State Of Franklin Homeschoolers

October 2010 Geography Day

2010-10-24T20:47:00.001-04:00

Aleah and Tyler Chittum gave presentations on the North and South Poles.

Kingsport Sculpture Walk

2010-10-24T20:32:00.010-04:00

We met in Kingsport to take a walking tour of the sculptures. These are a few of the pieces of art. It was fun and ended with doughnuts at the old Krispy Cream factory.

2010 - 2011 plans...

2010-08-20T09:59:00.001-04:00

We met this past Thursday and the group brain stormed the activities for State of Franklin Homeschool group for 2010-2011 year. We have some great plans and hope for a wonderful year of getting together for friendship and learning. Here is what is in store folks!

September 2 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver - meet in gym and play ground to talk and be goofy, bring a lunch if you wish for picnic in the park

September 16 Thursday - COOKING DAY - we have the kitchen reserved and we are going to make personal pizzas! more details to come...

October 7 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

October 21 Thursday - GEOGRAPHY DAY with POTLUCK - families can research an area of the world they are interested in and give a presentation about it, bring a food item from that area and we will get to have a "taste of the world" party after presentations.

November 4 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

November 18 Thursday - ANIMAL DAY - come share facts, triva, photos, drawings or whatever you wish to use to tell us about an animal you are interested in. The animal can be anyone from your family's pet to an animal you would love to study.

December 2 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

December 16 Thursday - MAKE IT Day - come construct cool stuff - we will have loads of construction sites in the community room. The goal will be to have "make it" activities for kids who like arts/crafts, legos, duplo, simple machines, etc...Families, be thinking about what project or supplies you can bring for sharing with the kids to help give the kids lots of options. We'll share details as we get closer to the date. Bring in cookies to share, no fruit cake! Ha, ha....

January 6 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

January 20 Thursday - DRAMA DAY with focus on PUPPETRY - our own Barb Jeffress will be leading us in a drama workshop. Bring your puppets and lets get dramatic!

February 3 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

February 17 Thursday - SHARE YOUR INTEREST/SKILL/TALENT Day - okay folks, this one was hard to know how to name, but it is a mish-mosh kind of mix of lots of great ideas and not enough meeting times to get it all in. This day will be for folks to come and give a presentation on anything they are interested in, have a talent they want to share, or to describe a career they are interested in pursuing. This could be sharing a special interest in dance and encouraging others to get up and give it a try, sharing your musical talent, doing crazy hand stands, showing photos or art made by yourself, telling us about a topic or creation you have made or want to make. Get creative and share something that inspires you!

March 3 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

March 17 Thursday - BOOK/AUTHOR DAY - come share with us a book or author you love, bring in the book if you can and tell us what is important about this book/author, consider reading an excerpt that is particularly important to you. Birthday cake will be served in honor of Dr. Suess' March Birthday!

April 7 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

April 21 Thursday - SCIENCE DAY - bring a project that your family has done at home or bring in a project that can be done by kids at the center, talk about what you discovered and show your results. Doug Chaffin will provide us with a cool science demonstration.

May 5 Thursday - HANG OUT DAY at Carver

May 19 Thursday - GAME DAY - bring a few of your families favorite games and/or hand held video games for a fun day of gaming with friends. Bring a snack to share and we will munch and play together.

*Keep checking with the yahoo group for updates to these plans. If the weather is snowing or roads iced over we try to do the plan that was cancelled on the next Hang Out Day meeting time.

*Check the yahoo group for park days throughout the year that are going to occur on last Friday of the month!

Summer 2009 in picture review....

2009-11-22T10:44:00.024-05:00

January's Science Day....

2009-02-04T19:24:00.003-05:00

was science ... is history; then and in the making...

Some people like to add on to group comments by taking the title of a post and adding "was" before the original title and then adding their new, but connected topic to the title. This is how I feel about our last meeting. It WAS about science, but coming away from it I realize it IS, for our family, about so much more. Devorah let us peruse her old books and we took Caddie Woodlawn. I began reading it out loud on the day Obama was inaugurated. We had watched the ceremony and I noticed and pointed out that Michele Obama was holding the same bible Lincoln had used during his inauguration ceremony. As we read Caddie Woodlawn, both kids were really interested in her story, which is based on the author's grandmother's life and is set during Lincoln's term, Lee's surrender, the abolition of slavery and ultimately Lincoln's death. What a powerful book to read at this time in our nation's history. What a way to help the kids realize the importance of Obama's election and what it means for us as a society that has come so far in such a relatively short time.

Life is full of WAS this and is NOW THAT connections for us and I am most grateful for the members of State of Franklin HS group for all the connections I catch.

owl pellet day

2008-09-28T10:57:00.003-04:00

on august 21st, we had our first activity day at carver rec. jessica c. had organized an owl pellet dissection for the group which was a big hit!! the kids had a great time using the tiny tweezers to pull the hair away from the bones. there were even charts to help you figure out what animal your owl pellet used to be. it was fascinating to watch all these little heads bent over their work. they were so diligent, so patient.

it was also a planning day. we went outside to discuss the rest of the year's activities while the kids played on the playground (and inside...and all over the place). we sketched out a rough idea of what each month would look like and then called it a day.

i'll just let the pictures do the rest of the talking...

riverview splashpad

2008-08-30T09:55:00.002-04:00

on august 25th, we met up at the riverview splashpad in kingsport. although rain threatened to ruin the fun, we decided to go for it anyway. and i'm glad we did, more people showed up than i had expected and we were rewarded with relatively nice weather...only one quick shower but we had shelter. the place is really nice, lots of fun gizmos for the kids to play with and spray with and splash in...and color all over the place on the equipment as well as an amazing mural!! there's a playground there as well and the kids went back and forth between there and the water. us women folk played a quick game of "give me your cell number" that probably looked from a distance like a bunch of teen girls texting, talking and laughing. we played a rousing game that kass brought called "apples to apples" which we had played before with our friends in charleston but had forgotten about. there was a lot of running and playing so there were a few bumped heads, teeth, lips and feet, but for the most part we all had fun. lily even taught julia how to pump her legs to swing herself, how cool is that?!

i was told by herb at carver that they might be getting a splaspad type thing next summer. i really hope so, it's pretty fun. slideshow time...

summer in a nutshell

2008-08-22T10:40:00.012-04:00

well, it has been quite awhile since anyone has added any posts here so i thought i'd recap the summer for everyone. the month of may was filled with outdoor park time. we had our first "picnic in the park" at warrior's path. it's an awesome newer park (most new parks often aren't very cool), i mean it has a seesaw!!! most of the real fun took place in the creek though. the kids built a dam spectacular enough to inspire the people over at TVA. then there was the barge ride up at bay's mountain courtesy of betty. we saw some really beautiful water lilies and sadie spotted a big turtle. we got to walk around the animal areas and watch the wolves, deer and bobcats (i think), and small turtles and some other animals i can't even remember now. we had yet another "picnic in the park" day at steele creek. of course there was a lot of time spent in the water again. we got to meet new people and see some old friends we hadn't seen in a long time. we ended the month with a trip to the power board for a talk on electricity. the general consensus is that while we really enjoyed and appreciated the speaker, tyler could've easily done better...and did by answering questions that he couldn't. afterwards we headed over to winged deer park for some much needed play time after sitting so still for so long. then the kids talked us into going to marble slab for ice cream. we spent enough time there to get a good burn on parts not protected by the outdoor umbrellas. it was a long delicious day.

june started with a mild pop as we thought that the idea of a free movie at winged deer park would be fun. it wasn't. well, except for the blanket time we spent with ren and kass. and the kids did have fun playing on the playground. we left before it was all over, it was crowded and we couldn't even hear the movie. but we did find our way back to the exact same spot for a "picnic in the park" day later in the month. and as usual, the kids gravitated towards the water where they spent most of the day. the friday before we had an impromptu get together for "music on the square" in jonesborough which included a homeschooling dad all the way from columbia, sc.

july was filled with lots of get togethers that weren't all necessarily sofh gatherings but most everyone involved was from the sofh family. we had a potluck at our house to celebrate scotty's birthday, celebrated nesta's birthday at the nolichuckey river, had another "picnic at the park" at warrior's path and again at boone dam swimming area. one of the more exciting gatherings was for "learn nothing day" at rock creek. we had homeschoolers from georgia come up for that one...and a big bunch of people from sofh of course. it was an all day hang out that included food and swimming and talking and laughing and making new friends. we ended the month with an ATC create and trade gathering of the local "imagination tribe" which isn't an sofh group but as i said before includes many of us.

so far august has been just as full of fun and friendship. several of us got together for the downtown first friday and had a blast! the following week, we had our first "not back to school picnic" at steele creek park to jump start the "school year" as well as filling up the acoustic coffeehouse with sofhers for a concert by our very own heather. finally, we went to a little out of the way place called clarke's creek the other day for some crawdad and millipede catching and a picnic on the water and then yesterday we had our first activity day of the year where we dissected owl pellets, so awesomely organized by jess c., which ended in our annual planning meeting while the kids played in the gym and on the playground and had lots of yummy snacks together. we'll get together again on monday at the riverview splash pad for another "picnic in the park" day which we're really looking forward to as it's our first time going there.

well, that's our sofh summer in a nutshell. hope you enjoyed it! we did!!

now for the slideshow:

kite day

2008-05-23T07:19:00.005-04:00

well this is a little late in coming, but i figured i would go ahead with it. i shared the pix on our flickr page but i thought it might be nice to put it on here as well. plus, now that i have a slide account, i feel the need to make slideshows of everything!!! it is too fun.

kite day was on march 6th, and what a day for kite flying it was. sunshiny, blue skies and a wind to curl your hair (or maybe just give you dreadlocks). we started out inside where garry handed out all the supplies for each kite. then he instructed us all in the secret ways of super duper kite building. the kits were amazing. the materials used for the kites are so super strong! we decorated them and then went outside to test our flying skills. these are the easiest kites to fly that you have ever seen. in fact when we took them to the park on another day, a man came up and asked where we got them because they looked so easy to get in the air.

we had so much fun flying the kites. sadie got her kite stuck in a tree, very charlie brown style. when i went to get a ladder, garry and deanna came to the rescue. i believe garry climbed that poor little tree!! it was a really wonderful day for all of us!!!

Show & Tell 08'

2008-04-18T16:40:00.004-04:00

March Hang Out Day

2008-03-08T18:07:00.019-05:00

My writing skills are rusty, so I am always reluctant to post to the blog, but here goes: March 6th was the perfect day for hanging out at Carver Park. The sun was shining and it was so warm that the kids took off their shoes and played in their bare feet. It was also a day of spontaneous treasure hunting. Sadie and Iris found discarded pieces of a trophy and other items that they made into an awe inspiring sculpture. Tyler waded into the creek where he caught a crawfish and discovered underwater treasures which he shared with other children. He also gave Silas and me instructions on how to maneuver a remote control vehicle. After a refreshing nap in the shade, Dairbhre delighted in chasing the little remote control truck in every direction. Aleah and Rowan started their own advertising agency, bringing customers flocking to trade colored bits of mulch for mints at Elise and Audrey’s shop.
It was a perfect afternoon for a picnic and Carrie and Jamie enjoyed their lunch on the playground while chatting with Laura, Jason, Jessica, Deanna and Heather. Under the pavilion, Samuel and Nesta played a game they invented at Paper Craft Day, until the breeze began blowing their pieces from the table and forced them indoors. Lilly, Aleah and Elise played a game of pooh-sticks from atop the foot bridge. These are but a few of the many games and activities the children created and enjoyed. It was a glorious day!

We always look forward to the SOFH meetings. My daughter has such fun with her friends and I enjoy watching the children have such a great time together. I also welcome the conversations with other parents. Although we didn’t leave the park until 4:00, it was difficult for us to go, and if we had not been so hungry, we would have stayed longer. I cannot express how much the members of SOFH mean to my family. We feel fortunate to be part of such a welcoming, supportive, fun and creative group!

Paper Arts Day - Feb. 08

2008-02-23T09:44:00.001-05:00

We had a great day today, laughing and playing with friends from the home school group. Tyler enjoyed showing people how to fold airplanes and tossing them around in the gym. Aleah loved being around all the girls and boys. After this group the children are so at peace with themselves. They sit quietly in the car on the ride home, sort of lost in their thoughts of the fun they had. I noticed today how this group of people, comprised of so many different ages, interests, and faiths can play together with such ease. Each person who came left with a unique experience. There was no certain agenda that everyone had to follow, and those who shared the joy of the moments and activities available left with memories of play and conversation that were very important to him/her. I felt grateful to be part of this and happy to see my kids finding their own space within the group.

A park day in January...

2008-02-08T23:30:00.001-05:00

...I think. I don't remember the exact date, but we were there with Laura and her kids, plus Garry and Will. We pretty much chatted and hung out that day.

Garry comforts Will when feelings were a bit on edge.

Sierra and Sadie stop to pose for a second...

Some of the guys; Samuel, Will, Jalen and Silas.

I love the relaxed nature of these days. Lots of room for spontaneous games, lingering conversations and laughter. We're grateful to have our friends from SOFH!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-21T23:56:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving seems to be an appropriate day to write my first blog post, since I just want to say how much I love this group and how thankful I am that it is available to me. I joined originally to meet people who might be interested in natural family living principles. Jamie, I thought, is far too young for me to start homeschooling. But I was desperate to meet like-minded people and thought that a homeschooling group would be a good place to start.

I was moving to Kingsport from Chattanooga and dreading everything about it. I wanted to ease the transition by meeting some people, but I was so saddened about leaving Chattanooga that I had trouble keeping up my hopes. I thought I could never come close to replacing the wonderful group of friends I had made in Chattanooga. Besides, even if I met great people in the SOFH group, their children would all be older than Jamie, so she wouldn't benefit, or so I thought. I feel that I couldn't have been more wrong. Although I can't replace my Chattanooga friends, I think that I am just adding to a collection of wonderful friends, challenging myself, and learning more every day. Jamie loves seeing everyone, and I am realizing that learning begins well before pre-school. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful group of parents and children to learn with, learn from, and just spend time with.

Impressions of my first meeting.

2007-11-02T13:45:00.000-04:00

As I said in the email group, yesterday's meetup was incredibly awesome.

I wrote in my journal yesterday, "Meeting with SOFH today was amazing. I will carry with me the image of each and every one of those mothers and children with me for inspiration." I'll be coming back, I tell you.

The gym was full of tables and such from the Halloween party the night before, so we went outside to the playground. I brought my little girl Rowan, but my baby boy was sleeping in the car, so his dad drove him around. This gave me the chance to sit and knit with Jessica and chat with the other moms. Seeing real life homeschooled kids was refreshing, and they were quite hysterical. I laughed until my face hurt! I was impressed with how the other moms handled delicate situations. I left feeling like I'd learned something, and also like I could learn more if I actively sought out these people more often and spent time around them.

I posted to the email group earlier:
I'd blog about it, but I don't know if I'd have much to say besides it
was awesome, you guys make me feel like I'm part of something for the
first time since I became a mother, and your kids are so bright and
totally crack me up.

But Laura replied that I SHOULD BLOG!!!!

So I'm bloggin' it.

Thanks for the fun time, and for those of you I haven't met yet, I'm really hoping we get to meet soon!

Heather
Embracing the Strange

I'm a Part of All I Have Met

2007-11-01T21:29:00.000-04:00

“Homeschool? Oh, no, I’d never do that to my kids.”

I actually did say that. In my defense I will say that at that time the only homeschoolers I knew were one very unstable family with three of the very worst behaved children I’ve ever, even unto this day, ever met. Those children might as well not have had parents at all. If homeschooling in general, and unschooling in particular, meant letting children run wild, I wasn’t going to have anything to do with it.

And then I actually had a child. A wonderful creature whole in himself and yet dependent on us, and also contributing to us. “We” was no longer a dyad but a trio, and then more, as we discovered that family was not a number, or even a formal legal relationship, but a all-for-one-one-for-all relationship. Even from baby-hood, and even from that first child, we began discovering a way of being that wasn’t exactly non-coercive but that always did, always does, take into account the well being and interests of everyone in the family, not any single member alone. Because we don’t, any of us, exist alone.

And then the next thing was that I read John Taylor Gatto’s “Seven-lesson Schoolteacher”.The truth inherent in that immediately hit me up the side of my head. School, schooling, and what it is really about. I read everything I could get my hands on in every library in the area. Also important to my education about the true nature of schooling were John Holt’s Why Children Fail and How Children Learn.

So then I had to know what the state’s laws were. That wasn’t too hard, and it is even less hard these days with resources like TnHomeEd out there.

And somewhere in there is when I came to SOFH for the first time. That would have been 1996. I have been very grateful through the years for the support and lasting friendships that have grown from my involvement in this group. In my personal journey through homeschooling, I’m less and less inclined to participate in “events”, in “activities”, in things that don’t grow organically from our lives, but finding like and questioning and open minds is always priceless. That’s been over eleven years now.

It was our doctor who gave me the best quote for why we homeschool. He said, “When people ask me, ‘What about socialization?’ I say, ‘That’s exactly my point.’”

the title is a quote from the best translation of The Odyssey.

History of SOFH

2007-10-29T09:06:00.000-04:00

As a charter member of the State of Franklin Homeschoolers I thought I might share a bit of the history of the group. I started officially homeschooling, meaning I registered my son with Sullivan County for kindergarten, for the 91-92 school year. Graham was 5 and my daughter, Charlotte was18 months old. There were not many homeschooling groups at that time and so few homeschoolers that those of us who were homeschooling were happy to meet others who were also taking this unusual path.
After a few years of feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the existing groups and being treated rudely by some people who had religious beliefs that could not accept differences, a small number of people who had kept a low profile for fear of being ostracized by the larger group, found we each were not the only one who had kept silent and wanted an inclusive group.
Kris Rosolina, Carolyn Barry, Lucinda Flodin, myself and, a few others whom I can not remember off the top of my head, decided that we needed a group that was open to all homeschoolers . We soon chose a name and decided that SOFH would be open to all homeschoolers regardless of race, religion, creed or educational philosophies.

Cookie Day

2007-10-27T09:03:00.000-04:00

Cookie Day (activity for 10-18-07) was a lot of fun for all. Jess, Beth, Betty, and myself came with our cookie dough, frosting, and kids ready to bake. No, we didn't bake our kids!!! Even Vivian and Patrick stopped by for a quick hello!!

The kids (Tyler, Aleah, Alise, Lilly, Samuel, Silas, and Sadie) had a blast rolling dough and cutting out cookie shapes...for about 20 minutes. Then it was time for running and playing in the gym. Meanwhile, the moms put them in the oven (again, the cookies, not the kids) and cut our own mommy-style cookies from what dough was still left. Finally, when the cookies were done...it was decorating time!! That was the real fun part. Can you say "sprinkles all over the floor"?? The cookies were amazing and beautiful!!

I think the kids would say that the best part was getting to play. Isn't that always the best part of anything? And let's not forget the eating cookies part, of course.

check out our flickr page if you haven't yet: http://www.flickr.com/groups/sofh/pool/