Manchester Area Homeschoolers
June 20, 2009
June Newsletter

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Parents Support Group

Happy Father’s Day to all our homeschooling Dads!

For those of us who haven’t turned in our evaluations, there is still time.  Annual evaluations are due to your participating agencies no later than July 1, 2009 for the past school year.

Manchester Homeschoolers’ Website has a new home.  You can now find our website at http://manchnh-homeschoolers.tripod.com/.    Thanks to Jodi Lucci who recommended some good sources for free web hosting.  Since this is a free web hosting site, there will be ads on the web page.

Now that it’s summer, our meetings will be more informal affairs in the café at the back of Barnes & Nobles.  Come share your concerns for the upcoming school year from 6:30 - 8:30pm on July 19th.  Many members take the summer off and join us again in September.  So don’t feel guilty if you opt for the beach over Barnes & Nobles!  

Log-on to groups.yahoo.com and join our discussion group manchesterhomeschoolers to ask more questions and add your own ideas.

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Constitution Day Essay Contest Grades 5-12

Now here is something for your children to work on over the summer!

Sponsored by the Union Leader and open to all students in the circulation areas of participating newspapers. 

Deadline for submission is Oct 2nd. 2009

Go to www.loebschool.org <http://www.loebschool.org> for information.

To learn more about Constitution Day go to  http://www.courts.state.nh.us/student/Essay%20Contest.htm
 
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Free Admission to Strawberry Banke 

July 4th all children are free at Strawberry Banke. For more information please see this link:

http://www.strawberybanke.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=10&Itemid=64

Scroll down just a bit to the Special Events Admission section.

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The Ioka Theater Needs Homeschoolers!

Recently, Brycen and I were part of the campaign to save the 93 year old Ioka Theater in Exeter NH. The new (prospective) owner, through community focus groups and surveys, is going to reopen the theater as The IOKA Digital and Performing Arts Center, offering a variety of exciting arts programs for all ages, with a strong focus on community-influenced programming. This is where homeschoolers come in: The new owner specifically wishes to reach out to homeschoolers and offer daytime arts programs to include film making courses, theater classes, dance, etc. 

I have been asked to circulate the following survey to the homeschooling community to get YOUR input about what you and your family would like to see offered during the day at the Ioka. Regardless of where you live (NH, ME, MA) or the ages of your family, please do take a few minutes to complete the detailed survey- This is a rare and fun opportunity to literally shape and influence the programming of a local arts center and specifically tailor some of the programming to homeschooling families! The survey deadline is June 30th. 

Here is the link to the survey for the IOKA Digital & Performing Arts Community Center. You may need to cut and paste it into your browser. 
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=qFcxVuyrwJVDyPDsXMjPyA_3d_3d%3ECI

No idea is too outrageous- The owner requested that people "dream big"! Have fun! 

Laurie 
lacouture@myfairpoint.net
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Changes to the homeschooling law take effect July 1, 2009! 

For any student who is 16 or 17 by July 1, 2009, no evaluation is required for the 2008-2009 school year, but notification letters are required for the coming 2009-2010 school year for students younger than 18, and evaluations for the 2009-2010 school year are required for students who have not turned 18. 

If your student has finished high school but is younger than 18, you must certify high school completion with the New Hampshire Department of Education. It’s not entirely clear at this point how to do that. No homeschooling notification or evaluation is required for students enrolled full-time in college (“an accredited post-secondary education program”). Please let us know if you have questions about these changes. 

These changes are due to Senate Bill 18, which raised the age of compulsory attendance to 18. 

BTW:  We’re not lawyers, and we don’t give legal advice.