Holistic Moms Network of Northern Virginia: Thank you, Stephanie!

Find Your Tribe!

Welcome to the Northern Virginia chapter of the Holistic Moms Network. Our purpose is to generate national awareness, education, and support for holistic parenting and to provide a nurturing, open-minded, and respectful community for parents to share these ideals. Please take a moment to browse the posts and learn a little more about us. As always, feel free to contact co-leaders, Alexa & Laurie, at HMNofNOVA@gmail.com with any questions or for more information.
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Find out more:
Chapter Website: http://nova.holisticmoms.org/
National Website: http://www.holisticmoms.org/
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To become a member: http://membership.holisticmoms.org/
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Monday, October 12, 2009

Thank you, Stephanie!

We had a GREAT October meeting on homeschooling with almost 50 people present. A huge thank you to Stephanie Elms for her presentation. For more information, visit:

http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/

Stephanie also provided some other great resources:

VaHomeschoolers has a couple of events coming up:
2010 VaHomeschoolers Conference and Resource Fair
March 12-13, 2009 - Glen Allen, Virginia
http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/conference/

Homeschooling and College Entrance Seminar
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 - Richmond, Virginia
http://www.vahomeschoolers.org/seminars/

For folks who were not able to make it to the talk, here are a few links to start learning about what is required to homeschool in Virginia:
Filing Your Notice of Intent
http://vahomeschoolers.org/noi/filing_NOI.asp

Evaluations and Testing Requirements
http://vahomeschoolers.org/eval/

Finding Local Support
http://vahomeschoolers.org/support/

A couple of recommended email lists:
VirginiaEclecticHS - statewide homeschool email list and great way to start learning about homeschooling from other homeschoolers in Virginia
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VAEclecticHS/

NoVaUnschoolers - a Northern Virginia homeschool email list and a great way to start networking and learning about activities and events in the area
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NovaUnschoolers/

A couple of recommended books to start out with:
The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child: Your Complete Guide to Getting Off to the Right Start by Linda Dobson

Teach Your Own and Learning All the Time by John Holt (Learning All the Time is a good book on how kids naturally learn, even if you do not plan on homeschooling).

Help make HMN of NOVA fabulous by volunteering!

Greeter :
- Greet members and perspective members at the beginning of meeting and events
- Help people to sign in and get any materials needed for the meeting
- Make sure attendees know where facilities are located- Qualifications: good interpersonal skills – outgoing personality
Commitment: 6 months
Location: attend meetings – little at home tasks
Purpose: make meetings and events welcoming to new and current members.

Food and Snack Coordinator:
- Determine the amount of food/snacks needed at meetings or event
- Ask members to bring food/snacks to meetings
- Make sure to provide guidelines for healthful food as well as variety
- Remind those who have volunteered to provide snacks a week in advance
- Thank and recognize the members bringing food and snacks during the meeting
Qualifications: organized, good interpersonal skills
Location: attend meetings, some coordinating from home
Purpose: make meetings enjoyable by providing healthy snack/food options for members

Membership Coordinator:
- Maintain a database of current members
- Maintain file with meeting sign-in sheets
- Send e-mail reminders or E-Vites about meetings and events
- Communication to meeting visitors, and potential members
- Be sure all new members are signed up to local e-mail loop Qualifications: Basic computer skills, organization Commitment: Six months
Location: Attend meetings, most tasks done at home
Purpose: You are the "it" person of membership. You keep the chapter going and growing!

Speaker Coordinator:
- Maintain file of potential and past speakers
- Contact speakers to schedule a speaking engagement
- Send confirmation letter with date, time, and directions
- Call one week prior to meeting date to remind and see if speaker needs supplies, AV equipment, copies, etc.
- Have a back-up plan in case speaker doesn't make it to meeting
- Send thank-you letter to speaker after the event
Qualifications: Basic computer skills, personable, organized Commitment: Six months
Location: Attend meetings, most tasks done at home
Purpose: Your job is to coordinate speakers that our members are interested in hearing. Without great speakers and information, our chapter has no purpose.

Donations Coordinator:
- Maintain file of potential and past donors
- Contact donors to provide donations for appropriate events and meetings
- Send out donation request letters
- Send out thank you letters to donors
Qualifications: basic computer skills, personable, organized Commitment: 6 months
Location: attend meetings, most tasks done at home
Purpose: your job is to add excitement to events by procuring donations for members to win in door prizes, raffles, contests

Secretary:
- Take notes at meetings
- Send e-mail to members who couldn't come of the content of the meeting, and post on the e-mail loop
- Provide copy of chapter business notes to Chapter Leader for follow-through
Qualifications: Basic computer skills
Commitment: Six months
Location: Attend meetings, some home tasks
Purpose: Assist chapter in follow-through of plans and keep contact with members who couldn't attend meetings. You maintain a sense of community

Playgroup Coordinator:
- Develop a database of interested families, their children’s ages and locations
- Create groups of children based on age and location for potential playgroups
- Disseminate playgroup rules and guidelines
- Maintain point of contact with each playgroup for new members
- Maintain database of playgroup participants, days, times and locations
Qualifications: basic computer skills, personable, organized Commitment: six months
Location: Attend meetings, some home tasks
Purpose: Add fun and sociability for caregivers and children

Lending Library Coordinator:
- Develop a database of available materials and maintain an updated list in the files
- Keep track of materials checked out to members
- Send reminders to members with materials due
Qualifications: basic computer skills, personable, organized
Commitment: six months
Location: Attend meetings, some home tasks
Purpose: Help to educate members through resources we can share

Moms Night Out Coordinator:
- Schedule exciting events for an evening out each month
- Send e-mail reminders or E-Vites about meetings and events
Qualifications: basic computer skills, personable, organized Commitment: six months
Location: Attend meetings, Moms Night Out events - some home tasks
Purpose: Provide opportunities for moms to get together without their children to enjoy each other’s company and make new connections.

Other:
- Let us know if there are other ideas for volunteer positions that we have not thought of!
- Any skills you have to offer are always appreciated

Holistic Moms Network of Northern Virginia

Find Your Tribe!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Thank you, Stephanie!

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