Fun Summer at the DLC

Ah, this blog has been a bit lonely. We've been busy! Just a few notes about what's happening this summer at the DLC:

Tomorrow we're ending a 3-week set of fiber arts classes led by Vaiva. It's been great! We want more! Each class is self-contained, so come on by tomorrow to weave on hula hoops. Really.

Heather has been leading a new weekly club, Tech Club. In this club, kids bring their computer-related projects, from programming to art, to share with other kids who like to use computers. Your children can attend whether they have something to share or not. Also suggested is that kids bring mentors who can give everyone ideas for further exploration. Usually on Thursday mornings, but note next week's rescheduling for the 4th of July.

Collectible Card Games on Mondays has been fun - some older kids have been playing Magic the Gathering, and some younger kids are starting up Pokemon. Come on by and check it out.

Starting July 8 we have the first week of a new addition to DLC summers: Summer Camp, homeschool-style. July 8 to 12 we're offering Camp USA for 5 to 12-year-olds. July 15-19 we have Making Sense of the World for 8-and-up. Our camps are cheap - $50! - and parents are asked to stay only one day to help out.

We are thrilled to announce the first week of cartooning classes with wonderful local cartoonist and author Jon "Bean" Hastings, July 8-12 after Camp USA. If there is interest, he will offer a second week for more advanced artists later in the summer. Check out his work here.

Finally, August is board election time and we are looking for homeschooling parents and community members who are interested in helping out. Please e-mail us if you'd like more information.

Fairy Houses and more!

The DLC is hopping with activity this winter. We had a really excellent Dry Ice Experiments workshop led by mom Charlotte. Take a look at our homepage to see a short video. Our expanded Book Club is going strong. Ancient History Club is so popular it's closed to new kids.

What do you want from the DLC? Read below to hear about what some homeschoolers have put together, and let us know if you have ideas for new workshops or classes.

Fairy Houses

Come build a special house for your backyard fairies or gnomes! We'll provide wooden bases and lots of cones, acorns, lichen, moss, twigs, seashells, some colored glass and toilet paper tubes for round houses. Bring any other decorative pieces you may want to add and a glue gun or tacky glue.
Leaders: Kim and Sage
Cost: No material fee. $2-5 donation per family to the DLC (free to supporting members).
RSVP to Kim  (ideally by Tuesday noon) so we can be sure to have enough supplies.
Wednesday,  2:00–3:00 pm

Family Spanish

Anne Marie Scott, a Waldorf-trained teacher and Ocean Grove vendor is teaching a Spanish class on Tuesday afternoons. The kids are really enjoying the class, but several families have had to stop for scheduling reasons. We need more people to keep the class going.  She teaches Spanish songs, plays games, and leads them in short conversations.

Leader: Anne-Marie
Cost: Please contact Anne-Marie directly to inquire about classes and fees.
Tuesdays, 2-3 pm
 

What Types of Workshops Would You Like To See At The DLC?

The DLC is here to serve the needs of homeschoolers.  Input from members and the community helps greatly.   If there is a particular class or workshop that you would like to see at the DLC, please let us know.  We are also looking for volunteers to lead workshops.  These can be as short as one session or as many weeks as you desire.   Contact the DLC with your input. 

Thankful for homeschooling and the DLC

Hi everyone,

It's the end of a year and time to take stock. Here at the DLC, the board made our New Year resolutions in August, and they were pretty simple:

• Get 501(c)3 status. CHECK!
• Offer fun, educational classes for our homeschooling families. CHECK!
• Create a space where professional teachers can offer classes. CHECK!
• Get more homeschoolers to offer clubs and classes—we're still working on that. Let us know if you have a Monday afternoon club idea or a Tuesday morning drop-in class idea.
• Be an active, functioning group.

There's an enormous CHECK mark after that last entry. I am so thankful for everything our wonderful board members have done:

Charlotte, who is keeping our member list organized and updating our procedures to make it even easier.

Zan, who helped transition us to a new, interactive online experience.

Heddi, for continuing to take care of our wonderful library.

Melody, for taking over the finances and reminding us all how things are supposed to work.

Vaiva and Rebecca, for sharing the job of facilities management.

Samira, for being a conscientious liaison with teachers who want to use our space.

Nova, for linking us with social media and running a wonderful art class.

Krishna, for stepping in and taking up jobs with cheer and zeal.

And our fearless President, Heather, for her ideas and great work with our landlord to keep things running smoothly.

When we started this, we had no idea how it was going to work. We knew we didn't want to make it a strict co-op, where members who didn't feel up to participating were goaded into it anyway. And we knew that it wouldn't work with one person trying to run it and make the decisions for everyone. So we have hit a happy medium: anyone can join in to help as they desire. If you see something that needs to be done, please let us know. And if you volunteer to help work on the problem, even better!

Homeschooling parents are the busiest I know. We nurse our babies with one arm while we're playing math games with the other. We meld the job of educating our children with other jobs that we do to support our families or our personal needs. We haul our kids to meetings, the DMV, and anywhere else we need to go in our daily lives.

We can do all of this best when we depend on each other for support, and that's what the DLC is for. Thanks to everyone who has helped make it a success.

Crafty kids at the Boys and Girls Club

We started up the DLC so we could have some space for all homeschoolers to meet, create, learn, and socialize. But sometimes we step outside of our wonderful little town square...as we did today.

Some DLC kids selling their wares.

Every year the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Cruz  has a Children's Holiday Gift and Food Fair — everything made and sold by kids. You might have this image of lots of kids selling the sort of things that only parents and grandparents would display, but you'd be wrong. These goods made by kids were awesome!

DLC kids held their own in the awesome category: Paintings, jewelry, miniatures, corn-and-rice-filled warm packs, balloon animals, brownies, pitcher plants, ornaments, and even homemade devilsticks! Kids made the items (sometimes with a little help when needed), set the prices, and sold them.

This is definitely a cool event that you should check out next year.

This year, holiday craft opportunities are by no means over! Check out our calendar for crafting all month long. Or if you're a crafty parent, schedule your own activity.

Happy rainy December!

Bookworms

The Santa Cruz Homeschool Book Club meets at the DLC once a month. We have recently added a second group, the Bookworms, for pre-reading and early reading kids approximately 4 to 8 years old.  Each month we study a picture book author.  Over the course of a month, families or children read as many books by the chosen author as they wish.  At our monthly meeting we learn about the author, read and discuss at least one of their works, and do some type of related activity. If desired, families can do additional activities at home. 

In October, we studied the sister team of Janet Stevens and Susan Stevens Crummel.   At our meeting,  we discussed our favorite books, read Shoe Town and Jackalope and enjoyed the autobiographical video “The Squirrel Sisters.”  We learned that Susan and Janet were very different and did not always get along when they were growing up, but when they collaborate their talents combine to produce some really funny books.    We also made (and quickly ate) the strawberry shortcake featured in Cook A Doodle Doo.  Whipping the cream was the best part!

At home our family enjoyed exploring both sister's wonderful websites.   We learned how Janet Stevens creates her art.  We did some of the activities on Susan Stevens Crummel’s  "teacher tips" page.  Our favorites were looking for the hidden forks in And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon and finding the alliteration, onomatopoeia, anaphora and simile in The Great Fuzz Frenzy.     We enjoyed comparing their references to fairy tales and fables to the originals.   

This month we are busy reading the books of Rosemary Wells to coincide with her author visit this month to Bookshop Santa Cruz. 

 If you are interested in attending book club, you need to be a member of our  yahoo group so that you can get information about upcoming books and meetings.  Some of our planned authors are Jan Brett and Robert Munsch.  

If you would like to learn more about author study, see the Reading Rockets Author Study Tool Kit.   I’m using it as a guide for the Bookworms. 

For more information about the benefits of picture books and ideas for home activities check out Carol Hurst’s website    This page lists some of the benefits of using picture books as opposed to ‘easy readers” with emergent readers. 

Look! It's a website... It's a blog... It's Santa Cruz Homeschooling!

Welcome to our revamped website and blog. Perhaps you haven't noticed, but things are changing around the DLC.

The biggest change is that we all realized that we could do it alone, but why stop there? We could stay home and sit with our kids around our kitchen table. And we do that some of the time. But at the DLC, we're bringing together homeschoolers to share their skills and benefit from the skills of others.

On the board level, that means that we're all chipping in whatever we can to help the place function well for all of us. The board members have been putting lots of time and energy into putting together an organization that functions smoothly even though it's running from lots of used parts: Zan's web skills, Charlotte's membership brainstorms, Heddi's librarian talents, Heather's cool head when things seem crazy, my few remaining organizational skills, Krishna's zeal, Nova's networking, Melody's grasp of arithmetic, Samira's liasoning license (when she's not having a baby), and Vaiva's facility with facilities (while Rebecca's having a baby, too!). This machine made of spare parts is chugging along...

And then there's the rest of you. Some of you are helping out with library hours, calling in overdues, watching kids on the playground, and helping clean up after a fun activity. Others of you are just attending, and we like that, too! This fall has seen record numbers of enthusiastic homeschoolers bursting out our rather narrow seams.

What more can you do? Well, first of all, you can renew or start a paid membership. It's not a lot of money, and it's worth it.

Secondly, think about offering a class of your own. It doesn't have to be fancy. This month we have hair braiding and U.S. history. Next month we have circle folding (led by kids) and math games. What can you do? Use up that huge bunch of materials you don't need anymore. Thrill other kids with tricks your kids are bored of by now. Do a one-time event. Start a weekly workshop. The possibilities are endless.

Finally, remember when you're at the DLC to give a little back in the form of clean-up help, bringing in supplies, or donating great materials you're done with. Give us feedback by e-mailing us, commenting on this blog, or letting the community know what's going on here.

We hope you're enjoying all these changes! The DLC is here for all of us, so add your little bit and make it work for you.

Back to School (kind of) with the DLC.....Mark Your Calendars

Whether your a public schooler, or homeschooler, or unschooler, chances are now is the time of getting back to some sort of schedule. Getting into the swing of things!

Right now is also a chance to get acquainted with the Discovery Learning Center and see what we are all about.

Next Tuesday September 4th is our annual fall open house hosted by some of the many DLC volunteers who will be there to help with questions, and to help you get your membership started.

There will be many activities avaliable for kids and parents to enjoy including crafts, games and obstacle courses, lentil science and bubbles. Maybe even a few snacks!

The open house is officially from 12 noon until 2 p.m. And of course it’s free!

But before you make your plans, why not make it a full day of it…

We are also having a pre open house class for those you of that are art and nature lovers.

September is going to be a very creative month for the DLC since we will get to have  not just one, but two art classes during the week. The new classes will be taught by Leah Mastilock who is not only a homeschool mom, but an artist as well with experience teaching kids art camps.

This week she will be teaching the kids how to make an owl mask with nut shells and leaves,  or a hedgehog with pine cones and clay. Lots of outdoor time so don’t forget the lotion.

Art class starts at 10:30 a.m. with a 1$ materials fee + donation.

There will be a break between class and the open house for lunch and playground play.

Posted August 31, 2012 by Nova