Come and See Us at the Convention! HCOS will have a booth and a hospitality suite at this year’s Homeschooling Convention in Surrey, BC. If you would like more information about the convention please see: www.bchomeschool.org We would love to meet you so please come and say hello!

We are hosting a special Meet and Greet night for all of our families in our hospitality suite on Friday evening at 5:30pm. All of our teachers are attending the convention as well (many of them are attending workshops as part of their training) so you’ll have the opportunity to meet with our teachers and with our Admin team. Refreshments will be served. We have some special gifts for our parents and their friends. We’ll see you there!

Toppling the Old Boys Club or What Would Jesus Blog?

This is the second in a series of articles that will help us to disciple our children in the midst of this new global phenomenon. We must prepare this generation to live as Christians while the old world disappears and a new emerging digital world is changing everything around us at break-neck speeds.

Have you heard the old cliché “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” Not any more. The power brokers of knowledge are gone. The sages of the ivory towers and the protectors of truth have been reduced to mere mortals. How about a few more clichés: “the cat is out of the bag,” because, “there is a new sheriff in town,” or more correctly there is no sheriff in town. The digital world and the internet have dismantled the old authority structures that protected the dissemination of knowledge as their chief source of power and control over the masses....

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Creating your own philosophy of education can be one of the most powerful exercises you do this year and will provide you with further encouragement and support throughout the years. Everyone has a philosophy of education, it just may not be articulated yet. It’s the way that we approach education in our home, it’s the reason we’re homeschooling in the first place and it’s why we continue on this journey. Getting your own philosophy of education into words and down on paper can help you in your planning for the upcoming year, bolster your confidence when you’re feeling overwhelmed, and help you deal with expectations from others. ....

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For about the last ten years I have had the pleasure of talking to quite a few mothers trying to plan for their child’s high school program. One of the common misconceptions I have heard is that a child must have a Dogwood certificate to graduate. This is not true.

Let me explain what a Dogwood certificate is and what a child must do in order to receive it. A child must attend a certified high school in BC, do Distance education or be enrolled in a DL school. They need to take specific courses and receive at least 52 credits with the old graduation program and 80 credits with the new program. These courses must follow the BC learning outcomes and be supervised by a BC certified teacher. The child must also write the Provincial exams. The exams with the new program are English 10, Science 10, Math 10, Socials 11, and at least English 12. They can write other exams in grade 12 but they don’t need them now to graduate.

If your child is planning on going to a University such as UBC then I would really recommend your child look at doing a Dogwood Certificate. ...

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There are many things that we readily recognize as having a high risk of physical damage, such as skiing, mountain biking, or white water rafting. Unfortunately most people still do not recognize the physical risks of having a poorly set-up computer workstation. So in this month’s tech article, we are going to take a look at something called ergonomics and office safety, to help avoid these risks.

The definition of ergonomics is the practice of setting up equipment in such a way as to minimize the fatigue of the operator. This may seem unimportant, but when you use a computer regularly (as many do in an online school) an improper set-up can cause severe injuries over time. These include Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, Astigmatism, Computer Vision Syndrome, Ulnar Neuropathy at the Elbow, wrist tendonitis, low back pain, Lateral or Medial Epicondylitis, and Trapezius Myalgia. I have no idea what that last one is, but it sounds scary, right? So let's find out how to avoid it. ...

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New Science Outcomes for 2005/06

I know that many of you are planning your curriculum choices for next year. I wanted to let everyone know that the Science outcomes for grades K – 7 have changed for next year. The Ministry has introduced a new draft of these outcomes on their site and we have published our version of this along with portfolio guidelines and ideas for activities this week. You will want to go consult this guide as you plan your student's science program and curriculum for next year. These new guidelines are at:

HCOS Science Guidelines for Grades K through 7

We announced in a previous newsletter that families would be able to order up to $250 per child from ADS, Canadian Home Education Resources or Cornerstone Learning Resources starting on June 10, 2005. This amount comes straight off your reimbursements and will be billed directly to the school. We’ve offered this advance because we know that it can be hard to pay for all of your child’s curriculum up front and then have to wait until November for a reimbursement. We also know that it’s useful for the teaching parent to get familiar with the curriculum before having to use it in September. This advance is available to all Individualized students and to any Integrated students who are taking 3 or fewer online courses.

If you are planning on using the advance at the convention in June then please visit us at the HCOS booth at the convention for your Advance Card. Then you can take your Advance Card to do your shopping at ADS, CHER or CLR. If you are not attending the convention you may use your advance starting on June 15th for telephone orders. Please call our office for your PO number. You will need this in order to place an order.