Christmas Party 2014 Details

Merry Christmas HIS Family!

We are celebrating next week and here are some details for you!

When: Thursday, December 18th at 10:00am
Where: Wakeman's Grove COB
What to Bring: Cookies for lunch, and a bagged or wrapped gift under $5, a nice re-gift, or something homemade, if you would like to participate in the fun of a gift exchange!

**6th-12th students please bring a wrapped gift for boy or girl, under $5, a nice re-gift, book or music you liked, or something homemade. You will be playing a game with your gifts.**

Mrs. Richardson has a fun day planned for us...something like this:
10am- Gather in the Sanctuary
10:15-11:45- PreK-5th students will divide into classes and rotate between three or four activities: Storytime, Christmas Craft and Christmas bingo, and a Dominos Pizza Demonstration. Meanwhile 6th-12th students will play Christmas Charades and a gift exchange game together. 
12-1- Pizza, salad and drinks lunch provided by the club. Please bring cookies to share for dessert. We'll informally open our gifts during this time, too.
1:00-1:30ish- Christmas Sing-a-long with Mrs. Amy Mitchell

Nursery will be provided for 2 and under.

Parents, we want you to enjoy the day with your children and friends!
Please RSVP to shencohis@gmail.com, if you have not done so already, so that we may plan enough food and supplies for all to enjoy!

Looking forward to celebrating Christmas with you all!

November announcements!

Chuck the Turkey Dog. CC 2.0 photo by Pinke.

Happy Thanksgiving from the HIS family to yours! This week's insanely cold weather certainly puts one in mind of winter yumminess: Thanksgiving, then Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's.... That's a lot of cookies! :) Be sure to dress warmly, as our dear friend Chuck did (above).

We have loads of announcements, so watch this blog in the next few days for updates on the December 18 Christmas party as well as upcoming field trips (the planetarium Dec 1, Journey to Bethlehem etc).

In the meantime, here are a few announcements to hold you over. You should have received these via email; if you didn't, please let us know.

THIS MONTH'S MEETING:

* When: Thurs, Nov 20 @ 9:45am

* Where: Wakeman's Grove Church of the Brethren, Edinburg

* Theme: Asia

* Lunch: potluck! Bring a main dish (enough for your family plus one) AND a side dish or dessert. We'd love Asian themed dishes to go along with the theme, but that's not required. You're also welcome to bring Thanksgiving-themed dishes, or whatever else you like. Or if potluck's not your style, just pack a lunch for your own family. 

* NOTE: Be sure to bring a list of ingredients for the sake of our allergic/vegetarian members.

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

* NEED 2 teachers for 2-3rd grade morning class. Both regular teachers are out. Will you please call/email me ASAP if you can help?

* NEED afternoon nursery helper. Again, please email or call if you can take this. NOTE: This position has been filled. Thanks!

* We also need at least two outdoor supervisors for the morning and again at lunch to keep an eye on the kids.

* NEED kitchen help. NOTE: we need and welcome your help in the kitchen! If you're not actively helping get food out, though, we welcome you to join our new Chat Room downstairs (see note below). 

Classes/clubs: A reminder that this week is the last opportunity for students to change clubs if it wasn't a good fit for them in October. (The earlier you can let us know, the better, so we can advise teachers.)

* Horse crazy club: don't forget to bring a white/light colored shirt

* High school class: come prepared with a 5-minute presentation (let us know if you need the details again)

NEW: We're thrilled this month to open our parent chat room! Come and ask (or help answer!) homeschool or parenting (or life!) questions. There are comfy couches and a cozy feel downstairs in the Youth Lounge, so if you're not actively helping in the kitchen or in a class, please come down and enjoy some adult "class" time!

Jesus is The Light Night

What:  Jesus is the Light Night

When:  Friday, October 31 from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Where:  The Sloans, 6380 Smith Creek Road, New Market

Come join us as we celebrate the Light of the World!  Weather permitting, we're planning sack races, tug of war, outdoor ping pong, foosball, glow frisbee, scavenger hunt, and guided night trail walks (very short). 

Feel free to dress up in costume (nothing scary, please).  

We'll supply spiced tea, hot chocolate, peanut butter sandwiches, and glow bracelets.  

If you can, please bring flashlights for your family and an individually wrapped snack or candy to share with the kids.

If you would like to attend, please let us know by next Friday, October 25 by emailing or calling the Sloans with the names and ages of all the children so we can plan accordingly.  (Contact information in the directory.)

Welcome to 2014-15!

Photo by Marianna Spiritakis

What a pleasure to find ourselves again at the beginning of a new HIS year. Isn't there something particularly delicious about the crisp days of autumn with their long, golden shadows, and a new school year bursting with promise and possibility? Repeat after me: I will NOT eat all the candy corn. I will NOT eat all the candy corn. 

We're going to be giving the blog a fresh look in the coming days. We hope you'll find it informational and helpful where group events and details are concerned. Let this also be your blog, a place to show off your students' work. And do you have a topic you'd like to post about? Let us know! Together we can make this our zany little home on the Internet.

For now, we'll leave you with the year's calendar (current as of 9/17/14), and we look forward to seeing you at our next event!

* Regular meetings are 9:45a - 2p @ Wakemans Grove Church in Edinburg.
* PE is 1-2:30p @ Liberty Baptist in Strasburg.

September 15 Eyes & Ears Screening

September 18 Picnic - Edinburg Park

September 24 Monticello field trip

September 25 Walk for Life setup 8am, Woodstock fairgrounds
October 3 Winchester airport field trip

October 16 Meeting - Africa

October 17 Belle Grove field trip

October 17 P.E.

November 20 Meeting - Asia

December 12 P.E.

December 18 Christmas party (regular meeting time/place)

January 9 P.E.

January 15 Meeting - Australia

February TBD Share Your Gift night 

February 13 P.E.

February 19 Meeting - Europe

March 6 Field trip - Amazon facility field trip

March 19 Meeting – North America

March 20 P.E.

April TBD X-Fair

April 16 Meeting – South America

April 17 P.E.

May 15 P.E.

May 21 End of year picnic

June 18 Summer potluck party/games 

July 16 Summer potluck party/games 

August TBD Planning meeting for 2015-16

February Announcements

I know it seems sudden, since we just had a meeting three months ago, but here we are anyway. :) I trust you all weathered the snowstorms all right and are in good form to join us Thursday at 9:45 at Wakemans Grove. (If you're not in good form, will you please let us know? We'd like to pray for you and help if we can.)

A few items:

  

* First, a policy thing: kids need to be accompanied by their parents. In special circumstances a parent may fill out a waiver giving another HIS member permission to bring their child(ren). Thank you for understanding.

* Second, and this is a fun one: a reminder we've got a Facebook group. It's a kid-free, judgment-free space for encouraging each other & asking questions, getting advice, sharing ideas, or even scheduling get-togethers between our monthly meetings. If you're not already a member, I encourage you to join! We'd love to have you. Ask another member (including me) to add you if you like, or the link is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/144600135585835/. 

* Our meeting is 9:45am - 2pm at Wakemans Grove. Potluck lunch as usual. The theme is respect/compassion/empathy. A prize to the first family to arrive and solve the puzzle!

* Barby Hobcroft from Classical Conversations will be making a presentation at 12:45pm in the lunchroom.

* It's going to be muddy out there, so please make sure the kids are dressed for that (whatever that means to you, haha!). For Indoor/Outdoor games, you'll be inside--bring fun games, or Mrs. Woods will make you play hopscotch for an hour.

* Needs: 

1) Staci Woods has graciously agreed to take this week's jr high class (can anyone help her?)--but we still need teachers to take the class for March & April. Please email me asap if you're willing.

2) Playground supervisors. Morning & lunchtime, for the wee tots AND big kids. 

3) Nursery help if the Browns are still sick and unable to attend.

4) Lynn Rhodes needs pinking shears for the handicrafts club. So if you have a pair you can bring, she will be the only one using them and will return them at the March meeting.

* Signups: You'll have the opportunity to sign up for the April 3rd X-Fair (I'm SO excited about this--and I expect a big turnout this year. Did I mention there will be prizes??). We'll also have a signup for our soup/sandwich themed lunch in March.

* Service: Lisa Copp-Croft & Holly Neff have set up an opportunity to serve the veterans again by passing out Easter cards, April 15 @ 6:30pm. More details at Thursday's meeting.

I think those are the biggies. Please keep lifting each other up in prayer. Looking forward to seeing everyone shortly!

 

Rebekah