Potential changes to Illinois law

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From the HSLDA E-lert Service…
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Illinois: Contact Senator Maloney to Stop Homeschool Registration

Dear HSLDA Members and Friends:

Senator Edward Maloney has filed a bill that would force all Illinois
homeschoolers to register. The bill, SB 136, gives the Department of
Education blanket authority to mandate what information families must
submit. SB 136 threatens to expand government power into the realm of
private education on an unprecedented scale.

ACTION REQUESTED

1. If you live in his district (Senate District 18, which includes
parts of Lyons, Palos, Worth, Chicago, and Orland Townships in Cook
County) contact Senator Maloney and ask him to withdraw his bill. You
can also use our legislative toolbox at http://hslda.org/toolbox/ to
find your Senate district. Personal visits and phone calls have the
most impact. Letters and emails are useful as well. Your firm but
courteous message can be as simple as:

“Please withdraw SB 136. Studies show that private education prepares
students for college better than public schools. There is no need for
government to expand into an area that is already so successful.
Existing mandates on private education are sufficient.”

Springfield Office:
Senator 18th District
119A Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-5145
(217) 557-3930 FAX

District Office:
10400 S. Western Ave.
Chicago, IL 60643
(773) 881-4180
(773) 881-4243 FAX

Additional District Office:
6965 W. 111th Street
Worth, IL 60482
(708) 448-3518
(708) 448-3535 FAX

Home:
Edward D. Maloney
2808 West 11th Street
Chicago, IL 60655
(773) 233-6638

2. After you contact him, call or email us to confirm so we can keep a
tally of how many people have contacted him.

3. Pass this message on to other homeschoolers in Senator Maloney’s
district.

BACKGROUND

Right now, Illinois homeschools are not required to register because
they are classified as “non-public” schools. Many other states
likewise do not require homeschoolers to register, including New
Jersey, Indiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Alabama, Michigan, Texas, etc.

There is a common myth that Illinois homeschools are unregulated.
While Illinois homeschools don’t waste time processing bureaucratic
red tape, they must comply with significant substantive mandates,
including the requirement that they teach the branches of education
taught to children of corresponding age and grade in the public
schools, that they teach in the English language, and, if challenged,
meet the burden of showing that they have in good faith provided an
adequate course of instruction in the prescribed branches of learning.
This sensible combination of no red tape plus meaningful mandates has
protected freedom in Illinois and produced outstanding academic
results.

SB 136 would give the Illinois Department of Education literally
unlimited power to dictate what information homeschoolers must submit.
Since the Department is composed exclusively of staff who are
appointed or hired, rather than elected, they have little or no
incentive to respond to the voice of citizens. In other states, when
education departments have been given power to act against citizens’
wishes, they have sometimes brushed aside overwhelming opposition and
done as they pleased to homeschoolers.

SB 136 is the greatest threat to Illinois homeschoolers in more than a
decade. HSLDA and Illinois Christian Home Educators are united in
opposing the bill and are committed to protect your freedom. This
fight belongs to every Illinois homeschool family.

Thank you for standing with us for freedom!

Sincerely yours,

Scott A. Woodruff
HSLDA Senior Counsel

Wool crafts

A new season of classes has begun at Esther’s Place in Big Rock. If you have not been for a visit, it is worth the drive. This little shop, that also houses a bed and breakfast type retreat center, has some amazing treasures inside. Natasha has taken the crafts of spinning and felting to a whole new level, while at the same time taking them back to their origins. They raise their own sheep and then take the wool from start to finish to create some amazing pieces. She is truly an artist and will inspire the artist in you as well.

Check out their full line of classes for everyone from children to adults, from beginners to experts.

If you don’t see a class that suits your schedule or interests, give them a call and create something for your group. We enjoyed a field trip out there a few years ago and my children still talk about it.

Classical Conversations

Just added a Classical Conversations class in Chicago to the listing on this site, but also wanted to make you all aware of upcoming local events for Classical Conversations Co-ops in the area.

This is the time of year when everyone starts meeting and planning for the coming school year.

Please check the Classical Conversations site for a full listing of informational meetings and open houses coming up in the next weeks.

Here is just a snippet:

January 25 — Sugar Grove

February 1 — Minooka

February 3 — Wheaton and Oswego

And more to follow in Bolingbrook, Rockford, DeKalb, etc. Check it out if you would like more information!

ICHE Mother Daughter Conference

A wonderful opportunity for building memories and passing on a legacy of faith between mothers and daughters:

Time Schedule

8:00 – 9:00 Doors open for check in and fellowship.

9:00 – 9:15 Welcome

9:15 – 9:30 Hymns and prayer

9:30 – 10:30 The House that Mom Built – Stacy McDonald

10:30 – 11:15 Coffee break and fellowship

11:15 – 12:15 The Heart of Chastity – Stacy McDonald

12:15 – 1:45 Lunch and fellowship

1:45 – 2:00 Hymn and prayer

2:00 – 3:00 Christianity: The Real Women’s Liberation Movement (discusses the history and error of feminism) – Stacy McDonald

3:00 – 3:10 Break

3:10 – 3:40 Q & A with Stacy McDonald

3:40 – Hymns, prayer, and closing

TOS Crew review — New Monic Books

I had already decided that I needed to find a good vocabulary book to help my son boost his knowledge of words and to add into his Language Arts curriculum. When this book arrived in my mailbox we had found the perfect fit.

How could you ever forget that “abduct” means “to kidnap or carry off by force” when you have forever emblazoned in your memory a masked man running off with a duck under each arm? See their methodology? Take a word that rhymes with the vocabulary word, make a funny picture linking the definition with the rhyming word (the mnemonic device), and create an impossible to forget image.

Product: Vocabulary Cartoons by New Monic Books
Details : Vocabulary Cartoons offers 210 words taught and reviewed in 21 quizzes using mnemonic devices geared toward students in grades three through six.
Price : $12.95 (bulk discounts available)

What we loved . . .

Easy to use. Older students can even use this independently. They can read through the page and quickly and easily remember the new word.
Really works. Each entry has the definition, a picture to help you remember it, a rhyming word that corresponds to the picture, and a few sentences to hear it in context. After seeing the page, you quickly associate the rhyme with the vocabulary word and have quickly added a new word to your vocabulary.
Built in review. Every 10 words the book offers a simple review test over the previous words. Answers are included in the back of the book in case your child’s vocabulary is surpassing your own at this point.
Word list available. To see if these words are on your radar for your student to learn in the months ahead, check out the full list of words covered in this text.

Some considerations . . .

Review tests are a little easy. I found the review tests a little easy, but they might be good for younger students. They have the word written along with the mnemonic device and then students must match them correctly to their definition. Then they must fill in the blank in sentences for each word. However, I felt that if the system was really working (which it did with my kids and myself), a quiz should not include the mnemonic devices. I preferred to quiz my kids by simply saying the word and having them write it in a sentence of their own creation. This was very easy and my kids came up with some creative sentences, even my “non-writers.”
Just a years’ worth. Although this is a great book for a variety of ages (3rd-6th), it has 210 words in it which would not last much more than one school year. So, it should definitely have a place in your homeschool, but you will need to find something else once your child has mastered these 210 words. Maybe then you could move on to their SAT vocab prep books.

Vocabulary Cartoons has been a great fit for our family and I definitely plan to look into buying the next book when we finish with this one. My students can easily learn the material on their own, and I check in with them and administer a quick quiz every week or two. And, they learn words that we might not come across in their every day reading, but they should begin to learn — cultured vultures, buffoons of baboons, etc.

For more TOS Crew reviews on this product, check out the TOS Crew blog.

Disclaimer: This book was provided to me free of charge through New Monic Books as part of my participation in The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I received no additional compensation and the opinions expressed here come from my personal experiences and sincere thoughts.

Video contest

HSLDA holds numerous contests especially for homeschoolers. This one involves making your own video: (follow links for more details and to submit your own!)

2010 Commercial Video Guidelines

Submission Dates: August 16, 2010 to November 15, 2010

Required Forms

Commercial Video Entry Form

Commercial Video Permission Form

(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader)

Entries received before August 16 or postmarked after November 15 will not be accepted.

What

Each entrant will submit a video commercial that illustrates the value of HSLDA membership to a family. Videos will be a minimum of 60 seconds and may not exceed 90 seconds.
Up to two entries per person or team will be allowed.

Who

This contest is open to anyone.

Crew Guidelines

Your project is to be completed by a team which may include, but is not limited to, a director, producer, writer, camera crew, actors, technical crew (lighting, etc.), and post-production crew. While there may be more than one person involved in the project, we ask that the individual taking the role of director fit into the specifications above. The director will send us the finished product, will take responsibility for the project, and will be the individual awarded at the end of the contest. A single cash prize (see prizes below) will be awarded to each winning entry regardless of the number of individuals who participated in the entry/project.
Your work needs to be completely original.

Submission Format

Please email your YouTube clip link to the following email address: contests@hslda.org. Be sure to include your name, address, and phone number.
We require that you also mail us a hard copy DVD in QuickTime format.

Fee

$20 for HSLDA members
$40 for non-HSLDA members

Final Checklist

Entries must include a completed and signed entry form and permission form.
Entries must include an entry fee (payable by check or money order only).
Entries must include a YouTube link of the video along with a hard copy DVD in QuickTime format.

Mailing

HSLDA
Attn: Commercial Contest
One Patrick Henry Circle
Purcellville, VA 20132-3197

Judging

Video submissions will undergo two rounds of judging:
- Round 1: By a panel of critics selected by HSLDA.
- Round 2: The People’s Choice. The critics selected by HSLDA will make their top choices. Those choices will be put online, and made available for the people’s vote.
The HSLDA panel of critics will judge the videos on originality of thought, style, adherence the requirements, and production quality. The panel may be composed of both professional and amateur filmmakers.
Results of the contest will be released by the spring of 2011.

Prize Information

One “Critics’ Choice Award” in the amount of $1,000.
One “People’s Choice Award” in the amount of $1,000.

Other Information

By submitting a video you:

Grant Home School Legal Defense Association the right to publish all or part of your submission, (see permission form for more information.)
Agree to all rules and the decisions of the judges and sponsors.
Agree to not use copyrighted music or other media without explicit permission by the owner.
Do not hold Home School Legal Defense Association responsible for any lost, damaged, misdirected, delayed, mutilated, incomplete, illegible, or postage-due entries or mail.
Realize that all profits from this contest will go to the Home School Foundation’s Special Needs Children Fund.

Please contact Contest Coordinator at contests@hslda.org with any questions.

Living books

In reading on Charlotte Mason’s style I came across a term I have heard many times now — Living Books. She says this about choosing reading material:

For the children? They must grow up upon the best . . . There is never a time
when they are unequal to worthy thoughts, well put; inspiring tales, well
told. Let Blake’s ‘Songs of Innocence’ represent their standard in poetry
DeFoe and Stevenson, in prose; and we shall train a race of readers who will
demand literature–that is, the fit and beautiful expression of inspiring ideas
and pictures of life.

She warns against twaddle, a word I just love. So, I have started a vigilant hunt for books that breathe.

We read living books because we love them, they bring us together. They prompt incredible conversations. Even my little ones surprise me with the observations that they make about a book and its connections with real life. They bring something to our home school that no unit study, hands-on project, or even a field trip can. They spark the imagination and make creativity soar.

Some look alive, but hold nothing of value beyond the front cover. Others look old and dry and yet have carried us on amazing adventures. How do I know? Where do I find a good book?

Just wanted to share some great resources for finding a good read:

Ambleside Online — This website builds directly off of the Charlotte Mason philsophy. It assigns a time period for each year and can and is used by many as the core of their homeschool. We used them loosely for a couple years. Now, I still refer to that site because the book lists are excellent. We have loved probably 90% of the books we found through that site.

Curriculum reading lists — I started looking through other curriculums (like Sonlight — which we also used for a year) to see what books they recommend at various grade levels. Lots of great recommendations made it into our reading list this way as well.

Five in a Row — For books and accompanying activities, these books can give you plenty to choose from. Books that have stood the test of time, and you will love reading and rereading with your kids.

The Book Guardians — This is a brand new site for which I will be a contributor. Be sure to check it out over time as more books get added to its ranks. It will list books and share in 10 key areas if they have content that might need consideration. I talked more about it on my blog post about book reviews.

Common Sense Media — This site offers a number of reviews, but does not seem to have a strong moral slant. I did not find the reviews as helpful because I tend to have a stricter standard on what I deem appropriate reading for my kids. Still, definitely some value in the sheer quantity of books they have reviewed.

Christian Children’s book reviews –A good site, but seems to review only Christian books.

Focus on the Family has a book review section — Some good reviews, but they seemed to be lacking a depth in their recommendations and information provided. Does come from a conservative preference morally.

Facts on Fiction — Lots of reviews and clearly targeting key areas of concern. Alphabetized and easy to find what you are looking for.

1000 Good books — compiled by 25 homeschool moms, you can find 1000 of their recommendations. That should keep you busy for a while!

Many books also offer lists and reviews:

– Honey for a Child’s Heart

– What Shall We Then Read

– Hand that Rocks the Cradle (from the Bluedorns)

– Books Children Love

– Invitation to the Classics

– The Read-Aloud Handbook

Finding the time:

With six kids, five of them now school age, the trick is finding time in a day to read books. We have employed a variety of means to do so. We read a bit each day. Sometimes at bedtime, sometimes in the afternoon. We have a silent reading time each day as well. Books on CD also help. We listen to these in our rooms, at bedtime, and definitely in the car. We “read” an extra book or two each month by listening in the car. And, it keeps the kiddos quiet while we travel!

Looking for some recommendation? Here are some of our favorite books:

The Little House on the Prairie series

The Princess and the Goblin

Gone Away Lake

The Calico Captive

The Endless Steppe

God’s Smuggler

Bruchko

Robin Hood

Galileo and the Magic Number

And, every year we discover a few more favorites. Stay tuned to hear what we unearth this year.

Please add some more resources or book favorites of your own in the comments. We are always looking for well loved books.

This post linked to Works for Me Wednesday.

CLA Rummage sale

If anyone is interested, you might find some school equipment useful to your homeschool at this rummage sale at the old Arlington High School building, now Christian Liberty Academy. The article only really mentions lockers, but I am sure there will be a lot of other finds as well:

Rummage sale of furniture and equipment from old Arlington High School.

• When: 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Aug. 12-13; 8 a.m.-noon, Saturday, Aug. 14.

• Where: In the cafeteria of Christian Liberty Academy, 502 Euclid Ave., Arlington Heights.

• Money raised: Will be put toward Christian Liberty Academy’s scholarship fund.

Six Flags Homeschool Day

2010 HOME SCHOOL DAY
Friday, August 27

Six Flags hosts the 15th annual Home School Day event on August 27. Enjoy a fun filled day at the park with your family and friends. A special all-you-can-eat Home School Day picnic is also available in our private picnic grove. Contact SFGAMspecialevents@sixflags.com for additional information.

Home School Day Flyer

HOME SCHOOL DAY PICNIC—ONLY $10.25

All-you-can-eat picnic buffet in our private picnic grove includes fried
chicken, hot dogs, meatless mostaccioli, potato salad, pasta salad,
potato chips, pickles, rolls and unlimited soft drinks. You may enter the
picnic grove any time from 11:30a.m.-1:00p.m.

EXCLUSIVE RIDE TIME

Purchase a Home School Day ticket and receive one hour of exclusive ride time on Superman Ultimate Flight,
Rue le Dodge and Condor. This exclusive ride time is available before the park opens from 9:00 a.m.-10:00a.m.
and is only available to people who have purchased Home School Day tickets.

Homeschool Buyers Co-op

I have mentioned on here before the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. This is a free website that offers great deals to homeschoolers. I finally joined (no idea why I waited so long), and I can tell you it is completely painless. And, the deals are amazing!
Membership is free and confidential, and gives you access to great discounts from over 100 educational suppliers.
They also have a “SmartPoints” program where you get points for doing things that benefit you and other homeschoolers. You can then use your SmartPoints to buy curriculum.

If you click the following link and join, I’ll get 100 SmartPoints, and you’ll get 100 SmartPoints just for joining. (Click me!)

Tune in tomorrow for a great freebie that you will need to be a member of the co-op to join. Free higher level math for the summer . . . be sure to check it out.