FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S OFFICE
With the new school year well underway, I figured that I’d better get to writing our first newsletter!
I first want to say THANK YOU for choosing to home school with us and for giving us the opportunity to work with you and to support you in your home education work. dictionary defines the word, work, as “Physical or mental effort or activity directed toward the production or accomplishment of something”, and I believe that definition definitely applies to home education! invest countless hours of physical, emotional, and mental effort as you pursue your and your children’s goals to accomplish those things that are of value to you, your children, and your family. at THEE are privileged to be involved, even in small ways, with your work, and we hope and desire that we can support you in ways that are meaningful to you and your children.
May your work be blessed!
Brett Bowers, Principal-at-Large, Home-based Learning
The Home Education Exchange Newsletter — Semester 1
NOVEMBER
11th – Office Closed for Remembrance Day
17-18th – Axis Conference
25th – Ski Day Snow Valley
DECEMBER
8th—Christmas Party
10th – Ski Day Snow Valley
22nd — January 2nd THEE office closed
MESSAGE FROM THE EVENTS TEAM!
Hi everyone! I am so excited to be planning some fun and educational events for you and your students! Make sure to watch the newsletter, our FACEBOOK and twitter pages, and the website for lots of events being added over the next months. If there is something in particular that you think we should try, drop me a line and tell me all about it. Speaking of fun… I am looking for anyone who would like to help out at the Christmas party. How would you like to run a craft table? Or paint some faces? Give me a call if you can volunteer your time on December 8th.
Hope to meet you soon 🙂
~ Tina Marie Baldwin
Events Coordinator
What is “what in the world”? It is a collection of the previous month’s top national and international news stories with accompanying assignments, designed for students in grades 5 and up. We at THEE have a subscription that is emailed out to all interested families 9 times throughout the year. If you are interested in receiving this resource please email Debbie at office@thee.ca and include the email address you want it sent to. If you are currently receiving What in the World? Please let Debbie know if you want to remain on the list.
The Home Education Exchange has joined Facebook.
Check us out!
www.facebook.com/thee1992
NEED ASSISTANCE?
We are here to help you!
Brett Bowers, Principal at Large, brett@thee.ca
Deb Smith, Family Services Coordinator, office@thee.ca
Laura Taylor Engel, Enrolment Assistant, laurat@thee.ca
Natasha Hicks, High School Coordinator, natasha@thee.ca
Noelle Thorton, Accounts Manager, noellet@thee.ca
Tina Marie Baldwin, Events Coordinator, tinamarieb@thee.ca
Should you have questions regarding funding or payments please contact our Accounting Department.
Should you have questions regarding courses and credits, please contact our High School Coordinator, Natasha Hicks.
All other general enquiries should be directed to our Family Services Coordinator, Deb Smith.
The Home Education Exchange
201, 2 Athabascan Avenue
Sherwood Park, AB T8A 4E3
(780) 467-5511
www.thee.ca
The Home Education Exchange — Homeschool with US
www.twitter.com/homeedrock
WELCOME NEW STAFF!
Laura Taylor Engel, Enrolment Assistant (Seasonal)
Natasha Hicks, High School Coordinator
Noelle Thorton, Accounts Manager
Tina Marie Baldwin, Events Coordinator
PLEASE JOIN US!
THEE FAMILY CHRISTMAS PARTY
WHEN: MONDAY DECEMBER 8, 2014
TIME: 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM
WHERE: STILL MEADOWS RANCH, 51427 Range Road 210, Sherwood Park, AB
COST: $25 per family
Please RSVP to Tina Marie by November 28th at 780-467-5511 or tinamarieb@thee.ca
You can also RSVP by completing the online form found on our FACEBOOK page.
Hay rides ~ Pony Rides ~ Lunch ~ Crafts ~ Face Painting ~ Balloons
How to get to Still Meadows Ranch
Take Wye Rd south and turn onto Range Road 205 (not on Range Road 210). RR 205 bends, turns into TWP 515, bends again, and then turns into RR 210.
FREEZER MEAL WORKSHOP
Contact Tina Marie if you would like to participate in a December Freezer Meal Workshop. Date and time to be determined based on registered participants.
SKI DAYS
Tina Marie has booked a ski day for November and December. To RSVP please contact Tina Marie directly at 780-476-5511, or head to our FACEBOOK page and use the online RSVP link.
The plan is to add many more days for January, February and March depending on interest. We have chosen to use Snow Valley as our Venue this year as they have a beautiful hill and are very organized with their school programs.
The cost to participate is $35. Hope to see you there!
NEW SOAR STUDENT DATABASE
Challenges and Triumphs!
During this past August and September, we configured a new student database that meets the requirement set by Alberta Education that all schools in Alberta use a “PASI-enabled” database by September 2014. is the name of the new Alberta Education Student Information System (SIS), and each school in Alberta must now be using a database that can “talk with” PASI in real time. The set-up, configuration, and data-entry processes for making ready our own PASI-enabled database, which has the name, “Soar”, was a huge task and required two months of steady data entry and configuration by two full-time staff members. met the deadline for data submission to Alberta Ed, but in the process, I do know that many of you were left waiting for such basic information items like your confirmation letter. apologize for the many “bumps in the road” during this school year’s start up, but we had no choice but to let some priorities and tasks wait until we had the new Soar database in place and functional.
With Soar now up and running, we are focusing our efforts at customizing the database in many various ways, and we are all looking forward to being able to tap into the database’s many features to better and more efficiently serve you.
BEGINNING OF THE SCHOOL YEAR ITEMS
We’ve received several questions regarding perceived delay in receiving such items Student ID Cards and the first reimbursement cheque, and we wanted to explain why we cannot provide such things until later in October and November. We cannot start working on these, and other items until the start of the 2nd week of October because parents can change their enrolment choices up until September 30th, which is call the “September Count Date”. The proverbial “dust” does not settle on September 30th, but continues to be stirred up for at least another week or two due to all the additional, and sometimes unknown, changes to enrolment that will only surface once the Count Date has passed; such changes and “enrolment conflicts” become evident through the provincial student information system, called PASI, only after September 30th.
RIDDLE ME THIS?
There was a competition where the contestants had to hold something. At the end of the event, the winner was a person who was physically disabled (he had no hands or feet). What was it that the contestants had to hold?
Email or call Tina Marie with your answer and be entered into our “DATE NIGHT” prize draw. This includes 2 movie passes, popcorn and drink.
SAVE A TREE
Would you rather receive this newsletter by email? Contact Tina Marie and let her know that you do not require a paper copy.
http://www.pinterest.com/theehome/
WELCOME TO OUR FIRST EDITION
We hope you enjoy reading our first newsletter! Keep up to date with news, events, interesting articles, contests and more!
If you like what you see, be sure to contact Tina Marie and make sure that the email we have on file for you is current and correct. We will only be snail mailing a hard copy of the newsletter twice a year. And though, we will be emailing an electronic copy EVERY month! We have noticed many emails already bouncing back to us, so please do verify your email address with the office.
