Virginia Homeschool | April 21, 2009 HEAV Update

HEAV's Virginia Homeschool Update

April 21, 2009

Above the Fold
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Take Music Lessons From The Comfort Of Your Own Home!
Do you have a computer and video chat software such as Skype? If so, take music lessons in banjo, guitar, fiddle, mandolin, and dobro from your home at a time convenient to you. High-quality instruction at an affordable price! Visit the website for more information, free tablature, and videos.

www.bluegrasslessonsonline.com

CollegePlus! Mini-Course: Your Degree in Two Years or Less!

Don't Pay Full Price for Your Child's College Degree!
Cut college costs by 50% or more with accelerated distance learning! Join us for a free web event this week to find out how your student can earn their entire degree for under $15,000. Endorsed by TeenPact and homeschool leaders like Jeff Myers, Doug Phillips, and Anne Miller, president of HEAV.

www.collegeplus.org/minicourse

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How to Begin Homeschooling: What You Really Need To Know!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Are you ready to begin homeschooling? Get your questions answered and use the information from this seminar to get off to the right start! What are the first things you should do to get started? What does the law say? Where can you get curriculum? What kinds of records should you keep? Where can you get help? Maximize your success with practical ideas from Yvonne Bunn, a veteran homeschool mom who has helped thousands of families begin homeschooling. Cost: $20/HEAV members; $25/non-members; spouses are free. Read more and register today!

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Supercharged Science Camps
Richmond, Monday through Wednesday, June 15-17, 2009. Enjoy three wild days of hands-on science at these camps co-sponsored by HEAV and Richmond Regional Home Educators and led by real mechanical engineer, airplane pilot, astronomer, university instructor, and rocket scientist Aurora Lipper. See the website for all the details. You can register online, or contact Supercharged Science at 805-617-1789. The first 100 HEAV members to sign up will receive a bonus DVD retailed at $25!

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Our Exhibit Hall Is Larger Than EVER Before!
If you haven't checked out our exhibitor listings lately, be sure to take a look! The exhibit hall has kept expanding...and expanding. We now have 301 booths filled with amazing resources to help YOU and your family.

Need to Make Some Extra Cash? Looking for Resources on a Budget?
Check out the Used Curriculum Sale! The Used Curriculum Sale is a MEGA opportunity to get homeschool resources at bargain prices--and to sell those items you don't need and make some money! Tens of thousands of items to choose from! Find more details on the Used Curriculum Sale pages, and be sure to register today and volunteer so you can shop before the sale opens to all attendees!

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

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HELP NEEDED!
Outreach Partners/Help Inviting Others to the Convention
Can you help us reach the moms and dads in YOUR community? Our new outreach program makes it easy--simply sign up as a church, community, MOPS group, or Internet Outreach Partner, and we'll have specially prepared announcements, bulletin inserts, fliers, web banners, and more available. Your outreach work will be almost effortless!

Questions? Contact Katherine Loop at kloop@heav.org. We've also put together a page on our website with information, downloads, and graphics you can send friends and family or post on blogs, groups, and forums to invite others to the convention.

www.heav.org/convention/promo.html

Magazine Distributors
We have a stack of magazines sitting at the office just waiting to bless families thinking about home education! If you'd be willing to distribute the Virginia Home Educator magazine to doctors' offices, libraries, and other likely spots in your neighborhood, or would like to hand them out to groups or friends, please let us know!

Simply e-mail VolunteerNow@heav.org with the number of magazines you would like to distribute, and we will get them out to you.

Support group leaders--if you would be willing to hand them out as freebies to your group, please contact support@heav.org.

Convention Volunteers
We need experienced parents to take two-hour shifts at the HEAV tables, strong young men to help lift books and set up tables in the UCS on Thursday afternoon, speaker hosts and hostesses, and more.

Just fill out our Volunteer Checklist letting us know when you are available and where you'd like to serve, and someone will get back with you shortly. Remember, volunteers shop first in the Used Curriculum Sale (UCS).

Find out more about volunteering.

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1) Homeschool Items
View All Homeschool Items
1.1 GiftsNVA Q&A Sessions: Homeschooling with Special Needs - Reston - April 27/May 18
1.2 Homeschool Bible Bee - Hampton Roads - Deadline Is April 30
1.3 Virginia Homeschool Track and Field Championships - Richmond - Discount by May 2
1.4 CHESS Open House Classes - Centreville - May 4/6
1.5 ABC's of Homeschooling - Troutville - May 5
1.6 Annual Homeschool Bike/Hike - Anywhere - Last Full Week in May
1.7 Home School Day at Six Flags - Maryland - Discount by April 24

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2) General Interest Items
View All General Interest Items
2.1 Town Hall for HOPE with Dave Ramsey - Nationwide - April 23
2.2 Mother-Daughter Tea - Smithfield - Register by May 1
2.3 Father-Son Camp - New York - May 15-17

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3) Cool Sites for Homeschoolers
View All Cool Sites for Homeschoolers
3.1 Evidence for the Resurrection - Josh McDowell
3.2 National Geography Bee Practice Questions
3.3 Cook's Thesaurus
3.4 Preserve Kids' Art: A Scrapbooking Video Tutorial
3.5 Art and the Bible

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4) Parting Thought - Just Wonderin'
If nothing ever sticks to TEFLON, how do they make TEFLON stick to the pan?

Why is abbreviation such a long word?

How did a fool and his money get together?

What's another word for thesaurus?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Have you ever imagined a world with no hypothetical situations?
- Comedian Steve Wright

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5) Worth Repeating
"Parents give up their rights when they drop the children off at public school."
- Texas Federal District Judge Melinda Harmon.

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6) Verse of the Week
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
- Deuteronomy 6:5-7 (KJV)

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7) Homeschool Laugh of the Week

Taken from the Official Book of Homeschooling Cartoons (www.familymanweb.com). Reprinted with Permission.

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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/resources/update/submit-event.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), Sarah Kohrs (update manager), Katherine Loop (assistant director of publications & marketing), 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." You may modify this credit line if needed, but please credit HEAV and link to the HEAV website (www.heav.org).

Home Educators Association of Virginia

e-mail: update@heav.org

phone: 804-278-9200

web: http://www.heav.org