CHEC Independent School News and Information

February 12, 2010

Good Morning Families,

Here is another program to check out. It looks exciting and different from others I have seen.

I’ve been invited to try Time4Learning’s  online curriculum for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own so be sure to come back and read my experience with Time4Learning’s educational program. Click to find out more or if you would like to apply to be considered for a review.

Just a couple reminders:

The Special Needs Seminar is definately happening on February 20th. If you have not signed up as yet, please do so. I am excited about the speakers and the response from you.

The deadline for signing up for standardized testing is Feb 19th. I need to get the tests ordered so they will be here for the April testing dates.

February 3, 2010

Good Afternoon Independent School Families,

I received an email about a new site for worksheets and activities. The best part is they are FREE. Here is the email and link. I have been there and it looks great. If you check it out let me know what you think at office@CHEC.ORG, put "attention Nancy" in the subject line. I hope you enjoy. Nancy

We are pleased to announce the release of the Head of the Class Web site: http://www.theHeadoftheClass.com and our support for preschool, kindergarten, first grade, and second grade. We will be releasing our content for third through sixth grade later this year!  Head of the Class provides online supplemental learning for free! You will find thousands of free resources for math, reading, writing, spelling, science, history, geography, Spanish, art, music, and more! We invite you to visit the site and to get started taking advantage of the many resources it provides! We look forward to learning with you.

Sincerely, Kris Jamsa, Ph.D, MBA. President, Head of the Class

January 20, 2010

Happy New Year

Letters containing testing information have been sent out to all those registered in the CHEC Independent School for the 2009-2010 school year. If you have not received your letter by January 27, 2010 please email or call the office so we may resend this time sensitive information.

December 15, 2009

Busy busy time. I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving.

Things are moving at a steady pace here at the office.

There is a 15% off non-curriculum sale going on in the store.

School applications continue to arrive as people are pulling their children from public school. Enrollment fees are going up beginning 2010. Please note the changes on the previous page.

Also, new on the download page is a pdf for submitting test scores that families want us to file. This is not a service for school members, filing your test scores is part of being enrolled.

Please have a very Merry Christmas, celebrate His birth, love your family well and share the miracle of Christmas with all you meet.

October 21, 2009

Applications received through the 17th of October have been processed. Expect confirmation in the next couple of days.

I have a few links to share:

This free autumn unit study can be downloaded through our store at: (Please use “copy & paste” for these links.)
http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=145&products_id=12934

Teachers and Homeschoolers: Have you requested your free K-12 Lesson Plan CD, American Heritage: An Adventure in Liberty?
These award-winning Lesson Units on America's founding, early history, and constitutional principles can be directly ordered from www.americanheritage.org. The updated 2008-2009 edition is available!

The index for the books with study guides at http://home.rmi.net/~seifert/id50.html . The page for just second graders, which is the free curricula, is at http://home.rmi.net/~seifert/id55.html . The other pages have free study guides and occasionally free worksheets.  

Special Needs Seminar
> February 20, 2010
> 9 am-4 pm
Reserve the date to come listen to speakers in various fields pertaining to schooling your child with special needs. Please watch
the website www.chec.org for details as they become available later this fall.

Here is a testamony for a Dyslexia program. Some amazing results. If one of  your children is struggling with this challenge please check into this program.

Does your child do extremely well with puzzles, legos, and spatial activities but struggles with reading?  Perhaps they are part of approximately 20-30% of the population who are picture thinkers (visual spatial learners) rather than auditory thinkers (auditory sequential learners).  At the extreme these individuals may only think in pictures and never “hear” talking in their heads.  Others are somewhere along the continuum between the two. This gift often helps children understand and excel in their world as preschoolers but it becomes a liability when they are faced with the symbolic written word.

God gave our family a visual spatial learner, but unaware of that gift, we did what most people do who have struggling learners….we tried a variety of “special needs” programs spending years doing home therapy. Although every program thought they had the answer, none of them worked and our daughter remained at a 3rd grade reading level. We spent our final homeschooling years trying to help her learn to cope as a non-reader in a culture that defines worth by the level of literacy.

This year we learned of a way to help visual spatial learners and now we have hope again. For more information and to do your own research on picture thinkers check out The Gift of Dyslexia by Ron Davis, Upside Down Brilliance by Linda Kreger Silverman, In the Mind’s Eye by Thomas West, and www.dyslexia.com.

That will do it for today. Have a special day, remember time and attention are precious gifts. Nancy

September 30, 2009

Okay, the applications that have been received are processed. If you have not received a letter of acceptance please check your spam folders, first, and then call us. We have about 12-15 applications that we are waiting for pieces to complete them, you have all been contacted and know who you are, please get those in as soon as possible. We cannot process incomplete applications.

Please keep Chris and Tracy Klicka and their family in your prayers. Peace is what they are seeking.

Here are a couple links I want to share with you. Please, please, please I include these to be helpful. We all have different ideas of what we want our children to do and see online. These are for the parents, it is your decision if you use them or not. The world view has not been determined.

http://www.brightstorm.com/d/math?a=6001021-- free math support

www.WondrousWorksheets.com --  educational worksheets

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/birdsleuth//homeschool -- birdwatching

www.americanheritage.org. -- free American History curriculum

September 18, 2009

The new school year is up and running!

Letters have gone out as reminders that the deadline for 08-09 has past. Please get your hours and test scores in asap.

The information from last year (scroll down the page) is still good and the links are still fun, so I am leaving them here for you to review.

My personal goal and commitment to you is to get in here at least once a month and share with you, I am looking forward to this year.

I would love to hear from you with general questions or concerns that I can address at this location. If you have the question someone else does, too.

On a personal note, I have a new grandson, Landyn, born August 31, 2009. Yes on the school deadline!!!!

Here is a link to check out, www.toytheater.com as a free and quality educational website for PreK through Grade 5.  It covers areas of math, reading, art and music.  Please visit when you have a chance to see if it can help with your homeschooling experience.

December 23, 2008

I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year.

A couple of news items.

The store will be closed Wednesday, December 24th at 1pm until Monday, January 5th, 2009 at 10am.

We will be holding a clearance sale of items that have been discontinued by the publisher or that we are not going to carry any more. Stop by early in January for the best choices. These items will be 50-75% off the original price.

I came across this website pertaining to Christmas. It might be fun to check out when things quiet down next week.

http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/ChristmasLesson/

I found a website that instructs and has samples for developing your own transcripts for your high schoolers.

http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/planners/hs-transcript.htm. I hope you find it helpful.

November 11, 2008- Today is Veteren's Day

Take a moment today and thank our Lord for the many men and women who have been called to protect our country and its freedoms.

Welcome, I have a few pieces of information to share with you and I would like to answer a few questions that have come into the CHEC office.

There is no deadline for joining the independent school for the year 2008-2009. The deadline was for closing out the 2007-2008 school year, we needed your paperwork by August 31, 2008 to finish last year. In that same light, we will need your paperwork for 2008-2009 by August 31, 2009 to finish out this current year.

As a member of the independent school you do not send a letter of intent to the school district. You are schooling under the private exemption not the homeschool exemption. I am aware that HSLDA sent out a reminder to send your letter of intent. They sent that to all of their Colorado members. HSLDA does not necessarily know who is under the homeschool exemption and who is under the private school exemption.

The question has been asked about the Iowa Test of basic Skills and the core versus composite score. Our understanding is that because the law requires a composite score of a nationally standardized test it is necessary to include the social studies and science in your testing when doing the Iowa. It is not necessary when using the CAT because the composite scores is obtained from the language and math scores alone.

There are new Dover coloring books in the bookstore. Stop in and check them out.

For those of you using Answers in Genesis for science. There are free study guides at the following website. http://www.answersingenesis.org/cec/guides.asp

Have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving.

Nancy

October 14, 2008

Welcome to the first installment of the Independent School News (ISN). I have finally dug out from under the avalanche of applications that arrived the week before the enrollment deadline. (August 31, yes, it has taken us over a month) Thank you to all who got your information in on time and for your patience as we worked to process it. At this point you should have email confirmation of your acceptance. If you did not supply an email address then we mailed hard copies. There are a few families, I have already been in touch with those of you to whom this applies, that still owe me pieces of information, please get those in asap; test scores and immunizations especially.

For those of you who love numbers there are 771 families enrolled in the school this year. I am looking forward to being available to you over the course of the next year. Please feel free to call or email anytime. 720-842-4852 or independent@chec.org.

One thing I would like to make you aware of for the 08-09 school year. We have made a change in the Actual Hours requirement.

This last year there was a bit of confusion over the "average of 4 hours" requirement. We have adjusted this so that as long as you have 172 attendance days and at least a total of 688 attendance hours your hour sheet will be accepted. You no longer need to worry about the "average". For those of you who were confused or frustrated by this requirement this year (07-08), thank you for persevering and working it out. FYI: Sick days are not attendance days unless instruction took place.

Another question that I have encountered is "what counts" when reporting hours. In describing what is homeschooling the statutes read; the sequential program of instruction for the education of a child which takes place in a home, which is provided by the child's parent or by an adult relative of the child designated by the parent. Sequential suggests a plan that develops over time; (line upon line, precept upon precept). It does not mean it has to be in a book. So piano lessons, martial arts, Bible Study programs, etc. count.

For those of you with pre-schoolers hanging around check out www.starfall.com. There are coloring and writing sheets for free.

Signing off for today. Back in touch soon. Nancy