Building Community Through Words
No matter who you are or how you are going through life having a community around you for support and friendship is critical. We at California Homeschool Network not only understand that, it is our mission to help create community and protect your right to educate your children the way you see fit, no matter your background, ethnicity or religious beliefs.
With our mission in mind we would like to ask if you would be willing to join us in enriching our community with your stories, opinions and creativity.
As part of your membership CHN provides a Newsletter that contains helpful information as well as insights and interesting articles. We hope that along with our online social media presence the Newsletter serves as a way to connect the people in our community.
Producing the Newsletter is a big job but, with your help it can be a terrific way to share information and help people feel more comfortable with homeschooling. By sharing your moments of discovery, frustration or delight other families can see that every homeschooling family has its moments, both positive and not-so-positive. Every life path is unique but, there are many points along our paths that cross, touch or sometimes even merge and hearing about those moments from other people is what makes a community strong.
So, having said all that, we are looking for regular columnists who are willing to provide up to 4 articles per year for our Quarterly Newsletter. If you don’t feel that you can commit to that but, are interested in submitting just one, that’s ok too! Here are some ideas we have for regularly occurring articles, feel free to choose from the following or, if you have an idea that you would like to contribute we are more than happy to hear about it.
Curriculum Review – Many of you have gone through the trials and tribulations of researching and trying out different curriculum packages. Have you used something that really worked for your kiddos or was a big waste of time and money? That’s valuable information for others. We want to hear!
Homeschool Musings – You know those little “a-ha!” moments when you feel you’ve struck on something important? Or, those moments when you suffer a bout of self-doubt regarding your decision to homeschool? Or, even those moments when your child says or does something that touches your heart? Share with us your everyday homeschool experiences and insights, chances are someone else will connect with your thoughts and feel a little more understood.
Field Trip Reviews – Homeschoolers are always looking for field trip ideas but, there’s so much out there how do you know if that thing that takes 2 hours to get to is really worth it? Share your reviews on some place you visited whether it was a good experience or not, both are useful.
Kids Korner – Our kids are awesome, let’s brag about them! Share what your kids are doing, creating, building achieving. Poems, short stories, art work, awards, jokes, etc. We rock, let’s celebrate! Also, if you have a child who would like to be a regular columnist, that would be terrific! It could be a fashion column or one about pets or any topic 
your child wants to write about.
Fun Facts – CHN Board Member Bequi Howarth knows more about trains than she ever imagined she would. She’s been to almost every train museum in California from the one in Perris to the one in Sacramento and many in between. She’s ridden a steam train to the Grand Canyon, an electric train in San Diego, the Metro Line from Long Beach to Los Angeles, trollies in San Francisco (they count, right?) and diesel trains through Orange County. All because of her son, Miles’, train obsession from age 3 until he was about 8. Is there something you learned because of your kid’s interest? Tell us about it!
Things to do or see in California – Our members cover the State from Siskiyou to Imperial county and many like to travel. This column idea may seem similar to the field trip idea but, may also cover sights that don’t quite fit in the “field trip” category. Do you have a favorite camping spot in the Cascade Mountains? How about an unusual Ice Cream Shop in Costa Mesa (Afters Ice Cream)? Or a great place to explore caves in the Mojave Desert? Tell the community about your adventures.
The Newsletter comes out 4 times per year: January, March, June and October. Write for them all or just write for one, we want to hear your voice in the community!
Don’t panic, take your time, the deadline for next issue is Jan. 15th, 2017 so, you have plenty of time to think about it. To submit an article or article idea that you want to write contact Pam Dowling at President@CaliforniaHomeschool.net
Thank you for being a part of our community!