The Raven's Call
Raven Homeschool
December 2022 Edition
Dear Raven Families,
Welcome to Raven's Call, your digital newsletter to keep you up to date on all things Raven. This quarterly newsletter via SMORE will have an overview of highlights from each of our 6 Raven offices. Within this electronic version of our newsletter, you have easy-access to your local office news and resources by clicking on links within each section.
We are looking forward to another successful year and hope you will share pictures of your learning adventures with your local offices to be included throughout the year.
If you would like a printed copy, please contact your local office.
If you have questions, please contact Maegan, mmascagno@yksd.com.
- Raven Homeschool
From the Director's Desk:
Dear Raven Families,
With the holiday season upon us, it is my hope that your home will be filled with family traditions, joy, cherished memories, and love for your family and friends.
I’m reminded often of the words of my mother and grandmother in that each of us has the opportunity to choose our attitudes, our words, and where we focus our energy. No matter what you face this time of the year, please know that you have the ability to ensure someone has a magical day, to marvel at the wondrous beauty around us this time of the year, and to share your thanks, joy, and love with others and the opportunities that each of us has been afforded over the last year and in the year to come. This is the time of year to assess all of the gifts in our lives and to celebrate them daily as there is always a gem to be found. It is also the time to review our trials to see how much we have grown, learned and plan to do differently.
I want to wish our Raven family, students, parents, and staff a wondrous holiday season. Each of you are part of our collective family and the reason we continue to push for innovation and excellence each day.
With all the snow that we have had these past few weeks, it is my hope that you have been able to use it for some wondrous learning and that it has not caused too much pain with all the shoveling.
Snowflakes are each different from the other as is each of our families. This individuality is what makes homeschooling so unique. Please be sure to share some of the unique learning adventures you have been doing with your advisory teachers. Just as we celebrate this holiday season we would like to celebrate your children’s successes with you.
There is much to look forward to in the new year as we begin planning for the next school year. We would greatly appreciate your input as we will begin our planning at the Raven Parent Advisory Council meeting on January 25th. We will be talking about the Alaska Reads Act and how it can benefit homeschooling families. We look forward to lots of participation in this conversation as it impacts each and every one of us.
Wishing you joy and warmth throughout this holiday season.
Kim Bergey
Raven Homeschool Director
Counselor's Corner:
Happy Holidays from your Counseling/Graduation Team!
Over the years, we've learned that students and families who begin working with their school counselor in 8th or 9th grade graduate high school far more prepared for the future than students who don't. Students with early counselor support have a better grasp on what they want to do post high school and a plan on how to use their diplomas to get there.
As a Raven high school student, you have many educational options. You can cater your coursework to your interests, and you have the chance to focus your studies on your future goals. Together with you and your teacher, we can build an individual learning plan (ILP) that meets your needs and works with your future goals. We are also here to help you move on after high school. Contact us to discuss post-secondary opportunities, including union apprenticeships, immediate employment, military enlistment, or college and university admissions.
We visit each of our six offices regularly; ask your Advisory Teacher when we will be in your office next and set up a time to meet with us.
Reminder: if you are a senior or junior planning to graduate this May, all coursework is due to your advisory teacher by May 1st. Also, plan to attend your office's senior/graduation meetings. There is typically a meeting each month; important information about post-secondary and graduation ceremonies is shared at these meetings.
PLEASE CALL YOUR SCHOOL COUNSELOR WITH QUESTIONS!
Megan Rosendall | Anchorage, Eagle River, Wasilla | mrosendall@yksd.com | 907.622.6631
Ryan Tilbury | Delta, Fairbanks, Juneau | rtilbury@yksd.com | 907.374.9432
Anchorage Office:
Holiday Door Decorating Winners:
Delta Office:
We ended October with a Fall Craft Day. Students made pinch pots and candle holders using air dry clay. We met on Tuesday, to shape and cut out the clay, then on Thursday we came back to decorate our creations. Students came up with some very colorful designs! Students met once a week to create designs for a Lego Challenge.
November was busy with Terrific Tuesdays, a field trip to the Post Office, the Turkey in Disguise competition, and a Gratitude Craft. There were some very creative disguises to save the turkeys from being eaten for Thanksgiving! More turkeys were created during our Gratitude Craft showing what we are grateful for in our lives.
December started out with our Scholastic Book Fair. Lots of great books to browse through and buy. Too bad the weather decided we needed lots more snow during that week! Our fireplace was adorned with stockings for the Stocking Stuffer Gift Exchange. We had 22 participants this year with lots of goodies and fun things to share! We gathered again to make gifts to give for the holidays. For our holiday craft, we made photo bookmarks and hand shaped photo ornaments to share with families as well as yummy sugar scrubs to give to someone special.
We are looking forward to spending time with our families with a potluck celebration to end the 2022 year.
The office will be closing at 1:30 pm on December 23 and closed December 26th. We will also be closing at 1:30 pm on the 30th and closed January 2nd for New Year’s.
We wish you all a wonderful holiday and the best of everything for 2023!
Looking Ahead:
January 3rd - Terrific Tuesdays
January 4th - The new 10-week Lego Challenge begins, please sign up for this as space is limited.
January 5th - National Honor Society Induction Ceremony, 6 pm
January 10th - Terrific Tuesdays, note: The Wolves and Hawks will be meeting together
January 11th - All Staff Meeting, 9am-12pm. Staff will not be available at this time. Please email us or call and leave a message. We will get back to you as soon as we are able.
January 19th - Parent Advisory Committee Meeting – Baked Potato Bar lunch at 1 pm, meeting at 2 pm
January 23rd-27th - School Choice Week
January 24th - Terrific Tuesdays
January 25th - Raven-Wide PAC Meeting, 2:30 pm
Stocking Stuffer Gift Exchange
Post Office Field Trip
Turkey in Disguise Winners - 5 and Under
Turkey in Disguise Winners - 6 and Up
Holiday Crafting
Eagle River Office:
Throughout the changing seasons, one thing remains constant…..there is always something going on in the Eagle River office. In addition to our regularly scheduled clubs like Book Clubs, Music Club, History Club, Recess Club, and Outdoor Club (which recently transitioned from hiking to cross-country skiing), we have had so many other parties and activities. Here’s what we’ve been doing:
Halloween Party/Trunk or Treat
We had two events rolled into one on Halloween night. The afternoon started with a party in our office where kids played games, decorated paper pumpkins for a pumpkin patch bulletin board, and won prizes for best costume and best pumpkin decorating. Afterward we had the honor of co-hosting the Eagle River Trunk or Treat event, which happens to take place in our parking lot. We dressed up, set up a fun table, and handed out candy to hundreds of children. Everyone had a great time!
Cooking Club
At our first Cooking Club we assembled lebkuchen cookie dough which had a resting period of TWO (!) months before they were to be baked. At our next Cooking Club we invited those same families to bring in their cookies and tell how they turned out. We had some successful and others not-so-successful outcomes, but it was a unique experience! We also had kids decorate snowman cupcakes and had a cookie exchange. It was a full house and everybody went home with lots of Christmas goodies.
Field Trips
Our family liaison Melissa has been organizing the best field trips! In the past couple of months our families have enjoyed the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (twice - the first one filled up quickly), an Eco Edventure workshop at the Alaska Zoo, a storyteller at the PAC, and a trip to the UAA Planetarium.
Holiday Party
Massive amounts of snowfall in southcentral Alaska wreaked havoc on our plans for an epic holiday party that was to consist of three parts. First we were going to meet for a potluck, play holiday-themed games, and have children create and decorate mini gingerbread houses. They would then go across the street for sledding, then come to our office to pick up their stockings from the stocking exchange and enjoy a cup of cocoa while visiting with friends. Fearing that many families wouldn’t be able to make it due to the snow, we decided to have families come pick up stockings and gingerbread-house kits the week before Christmas and reschedule the potluck, sledding, and hot cocoa for January. As disappointed as we were to have to do this, we know that more families will ultimately get to join in the fun.
Student Spotlight - Natalie G.
Natalie has been chosen for our Student Spotlight for the Eagle River office for many reasons. At the beginning of the school year, Natalie expressed her desire to graduate early as a junior. Although we hear of or see this accomplished a few times a year, Natalie was anything but ordinary when it came to actually wanting to graduate early! She frequently checked in with her advisory teacher to let her know that she had finished a course. As soon as she finished one course, she immediately requested a new course and promptly started it as soon as the course was added to her account. Natalie also volunteered with the Chugiak Volunteer Fire Department and logged over 130 hours with their organization by attending training sessions and reporting to her designated shifts. Overall, Natalie completed 10 courses and met Alaska's State standards for graduation! Natalie is a remarkable young lady who showed exuberant amounts of perseverance, growth, motivation, ambition, diligence, maturity, and determination! We are SO proud of Natalie and her ability to remain focused and to achieve her goals with such tenacity. Congratulations, Natalie, on being our Student Spotlight and early graduate of the class of 2023! We wish you the best of luck in all of your future endeavors!
Teen Time
Teen Time is a new addition to our calendar here at the Eagle River office. The parents have spoken and we have heard that some of our teens want to be more social. Once a month we offer the opportunity to get together, connect, and simply have munchies. Our first month we played 2 truths and a lie which was a catalyst for some hilarious conversations and a great way to break the ice with the 12 teens that showed up. Last month we sat around the table and played spoons and rummy - lots of laughter was had! Next month we are planning to propose that we select a volunteer opportunity and other potential community outings for the spring. We are also hoping that the teens will be interested in a book that our graduation coach, Megan Rosendall, suggested which is titled, The 6 Most Important Decisions You'll Ever Make by Sean Covey. We are hoping that this group evolves into a group of friends who continue to get together outside of our 4 walls, but for now we are happy that they are interested in joining us here once a month.
Fairbanks Office:
Raven has been quite busy this quarter. We celebrated the holidays with games, food and fun.
Families were able to show off their talents and make a little money at our Holiday Bazaar.
Raven students have also had multiple opportunities to increase their learning.
High school students have been able to learn about trapping and animal conservation while earning high school credits through our Trapping 101 course. Middle school students are improving their
writing skills in our Making the Grade Class. Our Elementary students were able to learn more
math skills while playing fun and engaging games in our Crazy 8’s club. Our students 10 and older had an amazing experience painting with Ronald Compton.
We've also gone on several Field Trips this last quarter. Our students went to the Courthouse, Pioneer Park Air Museum, a Fairbanks Firehouse, the Musk Ox Farm, and were able to tour the local Animal Hospital and learn about becoming a veterinarian.
Welding Class:
Some high school students participated in a week-long welding intensive class. They learned how to use a right angle grinder, layout tools and learned how to SMAW (shielded metal arc welding). The students put their new skills to use by building an all welded steel rocket stove. To celebrate their success, the students cooked breakfast on their rocket stoves.
Juneau Office:
One-time Events
The Second Quarter of our year kicked off with our Scholastic Book Fair, and it was so fun to be able to have it in person again this year, plus we earned $1297.69 in profit for activities! Another exciting return to normalcy was being able to do an in-person field trip to the Police Station again. Also in October, we had a fantastic turnout for our Fall Costume and Craft Party. It was fun to see the kids all dressed up in their costumes and to do a fashion show parade through the office to show off the hard work they put into them. We got to visit the Fire Station in November and the kids learned a lot about this important job. To celebrate Computer Science Education Week, we hosted two technology related activities–Minecraft Escape Estate Hour of Code and Alexa in Space Hour of AI. Both were incredibly fun and it was great to see how quickly the students picked up on the coding process for both activities. A great way to wrap up the second quarter before Christmas break was our Christmas Craft Party where many families enjoyed treats and made ornaments together to the tune of carols and the smell of hot apple cider.
Weekly Events
Our regularly occurring activities continued with lots of fun happening from week to week also. Marvelous Mondays in October were raven-themed, in November were candy-themed, and in December were technology-themed. We did crafts, got surprising results on experiments, and learned about how useful technology is to our daily lives. Terrific Tuesdays had a wide variety of activities from cooking to crafting to playing games. Chess club has a great turnout each week and the kids are learning new skills each week as Kellen teaches them lessons and then they get to put it into practice while playing games.
Monthly Events
Monthly activities also had some fun highlights this quarter. For Lego Club in October we had some fun fall challenges and in November we built and tested all sorts of ships. Morning Mug Parent Book Club meetings are a great time for parents to connect and we enjoyed reading The Hound of the Baskervilles in Oct and Fahrenheit 451 in Nov. We have such a great time each month that we would encourage other parents to join us on the last Tuesday of each month. Other opportunities for parents each month are our Parent Workshops covering important topics relevant to homeschooling and Parent Meetings complete with potluck lunch and student activities. We would love to have more parents participating on a regular basis in all of these events. Our graduating seniors are meeting monthly for some fun activities also. In November, we had a cooking competition and got to sample some tasty treats, and in December, we had a fun Christmas party with gift exchange and holiday games. This is a great time for students to get to know each other better before celebrating graduation together, and we share important information each month also. Math Club is another wonderful monthly activity which has had about a dozen students each time playing with math facts in fun and interesting ways.
Competition Teams/Classes
Battle of the Books teams practiced regularly to prepare for their competition in January to see which teams will get to represent our school district in the state battles in February. The kids are doing a great job reading the books and practicing the titles and authors through fun games. Likewise, our Lego League teams practiced hard and prepared diligently for their competitions in December. Stay tuned for info about the results of the competitions in the next newsletter. We also had DARE classes continuing through the quarter with their graduation in December where they got shirts and certificates for completing the course, and Liam won an award for the best essay.
Virtual Events
We even got to experience some things we wouldn’t be able to otherwise here in Alaska through our virtual activities. “Sailing into Thanksgiving” took us to The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia to learn about the Pilgrims. “Maple Sugar Time” was a great visit to Indiana Dunes National Park to learn about how maple syrup is made and a little bit about its history. The Don Harrington Discovery Center in Texas delivered an exciting science show to bring a little of the magic of Christmas to life.
Marvelous Monday
- October - ravens
- November - candy
- December - tech
Math Club - Nov & Dec
NHS Service Project
Student Recognition - Kainoa
Kainoa participated in the 2022 Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF): Future Filmmakers Showcase Competition in mid-July through mid-November. This program was highly recommended by Leslie Ishii with Perseverance Theatre, through the Ted Stevens Foundation. This past November, Kainoa went to O'ahu, Hawaii as a finalist and a student representative for Raven Homeschool and Alaska. For this year's short film contest, students in Hawai'i and Alaska were asked to create a short film that "Honors the Past to Build the Future." On November 12th, 2022, Kainoa won a HIFF 42 Future Filmmakers DKII Special Award for his film titled, Stories of My Kūpuna.
Included are photos of Kainoa Thole at the Award Ceremony with the HIFF and Ted Stevens Foundation representatives and with special guests, Ken Inouye and his daughter, Maggie Inouye, and DKII Youth Ambassador, Auli'i Cravalho (best known for her title role in MOANA). Here is the link to Kainoa's film - https://youtu.be/ftQsqdJOzWM and the HIFF website - www.hiff.org.
Kainoa also submitted his film and was a participant in the JUMP (The Juneau Underground Motion Pictures) Society 2022 Winter Film Festival on December 3rd and December 4th.
Wasilla Office:
December has certainly presented itself with snow…Snow…SNow…SNOw…SNOW!
“Snowflakes”
Snowflakes spill from heaven’s hand
Lovely and chaste like smooth white sand.
A veil of wonder laced in light
Falling Gently on a winter’s night.
Graceful beauty raining down
Giving magic to the lifeless ground.
Each snowflake like a falling star
Smiling beauty that’s spun afar.
Till earth is dressed in a robe of white
Unspoken poem the hush of night
—Linda A. Copp
October
We had an amazing Scholastic Book Fair in the large conference room. Families were able to shop for some amazing titles and take them home the same day. On the 31st we had trick or treating in the office, with students (and some parents) dressed up and looking great!
November
Our seniors met with Megan this month, with some of them graduating early- in December! Mrs. Rasmussen, one of our long time Raven parents, did a sewing workshop where students learned how to make, and made, their own potholders. It was a successful and fun class. We are looking forward to more sewing workshops in the future! A few students tried their hand at juggling, improving as the time went on. Students attended a Happy Hoppers and Paint time where they jumped for an hour and then had time to paint- art and physical education combined!
December
Two families came in and decorated a couple of our office doors, and one family made a number of lovely ornaments that they hung from the ceiling. It looks nice and festive! Clubs happened the first week and a half of the month followed by…. snow, lots of snow!
Clubs and Workshops
Writing Class- We had so much fun honing our writing skills through studying and reading fables and fairy tales! We learned all about how important both structure and style are in writing, and after learning all about different techniques, the class culminated with each student writing their own short story using the skills they had learned. It was so fun to meet with the students each week and watch their progress develop.
Book Club - Our Little House on the Prairie Book Club has been going so well! Each month we read the next book in the series, then meet to discuss it and do fun related crafts and activities. Some projects we've done so far: corn husk dolls, covered wagons, and making our own butter! We love learning about the life and times of Laura Ingalls and her family. Join us this spring as we continue through the series!
Nature Crafts - This class has been a fun way to connect with what is going on around us in nature each month. We do a seasonal craft, usually including elements from the outdoors that are often gathered by Julia and the students. In September we collected leaves and made leaf lanterns, in October we made star windows, and in November we hand dipped candles and decorated wooden candle holders. I'm excited to see where January takes us!
D&D Club is going strong; students show up ready to play. It has been great to see them engaged and having fun! Games Club added some new students- and we would love to see more come and learn something new or play something familiar while making some new friends. Come to Bowling Club! Practice your game, eat some of the best fries in town, and make some new friends! We hope that beginning in January more students will participate in the Culinary Cook/Bake Off!
Watch for a new Activities S’more to go out at the end of December with the new or continuing activities and workshops that your students can participate in!
We have 3 freshman students who are excited about learning. They share the following:
Violet is learning about Indigenous Tribes and says the following about the Incas:
“The Incan people would bury people alive…in mountain caves. That is where they were sacrificed. They would also sacrifice llamas, but they would keep the white ones.”
Warren is enjoying science. He says, “In cell biology, plants need trigger points to stand upright. A gymnosperm is a non-flowering tree. It has pollen and has cones. The pollen attaches itself to the cones and fertilizes the seeds. In electrical technology an arc flash is a flash of lightning, and an arc blast is a blast of electricity that can cause heart failure and possibly death. Electricians rate their safety suits in cal/cm2. Also if PPE gloves have a hole the size of a pin prick, they have to be replaced; they also have an expiration date.”
Logan also enjoys science, and history as well. He says, “Andrew Carnegie is Mr. Monopoly. He became Mr. Monopoly by owning the steel industry. He noticed the railroad industry was booming, so he invested in the steel industry because the tracks are made of steel. He first invested when he was 14 years old. He was a poor immigrant from Scotland.”