April 2004 News

~~~~~~~Oklahoma Homeschool S.C.E.N.E.~~~~~~~~
~a Sharing Community of Eclectic Natural Educators~
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Homeschool S.C.E.N.E. Scenery
April 2004 Volume 1, Issue 7
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Join Oklahoma Homeschool S.C.E.N.E. Today! http://www.homeschoolscene.org
Join the Yahoo! group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HS-SCENE
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CONTENTS:
1) Featured Article: Curriculum Review--The Latin Primer Series, by Martha Wilson
2) Kids Korner: COMING SOON
3) FYI: Rubber Stamping (April Activity)
4) Links: Foreign Language
5) Homeschooling Hodge Podge: The Right to Homeschool
6) Current Events: April 11 through May 9, 2004

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT/REQUEST: Homeschool S.C.E.N.E. (still!) needs a volunteer to coordinate the scheduling of activities for the children at monthly meetings. This should not be overly time-consuming but is very important in maintaining a schedule of volunteers to make sure the children have some sort of indoor activity (that is organized/supervised by a different SCENE volunteer each month) during every monthly meeting. For more information and/or to volunteer, please (pretty, pretty please!) contact Janece (janece1 @ suarez-turner.com).

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1) Featured Article written by Amanda Wallace
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Curriculum Review--The Latin Primer Series, by Martha Wilson
(04/09/2004)

This series of Latin I, II and III is one of the most affordable on the market. Laid out in a workbook format, all three have teacher's editions, pronunciation tapes, and an available teacher's packet that has quizzes and other materials in it. Latin I is a 27 week course that covers conjugations, grammar, and vocabulary. Adding this program into our already full schedule was actually very easily done, thanks to its presentation. It does not matter that the parent has little or no Latin experience, in fact, the parent can learn right along with the child. Thanks to it's low price, and easy layout, I would recommend this program to anyone.

http://www.canonpress.org/pages/education.asp#latin-prim1
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1885767315/qid=1081605635/sr=2-1/ref=sr_2_1/103-1512682-1387034
http://eho.org/store/subcategory.asp?subcatid=282
http://www.homeschoolingheadquarters.com/HomeSchooling/Series/Series.asp/Series/LatinTextbookSeries
http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=7

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2) Kids Korner written by Cheyenne Hodges
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THIS ARTICLE WILL BE SENT AS AN ADDENDUM

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3) FYI written by Julie Todhunter
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Rubber Stamping
(04/08/2004)

Our kid's project this month is rubber stamping to create a spring greeting card. Rubber was at one time considered very messy to deal with as it would change consistency according to the weather and was a sticky mess most of the time. A man named Charles Goodyear became interested in stabilizing rubber and eventually learned that heating it to a certain temperature would change the rubber into a substance that would not be sticky and would remain firm. He called the process vulcanization. Rubber was eventually used to replace stencils that were used to mark products produced by manufacturers. Rubber stamping as a hobby started becoming very popular in the 1980's and has grown worldwide since then. Most hobby rubber stampers use the stamps to create cards and artwork and for use in scrap booking. The history of rubber stamping is well explained on the websites listed below.

http://www.tealdragon.net/rs/rshist.htm
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y203/m09/abu0102/s07

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4) Foreign Language Links (all submitted by Janece Turner-Suarez)

Internet Activities by CLTA - http://www.clta.net/lessons/
Lesson Plans/Resources by CSU - http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/eslsp.html
Annenberg/CPB - http://www.learner.org/resources/series185.html
Teaching Ideas - http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/foreignlanguages/contents.htm

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5) Homeschooling Hodge Podge written by Natalie Hodges
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The Right to Homeschool
(04/10/2004)

Homeschooling is under fire in many parts of the country. Hardly a week goes by without news of another state trying to limit and control the homeschoolers in their state. Lately, if some disturbed person does something horrific to a child and was not sending his or her child to public school, we can bet that the local officials will begin to rumble about the dangers of allowing parents to have control of their children's lives, thereby eliminating the "protection" of the public school system. I wonder when they will begin to apply that logic universally. That could be interesting. "Hmmm. That woman who murdered her toddler was a Catholic; we had better start making home visits to all the Catholics just to be safe. And what about that Asian immigrant who...." What hooey!

Here in Oklahoma we feel very blessed, as we should. Oklahomans are, historically, a pretty pragmatic bunch. Our state forefathers saw the practicality of homeschooling for some people and protected our rights in the state constitution. Unfortunately, it is entirely too easy for modern lawmakers to make "new and improved" laws in an alarmingly quick and easy fashion. We must be continually vigilant against these attacks on our rights.

If homeschoolers were united on all things, it would be a fairly simple thing to protect ourselves because homeschoolers can be a force to be reckoned with when we are united. Unfortunately, too many of us sit back and enjoy our relative freedom, thinking to ourselves that we just aren't the activist type or we just don't have the time, etc. I, myself, have been guilty of this far too often. Then, of course, there is the fact that we are not always united. There are those who think that the only for us to stay free to educate and raise our children as we see fit is to keep the government out of our private lives completely. Then there are those who believe that a little government regulation (not to mention a few of those government dollars) wouldn't really hurt anything - in fact, maybe it would help to legitimize homeschooling.

In our form of government the majority rules. (At least in theory - but that is another topic altogether.) We must remember that, in truth, we are ruled by the majority of those who make sure that the right people know how they feel and that they are willing to fight for it. We are only represented if enough people who believe as we believe become "the activist type".

Writing an article such as this for SCENE, I feel like I am "preaching to the choir" because so many of us are very well informed and active in fighting for our homeschool freedoms. But I believe that even the choir sometimes needs a pep talk. I know I do.

Saturday, April 17, 2-4 PM - SCENE Monthly Meeting @ All Souls Unitarian Church "President's Room", 2952 S. Peoria, Tulsa. Recurs the 3rd Saturday of each month.

Sunday, April 25, 2-4 PM - SCENE Bowling @ Mickey's Bowling, $7/person, Eastland Mall (21st & 145th), Tulsa. Recurs the last Sunday of each month.

Saturday, May 1, 8AM-1PM - "Market On 18th" Opening Day, 18th between Boston & Cincinnati, Tulsa. SCENE member (and herbalist) Pam Ferry will be among a variety of local vendors of art, music and food at the open-air market (formerly located along the Arkansas River). For more information, contact Pam (PamHHC @ aol.com) or visit www.marketon18th.com.

Check out the Yahoo! group calendar @ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HS-SCENE/cal

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This newsletter is available in text format in the Files section of the HS-SCENE Yahoo! group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HS-SCENE/files/Newsletters/
Links provided in this newsletter are archived in the Links section of the HS-SCENE Yahoo! group.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HS-SCENE/links