Homeschool Bowling League
Homeschoolers are invited to participate in a homeschool bowling league at Lakeside Lanes on Candia Road in Manchester. Ages 7-18, Fridays at 10:45. $3.50 per game with free rentals. Bowling starts on March 10. For information contact Lori at polkadotsmoonbeams@comcast.net; include child’s name and age.
Middle School Creative Writing Club
The Avenue A Teen Center in Antrim is partnering with New England College and local writer Becky Sakellariou to offer a Creative Writing Club for 7th and 8th graders. The Club will meet after school on Tuesdays from 2:20 – 4:15. Teens from Hancock, Bennington, Francestown, Antrim, Greenfield, Hillsborough, Deering, and Peterborough are invited to do writing activities, meet local writers, and share their work. Email jacqueliner@grapevinenh.org to register. This is an ongoing event, so you may join in any time.
Spark—a weekend of fun classes at MIT
Spark, a two-day program for 7th and 8th grade students, will take place on March 11 and 12 this year. There are over 200 different classes, including Intro to Hand Lettering, Rockets, Mutant Plushie Lab, and more.
Spark uses a lottery to assign students to classes. To get a full schedule, we recommend ranking your top three classes and starring at least ten classes per time block. All class choices will be entered into the lottery. Start the registration process by completing registration steps 0-2 at <https://esp.mit.edu/learn/Spark/studentguide.html>.
More detailed information is available at https://esp.mit.edu/learn/Spark/moreinfo.html or https://esp.mit.edu/learn/lotteryFAQ.html. Be sure to regularly check the email address that your account is registered under, as only registered students will receive future emails about Spark 2017.
Singers Invited to Join Children’s Choral Program at St. Joseph’s Cathedral in Manchester
Children can and do sing the music of Bach, Palestrina, Tallis, Mendelssohn, and other classical composers. It is the mission of the Saint Nicholas Schola Cantorum (Diocesan Children’s Choral Program), based at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph in Manchester, to teach, inspire and motivate children to sing. The choir focuses on singing traditional hymns, part-singing, Gregorian chant, polyphonic and choral works in order to cultivate musicianship, sight-singing, music history, religious education, liturgical formation, and the spirituality of sacred music. Although based at the Roman Catholic Cathedral, the Saint Nicholas Schola Cantorum is open to any child who is interested in singing regardless of religious affiliation. Potential choristers must complete an audition, commit to weekly Thursday rehearsals from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., and participate in choir twice a month at selected 8:30 a.m. liturgies. For additional information, contact the Diocesan and Cathedral Director of Music, Mr. Eric Bermani at EBermani@stjosephcathedralnh.org, or call 603-641-7277.
Homeschooling Thoughts and Tips
Many thanks to experienced homeschooler Jodie Lucci for the following thoughts.
What is some of the best advice you received when you
started homeschooling?
Whilst hiding in a bathroom with my two year old and middle child age five, who was having yet another meltdown at the homeschool co-op we attended, another mom with much older kids comforted me in my distress and told me that even though it is difficult now that it would be ok; “These kids struggle because they are sensitive and grow up to be creative, interesting and capable people.” I kept that thought in mind and it did comfort me, although in the beginning I had no idea if she were right. As it turned out she was. That child is now 19 and is creative, adventurous, independent and capable. She still aggravates me from time to time. She just left for a ten month stint with Americorp and intends to follow that by going to New Zealand on a work visa, farming.
How do you make challenging subjects fun?
When they were in the primary grades, we would practice whatever they were learning by playing “Mother May I?” or “Red Light Green Light,” modifying it so they had to answer a question and could move ahead if they were correct. All three played at the same time, each one getting a question appropriate to the individual. It might be a math problem, spelling word, repeating a word (speech therapy), definition, recalling something from a history or science chapter or show.
What do you make sure your kids learn besides the academic subjects?
Not to be afraid of new experiences. Anxiety runs in our family and all my kids exhibited the tendency. I made sure they were exposed regularly to people or places out of their routine. Regularly, but not so often as to overwhelm, a new place with people they were comfortable with or new people in a familiar place.
| Please share your thoughts with us, on these or any other subject helpful to your fellow homeschoolers. |
Maple Sugar Madness at Prescott Farm in Laconia
Saturdays, March 4-25, 1 ½ hour programs—10:00, 11:00, 12:00, 1:00 or 2:00
Experience an old-fashioned New England tradition — making maple syrup!
From tapping a tree to tasting delicious maple syrup, you will participate in every step of the syrup making process. Our environmental educators will help you to build tree ID skills and learn the parts of a tree and their functions, use measuring tools to find an appropriate tree to tap, use historical and modern tree tapping tools, learn the history of maple sugaring including Native American legends, and discover the math and chemical/physical science in the boiling process.
The program involves a 20-minute walk to our Sugar House—please note that you will be hiking back uphill after the program. Please wear boots and dress appropriately for the weather. Snowshoes will be provided as needed, or bring your own. $10 ($8 Members of Prescott Farm) per person with pre-registration; $12/person at the door. Register online at www.prescottfarm.org or call 603-366-5695.
Weare Home Educators Book Sale
Saturday, April 22
9:00-1:00
15 Twin Bridge Road, Weare
WHE had our highest grossing book sale ever in 2016. Sellers loved the flexibility of the simplified label system, and the buyers enjoyed the shopping experience they have come to expect. We listened to your feedback and we will be holding the sale on a Saturday morning for the first time. http://wearehomeeducators.com/12-parent-support/10-weare-home-educator-s-book-sale
Register as a seller and start collecting your unwanted books and educational materials today.
Spring Workshop June 17
The 2017 New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition Spring Workshop will take place on Saturday, June 17 from 9:30-noon at the Nackey Loeb School in Manchester. Topics to be covered include legal rights and responsibilities, as well as elementary and high school homeschooling basics. Stay tuned for details!
Future Leaders Summer Camp
The Future Leaders Institute, a collaboration between UNH’s Department of Philosophy and Department of Classics, Humanities, and Italian Studies announces the summer 2017 program on the theme of “Threats to Democracy.” The camp will run from July 17-28. Generous financial aid is available. For more information as well as a pre-application, visit http://cola.unh.edu/chi/fli.
Robert Frost Program at UNH
The University of New Hampshire Celebrity Series is proud to announce Robert Frost: This Verse Business on April 7 at 7:00 p.m. Drawn directly from Robert Frost’s lectures, interviews, and letters, This Verse Business is both an illuminating portrait of the man and an entertaining distillation of one poet’s body of work and his writing methods. Gordon Clapp brings Frost to life in this testament to the value of poetry and the arts.
For fifty years, Robert Frost “barded” around the country giving “talks,” performing his poems, and sharing his beliefs and “wild surmises” on religion, science, conservatives, radicals, rhyme, free-verse-whatever was on his mind. This talent for talk only added to the unprecedented fame he achieved. The first poet ever to recite at a presidential inaugural (JFK’s), he quipped, “What began in obscurity is ending in a blaze of publicity.” Partly based on these public appearances, This Verse Business not only gives us Frost, the rascally wit of the platform, but also Frost at home, the private man alluding to his family and speaking about his relationship with art.
Best known as the actor who portrayed Detective Greg Medavoy on NYPD Blue, for which he received an Emmy award, Gordon Clapp has enjoyed a distinguished career in television, film, and theater.
Performances will be held in the Paul Creative Arts Center’s Johnson Theatre in Durham. Tickets can be purchased on line at www.unharts.com. Tickets prices are $30 General, $10 UNH Student with ID and Youth under 18. Tickets for the series season can be purchased on line at www.unharts.com, or by calling the Box Office at 603-862-7222(PCAC) Monday – Friday, 12:00 – 5:00, as well as one hour before each event. Visit the Celebrity Series web page: www.unh.edu/celebrity.
Friends Camp in China, Maine
Friends Camp in China, Maine offers one- or two-week residential sessions for campers ages 7-17. We celebrate acceptance, play, Quaker values, and exploring the outdoors. Many homeschooling families have enjoyed the caring environment, affordable sessions, and creative programs with lots of free-play time. Visit www.friendscamp.org for more information.
Remember, check our website www.nhhomeschooling.org for more activities and announcements!
NHHC Newsletter Staff
Abbey Lawrence, Editor, PO Box 97, Center Tuftonboro, NH 03816, 539-7233, abbeyl53@gmail.com.
Stefanie Marsh, layout and web posting.
Portions of NHHC publications may be reprinted for information purposes provided that credit is given to the New Hampshire Homeschooling Coalition. Contributors retain full rights to their writing, and their permission should be obtained before reprinting.
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