Not Back to School Week 2021
September 13–17
| MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10:00 | NBTS Welcome & Orientation | Check-In Chat with Leanne Markle |
FLP Q&A with Amy Ephrem |
Art Project * with Tracy Banaszynski |
|
| 10:30 | |||||
| 11:00 | Fall Photo Deep Dive * with Joan Beard |
Fencing * with Salle du Lion Rouge |
Introduction to Investing with Angela Rozmyn |
Testing & Assessment with Beth Rozenzweig |
|
| 11:30 | |||||
| 12:00 | Pt. 1 Draw Cute Houseplants * with Leanne Markle |
Minecraft ** with MoPOP |
Cook with Meg—Baking * with Meg Tucker |
Travel with Kids with Kipper Jewsbury |
|
| 12:30 | |||||
| 1:00 | Pt. 2 Paint Cute Houseplants * with Heather Matinde |
NBTS Park Day Wallingford Park |
Homeschool High School with Linda Love Gorordo |
Ukulele Play Along with Charlotte Thistle |
Why Don’t Dogs Lay Eggs? * with Brandon Hendrickson |
| 1:30 | |||||
| 2:00 | Parent Chat with Joan Beard |
Carnivorous Plants with Sara Cammeresi |
Bouncy Ball Chemistry * with Husky at Home Sci (UW) |
Child Wonder the World | |
| 2:30 | Park Day Meet'n'Greet | ||||
| 3:00 | WA Homeschool Law Q&A with Megan Riggs |
Art Appreciation with Luc Travers |
Chess Tournament ** (until 4:30) with FLP Chess Club |
Foster & Adoptive Families with Sara Cole |
|
| 3:30 | |||||
| 4:00 | Adventures in Geocaching with Dawn Navaratnasingam |
If I Were a Bird * with Kyra Ballas |
Poetry Writing with Frog Hollow |
Wrap Up Chat | |
| 4:30 |
* Indicates advanced preparation required. Full descriptions, including materials lists, below.
** Requires preregistration.
Monday (online)
Not Back to School Welcome & Orientation
Time: 10:00–11:00
Host: Sara Cammeresi (SHG)
Description: There’s a lot going on at NBTS this year. Feel free to come ask questions or just chat.
Fall Photography Deep Dive
Time: 11:00–12:00
Host: Joan Beard (SHG, Joan Beard Photography) is an art, nature, and portrait photographer.
Target Audience: Adults and students 12 and older
Materials: Please bring a photo you have taken that is powerful for you.
Description: Participants will share their photo and briefly explain why it is powerful for them. Joan will then share some of both her portraits and nature photography and talk about them. This NBTS event is a chance to meet Joan, see her work, experience her teaching style, and ask questions about her upcoming courses. She will model the way the courses will approach and discuss work in a collaborative and supportive setting.
Two courses will be offered: one for teens on Mondays at 1:00–2:30 and one for adults 7–8:30 on Monday evenings. Each course will be 7 weeks starting October 4th and concluding with a class celebration the evening of November 15th. All classes will be 6–10 students and office hours take place before and after class. All cameras and skill levels welcome and individual projects will be developed to support each Artist Student. The course is $175 and discounts and scholarships are available.
Part 1 — Let’s Draw Cute Houseplants!
Time: 12:00–1:00
Host: Leanne Markle (SHG, Leanne Markle Illustration) is freelance artist, illustrator, small business owner, and mom to Olivia who is 10!
Target Audience: Ages 5 and up
Materials: Pencil, pen, paper, and eraser! If you have access to heavyweight art paper that is ideal for dry and wet media that would be great. A Micron pen 03 is one of my favorites to ink with, and using an HB sketch pencil is great too. Don't have any of these? That's okay! You can use any paper, pencil, and pen! I'll also be using my iPad, apple pencil, and procreate so if you want to follow along with using your iPad, apple pencil, and procreate bring that along!
Description: In this session you will draw cute houseplants. The end result will be a line drawing that you can enjoy as is or bring with you into Part 2!
Part 2 — You Can Also Paint Those Cute Houseplants
Time: 1:00–2:00
Host: Heather Matinde (SHG, Instagram: Heather Inde Art, YouTube: Heather Inde) is an illustrator and artist into nature, travel and people. She is mom to Ian (14) and Cody (21).
Target Audience: Adults and students 12 and older
Materials: Watercolor paper is good to have for the best experience, as well as watercolor paint, a pencil, a paintbrush, two glasses of water (preferably in containers not used for eating or drinking) and a towel to wipe your paintbrush on. This class begins with the drawing produced in part 1.
Description: I will be teaching you to transfer your line drawing onto watercolor paper and then we can add color to your cute houseplants.
Parent Chat
Time: 2:00–3:00
Host: Joan Beard (SHG)
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Come hang out in this social chat.
Washington State Home-Based Instruction Law Q&A
Time: 3:00–4:00
Host: Megan Riggs (SHG, Washington Homeschool Organization )
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Not sure when to file your Declaration of Intent? Wondering if your kid needs to take a standardized test every year? Heard your homeschooled kid is eligible to take a class at the local public school, but don’t know where to begin? WHO Advocacy Volunteer and regular host of SHG’s Introduction to Homeschooling sessions Megan Riggs will be here to answer all of your questions about homeschooling in Washington state.
Adventures in Geocaching
Time: 4:00–5:00
Host: Dawn Navaratnasingam and her sons, Victor and Ely, discovered geocaching at the beginning of the COVID lockdowns. Since then, they have found over 400 caches and have had many memorable adventures while caching, from finding a cache in an old wrecked car on Squak Mountain to discovering a cache hidden in dog poop (fake poop, but still gross!). Geocaching has become an important family past-time. They hope to share the magic and fun of caching with others.
Target Audience: All ages
Description: Learn about the global treasure hunting pastime, geocaching! Geocaching is similar to letterboxing but harnesses the technology of GPS. This is a pastime for every season, in any area, whether you're downtown, in the suburbs, in the mountains, and—sometimes—in the water! We'll discuss geocaching basics and how you can embark on your own family's geocaching adventure today! I will share my screen to show the geocaching website and how to download the app.
Tuesday (in person)
NBTS Park Day
Where: Wallingford Playfield
4219 Wallingford Ave N.
Seattle, WA 98103
When: Tuesday, September 14, 2021 from 1–4 pm.
What: Come celebrate Not Back to School with SHG! We have planned a fun afternoon full of events!
Come find Seattle-area classes, instructors, schools, and more at the Resource Table
Bring your old instructional materials and/or pick up some new ones at the Curriculum Swap
Join us for a socially distanced group photo around 2:30 pm
Fencing with Classical Fencing Instructor Dawn Spiegelberg of Salle du Lion Rouge
[maybe] Come play Quidditch with other Muggles
Also have fun with games like: cornhole, frisbee & a parachute
Come sing and play along with Miss Charlotte Thistle and her ukulele from 1–1:45
And enjoy a Capoeira Roda by the Seattle Capoeira Center from 3–4
Wednesday (online)
Check-In Chat
Time: 10:00–11:00
Host: Leanne Markle (SHG)
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Kick-off session for regular SHG Check-In Chats. Check-in Chats happen every other Wednesday at 10 am via Zoom! Join other homeschoolers in the community to talk about homeschooling, kids, activities, health, books, more homeschooling! Whatever is on folk’s minds! It’s a way to stay connected! Whether you’re new to homeschooling or have been at it for years, we’d love to see you! Check the SHG Online Forum for details!
Fencing
Time: 11:00–12:00
Host: Dawn Spiegelberg (Salle du Lion Rouge)
Target Audience: All ages
Description: Join us for the basics of fencing!
The art of defence is simple enough to learn in an afternoon while complex enough to study for a lifetime.
This is a movement class. Dress in comfortable clothing and make sure you have space to move around.
Minecraft
No zoom link — requires advanced registration
Time: 12:00–1:00
Host: Jessica Lang (MoPOP Homeschool Days)
Before the Event: Registration required (limited to 18 students). Submit one Registration Form for each student. The form should stop accepting responses once the limit is reached.
Description: Join MoPOP for a Minecraft: Education Edition build challenge! Working together, we'll imagine and build a new community inspired by fantasy characters and places. Will our library be run by the Wicked Witch or by Black Panther? Should we build the dragon's flower shop or the Sugar Plum Fairy's garden? Use your own creativity as you construct a fantasy-inspired community!
Homeschooling High School
Time: 1:00–2:00
Host: Linda Love Gorordo (Love HS to College) brings real-world knowledge and experience into the educational consulting field. When her children were younger, she wrote a successful $500,000 grant for their elementary school, and was hired as a consultant for a magnet program at the school they attended after moving to Washington state. When her children were 5th, 4th and 1st grades, they began homeschooling. Over the subsequent years, she has gained expertise on various forms of school choice, alternative schooling, hybrid schooling, dual enrollment and how all of those things, along with homeschooling can be combined for a successful high school education and college application. Her older children, now 24 and 22 have graduated from prestigious universities, while her youngest, at 20, is finishing his sophomore year at Carleton College in Minnesota. All have followed a non-traditional educational path to university acceptance.
For the past 5 years, Linda has supported all types of families in Western Washington as they explore and choose both traditional and non-traditional paths for high school and college.
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Longtime SHG friend and educational consultant Linda Love Gorordo will share her knowledge and answer your questions about homeschooling at the high school level. If you want a little background preview, check out these videos Linda recorded for WHO: How to Homeschool High School and The Mystery of College in High School.
For more on homeschooling high school, plus preparing transcripts and documents, and applying for college and financial aid, see Linda’s schedule of Zoom workshops this fall.
Carnivorous Plants
Time: 2:00–3:00
Host: Sara Cammeresi (SHG, Master Gardener) is a gardener and amateur naturalist who loves getting close to the ground and studying all the plants, animals, birds, insects, fungus, slime, lichens, rocks, and more. Before the pandemic she taught gardening classes for homeschoolers at the Bothell Children’s Garden and for the last several years she has been growing and learning about carnivorous plants.
Target Audience: All ages
Description: Join Sara for this reprise of last year’s introduction to the wild world of plants that eat animals. Learn where these plants grow naturally, how they attract and digest their prey, and how they evolved to do this. Then take a quick tour of Sara’s collection.
Art Appreciation
Time: 3:00–4:00
Host: Luc Travers (Touching the Art, Literature at Our House), is the creator of LiteratureAtOurHouse and author of the book Touching The Art: A Guide to Enjoying Art at a Museum. He is currently working on a second book Stories in Paint: 50 Powerful Artworks from Museums across the US. Mr. Travers lives in Wilmington, North Carolina where he helped coordinate the docent program at the Cameron Art Museum. In addition to teaching Art Appreciation and Literature on line, Mr. Travers has led art museum tours for both adults and children in over thirty museums around the world (including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Getty Center, the Louvre, and the Vatican museums). He graduated from the University of Memphis with a degree in Art History, and speaks fluent French.
Target Audience: Ages 7–12
Description: Join Mr. Travers for a unique and innovative art appreciation class where we learn to "read" an artwork and personally connect to the meaning of the story.
Students who want more are invited to check out Mr. Travers’ fall classes: Elementary Art Appreciation and Junior High Art Appreciation, as well as the full range of Literature At Our House classes.
If I Were a Bird
Time: 4:00–5:00
Host: Kyra Ballas (Heartwood Nature Programs) grew up in the Pacific Northwest where rainy skies, towering forests, and muddy trails sparked her curiosity and appreciation for the natural world. She has her degree from Western Washington University in Environmental Studies, where she discovered a love for teaching and connecting people to nature. She was a park and outreach technician for Whatcom County Parks and Recreation, and an outdoor science instructor at Oregon Museum of Science in the John Day Fossil Beds, where she led wilderness field studies for K-12 students, as well as a naturalist/educator for Klamath Outdoor Science School where she taught rural, indigenous, and latinx students about the unique ecology and cultural history of the Klamath Basin. She is currently Heartwood’s Program Coordinator and Educator for the Salmonberries, Huckleberries, and Blackberries classes.
Target Audience: Ages 5–11
Materials: natural materials (i.e.: sticks, branches, mud, leaves, etc.) and/or humanmade materials (shredded paper, pipe cleaners, ribbons, etc.) whatever they would they like to make a nest out of!
Description: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly, or what all the birds in your neighborhood are up to? Join us as we explore the wonderful world of birds and build your very own nest!
Thursday (online)
Family Learning Program Q&A
Time: 10:00–11:00
Host: Amy Ephrem (Family Learning Program)
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Family Learning Program (FLP) offers a wide variety of classes, clubs, and community-building opportunities for homeschooling families. Come get to know us! (pdf flyer)
Introduction to Investing
Time: 11:00–12:00
Host: Angela Rozmyn
“Hi! I’m Angela.
I live up in the beautiful Pacific Northwest outside of Seattle, where my day job (at 80% time) is in creating affordable, sustainable housing in my area. I’m on the journey to financial independence, but #SlowFI is more my jam, as I love my career and I’m looking to enjoy our lives now.
In the rest of my time, you’ll find me blogging over at Tread Lightly Retire Early, hanging out on Twitter and the WPF Facebook group, volunteering my time in my local community, gardening, hiking, and otherwise spending as much time in nature as I possibly can. I live in our little “starter” home of ten years with my husband, six year old son, our long term housemate, and our animals. Above all, you’ll find me doing my best to be kind, as I find that empathy is the thing that is needed most in this world.”
Target Audience: Parents and kids 14+
Description: An accessible, low-key hour to learn about the basics of investing. How to do it, why, and more. Let’s talk about the magic of compound interest and investing early—even if you don’t have a lot to invest.
Cook with Meg—Baking Class
Time: 12:00–1:00
Host: Meg Tucker (Cook with Meg) has been creating shared experiences through media for over twenty years. Creator of the Shaw TV original kids cooking show Just One Bite, and a top 25 finalist on Masterchef Canada, Meg’s catchy enthusiasm for life brings joy to everyone she meets in front of and behind her kitchen counter.
Today, Meg brings her years of experience and talents together through her online learning community Cook With Meg. Providing live and on-demand cooking classes for adults, families and children all over North America, Meg’s following of kitchen keeners come back, again and again, to create and cultivate their culinary cool.
Target Audience: Kids, teens, and families
Materials: Please print (or have access to) the recipe for Next Level Strawberry Lemonade Squares and have the following ingredients on hand. Note: The following amounts are totals. See the recipe for amount in each layer.
INGREDIENTS
¾ cup butter, salted or unsalted, softened
~2 cups granulated white sugar
⅓ cup powdered or confection sugar
~2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs, room temperature
⅔ cup chopped strawberries
2 tbsp lemon juice fresh or bottled works just fine!
½ tsp vanilla or almond extract
1–2 tbsp water
PREP
Part of this recipe uses softened butter. Please bring softened to room temperature (you can just leave it on the counter). The crumble topping part of the recipe needs butter as well, but this portion doesn't need to be super soft. You can use from the fridge.
Chop your strawberries ahead of time
Description: Join this super fun, throwback to summer Cook with Meg baking class as we make Next Level Strawberry Lemonade Squares in real time via Zoom! Make new friends, learn new skills and join the Cook with Meg community!
Ukulele Play Along
Time: 1:00–1:30
Host: Charlotte Thistle (SHG, Miss Charlotte’s Music & Movement) has been teaching music to kids for 20 years. She offers ukulele lessons both online and in person, and teaches a Music for Tots program outdoors for younger kids.
Target Audience: Ages 5–8, older and younger children welcome. Parents encouraged to participate.
Description: Join “Miss Charlotte" for a fun sing-a-long, with or without your ukulele!
Bouncy Ball Chemistry
Time: 2:00–3:00
Host: Husky at Home Science is an outreach program by UW Chemistry Professor Matthew R. Golder and research team.
Target Audience: Ages 5–13
Materials: You will need…
1 Tbsp. Borax
3⁄4 C. water
1⁄2 Tsp. corn starch
1 Tbsp. glue
Optional: food coloring, glitter, etc.
Description: Get your hands wet and make your own bouncy ball with some polymer chemistry!
Through the summer the HAHS team led students at home through an exploration of polymers exploring banana DNA, recycled paper, bioplastics, and bouncy balls! The HAHS team hopes to run more free classes for homeschooled students this school year.
Chess Tournament with FLP Chess Club
No zoom link — requires advanced registration
Time: 3:00–4:30
Host: Jane Yagi (SHG, Family Learning Program)
Target Audience: All ages welcome, great for 8–12 year olds
Before the Event: Sign up for a free account on ChessKid and fill out the form to get connected to other Chess Club members.
Description: FLP Chess Club is a drop-in club for local homeschoolers who play chess for fun. We play outdoor chess at regular park days, and weekly online tournaments (via Zoom and on ChessKid.com, a free chess site designed especially for kids). To play with FLP Chess, kids will need a browser (Chrome and Firefox recommended) or the free ChessKid app. Kids of all ages are welcome (currently 8-12 year olds in a typical week).
Poetry Writing
Time: 4:00–5:00
Host: Becca Hall (Frog Hollow School) is the director of Frog Hollow School, which has been helping young people love writing since 2011. She writes the newsletter A Few Crooked Words, about helping kids love to write, and also writes essays and fiction. A former homeschooler and possible future homeschooling parent, she lives in Seattle with her daughter and their dog.
Target Audience: Anyone who can write a sentence (or has someone they can dictate one to). Adults, kids, and teens all welcome.
Materials: Pencil and paper
Description: Come play with poetry-writing! We will hear and write some playful, wild things together, and get excited about creative writing. Experienced writers, beginning writers, parents, grandparents, literate dogs: everyone welcome! If you aren't yet a writer, bring along someone you can dictate to. If you are a writer, bring some paper and a pencil.
Friday (online)
Artist Trading Cards
Time: 10:00–11:00
Host: Tracy Banaszynski (SHG, Loyal Heights Homeschool)
Target Audience: All ages
Materials:
Required
watercolor or other sturdy white paper cut into 2.5” x 3.5" rectangles.
Plus, any of the following
markers (water resistant if using water colors and you don't want the marker lines to bleed)
gel pens
watercolor paint
crayons
washi tape and/or stickers
collage elements and glue
other decorative elements
Description: Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) are small works of art that can be created, collected, and traded. The possibilities for decorating them are endless. The only rule is they have to be 2.5 x 3.5". If you would like to trade artist cards with other participants in the workshop, please send your name and address to tlbanaszynski@yahoo.com so I can coordinate a mailing list!
Testing and Assessment Q&A
Time: 11:00–12:00
Host: Beth Rosenzweig homeschooled her youngest 2 children in the early ‘80s from birth to college entrance—they are now grown with children of their own. She has a current Washington State Teaching Certificate and graduate degree in Education (Special Education emphasis). She started providing academic assessments and standardized testing in 1985 and continues to provide annual academic assessments. She has taught homeschool Parent Qualification classes for several colleges since 1993 and is currently teaching for Edmonds College and Skagit Valley College.
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Longtime SHG friend and educational consultant Beth Rosenzweig is here to answer your questions about homeschool testing and assessment for ages 8–18! Bring your questions! (Beth’s Annual Assessment Q&A)
Travel with Kids
Time: 12:00–1:00
Host: Kipper Jewsbury (SHG, Kids & Passports), her husband Andrew, and their children Falcon (11) and Batty (9) are an international family hailing from Australia, Denmark, and USA. Together they have visited 37 countries and every continent except Antarctica.
“We were travelers before children and didn’t stop when they came along. We travel for fun, for family time, to experience diverse cultures, and to worldschool our whole family.”
Target Audience: Homeschooling and would-be homeschooling parents
Description: Kipper and her family have traveled all over the world and when COVID hit and travel came to a grinding halt, they found new ways to travel… virtually! If you’re interested in broadening your kid’s cultural awareness through real and virtual travel, Kipper’s got ideas for you!
Why Don’t Dogs Lay Eggs?
Time: 1:00–2:00
Host: Brandon Hendrickson (Science is Weird) helps kids fall in love with the world.
He’s a homeschooling dad who works with homeschooling families — and got his start teaching SHG teens!
He currently runs “Science is WEIRD”, an outfit that seeks to help kids (and especially 2e kids) fall in love with the sciences, but he’s also been an classroom teacher and curriculum architect at a startup Montessori-inspired school in Bellevue. Before that, he and his wife ran a homeschooling enrichment program in Kirkland that taught elementary kids history, philosophy, and cooking.
In all this, he’s worked with the knowledge that the world is fascinating, and that kids are more clever than is commonly assumed.
He has bachelor’s degrees in world religions and history, and a master’s in educational theory from the University of Washington.
Target Audience: Kids, ages 8–13
Materials:
an egg to dissect
a clear cup/bowl to crack it in
some paper to draw on
your voracious curiosity
Description: Eggs seem straightforward — but when you think about it, they hardly make any sense.
• If eggs are so helpful, why don’t mammals lay them?
• What is the “yolk”, anyway — is it a baby chick?
• And why are they so delicious?
Explore embryology, evolutionary biology, and ooey-gooey eggs in this hour-long session!
Explore the World & Work, Study, Play at Child Wonder the World
Time: 2:00–2:30
Host: Giselle Fuerte (SHG, Child Wonder the World) is an AfroLatin immigrant from Panama who lives in the United States with her young, homeschooled children. She holds a graduate degree in education from the University of Southern California.
Target Audience: Parents with children 0-8 years old
Description: Enjoy a virtual tour of our new globally inspired indoor playground in Burien. You’re invited to work, study, and play in a space where children of color can build self-esteem and a sense of belonging by seeing reflections of themselves and their cultural heritage in their play environment, and where diverse toys and books also provide “windows” through which all children learn acceptance and empathy towards people who don’t look or act like them. Tables, headphones, and WiFi for work and study. Play space, snacks, and drinks for recharging and taking breaks. COVID-safe for your well-being. (pdf flyer)
SHG Park Day Meet’n’Greet
Time: 2:30–3:00
Hosts: Allison Rozell Tatum (SHG Steering Committee & South End Park Day)
Alan Bond (SHG Tuesday Park Day) & Susan Milton (SHG Steering Committee & Park Day regular)
plus homeschooling parents interested in starting/reviving North End and Eastside Park Days
Target Audience: All Seattle-area homeschoolers and would-be homeschoolers
Description: Come meet your SHG Park Day organizers. Find out what goes on at Park Day and how you can get involved. Not a Park Day in your area? Get some advice about how to start one!
Loving + Effective Homeschooling for Foster and Adoptive Parents: Let’s talk about Connection and Community
Time: 3:00–4:00
Host: Sara Cole (SHG, Parent Coach)
Target Audience: Parents of adopted and/or foster children who are homeschooling or considering homeschooling.
Description: Bring your questions, concerns, passions, and longing for connection with others who “get it.”
NOTE: Please have headphones. If possible, it would be great to be separate from your children so you can speak freely about your experience without concern for young ears and hearts.
Wrap Up Chat
Time: 4:00–5:00
Host: Sara Cammeresi (SHG Events Chair)
Target Audience: All Seattle-area homeschoolers and would-be homeschoolers
Description: Final social chat to wrap up our Not Back to School Week. Would love to hear about your favorite and not-so-favorite parts of NBTS.