The Homeschool Exchange

E-NEWSLETTER: February 13, 2012

2012-02-21T04:33:00.000-05:00

Proverbial Way –
Ms. Cyndy led us in a skit where the Emperor Claudius (Sonny) wanted more land. Then he picked some soldiers (Sam, Jonas, & John Steven) they very handsome but they were not aloud to marry. There was a really nice minister who really loved Jesus. The minister said it wasn’t a good idea that he wouldn’t let them marry. Secretly the minister married the soldiers to ladies. Claudius woke up and stopped the marriage and threw the minister in the dungeon. When the minister was in the
dungeon he told a blind girl (she was the jailers daughter) about Jesus and she believed. The minister was put to death by the Emperor. Before his death legend says he sent her a letter that thanked her for her kindness while he was in jail. He signed the note, “Love your Valentine”. So he was the very first person to send avalentine. Eph. 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”

Mom’s Connect –
What do we want for our children? Do we want them to be independent or dependent? Dependent comes from the word pennant. You wear the child like a pennant. You keep them with you. A pennant is worn around your neck. Once your children are grown we want them to be off from around our necks. Your kid’s independence is dependent on you as their parents. Some of us teach our children to dress and feed themselves earlier than others. Is independence something we want or something God wants?

The world wants independence not God. Independence does not come from God but from the enemy. Kids want to be independent from the very beginning which is really selfishness because they want what they want when they want it. Trials seem bigger for some than others, bigger to those whom are independent and don’t know how to depend on God in hard times. We are born independent but God is always trying to get us to be dependent on Him. Let’s try to get our kids to beindependently dependent on God. We don’t want our children to think of us as God. We have to meet their immediate needs but bigger things like emotional issues, trials and etc. we need to teach our children to depend on the Lord to help them. We are to help manage our children’s lives. We (satan through our mind) tend to make ourselves an island when we are having trials. That is how he likes it best, when we are alone so we are more apt to believe his lies. There will be speed bumps in the road along the way. But there are people who have already gone through what you are going through and they are willing to help you. God will use believers to help other believers. He is working on us to be dependent on Him and other believers our whole lives. He uses His body to help His children.

Announcements–
·       Jacksonville Zoo was a blast! Those who were unable to attend we missed you and hope that you will make every effort to attend the next Field Trip that THX has.
·       We will have NOT have classes on Feb.2oth OR March 12th so make note in your calendars.
·       We need a field trip coordinator, please see Cyndy if you feel called. This of course is for a very detail oriented type of person.
·       Auditions for the musical, “How I Becamea Pirate”. Performances will be at the Shelter Cove Theatre, Wednesday –Sunday, April 11-14. Main Street Youth Theater (myst.org) the Director is none other than Cyndy Ford. Any age.
·       Home School Conference in Greenville,SC. Over 100 classes offered. Friday and Saturday, March 22nd-24th. $30 for the mom, $45 for the family, $32 per child for childcare. If interested let Lisa or Grace know. Lisa can get a block of hotel rooms and Grace has two mountain houses. Please give Grace $5 as a good faith commitment to the mountain house if you are interested in staying there. She needs to know by Feb.27th so she can release the hold she has on them if we won’t need them.
·       Thank you to our mom’s for helping make our Valentine’s Day celebration fun for the kids! And thank you Shelley for planning and organizing it.
·        As Cyndy said on Monday the new official day that the e-newsletter goes out is now Thursday (sorry this week the field trip really threw me off schedule and I forgot all about it until today!) Please get your announcements in before then.
·       New schedule for “Mom’s share time” on Monday mornings is coming soon.
·       Please let Grace know what days you will be out of town or unable to attend THX so that she can better organize the volunteer schedule.

Note from Webmaster-
Simplifying the site. For E-NEWSLETTERS prior to this, please go to the ARCHIVES at:
http://homeschoolexchangenewsletter.blogspot.com/   All future newsletters will be posted here on the main page. Thank you for your understanding.   Happy Homeschoolin' Y'all! ~Donna

SCIENCE: HOMEWORK ALERT!!

2012-02-17T09:14:00.000-05:00

HOMEWORK ALERT!!!

Please check the Lower School page for the recent posting of Ms. Valerie's science homework or click: SCIENCE HOMEWORK.

NEW!!!! PRAYER CONNECT PAGE

2012-02-10T01:56:00.000-05:00

Hi Y'all!

Just wanted you to know we've added a Prayer Connect page on the website. Click the tab to visit the page.

Here are details:

PRAYER REQUESTS

Welcome to The Homeschool Exchange's Prayer Page where THX Families Connect and pray for one another.

Send all Prayer Requests to Gretchen at gretch374@yahoo.com.

If you're interested in being part of the Prayer Team and/or would like to receive prayer request updates, please let Gretchen know.

*This page will be for THX Members only. In the future, to enter this page, login will be required. Thank you for your understanding.

Happy Homeschoolin' Y'all!
Donna Cartwright
THX Webmaster

Announcements from 2/6/12

2012-02-10T00:35:00.000-05:00

Announcements

·       Field trip – Jacksonville Zoo, Feb. 16 please sign up and pay by next Monday the 13th! Adults pay $11.00. Teens ages 13-uppay $13.50, Kids ages 3 -12 pay $10.

·       We will have classes on Feb. 2oth now instead of March 12th because the church needs their classrooms.

·       We need a field trip coordinator, please see Cyndy if you feel called. This of course is for a very detail oriented type of person.

·       Family Connect – Feb. 18, 4-7pm at May River Baptist Church. Come and enjoy food, fun, fellowship and facts. Please let Cyndy know if you are planning to attend.

·       Auditions for the musical, “How I Became a Pirate”. Performances will be at the Shelter Cove Theatre, Wednesday –Sunday, April 11-14. Main Street Youth Theater (myst.org) the Director is none other than Cyndy Ford. Any age.

·       Home School Conference in Greenville, SC. Over 100 classes offered. Friday and Saturday, March 22nd-24th. $30 for the mom, $45 for the family, $32 per child for childcare. If interested let Lisa or Grace know. Lisa can get a block of hotel rooms and Grace has two mountain houses that would be free.

·       Valentines party. 13 and up will only exchange Valentines with each other. 12 and younger will exchange with eachother, that is about 34 kids. Lunch will be at 12:30, they will eat together then have their Valentines day treat. Then they will make their bags andexchange Valentines. Don’t forget your stickers to share for decorating.

·        As Cyndy said on Monday the new official day that the e-newsletter goes out is now Thursday. Please get your announcements in before then.

·       A big huge thank you to Michelle Curtis who will be taking over the cleaning on Mondays.

·       The THX Family Connect is Saturday, Feb. 18. (The third Saturday every month) at May River Baptist Church. Make sure to mark your calendars and RSVP to Cyndy!

·       “Thank you for being faithful in your attendance at and volunteering on Mondays. It is a big help in keeping the day running smoothly. I am pleased to see some of you finding your "niche" helping. Please let me know what you enjoy doing, but please also be flexible when many are absent. Filling the holes is always a puzzle. If you would like to help with the volunteer puzzle, I would love to show you how.”

Grace Hunt

Family Connect Fellowship, Feb. 18th

2012-02-10T00:30:00.002-05:00

Fellow THXers!
Our Family Connect is coming up on Saturday, February 18. It is from 4 -7 pm at the May River Baptist Church. The Corwin Family did a wonderful job making the meal for our first Family Connect in January and would like to do it again. They have come up with a price to cover the cost and we would like to know your thoughts. Please email me back ASAP with your comments so we can move ahead with our plans.
Cyndy

Adults & children age 10 and above - $6
Children (ages 3-10) - $4
Children (ages 0-2) - Free
Family Maximum - $25
This months dinner is going to be Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes and gravy, Corn or peas and carrots, brownies, Black forest triffle, and tea amd lemonade.

Valentine's Day Party Update from Shelley

2012-02-02T10:51:00.002-05:00

Ms. Shelley has the following message regarding our Valentines Day party (Feb. 13th):

“Hopefully you all have started at least brainstorming on your Valentine's for our party to be held on February 13! I would like to make one change to the number of Valentine's you need to make. We have decided to have the high schoolers (13 and up) exchange with each other and no one else. That means if your child is NOT in the high school group he/she will only be exchanging with the preschoolers-12 year olds. That should decrease theamount of Valentine's you need to make by a bit. We will be decoratingValentine's bags to distribute our cards in and we will have a special Valentine treat with our lunch. If anyone would like to bring some stickers to decorate with please feel free to do so, but please understand they will be for all to share. Also, if you would like to help with the Valentine treat please let me know. Our party is going to be a jam packed hour and I will need each and every mom to help and assist her children during this time.
Looking forward to this day...!”

UPDATE AS OF 2.2.12:
It looks like the number for the younger group is 32 and for high schoolers it is 13.
Don't forget the underlined info above.

Urgent Time Sensitive Message for THX

2012-01-30T20:34:00.001-05:00

Cyndy announced the Jacksonville Zoo field trip today, giving us sign up forms and procedures to follow. She found out today that she has to give a head count by tommorrow! Oops! We need to know who is going.

Please email me NO LATER than 3pm tomorrow. Let me know if you are going and how many. If you say you are going, you must go or pay Cyndy anyway. She has to pay them by CC tommorrow for us. 13 and up is $10.95(not $9.50 like the sheet says) and 12 down to 3 are $7.50 and 2 and under are free. Refer to your sheet from today for additional details. If you weren't here and need more details call me at 290-0576.

If we don't hear from you we are assuming you aren't going. Sorry for the short notice all of a sudden.
Thanks, Natalie

E-NEWSLETTER: January 23, 2012

2012-01-23T20:28:00.007-05:00

FOR MORE E-NEWSLETTER UDPATES, CLICK THE E-NEWSLETTER TAB.

Proverbial Way:
Ms. Natalie and Wyatt taught about BEANS. Remember BEANS to Be Examples And Not Stressed. Christ said in the bible, “They will know you by your fruit.” The children really remembered the fruits of the spirit that Ms. Christy taught on a couple of weeks ago which was awesome! Heather named Peace and that is the one that Ms. Natalie wanted to speak on. When we have Christ in our hearts we have peace. He promises to always be with us and to guide us through life. John 16:33 tells us that we will have trials in this world but Christ has overcome them and He is with us giving us peace. If we truly believe His word, our peace will be evident to all through our actions. This is a great way to be an example for Christ by having the peace that passes understanding in all situations.

Announcements:

Teachers – Please be responsible for getting any projects, papers or homework to either your students bags or their parents hands. To my knowledge each child is brining a backpack or bag of some sort. If you will at least get their work into their bag then the mom’s will hopefully be responsible for going through their bag after THX. If one of your students does not have a bag please put their name on it and personally hand it to their mother. Let’s face it, these children age 7 and under are not going to remember something you hand them to take home to their moms. Papers are being left everywhere.

The 5-7 year olds have binders that were originally for Science. Ms. Valerie is putting their papers for Science in them. I am using them for History as well. Please put a divider in the book that says,”History” and Iwill put their papers for history behind that divider. They will not be having homework for history but they will have review cards of what we discussed. So you can test or question them on what they learned and their art work or projects will be in there for you to admire and discuss. If you want to use this as a springboard for your history for them for the week, I have additional books you can check out and projects you can do. Just let me know.

Ms. Valerie has assigned homework for science.
For the 5-7 year olds it is a coloring sheet.
For the 8-12 year olds she wants a list of Amphibians, the number of how old your child is, 8 for 8 year olds etc.

FAMILY CONNECT: January 21st

2012-01-20T12:21:00.000-05:00

Hello Fellow THXERS!

Our first Family Connect is tomorrow, Saturday, Jan. 21 from 4 - 7 pm at the May River Baptist Church. This church has wonderful facilities - a full size kitchen, awesome and very large fellowship hall, ample classrooms, and a playground. I am VERY THANKFUL that they have agreed to let us use their buildings!!!!

Veronica and Wesley Corwin are excited to plan the food for these events and they want to make it a night where the moms (or dads- depending on who does most of the cooking) get a break. Where else can you take your entire family out to eat which includes a drink and dessert for $10??

And, I am excited to lead the family games for that night - interactive games are a fun way to "loosen" up and get comfortable. I have run some large family events in the past and have heard a slew of comments BEFORE the event from both parents and children - including teens. These comments include "I don't like games", "My husband doesn't like games", "I am too shy", etc, etc. However, after the "game nights" I have heard these comments: "Wow, I didn't realize how much fun it would be", "Laughing made me loosen up", "My husband doesn't like games, but he liked the ones you played", etc, etc.

ALSO, the "Parent's Chat Time" is a way for the parents to get to know each other, step out of their comfort zone (oh no!) and learn some good stuff about raising and educating your kids at home.

SO...today is the deadline to sign up and I have still not heard any definite answers from the following families if they are going to attend or not.

If your name is on the list, PLEASE RESPOND. If you did, and I missed it, my sincerest apologies, but please respond again.

Thanks so much,
Cyndy, the wacky director of THX

THX Monday Class Schedule, 2nd Quarter 2011-12

2012-01-16T22:54:00.000-05:00

Hello THX family!

Wow, this break has certainly been interesting, bitterweet to say the least. Shelley had her sweet baby and my sweet dad went to live in heaven with our precious Lord Jesus. In the midst of all our ups and downs, life here on earth marches on and so does school.

Hopefully, you have already received the message that Monday classes will not resume until January 9. We made this decision since some husbands have off on Monday due to the holiday being Sunday. Because of this, the Monday classes will be extended to May 7. (The original end date was April 30). This ONLY applies to Monday classes. TUESDAY/THURSDAY classes will still resume on JANUARY 3.

The schedule for the 2nd Quarter of Monday classes is as follows:

9 - 9:10 am - Arrive, Sign in, meet and greet*

9:10 - 9:25 am - Proverbial Way**

9:25 - 10:25 am - Nursery (Newborn-2), Preschool (3-4 year olds), Art (5-7 year olds),
                             History (8-12 year olds), Servanthood (13-up), Mom’s Connect

10:25 - 10:35 am - Break

10:35 - 11:35 - Nursery (Newborn-2), Preschool (3-4 year olds), Science (5-7 year
                         olds), Art (8-12 year olds), Writing (13-up), Mom’s volunteer time

11:35 - 12:30 - Nursery (Newborn-2), Lunch/Recess (Preschool & 5-7 year olds),
                         History (8-12 year olds), Life Skills (13-up), Mom’s volunteer time

12:30 - 1:25 - Nursery (Newborn-2), Preschool (3-4 year olds), History (5-7 year olds)
                       Lunch/Recess (8-up), Mom’s volunteer time

*Moms - make sure you check the volunteer schedule at this time
**Gretchen LaPour will now be scheduling speakers for The Proverbial Way, so be sure
    and email her if you and your children would like to take a turn at leading this!

Teachers:
Nursery: Miss Sandra (Miss Shannon will assist from 9:25-10:25)

Preschool (9:25 - 10:35): Jenny (Assistants are Breanna and Stephanie)

Preschool (10:35 - 11:35 & 12:30 - 1:25): Miss Linda (Assistant Miss Heather)

Art (5-7 year olds & 8-12 year olds): Miss Barb

History (8 - 12 year olds): Miss Havilah

History (5 - 7 year olds): Miss Natalie

Science (5-7 year olds & 8-12 year olds): Miss Valerie

Life Skills (13 years and up): Miss Lisa

Writing (13 years and up): Miss Cris

Since Cris is now teaching Writing, I will be the Class Manager.   We have also added monthly meetings which will include the dads. They will be held the third Saturday of each month from 4 - 7 pm starting January 21. Please mark your calendars as these meetings will be informative and as always, fun - you will NOT want to miss them! We will have a potluck dinner, an interactive game (fun for the whole family), and, the most important part - a parent chat time (during this time the kids will be supervised and have their own activity)

The meetings will be held at May River Baptist Church.

Also, I would like to get a group (hopefully all of us) to go to Greenville, SC for the annual Homeschool Convention on March 22 - 24. Not only do they have great speakers, but they have a children’s conference, teen conference and even marriage seminar. Go to www.SouthEastHomeschoolConvention.com to find out more. In NY we would always get a bunch of us to go and we would have a blast as well as help each other pick out curriculums for the following school year.

I will be sending the syllabi out for each class this coming week.

Have a great New Year and can’t wait to see you all!
Cyndy

FAMILY CONNECT-January 21st

2012-01-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

The Families of THX meet every third Saturday of every month from 4-7pm at the May River Baptist Church. This time will include dinner, fun family games, and a special parent’s meeting.

Family Connect
Saturday, Jan. 21
4 - 7 pm
May River Baptist Church

Just a reminder that our first "Family Connect" Time is coming up this Saturday, Jan. 21 from 4 -7 pm at the May River Baptist Church.

The entire meal will be furnished by our own culinary genius, Veronica Corwin. The cost PER FAMILY is only $10. That's right moms, you will not have to cook that night nor bring a dish to pass. EVERYTHING will be provided. The only thing we need to know is how many in your family will be attending. I also need to know if there are any special needs (aka - you are vegetarians or any allergies)

So.... the night will start off with a scrumptious spaghetti dinner and yummy dessert.

Then.... we will play a fun-filled, highly energetic, (yes, it will be noisy) and competitive game.

After that, the "wired-up" "full of sugar" children will be entertained by yours truly and the parents will have the privilege of listening to a veteran homeschooling dad whose experiences will be sure to help you along your homeschooling journey.

At 6:30 pm, all the parents will help clean up and we will end the awesome evening by 7 pm. Sound like a good plan and something you don't want to miss??? If yes, then, PLEASE email me back NO LATER then Thursday night (Jan. 19) so we can plan accordingly. If no, then PLEASE email me back as well so I know that you have at least received this email.

Oh yes, one other small item - the teens (13 years and up) have an opportunity to serve by coming at 3 pm and helping Veronica and Wesley finish cooking and set up the tables. The Corwins are very excited to serve the THX family in this way and are looking forward to being able to supervise the teens and give them an opportunity to serve as well.

REMEMBER - PLEASE respond by email NO LATER then Thursday night.

Yours truly,
Mrs. Ford

SAVE THE DATE!
Sat. Feb. 18: Family Fellowship
Scheduled Speaker from PACESC8

Sat. Mar. 17: Family Fellowship

Valentine's Day Party Info

2012-01-12T19:17:00.000-05:00

Good Afternoon Ladies!!

As mentioned Monday I am working on planning a little something for Valentine's day. We will be celebrating on Monday, February 13. This will be a small party, but I am still deciding on what we will do besides distributing our Valentine's. I want our focus to be on the Love of Christ.

In the meantime I wanted everyone to start thinking about those Valentine's. Of course store bought Valentine's always work and they certainly are appealing in terms of ease and cuteness. I want to encourage you to NOT take the store bought option, but to have fun creating Valentine's with your kids. There are tons of ideas on the internet. Narrow it down to a few you wouldn't mind making and then let each child choose one to make. This could even be a week long project in your house. While your making those Valentine's go ahead and make a few extra and send one to grandma. I know she will love the thought!

We need each child to make enough Valentine's for each person in our group. This will include everyone from preschool age up to high school age. The nursery is not going to participate in our exchange. The group list you received Monday should help you in planning how many to make. Does anyone have an exact count? I have not had time to count yet, but will get you a final number before the actual date.

If you have any ideas for our party let me know!
In the meantime have fun!

Shelley

Feb. 20th Field Trip for Macon

2012-01-12T19:09:00.001-05:00

Hey THXers...

Unfortunately, we have to postpone the field trip slated for Monday, Jan. 16. Valerie had some stuff come up and she can't go that day. She wants to go instead on Feb. 20 which is the next Monday that we have off. So.....please plan on going to Macon with us that day instead!

See you next Monday
Cyndy

Don't throw those away!

2012-01-12T10:54:00.001-05:00

Ms. Barb our art teacher needs paper towel and toliet paper rolls for a sculpting class she will do soon. Please save them in a bag and bring them on Monday the 23rd.

Thank you!

THX Drama Classes-OPEN TO ALL

2012-01-12T01:38:00.001-05:00

Homeschool Drama Classes

THX (The Homeschool Xchange) will be offering Theatre Classes on Mondays from 1:30 - 3:30pm beginning on January 23 and meeting weekly until May 14 at Grace Coastal Church on Route 170. These classes are open to both parent and child.(If a child is under the age of 7 or is a non-reader, one parent is required to enroll with the child). Drama is a cross-cultural universal expression that is an effective way to communicate. The skills taught through games, role playing, rehearsing and performing are invaluable and can help prepare a person to work on a team, speak publicly and listen attentively.

A student enrolled in this course can use it to fulfill part of their language arts requirement and a grade will be given. At the end of the 4 months everyone will perform in a full-fledged drama.

The cost is $30 a month for non-THX members and $20 a month for THX members*
Family discounts are available.

Interested?
A $10 non-refundable registration fee per student must be sent along with the attached form NO LATER than January 20 to:
Cynthia Ford
45 Yonges Island Drive
Bluffton, SC 29910

For more info and a resume on Mrs. Ford’s education and credits, please call 585-766-9622 or email at impactivate@yahoo.com

*prices are subject to change if enrollment is below 20 students.

Registration Form
PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY

Last Name________________________________
Best Phone Number to be reached at (indicate if it is a cell or landline):
________________________________________________________
Best email to send info to:
________________________________________________________
Do you want to be contacted via texting? _______________________
Home Address: ___________________________________________
________________________________________________________
First Name and age of each family member enrolling:
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
List any other pertinent information:

E-NEWSLETTER: January 9, 2012

2012-01-11T08:12:00.001-05:00

Proverbial Way – Ms. Christy taught us about the fruit of the spirit. The fruit of the spirit are behaviors that come from someone who has Jesus in their heart. Gal. 5:22-23 lists them out for us and they are Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. The bible tells us that these actions are how people know that we belong to Christ. “You will know them by their fruit.”
The fruit of the spirit is actually one fruit. The fruit we eat such as apples and oranges are grown on separate trees, However, the fruit of the spirit is all on one vine (Christ). As believers we are to bear fruit. We are like a tree that bears God’s fruit. Ms. Christy asked the children to give the examples of how to show Love – hug one another, say “I love you” – Joy – sing praises to our Lord, Peace – not fighting with siblings, Patience – to wait on someone without complaining, Kindness – being nice, Goodness – giving, Faithfulness – being there for someone, someone that they can rely on. (God is faithful to us), Gentleness –being very careful and easy, Self-control – being quiet when we want to be noisy, sitting still when we want to jump around. Great examples kids! Thanks be to the Lord for these wonderful fruits!

Mom’s Connect –
The bible tells us in Matthew 25:23 – “Well done good and faithful servant!” Don’t we want to hear God say that to us? Don’t we want to be able to say that to our child? God uses those who are faithful to work hard for Him. He continues to use us more and more the more we work for Him. When we serve and obey we prove our dependability and we become one of His “go to guys” for his work here on earth. Pretty cool, huh? It’s not how you begin the race but how you finish it. It’s not how you start the school year but how you finish it. It’s not how you begin kindergarten but how you finish high school with your child. The goal is to be able to say to our child, “Well done good and faithful SERVANT!” We want our children to be servants.

1. Cor. 9:24 says, “Run the race to win.” Be faithful in the little things not just the big things. The little things add up. Set a good pace. THX is here to help us run the race to win. Homeschooling is the same throughout the nation but it isn’t accepted the same throughout the nation. Ms. Cyndy has been speaking with many homeschool associations to decide which one she will align with to help us. Record keeping is very important,especially in high school and if our child wants to go to college. It is good to teach your children to keep their own records as they go and grow. They can punch holes in paperwork and put it in a binder at 5 years old, when they learn to read and write they can label etc. A social worker could show up at your door at anytime, so it is good to have those records current. HSLDA is well worth the investment of $100 a year to handle any legal issues you may have. The goal of THX is to be a family. Ms. Cyndy expressed her gratitude for our help during the loss of her dad. F in family stands for – forgiving each other, fighting for each other, and being faithful to each other. The rest next week!

Announcements:
Welcome back Corwin family! Welcome Savannah!