April Newsletter 2006

Volume 2 - Edition 5 - April 2006

Christian Home Educator's Convention Is Here - Register Now!

REGISTER ONLINE now for this exciting, two-day event. It will take place next week, April 21st & 22nd, 2006, in the warm and welcoming city of Kelowna. In addition to our keynote speakers, we will have a wide variety of interesting and informative seminars and workshops. Our keynote speakers will be Susan Wise Bauer, Dr. Jay Wile, and our very own Greg Bitgood. There are still spaces in our youth program; due to overwhelming response our children's program is full. CHEC will also host a number of well known exhibitors. For more information, please visit bcconvention.ca.

It is Re-enrollment Time!	HCOS Enrollment
We will be receiving re-enrollments for 2006/2007. You should have receiving an email asking you to fill out the re-enrolment form in your Encom account. In order to begin purchasing curriculum through our authorized venders (up to $500 per student) you will need to be re-enrolled before the convention. We have already received over 100 new enrollments for next year and plan to hire enough staff to take us to 900 students. We ask that you begin to prayerfully consider your plans for next year and look forward to hearing from you soon.
	educ.independentschoolsoffice@gov.bc.ca
Susan Penner, the Inspector of Independent Schools, has given our Online School community a letter of encouragement in this busy season. You can read her letter here: inspector.pdf
Discipling this Generation for a Digital World	Greg Bitgood
Greg will be releasing his book, *Discipling this Generation for a Digital World,* this upcoming Friday at the CHEC Convention. He has been on working this project for the last year. Greg challenges Christians everywhere concerning the digital transformation of our culture, society and world. This is a "must-read" for anyone who is actively discipling this generation. He will be launching the www.christianthinker.org web site and the audio version of the book at the same time. We are excited to give you a sneak preview of the Table of Contents and the Introduction to this important resource by our Superintendent. You can download it here: tableofcontents.pdf; Introduction.pdf.

It's Convention Time!!!

Sarah Bennett

It’s Time for the 1^st Annual BC Christian Home Educators’ Convention – On Site or At Home

It’s convention season now and the BC Christian Home Educators’ Convention is only a week away! I’m excited about the speakers we are bringing in for this event and I’m excited about having the opportunity to talk to so many of our families face to face. I’m also looking forward to doing some serious shopping....

Partnering with Families (Reimbursements)

We are excited to announce our new Resource Policy. Many families have been burdened financially as they spend hundreds of dollars on their children’s education and then are forced to wait until November or March before having those dollars returned to them. We want to make it possible for families to get the curriculum, books, supplies or services they need without having to be out of pocket for months at a time. Beginning April 21, 2006 families will have a credit of $500 per child ($250 for kindergarten) to use at a long list of suppliers. We will also be able to write cheques directly for expenses such as music lessons, homeschool co-ops, and tutoring. This will make paying for curriculum, books, and services much easier. The remaining $500 ($250 for K) will be made available as a credit throughout the new school year. We hope that switching to a credit format instead of using reimbursements will bless your family. Please email me if you have any questions.

Sarah Bennett

Education in the Real World

Chris McGrath

What Makes Us Different?

Each year at about this time we begin thinking about next year's education for our children and how to prepare for it. There is obvious excitement and anticipation as families begin their time as part of home-schooling groups or DL communities or our school families. All these families come from a variety of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds, and represent many different Christian churches. Parents new to Christian Education and Home-schooling also express many different perceptions as to what makes an education Christian:

Christian Education: Guaranteed Outcomes?

Janet Rainbow

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

Many of us have entered into home schooling our children with very idealistic dreams. I know I did. They were going to receive the very best education and become great Christian Leaders when they grew up. When after graduating from high school, my daughter moved in with her first boyfriend, I was crushed. I kept thinking I thought I was following God’s will and doing it right by home schooling and later sending them to a Christian High School. The Lord had to show to me that I may have been following His will, but each child has to make their own decision to follow Him. I had to realize that basically there is nothing I can lay claim to in my children’s salvation.

Introducing Ted Gerk - Heritage Christian Online School's New Director of Operations

Ted Gerk

HCOS's Suzanne Johnson interviews Ted Gerk, who is taking over as our Director of Operations in the Online School Office. His responsibilities will include working directly with our families with resources overseeing our office staff and procedures. Ted has served in the pro-life movement for over 16 years. Ted, his wife Marina and 11 children live in Kelowna and have been active homeschoolers.

Foundation Skills Testing - FSA's

The Ministry of Education has encouraged all grade four and grade seven student's in DL programs to participate in the FSA testing. HCOS is working with other DL schools to host these tests as close as possible to our families. The tests will be scheduled between May 8-19, 2006.

FSA testing has received a lot attention in recent years because the Fraser Institute began ranking schools based upon test scores. This policy has often put the test in the wrong light; placing too much emphasis on performance rather than true assessment. The test is designed to give both the school and the parent an accurate assessment of how they compare to the rest of the students in their grades. The results do not go on the student’s permanent record. Any preparation for the test should be to familiarize your student with the procedures. There are excellent samples of what your student should expect on the ministry web site at: http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/assessment/fsa/.

If the distances are to far to travel or the test will produce unusual hardship for a family the school can excuse the student. Please email a letter to Ted Gerk requesting to be removed from the test process and why: tgerk@onlineschool.ca.

HCOS Chapel

Pastor Dan Knorr

New Time: every Thursday Morning: 10:30

HCOS Chapel

Internet Sites of the Month

Hello HCOS Families,

I have included some great art sites to send to your parents that have some great teaching resources;

The first site is from Cybermuse the Art Education Research site from the National Gallery of Canada, wonderful teaching resources for older children: http://cybermuse.gallery.ca/cybermuse/teachers/index_e.jsp

The second one is from Masterpiece Art Instruction perfect for young homeschoolers:
http://teachartathome.com/

Draw your World is a neat art and writing site for younger kids:
http://www.drawyourworld.com/?source=teachinghome012705

Kinderart is a large collection of free art lessons collected by teachers and parents: http://www.kinderart.com/

See you at the conference. God Bless,
Pippa Davies, HCOS Teacher

I had this site emailed to me and thought it may be of interest. It is all about selling and buying used homeschool materials for Canadians only. Here is the address:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Canbookexchange/

Check it out.

God bless,
Jeff Laird, HCOS Teacher jlaird@onlineschool.ca

Congratulations!

HCOS Grade 11 student
Eli Bennet participated in the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Ca. last month as a guest performer in their best-of-the-best high school jazz team.

HCOS Grade 2 student Shannon Young submitted her poster for the Student Law Week competition and she won! She will be honored on April 22nd for her exceptional work.

Our HCOS Grad Program Portfolio received a $1500 prize for being one of the best in the Province. It won because of the extensive online guide and unique delivery to online students. A big thank you to Christabelle Bitgood and Sue Savard for their hard work and exceptional design.

School Dates to Remember

The second Portfolios are due and here is the Reimbursement information

Reimbursement Form

Sample Portfolio Checklist

April 20th & 21st Spring Exam Session

April 21st & 22nd
The Christian Home Educator's Convention!

June 1st - 3rd
BC Homeschool Convention in Surrey, Sheraton Guildford Hotel

June 30th
HCOS Graduation Ceremony in Kelowna. More details to come.

Resources:

What In the World

All of our families can now take advantage of the Canadian Social Studies current events newsletter entitled "What in the World"

Click here for the April Editions for:
Grades 5-7
Password: ferry
Grades 8-11
Password: winter

Town-to-Town

HCOS has subscribed all of our families in the Town-to-Town (town-to-town.net) Socials Studies Resource that organizes web links to nearly every internet resource for a student in Canadian Civics and Socials.

1. Go to the website by clicking on the picture above.
2. Enter the User Name: HCOS
3. Enter the Password: Onlineschool

Britannica

We have now subscribed all of our students and families with the Encyclopedia Britannica- Online and Student Edition. Please email Suzanne to get your login and password.