August News and Updates

August Newsletter
Class & Event Calendar

Field Trips
September 12: Visit a Farm-- Grubbs Farm in Haleyville
September 19: Geocaching Class-- NHCH in Haleyville
September 26: Visit a Vet-- Bell Vet in Haleyville
October 31: Visit a Hospital--Lakeland Community Hospital in Haleyville
December 2: Columbus Ships--Florence Harbor Marina in Florence
Details on any trip can be found in the description on our calendar.

Field Trip Shirts
Shirts are $7 and can be ordered in any size. All orders must be prepaid. Shirts will be orange with the NHCH logo on the pocket area (the same as in years past.)

History Fair
October 24. Our annual history fair will be on October 24 during coop hours. Rules and information can be found here: History Fair 2016

Coop
Coop classes are full! We have a great group of kids this year and are looking forward to another great coop year!

Our Pre-K class will have a series of field trips called "Visit a ...." as part of the community helpers class. These trips are open to any homeschooler even if you are not participating in coop, however please keep in mind they are geared to Prek-2nd grade.

4H
We are a part of Marion County 4H. Students will need to reenroll in 4H each year after August 1. This must be done online through Alabama 4H Online. We also need paper copies of the forms to keep on file.

4H Archery
We will have archery again this year. Practice will begin in September and a calendar will be posted soon.

Important Announcments

Hello. I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. Now that the 4th is over, the next big thing on my calendar is the 1st day of school!

First of all. We have a LOT of progress reports missing. We will be contacting everyone over the next week. If you are sending it in with your enrollment forms, that's fine. But we will still be contacting you if you haven't sent it in. If you don't hear from us, then your good. We appreciate everyone who got theirs in on time. It makes our job easier.

Regular office hours will resume in August. They will be every Monday from 9-1 (during co-op hours). If you need anything, this is the best time to reach us. If we don't answer, leave a message. We will return calls asap. Please remember that we have moved to New Prospect Baptist Church. Our cover church is still New Hope, but we simply out grew the space available to us and New Prospect offered a location for us. We will have our office and co-op at New Prospect.

If you have been wondering if co-op will be a good option for your family, we invite you to stop by our open house on Friday, August 12 at 5-7:00 pm. You can talk with the teachers, see where your classes will be and take care of enrollment and other paperwork that night. We understand that a lot of you are new to this adventure and aren't even sure what co-op is. We encourage you to come to our open house, but you may also come the first day to see if you will like the classes.

Anyone attending co-op: We will have a mandatory co-op orientation on August 15 at 9:00. We will not have our normal opening Bible lesson. We will be going over co-op information and new building rules. We are in a new location which means a few changes for us.

Co-op teachers: Open house is a mandatory workday for all teachers and co-teachers. This will give you an opportunity to set up your classroom and prepare it for the first day.

We have already begun planning field trips for next year! We have several big ideas but we are always open to suggestions from our families!

We will continue to make all events--field trips, co-op, etc-- open to all homeschoolers no matter which cover school you use.

Field Trip- Geocaching Class

Geocaching Class

Monday September 19 at 1:00 pm at New Prospect Baptist Church (where we have co-op).

This class is for students 3rd grade and up. 

There is a maximum of 20 students for this class.

Cost for this class will be $5 per student. There is no charge for adults.

Deadline to sign up will be September 5. 

This class is open to all homeschoolers however you MUST sign up. You are not signed up unless you have emailed us at newhopechristianhomeschool@gmail.com AND paid your fees via paypal. You can pay with our email or use the direct link: paypal.me/nhch

About the class:

This will be a beginners guide to geocaching taught by an experienced volunteer from the community.

We will cover:

How to read a gps. 

How to find caches.

Respecting the caches.

We will have a time in the classroom to cover the basics of gps. We will then head out side where we will find "caches" that have been hidden in the area.

This class will be followed by a geocaching trip at a later date.

What is geocaching?

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

This class will be after co-op ends. If you will be attending co-op, you may bring a lunch to eat after co-op ends before the class begins. 

July Announcements

Hello all. July is here! Here are a couple of announcments.

First. Progress reports were due over 2 weeks ago. Get them in asap! I recommend scanning/ taking a photo and emailing them.

Second. We will have a work day next Wednesday, July 6. If you need anything from us, please let us know so that we can take care of it then.

Third. Now that July is here, it's time to sign up for our trip to the water park on July 15. The deadline is today, but I will extend it through July 6 as many of you have spoken to me and told me you were coming. Remember. If you did not email and send payment, you are not signed up! Joining the event through facebook is not enough. You will need to include how many are coming and ages of the kids.

Anyone who was a member in the 15-16 year or has already enrolled for the 16-17 year will be eligible for the $5 per person price. That price is for everyone in your family. If you were not a member, you are welcome to join us at $10 person. Fayette Aquatic Center never offers a discount and we have reserved the park for a private party. We hope to see you all there!
https://www.facebook.com/events/1075726832473126/

If you have questions, please call, email or message me through facebook.

Graduation Information

We've been asked several times about diplomas lately. Here is some information for graduation, diplomas and more. More information about high school is in our high school section of our handbook. As always, if you have more questions, feel free to contact us.

What subjects are required for high school graduation? Alabama places no requirements for graduation for homeschoolers who educate under the church school law. Individual church schools may place their own requirements, but NHCH follows state regulations, so our members do not have requirements for high school graduation.

If you want a guideline of what subjects would be suitable for high school, you may view the requirements for various Alabama diplomas from public and private schools at theAlabama Commission on Higher Education web site, and the Alabama courses of study may be viewed at http://alex.state.al.us/browseStand.php. Again, although the Alabama courses of study are not required by homeschoolers, they will give you some idea of how to proceed with a high schooler's education. 

Additionally, if your child plans for college, research the subjects required for that college and meet those requirements during high school. More information about preparing for college are detailed in various questions below.

How do I know when my child has graduated? Your senior graduates when he has completed what you have designated to be his high school (or more specifically, his senior year) curriculum. If you use a packaged curriculum, then your child has finished when he has completed the curriculum for 12th grade. If you use a variety of sources and materials for educating your child, then he graduates when he has completed what you have determined to be necessary for 12th grade.

Are there any legal formalities I need to file with you or the state to finalize my child's completion of education? You do not need to do anything except notify us before the end of the school year (June 30), so when we send the list of un-enrolled students to the BOE in the fall, we'll mark your child's name as graduated. Please let us know the official graduation date and his or her future plans following graduation.

Does NHCH issue a diploma? As with all homeschoolers, parents of children enrolled in NHCH determine when their children have completed their high school studies, so they issue the diploma. If your homeschool graduate wants a diploma to hang on his wall, you can purchase one from several sites on the Internet, such as HSLDA.org and HomeschoolDiploma.com, or make your own using templates or simply search on “homeschool diploma.”

According to HSLDA, as a church school, NHCH provides the legal means to homeschool, and the parents are in charge of the education of their children, so we have no authority to sign a diploma. Typically, homeschooling parents sign their child's diploma. In any case, a homeschool diploma issued by parents is just as valid as a diploma from a public or private school, and your child's diploma will, indeed, be accepted by colleges, universities and the military.

For more information, read "Who Should Issue the Diploma" as well as other articles and FAQs on the HIghschool page at the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) web site. 

Will my child's homeschool diploma be accepted for college? Yes, indeed! NHCH and Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) wish to remind parents that they can rest assured concerning the validity of the diplomas they issue their students. According to HSLDA, a homeschool diploma issued by parents is just as valid as a diploma issued by a private or public school; homeschoolers “self-certify” the completion of their high school program just as public and private schooled graduates self-certify that they have received a diploma. (In other words, they do not have to show their diploma to officials to prove they received one.) As a matter of fact, many colleges and universities actively recruit homeschool graduates!

For admission, colleges and universities typically look at students' transcripts, ACT or SAT scores, extracurricular activities, and community service. Homeschoolers do not have to take the GED, and admissions officers should not require any form of third party corroboration. Also, homeschoolers are eligible for federal financial aid--- but be careful to check “homeschooled” when filling out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to avoid delays in the processing of their application.

As a homeschool church school, NHCH does not provide college admissions services. Each college and university has its own individual policies and procedures for admission, so research the requirements for the schools your child is interested in. If you are a member of HSLDA, you will find an enormous amount of assistance on their web site.

What if my child does not want to go to college? If your child does not plan to attend college, then his high school subjects are entirely up to you and your child. He may prefer consumer math rather than calculus, for example. Again, you will find plenty of resources from the library and on the Internet. 

As an alternative to college, your student may want to consider an apprenticeship or internship. College is not always the best option for everyone, especially if your child does not have a specific career goal in mind. As a matter of fact, depending on the field, an apprenticeship may actually be better than college. Through an apprenticeship, a student learns under a master in the trade, skill, or career in which he is interested and at which he is talented.

Spring Break and Announcements

Announcements:

Spring break is next week so there's no co-op or pe classes! Enjoy your week off and we will see you all in April!

The deadline to sign up for 4H county competitions is approaching soon! You have 1 week left! Deadline for archery competition sign ups is coming up soon as well! Go to the archery page and view the events for details.

April 11 we will have a guest teacher for the middle and high school class 1st hour. Our shop teacher will be out of town working. We will have a speaker from the bank there to teach them financial literacy. (Savings, budgets, etc.)

Also we will not have book club or lego club in April. We will have art every week except 4H week on April 11. We only have 4 weeks of coop left!

We are planning a couple of field trips for May:
We will be taking an herb walk and learning how plants can be used for natural healing as well as learning which plants are edible. I am unsure of the dates for it, but I know it will be $7 for kids 6-11 and $10 for kids 12+ and adults.
The other trip will be free. We will be going to LaGrange College on Friday May 6. Details are in the facebook events or calendar details. 

Current Schedule of Events: More details for field trips can be found on our calendar and facebook event pages. 

March 28-April 1: Spring Break

March 31: Deadline to sign up 4H County Round up

March 31: Hiking Trip

April 4: Coop

April 7: PE

April 8: Field trip to Helen Keller

April 11: Coop/ Financial Class for 6th grade+

April 14: PE

April 18: Coop

April 21: PE/ Archery

April 25: Last day of coop.

April 27: Hiking Trip

April 28: PE/ Archery (Last day of PE)

May 2: Field day

May 6: Field trip to LaGrange College

Resource List Online

We now have our resource list compiled and available on our website. If you have a resource you'd like us to add, just send us an email.

Find it here on our website!