2/20/2005 Update
"CLICKY: Cooperative Learning in Central Ky"
http://www.oocities.org/graysoncountyhomeschoolers
email: graysoncountyhomeschoolers@yahoo.com
Please tell other homeschoolers about our activities and share this newsletter. We usually meet in the Leitchfield City Park on Thursdays between 1 and 3 p.m., but sometimes have special events at that time as well. Call or email when in doubt of the schedule and check the website often. If you can't make a meeting, let us know and we'll make sure you don't miss out on any information! Use the group email or call Anne & Alex at 270-242-0868.
Field Trip to Corvette Museum
On Thursday, February 24, families are invited to join together on a field trip to the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green. We will meet at 9:00 a.m. in the parking lot of the Leitchfield Christian Academy (the corner closest to Main Street). We will caravan and carpool for greatest efficiency. Admission to the Corvette Museum should be $1 each. Bring a sack lunch for each person in your group.
Free Online Tutoring
Grayson County Libraries announces a new FREE service for students in 4th through 12th grades and College Intro. This service is available 7 days a week from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and features "expert tutors in math, science, social studies and English.... The tutors are certified teachers, university professors, graduate school students, students at accredited four-year colleges and professionals who are experts in their fields. All the Live Homework Help tutors have received a 7-year criminal background check and reference check ... and have been certified through the Tutor.com Training Program" (library flyer). Use this service at the library, or access it from the Grayson County Library website by clicking on the Live Homework Help link. This could be a real help to young people and parents. Encourage your students to seek help on this site and learn to find their own answers to questions. This may help start them on the lifelong road of taking responsibility for their own learning.
Interaction with Nancy Hack, our Director of Pupil Personnel in Grayson County:
Recently, one of our members received demands from our DPP that may have exceeded the law. The DPP knocked on the family's door and demanded records of homeschooling, such as a school calendar, daily schedule and attendance records. While the DPP does have a right to come to your door (as any citizen might), you do not have any obligation to provide records at your doorstep. You can just say, "Hi -- when and where would you like to meet?" Be polite. Close the door. Records that the DPP is entitled to include ONLY attendance and grade reports. That's it. No school calendar, no portfolio, no daily schedule. According to HSLDA, these additional requests violate an individual family's right to school as they see fit, such as child-driven curriculum. Requiring a daily schedule, such as math at 11:00 a.m., conflicts with those rights. So, while you have the ongoing and reasonable responsibility of schooling your child adequately, you do NOT have the responsibility of complying with the DPP's idea of a daily schedule! More on this type of information later, as we meet with the DPP and request KHEA board members to speak to our group sometime in March.
Organization for the Group:
After Anne and Christy went to the annual support group leaders conference in Hopkinsville, we realize that CLICKY needs organization! The most immediate need seems to be some kind of calendar for scheduling field trips. We have some wonderful ideas in the group, but no real way of getting those ideas done. Many successful homeschool support groups plan at least one field trip monthly and parents/families take turns planning that event. For instance, Christy (and others) want to go to the Bowling Green Corvette Museum. Great idea! What day? Who wants to go? What's the cost? Where shall we meet? Who wil call the Museum to schedule a group tour? (They have a short movie and informational guide for groups). One person needs to take charge of these type things for each trip. Another idea is Lost River Cave in Bowling Green. Could both these things be scheduled in one day?
Funding Letters from the Board of Education:
Each of us received a packet from the Board of Education discussing Title I funding for private schools. The Board is required to send these to us, but we are NOT required to fill them out. Feel free to throw them in the trash. Most homeschoolers don't want to go through gov't testing, etc., for these funds. But if you have a special needs child, you may need such funding. Contact Anne if you have questions, and she'll help you find the right people to talk to about it.