Online Learning Resources

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.

United Streaming

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.

Encyclopedia Britannica

http://newsletter.onlineschool.ca/archive/images/eb.gifWe have now subscribed all of our students and families with the Encyclopedia Britannica- Online. Please contact your support teacher for your login and password.

Enchanted Learning

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.

netTrekker

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.

Town-to-Town Canada

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?

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. 

TeachingBooks

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

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.

“Reading A to Z” and “Writing A to Z”

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.

Volume 5 - Edition 8 - June 2009

The Educator's Must Read List

Greg Bitgoodby Greg Bitgood

(Please note: you can listen to this online....just click here)

Hello fellow educators. Welcome to podcast number 61. I often get asked by friends and colleagues, “what books are you reading?” which is an important question. I read about 3 books a month and several periodicals and podcasts. Today and in the next few podcasts I want to show you how I do this and give you a list of what I consider very important books for the Christian Educator. Before we jump into this I to share a few of the many comments I received from my last two weeks of podcasts on the subject of Special Education. Heritage Christian Schools are now one of the largest providers of Special Education in the Province with almost 100 special needs students. John Davies did an excellent job in summarizing our program. Here is an example of what our listeners wrote:

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Why Flexibility and Planning go Hand in Hand

Janet Rainbowby Janet Rainbow

About three years ago I wrote a newsletter article giving some basic principles that I found helpful in planning for the up coming school year. I do not plan to repeat myself as you can check on the article called “Planning for the 2006-2007 School Year” on our Newsletter web site. The reason I would like to revisit this is that often a person’s greatest gift can also be their greatest area of sin. That is true with homeschooling. One of the greatest advantages of homeschooling is the flexibility but it can also be very easily the greatest weakness for some people. This article is to remind and encourage all parents to take some time to plan for the upcoming school year over the summer and to re-focus on some key points in the planning process.

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Memorization Musings With A Peek to Next Year’s Challenge

Charlotte Staceby Charlotte Stace

Congratulations to the HCOS memorizers in this school year! 1 John was a challenging book to memorize but those who persevered will be blessed! There have been others who continued in James from last year and still others who memorized other verses. If you haven’t already reported your child’s success to your teacher, please do it now (by June 12) so that the prizes can be awarded. To each one who memorized, keep reviewing over the summer so that you don’t forget them! Enough review will put them into your long term memory and then you will have easy recall for the rest of your life!

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Created ‘Just Right’

Claire Pollokby Claire Pollok

One has often heard the saying “Only a mother can love a child like that.” As parents we love our children dearly – in all their strengths and weaknesses. However, at times this love is challenged. Not so much by what our children do, but from the subtle and often nagging expectations placed on children by our society. Often our children are “this” but our society is saying they should be “that.” In light of this pressure our unconditional love can be challenged.

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Summer Loan Policy

Shandra Wiebeby Shandra Wiebe

The HCOS library will close June 28 th and reopen August 17 th.

Many of you have asked about borrowing books over the summer. Summer is a great time to do some reading that encourages us as we continue the homeschool journey. It’s also a great time to focus on one subject area and have some fun with it. To facilitate the efficient use of our resources and ensure that materials are back in the library for the new school year, the library now has a summer user policy:

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Global Ministry Training Center & HCOS sends computers to Kitale, Kenya!

Trudy Hiebertby Trudy Hiebert

We’ve all heard it. God is a God of purpose. We’re here, alive, on purpose, created to walk out the plan that God designed for us. At Global Ministry Training Center ( www.gmtc.ca ) we believe this 100%. We are a discipleship training school, located right here in Kelowna, neighbors to Heritage Christian Online School ( our offices are next to each other ) empowering people with Truth to live a life of purpose on purpose.

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Build Lifelong Disciples

by Mark Steiner

A. Where are today’s Christian kids?

Once upon a time, Christian parents asked their children after church, “What did you learn about God?” Today, the question is often, “Did you have fun?”
Not too long ago, churches offered Bible training for all ages—wanting to fully equip children to serve Christ. Today, many churches offer high-energy, entertainment-based programs—wanting to keep kids happy and to make recruiting easy. Children rarely use their Bibles.

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Train Up a Child: It Takes Much, Much Hard Work

by Ken Smitherman, President, Association of Christian Schools International

As another year draws to a close, it is my hope that you will pause to reflect on the crucial investment you have made in your children.  Your choice of Christian schooling is one that warrants commendation and encouragement.  Scripture commends your decision: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6, NIV).  No one doubts the significant role of education in the training of children, and an education imbued with biblical principles and inspired by teachers who not only are professionally prepared but are also folowers of Christ adds a dimension and depth that will produce fruit.

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