If I am new to home schooling, may I join ACTS?
Answer: Families may join
ACTS after a full semester of
home schooling
experience. Families who are entering homeschooling when their
oldest child begins kindergarten do not have to wait a semester before
joining ACTS. Initially, ACTS was advised by other co-ops in the
country to have a one year homeschooling experience requirement for
membership into ACTS. After further research, the ACTS officers
determined that literature supports that it takes a transition time to
“come home” to learn and so they opted for just a one semester
requirement. We believe that the semester requirement of homeschooling
experience provides enough adjustment for students to make the
transition from formal school to home education.
Can I join ACTS classes after the
start of the school year?
Answer:
Students may join a class already in session if it is not
full. However, students may not attend classes until all forms and
payments are made. This must be no further
than 30 days in advance of the desired start date. All materials fees
checks and tuition must also be submitted to the teachers during that
time. All Registration paperwork and dues checks need to be submitted
to the Registrar no later than the Sunday prior to the desired start
date. For example, a family desiring to begin on Tuesday, January 3rd,
their Registration paperwork and dues check must be received by the
Registrar no later than Sunday, January 1st
How do I drop a class?
Answer: Once your grace month is
over dropping a class incurs a tuition obligation. Please see the
Tuition Policy page of the
Family Handbook for a complete explanation.
Why do I have to write so many tuition checks
each month?
Answer: ACTS attempts to keep the volunteer administration
duties as
simple as feasible and the gross annual receipts as low as possible. In
lieu of a paid treasurer to collect all the checks from each family and
write all the tuition checks for teachers, we all co-operatively help
out with writing the checks directly to the teachers. To reduce the
number of checks, a family may opt to pay by the semester or year.
Why do my children lose their spot in the class if I am not timely in
getting my checks and paperwork into the registrar?
Answer: The job of registrar for a co-op our size is innately time
consuming. Handling discrepancies is very frustrating. Not everyone
realizes that and is conscientious about getting their stuff in on time.
The drop date insures each one takes part in making the job of registrar
more manageable.
Can I drop off my kids
in the parking lot and let them sign themselves in so I don't have to
park and walk in too?
Answer: Please do not do this. It is a
liability issue that is against ACTS policy. Parents must park and walk
in with and sign in ALL of their children – including those 11 and up.
Additionally, you must walk in to pick up your children when their
classes are finished. Do not instruct them to leave the building and
walk out to meet you in the parking lot. Exceptions are: 1)A
responsible adult brings your children to ACTS for you. They may sign
in and pick up your children. 2)An ACTS student 16 years old or over
that drives themselves to classes.
Do I have to stay on-site while my children are in class?
Answer: As long as your child is in class, you do not need to remain
on site. If your children 10 and younger have a free class period, you
must return to supervise them, or, arrange for a designated responsible
adult (not an older sibling) to directly supervise them. You do
not need to return to supervise children 11 and up who have a free class
period. They may sit in the two designated areas that are supervised by
the weekly service parent.
What about lunch?
Answer: Please eat lunch before coming to ACTS unless your children
have first and second period (11:00-11:55) classes. Students that come
for first will stay in their first
period classroom for 15 minutes after class is over (11:55-12:10) to eat
lunch. Please pack non-messy food: no crumbly chips or cookies,
chocolate cupcakes, etc! Please pack water to drink rather than
sticky, colored juice-type drinks, and only pack foods children can
open and eat independently. Children will be responsible to pack out
their trash, and forgotten lunchboxes will be emptied and put in lost
and found.
What about bad weather?
Snow? How do I know if ACTS is cancelled?
Answer: If ACTS must be cancelled due to snow or bad weather, or for any
other reason, you will get an email at 8:00AM that morning. Please check
your email for any cancellations.
How do I find the
family roster?
Answer: The Roster is available to ACTS parents with students currently
enrolled in classes. To access the Roster, go to the Scheduler and log
in with your email and password. Then, look on the left menu for the
link which says Roster.
What is the
difference between CACHE and ACTS?
Answer: ACTS purpose is to provide weekly enrichment classes for
home educating families. CACHE stands for
Charlottesville Area Christian Home Educators and their purpose is to
provide homeschool support for the parents. You can join the discussion
group on yahoo at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cache_inc/
How can I become an Officer or
Coordinator?
Answer: Board members serve a minimum of two year terms (beginning
July 1st), and coordinators serve a minimum of one year. Both receive
priority registration for their children while serving. Our Board is
self-perpetuating – it selects and replaces its own members on a
voluntary basis. We attempt to match gifting and calling with our
leadership needs. If you would like to volunteer for a leadership
position, please contact the current President. Prospective leaders
are reviewed by the Board and taken before the Lord for wisdom and
direction. If a match seems indicated, we welcome the new insights and
gifts! All leaders must not only sign, but also agree with the statement
of faith. New Board members begin training in March. We would love to
see more dads involved...please join us in prayer for this covering
need.
How do I post on the website?
Answer: Guidelines for posting announcements
on the website are found by clicking on this link.
http://www.actscoop.org/ActivitiesOpportunities/index.htm
How can I print from the website?
Answer: There are several ways to do this.
- Go to the web page you wish to print. Look at the top of your browser
window. Find the printer icon and click on it. The page will
automatically print on your printer. (If you cannot find the printer
icon, look at the top of your browser window and find the File menu.
Click and choose Print from the pull down menu.)
- Go to the web page you wish to print. Highlight the text and/or
photos you want to print. Right click on what you highlighted
and choose Print from the drop-down menu.
- Go to the web page you wish to print. Highlight the text and/or
photos you want to print. Right click on what you highlighted
and choose Copy from the menu. Then open a new document in your word
processing program (this is Word for most people)
and paste the text into it. Choose Print from your Edit menu.
- If you are at the library (or other public access), you need to
ask the librarian how to use their printers. At the library, the 1st
two pages are free and it's $.10 per page after that.
Why can't I open the forms?
(Registration Form, Enrollment Contract, New Family Introduction Form,
or Release of Liability Form)
Answer: These forms are written in pdf format and require
Adobe
Acrobat Reader to open. It is free and is available by clicking on the
Adobe Reader icon below.
 |
It's free! Click on the icon to the left and follow the
download directions. You must then install the program. |
When I click on
a teacher or leader's name, nothing happens.
Answer: When you click on a name, a window should open with a form to
send email. If nothing opens, or seems to open and immediately closes,
it is probably because you have pop-up blocker software running. Turn
off the pop-up blocker software and try again. Still not working?
Contact the
webmaster
How are the teachers chosen?
Answer: From the Administrator's Manual -
Teachers’ applications will be
submitted to the ACTS President, references will be checked, and a
criminal background check is done. Once these are completed, an
interview will be conducted.
Where do you meet?
Answer: ACTS meets at Covenant Church of God, 1025 East Rio Road,
Charlottesville, Virginia
How many families are in the co-op?
Answer: This changes each year. ACTS began with only 50 families and
is has grown to over 170.
How long has ACTS been going?
Answer: ACTS has been operating since 2002.
How do I find the
phone number of an ACTS family?
Answer: All phone numbers and address information are available to
ACTS members only. Go to HORAS
(look on the left side of this
page in the green area) and log in with your email address and
password. Look on the left side menus for the Roster.
