculum. In addition to the U of AZ, the University of Indiana has a fine correspondence program, and so does the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. Of course, they don't give us a diploma, but we don't need that anyway. Our goal is a good education and good college entrance exam scores. We have just enough of a paper record using these courses to complement our studies without getting choked by having to follow the requirements of a particular high school correspondence program and having to take the bad and boring courses along with the good ones. Is any diploma worth that?
TREASURER'S REPORT by Carol T. (treasurers Carol T. and Lalita K.): Our balance was $326.75, as of March 22, 2000. Outlays were $27.00 for newsletter printing and mailing expenses, and $29.00 for cookies and punch for the music recital. The current balance is $270.75
QUOTES OF THE MONTH:
"There is no comparison between that which is lost by not succeeding and that lost by not trying."
-- Francis Bacon
"Got my sanity duck-taped to my butt. It's the only way I can keep track of it. Tell me it doesn't show much."
--Karen M.
INTERNET INFORMATION Educational Games and Activities http://www.educatenow.com/activities/index.html Sonoran Desert
Homeschoolers web site is: http://www.crosswinds.net/~hozho/
The Southern Arizona Homeschoolers' mailing list is here:
http://www.egroups.com/group/soazhomeschoolers/info.html You click the join button, and if you're not already a member of e-groups, e-groups will guide you through the process where they ping your
e-mail address to make sure it's valid and to make sure you're not being signed up by a third party.
Sonoran Desert Homeschoolers web site is: http://www.crosswinds.net/~hozho/
DISCLAIMER: All mistakes and omissions in the newsletter are mine, but I always try hard. Thank you Alayna V. for layout and duplication and to Mary Beth D. for email distribution and snail mail
distribution. Thanks, too, to all of our contributors!
