Voyagers Study Group List

Contractor fee includes the materials fee

We may talk about Japanese culture, food, traditions & music as it applies to the story lines, depending upon the desires of the club members.

IMPORTANT: Most manga involves swearing (PG), violence (battles, death), & sexual innuendo. If you are not familiar with this form of storytelling, please talk to Kimi Biegler, Brianna Leuders or their moms, Christine Yablonski & Kim Leuders> We can show you some examples to judge for yourself the appropriateness.

We will learn about different artists and their styles and then make projects in those styles.

Come join me in a study group that will be spent watching classic movies and sharing interesting facts about the movies themselves and the people who made them. I will decide the course content based upon consensus of my group attendees. I consider the ages and interests of participants in deciding what gets shown. I will not show slasher-type horror films because they disturb me.

New participants welcome.

Ayurveda is a system of knowledge originating in India 5,000+ years ago. Its knowledge about health and healing pre-dates most modern approaches whether they be using food and acupressure/acupuncture or yoga or herbs, drugs, and surgery, to name a few.

Everyone loves wearing a costume. It's even better when you've made it yourself. But how do you do it? Do you know where your sewing machine is? Let's learn how.

We'll learn how to use a sewing machine, from threading it, sewing straight lines, and curves, to making button holes; when to use a hot glue gun, velcro or even hand sewing; even making props. Learn how to adapt patterns to your ideas.

We'll start off with a tunic, and work up from there. If the desire is there, we can move from beginning to more advanced as the skills develop.

The idea is that this session will cover much the same material as the other one on the same day.

For those who have played before -- the game I'll be running will be set in a standard-ish D&D setting, so standard races are allowed (only la +0). I'm allowing core and Complete series classes, so go ahead and think about what you want to play, and a bit of backstory. The mount of roleplay is subject to change, depending on the people who participate campaign.

There will be an alternate campaign run by Connor if there re too many people signed up.

A broad introduction to Earth Sciences geared towards Middle School age children. Topics I plan to cover include but are not limited to: Air, Water, Weather, Climate, and the Earth's Atmosphere, Geology, Plate Tectonics, Earth Forces and the Earth's Structure. The study group will contain lecture, video, and some hands-on experiments and activities.

While this course will not be as rigorous as my honors chemistry class, I will expect that students keep up with the assigned reading and be prepared to participate in discussions. There may be some student led discussion.

Optional, but fun: There is a competition called Envirothon, with workshops and a state competition. If there are enough interested people we will form a team and make sure to include the relevant topics in the course of study. There is also a service component to the Envirothon, giving you a chance to "think globally, act locally". If we have a team, those members may have occasional activities which take place outside the usual time and place.

THIS IS A PRELIMINARY PROPOSAL AND MAY BE EDITED IN THE FUTURE

This yoga study group is for all levels of experience. Those who practice other forms of yoga will find the Svaroopa style to be a relaxing and deepening addition to their practice. Those who are not familiar with yoga will discover that the poses are easy to learn and to do. And everyone will benefit from the core opening and release of tension we all hold without realizing it.

Each time we meet, we will begin and end with Shavasana, a relaxation pose with guided awareness that sets the stage for allowing ourselves to tune in to our bodies. The participants will learn how to prop and align themselves so that they can practice at home.

To read more about Svaroopa, go to http://www.masteryoga.org/contemplations/rama_contemplation.asp

This study group is for adults.

Every living being has a life force, or energy, the Chinese call qi or chi ("chee"). For people this energy runs along paths called meridians. When our energy and meridians are in balance, we feel our best. Places on the body where we can balance this energy are called acupressure points.

Blocked or suppressed energy can result in feeling less than our best. Stress and injury account for a lot of interruptions to our energy flow.

Acupressure is an easy, low-tech, always available way to balance our energy and help with a wide range of physical and emotional symptoms, including feeling tired or low energy handling an emotional upset needing to focus for a test or other activity calming mind and body easing symptoms for all kinds of physical conditions handling medications and antibiotics better helping digestion helping the skin helping glands function better, such as the thyroid, pituitary, and adrenals improving immunity pain relief for colds, breathing headaches, backaches, toothaches, stomachaches, eyestrain, and much more stress relief first-aid techniques much more than can be listed, because acupressure can affect any part of the body or mind in a positive way

Come prepared to practice using acupressure both in the class and for a brief time daily at home, and to take notes on that practice.

The focus of the group is on discussing the books. In addition to topics suggested by the subject matter, we also analyze the works for literary devices, do character studies, place the books in historical context and do background research on the authors. Discussion will also be informed by the use of literature guides. We often read background material aloud together during class time. There is sometimes other class preparation involved, for example when we do role playing or simulations. Expect to read approximately 200 pages per week. Note that although the reading level might be within the capacity of younger members, the subject matter is best suited for those who are teens and older. When in doubt, please consult with me.

If any group members wish to write essays based on any of the books during the course of this study group, I am happy to review and critique these and work on revisions with you. Also, I am taking suggestions for books you would like to study. The list of books will be sent out a couple of weeks before the start of the semester so we can get started right away at our first session. If you want to get a better idea of the type of books we cover, please contact me and I will send you our lists from the last couple of years. --Betsy

To keep the group from being unremittingly tedious, I also plan to discuss some of the odd and interesting bits of math that you probably won't find on standardized tests: dimensions (1, 2, 3, and more), infinities (yes, there are different infinities), fractals, and who knows what else?

Because being able to do math is often as much a matter of practice as of understanding, you should expect to do several hours of work at home for each hour spent in class. If you really do the work, you should find that understanding actually grows out of the practice.

This study group will need to be a cooperative effort if it’s going to run. If you plan to enroll your child in it, please plan to spend some time helping out. We’ll coordinate our efforts to make sure each parent, science geek or not, is prepared to contribute in a way that’s comfortable for him or her: leading or assisting some days, getting books or videos from the library, preparing materials for hands-on projects, etc.