Curriculum Supplier Visit

From Selina-Jane:

Christina Green from Christian Education services is coming back to Dunedin to give us a chance to look at and buy the curriculums she has available. She has a huge range of items, including new ones, unavailable at her last visit. Christina is now the only national distributor in NZ, after Erina at Learnex has moved on to focus on other things.

It has been 2 years since Christina was here, and due to poor numbers coming along and looking at that time, it is likely to be another 2-3 years before she is here again. So, if you are at all interested, it would be great if you could make an effort to go along and see her stuff.

Note that although CES does specialise in resources for christian home educators, they also carry resources suitable for secular home educators.

Venue: Elim Church, 67 Harrow Street, Dunedin
Date: Tuesday April 3rd
Time: 1 – 4.30pm
Orders and sales can be made on the day.
Credit Card and Eftpos facilities are available
http://www.cesbooks.co.nz

HEART retreat

Hi SHEAF,

Would you be able to pass this fantastic opportunity on to those in the SHEAF support group in Dunedin.

It promises to be the highlight of the Home Schooling Mums' year!

This is the very first HEART Retreat in the South Island. You may have heard of the annual North Island HEART at Totara Springs, Matamata? This is that fantastic weekend for US!

28th to 30th October at Pudding Hill

Our theme is HOPE, and it is our hope that you and a delegation from your support group will be able to attend. We are in the process of applying for funding, so if anyone has special circumstances where cost is a barrier, get them to register and email in their circumstances.

Hope all is well for you all in Dunedin

Nina Wright
The HEART Team

Please reply to nrwright@clear.net.nz if interested.

Note: the HEART retreat is a Christian retreat for homeschooling women.

Dr Jay Wile conference in Christchurch

From our inbox:

Are you home educating/teaching? Are you concerned that your children/students develop a biblical worldview? Do you want them to have strong convictions?

Then join us for an inspirational time of upskilling, networking and learning from a fantastic international speaker!

You can't afford to miss the “Science by Design” conference!

Date: Tuesday 14 June, 2011
Venue: Bishopdale Reformed Church, 90 Highstead Road, Bishopdale, Christchurch
Bookings: Email tmfrater@slingshot.co.nz or phone (03) 347 3119
Online Bookings, and to see a full programme:
http://www.learnex.co.nz/Editable/conference/FirelightJayWile2011Christchurch.shtml or

Unschooling camp in North Island

Via RUA - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/R_U_A/ -

Rangi woods is booked for our first unschooling conference!

Mark your diaries for

FEBRUARY 17th-19th 2012

At -

"Rangi Woods", Pohangina Valley, Manawatu (30mins drive from Palmerston North).

We can have an extra day (the Thursday or the Monday), will let you know as it is dependant on another booking.

We are thinking of .....

discussion groups/circles (dads, challenges of unschooling....etc) ideas please.
If you would like to run an activity (older children encouraged to do this too)or offer any workshop/service
Shared meal (s)

Please spread the word in the unschooling community, mark the dates and if you have something to offer let me know.

More details later!!

Jane and Tracey
janehiggy@hotmail.com

Craig and Barbara Smith visit -updated details

The conference programme and the venue have been confirmed for this CHEF event. For details, click on the entry for April 2nd in the Diary Dates section of this blog

http://sheafdunedin.blogspot.com/p/calendar.html

Apologia Science Author visiting NZ

From CHEF newsletter (from Erena at Learnex) :

ADVANCED NOTICE: Mark your diaries! We are giving you advanced warning so you can save up some supervisory allowance :- )

Dr Jay Wile (www.apologia.com) is planning a visit to NZ this June. Dr Jay was extremely well received by adults and teens alike last time he was here. Dr Wile is an author and the founder of the ever popular “Apologia Science” curriculum but he speaks on a number of topics of interest.

Craig & Barbara Smith visit

From the CHEF newsletter:

As promised, Craig & Barbara Smith are coming back to Dunedin this year, on Saturday 2nd of April. More details are to come as things are organised, but mark this date in your diaries. Craig & Barbara are great speakers, and last year's visit was wonderful! We all wanted more, so asked them to come back - we are delighted they agreed!

Special Thanks to Shana & Katie who have taken on the job of organising these seminars for us! They are very eager to have more helpers if anyone is keen....many hands make light work! You can contact either myself (Selina-Jane), Katie or Shana if you are able to help.

Homeschooling: An International Perspective

From Barbara Smith at http://www.hef.org.nz

American homeschoolers enjoy a freedom that many around the world only dream about. If you'd like to know what homeschoolers in other parts of the world are facing, or if you've ever wondered whether you could impact international homeschoolers, keep reading! HSLDA is excited to present its first-ever international e-vent.
HSLDA Director of International Affairs Mike Donnelly will lead a panel discussion on interna-tional homeschooling. Join him as he chats with an impressive array of international homeschool leaders. His panel will include Dave Tucker from El Hogar Educador in Mexico; Gabriel Curcubet, president of the Romanian Home Schooling Association; Leendert van Oostrum, president of the Pestalozzi Trust Legal Defence Fund in South Africa; and Uwe Romeike, a German homeschool father whose family is fighting for political asylum in the United States.

Listen to it here or listen to the archives for up to 30 days here: http://hef.org.nz/2010/hslda-e-lert-service-homeschooling-an-international-perspective/

Blessings,
Barbara

AVKO Tour (on Dyslexia)

From Learnex, via Selina-Jane and CHEF:

Don McCabe, Research Director of the AVKO Educational Research Foundation, and author of over forty books (including the Sequential Spelling series) will be visiting NZ at the end of next month. Don is dyslexic and has dedicated his life to helping dyslexics become literate rather than being limited by labels.

We’ve only just been advised about the tour so are hurriedly looking at organising a few events. If you are based in Dunedin, Christchurch or Wellington and are interested in helping to organise or attend an event, please contact me off list ASAP. Don uses a multi sensory approach to teaching literacy as he teaches all four skills of writing, reading, spelling and listening at once.

If you haven’t heard of Don McCabe before, check out this YouTube link (I think it was originally from a TV documentary) as he takes a 17-year-old dyslexic through his first lesson at the AVKO Dyslexia Research Foundation. You will be able to watch the young man's face as he discovers that Mr. McCabe has "tricked him" into being able to read and spell instantly the word malicious!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNvIpDJwPfg

Also, he has just put up a new video called, ”You Can’t Teach What you Know if you Don’t Know that you Know it” which deals with some of the ridiculous English spelling anomalies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cIwUR5uTRE

These videos and other AVKO on YouTube are worth a look even if you are unable to attend a seminar.

The dates we have are as follows:

Oct 27 Dunedin
Oct 28 Christchurch
Oct 29 Wellington

We are still trying to twist his arm to have something in Auckland date yet but this hasn’t been confirmed.

Erena

(The AVKO tour is brought to you by The Firelight Foundation. The Firelight Foundation is the non-profit wing of LearnEX – www.learnex.co.nz .)

Craig and Barbara Smith Seminar

Venue: Musselburgh Baptist Church, 131 Musselburgh Rise, Dunedin
Time: 10a.m – 3p.m and 7 – 9p.m evening, 26 April 2010
Speakers: Craig and Barbara Smith
Cost: $15 per family, which includes the Children’s Programme
Contact: Dunedin Committee on register4dunedinseminar@gmail.com
or ph Katie 03 489 2349 or Barbara 06 357 4399

Programme:
10:00 Registration and view resource table
10:15 Welcome and Notices
10:30 -12:00 Two Electives:
1. Craig Home Education – Getting things into perspective
2. Barbara Home Education through Secondary and preparing for Tertiary
12:00 – 1:00 Lunch Tea and coffee provided. Bring your own lunch. Alternatively a Dairy is across the road, or a 500 m walk to Musselburgh Shops [Baker's Dozen, and two Takeaways]. Woolworths 1km in same direction.
1:00 – 2:30pm Two Electives:
1. Craig Changing the Heart of a Rebel
2. Barbara Avoiding Burnout – Keeping going when the going gets tough
2:30 – 3:00 pm Afternoon tea and browsing resource tables. [ 3:00 to 7:00 p.m Home ]
7:00 – 9:00 p.m Two electives:
1. Craig Dad’s Essential role in Home Education – from a Christian Perspective
2. Barbara Training our children’s minds – ‘The tools of learning’ and ‘Motivation’

For more information: http://hef.org.nz/2010/6672/
Blessings
Barbara
http://www.hef.org.nz

Refresh Conference

Note: This conference is not organised by SHEAF - we are passing along an invitation that reached us through the grapevine.

You are invited to our day conference, "Refresh" in Nelson on the 31 October.
You can go to our website to find out more about it. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/newzealand/733591/

We are so looking forward to seeing you there. This is a conference for mothers only, but if you are breastfeeding, you are welcome to come with your baby. This will be a day for you to be encouraged in your homeschooling journey. Looking forward to seeing you. With love from The Refresh Team

Hello from Nelson,
I would like to invite all home educating mums in your area to a conference we are having locally. We would love to meet others who are walking on a similar road. Please be so kind as to circulate this invitation to all your members. Perhaps by car pooling it would cut costs and make it possible. Billets are available. Look forward to hearing from other S Island home schooling mums.
Kind regards,
Karen Dawson
PS please forward this on to any other groups you know of in the S Island. Many thanks.

Diana Waring Conference

The Living, Laughing and Learning conference with Diana Waring is being held this weekend in Christchurch. See earlier posts for details of venue and times.

Living, Laughing and Learning Conference with Diana Waring - details

September 11^th and 12^th, 2009

Venue: Hornby Presbyterian Community Church, 27 Amyes Road, Hornby Christchurch

Curriculum vendors and other resources will be available for sale during the conference.

Friday evening 6-9pm: An evening for the whole family with music, drama, singing and comedy courtesy of your homeschooling friends; a race through the Middle Ages with Diana and the Ultimate Family supper.

Unlocking the Mysteries of the Middle Ages
Join Diana for a whirlwind tour through one thousand years of colorful characters and world changing events. Beginning with the fall of Rome and continuing all the way up to Gutenberg's printing press. Seat belt use suggested--you're going to move fast!

Saturday 9am – 5.30pm

A variety of encouraging and practical sessions with Diana and other experienced home educators.

9am The Well-Kept Secret of a Biblical Education (Specifically for Christian families)
How much have the prevailing culture and our own school experiences influenced our views on education, even in homeschooling? This powerful message will provide you with a foundational and scriptural framework for understanding education -- the content and the means -- from a Biblical perspective.

10.30am Beyond Survival (General Audience)
A transparent description of the beginning days in her homeschooling, including the struggles and failures she experienced as she unsuccessfully tried to create school at home. Learn how she went from "barely surviving" to finding great joy on the journey with her children. Diana brings experience with her own children for over twenty years, as well as insights gleaned from homeschooling families around the world.

4pm Actively ENGAGE Learning & Actually ENJOY Learning! (General Audience)
"How do I get my kids to finish their school work?" The deeper question is actually, "How do I get my kids to be self-motivated?" We will look at specific ways to encourage and assist our children in developing ownership of their education. We must learn the critical difference between controlling and directing; pushing and releasing; coercing and facilitating. It is the master teacher who says, "I can not teach you how to do it, but I can help you learn to do it."

Workshops will include:

Diana and Bill Making the most of teen years at home. Encouraging session for teens

Bill Waring The Homeschool Principal; an encouraging discussion time for Dads

Barbara Smith Avoiding Burnout. Strategies to identify and overcome burnout.

Barbara & Ngaire Allan Preparing for an ERO review; putting your best foot forward.

Lennie Harrison Early Reading and Writing Skills. A practical session aimed at 4-8yrs.

Meat for Teenagers (directed at parents only, and Christian content)

Linda Gage Character Training. Focussing on the heart while they learn and grow.

Time Management. Practical tips for balancing the house, the family, life and everything else.

Go to www.dianadownunder.com for more on Diana’s teaching and resources as well as for your registration form and plan to join us for a wonderful weekend of encouragement.

Queries: gagetribe@xtra.co.nz or ngaire.allan@paradise.net.nz

Diana Waring Conference in Christchurch - open for bookings

A notice about the Diana Waring Conferences came through about a month ago, but details and pricing for the Christchurch meeting were yet to be finalised. The information is now available at http://www.dianadownunder.com/Christchurch.html.

Early bird registrations are open until August 21st, after which time the rates are $5 dearer.

For more info about Diana Waring and this conference circuit see Living Laughing and Learning.

Diana Waring conferences

Info for those interested...

Diana Waring will be coming to New Zealand in September and presenting Living, Laughing and Learning conferences.

This will be Diana's third tour of conferences in New Zealand

Diana has graciously volunteered her time and is not charging for these conferences. There will be conferences in four separate venues of NZ in the North and South Island.

11 - 19 September 2009 New Zealand

11 - 12 September Christchurch
15 September Palmerston North
16 September Hastings
19 September Auckland

Early bird bookings for NZ close on 30 June 2009

You can read more about Diana and her husband Bill at
http://www.dianadownunder.com/