Meeting Minutes...

Sorry it has taken me sooo long to post. My computer is in some kind of funk. Anyway here are the things we discussed:

Meetings will be held on every 1st and 3rd thursday of the month: Please be on time so we can get started and accomplish everything we need to in a timely manner. It is equally important to finish and depart on time so that families can accomplish other things that may be on their daily agendas. Meetings generally run from 10am-noon. Please bring bag lunches. It is also important to never leave children unsupervised.

NEXT MEETING on March 20th @ Nicki's in the afternoon

We are alternating hosting the meeting between the 4 families
- Nicki: March 20th WINTER FUN DAY
- Kim: April 3rd PUPPET SHOW WRITING
- Tara: April 17th PUPPET MAKING
- Juanita: May 1st PAINT BOXES
- Nicki: May 15th PRACTICE PUPPET SHOW

We will perform the show to the elderly in one of the areas nursing homes on June 5th.

Local Group Planning Meeting

We already notified people about the first meeting for our local group... this Thursday March 6 at 10am. Here's what you need to know:

As this is a planning meeting, please bring a bag lunch for yourself and each of your children.

Coloring will be provided. If your child has trouble sharing coloring items, please bring their own. If you think your child will not do well with this project, please bring something else for them to do.

In the future, these things will be arranged differently. We'll be discussing these things along with other planning and group set-up topics.

If you are interested, but have not yet found out where we are meeting, please contact either Tara or Juanita... call or email, use profile to contact us through email if you don't already have the information.

Thank You

Local Group

Juanita and I have been talking about starting a local homeschooling support group. I've mentioned this to at least two others in the area as well. You'll find what we're considering below. We welcome and encourage comments which can help make this a great group. Things we might not have considered, things to make an idea better, or any questions you have which might help us to get it figured out better.

This group's primary focus (beyond support) would be service. Service that can be worked on through the year(s), as individuals and groups. As well as service in larger areas as a group (ie. clean up playground or beach, visit the elderly, etc)

Although we're organizing a local group, we're interested in others doing the same with the same primary focus, and then incorporating some regional projects (maybe even a regional meeting or two a year).

This local group would meet every other week on Wednesday. Projects may be planned for times and days other than the meeting group time.

It would include a lunch-on (assigned pot-luck style, rotating who brought what).

It would include a project for the kids (also rotating who's setting it up). This could be an on going project, or a new one. Craft or otherwise, as long as it engages the kids while we discuss what we need. Older children, who are able and willing, can participate (and will be encouraged to participate) in the planning of service projects. There will be no unsupervised children...as in, if the kids are outside, so are we so we can keep eyes on them, etc.

The more social part would be during lunch, with the support and planning happening directly after.

Participation in any group service is voluntary and is not required to participate in the group.

Large service projects will, hopefully, include learning experiences beyond the service. For example, if we clean up a section of the beach, then they have the opportunity to also learn about hermit crabs and tidal pools. They also can have a "built-in reward" by swimming.

Any thoughts, suggestions, or questions are greatly appreciated.