Virginia Homeschool | January 7, 2009 HEAV Update

HEAV's Virginia Homeschool Update

January 7, 2009

Above the Fold
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Happy New Year!
We're back from our Christmas and New Year's break renewed and refreshed to bring you the latest and greatest in Virginia homeschooling events and resources.

We hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and we wish you all God's blessings and provision in the New Year.

-The Virginia Homeschool Update Team

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January's Top Pick - Free Shipping!
A Charlotte Mason Companion
By Karen Andreola
Reviewed by Linda Trumbo, homeschool mother of five and past publisher of the "How to Homeschool Newsletter."

"A Charlotte Mason Companion is more than just an education book. It is a book that will challenge and encourage you to grow in your love for home and for your responsibilities there. You'll find yourself seeing beauty in unexpected places and giving thanks that you have been privileged to share them with your children." Read the entire review

Get free shipping on A Charlotte Mason Companion for the month of January! Order your copy here for $17.99(members)/$19.99(non-members).

Online Science Classes and Camps: Anatomy, Biology, Forensics, Pre-Biology

Online Science Classes and Camps (NC): Anatomy, Biology, Forensics, Pre-Biology
Thirteen-year veteran homeschool dad and college professor, Greg Landry, offers unique 6th- through 12th-grade-level online science classes and residential camps in North Carolina: Pre-Biology, Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology, Sports Medicine/Exercise Physiology, Forensic Anatomy CSI, Chemistry, Biology, Anatomy and Physiology. Go here for details and photos.

http://www.HomeschoolScienceAcademy.com

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Convention Registration Opening Wednesday

THE CONVENTION IS COMING!
Home Education: Turning Our Hearts Toward Home
June 11, 12, & 13, 2009

Get ready to be inspired, encouraged, challenged, and blessed! Voddie Baucham, Inge Cannon, Jessica Hulcy, Dianne Craft, Steve Demme, Adam Andrews, Carol Barnier, Sue Becker, Rick & Marilyn Boyer, Joel Salatin, Debbie Strayer, Carol Topp and many others are coming your way.

Hotel Registration Is Now Open &
Convention Registration Opens at Noon
We'll have LOTS more convention information online in the next few weeks, but we wanted to let you Early Birds (you know who you are!) pre-register and make your hotel reservations.

New This Year!
This year you have two great hotel choices right across the street from the Richmond Center--the Marriott and the new Hilton Garden Inn. You'll find the hotel registration forms here.

Register Today!
Pre-register for the convention through the registration page after noon on Wednesday. Pre-registration saves you time and money and greatly helps HEAV plan; it also lets you shop in the Used Curriculum Sale earlier! (After the volunteers shop, admittance to the Used Curriculum Sale is based on registration time.)

Save on Convention Registration
Pre-registration prices are $5 less for Full-Convention, Friday-Only, or Saturday-Only tickets. The Children's Program is also $2 less per child, per day when you pre-register. HEAV members save up to an additional $15 on adult registration, plus receive a host of other year-round benefits!

[ Photo credit: Seth Fisher, Through My Lens Photography ]

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Office Help Needed!
Convention registration has started, the legislative session is about to begin, Day at the Capitol is coming up, and we could desperately use some volunteers to come into the HEAV Richmond office one day or half day a week to help answer phone calls and assist with convention registration and other simple office duties (any weekday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Both moms and teens are greatly appreciated! This is a great opportunity for a responsible teenager or young adult to get office experience. If you would be willing to help out in this way, please contact Carol Clark at office@heav.org or 804-278-9200.

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Homeschooling Around the World - Taiwan
Many people are packed into tiny Taiwan. Read how Christian homeschool outreach extends beyond its borders, beyond homeschooling, and beyond the present in this Asian nation. Then pray with the Taiwanese for the advancement of homeschooling and for spiritual revival.

http://blog.heav.org/?cat=10

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New Market Battlefield State Historical Park & Hall of Valor Civil War Museum

Homeschool Day at New Market Battlefield State Historical Park
Saturday, March 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
An HEAV-cosponsored event!

This year's event will include favorites from 2008 as well as some new and exciting activities. Visit the HEAV website to view the pictures from last year. Registration opens January 6. Be sure to register early for this year's event as registration is limited to 1,000!

Although admission to the park is normally $9/adults and $5/youth, admission for homeschoolers on homeschool day is $10 per vehicle containing 1-8 passengers and $20 per vehicle containing 9 or more passengers. Registration is required to receive these rates, so be sure to mark your calendars and RSVP with the New Market Battlefield State Historical Park soon. You can register online at www.vmi.edu/newmarket or by phone (1-866-515-1864). For more information, contact Stacey Nadeau nadeausr@vmi.edu or Troy Marshall marshalltd@vmi.edu.

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Congratulations to Dr. Brian D. Ray!
Dr. Ray has been awarded the 2008 Dr. Robert Dreyfus Courageous Christian Leadership Award recognizing his decades of scholarly research. His work clearly demonstrates how home education is academically and socially sound. Read the full story here.

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HEAV Blog: From Depression to Living Victoriously
Check out HEAV's Virginia Homeschool Blog when you have a minute and read what Welsh preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones has to say. He exhorted believers to "...talk to ourselves instead of allowing 'ourselves' to talk to us!..." By that he meant to intentionally and purposefully remind yourself of the truths of God instead allowing doubts or worries to fill your thoughts. It is so easy to become depressed or overtaken by the troubles in our world or just in our daily lives, but the Word offers hope--and Lloyd-Jones explains it much better!

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1) Homeschool Items
View All Homeschool Items
1.1 Free Noon Concerts - Norfolk - Wednesdays in January
1.2 Homeschool Lobbyist Training - Purcellville - January 12
1.3 Story Time for Elementary Homeschoolers - Dinwiddie - Begins January 14
1.4 Liberia Plantation Homeschool Day - Manassas - January 21
1.5 March for Life - Washington, DC - January 22
1.6 Above Rubies Family Camp - Chesapeake - January 24
1.7 HSLDA Art Contest - Deadline February 1
1.8 HSLDA Weekly Update and Free Subscription Info

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2) General Interest Items
View All General Interest Items
2.1 Science Museum Activities - Richmond - January
2.2 (Limited) Free Symphony Tickets - Fairfax - Reserve by January 14
2.3 Symphony Play-Along - Chesapeake - January 17
2.4 Films Expiring on Netflix - January 22
2.5 Bible Bee Contest - Nationwide - January 31
2.6 Girl Scouts Quilt Program - Manassas - February 21
2.7 Youth Leadership Initiative - eCongress, Lesson Plans, More!

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3) Cool Sites for Homeschoolers
View All Cool Sites
3.1 Legacy Bible Reading Plan
3.2 Got a New Bible for Christmas? Send an Old One Overseas!
3.3 Econobusters
3.4 Tools for Teachers
3.5 PE Games

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4) Parting Thoughts - Bizarre Ads
Christmas sale: Handmade gifts for the hard-to-find person.

And now, the Superstore--unequaled in size, unmatched in variety, unrivaled inconvenience.

Semi-Annual After-Christmas Sale

- Compiled from various Internet sources

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5) Worth Repeating
"I believe that the one chief reason that I have been kept in happy useful service is that I have been a lover of Holy Scripture. It has been my habit to read the Bible through four times a year; in a prayerful spirit, to apply it to my heart, and practice what I find there. I have been for sixty-nine years a happy man; happy, happy, happy."
- George Müeller, (1805-1898). Prussian-born, he moved to England where he evangelized and established orphanages throughout the country. He began that work with the equivalent of 50 cents in his pocket! Read more about this man of great faith and prayer [here]. See item 3.1 and this previous item for several Bible reading plans.

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6) Verse of the Week
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth. For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; to such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.
- Psalm 103:15-18 (KJV)

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7) Homeschool Laugh of the Week - 20 Great Reasons You Homeschool

Homeschool Laugh of the Week
REASON #12
"You Get to Read More Books than You Ever Realized Existed..."

Written and illustrated by Jim Erskine. Reprinted with permission. Jim Erskine also manages www.HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay.com, where you can find a new free homeschool resource every weekday.

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Submit an Item
Know of an event, contest, or resource that would be of interest to homeschoolers? Please submit it using our online form at www.heav.org/update_submit.html.

Note: We compile information for publication at least two weeks prior to send-out date, so please submit items as early as possible (preferably one month in advance). HEAV reserves the right to accept or reject any material submitted.

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Disclaimer
The Virginia Homeschool Update is produced by Kathleen Dillie (copy editor), Chris (editor), Anna Dykhoff (graphic designer), Katherine Loop (manager), and Anne Miller (director of publications & marketing).

HEAV does not necessarily endorse the above-mentioned resources, nor guarantee the accuracy of information found on any external resource we may mention. If you find anything wrong on our website, please let us know so we can correct it.

HEAV diligently researches each link prior to publication. However, we recommend you, the parent, fully examine websites before allowing your children to surf them without supervision.

Copyright © 2009 by the Home Educators Association of Virginia. All rights reserved. You are free to pass along all or part of this Update, but please include the following credit line when you do: "Taken from HEAV's Virginia Homeschool Update, a free newsletter for Virginia homeschoolers. You can sign up at www.heav.org."

Home Educators Association of Virginia

e-mail: update@heav.org

phone: 804-278-9200

web: http://www.heav.org