First Class Registration

Hi all,

I hope your school year is going well and that you're enjoying those last few days of Indian summer weather.  Errr.... well, the weather appears to have changed now.  It's feeling a little more like school time.  LIGHT's co-op is coming together nicely and we're ready to announce the class schedule and registration information.  The fall term of classes will run from October 14 through December 9.  Registration is at Garden Way Church, 10am this Friday, September 30.  If you can not make it to registration day, it is highly recommended to send someone in your place, to walk through the process for you.  This can be anyone, your husband, grandma, neighbor, friend, stranger you meet on the street...  :-)  But seriously, this is the best way to do it if you can't do it yourself on that day.  

Registration is done on a first come, first served basis so we STRONGLY recommend arriving at the church with completed forms in hand.  There will be additional copies available onsite, but classes will fill while you are completing them.

Our main website for the Eugene First Class Christian Homeschool Co-op (EFC for short) is located at www.fchm.org     Read down the left sidebar to Co-ops, select Co-op Locations and then scroll down to find Eugene First Class under Oregon.  There is also a link on the sidebar here on the LIGHT website.  On our welcome page you will find links to become a member of First Class Homeschool Ministries, the national organization this co-op falls under.  It gives instructions to pay a $25 fee for your family, for the whole year.  This membership must be completed before you can register for classes and is best done at home before registration day.  When you have done this, we will email more specific instructions for registration day including all of the necessary forms which are also available on that same welcome page.  This includes forms for local co-op membership, class registration and background check for all parents who will be onsite during co-op hours.  NOTE:  for printing out the class registration form, page four of the document is for the parent's schedule.  Don't miss that page if you don't need pages 2 and 3 for children.  Payment for our local chapter fees ($25 per family, per year) and classes can all be paid at registration.  We don't want money to preclude anyone from participating.  If you will need a scholarship, please contact Dani Foster at lighthomeschooling@gmail.com before registration day if possible.

If this is all new to you, you can find general information about Eugene First Class Christian Homeschool Co-op by clicking on the "CO-OP" button above.

If you have any questions you can e-mail them to lighthomeschooling@gmail.com.   We greatly appreciate everyone's grace and patience while we are working out the kinks in the system.  Hope to see you there!

Dani Foster, Director   

Eugene First Class Christian Homeschool Co-op

      

                                                                                         

First Meeting!!

"I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream for ICE CREAM!!!!"

It's that time of year again!  Come to our first meeting and kick of the new school year with your LIGHT family!  We will have a welcome, registration and First Class introduction followed by an Ice Cream Social!  Meeting is on September 10th at 9:30am at Norkenzie Christian Church.  There is a map on the sidebar if you need directions.  Looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones! 


There is a link to the 2011-2012 registration form on the right side bar if you want to get a head start.  Membership dues this year are $20 with two concert of service commitments over the school year and one during the used sale.


We have a great calendar of events set up for this year.  Check out the calendar tab above to see what we have planned.


Can't wait to see everyone!


***We will be accepting registration forms at the Splash! event as well***

Splash Not Back To School Swim

Mark Your Calendars!!!

What: LIGHT's Annual Splash Not Back To School Swim

Where: Splash! At Lively Park

When: Tuesday September 6th from 12-1pm

Who: All Homeschoolers are welcome to attend!

Cost: $3 per swimmer

LIGHT will have the facility from 12-1. After that is an open swim till 5pm. Feel free to bring a sack lunch and stay all day! Let's make it a great day of swimming, fellowship and fun!

Hope to see you there =)

First Class Planning Meeting TOMORROW!!!

The planning meeting for the LIGHT First Class Eugene Co-op will be held on:
Day: Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Time: 7pm
Place: Garden Way Church, 231 North Garden Way - Eugene, OR 97401

Fees for this coop are as follows:
$25 per family per year to become a national member of First Class Ministries.
$25 per family per year to LIGHT to run the coop - this fee covers LIGHT membership also.
Each class has a small cost of $4 per term in addition to any material fees for classes that have them. Some classes have a required text.

If you are interested in participating in this coop, please come to the meeting with ideas of classes you'd like to see taught, and with ideas of classes you are willing to teach. Not everyone must teach but teachers do get to register their children in classes first so there is a benefit to teaching, particularly if classes fill up. We will be scheduling a teacher orientation meeting at a later date. This is when the teachers will be able to walk through the classrooms and suggest the ones they feel would work best for their class. We will not be touring the facility at the planning meeting. If you will be bringing any of your children to the meeting, please plan quiet activities to occupy them during the discussion as there will not be childcare. However, we prefer this to be a parent meeting only.

I am pleased to announce that the Director of Happy Valley First Class in Portland, Michelle Law, as well as their Field Trip Coordinator, Jennifer Keikkala will be coming down to help us run this meeting. I'm sure you'll all enjoy them, they are both very fun people with a lot of energy and enthusiasm to share with us about First Class. You will also have an opportunity to meet Norm Fox, the Education Minister at Garden Way Church. Please be sure to thank him for the church's willingness to host our co-op.

If you have not checked out the class schedule yet, please do so before the meeting (see post below for a link to the document). If you still have basic questions about First Class and how the co-op will be run, please come a little early to the meeting to get that information. So, invite your friends and come to the meeting. It would be helpful to have an idea of who is coming, so if you have a chance, please email lighthomeschooling@gmail.com with a quick, "I'll be there." If you're interested in participating but can't make it, I need to know that too. Light refreshments will be served.

Hope to see you there!!

First Class Update

Our First Class Co-op is coming right along! Now that Garden Way has agreed to partner with us in this venture, we have been busily working on a class list and schedule.

Click HERE for a tentative class list.

***If you cannot access the document at the above link, please email lighthomeschooling@gmail.com (or click the button on the right side bar!) for a PDF copy***

Several people have committed to teaching, but we still need a few more people to teach a class. Some class ideas are:

Building Class (LEGOs, Knex, etc.)

Sign Language

Book Club

Cooking

Cake Decorating

Fairy Tale Theater

Armor of God

Zoo Science

Physics

Dr. Seuss

Geography

Maps

Grossology (digestion)

Pirates

Colonial Times, World War II or any period of time

Sewing

Knitting

Wood Working (make a project but no power tools)

Board Games (ages 6+) – we’d divide into age groups within one class

These ideas are just to get you started thinking of your own ideas. Go to the library, pick a book that is interesting to you and break it down into 8 classes. Don’t forget Rainbow Resources and Homeschooling in the Woods for ideas. If you use or purchase your own materials for the class, those are yours to do with as you like. If you pass the cost of materials on to the kids as a materials fee, then the co-op would own the materials for use in a class at a later time.

You can also find additional class ideas on the First Class website: http://www.firstclasshomeschool.org/pages/uploads/LeadersFiles/Friday_School_Class_Ideas/FCHM-CLASS%20IDEAS.pdf

We also need "bargain hunters" to help us find LEGOS, Knex and other building materials. If you think you could help us out, contact lighthomeschooling@gmail.com for more information and budget details.

We will be scheduling a planning meeting in the next week, so watch your emails for the date and time. The meeting will be held at our co-op location, Garden Way Church, 231 N Garden Way, Eugene, Oregon.

We're looking forward to an exciting new year!

See you soon =)

Real Life Homeschooling ~ Summer Tour

Come join Jay and Heidi St. John, homeschool parents of 7 and author of "THE BUSY HOMESCHOOL MOM'S GUIDE TO" series for an evening of laughter and encouragement for your homeschool journey. 

Heidi will give a presentation called:

The Busy Homeschool Mom's Guide to Daytime: How to fit your size 16 day into a size 10.

GIVEAWAYS & SPECIAL OFFERS

Thursday, July 7th

7:00 PM ~ $10.00 per family

First Baptist Church

Sponsored by:

First Class Homeschool First Class Ministries

Apologia

HSLDA

Institute for Excellence in Writing

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

Multnomah University

Hosted By:

LIGHT

New Website

Hello Light Members,


We have made the switch over to a blog format for our website. Hopefully this can be a place that is more interactive. We hope to have lots of good homeschool information and support here.  This little place on the web will be updated throughout the summer.  You can also look for us on facebook where we will have more frequent posts and information.  Please have patience with us as we get settled here.  
Blessings,


LIGHT