Homeschool PE kicks off at the Walnut Creek YMCA next Friday, September 17 from 1-4 pm. This program offers physical exercise for homeschool children ages 6 through high school. (Mature five-year olds may attend with parent the first time and staff okay without parent.) PE is usually held the third Friday of the month, but please check back for a listing up future dates.

The Y is located at 948 73rd Street in Windsor Heights. Youth are divided into age groups with the first half of the time including gym activities and snacks followed by either pool/gym time for the second half. Cost will be $5 for non-members and $2 for Y members. Parents are encouraged to register and pay on-line at

https://register.dmymca.org/online/searchresults.php

Children get in free when parents volunteer with either the gym time or by assisting in the pool. Sign up must be done one week prior to the date to receive free admission, though parent volunteers are always welcome. Contact Phil Simmons at phil.simmons@dmymca.org or 515 224-1888 to sign up.

Julia took this tour with a home school group seven years ago and it was FABULOUS. The adults were just as interested as the kids. Her then-preschooler still remembers parts of the tour. A nice variety of architecture is presented and discussed. (Age restrictions are now very much enforced. Sorry to get your hopes up.)

Go here:  registration page

From the LHF website (scroll down until you find the date, Sept.8):
Living History Farms welcomes homeschool families!     Tour 300 years of Midwestern history, from when the Ioway Indians farmed in Iowa to the beginning of the 20th century when farmers used horses, and participate in chores done by children.  Explore the daily life of a child in 1875 as you tour the town of Walnut Hill and participate in chores at 5 locations throughout town.  And don’t be late for a lesson at the schoolhouse!
 
Pre-registration required; e-mail educ@lhf.org or call 515.278.5286 ext. 178.  Activities take place from 10:00 – noon, and from 1:00 – 3:00.  Once you register, you will receive a list of activities for the day.  Special discount of $1.00 off admission price for homeschool families that pre-register by September 1st.

Cathy and I would like to develop a monthly career day type of program for ages 12 and up. The program would have a speaker talk to the kids about the post-high school education necessary for the career and what great things and challenges jobs in that field might entail. We’ve talked about having speakers for: dental hygienist, medical doctor, nurse, graphic designer, comic strip artist/cartoonist, information systems technician, architect, and veterinarian. We are very flexible about which careers are booked. This programming will be free, but we cannot manage it ourselves. I’d like you to consider volunteering for us for either an entire school year’s worth of career days (9 events total) or shorter commitments (even one-time commitments!) if we can get enough hostesses. To make career day work, the following jobs must be done:

1, Create an event once a month. This can be done by one of the Three Sisters, or by you (you get to choose the career!). Creating the event means you contact a speaker, and set up a location and time for the event (usually the speaker’s workplace or a library meeting room). Give this information to Julia to put in the monthly newsletter.
2. Take RSVP’s, send confirmations and a specific address (for security, we do not typically reveal exact addresses until a family commits to attending the event), create attendance list for event. This can be done with a Three Sisters email address or your personal email address.
3. Hostess the event – greet speaker and inform him/her about expected number in audience, take attendance, greet attendees.
4. Thank everyone for coming and introduce the speaker if mutually desired.
5. Thank everyone for attending.

Cathy and I cannot take on jobs 3 – 5 and are very willing to give jobs 1 and 2 to someone if mutually practical. Three Sisters will give the following support: HLR signs for use with street directions, promotion through a monthly newsletter, promotion through a blog, and use of Three Sisters email address (to avoid your personal information being distributed).

Conducted free of charge by a trained Dignity Memorial® associate, the program teaches children how to differentiate between good and bad strangers, the common lures abductors use, how to “get away, right away,” and how to find help when needed. In addition to teaching key concepts in an entertaining and non-threatening manner, presenters enlist the aid of children from the audience to demonstrate several simple yet highly effective techniques for escaping dangerous situations. Recommended ages 5 – 10 years old. Parents will need to stay with kids. If there are younger siblings present, we’d like you to try and stay in the room as a family; the library is available if younger kids need to leave with a parent.  After the one-hour class is over, you may retrieve your older kids.

Registration is open now via email for the following classes:

Monday, Sept. 20 at 4 p.m. – 5 p.m. OR Tuesday, Sept. 21 from 4 – 5 p.m.

– removed for safety and “crowd control” –

Send email to see3sis@yahoo.com, indicate which day you want, and how many people (adults and kids) you are registering. Do not leave a comment as your RSVP. You will receive a confirmation email. This class is full. There is no fee, but we ask that you keep your commitment as we anticipate a waiting list. Limit of 40 people.

If you want to see more of Josh of The Amazing Chemistry Show, or have to miss his Sept. 13 show, keep your eyes on this blog for chemistry program developments.

They will set up their “bookstore” in our garage and home.

Address: 2005 69th St (one block south of Hickman)

Time/Day: Fri, Aug 27 2 p.m.- 7 p.m. and Sat, Aug 28, 9 a.m. – 12noon

Jan’s “Boy’s” talk will be at 2 p.m. and “Girls” at 3 p.m. on Fri.

If you aren’t interested in Jan’s talks, you can just come and browse and shop!

Please feel free to pass this on to other groups in the area and beyond.

Bloom’s have not been at NICHE the last 2 years, so this is a great chance to come and get your “living books” fix!

Jan would like to have an idea of how many are coming and is offering the incentive of a free $5 softcover book for your RSVP!

Thanks,

Cathy Sorensen

COMPUTER CLASSES

The Youth Services Department of the Urbandale Public Library will be offering Beginning Computer Classes on September 20 and 21.  Basic catalog searching for 3^rd to 5^th grades will be presented at 1:30 p.m. on the 20^th.  Introduction to Library Databases for 6^th – 12^th grades will be presented at 1:30 p.m. on the 21^st.  Registration for both classes will open on Sept. 13.  To register please call 331-4490 or email youthservices@urbandale.org.