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Friday, February 21, 2014

Online Catholic Homeschool Conference 2014

Renew! Rejuvenate! Recharge!
REFRESH Free Online Conference
for Catholic Homeschoolers 

It's time again for Homeschool Connections Annual Refresh Conference. This is an online conference for Catholic homeschooling parents. It is designed to help you get through the winter months refreshed and ready for all that homeschooling has in store for you and your family.

To register, please click here: Refresh Conference Registration

All talks begin at 8:00 pm Eastern (7:00 Central; 6:00 Mountain; 5:00 Pacific).

Tuesday, 2/25 – Ora et Labora: Loving Service as Prayer with Maria Rioux
Thursday, 2/27 — Controlling and Eliminating Stress in Home Schooling with Katie Moran
Monday, 3/3 — Party like you’re Catholic! A guide to hospitality in challenging economic times with Mary Ellen Barrett
Tuesday, 3/4 — Five Stone Jars: The Wedding Feast at Cana and Protecting Your Marriage Despite Homeschooling with Rachel Watkins
Monday, 3/10 — Teaching Boys with Andrew Pudewa
Wednesday, 3/12 — Common Core with Ginny Seuffert

Attendance is limited. If it fills up, you will be placed on a wait list. All webinars are recorded and made available for free viewing within 24 hours.


Meet Our Presenters:

Andrew Pudewa
Andrew Pudewa is the director of the Institute for Excellence in Writing and a homeschooling father of seven. Presenting throughout North America, he addresses issues relating to teaching, writing, thinking, spelling, and music with clarity, insight, practical experience, and humor. His seminars for parents, students and teachers have helped transform many a reluctant writer and have equipped educators with powerful tools to dramatically improve students’ skills. Although he is a graduate of the Talent Education Institute in Japan, and holds a Certificate of Child Brain Development from the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, his best endorsement is from a young Alaskan boy who called him “the funny man with the wonderful words.” He and his beautiful, heroic wife Robin currently teach their three youngest at home in Atascadero, California.  

Ginny Seuffert
Mrs. Virginia (Ginny) Seuffert, a native New Yorker and mother of 12, has been homeschooling for over 20 years! While in New York, Mrs. Seuffert lectured, debated, and wrote a number of articles for the Pro-Life movement. After moving to Illinois, she became a founding member of the Network of Illinois Catholic Home Educators, helped establish the “Round Table” (a Catholic homeschool leadership discussion group), and became a founder and officer of the Catholic Home School Network of America.

In addition to appearing on EWTN, she has been a guest on numerous radio shows, lectured at Catholic family conferences all over the United States and Canada, and has authored several articles on such topics as home education, teaching children the virtues, and household management. The Seton Magazine regularly features her columns, and recently Seton Press published her first two books of a series, Ginny’s Gems: Home Management Essentials and Ginny’s Gems: 10 Essentials for Teaching Your Preschooler at Home.

Mary Ellen Barrett 
Mary Ellen is a homeschooling mother of eight children. She is a longtime columnist for The Long Island Catholic (Life in Our Domestic Church) and speaks on a variety of topics at Catholic conferences and parishes around the United States. Mary Ellen is currently working on two books, on about mothering a large family and the other is an Advent Books of Days. She can be found blogging at Tales from the Bonny Blue House and during the Advent season at O Night Divine. Besides writing and blogging, Mary Ellen enjoys cooking, sewing, photography, and studying theology.

Katie Moran
Dr. Moran and her husband reside in Niles, OH with their five children, including two who were adopted from the Ukraine. Dr. Moran has her Bachelor of Science in General Studies from Kent State University, her Master of Science in Education from Breyer State University, and her Doctor of Philosophy in Education from University St. John of the Cross –Universidad San Juan del la Cruz.

Dr. Moran is host of the Homeschool Lifeline talk show on Radio Maria, www.radiomaria.us. She brings to our conference 23 years of homeschooling experience, in addition to her experience as a private tutor and homeschool consultant. She has been a guest speaker on the History Channel, served on the board of Northern Ohio Adoption Services, and is Secretary/Treasurer of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima (Byzantine Chapter). Additionally, she is the president of CHSNA (Catholic Home School Network of America), member of the Round Table, a national organization of Catholic Home Schooling Leaders, founder and past leader of the Ohio Educators' Catholic Home Schooling Network , member of CHSNA delegation to Pope John Paul II, various congregations and curias, 1995, 1997, and again in 2006 to Pope Benedict XVI.

Dr. Katie Moran is the author of Doorway to Heaven, The Unique Learner – Homeschooling Children with Learning Disabilities, Philip’s Fast – 40 Days of Advent Meditations According to the Byzantine Rite, The Story of the Church Workbook with Answer Key and Study Guide, based on the textbook, The Story of Church, and a DVD on Fatima and the Holy Angels. Her latest book still in the editing and writing stage: Home Schooling for Heaven, not Harvard.

Maria Rioux 
Maria began her undergraduate studies at Thomas Aquinas College. There she met her husband, Jean, Homeschool Connections' philosophy instructor and chair of the philosophy department at Benedictine College (where Maria is a theology major slowly completing her degree). Together they have been homeschooled their nine children for more than 20 years. In those early days of homeschooling there were not many resources available. As a consequence, they developed their own curriculum which reflects their love for classical education as well as their affection for Charlotte Mason.

Maria is owner and co-moderator of the yahoo group The History Place. She loves to write and is a regular contributor to mater et magistra magazine. She is also a reviewer for Love2Learn.

Maria has been a speaker at homeschooling conferences and a guest lecturer at Benedictine College. Her talks include: Living the Liturgical Year in the Domestic Church, The Woman's Role in the Church, The Best of Both: Merging a Classical Education with Charlotte Mason's Methods, The Blessings in Crosses, and Ora et Labora: Service as Prayer. Maria is a member of the planning committee which helped to develop the Charlotte Mason based curriculum, Mater Amabilis. She is a contributing author to Cay Gibson's book, Literature Alive!

Rachel Watkins 
Rachel Watkins is wife to Matthew, homeschooling mom to 11 great kids, creator/writer of the Little Flowers Girls Club (ages 5 and up) and Honor Guard (ages 12 and up) Contributor to Ave Maria Radio's More 2 Life with Dr. Greg and Lisa Popcak and their companion blog Exceptional Marriages. In the midst of life, she has found some time to be published in a number of Catholic publications and websites. Her life could be defined as a daily attempt to fulfill the words of Jesus who assures us that He came so that our joy would be full! She doesn't always succeed but the efforts have been surprising.

NOTE: All talks are recorded and available within 24 hours. They can be found, along with talks from past conferences, here: Homeschool Connections Free Webinars. You'll need to "Login as a guest".

Renew! Rejuvenate! Recharge!

Trigonometry Online Course

Homeschool Connections has created a brand new 6-week course to focus solely on trigonometry. It is designed to help Algebra II students prepare for Advanced Mathematics, give Advanced Mathematics students a review for Calculus, or give a refresher for students preparing for their ACT or SAT test.

To register, click here: Homeschool Connections Registration

Introduction to Trigonometry
Dates: Mondays, May 5 to June 9, 2014
Time: 4:00 pm Eastern (3:00 Central; 2:00 Mountain; 1:00 Pacific)
Number of classes: 6
Prerequisites: Algebra 2
Suggested high school credit: 1/2 semester Math
Instructor: Jean Hoeft, MS
Course description: This course will polish students' Algebra 2 skills and prepare them for Pre-calculus / Advanced Mathematics. We will study the trigonometric functions and their inverses, polar and rectangular coordinates, the calculations of a triangle, vectors and more. Students are expected to do homework sets which are provided free by the instructor. There is no text book necessary, reference tables and notes will be provided. Students will have a working knowledge of trigonometric functions and their properties at the conclusion of the course.
Course materials: None, all course materials provided Free by the instructor.
Topics covered: Trigonometric functions, changing degrees to radians, recriprocal identities, arc lengths, writing the equations of sine and cosine functions of sinusoid graphs, graphs of secant and cosecant, simplifying trig identities, solving equations involving trigonometric identities, reference triangles, solving triangles for their angles and side lengths, and complex numbers with the complex coordinate plane.
Homework: Students should expect to spend 3-4 hours on homework a week to complete the assigned work.
Fee: $75 for all 6 classes

Equipment requirements: Students are required to have high-speed internet and a headset with microphone.

Misc: Mrs. Hoeft will be available via email in between classes for questions and comments. Recordings of classes are provided to students within 24 hours and available for 6 months. Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping services.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Win Six Months of Unlimited Access to Online Classes


Contest and More
Win Six Months of Unlimited Access to Online Classes
Free Homeschool Helps 
See below for the contest widget and all the details.

February is sometimes referred to as "Burnout Month" by school teachers and homeschoolers. Here at Homeschool Connections, we see February a little differently. We view it as an opportunity to rejuvenate, refresh, and renew. To help you do the same, we have lots of fun happenings for you this month. It's our way of giving back to the homeschooling community, which has blessed us in so many ways over the years.

1. Later this month, you'll have the opportunity to sign up for free, live, interactive webinars. We do this every February -- it's our Refresh Online Conference. This year we will be focusing on Mom and Home. Keep an eye on the blog and Facebook for details in the upcoming weeks.

UPDATE: The Refresh webinars are scheduled and ready for registration with lots of great speakers and topics. Click here: 2014 REFRESH CONFERENCE.

2. We always offer the recorded webinars from past years to you for free. You can find them here: Homeschool Parent Webinars. Just sign in as a Guest to view.

3. Over at Homeschool.com we're participating in Freebie February. You'll find homeschool-related giveaways throughout the entire month of February. They continue to add free items every week. Homeschool Connections is taking part by giving away a free course on the Federalist Papers (log in as a Guest). We're planning on some other freebies to send Homeschool.com as February progresses. 


4. As if all this wasn't enough ... we're giving away six months of Unlimited Access!!! That's six months of access to 140 online Catholic and homeschool courses for your entire family. Every course comes with recorded lectures and course materials, such as automated quizzes, homework, answer keys, and so much more.

We're wishing you a very blessed February!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Come back every day to get more entries.

Already subscribed to our eNewsletter? Like us on Facebook? Follow us on Twitter and Pinterest? They all count as contest entries! Just make sure to click on the buttons in the Rafflecopter widget above.

Already a subscriber to Unlimited Access? Still enter. You'll get an extra six months for free if you win.

The small print:
No purchase necessary.
This contest is open to everyone, no matter where you live.
Winner will be chosen randomly by rafflecopter.com.
We will verify that the chosen winner correctly completed the entry option they were chosen for winning. If determined to be invalid, a new winner will be chosen.
The winner will be contacted by email within 12 hours after the giveaway ends. Winner will then have 48 hours to contact us and claim their prize. If prize is not claimed, we will choose a new winner.
If you have any questions - let us know in the comments below or send us an email at homeschoolconnections@gmail.com.
To learn more about Homeschool Connections, visit http://www.homeschoolconnections.com.

Already subscribed to my newsletter? It still counts as an entry! Just make sure you click the buttons in the Rafflecopter widget above.

A winner will be chosen via random.org. We will announce the lucky winner on Friday, February 28, 2014. The winner will have 48 hours to contact ( lindsey at homemademommy dot net) with his/her full name, address, and phone number. There is no purchase necessary to win. This giveaway is open to everyone!
Okay! Good luck, everyone! If you have any questions, please comment below.
- See more at: http://www.homemademommy.net/2014/02/royal-berkey-giveaway-february.html#comment-46597
Already subscribed to my newsletter? It still counts as an entry! Just make sure you click the buttons in the Rafflecopter widget above.

A winner will be chosen via random.org. We will announce the lucky winner on Friday, February 28, 2014. The winner will have 48 hours to contact ( lindsey at homemademommy dot net) with his/her full name, address, and phone number. There is no purchase necessary to win. This giveaway is open to everyone!
Okay! Good luck, everyone! If you have any questions, please comment below.
- See more at: http://www.homemademommy.net/2014/02/royal-berkey-giveaway-february.html#comment-46597
Already subscribed to my newsletter? It still counts as an entry! Just make sure you click the buttons in the Rafflecopter widget above.

A winner will be chosen via random.org. We will announce the lucky winner on Friday, February 28, 2014. The winner will have 48 hours to contact ( lindsey at homemademommy dot net) with his/her full name, address, and phone number. There is no purchase necessary to win. This giveaway is open to everyone!
Okay! Good luck, everyone! If you have any questions, please comment below.
- See more at: http://www.homemademommy.net/2014/02/royal-berkey-giveaway-february.html#comment-46597