Flathead Home Educators Assocation

Jessica Chon has been accepted to Kennedy Center/National Symphony Orchestra (NSO)National Trustees’ Summer Music Institute (SMI) in Washington, DC this summer.

She is awarded full scholarship during the Kennedy Center/NSO Summer Music Institute:

• lessons with an NSO musician; master classes and seminars with music professionals;

• participation in the NSO Summer Music Institute orchestra, and will also have opportunity to go to Yo-yo-ma’s concert.

She was really nervous about the audition but now she is very excited to win. Hurray! for homeschool student. Jessica is 15 years old and in 10th grade.

There were well over 200 kids with great projects at the Flathead County Science Fair this year. We had two homeschoolers competing.

Ivy Gwynn’s project “Boys vs. Girls” won a first place ribbon.

Caleb Gwynn’s project “Creepy Crawlies” won a first place ribbon and went on to tie for reserve champion.

Aggie Putnam 2010 Homeschool Geography Bee winner.

Laura & Aggie Putnam, Emily & Sandra Bois
at Blacktail for Homeschool Ski Day

Seventeen Flathead Valley Homeschool students recently returned from the 44th annual Montana Model United Nations Conference. This was their third time participating.

The conference was held at the University of Montana from November 23-24, 2009. It was attended by more than 400 students from 19 Montana and Idaho high schools.

At Model UN conferences, students participate in simulations of United Nations sessions, debating, negotiating, caucusing, drafting, and voting on resolutions that address world problems.

Flathead Valley Homeschool students represented the USA, Serbia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar. Each student participated in one of five committees: General Assembly Plenary (GAP), General Assembly First Committee (security issues), General Assembly Second Committee (GA2 – economic and financial), General Assembly Third Committee (GA3 – social, cultural, and humanitarian), and Security Council.

The conference began on Monday, Nov. 23, with opening ceremonies and a keynote address on “Assessing the United Nations” by Karen Adams, Associate Professor, International Relations at the University of Montana.

Students then met in their committees from Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon. A list of the topics each committee considered is posted online Click Here

Each committee had a faculty guest speaker who presented a 15 minute talk and answered questions from the students.

On Monday evening, the students representing each country competed with others from their region in the “Global Gauntlet,” a trivia game with questions on geography, world history and current events. The game was followed by an ice cream social.

Individual, country, and school awards were announced during the closing ceremonies on Tuesday. Five high school seniors were awarded scholarships to attend UM.

The Flathead Valley Homeschool team won Honorable Mention in the small school category. Additionally, their students won the following awards: Cassia Wagner won Best Delegate on GA2 and Outstanding Position Paper, Mikayla Meuli and Sarah Kirchner won Outstanding Delegate on GA3, Sarah Kirchner also won Honorable Mention for her Position Paper, Kyrah Kirchner won Honorable Mention on GA3, Tyler Rasmussen won Honorable Mention on GAP, and Matthew Meuli won Honorable Mention on GA2.

Also, the USA delegation of Tyler Rasmussen, Sarah Kirchner, John Michael Meuli, Cassia Wagner, and Robert Putnam won Outstanding Delegation and were the winner of the Global Gauntlet Americas and Caribbean Region

Other Flathead Valley Homeschool students attending the conference were: Jamel Perkins, Millie Voigtlander, Jace Voigtlander, Nathan Wagner, Dane Rasmussen, Jenae Roedel, Courtney Brockman, Erin Donahue, and Andrew Newman.

Flathead Valley Homeschool students prepared for the conference under the direction of Susan Wagner.

Click Here for more information about the Montana Model UN conference