It's Official....We're Moving!

Our co-op is officially moving to Blackshear Place Baptist Church in Oakwood. I know this will be a longer drive for some of you, but it really is going to be a great opportunity for our group. Cristy Nave has graciously handled all the details....thanks Cristy!! We will have more classroom space and TWO playgrounds for the little ones! We will begin our new semester in January at the new location. Details to follow as we get closer. Merry Christmas everyone!

Sara

Christmas Party & Bartering Market

Our Christmas Party & Bartering Market will be held on Tuesday, December 2nd at 2:30.

We will do the Market first (in the Commons building) followed by refreshments in the basement of the Chapel.

If your child/family will be participating in the market, please bring 15-20 items for them to 'barter'. We will give everyone a chance to see what 'goods' are available prior to beginning the actual bartering.

Please bring a plate of Christmas goodies (cookies, brownies, cupcakes, etc.) to share.

We are looking forward to this event! Hope to see you there!

P.S. Don't forget to bring your Spring registration $$ in order to get the discounted membership rate!

One of the classes we had this semester was Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. We listened to the audio book and then did either writing assignments or projects based on the chapters we covered. We also enjoyed sampling chocolate, eating the Everlasting Gobstoppers, and building this chocolate palace. Lots of fun!!!

Fiesta

Some of the co-op families joined together for a fiesta at Sara's house. This was alot of fun. The children enjoyed tasting authentic mexican food, seeing crafts based on Mexico and hitting the pinata!

Science Class

For Fall Semester I taught a Science Class to 3rd through 8th graders. We have had such a great time! The first half of the semester was spent on Volcanoes. The kids made their volcanoes using newspaper stips and watered glue, then they painted them before exploding them.

Registration

Registration is now open for the January, 2009 semester. If you participated in co-op this fall, I do NOT need paperwork for you. In order to register, I do need to know what you would like to teach/co-teach and I need your registration fee. You can pay by check or use the paypal links on the sidebar. As always, there is an $5 discount for early registration (by December 15) and another $5 discount for lead teachers. If you are new to co-op, you can download the forms from the links on the side bar and mail them to me along with your registration fee. If you need my address, you can email me at southhallhomeschoolco-op@hotmail.com.

We are anticipating new families joining us, so as we grow, we may be asking for help in some of these areas: preschool, set-up, clean-up, new member liaisons, activities, etc.

Several of you have asked for ideas for classes. If you have a class in mind that you or your children would like to see offered....PLEASE let us know at the above email address. Also, there is a post from earlier this summer with several class ideas. You can read it here.

Here are some important dates for the new semester:

Early Registration Ends: December 15
Registration Closes: January 2
First Day of Class: January 27
Last Day of Class: March 31

Next Mom’s Night Out: Thursday, January 22, 7:00pm (If someone is willing to host this, please let me know.)
End of the Year Open House: April 14

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Sara

Class Schedule

Most of you have already seen this, but I wanted to put it up for anyone who might be checking us out for next semester. Our classes do change every semester, but this will give you an idea of what an average schedule might look like. Let us know if you have any questions.


South Hall Homeschool Co-Op: Fall 2008 - COURSE OFFERINGS


According to grade level, please select one class for First Period and one class for Second Period for each of your children:

FIRST PERIOD CHOICES


Health and Fitness
K-2nd grades

The 1800's: Pioneers, the
Great Frontier, and the
Wild West
K-3rd grades

Science
4th and up

The 9 Gifts of Christmas
3rd and up

SECOND PERIOD CHOICES

Elementary Science
K-2nd grades

Elementary Spanish
1st-3rd grades

Embroidery
3rd and up

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Book Club
4th and up

Registration Reminder

If you have not yet signed up for the Fall 2008 session of Co-Op, you still have a few days to do so. Registration will close after July 31, 2008 for the upcoming semester. You need to pay and have your registration documents completed (and to Sara-- by mail or email) by this date.

Although we do not start classes until after Labor Day, we need this time to finalize the class options, allow members to choose their classes and get class lists to the teachers so that they have time to gather sufficient supplies. If you have any questions that you still need answered, please email us at southhallhomeschoolcoop@hotmail.com and either Sara or myself will be happy to help you out.

More details will be posted soon about our "Moms Night Out" in August-- but go ahead and mark your calendars for the evening of the 14th so you can plan to be there.

We are excited about the Fall session of Co-Op!

Wendy

God's World News

I am considering placing an order for a subscription to God's World News this year. They are changing to a monthly format. The price decreases significantly with group orders, so if you are interested please let me know by July 31. As soon as I have a final count, I can let you know how much it will be per issue. By ordering through My Father's World, there is another small discount and some of the proceeds go to Bible translations. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks!!

Sara

Goodnight Moon

If you are interested in Goodnight Moon, I need to know that by July 15 as well. This is not a commitment, but simply expressing an interest level, so that we know if we should get more details. You can read about the details here.

Registration Reminder

Registration fees are $30/family per semester. If you register before July 15, there is a $5 discount. There is also an additional $5 discount if you commit to being a lead teacher for a class. Wendy will have the Paypal account linked to this site very soon. (DONE!)

Please be aware that if you are paying by Paypal, you will need to add the Paypal fees (2.9% + 0.30) to your registration fee to cover Paypal charges. If you use one of the payment buttons on the left side of the page, the fees have been pre-populated as a 'shipping charge'. If you wish to log into Paypal directly instead of through the payment buttons, our email address is southhallhomeschoolcoop@hotmail.com. You will need to add the additional fees of $1.17 (basic registration), $1.03 (early registration) or $0.88 (early registration + lead teacher discount) to your payment.


Registration documents can be emailed or mailed to me. Please let me know if you need my mailing address.

What is South Hall Homeschool Co-op?

The purpose of South Hall Homeschool Co-op is to provide an opportunity for like-minded families to connect and support one another on our homeschooling journeys. We offer parent-led classes for preschool to middle school aged children. All parents are required to either teach or assist with classes. Our classes usually average 8-10 children per class with at least 2 parents. The co-op meets on Tuesday afternoons and is structured as two 10-week semesters. During each session, children participate in two 45 minute, age appropriate classes of their choosing. Fees are $30/family per semester.

We also offer occasional field trips and park days, Mom’s Nights, and an end of the year ‘Family Night’ where all the children have the opportunity to showcase their accomplishments.

We currently meet at Chestnut Mountain Church (off of Hwy 211 and Hwy 53) in Flowery Branch. If you live in the Hall, North Gwinnett, Barrow or Jackson county areas and are looking for a friendly, personal homeschool group to get involved with – come check us out!

Class Idea

Here is a class idea that Becky forwarded to me. Sounds like a GREAT class....I just don't think I'm the one to teach it!!! :)

Extras.....

Here is a list of extra activities for the 2008-09 school year....

Mom's Get-together: Thursday, August 14, 7:00, Wendy Timms' house
Tentative Field Trip (see previous post): Friday, November 14, 11:45, Good Night Moon
Tentative Christmas Party: December 2 (daytime)
Spring Open House: Tuesday, April 14, 2009 (evening)

Anyone??

Wendy was contacted before she went out of town this week, by a representative from the Alliance Theater. As a courtesy, they have pre-booked tickets for us to see Goodnight Moon on Friday, November 14, at 11:45. I believe the tickets are $8, but I don't know if they have a discount for larger groups. First of all, would anyone be interested in going? Also, would anyone be willing to coordinate this? Wendy has all the contact info, so all that would be involved would be getting a head count, collecting the money, and contacting them with the number in our group. What do you think?? :)

2008-09 Schedule

First day of Co-op: September 9th
Fall Break: October 14th
Last day of fall semester: November 18th

First day of Spring Semester: January 27th
Last day of classes: March 31st

Daily Schedule:

Arrive/Set-up: 12:45
Class 1: 1:00-1:45
Class 2: 1:50-2:35
Clean-up: 2:35-2:45

What in the World Can I Teach?

Deciding to be a part of co-op is the easy part....the hard part is deciding what class you would like to teach. If you're anything like me, you do much better given a list of choices than just trying to come up with something on your own. Here are a few other blogs that have lists of class ideas. Thank you to Wendy for tracking these down for us. Also, be sure to try Reach Co-op. Use the links under 'Educational Departments' to view class ideas by grade level. Happy Reading!
HomeschoolCPA
Home Grown Homeschool
Guilt-Free Homeschooling

We Have a Website!

OK, so it's a blog....BUT, it's FREE! :) I thought it might be helpful to have all of our information in one place. This way as you are talking to your friends about our co-op, you have somewhere you can send them to find out more about us. I have linked to all of our membership documents (side bar on the left). I can also add authors, so if anyone has a message for the group, it can be posted here. Just let me know if you would like to be on the author list. I'll be adding information over the weekend.