Summer Camp

During the school year, you may find it difficult to teach all of the courses that you would like. If you have been meaning to include a worldviews/apologetics course, a summer camp could lessen your course load during the school year while providing your teen with the information he needs to be knowledgeable and confident when communicating his beliefs and values to others.

Summit Ministries offers young adults (ages 16–24) a two week camp preparing them for college or the workforce where they’ll face many different ideas that are in conflict to a biblical worldview. They will receive instruction in worldview analysis, apologetics and leadership. Summit Ministries’ camps are held in Colorado, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Similarly, Worldview Academy Leadership Camp is for teens ages 13 and up. Students learn about servant leadership, apologetics/evangelism, and comparative worldviews. The six-day camp includes creative activities, worship, and thought provoking seminars. 

Libery University Online Academy

Quality online education with world-class support Liberty University Online Academy is an online  academic program specially developed for grades  3-12 and supported by Liberty University — the  world’s largest Christian university and non-profit  online educator. Proven curriculum that’s simple to administer Liberty University Online Academy offers a turn-key home learning system with solid curriculum that is  simple to manage. With Liberty University Online  Academy you and your homeschoolers will benefit  from: Online academic support through a unique faculty/student messaging system Automated lesson planning Instant grading feedback Flexible, yet structured program, customized to  meet the needs of each student Biblically-based, Christ-centered curriculum Rolling Enrollment: enroll and start classes  at any time of the year Qualified academic support with your personal academic advisor Record keeping and transcripting of all  student work Access to Liberty University’s extensive  online library services Save $250 on Spring Tuition! Call (866) 418-8741 for details, or click here to  submit your online application and to begin  enrolling your student in the Spring 2010 semester!

Chuck Urano Memorial Scholarship Application

The Chuck Urano Memorial Award, sponsored by the Colorado Farm Show, will be awarded to six deserving students who strive to leave a lasting impression on their community and the agriculture industry.

The Colorado Farm Show is proud to award six $2000.00 Scholarships, to help offset the increasing costs of attaining a Higher Education, to graduating High School Seniors declaring an Agricultural Major at a College or University of their choice.

APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS:

1.       Applicants must be graduating High School Seniors.

2.       The Chuck Urano Memorial Award application, accessible in pdf format at www.ColoradoFarmShow.com, must be filled out by the applicant.

3.       Applicants must be citizens of the United States and reside in Colorado.

4.       Students must be pursuing a degree in an Agricultural related field of study at the accredited College or University of their choice.

5.       A sealed, signed copy of the applicants Official High School Transcripts must accompany the scholarship application.  Senior year classes must be listed if not included on transcripts.

6.       One letter of recommendation from a High School official/teacher must be included with the application packet.

7.       A one page essay outlining the applicant’s educational goals, chosen career plans, and any other information that the applicant considers pertinent must be included with the application.

8.       Application must be legible (typed preferred) to be considered.

9.       Complete application packet must be received in the Colorado Farm Show Office (received not post marked) by January 11, 2010.

10.   Failure to submit a completed application, with all of the required materials in one packet, will eliminate your application.

Please return scholarship application and required materials to:

Colorado Farm Show

Attn:  Scholarship Committee

P.O. Box 670

Greeley, CO  80632

A note from HSLDA: Teen Study Skills

As you seek to provide a quality education to your teens, we suggest you include time to improve your teen’s study skills. Many times, parents think that good study skills are naturally acquired, but that’s often not the case. Study skills such as note-taking, outlining, pacing your time, organizing study materials and schoolwork, increasing reading speed, and maintaining motivation for studying are, for the majority of teens, learned skills that must be taught. The high school years—or earlier—provide an opportune time to polish up these areas of competency.

Note-Taking

During the high school years, many of our teens are capable of independent study. Make the most of this ability by encouraging them to take notes on the material they are studying and discovering. As an instructor, you may not do much lecturing, but your teen will benefit from learning the finer points of note-taking. In the future, whether your teen is taking a college course, listening to a sales presentation, or interviewing a prospective real estate agent regarding the purchase of his or her first home; your teen’s note-taking skills will come in handy. Some practical ways to give experience in this area are to have your teen take notes during the pastor’s sermon each week, or while watching a speech given by a politician in person or on TV, or during those college visits that are coming up! All of these opportunities will enable your teen to organize data, discern important points, and perhaps even come up with personal shorthand symbols and words that speed up his intake of ideas.
Use of the computer can also enable your teen to quickly note important information, since teens can often type faster than they write. Having his notes transcribed will allow him to quickly save the information in an organized fashion. Those high schoolers planning to attend college will find that many students take a laptop to class to use for note-taking.
Although not every item relates to the one-on-one teaching used in homeschooling, the College Board provides helpful note-taking ideas if your teen is tackling an outside co-op, community college, or distance learning course. Also, Cornell’s Note-taking Strategies gives additional tips.

Outlining

Closely aligned with note-taking is the ability to outline. Use your teen’s readings in courses such as science and history to provide practice for improving outlining proficiency. This skill is important not only to organize study materials, but it is also useful when brainstorming writing ideas or compiling research for a paper or project. For a good review of the components of an outline—why and how to create an outline—as well as samples of outlines, see The Owl at Purdue website and The Hypertext Books website. Also, most high school grammar books include a section on outlining, so you may want to spend several days reviewing this information with your teen.
Remember, when outlining as a form of note-taking, it’s not necessary to adhere to a formal system. Instead, a method may be developed where there is a main point followed by bullets or dashes for subpoints. The main purpose to stress is getting information down in a systematic and understandable way.

Pacing Your Time

Have you ever thought of time management as a component of study skills? It is! Much of your teen’s academic success during the high school years will be related to how well he can budget the hours in his day. (A recap of general time management skills was covered in a previous high school email newsletter.)
Implementing time management in studying course material will allow your student to comprehend and retain the material. It will also prevent the need to cram for tests or quizzes. Cramming may allow your teen to score well on the test, but it will not prove effective in maintaining a good base of knowledge for future use. So, encourage your teen to come up with a plan which will allow her to be efficient in completing assignments, regularly reviewing her notes, and closing any gaps in the time set aside for studying. Practicing these skills during high school will cause them to become good habits to take with her after graduation.
School calendars and assignment books are tools that your teens can use to keep on track in meeting deadlines. Whether it’s reading the passage for a lit discussion tomorrow, the essay due next week, the science fair project due next month, or preparation for a college entrance test next year, having a schedule will encourage him to complete the work within the time he has set.

Organizing School Materials

As homeschoolers, your teens have the freedom to do math at the kitchen table, study history in the family room, read literature while relaxing in the bedroom, or conduct science experiments in the basement! While this flexibility is certainly an advantage of homeschooling, it can wreak havoc when trying to keep track of and organize school supplies and materials. Help your teen arrange his schoolwork neatly in binders. In addition, assist your teen in designing a central study place that is conducive to learning. Stock it with supplies such as pencils, paper, rulers, calculators, and reference books (such as dictionaries, thesauruses, etc.—although these days the computer may take the place of these items) within easy reach.
Think about involving your teen in the record-keeping of his high school work. Have your teen set up a file system (either in hard copy form or on the computer) that lists materials used in a course, perhaps a log of hours, and a folder that includes major tests, quizzes, papers, or projects. During our high school homeschooling years, both of us had our teens do a lot of the necessary filing and record keeping. We found that keeping up with this on a daily or weekly basis is a better approach than saving all of the filing until the end of the school year!

Increasing Reading Speed

Increasing reading speed (while at the same time retaining and improving comprehension) is important because it saves your teen time. An increase in reading speed—not only for coursework, but for pleasure reading, newspaper reading and even reading to obtain facts such as perusing directions—can add time to your day. If your teen is college-bound, she will appreciate this skill when bombarded with reading assignments. Virginia Tech and the University of Texas websites offer free information related to increasing reading speed.
As an interesting project, your teen may want to take a free speed reading test. (Please know that we are not necessarily recommending a speed reading course or class, but merely want to provide you with information that will enable you to investigate this area further if you wish. A simple internet search of speed reading courses will generate many additional resources.)

Maintaining Motivation

Your teen will more easily maintain motivation in any task if he is organized in his approach to it. The same holds true for assignments and projects. Often the most difficult part of the assignment is getting started. So suggest that your teen take a large project and break it down into doable pieces which will make it easier to tackle and complete. As he begins to see progress, he will be motivated to move to the next section until all is finished.
Boredom can be kept at bay by interspersing smaller assignments with larger ones. Checking off an assignment gives a feeling of accomplishment. It’s easy, though, to let those shorter assignments keep your teen from addressing the larger ones. Another way to keep interested in a task is to mix up the study methods used. Your teen may spend part of his time quietly studying, but then add some time to studying out loud as if he were instructing a class. If your teen is more visual, then using diagrams or drawings will help to keep her focused and interested. The College Board has some additional innovative ideas to consider.
We trust that the tips provided above will be useful to you and your teens. Study skills practiced become habits, and habits take time to develop. So, don’t expect that your teens will incorporate all of these suggestions at once. However, teaching them over the course of the high school years will ensure that your teens will be better prepared for their post-high-school pursuits.

CHEC Spelling Bee - February 6, 2010

Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010
Place: Bear Valley Church, 10001 West Jewell Avenue, Lakewood
Time: 9am - 1:30pm (please plan on arriving at least 30 minutes early)
Cost: $15 per student
Who can participate: Students from 4th to 8th Grade (not already graduated to 9th) and not yet 15 years of age as of September 1, 2009.
What to study: Click myspellit.com. You will notice a list of words by origin available on the left. This is a helpful list as they have pronunciations and well we tips available for many words. Additionally, the following website will assist you as you prepare: www.spellingbee.com. Click on "Students and Parents."
Deadline for Registration: January 20, 2010
The qualifying bee is a written test of 50 words some of which will be taken from the practice booklet. The top seven spellers on this test will be able to participate in the Rocky Mountain News Colorado State Bee on March 6, 2010, at the Denver Convention Center, 700 14th Street, Denver, Colorado.
An oral bee for the top 25 qualifying participants will follow the written test. First, second, and third place ribbons will be awarded.
For questions and information contact the CHEC office at office@chec.org or 720-842-4852 or 1-800-842-2432. 

Classical Christian Education Courses

We are interested in offering a suite of integrated courses in theology, western civilization and logic, as well as physical science (physics and chemistry) and mathematics, from a classical, Christian perspective to a group of highly motivated homeschoolers (ages 12-18).

With sufficient interest, courses would begin in the fall of 2010 with the goal of completing a curriculum cycle in these subject areas over a 3-4 year time frame. Classes would meet weekly at a location near/in Castle Rock. Other details are yet to be determinded, in large part by those who would participate.

For more information, please contact Barbara Helmkamp by email at helmkamp@q.com or call 720-842-0126. Informational and organizational meetings will be scheduled accordinglu.

Rev. Steven Hein BS, MDiv, MTh, PhD
Kathleen Hein BA
Barbara Helmkamp, PhD physics 

HSLDA Message: Physical Education?

Physical education falls under the elective category on the high school transcript. One to two years of credit are usually adequate for most high school programs (but check your state homeschool requirements and specific college requirements for any exceptions). Evaluate credit for PE by logging 120 hours for one credit, 60 hours for one-half credit, and so forth. For many families, awarding a pass/fail grade is the easiest way to go for this elective. However,you may choose to award a letter grade so you can include this elective in your teen's grade point average. In order to assess a grade for PE, check out PE Central's website for information about lesson plans and assessment tests Additional activity ideas can be found here.

You will be encouraged to know that it's not necessary to expend a lot of money on equipment, programs, or trainers to accumulate PE credit.Rather, a variety of activities can be bundled together to accumulate hours. If your family enjoys the outdoors, hiking or biking on a beautiful fall day will be a great way to begin. Then consider adding a game of touch football in the backyard--maybe inviting the neighbors--followed by a barbeque. Continue to add other physical activities while keeping track of the hours. You may want to give the responsibility of logging hours (in 15 minute increments) to your
teen.

If your son or daughter is a member of a sports team, accumulating hours for credit will be quite easy. (Remember, though, if you are using this activity for credit, you may not want to include it as
extracurricular at the same time.) Or, if your teen is training for a marathon or triathlon, then keep a record of that time. Other activities to use for PE include martial arts or dance classes, gymnastics, fencing, bowling, aerobics, and many more.

Sometimes, it's possible to fulfill PE credit in the summertime freeing up the academic year for another elective. Swimming, boating, jogging, walking, and team sports are all ways to earn credit. It's not too late to calculate the hours your teens spent in such activities this past summer to include on their transcripts.

During the months of winter (or periods of inclement weather) when it's cozier to stay indoors, a physical fitness program can be designed to keep those muscles toned and tummies flat. Exercise videos borrowed from the library may be a good option for you to use indoors. A side benefit will be clear and energetic minds to complete those academic studies.

Last, why not join your teens in their physical fitness activities? You'll benefit from the exercise and it will be an opportunity to show your teens that physical fitness is not only a high school course but also a beneficial lifetime pursuit. Brisk walks outdoors either before your school day begins or as the last activity of the afternoon are a great way to spend time with your teen and also provide opportunities for communication--all the while adding up the phys ed hours. How's that for multi-tasking? 

In One Accord Orchestra

A message from the "In One Accord Ochestra"

We are gearing up for our fall session for the In One Accord Orchestra. We have been planning all summer and I think this is going to be a wonderful year.

For those of you who are not familiar with us.... We are a training/mentoring orchestra that accepts all levels of music ability, from the very beginner who has just started lessons on their instrument to the more accomplished student and even a music program for the siblings of the orchestra members who do not have an instrument yet. Our heart is to have a place for everyone in the family!

We will begin on Monday, September 21st at the Seventh Day Adventist Church just east of Wadsworth off of 64th. Class begins promptly at 11am until 1pm.

The fees will remain the same very low price of $55 per family due at the beginning of each session. The year will consist of 3 sessions:
Fall Sept 21-Dec 21
Winter Jan 11-March 29
Spring April 12-June 28

Also, the Cherry Creek Training Orchestra has begun as well..........they are meeting on Thursday afternoons from 4pm-5:30 at the Cherry Creek Presbystarian Church 10150 E Belleview Ave. Englewood, CO 80111 (please note that this orchestra does not yet have a program for the siblings without instruments, that is still in the development process!)

Please reply with your intent to attend so we can better serve you as we begin our new year. If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate calling.

Lord Bless,
Lori Gesi
303-829-9574

A Letter from HSLDA - GPA?

What is a GPA? How is it computed? We want to address these questions as well as give you additional information that you may not have even considered yet, but may need to know.

Definition

The wiktionary definition of grade point average is “a method of computing a numerical value for letter grades received in school by assigning each a numeric value and averaging the numbers.” You will notice from some of the transcript templates listed on our high school website, that there are often two sets of GPAs shown—yearly and cumulative. Each of these is calculated a bit differently so we’ll take a look at how to compute both types.

Yearly GPA

The first step to computing the yearly GPA is to convert each letter grade to points. For example, an A equals 4 points, a B equals 3 points, a C equals 2 points, and so forth. The grade points are then multiplied by the number of credits a course earned resulting in what is known as quality points. An example will clarify this operation. Let's say that a student received a letter grade of an “A” in Algebra I. The first step is to convert the letter grade of an A to 4 points and multiply by 1 credit for a total of 4 quality points. In addition, if a student takes a one semester health course earning one-half credit and receives a “B,” then calculate the quality points as follows: multiply .5 credits by 3 grade points for a total of 1.5 quality points. Continue this operation for each course your teen takes in a given school year.

The next step of the computation will be to total the quality points for all courses and divide by the total number of credits earned in a given year, rounding the answer to two decimal places. This results in the yearly GPA. You may find it helpful to review these steps on the GPA computation example we have listed in our transcript section of the website.

When calculating the yearly GPA, there are some factors to take into consideration. (Isn’t it always the case that as soon as you think something is cut and dry, someone throws you a curve?!) Well, here is one of those situations. If you give pass/fail grades for any of your courses, the credits for these courses will be included in the sum of credits shown on the high school transcript, but they will not be used in computing the GPA. When calculating the GPA, you will need to subtract the pass/fail credits out of the total number of credits for that year before dividing by the total number of quality points. An illustration may help.

Total credits for one year: 6.5 (including .5 credit for a course graded pass/fail)
Total quality points: 21.5
Compute GPA: 21.5 divided by 6 (6.5 minus .5) equals 3.58

Another curve—if you plan to attach +’s and –’s to your letter grades, then your grade points will need to reflect that. For instance, an A+ will compute to 4.3 points rather than the usual 4 points. An A–, however, will be 3.7 points; a B+ (3.3 points); B– (2.7 points); and so on.

With this information in hand, you are now ready to calculate the GPA for each individual year of high school.

Next let’s turn our attention to computing the cumulative GPA over the course of all four years.

Cumulative GPA

Since you want to show an overall average of your child’s high school work and not an average of the averages, you should not simply add up all the yearly GPAs and divide by 4 (the number of years). Instead, to calculate a cumulative GPA, it will be necessary to add all the quality points from 9th through 12th grades and divide by the sum of all four years of credits (first subtracting out any pass/fail credits).

If you wish to include a running cumulative GPA for each year of high school, then you will need to do the above operation in steps. Obviously, the yearly and cumulative GPAs for the 9th grade will be the same. For 10th grade, you will add the quality points from both 9th and 10th and divide that sum by the total number of credits (minus any pass/fail credits) for both those years. Then in the 11th grade, you will again go back to 9th grade and add all the quality points through the 11th grade and divide by the sum of the credits for those three years. The 12th grade computations will be completed in the same fashion and the resulting GPA will be both the cumulative GPA for 12th grade as well as the grand cumulative GPA for all four years of high school.

General Tips and Suggestions

In addition to the GPA, some transcript formats include a grading scale or table. Showing such a scale is optional. If you taught all the courses included on the child’s transcript, then a grading scale can be informative to the reader. On the other hand, if your child took some courses from other instructors, they may have used a different scale from yours. In this case, it would be wise not to include the scale on your transcript.

A question you may encounter when submitting your teen’s GPA is whether it is weighted or un-weighted. The GPA will be considered weighted if the student took Advanced Placement, and/or honors courses. These types of courses change the grade points attached to the letter grades. An Advanced Placement course grade will receive one point higher than a traditional grade. For example, an A will be worth 5 points rather than 4 points. An honors course grade will generate a half point increase—an A will receive 4.5 points rather than 4. If your student did not take such courses, then the GPA will be un-weighted.

Advanced Placement courses and honors courses designate that the work involved in the course is more substantial than the standard high school course. Beginning in 2008, in order to label a course “Advanced Placement” or “AP” on a high school transcript, the syllabus for a particular course must be reviewed and audited by the AP Central Department of the College Board. You may read more about this auditing procedure online.

Designating a course “Honors” on a transcript is subjective and falls to your discretion as a parent. An honors designation implies that not only a greater quantity of work was required, but also a higher quality of work than what is normally expected in a high school course. You should document for your personal records the curriculum and other materials used in an honors course and note specific information as to why a particular course was deemed honors such as making note of the number and length of papers assigned, supplemental books added to the reading list, extra experiments completed (over and above those indicated in the curriculum), etc. If any questions regarding the course content are ever raised by anyone reviewing the transcript (such as a college admission officer), then the requested information will be readily available.

In our personal opinion (other authors and newsletter readers may disagree with us), homeschooled students will receive greater recognition for taking a community college course or an AP course than an honors course, simply because the AP or community college course has an aspect of “objectivity” associated with it.

GPA calculations are not difficult once you become familiar with terms such as yearly and cumulative GPAs as well as weighted and un-weighted GPAs. We hope this explanation will remove one more fear of homeschooling high school. One last word of advice—it’s a good idea for you to have someone verify the GPA because it is easy to make a mistake when calculating. We’re sure your teen may even volunteer for this job! If you are a member of HSLDA, please know that you may call us any time with questions regarding GPA calculations and we’ll be happy to walk you through the pro

2010 Chec Spelling Bee

CHEC Spelling Bee

Date: Saturday, February 6, 2010

Place: Bear Valley Church, 10001 West Jewell Avenue, Lakewood

Time: 9am-1:30pm (please plan on arriving at least 30 minutes early)

Cost: $15 per student

Who can Participate: Students from 4th to 8th Grade (not already graduated to 9th grade) and not yet 15 years of age as of September 1, 2009.

What to study: The new official study booklet (Spell It!) is available on-line this year. Click myspellit.com and select "downloadable PDF". If access to the website is not possible, please contact the CHEC office. Additionally, the following website will assist you as you prepare.

Deadline for registration: January 20, 2010.

The qualifying bee is a written test of 50 words, some of which will be taken from the practice booklet. The top seven spellers on this test will be able to participate in the Rock y Mountain News Colorado State Bee on March 06, 2010, at the Denver Convention Center, 700 14th Street, Denver, CO.

An oral bee for the top 25 qualifying participants will follow the written test. First, second, and third place ribbons will be awarded.

*Please note - If you live in Boulder County, you must participate in the Boulder Daily Camera Spelling Bee. Contact Christine at 303-410-2640.

Denver Music College Fair

The Lamont School of Music is hosting its first ever Denver Music College Fair. Music colleges from around the country will be available to talk with high school students. In addition there will be workshops and concerts to enjoy. This free event is Friday, October 23th. You can call Lamont admissions at 303-871-6973 for more information.

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Each phase constitutes about 10-12 weeks of study, or roughly 1/3 of the school year.

Each phase comes complete with nearly 50 video lessons, 50 assignments and tests, and 50 answer and solutions keys -- approximately 250 pages of instructional material -- everything you need for a stand-alone curriculum.

Algebra I Contents:

-Phase 1 - The Basics of Algebra
This covers the major topics needed to understand algebra. Many schools do not cover material beyond this level in an entire year. This phase can be used in a pre-algebra situation and is currently used as early as 6th-grade level.

-Phase 2 - Continuation of the Basics
Additional concepts are presented to supplement the basics, topics which are not as common, but are needed to fully understand the subject of algebra. For students who work slowly, Phases 1 and 2 could constitute a full year of credit in Algebra I.

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This phase provides material which prepares the student for additional work in mathematical subjects including graphing and coordinate geometry.
To Learn More Go here.

"Mr. Firebaugh's Algebra
was the Answer to Our Prayers."

"Mr. Firebaugh's algebra course was the answer to our prayers. We have a wonderful 13 year old son, whom I home school."

"Then I remembered Mr. Firebaugh's advertisement. I was pleasantly surprised when Mr. Firebaugh answered the phone himself. I could tell he was a dedicated teacher. He told me that if the program didn't work we could return it in 30 days. This was wonderful news -- I was out of money from the other courses.

"Sometimes they both watch a lesson over and over again. You don't mind working hard when you know you will see progress. We were relieved that we did not have to compromise our son's home school education, and we feel confident that we are providing the best education."

HSLDA is here to help you - Make it through High School

You can homeschool through high school—and you don’t have to make the journey alone! HSLDA members have access to our team of insightful, experienced, and energized high school coordinators.

Whether you need help choosing curriculum, planning for college, or just want a little encouragement from someone who has walked in your shoes, our coordinators are there for you. Becky Cooke and Diane Kummer both homeschooled their children from kindergarten through 12th grade. You can contact them directly (540-338-5600) or check out the extensive online resources they’ve compiled.

Browse our Homeschooling Thru High School website. While there, you can download or order information-packed brochures. Read Becky and Diane’s timely blog or subscribe to their monthly email newsletter. Buy an MP3 recording of sessions given at the HSLDA High School Symposium. Find out where you can hear our coordinators speak at an upcoming conference.

Rest assured—as an HSLDA member, you have the resources to confidently guide your students through the high school years.

Join HSLDA today

Homeschool Introductory Seminars

As more families consider the option of teaching their children at home, it is imperative that a comprehensive introduction to the how, what, why and where of home schooling be available year around. CHEC's professionally-presented introductory seminar meets this need with valuable training and information, such as...

-Things to consider before beginning
-Learning styles and teaching styles
-Support groups
-Record keeping and scheduling
-Special needs children
-Junior high and high school (curriculum, diplomas, transcripts)
-The home school law in Colorado
-How to be successful in your home school
-Success of home schooling and the philosophy of home schooling
-Answers to objections (socialization, etc.)
-What to do to avoid burnout

The seminar includes video and overhead presentations, and is conducted by veteran home schoolers.

Each attendee will receive a syllabus with a copy of the homeschool law and other vital information.

There will be an extensive selection of curriculum and academic supplements available for your perusal and purchase, to help you get a good start on your homeschooling journey.

The seminar is priced in such a way as to make it available to everyone. The full session (from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm) costs $30. A spouse or child may come for no additional charge. The Homeschooling Introductory Seminar is crucial for those seriously considering homeschooling. To register for the next seminar, please download the Registration Form and mail with payment to CHEC, 10431 S Parker Rd, Parker, CO 80134

Our Presenters

Nancy Casterline

Nancy has been homeschooling her children since 1979. She holds a Bachelor's Degree In Psychology. Nancy was part of the team that wrote and revised the CHEC Comprehensive Guide to Home Education in Colorado, contributing to the Special Needs section. Along with Kevin Lundberg, Nancy was instrumental in making the Introductory Seminars a reality. Nancy is mother to 3 girls and 3 boys, 5 of whom are graduates, grandmother to 3 with the fourth on the way(2009). Her heart is to educate and encourage beginning homeschoolers and those who have accepted the challenge to homeschool their children with special needs. Over the years Nancy has counseled and encouraged 100's of families to both begin and continue their homeschool journey. Presently Nancy is part of the team called the "office staff".

Steve and Vicki Lewis
Steve and Vicki have been homeschooling their four children since 1986. Vicki holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Education. Since the early days of the movement, Steve and Vicki have served the homeschooling community in various ways - working as a support group leader, helping to write and revise the CHEC Comprehensive Guide to Home Education in Colorado, and presenting workshops at homeschool conferences. They especially enjoy equipping new homeschoolers through the Introductory Seminars offered throughout the year.

Kevin Swanson
Homeschooled himself in the 60's and 70's, Kevin has been active in the home education from the beginning of the movement. Now a second generation homeschooler with five children, Kevin and his wife Brenda homeschool in the hinterlands of Elbert County, Colorado. Kevin serves as Executive Director of Christian Home Educators of Colorado, and speaks regularly around the country and across the world on home education. He is host of "Generations," a radio program networked across Colorado radio stations.

Marty and Judy Widmark
Marty and Judy have been home educating since 1992. They have been blessed with three children, Lindsay (23), Meredith (20), and Will (10), two of whom have graduated from home education and are both married and expecting Marty & Judy's first grandchildren this spring. The Widmark family continues to enjoy home education and desires to serve the homeschool community.

Todd and Kim Storrie

Todd and Kim Storrie, parents of ten more “chapters,” began formally educating their children at home in 1991. Their oldest three, daughters, have “graduated” and are currently pursuing their own business adventures and interests, as well as helping to run their home and assist in teaching their younger siblings. They also serve within their church and community. The remainder of our “book” continue to be discipled at home. Todd and Kim have served as volunteers with CHEC in various capacities over the past 14 years.

Scott and Andie Davidson

Scott and Andie have been homeschooling since 2004. They have been blessed with six children and hope for many more! The Davidson family is new to the Parker area and Scott is serving as the CHEC Events Coordinator. They enjoy spending time together as a family, building relationships with other believers and have a heart to help other families dig deeper into God's Word to better glorify Him in their home life.

Tell your friends about the seminars! Scheduled dates for upcoming seminars are:

Upcoming Dates:

September 19 - Denver Metro

November 14th - Denver Metro

January 9th - Denver Metro

(These dates are subject to change. Please call the CHEC office at 720-842-4852 or 1-877-842-CHEC to confirm the location and time of the workshop you would like to attend.)

Locations: (subject to change, so please call and confirm location.)

Denver Metro:

Grace Baptist Church

10431 South Parker Road, Parker, CO 80134 (Back side of strip mall that faces Parker Road, i.e. the second driveway on the right, once you are on Plaza.)

Colorado Springs:

New Life Church

New Life Drive (off of Voyager Parkway and CO 83)

Colorado Springs, CO 80921

719-594-6602 (New Life Church)

There will also be workshops for beginners at our conference in June. Check out the State Conference under the Events category for more information on this opportunity.

Communicators for Christ

How would you like your child or student to be capable (and yes, even comfortable!) speaking on a public platform anywhere, anytime, and effectively convey their message? Mark Oct 14-17 on your calendar!

What: Communicators for Christ‘s ―Lead the Escape
Tour, public speaking and critical thinking conference

Where: Northglenn Christian Church, 1800 East 105th
Place, Northglenn, Colorado

How:
Find out all the news here
Scroll down and select Denver to register (before Sept 23
for best pricing!)

Answers: Amy Craddock—craddockclan@comcast.net

Cost: FREE! 7:00 pm Friday evening program is open
to the public. Bring your friends, neighbors, and also
non-conference attendees for an unforgettable
performance!
...and much more!

Please consider allowing us to help get the word out
about what you do while we help this year's graduating
seniors!