Did you know???

Did you know that the Curriculum Centers run by the VI Department of Education are available for homeschooler use?

I didn't, but now that I do, I am going to make full use of them - you should too. You can use their die cut machines, laminating machines, binding machine, etc. They have large classroom spaces with smart boards, projection screens, a teachers materials library with resources, etc.

They are open all year round, but due to staffing cuts, you need to call to make sure that someone is there that can help you out when you want to go. Call 340-778-1600 and ask for Ms. Jackson on St. Croix. On St. thomas call 340-775-2250.

3 day Marine Ecology Course for high schoolers

3-day Marine Ecology Summer Course for high school students being offer this summer. In a nutshell, two University of Florida students applied for a Disney grant to offer a FREE outdoor / marine conservation-based program for high school students on St. Croix. They were awarded the grant, and they hired me to help.

We are still working out the details of the schedule - there will definitely be at least one field trip per day, definitely some snorkeling and a sea turtle hatchling watch.

The 3-day course is absolutely free (there are funds to pay for a taxi for students to get to the camp site and back home AND lunch). This experience will look good on applications for college and gives participants community service hours. For any water activities, a lifeguard will be present.

There are still have a few spaces left - perhaps you know students that would be interested?

If someone needs time to get the paperwork filled out or to get out to Gallow's Bay to drop off the documents, I can add student names to the roster to hold spots.

Feel free to call or e-mail Lynnea at SEA if you have questions.

Hatchling Watch at Sandy Point - sign up

Back in April, we went to see a leatherback mama come ashore and lay her eggs at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge.  Now it's time for us to trek back out to Sandy Point and see some hatchlings come into the world. When you ask?


Saturday July 7, 2012 at 5:15 pm to 8:00 pm


Here is the info from Jennifer Travis - our coordinator.


"Arrive on your reserved date at 5:15pm at the parking lot at the Refuge with your group of 15 to 30 participants....  We cannot enter the Refuge with fewer than 15 participants. 

We will enter the Refuge as a group at 5:30pm.  The gate is locked behind us; no one may enter late nor leave early.   The program is usually over by 8pm."

If you are interested in taking part in this activity PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE reply here on the blog.  

Reptile Ramble

FREE EVENT IF YOU BRING A CHILD:


It's time for SEA's popular Reptile Ramble at Southgate Coastal Reserve! Join Jennifer Valiulis, herpetologist from GeoGraphic Consulting LLC, and SEA staff member Carol Cramer-Burke this Saturday, June 23 at 10 a.m. to 12:00 noon. This is a fun reptile search with lots of cold-blooded facts about our island reptiles! Children 5 years and older will especially enjoy this activity. Free for SEA members and children, $10 for non-member adults. Please bring water to drink, wear shoes that you don't mind getting muddy and sun protection.
Registration is not required, but appreciated ... 340-773-1989.

Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement of the VI will be conducting an after school program beginning in the fall. The program is for high school Sophomores and Juniors from public, private, faith-based schools, and homeschoolers. If you have - or know of - a motivated teen who might like to participate, please send me a message! To learn more about the JA Company Program, please visit www.ja.org and click Programs, then High School Programs. 

Here is an excerpt from the Junior Achievement website that tells you more about who they are:

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs.

Junior Achievement programs help prepare young people for the real world by showing them how to generate wealth and effectively manage it, how to create jobs which make their communities more robust, and how to apply entrepreneurial thinking to the workplace. Students put these lessons into action and learn the value of contributing to their communities.

JA’s unique approach allows volunteers from the community to deliver our curriculum while sharing their experiences with students. Embodying the heart of JA, our 382,637 classroom volunteers transform the key concepts of our lessons into a message that inspires and empowers students to believe in themselves, showing them they can make a difference in the world.

This particular program is a 12 week 2 hour per session evening program lead by volunteer community members. During the 12 weeks, the students (up to 30 students) will be responsible to put together a real business with a board, doing market research, product creation, share sales, raising seed money to purchase products, selling of that product to the community, at the end of the program they do a profit/loss statement, return on investments for shareholders.  

In St.Thomas they ran this program during the spring with 30 students and at the end the students were able to distribute $34 to each shareholder and person in the program.  While this amount doesn't seem like a lot, there were tons of shareholders and the experience that your child gains through this program is invaluable.  

To get more information please contact Judi Buckley at 340-513-7077 or via email at javirginislands@gmail.com 

If you as a parent, would like to volunteer your services to help in this program, please contact Judi.

Curriculum Resources for you!

I don't know about you, but I have issues choosing my curriculum for the following year. I know I need the basics but I also tend to think, maybe we can ad something or change something? Where can I find resources that are GOOD? Can I get those books cheaper somewhere else? The list of questions can go on and on.  This year, I was shown some FANTASTIC resources that I thought I'd pass along. If you have any others please leave their links or info in the comment box after this post.

Resource 1:


Complete Curriculum. This is a nifty site that has downloadable ebooks for grades k-12 in the four main subjects - Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies.  For a $74.95 (now $4.95) yearly membership fee, you have access to up to ten digital texts to use. While each text may be assigned to only one student at a time, you might have two or more students using the ten texts!

Course content is aligned with the national standards. The outlook is secular throughout all courses. While student learn vocabulary, concepts, and skills, courses stress critical thinking rather than rote learning.

Each course has 180 lessons for the school year, but many lessons I looked at would not take that much time.  For each lesson, the teacher’s manual lists:

• The lesson objective
• Key vocabulary words
• Materials needed
• Literary selections if applicable
• An opening question that the teacher uses to begin the lesson
• Supplemental engagement activities  and/or extension activities that appear for some lessons
• Technology resources—websites that contribute to the lesson, etc
• Additional Notes to the Teacher—outline or summarize the lesson

Did you see the large text above? The price is ONLY $4.95 until June 30th. GET IT, if only for use as a resource. 

For a complete review take a look at the Cathy Duffy reviews.

Resource #2

The Simple Homeschool or Simple Schooling Classroom(the sister site) These sites are chalk full of unit studies, thematic units, etc. These sites are geared mainly towards science and history for grades k - 12. Some of the unit studies cost as little as FREE, while a year's membership to the whole site is only $72.25 per year for all grade levels.  If however you want to only buy a certain unit, it might only cost you .99 cents. YUP, .99 cents!!!  There are nature studies, units on the solar system, literature studies, etc....Check it out and let us know what you think of it.  

Resource #3

Currclick. This site is pretty cool. It is a one-stop shop for homeschool downloads, ebooks, lapbooks, live online classes for homeschoolers, unit studies, affordable curriculum, novel studies. Whereas I have not used it yet, it looks like there is a wealth of info on it and it looks EXTREMELY useful.  There are classes from art, to lapbooks, classes for children with special needs, live classes, etc. It is like a clearing house for all things homeschool related.  At the moment, they even have a special for the Olympics where students learn about each country by viewing documents on the net, and then there are activities that each student has to complete.  It is like a webquest.  Currclick is a site that I can see getting more 

and more traffic as more people homeschool.  Again, if you have used this site please tell us about it :)

Resource #4

This is an ap that I found that will keep your younger child entertained for at least 12.8 minutes!  HAHA! That would be nice, huh?  This ap, published by MeMeTales is a book library, that right now gives you 20 audio books for free that you can read to your nonreader or allow them to listen to the book on their own while you do something else.  Right now MemeTales is available for iPad, iPhones, Androids, and Kindle Fires. I did find that while my 9 yr old was fascinated by the audio portions - because really, who don't like a book being read to you, she could also read along if she wanted too. My 3 yr old likes the books too(MIRACLE!). I think this ap is better for a younger non reader, but like I said my 9 yr old is eating it up. For each book that they complete, your child gets a "sticker" that you can cut out and stick on their book certificate.  Once they fill up their sheet, they will have read at least 10 books.  This program is a great way to get kids reading over the summer and KEEP them reading.  

That's all the Resources I have for now folks!

Weekend Events

It's that time of week again - the weekend! This weekend, there are a few events going on that might be good for kids to take part in(other than celebrating Father's Day that is).


Event 1:


FREE Kid's Fishing Tournament.


Children and families on St. Croix are invited to a "Kids Fishing Tournament” Saturday at the Christiansted Wharf from 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. hosted by the Department of Housing, Parks and Recreation.The tournament is an activity associated with the department’s “Take Me Fishing” afterschool program.

Housing Parks and Recreation Commissioner St. Claire Williams said in a statement, "In our effort to serve more Virgin Islands children and families and promote diverse sports, including those that highlight our long historical culture of fishing, we are hosting this event and encourage families to participate.”

Williams said, “There is no entry fee – food and beverages will be provided for participants.”

The National Park Service, DPNR East End Marine Park, DPNR Fish and Wildlife, Golden Hook Club, NOAA and others are contributing to the tournament.  For more information please call Krystal Hardy-Flores at 773-0160. 

Event 2: Sunday June 17, 2012 9:00 am until done.

Creque Day Clean Up - FREE and VOLUNTEERS needed.

This is an ENVIRONMENTAL CALL TO ACTION: in the last three months Creque Dam pond has been completely covered by a highly invasive aquatic plant known as water lettuce. 
Already all nesting water birds have been forced to leave the pond.
The really bad news is that if it isn't removed now it may become impossible to tackle this problem. This highly invasive plant will drain the pond of water. We need to act fast:
THE MASS OF VEGETATION WILL DOUBLE IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS!


A CITIZEN CREW IS URGENTLY NEEDED TO FIGHT THIS INVASION!!!



  Using a FLATHEAD STEEL RAKE (not a leaf rake) we will snag and pull the water lettuce from the pond. A crew of 10-15 people can empty the pond in a few hours but....
WE NEED STRONG BODIES WITH STEEL RAKES!!!


WILL YOU JOIN US TO RESTORE CREQUE DAM POND?  Cold beer and soft drinks provided by Mt Victory Camp after the job is done.
WE NEED MINIMUM 15 people to pull this off!!!
CAN U COME ???
CAN US BRING OTHERS??