The Raven's Call
Raven Homeschool
March 2023 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.
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 have questions, please contact Maegan, mmascagno@yksd.com.
- Raven Homeschool
From the Director's Desk:
Dear Raven Families,
With the spring upon us, it is my hope that your home is filled with excitement for the coming summer and successfully completing your homeschooling year. I know we are very excited for all the spring activities that take place. As we begin the process of closing out the 22-23 school year we are extremely excited to share some announcements for the 23-24 school year.
For the 23-24 school year, we have increased the student allotment to $2700 for each student, no matter their grade level. Our hope is to simplify this for parents and that it will allow students to access even more resources to amplify their passions for learning in the year ahead.
Additionally, we are working on additional opportunities for students and families to better support you in the areas of reading, math, and computer science. Know that there will be more announcements coming. We are unwavering in our desire to provide an exceptional homeschooling experience to you and your child(ren). To learn more about your needs and wants, we will be sending out our spring survey to families after the March 29th Raven-wide Parent Advisory Council (PAC) meeting. We look forward to your comments, suggestions, and ideas for the coming year. We would love to have you join us for the PAC meeting at 2:30 pm on March 29th. If you are unable to join at this time, it will be recorded and posted.
Enrollment has been open for a little over a month. Asking parents to make this decision early greatly helps us to plan appropriately for the coming school year. It is my hope that you have enjoyed your year of homeschooling with Raven and that you would continue to allow Raven to serve your child(ren) and family in the coming year. We want to encourage you to share your Raven experience with those in your community and invite them to be part of the Raven family. It is always fun when families gather together in this way to engage their children in learning.
To further honor, protect, support and celebrate your rights as parents to choose an exemplary education pathway for your child(ren), Raven families will continue to have the freedom of choice in how they spend their allotment, freedom to choose curriculum and guide the learning in their home.
We cherish your being part of our Raven family and are unwavering in our desire to partner with and support you and your child(ren) through the homeschooling journey that best meets your needs and wishes.
Happy Spring!
Kim Bergey
Raven Homeschool Director
Counselor's Corner:
When should we meet with our career counselor?
Raven students have many educational options and opportunities. They get to focus their studies on their future goals while building a solid academic foundation. Together with their advisory teachers, we can build individual learning plans (ILPs) that fuels their passions and meets their needs. We are also here to help students move on after high school. Contact us to discuss post-secondary opportunities, including union apprenticeships, immediate employment, military enlistments, or college and university admissions.
7th, 8th, & 9th grade or any high schooler new to homeschooling - yearly
During these years, we will help students understand the basic requirements of high school:
Credits - required vs. recommended
Course names
Scholarships:
Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS)
UA Scholars
National Honors Society
10th & 11th grade - once or twice a year
Stay in touch with us….plans change and new opportunities arise! Reach out to us as things change. We can help adjust that plan or make a new one!
11th & 12th grade - monthly is recommended
You are in the homestretch! Focus on finishing strong to prepare for the next phase in life, whatever it may be. We recommend that 11th graders attend Introduction to Senior Year workshops to prepare them for their senior year. Senior year can be very busy, so start early. There is a lot to think about, including the following:
Financial aid/FAFSA/Alaska Performance Scholarship (APS)
ACT/SAT/WorkKeys
College/trade schools/military service
Important dates and deadlines
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:
The Anchorage office has been keeping busy all year with a variety of workshops, field trips, holiday parties and much more!
We celebrated winter with a marvelous “Alice in Winter Wonderland Tea Party” at the Kincaid Chalet in January. Our local ceramics painting vendor, What-A-Hooot, hosted two different teacup and saucer painting workshops so students could use their creations during our party!
For Valentine’s Day we held our first ever in-office dance! Everyone in attendance loved boogying the afternoon away to music. Students who needed a break from dancing could decorate sugar cookies from another local vendor, Northern Wings Cafe.
Math Club, Health Club, Spanish Lessons, Writing Club, Brain Breakers Club and Sewing School continued to meet most weeks. One of our parents has volunteered to lead a Dungeons and Dragons Club and it’s one of our most popular activities this semester!
Deb Fancher has taught some incredible workshops for our office. Students were even given the opportunity to dissect cow eyeballs! They also learned all about animal adaptations and learned how to make rock candy.
Our family liaison led families on some fun hands-on field trips. Students learned how to make holiday wreaths and centerpieces at a local greenhouse. We also had our first ever “Teens Only Field Trip” where students went axe throwing!
We are excited to see how many of our families have re-enrolled for the next school year!
The Play: Science Fiction Edition
We are so proud of our Drama Club as they presented The Play: Science Fiction Edition, on March 3, 2023. Nine students came together and wrote nine short plays in the month of September. Over the following months, fourteen of our students worked together to design and rehearse for the final performance, including two full days of dress and tech rehearsals. The day of the play, we loaded up a Uhaul with our set, costumes, and props. We arrived at the theatre and vigorously set everything into place. The students worked through a plethora of technical difficulties and worked through their scenes preparing for their final performance. At 6:30pm, our house opened, and we were graced with nearly a full house. The students gave outstanding performances and we are so honored to celebrate them and their families and all of their hard work. We are sad to see this year end, but are already looking forward to next year's production, which the Drama Club has named, The Play: A History.
Battle of the Books Update:
We would like to give a big shout out to the Anchorage Battle of the Books high school and the middle school teams. The high school team for the Anchorage office consisted of Bianca Pagel-Miller & Ashley Abbott. The team for the middle school consisted of Xienna Solberg & Audreyanna Johnson. Our high school team worked hard and presented the Anchorage office well during the district battle. Our middle school team ended up winning the district battle and represented YKSD during the state battle! They persevered through tough questions and earned a 7th place title. Great work all the way around!
Spelling Bee Update:
Congratulations to all the participants of the 2023 Raven Spelling Bee! This was the first year we have completed a school-wide Spelling Bee with the participation of students from Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, Eagle River and Wasilla offices. All participants endured transitioning to the online testing platform and worked hard to participate in the events completed this year. Each of the participants are excellent spellers and champions! We are so proud of all participants!
Results:
1st Place: Lanaya B. - Juneau
2nd Place: Lucy C. - Wasilla
3rd Place: Silvia M. - Anchorage
Lanaya is the 2023 Raven Spelling Bee Champion! Next, she will complete the qualifier test to the State Spelling Bee.
Alice in Winter Wonderland Tea Party
Alice in Winter Wonderland Tea Party
Valentine's Dance Party
Cow Eyeball Dissection
Cow Eyeball Dissection
Cow Eyeball Dissection
Ceramic Painting Workshops
Ceramic Painting Workshops
Ceramic Painting Workshops
Delta Office:
December culminated with our Annual Holiday Party/Potluck. We had a great time. We shared good food, played some games and won door prizes!
In January we began our second round of Lego Challenges. Each week, students were given a challenge to solve using a tub full of Lego pieces. We had some innovative results to the challenges.
Six high school students were inducted into the National Honor Society on January 12th. Three of the six were able to attend in person while the other three attended virtually. This is our largest NHS group and we a very proud of them. They will be meeting monthly to work on their projects as well as meeting virtually with other Raven National Honor Society students.
Our fantastic K- 2nd Grade Battle of the Books team, the Raven Superhero Reading Stars, did an amazing job this year having to go into overtime questions to finally beat the Minto Lakers for first place in the District Battle! Way to go Cassidy and Riley!
February was a busy month. We visited Mt McKinley Bank where Mr. Martinez talked about money and why we should manage it well. He then gave our group a tour of the bank from the front door to the ATM and all the way to the vault! Thank you, Mr. Martinez and Mt McKinley Bank!
Ryan Tilbury wasn’t able to visit in person due to the weather, but he still met virtually with Junior High students to help them start preparing for their high school years.
We had some very creative Valentine’s boxes this year including a robot that didn’t want to give up its goodies! Students brought in their Valentine’s to share with everyone participating in the Exchange. We all shared what we had received in a party on Valentine’s Day!
The highly anticipated Girls Only Tea Party was held on February 23rd. There were beautiful young ladies in gorgeous dresses and fancy hats for the eyes to feast on and delicious foods to satisfy the tummy! There were prizes for the winner of the dress contest and hat contest and the bingo game as well lots of door prizes. A great time was had by all.
March Dates:
Heidi will be out for Spring Break March 13-17.
March 15th - Progress Reports and work samples are due
March 31st - Final requests for orders made by purchase order due
March 23rd - Parent Advisory Committee, 2 pm
Julie will be out of the office March 27-31.
2022 Christmas Party group
Bank Tour with Mr. Martinez
Bank Tour
Valentine's Mailboxes
The Robot Wants to Keep the Goodies
Raven Superhero Reading Stars
Eagle River Office:
December in Eagle River saw a lot of snow, which resulted in work from home days and several cancelled activities. We sure made up for lost time once January rolled around! Our cancelled holiday party was renamed a winter party and we had a potluck, played games, went sledding, then enjoyed an extravagant hot cocoa bar with all the toppings. January also included a tubing field trip at Arctic Valley, painting classes, and a Mom’s Night Out event where moms brought takeout into the office and we ate, played games, and had a great time visiting. Lego League, which ended with a competition in December, transitioned to Lego Club where kids were tasked with various builds.
We had just as much fun in February. Kids and parents alike loved the field trip to see The Velveteen Rabbit at the Performing Arts Center, we made simple and healthy granola bars in cooking club (we even included a gluten-free option), Stephanie hosted another painting class, and we held our annual Valentine’s Day party where we had a Valentine’s Day box competition, a dessert potluck, gnome tic-tac-toe, and a Valentine’s Day-themed escape room activity for the older kids.
The first couple weeks of March have included the startup of a new opportunity for our middle & high schoolers - Study Hall. We invite students in grades 6-12 to come in every Wednesday - Friday from 10am to 12pm to work on school, then we take a break for game time. We also started a new series called “Career Connections”. Families were invited to bring lunch to the office while firefighter Mark Stiller (husband of our very own Anna Stiller!) talked about his job and answered everyone’s excellent questions. After lunch they all went to the local fire station for a tour. Each session will include a different profession to expose kids to as many as possible.
Student Spotlight - Quincy & Thatcher
Quincy (4th grade) and Thatcher (2nd grade) recently participated in the annual History Fair at Anchorage Montessori School. Quincy researched the Aztec, Zapotec and Toltecs and created an intricate poster timeline to represent that time period. She integrated her timeline poster into the other students’ individual timeline posters and together they constructed a "river of time" starting with North American indigenous peoples of the far north all the way through present day ending with the digital revolution and the modern civil rights movement. Thatcher studied the industrial revolution and created his watercolor poster with a train track timeline to represent the steam engine and the great movement forward in culture and way of life accomplished through various inventions of that time period.
Student Spotlight - Elijah & Naomi
In addition to their usual studies, siblings Elijah and Naomi Oudin enjoy several online extracurricular classes. Some of their favorites are the art classes where they each have been working on different skills. Naomi has been working on her outdoor scenes, complete with snowy creatures and excellent shadowing, while Elijah has been learning a cool splatter technique which brings life to his Star Wars paintings.
Fairbanks Office:
Raven students have been able to participate in many learning opportunities this quarter. Students have been able to earn their CPR/First Aid Cards through the American Heart Association. Our middle school students were able to sharpening their writing skills with Making the Grade. Student who are feeling creative could learn how to sew with Mama Alaska Designs and paint and sketch with a local artist, Randal Compton. Families were able to tour and learn about the Water Treatment Plant. Students were also able to enhance their creative skill through our CTE department with our Creative Camp.
Raven students like to take time to have fun and get to know one another. We celebrated Valentine’s Day with crafts, Valentines, and cupcakes. Families met up at the Big Dipper for a group skate. Additionally, we meet once a week to play board games and socialize.
We didn’t forget to celebrate our students. High school sophomores, juniors, and seniors with GPA’s of 3.5 or higher were invited to join the National Honor Society. We are hosting monthly meetings with seniors to plan for graduation. We're also planning a Kindergarten graduation and an 8th grade promotion ceremony.
Student Spotlight - Elizabeth
We had the honor of joining Elizabeth (Liz) S. as she signed her letter of intent to play soccer at Clark College in Vancouver, WA where she plans to begin her studies in Environmental Sciences. Her Eclipse soccer coaches Damon Crutcher and Robert Martinez proudly sat by her side as she signed. Liz has been playing soccer most of her life. Her dedication and passion for soccer is evident to anyone who watches her play. Liz is excited for the next chapter in her athletic and academic life. Congratulations from all of us at Raven and Yukon-Koyukuk School District!!
Liz is thankful for the flexibility and support of Raven Homeschool ensuring her academic success and goals for collegiate athletics.
Waste Water Treatment Plant
Waste Water Treatment Plant
Intermediate Sewing Class
Juneau Office:
One-time Events
In January, we were blessed to welcome High School Counselor Ryan for an office visit to meet with students, lead a UAS Tour including lunch, host an APS webinar, and visit the UAS Tech Center. After meeting with more than 14 students in Juneau, he traveled to Sitka to visit with families there as well and continue supporting high school students all over the Southeast. Another big event during Ryan’s visit to Juneau was the annual National Honor Society Induction Ceremony which welcomed many new students into our NHS group. During National School Choice Week and the Great Kindness Challenge Jan 23-27, we had fun themes every day to show our school spirit and some of our students and a Raven parent were even featured in the NSCW national videos. Watch the student video at this link: https://youtu.be/uuQRR3OQUfQ and the parent video at this link: https://youtu.be/oLQA_-gns0Q. February kicked off with our World Read Aloud Day Pajama Party where we had fun reading aloud together including special effects and crafting collaborative stories using tiny items. A huge event this year was our Valentines Card Exchange and Valentine’s Party where we had over 40 people in attendance for treats, games, and crafts. We also got some physical activity during PLAAY Day when we joined students all across Alaska for a simultaneous day of play led by students at UAA. We had the opportunity to rent the Goldtown Nickelodeon Theater again this year in March for our annual potluck and family movie night. This year, we watched The Emperor’s New Groove and everyone had a great time eating and laughing together at this event. Another fun event that we haven’t gotten to do in several years which we got to do in March was ice skating. It was chilly, but a lot of fun! Stay tuned for more big events coming up this spring.
Weekly Events
Our office is a buzz of activity with all of the weekly events that continue the regularly-occurring fun. Terrific Tuesdays were full of popular activities in January including painting snowflakes, planting seeds, playing games, and crafting styrofoam stamps to do printmaking on cards. We have been thankful for the two parents who have led these activities since September and appreciate all the time they took to prepare and lead Terrific Tuesdays this school year. Marvelous Mondays are a great way to start out the week having fun with your classmates. January’s theme was “Snow Much Fun” where we got to have indoor snowball fights and enjoy snow cones together. February was puzzling with Escape Room games, and March has continued the search for fun with Scavenger Hunts. All in all, a ton of fun to start each week! Chess club also draws in many students every Tuesday for some fun learning new strategies and battling it out on the chess board through friendly competition.
Monthly Events
Parent workshops have continued since the new year including topics of “Teaching Your Student to Read,” “How to Teach Writing,” and “Assessments.” If anyone missed the workshop but wants to watch what was covered, we have recordings that can easily be viewed on Facebook or YouTube. Another way for parents to get involved is through our monthly PAC Meetings with a potluck and student activity to bring families in. We have switched the meetings to Wednesdays now to try to help accommodate more schedules. If you can’t make it to the meetings in person, you can join virtually or watch them later in our Facebook Group or via YouTube. We really appreciate parent participation in our planning. A third opportunity for parents to connect with one another and for students to have some unstructured social time is during our monthly Morning Mug Parent Book Club meetings. In January, we read The Last Bookshop in London, Feb was Emma, and we’re looking forward to our discussion of A Wizard of Earthsea at the end of March. An awesome monthly event that is both valuable and fun is our Senior Meeting/Activity. We have discussed important topics about graduation, scholarships, and deadlines, as well as having fun with an escape room (Jan), movie time (Feb), and a scavenger hunt (Mar). Graduation is right around the corner in May, so if you have a graduating student, be sure to watch the deadlines and attend the upcoming meetings. Math Club continues to draw in Middle School students for mathematical fun each month. They performed statistical analysis in January using “Rock, Paper, Scissors,” calculated routes for cupid in February, and solved equations to unlock a construction zone box in March.
Competition Teams/Classes
We had four Battle of the Books teams who competed in January and two of our Battle of the Books teams took first place for our district and got to go on to represent YKSD in the state competition. Our 5/6 BOB team placed 24th overall in the state out of 31 teams! Our HS BOB team placed 7th overall in the state out of 20 teams! They all performed wonderfully and did our district proud in the battles! An annual favorite competition at our office is the IditaRead race and it kicked off with a huge event on March 3 to get everyone ready to go. This year we have 37 kids who have joined the 998 mile journey reading from Anchorage to Nome and we’re excited to see how everyone does and to celebrate all of our finishers at our party on March 31.
Virtual Events
Our virtual activities are a great way for students to get experiences that they wouldn’t normally get here in Alaska or in their specific community. One stop we made was to Moores Creek National Battlefield in North Carolina to learn about Choosing Sides between the Loyalists and Patriots during the battles that went on there. We got to learn about Subarctic Survival in Denali through the Animal Adaptations program taught by the Denali Education Center. Another virtual adventure we went on was through the National Museum of Asian Art in Washington D.C. where we got to study works of art and learn about how they are related to celebrations including food in various Asian cultures.
Student Spotlight - Talitha
This January, Talitha H. participated in her first NCFCA Speech and Debate regional qualifier tournament in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. In this tournament, she placed 5th and 8th in her speeches and she will be competing in the regional tournament this April.
Battle of the Books - District Battles
Battle of the Books - State Battles
Family Potluck & Movie Night
Marvelous Mondays 3rd-5th
Marvelous Mondays 6th-8th
Marvelous Mondays PreK-2nd
Wasilla Office:
Can you believe it is almost the end of 3rd quarter and that the homestretch is already on the horizon? We have kept busy here in the Wasilla office and are looking forward to seeing students for testing in April.
Our Raven students in the elementary book club are really enjoying the Little House on the Prairie books: On the Banks of Plum Creek- making checkerboards, By the Shores of Silver Lake- stringing buttons, and The Long Winter- making braided coasters. The Nature Crafts Club have dipped candles, made “stained glass windows”, and bird houses among other things. The D&D club for junior high and high school students meet every week and are having fun. Exercise your Options and Character Traits were offered this last quarter. Crafternoon and ARTiculate are continuing to go strong! We would like to see more participation in our Culinary / Bake Offs. If your student likes to cook or bake, or would like to give it a whirl, make sure and join us! We have amazing families and are so glad that you have chosen Raven, and our Wasilla office, to be a part of! Let’s finish the year strong!
Student Spotlight - Lucy
Lucy C. is a fifth grader this year and experienced her first spelling bee, taking 2nd place for the Raven wide bee. She practiced the list of words sent out by advisory teacher Carmen Romero and participated in the zoom style meetings, as well as the online tests sent out by Scripps.
Lucy enjoyed pushing herself to learn the spellings of new words and their meanings. She is beginning to learn more about etymology and is finding it interesting. Next year, Lucy plans to participate in the bee again. When Lucy isn’t prepping for the bee or goofing off with her siblings, she enjoys reading, piano, voice and writing books.
Lucy would like to wish the best to Lanaya in the State Bee!