Hello All! Hope everyone's school year has been off to a great start! I know it may have been a little difficult to get back into the groove of things (sure was for my family!!), but it seems like life may be looking a little more "normal" these days. I most definitely have those days where I wonder if what I'm doing at home is even making a difference, but I am reminded in I Corinthians 10:31 that whatever I do, no matter how mundane or repetitive (i.e. prepositional phrases, fractions, integers and the like), I am to "do it all for the glory of God". When I focus on this, it kind of puts things in to perspective for me and makes my homeschool journey a lot more meaningful.
I hope everyone has gotten a chance to look at the August Newsletter entitled "Back to School". It contains some really good info, including some upcoming field trips, 4-H, the volleyball schedule, and lots of other good stuff! We are coming up on one of my FAVORITE times of the year (YAY FALL!!!) and you don't want to miss out on opportunities for fun outings with your kiddos. If you haven't yet, stop what you are doing an GO CHECK IT OUT!
PLEASE NOTE: As a reminder, if there is anything you would like to have published in the newsletter, please have it to me by the 15th of each month. I plan to publish the newsletter around the 20th of each month. Just shoot an email to Tuschomeeducators.newsletter@gmail.com. Please make sure any forms or documents are in pdf format. I thought it might be fun to recognize birthdays each month. If that's something you might be interested in, send that in a email as well. Also, we would love to see some articles submitted from either you or your kids to publish in the newsletter. It can be about anything at all!
THE Meet and Greet
Thursday, October 1, 2020 at 6 PM – 8 PM
884 Savannah Sq, Tuscaloosa, AL 35406
Hosted by Tara Fuller Davis and Official Tuscaloosa Home Educators
Hello Everyone, 'Official THE' invites our members to an adults only, 'Meet & Greet' . This is an opportunity to see old friends and meet new ones Dress super casual and come enjoy coffee and refreshments indoors and out, depending on weather.
THE Official Facebook Page
If you’re receiving this newsletter, then that probably means you are a THE member (or we just haven’t removed you from our list yet ). And if you are a THE member, we would like to invite you to join us on Facebook at our new “Official Tuscaloosa Home Educators” group!! (The cover photo is from a trip to Sea Lab.) We will post events and information there... you can communicate with others... you can sell homeschooling materials there... etc! If you’ve tried to join recently and haven’t been approved, it was because you were not yet a THE member... so try again! See you there! ~Cyndi Wilson
Honor Society
There were a couple of changes made to the information on the website for the Honor's Society. Applications will be taken for Fall 2020 until October 1st. Please submit applications to Amy Callahan at TuscaloosaHomeEducatorsHonors@gmail.com.
Basketball Forms
I wanted to remind everyone that the basketball forms are available on the website. There were a few that were previously left off, but they should all be on there now. On the website, at the top far right, there is a tab that says "more". Click this and scroll down to "Basketball Packet". You should find them all there. These forms are all due by next Friday, September 25th. We are working on getting a Paypal button added so you should in the future be able to pay there as well.
Tennis
Come Join Us for Warriors Tennis Matchplay!
Who: Anyone 6th grade and up with an interest in learning or playing the game of tennis
When: Mondays, 4-6, Beginning September 28th
Where: Bower’s Park Tennis Courts
Matchplay days are a fun time to learn the sport of tennis with other homeschoolers! There will be a liability form available for parents to sign in order for your player to join us. Warriors Tennis Team tryouts are scheduled for November 14th and 16th in preparation for our spring season. Coach Amy Naramore and Lorrie Pate are available to answer any questions you may have. Contact Amy: 205-534-0490 or Lorrie 205-771-0158
Fine Arts Opportunities
There are some great opportunities in the links below for those interested in Art/Music for their kids. Click on the buttons below to view the different websites and sign up for classes.
Art
Alabama Choir School
Children's Hands-On Museum
Haiku Project
Here is an email I received from Megan Wagner at Capstone International Center:
Good afternoon, I am passing on a fun opportunity to be involved in a haiku project with Tuscaloosa's sister city of Narashino, Japan that will feature experiences during a global pandemic. Haiku Theme: Coming Together During a Global Pandemic Tuscaloosa Sister Cities (TSCI) plans to publish the haiku on social media pages as a show of friendship and solidarity between our sister cities, and later create a booklet featuring the top 100 haiku submitted. Details are attached and submissions are due by Oct 16 to tuscaloosasistercities@gmail.com Please participate and pass on the message to your friends, families and students! All the best, Megan
TUSCALOOSA SISTER CITIES INTERNATIONAL-NARASHINO, JAPAN
HAIKU PROJECT
“COMING TOGETHER DURING A GLOBAL PANDEMIC”
Tuscaloosa Sister Cities International proposes an exchange of Haiku between Tuscaloosa and Narashino, Japan (with welcome submissions, if received, from Tuscaloosa’s other sister cities, Schorndorf, Germany and Sunyani-Techiman, Ghana.) Each City would solicit haiku from youth and the general population. The theme, “Coming Together During a Global Pandemic”, will feature haiku describing the author’s thoughts, observations, and experiences during these days of Covid-19.
Haiku may be representative of a wide range of emotions or experiences.
TSCI plans to publish haiku on TSCI social media pages as a show of friendship and solidarity between our sister cities, and later create a booklet featuring the top 100 Haiku submitted.
HAIKU DEFINITION
Haiku (俳句, is a short form of Japanese poetry in three phrases, typically characterized by three qualities:
1. The essence of haiku is "cutting" (kiru).[1] This is often represented by the juxtaposition of two images or ideas and a kireji ("cutting word") between them,[2] a kind of verbal punctuation mark which signals the moment of separation and colors the manner in which the juxtaposed elements are related.
2. Traditional haiku often consist of 17 on (also known as morae though often loosely translated as "syllables"), in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5
3. A kigo (seasonal reference), usually drawn from a saijiki, an extensive but defined list of such terms.
In Japanese, haiku are traditionally printed in a single vertical line while haiku in English often appear in three lines parallel to the three phrases of Japanese haiku.
Haiku suggestion:
Separated Now
Pandemic times of concern
Friends offer comfort
For the “Coming Together During a Global Pandemic” Haiku project, all haiku must be submitted to TSCI to make sure the criteria/theme of the Haiku for form is followed, and completed with the name of the author, school, and sister city affiliation. TSCI plans to compile the Haiku, and and create a booklet featuring the top 100 submissions. Cities may solicit from schools, senior centers, general public, Sister City staff and volunteers. The Haiku will need to be in a form easily copied so as to allow the compilation.
Haiku submissions will be accepted from September 1 - October 16, 2020
Please send all haiku tuscaloosasistercities@gmail.com
For more information, please contact Lisa Keyes, TSCI Executive Director, at lykeyes@gmail.com
Here's an article from Kate Wright, and Admissions Representative at Judson College.
The Judson Difference: It’s a Perfect Fit
When I was a college student, the question I got most often was, “Why Judson College?” My answer was always the same: “It was the perfect fit.”
Judson College is a four-year private institution in Marion, Alabama. It was founded by Siloam Baptist Church in 1838, and is still committed to providing a resolutely Christian and rigorously academic education to young women.
The small campus and sisterhood make it an excellent fit for young women who come from a small high school, or who, like me, were homeschooled. I made many friends at Judson who came from a homeschool background, and they were all in positions of campus leadership and thriving academically. We were welcomed into a warm campus community. For example, during the short walk from the student center to the science building, or from the dorm to the dining hall, students converse with classmates and yell brief hellos across the courtyard to their friends. The lunch hour is a joyous time when friends congregate around the table to share stories about their day, and in the evenings, students congregate in the dorm lobbies for “study parties.” The bonds that students form here extend past the classroom, and last past graduation.
The Christian culture of the school is readily apparent in the care that faculty and staff have for their students. Academic advisors counsel their students throughout times of stress, and residence directors pray with their students regularly. Dorm Bible studies are common, students participate in campus ministries and attend chapel each week, and 80% of the campus participates in voluntary community service through the Faith-Based Service and Learning program. Moreover, Siloam Baptist Church still has an active partnership with Judson, and hosts a Wednesday night church dinner and college Bible study that many students regularly attend.
Academically, Judson is rich in rigorous programs that prepare students for the workforce. There are excellent support systems in place to help students succeed in every class—study sessions, student tutors, and office hours with professors who are eager to see their students excel. Every student goes through a broad spectrum of general education courses like biology, psychology, Spanish, Old/New Testament, and art appreciation, while progressing through more specialized classes within their major or minor. Upper-level classes within a major may only have a handful of students, which allows the professor to know each one and help them attain their specific academic and career goals.
When I was a student, had I been attending a larger, more secular university, I would have slipped through the cracks. At Judson, I was welcomed into a sisterhood of lifelong friends, and supported by a faculty and staff who desired and prayed for me to succeed. It was the perfect fit for me, and I know it can be for many others as well.
Judson offers rolling admissions, and our application is FREE to complete online at www.judson.edu/apply. If you would like to visit our campus in person, you can go on our website and register for Preview Day coming up on October 10 (with optional softball and soccer tryouts on October 9), or you can sign up for a private visit! If you have any questions about how Judson might be the perfect fit for you or your daughter, email me at kwright1@judson.edu, or call or text 816-592-9863.
Blessings,
Kate Wright ‘20
Judson College Admissions Counselor
I hope everyone is getting ready for Football, Family and (hopefully) colder weather! Remember, we are all in this for our own reasons, and everything we do is because we love our kids and want what is best. If (when) you get discouraged, remember you are not in this alone! We have ALL been there!! Happy September!!
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