Newsletter 7 Term 4

Federal Audit

Thank you all for your support in getting our census paperwork requirements completed for the Federal Audit. Thanks also to Lizzy who worked hard to help me put the required documentation together. We were not expecting this extra work but are pleased to report that the audit feedback has been positive.  

Fiji Missions Trip Update

On November 20 a team of 7 students and Lizy and I will be departing to Fiji for 7 days to work in a deaf orphanage, needy state school and a Christian School. They will have many exciting experiences and we are believing God to use us in exciting ways to make a difference in the world. I would ask that families not directly involved please support this with prayer for:

-Safe travel and student safety

-Students to have a life changing experience

-That we would be a blessing to those we visit both practically and spiritually

-And good weather

Also if you are able to provide some gifts for the children in the deaf orphanage please contact Lizy.

Many families have expressed an interest in this trip but have been prevented from coming due to the business of a change in schools and the short notice. This is fine, as next year should bring more opportunities with planning sent out in February. 

Miles Camp

Praise God for his wonderful blessings at the Miles Camp. 25-30 students enjoyed team challenges and events that included camp fire cooking, muddy challenges in the dam, catching yabbies,  drama games, unicycling, making fantastic mosaics, canoeing, fishing, milking the cow, camp fire items and survival fire starting lessons and of course time soaking in the spa pool.  

It was great to see the students working together and building strong friendships. We also enjoyed prayer and the word of God. I was indeed a camp where students and parents gave their all and many said they would be taking Monday off to recover…

I wish to give a big thank you to the Hills family who allowed us to use their facilities (that many parents comment as being better amazing…) We also appreciated Andrew Hill, who is a local school Chaplin, with energy, talent with children and a passion for Christ.

We also want to thank Melinda Seidel for taking the mosaics group. In this activity students produced a wonderful product each and the learning and joy was evident. Finally thanks to all the families who traveled up to 7 hours to come together and make this camp possible.

The positive response from those who attended has been overwhelming, and to answer several students questions, “yes, there will be more camps!”  

Workshops

What a wonderful time was had just before the holidays at five workshops with a science focus –using microscopes and investigating the details in God’s world. Thanks to all those who helped make these days such a great success for the students.

We had a mini workshop attended by 25+ students in North Brisbane on Monday so that parent could swap over around their PM readers. Meanwhile the students enjoyed a PE lesson. Thanks to Mr. G for helping out. Mr. G will be working with Lizy to provide 3 PE lessons for Primary student in between now and the end of the year. Liz will contact NB families with the details.

Our Library Database System

This system is just about up and running and I spent time with our programmer going over the finer points in the holidays. North Brisbane’s data has been input and as they are a smaller group than the SWQ we will model the Online Library system for this area first and hope to put it in place for the SWQ group during the Christmas holidays…

Purchasing of Novels

This has been lacking in North Brisbane and we need a team of North Brisbane Mums to meet at Koorong and help us select good books for our middle primary to senior students. Please coordinate with Lizy if you are interested in helping. If you have any novels you can recommend or want to donate, drop us a line.

On this note I would also like to thank the families that have donate beautiful curriculum for other families to use.

We have been given hundreds of dollars worth of materials and Lizy and I will make these available on a needs basis.

Awards Night

We are planning for a family orientated local evenings together to celebrate student progress, effort and attainment.  Each student will receive two certificates; one for growth in character spiritually or in behaviour and the second for effort, progress or attainment in scholastic subjects.

The last category will be for 2 students per year level and will be for scholastic attainment. There will be three items of a polished nature during the formal part of the evening which should last an hour. Then following a supper there will be an opportunities for families and students to share musical performances and items. This allows the formal proceedings to be over quickly so that those with young children or large families are not required to sit for hours.

Our dignitaries who will help to present the certificates will be our fathers.

There will also be a certificate for our pre prep to encourage them also.

Your Teacher will discuss awards with each family two weeks prior.

Growth

We are dealing with a number of calls daily from families wanting to enroll for 2010 and it looks like we will be employing additional teachers for North Brisbane and possibly Toowoomba / Kingaroy. God has provided a top applicant for our next fulltime position. Please pray that God wil continue to provide the right people.

God Bless you all in your ministry.

Jason Caldwell

ALAN Program Coordinator   

Lizzy Johnson

NB Teacher

 

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Jubilee Christian College DE ALAN Program Newsletter 5 Welcome back to Term 3 09!

A special welcome to our new families. I hope you all had a wonderful break with rest and recreation. My family and I have been enjoying God’s Blessing and we have enjoyed seeing our children grow and develop, not just academically but also spiritually. It is exciting to interact with each and see their personalities form. I also realise just how much what I do and how I live is an example to them and God has been challenging me a lot lately in this area.

Things have been very busy and we now have 130 students and a wonderful new fulltime teacher Lizzy Johnson. Lizzy Johnson has been teaching for the past 15 years. She has been a secondary teacher and Head of Mathematics at previous schools. She is also a qualified Civil Engineer and has had 18 months of experience home schooling her own children. Her three sons are attending a Christian Day School and have a strong faith also.

Lizzy is dedicated to helping students find their strengths and enjoys challenging students to achieve their potential. While Lizzy is the North Brisbane locally based Teacher she will also contribute her expertise to help to develop services for all of our students.

A Greeting from Lizzy:

I thank God for this opportunity to be able to serve you and your family through the Jubilee ALAN Program. I really believe that this is an appointment that God has prepared for me and I am looking forward to meeting and helping each of you.

I would really like to thank Jason for giving me this opportunity to work alongside with him.

Regards
Lizzy M Johnson

Records

Please find attached a Term 3 Attendance Register. Some families still need to send in their Term 2 Attendance Register. If you have this in by Friday Week 2, it will be most helpful.

The interim Report that will be sent out later this Term is a check list style report and teachers will liaise with parents and view work as required, during this term’s visit. This will allow more time for activities with students when we come to your home.

Early Readers and Resources

We are pleased to be able to announce that we have just purchased $7000 worth of early readers for North Brisbane families and more to strengthen SWQ areas readers also. The rep has told me that the order will be sent out by Tuesday. So we will have a working Bee next Wednesday and Thursday to get the books accessioned and out to students ASAP.

We have also purchased 5 more copies of the Backyard Science DVDs and 40 Living Books CD Roms. The Living Books are animated junior texts that play on the computer and are a fantastic resource for developing a love of texts and reading. We also have several thousand dollars worth of Christian, Early novels right up to senior literature being purchased over the next few weeks.

I am also wanting to purchase this term, electronics kits and microscopes and would love to hear from anyone who has contacts in these areas.

Website Development

It is good to see so many busy mums making use of the resources available through our CHBE Website: www.homeschoolqld.com We have over five hundred pages of material and recent developments include:

1. The setting up of an online Preschool Site. I have setup the sub domain and the drop down Menus late last term. Next we will be placing the 250 pages of content material I have already prepared up on the site.
2. The Library management Data Base is almost complete, but we just want to spend a little more time trialing.
3. We are continually adding to the Writing Activities that have been so well received.

 

Missions

I wanted to let you know that we now have 45 Pentium 4 computers waiting in Fiji to be set up in the Homes of Hope, Deaf School and two State Schools. I am wanting to take a team of 6 to 10 Students and parents to help in this project but as it has taken so long to get the computers to Fiji the original dates September 1 to 7 that I had planned are too close. So we are looking instead to go over in November 23^rd for 5 days. The cost of Airfares will be approximately $500 per person and those coming will need to organise their own Travel insurance (approx. $76). Accommodation and local transport will be approximately $150. Total $800.

I am opening this trip up to students 15 years of age and over and student under 15 years of age if they have a parent attending. I am also opening up this opportunity to non ALAN Program students and parents if we have places available. Please contact Jason ASAP if you are interested.

Please take the time to follow the links on the website to our Missions families and see what they are up to.

 

The Voyage that Shook the World -during July

http://www.thevoyage.tv/about.aspx for screenings www.creation.com/cinema-screenings

This exciting film is screening at several locations around Brisbane and Queensland at Churches and is a great opportunity for our students to learn the reality of the origins of Darwinism and its short comings.

Planned Activities for Semester 2. Here also is a link to our online calendar. http://www.homeschoolqld.com/component/content/article/20-dates09/35-cal09b

 

Welcome to each of you and I hope you have all had a great break and a wonderful time together as a family over Christmas. God has been speaking to me lately about trusting Him and seeking His direction. He has also blessed me with the exciting opportunity of serving Home Based Education families in Fiji, Africa and SW Queensland out as far as Quilpie. The ALAN Program has 68 enrolments and one fulltime and three part time teachers providing support and services.

 

Term Dates
I am sending you a calendar with the term dates and public holidays marked in. As far as starting back for this term, I realize some of you have already started up some weeks ago with catch up or core subjects, while others have begun today but with just one or two subjects. It is often good to warm up into organisation and schooling. You will also notice that Jubilee works on two weeks or more later than other some other DE Schools at the end of the year, so I am not worried about families taking this week and part of next to warm into their programs.

I am also aware that some students are still awaiting early readers and curriculum and this is all happening. If anyone feels at a loose end please call me straight away as I have several interim programs and activities that I am making available free of charge through the web or as Email attachments.

In the next fortnight I will be sending out a general calendar of camps, workshops and home visits.

Resources
God has been opening many doors for our parents and students and I am very pleased to let you all know that last week $10,000 of library resources were purchased. We have received the order from Koorong (approximately 300 books which I have listed here on our web site for your reference). Most of this material is focused at providing good early novels and secondary student novels for independent reading. The PM early readers and high interest fiction, Consonant Blend charts and a little spelling dictionary for each family with younger learners have been purchased (approximately $9,000 worth) and I have been told the order is being sent out ASAP from the supplier (3 to 10 days at the outside). Vanessa and I will be working hard, as soon as we receive this order, to sort books into family boxes and readers into student bags. I will then have these delivered or deliver them myself ( to Dalby, Kingaroy and South Brisbane) straight away. It works out to be around 30 early readers per student on the PM readers and several chapter books per older student. I have also purchased 4 packs of sophisticated readers that come with Audio CDs each pack has 15 books each with a disk and they will circulate later in the term.

You will notice several DVD’s have been purchased already. These will be sent out to each area and I will ask that you circulate them as required.

The LLATLs Readers have also been organized and will be sent directly to the families.

Intergrated Units
The Intergrated Social Studies and Creative Writing Units as an option for Grades 1 to 7 are well under way. The first unit will be sent out by the end of this week.

Start of the Term Work Return Requirement
I would like a sample of written work from every student by the February 6^th. This is not a test but rather a first sample of work for each student’s portfolio. Below you will see task listed for each grade, if you have any problems just give me a call:

Parents are allowed to encourage, guide and make suggestions but it is important that these stories are the student’s own work.

Thanks you all for your support.

Regards

Jason Caldwell

Lead Teacher Jubilee ALAN Program

 

Thanks

Finally, I want to say how much I have enjoyed visiting every new North Brisbane family in the holidays and working through programs and placements with such a wonderful caring group of parents. Lizzy and I both feel blessed to have the opportunity to serve you all. I would also like to encourage anyone who is waiting for anything or needs help to give us a call straight away.

A message from Mr. Caldwell for you to share with the students to encourage them to step out for God.

Dear Students

God is able to do mighty things and wants to use you in exciting ways to help others. When you take little steps in faith to do what you think God wants you to do, no matter how old you are, He will do the rest. He is able to move mountains and do things that you can not do.

Last year I was thinking that it would be good to provide 40 - 50 computers for the Homes of Hope, Deaf School and two under privileged state schools in Fiji. Before our visit to the Fijian state school last year even the school Principal did not have a computer. All he had was an old monitor sitting in the corner of his desk. It looked the part, but of course was only an ornament. I also noticed the Deaf School and Homes of Home were without computers and could do with a lab of machines to give the ladies skills that would give them opportunities that we take for granted.

So, I prayerfully planned how to obtain computers and ship them over to Fiji. I prayed, “Lord, maybe this is a silly idea of mine, but if it is your will you will have to provide a way as this is out of my control.”

First I sent a letter to a well off Anglican school who have sold me computers very cheaply in the past to give away. This time they rang me a few days before Christmas and asked me to pickup 45 Pentium 4 3 gigahertz machines –free of charge.

I shared the good news with the people at church but after picking up the computers I was left wondering how I would be able to set the computer up with software as I was so busy with work. So I prayed again. Next thing I noticed someone from my Church was taking the computers out of my garage, five at a time and then bringing them back all setup with software. I was amazed!

However, I realized that it was going to cost a lot more than I thought to get four pallets of computers to Fiji. Again, I prayed for God to open the doors. I sent just one Email to the “Fiji Australia Business Council” thinking that they may know someone who could help. Two days later I get an Email from the head of Mainfreight saying they would ship the computers to Fiji “free of charge.”

By now I know, God must have given me the idea all along.

However my Missionary friends in Fiji told me that they had doubts about getting the computers through customs and later I also received an email from the legal firm that takes care of customs, saying there was problem with my government documents and also that the computers had in fact been sent to the wrong side of the island. This meant they were too far away and costly to retrieve. Now what should I do?

 

I simply prayed and sent an email to the legal firm thanking them for their help in this project and that they were a “part of helping many Fijian children gain important educational opportunities…”

A couple of days later I get an Email saying the computers, not only made it to Suva (the right side of the Island) but that the Legal firm had them delivered free of charge an hour away to the Mission camp where they needed to go!

In the bible in Luke 18:27 Jesus said that what is impossible for man is possible for God.

God has a plan. A great plan, and you all you need to do is step out in faith and pray.

Dream BIG and pray. We serve a BIG GOD!

Jason Caldwell B.Ed,Dip.Tch.
ALAN Program Coordinator

DE ALAN Program Newsletter 4 Friday, 1 May 2009
Jason Caldwell Lead Teacher B.Ed,Dip.Tch

Welcome back to Term 2 09!
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Please find attached Term 1 and 2 Attendance Registers.  attendance_register_term_1__2009.doc attendance_register_term_2_2009.doc
I have included the Term 1 form again for any that have not sent theirs in yet.
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I hope you all had a wonderful break with rest and recreation. This time of year things are just beautiful, with the lovely cool nights and warm sunny days. I can not help taking time to enjoy the crispness in the air and the warm sun on my back.  God has created a beautiful world.

The home visits with reporting on location have been a great success. The time and effort for the visiting teacher is greater but well worth it, as there is immediate feedback for student, home teachers and plenty of opportunity to give encouragement and guidance. This has been our first reporting cycle for the ALAN Program and I may have been a little ambitious thinking I could send out the written reports next week. At the end of last term we also had some car troubles while out visiting. This and the distance factor for visiting 3 of our most western  families means I still have a weeks trip to complete the full visit cycle and reports will be sent out a little later in the term.

The quality and quantity of work completed for term one has been very impressive and it was helpful giving feedback to student on location and seeing a wide range of samples. This term we have workshops on the calendar (click on the link to view) and I will also be working hard to have our online library data base and forums up and running.

I have been donated several items of curriculum to bless other families with and I have enjoyed being the distributor of the blessing. Thanks to those who have given. Several families have also offered books for our growing library and I will be able to receiving these once I have the online data base up and running.

The ALAN Program has now started to receive Government funding and at the end of this term we will be spending another large sum of money on library resources and educational kits such as Archery sets, robotics units and software packages. I have also found someone to help us with administration work part time and hope to be able to delegate some of the workload later this term.

Please pray that I will have wisdom as I am planning to buy a secondhand Coaster or Nissan Civilian Bus to travel around. The idea is, that in the back half of the bus we will carry resource kits and materials needed for visits and workshops. Many of the kits and resources I have traveled with over the years have been damaged in trailers and this would be a good remedy. My family can travel in the front with room to breath and continue with their studies and music practice while we are on the road.  I thank God for our Nissan Patrol but I’m afraid the outback travel of the last 8 years has taken it’s toll. I am hoping to get a tidy unit for $17 to $25,000. This seems like a lot of money to me when there are starving children in the world? So pray that I will have wisdom and if any of you have ideas for sponsors of this new project please let me know.

Social Studies

For those families using the Integrated Social Studies and Creative Writing Units, thanks for your positive feedback. I was generally very impressed with the student work completed and how well lessons have worked for each family. The unit for term 2 is on it’s way…

3,5,7,9 Testing

Thanks for those who replied to the 3,5,7,9 testing survey. I realise this did not apply to all families. I can report however, that all families wanting to participate in these tests have had Testing centers arranged.  

Working for our Future

I would like to encourage our student on their hard work from Term 1. Please let them know that I was very impressed with the quality of their work and I know God will Bless them for it. For older students you may wish to share with them the message I have written below to encourage them on with their work.

Dear Students

I know God has a great plan for your lives (check out Jeremiah 29:11-13) and that the hard work you put in now will pay off in the future. Education will not make you a better person, only following God can do that. However, working hard to gain a good education NOW, will give you greater opportunities LATER in your adult life. I want to share with you part of my story, to encourage those of you who are working hard- to keep it up! And to encourage the small number of you that are not putting in your best effort –to get into it!

When I first started work I was just 15 years old and had little reading skills or education. This seriously limited my options in getting work. Within a few short years I found I was working for $6:50 an hour while my peers who had completed their studies and had gained qualifications were working for $15 to $20 per hour. This meant that they could earn in one day what I earned in a week. It was even worse when considering savings as very little of my income was left over to save for a car or house and it took two years of working extra jobs just to save enough to buy an old van so that I could help with youth work. It was not long before I was the only young person in my church without transport or a future financial prospect. I realised I would have to get some qualifications as I had become bored with lifting boxes around in a warehouse or cleaning dishes in a restaurant for hours on end.

I prayed for help from God and was clearly directed to do night school class in English, Maths and Physics.   This later led on to higher paying work and the opportunity to become a school teacher. Praise God for all He has for us. I had to work very hard to get through my studies as I had to work jobs on the side to pay the bills, but God and hard work got me through.

Now that I have academic skills and qualifications, I find God is able to use me in exciting ways to help others and see lives change. Still, I can not help wishing I had the opportunities you -my students have. You can work hard now with supporting parent teachers and loving homes. Believe me when I say, it is essential for you to take advantage of this opportunity that God has given you. It’s better than working hard later in life lifting boxes or cleaning toilets all day –just to pay the bills and then having to work all evening and weekends doing night school to gain the opportunities education can give.

So, keep putting in a top effort into your school work as it will pay off in the future.

God Bless you all.

Jason Caldwell

ALAN Program Newsletter #2 March 2009

Dear ALAN Program Families

I have enjoyed my new teaching role this year with more interaction with families and students. I really enjoy helping students and their parents. I think, for me, it goes back to my own interesting childhood and knowing from negative experience just how important it is that our students experience success in their learning. I know that we as educators (you and I) can really make a positive difference in the world through building strong academic skills and Christian foundations in our children’s lives.

Attendance Registers
Please find attached your Term 1 Attendance Register and try to fill it out on a regular basis.

Jubilee ALAN Program Calendar 2009
Please find attached the 2009 Calendar that I will also make available online… It is a busy year and you will see three camps, many home visits and work shops in each area. There are also a number of educational trips and get togethers that will be happening and later a forum will be set up for each area group to save time on area leaders ringing around. Please print this calendar out and pin it on the wall where it will be referred to.

Work Returns at the End of Term
New systems that may better serve the parent and Home Based Education family are being put in place and I am pleased to share the following information regarding Work Returns and reporting:

· There will only be three reports this year and thus three work returns. ( Progress Report, Interim Report and a Final Report in December.

· To reduce double handling work samples will be photographed by the Teacher during the visits (for the first two reports) and thus immediate feedback can be given.

· Less work samples will be required for each student for the portfolio which is to build a picture of student’s progress over time rather than just for that term.

· This will be more informative for students and parents and a summary of relevant points, work completed and encouragement for the student -will be given during the visit or by week two of the following term.

A new “Work Completed This Term” log will be added into the process and be verified by the visiting Teacher for student records.

Lake Boondooma Water Skiing and Activities Camp 2009
I have also included a flyer for the up and coming camp at the end of this month. I realise this is short notice “official notice” but we already have several families going so this event is definitely going ahead.

I want to close by thanking you for your encouragement and support over the last 4 months. It is really nice to hear back how ALAN services have been able to support you in your vital work.

Regards Jason Caldwell
ALAN Program Coordinator
www.Homeschoolqld.com

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Lake Boondooma Water Skiing and Activities Camp 2009

Dates: 27^th, 28^th and 29^th of March. -with the option of arriving on Thursday night.

Located about 20 kilometres northwest of Proston and 75 kilometres from Kingaroy, Boondooma Dam is a leisurely three and a half hour drive from Brisbane. 

Options for accommodation:

· Un powered sites at $7 / person /night for over 12 year olds. -long walk to the toilets.

· Powered sites at $9 / person/ night for over 12s -$5 for under 12s and free for under 5 year olds.

· Cabins that are $70 per night and sleep five…

I am recommending the powered sites and families may wish to get together and share a cabin for any Mums with babies…

Activities:

There will be water skiing, kayaking, Bush skills, swimming, group fun games and activities with Mr. Caldwell and Fishing for those with a license,

Please let me know if you are coming by the 17^th just to help with planning. I am not going to worry about numbers as I know several families who are keen already and so it will be definitely going ahead.

Regards

Jason Caldwell

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ALAN Program Newsletter January 09