Homeschool HUB News Update--January 21

Homeschool HUB News Update--January 21 Homeschool HUB phone: 269-240-6094 email: homeschoolhub@yahoo.com   website: www.hshub.org Editor: Andrea Bikfalvy   The information below is offered to you as a service.  Please research and decide for yourself the value to your family.  The Homeschool HUB does not endorse any programs or services other than those offered by the Homeschool HUB.     Send information to be added to the update no later than the Thursday before the week you want it to appear:  homeschoolhub@yahoo.com ON THE CALENDAR: Details for the following events are on the calendar at: www.calendar.yahoo.com/homeschoolhub January 28--Bowling at Strikes and Spares, 1:00-3:00, $5/pp February 18--Homeschool Skate at USA Skate 1:00-3:00, $3/pp including skate rental. HERE'S THE BUZZ: 1) Kid's Science Challenge 3rd-6th grade 2) My Friend has a Dream 3) Tiller's International Class List 4) Doodle 4 Google Art Contest 5) Working Scholarships for Homeschool Conventions 6) Discounts for Camp Tannadoonah 7) Graduation Ceremony for Class of 2011 8) Disney's The Jungle Book Kids 9) Earn money working Silverhawks concessions 10) Washington DC trip for homeschoolers in April 1) The Kid's Science Challenge is open for submissions now! The Kids' Science Challenge is open to all legal U.S. residents who are students enrolled in 3rd through 6th grade at a public, private, parochial, or home school located in one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia. For a student to officially enter he/she must be registered with the Kids' Science Challenge and his/her submission must be uploaded, faxed or postmarked between *October 1, 2010* and *February 28, 2011*. Limit one entry per student or group per science topic. You may submit an entry for each of the 3 science topics. Click Submit Your Entry! http://www.kidsciencechallenge.com/reg/ to complete the Kids' Science Challenge entry submission process. A parent or guardian may register their child online and then complete the entry form via the Kids' Science Challenge website. Alternatively, you can download the Entry Form http://www.kidsciencechallenge.com/pdfs/KidsScienceChallenge_Entry_2010.pdf to be completed and faxed or mailed to the Kids' ScienceChallenge office. http://www.kidsciencechallenge.com 2) My Friend has a Dream My friend, Hugo, wants to fill a cargo shipping container with musical instruments to take back to Chile with him in February.  He has been here studying to get his Masters in Conducting at Andrews University.  He has also been teaching a conversational Spanish class to local homeschoolers.  He returns to a job conducting orchestra and choir, and teaching, at a university.  He will have programs for younger students as well, and needs instruments for them.  He is also working to raise $20,000 for a full set of bells, to start bell choirs for all ages.  If you have an instrument you would be willing to donate please contact him.  He will even take them if they are not in working condition, to use for repair parts.  He lives near the university in southwest Michigan.  If you are nearby, he will pick up the instrument(s).  If you live a great distance from him, please box up your instrument and send it to him.  He is a wonderful, giving person, and he will put the instruments to great use helping children. Contact him to arrange your donation of an instrument or money for the bells at: Hugo Caceras 269 240-8866 hugo@andrews.edu Thanks, Kathy Joyce 3) Tiller's International Class List Tiller's is located a little southeast of Kalamazoo , in Scotts, Michigan. The class list for Jan – June is out.  Look at it here:  http://www.tillersinternational.org/tillers/classes_classlist.pdf The classes are usually either 1 day, or 2-3 day seminars.  They include blacksmithing, carving wooden spoons, logging with draft animals, spinning wool, timber framing and raising, architectural ironwork, beekeeping, coopering, tinsmithing, cheesemaking, soap making, and many more. 4) Doodle 4 Google Welcome to Doodle 4 Google, a competition where we invite K-12 students to use their artistic talents to think big and redesign Google's homepage logo for millions to see. At Google, we believe that dreaming about future possibilities leads to tomorrow's leaders and inventors, so this year we're inviting U.S. kids to exercise their creative imaginations around the theme, "What I'd like to do someday…" Whether students want to find a cure for cancer or take a trip to the moon, it all starts with art supplies and some 8.5" x 11" paper. And, one lucky student artist will take home a $15,000 college scholarship and $25,000 technology grant for their school, among many other prizes. Registration closes at 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT) on March 2, 2011, and entries must be postmarked by March 16, 2011 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time (PT). The winning doodle will be featured on our Google.com homepage on May 20, 2011. For full details go to:  http://www.google.com/doodle4google/ 5) Working Scholarships for Homeschool Conventions As has always been our practice, each of the 2011 "Great Homeschool Conventions" will have WORKING SCHOLARSHIPS available. (Nobody has EVER been turned away that didn't have the money to register because of financial hardship.) Here's how it works: OPTION A - Mom or Dad may work a four-hour "volunteer" shift in exchange for their entire family being able to attend one entire day of the convention. OPTION B - Mom or Dad may choose to work a six-hour "volunteer" shift in exchange for their entire family being able to attend the entire convention. If you'd like to work one of these shifts, please send an email to "GreatHomeschoolConventions at gmail.com" and be sure to type "WORKING SCHOLARSHIP" in the subject line of your email. Then, in the body of your email, please include the following information:     * NAME     * PHONE NUMBER     * CONVENTION YOU ARE INTERESTED IN     * Which "DAY" you prefer to be scheduled to work We will confirm both via phone and email.  We have always accommodated all working scholarship requests. However, you may have to work on a day other than your requested da.  Additionally, you will be required to "pay" the registration fee (cash or check) upon arrival at the convention, and then the registration fee will be refunded to you once you've completed your volunteer shift. 6) Discounts for Camp Tannadoonah Camp Fire USA is entering its second century of serving America's boys and girls.  We have great early bird discounts, available until Jan. 31, for our resident Camp Tannadoonah in Vandalia, MI, and we are providing an additional $25 discount for new campers who hear about us through Home School Hub.  For this extra discount (available both before and after early bird deadline), type HUB in the referral box when registering.  Check us out at tannadoonah.org, or call 574-234-4145 with questions. 7) Graduation Ceremony for Class of 2011!!! Margo Miller and Jenny Sergio are organizing a graduation ceremony for any Michiana area homeschooled graduating seniors. We will have an informative meeting on Tuesday, February 8th at the South Bend Public Library in the Dickinson room, 6:30 p.m. This event has been taking place for many years and is a wonderful way to recognize and finalize your child's education. It will be a cap & gown ceremony, with a speaker and senior talents, along with the presentation of their diploma. Please contact one of us if you are interested or show up at the February meeting. Spread the word. Other Scheduled meetings are:   Tuesday, March 8th - 6:30 pm Tuesday, April 12th - 6:30 pm Tuesday, May 10th  - 6:30 pm sergiojen7@gmail.com Jenny -  683-3886 Margo - 683-1474 8) Disney's The Jungle Book Kids Homeschool groups are invited to the reduced price school performances of: South Bend Civic Theatre's Disney's The Jungle Book Kids (a kids4kids production) Century Century, South Bend, IN The following dates & times are available: Monday, March 7 10:00 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 8  9:15 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. $2.00/person--for every 15 tickets purchased the group receives 1 free Note: Tickets are available only if you register with other families as a school group--the larger the group; the better (for the sanity of the director who is handling all the school reservations).  The director expressly asks that groups try to keep the adult:student ratio at a minimum of 1:3 to a maximum of 1:10 (can be higher if the kids are older).  Too many adults (more than one parent per family) in attendance in homeschool groups may lead to stricter rules about homeschool groups in the future. I will reserve tickets for those wishing to attend the March 7, 10:00 a.m. performance.  Please contact Cordelia Tomasino by February 8 at (269) 684-3454, or tomasic@bethelcollege.edu, if you wish to attend. For other performance times, or for reservations after February 8, please have your group representative contact Sara Bartlett at sarabartlett@comcast.net or (574) 968-7496. 9) Earn money working Silverhawks concessions The Homeschool HUB coordinates this opportunity for area homeschoolers to raise funds.  The money cannot be designated for an individual, but must go to a homeschool group, team, or event.  Each volunteer designates where we send the money they raise.  The volunteer mans a concession booth at a Silverhawks game and receives $31.50 for four to five hours of work.  Volunteers must be 16 yrs or older.  Here are the openings for this year.  Call Kathy Joyce at 269 695-1654 to sign up.     Thu, June 2 - Need 1 person     Sat, June 4 - Arrive 3:45pm - Need 12 people (Christian HOME graduation)     Sat, June 18 - Arrive 3:45pm - Need 2 people     Sat, June 25 - Arrive 3:45pm - Need 4 people     Sun, July 3 - Arrive 5:45pm - Need 12 people     Mon, July 4 - Arrive 5:45m - Need 16 people     Sat, July 23 - Arrive 3:45pm - Need 1 person     Sat, July 30 - Arrive 3:45pm - Need 2 people    We need to know:     --Name of person volunteering     --Group person is earning funds for, who to make check out to and address to send it     --Email address of person volunteering     --Phone number of person volunteering 10) Washington DC trip for homeschoolers in April This is being set up by a new homeschool travel group run by a homeschool couple.  The cost is $290/person.  They still have openings.  It is a Christian organization. Their web site is here: http://edventours.wordpress.com/ Greetings, I've been reminded by some of you that our tentative date for the Washington DC Trip meeting has come and gone, and thank you for the reminder. Spring in DC is a wonderful time to visit, and I am certain that the scheduled April 12-16 dates have potential to be the perfect time for our trip, but we should cover some details first. Let's plan to meet on Monday, February 1 at the HSB located on Burlingame SW, just north of 56th in Wyoming MI. at 7pm. The meeting will cover details about travel, lodging, the itinerary, payment and answers to all of your questions. For those of you already registered, thank you. It would be best to secure your spot by making your payment at this time. If you have not yet registered, there are some spots still available that will go on a first-come, first-served basis. Go to http://edventours.wordpress.com/register-now/ (the online registration page at the EDventours website) to let us know that you would like to go! This is an online registration that puts a time/date stamp on your entry and sends us a spreadsheet email with the results. Then we send you an acknowledgment to confirm receipt. If this does not work for you, simply email us here and we can get you signed up. For those of you on our email list, and are receiving this message, consider it a reminder and an opportunity to get to know more about the trip, ask questions and still sign up for this outstanding offer. We look forward to seeing you on February 1! (If you are unable to make the meeting, the materials presented will be available online at www.edventours.wordpress.com on February 2. And always feel free to contact us via email as needed. God's Speed, Randy   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LINKS TO SHARE: Free Online Books on many topics http://chestofbooks.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CLASSIFIEDS MATH TUTOR Caleb Noble is a private math tutor in South Bend, and he'd like to offer his help to HUB members in the South Bend/Mishawaka area whose children are struggling with math (grades 7-12).  He's a former homeschool student himself and is familiar with the Saxon math curriculum (both as a student and a tutor).  caleb_noble@hotmail.com Looking for a group?  Join the HUB! There are several benefits of membership including a travel club and a resource library that includes things like books, games, laptops, video cameras and other items to borrow. Members receive first chance at events and classes when availability is limited.  The cost of membership is only $24/year.  Information about becoming a member is on the website at www.hshub.org   Have something for sale, free or trade?  Advertise here! Homeschool groups are welcome to advertise their group, too.  It's free! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LETTING IT RIDE: Amazon.com--Please come to www.hshub.org before you shop at Amazon.  You can either shop the Associate Store listed in the Menu bar or click on the "Help the Homeschool HUB - Purchase at Amazon" link just below the Menu bar. By using this link to Amazon The Homeschool HUB will earn money through Amazon's Associates program on everything you purchase. So whenever you think "Amazon" please remember your purchase can help The Homeschool HUB. The Homeschool HUB is collecting used textbooks.  Contact Diane Day:  joharding_20@yahoo.com or 269-445-1900. The Homeschool HUB is continuing to collect Campbell Soup labels, Campbell's Chunky Soup labels, Campbell's Healthy Request labels, Campbell's Select harvest, Franco-American, Pepperidge Farm, Spaghettios, Swanson, V-8 Beverages, V-8 Fusion, Prego Italian Sauces and Campbell's Food Service.   Give your labels to any board member or bring them to our homeschool functions. --AND-- We are still accepting Boxtops for education labels.  You can find these on many products. Go to Boxtops for Education.org for more info, and then SAVE SAVE SAVE  those labels.  Each one nets 10 cents and every 10 cents adds up. You can give them to any HUB board director or bring them to any of our functions that we will be having.  Thank-you! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISCLAIMERS: While the Homeschool HUB believes that these events or opportunities may be of value to home educators, announcements do not constitute an endorsement by the Homeschool HUB, or its Board of Directors. It is the responsibility of individual parents to determine the appropriateness of any event or opportunity for their children. Participation in any event is voluntary and the participant assumes complete responsibility and liability for themselves, their family, anyone accompanying them, and their personal property.