Conference Summary

Thank you to all those that attended our Conference on the Rock 2011.  Those of you that didn't make it missed a great time.

Donna Ward was an inspiring speaker.  She shared sessions on the importance of loving your child, making geography and history come alive through using great resources and techniques, and the importance of including good books not only for learning but also for enjoyment.  She also had an excellent display of many wonderful resources on her Northwoods Press vendors tables.

Doug Ward, Donna's husband, gave an update on HSLDA and discussed the importance of joining HSLDA for your own peace of mind and also to support others who homeschool to help promote homeschooling as a viable option.

Calvin Smith convincingly made the case for the importance of Genesis and the origins of life.  He showed how everyone comes to conclusions on these matters by using the same facts, but their interpretation of the facts is what makes the difference. Calvin had a great display of books and videos available through Creation Ministries International.

Alfred MacLaren presented the rationale behind the A.C.E.  (Accelerated Christian Education) program and how the program works.  He was available at his table for discussion throughout the conference.

Stephanie Jackson returned with a table of Math-U-See material and was avaiable for discussion and consultation throughout the conference.

Rod and Staff once again brought their big beautiful display of resources and representatives were also avaiable for discussion and consultation throughout the conference.

As recommended by attendees at last years conference, lots of time was built into the schedule for people to browse the vendor tables and to talk with one another.  This is always a favourite part of conference.

Children ages 3-11 enjoyed their time playing in a supervised play room during the conference and the teens took advantage of the youth room and also took in a special session with Calvin Smith.

The conference closed with a passing of leadership for CHENL.  Lorne Robinson explained that he and his wife, Cathy, were stepping down from leadership in CHENL as their youngest child has now graduated and they would no longer be actively homeschooling but they would continue to support the homeschooling community in anyway they can.  Lorne introduced Dean Stairs as the new chair for CHENL. Dean is a homeschooling dad of a large family.  While not a native Newfoundlander he fell in love with the place when stationed here during a term with the armed forces and decided to make Newfoundland his home.  He has a great vision for the future of CHENL. Be watching for an explanation of his vision soon.

Conference on the Rock 2011 Schedule

Schedule

FRIDAY

7-7:15 Welcome & Intros

7:15-8:00 Donna Ward – How to Really Love Your Child

8:00 - 9:00 Calvin Smith – Genesis: The Missing Piece of the Puzzle

9:00 - 9:40 Meet & Greet / Vendors

SATURDAY

8:45-9:10 Coffee & Muffins

9:10-9:30 Devotions - Lorne

9:30-10:30 Donna Ward - Jumpin' Geography

10:30-11:00 Break / vendors

11-11:20 Doug Ward - HSLDA update

11:20-12:20 Calvin Smith Intelligent Design: Critical Thinking Concerning the Question of Origins

OR Pam Hynes - "Homeschooling 101"

12:20 - 1:20 Lunch

1:30-2:30 Donna Ward - Soar with Canadian History

Youth Session with Calvin Smith – Living in the “Real” World

2:30- 3:00 Alfred MacLaren - The Individualized Path To Success

3:00 -3:30 Break / Vendors

3:30-3:50: Donna Ward - Books that Change Us

3:50 - 4:30 CHENL Update

4:30 - 5:00 Door Prizes/Closing

Register online for Conference on the Rock 2011!

Check out the 

CHENL website 

for all the information 

and to pre-register 

and if you like even prepay online.  

There will be a draw for a prize 

from all those that pre-register and prepay.  

Hope to see you all there!

Next month! Conference on the Rock 2011!

CHENL's Conference on the Rock 2011

Date - June 17-18

Spruce Hills Community Church, 

1496 Topsail Rd. 

Paradise, NL  

Key Note Speaker

Donna Ward, Northwoods Press

Stay tuned for registration information and schedule

Federal Election Learning Opportunities

We are gearing up for the 41st General Election in Canada.  This presents us with a great opportunity to teach our children about elections and government.  One resource that can help with that is StudentVote.ca.  Some quotes from their website:

Student Vote is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that aims to build the capacity and commitment of young Canadians to participate in their democracy.
Student Vote’s flagship program is a parallel election for students under the voting age, coinciding with official election periods. The program combines in-class learning, family dialogue, media consumption and an authentic voting experience. The purpose is to provide young Canadians with an opportunity to experience the democratic process firsthand and practice the habits of informed and engaged citizenship.

The great thing is this program is homeschool friendly. Homeschool families can register individually or in groups.  To register initially call 1-866-488-8775 to be entered into their database. Be prepared to give a name for your group, a mailing address, a team leader name, email address and phone number, your electoral district, and the number of ballots you will need for your students. Once you are in the database you can register online for future programs.

Newfoundland Homeschoolers be sure you are counted

Homeschool Horizons is having a fun challenge to see which is the top homeschooling province in Canada.  Really, it is not an actual account of homeschoolers in each province, just an account of how many homeschoolers in each province have filled in the Homeschool Horizons Survey, but it's still fun. Along with giving you a chance to have Newfoundland and Labrador more accurately represented in numbers, the survey also gives you a chance to help ensure that Homeschool Horizons will meet the needs of homeschoolers across Canada.  They post updates of the results each week on their facebook page.  Why not join in the fun and make sure that you are counted?

Feb 21st cut off date to pre-order planners through CHENL

Last chance to place a pre-order for the Well Planned Day Planners and get to take advantage of the great early bird discount price.  We have enough interest and will be placing an order.  The planners ordered will be available for pick up at the conference. You have until Feb 21st to fill in the form and let us know if you what one, or more.  You may still order planners after this date but you will not get the same great discount.

Check out the CHENLforum, or leave a comment here, if you want more details.  Fill in the form here - https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEk4Y0VNeWpOWXRUV0hlYWttNlhWMEE6MQ.

Homeschool Horizons, Canadian Homeschool Magazine, Launches website

The website launched February 10, 2011 and the magazine is planning for a first print edition in September 2011.

From their website: "Homeschool Horizons is a soon-to-launch homeschool encouragement magazine dedicated to Canadian homeschoolers...Homeschool Horizons HQ is in Ontario, but our team spans this beautiful country we call Canada."



Check it out by clicking on the magazine logo above.  Read the explanation of the Homeschool Horizons logo, check out the Homeschool Horizons We Care page to read about a wonderful plan, send a link to your blog so that you can be added to the Homeschool Horizons' list of Canadian bloggers.

Also, take a minute to fill in the Homeschool Horizons survey to have a say in what the magazine becomes.  On the Homeschool Horizons facebook page they have issued a challenge to see which is the top homeschool province in Canada, based on the number of responses they get to their survey.  Let's make sure that our province is well represented in the results.

Before you leave the magazine's website, don't forgot to sign up to be notified of updates.  Pass the word.  Here's a chance for homeschoolers across Canadian to connect and support one another.

Day Planners for the 2011-2012 school year

Check out the CHENLforum, or leave a comment here, if you want more details.  Fill in the form here - https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEk4Y0VNeWpOWXRUV0hlYWttNlhWMEE6MQ.