by Greg Bitgood
Purchase online and blog on the topics at:
www.ChristianThinker.org
Committed to providing quality educational choices, HCOS subscribes to a number of online learning resources. Below is a short description of the many educational resources available to our students this year.
Heritage Christian Online School is offering students a subscription to United Streaming at no cost. This online video library contains more than 5,000 full length educational videos. It has Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, Magic Schoolbus, Bill Nye, and much, much more. You can search through the library easily to find what you’re looking for. This is a great supplement to every student’s education. There are videos covering a huge variety of topics in arts and music, science, language arts, health, and social studies from grades K through 12. Check out www.unitedstreaming.com for more information. If you would like a subscription please email your teacher for sign-up information.
We have now subscribed all of our students and families with the Encyclopedia Britannica- Online. Please contact your support teacher for your login and password.
All HCOS students and families have access to Enchanted Learning, a safe, family friendly educational site with over 20,000 pages of resources! Please contact your support teacher for your login and password.
A safe educational search engine is now available from HCOS through netTrekker. This trusted search engine provides peace of mind to families as their child searches the net for online resources. The search engine is organized by readability and grade level and is even aligned to the provincial outcomes. Contact your support teacher for a username and password.
HCOS’ subscription with “Town-to-Town Canada” provides middle and high school students with information on Canadian civic and public affairs. It link students to web sites “relating to government, law, education, social economics, current events, public policy, and living and culture.” Please contact your support teacher for a username and password.
WHAT IN THE WORLD? is a Canadian current events resource covering events and issues with geography. It is designed for students in the intermediate grades and is available in English and French. Contact your support teacher to request monthly links and passwords which will connect you to each new issue.
Explore award winning youth books and their authors. HCOS provides you with access to thousands of resources and multimedia programs through its online subscription with TeachingBooks. Short movies, audio book readings, and book discussion guides are some of the rich learning resources available through this subscription. Contact your support teacher for a username and password.
YourTeacher.com is an online multimedia math resource for Middle and High school students. Each lesson includes video examples, interactive practice, and self tests. Through HCOS school subscription you will receive a year’s access to Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Geometry, or Algebra 2 for only $25. Please contact your support teacher to receive a personal username and password, and arrange payment from your curriculum budget.
Finding reading and writing learning resources is now just a click away! HCOS is offering access to “Reading A to Z” and “Writing A to Z” resources at a discounted price. “Reading A to Z” has thousands of printable learning resources that support guided reading, phonemic awareness, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and alphabet and vocabulary learning. These professionally developed resources included downloadable ‘levelled’ books, lesson plans, worksheets, and reading assessment material. The “Writing A to Z” site provides hundreds of downloadable writing resources which include “core writing lessons grouped by genre and text type; mini-lessons targeting key writing skills; and writing tools for organizing and improving writing.” The resources are designed for K-6 learning level. These resources will save you time and money as you search for a resource specific to your child’s reading and writing ability. Through HCOS school subscription you will receive a year’s access to these excellent resources for only $25 each. Please contact your support teacher to arrange payment from your curriculum budget and to receive a username and password.
by Greg Bitgood
Hello fellow educators,
It is Easter Monday or, as I like to think, one day after Jesus rose from the dead and I have been stewing all week about this important holiday. Welcome to podcast number 12. I want to reminder you that we are still sending out free copies of my book, Disciplining this Generation for a Digital World, to anyone that sends us an email. I will have the details at the end of the podcast.
Something struck a chord with me during convention this year. I was listening to our key-note speaker and she was talking about how it was an act of humility when we came to convention. I think that’s the heart of the matter. If we act in humility – realizing that we cannot continue on this journey relying only on ourselves, then we will be blessed with the wisdom, experience, and love of others. Without that humility we turn inwards and attempt to rely only on ourselves. When we do this we don’t only rob ourselves of the opportunity to be blessed by others, we also rob others of our own wisdom, experience and love.
The BC CHEC convention was wonderful, in spite of the snow! It was great to put some faces to the names I e-mail and send parcels to. Everyone was so excited to actually SEE the science kits and the great resources on the shelves!
If you missed the convention or you can’t get enough of Debra Bell, (wasn’t she a great inspiration?), we have a couple copies of her book – The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling. All of our parent resources can be found on the Resource Lists in the online catalog under Public Lists. http://library.heritagechristian.ca/
One of the wonderful advantages of being a Director for HCOS is the chance to travel around BC and visit with homeschool families. One of the things that HCOS doesn’t want to forget is– the homeschool families not living in Kelowna. We know it is not always possible for the families to travel to the Christian Homeschool Convention just held in Kelowna on April 18th and 19th therefore the directors like to visit the different regions in BC. If you would like to have the Administration team come for a visit, please contact Janet Rainbow at jrainbow@onlineschool.ca. We currently have made plans to make a trip through central BC.
by Lisa Taron
Modern technology has given us the ability to create our very own hardcover, glossy, library stitched books; featuring our own photos, words and artwork. Instead of having to commit to hundreds, even thousands of copies through a publisher, we can now create even just one. What does this have to do with the home-schooled student?
This year, a group of students have taken it upon themselves to assemble an Online Yearbook for their fellow students. The chosen theme for the year is The Zoo and we want to be able to show off the students that we have to their families and friends.
Our goal is to provide a website where students and family can see their fellow classmates being themselves beyond the simple messaging and forums. We are inviting students to submit pictures of them playing sports, hobbies, and any other activities that they participate in. We know we have a unique and diverse collection of students and we want to showcase their abilities. Do you have a picture you want to share of one of your children? Students who are registered for Online courses can submit pictures to the Yearbook Submissions course. Those without access to the Online Courses can submit the picture by email to jtjosvold@onlineschool.ca. We welcome any pictures or your children.
Because we are a small group and this is our first year we are focusing on just grades 10-12 with the plan to expand to include all of our enrolled students. Photos may be edited for color and sizing in order to ensure that they fit within the layout of the yearbook.
If you have any questions please feel free to email me at jtjosvold@onlineschool.ca.
Will God be happy with me if I memorize James?
Will Heritage be happy with me if I memorize James?
Will my mother be happy with me if I memorize James?
Will I grow spiritually? Ah, yes, the formula for spiritual maturity: memorize 3 verses a week, wash down with plenty of prayer and good works!
Maybe this might work for someone else, but “I can’t memorize,” you respond. “Memorizing is frustratingly difficult, it’s incredibly slow . . . “
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