SYCC Fish Dissection and Fishing Clinic – Register by 9/6

Join us at Suncoast Youth Conservation Center in Apollo Beach for a fish dissection class and saltwater fishing clinic.

September 20, 2019 – 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM

SYCC
6650 Dickman Rd
Apollo Beach, 33572

FREE (For Alliance members only)

The group will participate in a fish dissection for the part of the class and a saltwater fishing clinic for the second part of the class. Depending on the number interested, we may be separated into groups and rotate through the 2 stations. A break for lunch will be provided.

This field trip is designed for grades 3rd – 5th but older students are welcome.

Fish Dissections (2 hours) – Students will learn the external and internal anatomy of a fish through hands-on dissections. They will see the internal structures of tilapia, a non-native and invasive fish to Florida, and understand why these fish thrive in their non-native environment. Students will also compare the fish anatomy to human anatomy and start to take a look at their inner fish.

Saltwater Fishing – Students will learn the science behind hook-and-line fishing. They will take part in a mini fishing clinic to learn how to cast a fishing rod, tie knots, select a bait, identify fish, know the regulations, and throw a cast net. Catch-and-release angling ethics will be covered in this class.

Sign up for this field trip HERE
(Link will only work in you are logged in on homeschool-life)

CLICK HERE to become a member of the Alliance

OUR NEW WEBSITE WILL BECOME OUR GO-TO SITE FOR EVENTS, UPDATES AND MORE. THAT WAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL ALLIANCE-RELATED HAPPENINGS ON ONE EASY-TO-USE PLATFORM!

Fall 2019 Co-op Registration Ends Friday, August 30!

We still have a few spaces open in our Fall 2019 C0-op classes at Music Showcase in Brandon. Tuesday classes will be held September 10, 2019 – October 29, 2019 with presentation day on November 7, 2019; Thursday Classes will be held September 10, 2019 – October 31, 2019 with presentation day on November 7, 2019.

Tuesdays

• LEGO EV3 Robotics – Advanced 3rd–12th ; 9 y/o–16 y/o
  11:00 AM – 11:50 AM
  (3 spaces)
• Little Learners Spanish – Kindergarten–3rd ; 5 y/o–8 y/o
  12:00 PM – 12:40 PM
  (2 spaces)
• Spanish Grammar – 4th–7th ; 10 y/o–13 y/o 
  12:00 PM – 12:50 PM
  (2 spaces)

Thursdays

• More Fiber Arts 3rd–12th ; 9 y/o–14 y/o 
  10:00 AM – 10:50 AM,
  (2 spaces)
• Gibtown: Gibson’s Carnival Past -2nd–10th ; 8 y/o–16 y/o 
  11:00 AM – 11:50 AM,
  (8 spaces)

Become an Alliance member and sign up for classes before spaces are gone and registration ends on Friday, August 30!

MEMBERSHIP: All families that want to be part of the Alliance co-op, field trips, workshops, etc. need to become a member. Membership is $15 per family (for the year) and gives you access to all Alliance activities, including field trips, workshops, and the music ensemble! If you are not a member you will not be able to register for classes or events until your membership has been approved.

OUR NEW WEBSITE WILL BECOME OUR GO-TO SITE FOR EVENTS, UPDATES AND MORE. THAT WAY, EVERYONE WILL HAVE ACCESS TO ALL ALLIANCE-RELATED HAPPENINGS ON ONE EASY-TO-USE PLATFORM!

Fall 2019 Registration Opens 8/13/19!

What: Fall 2019 co-op classes, registration opens to the public! (We have a few spots left!)

When: Tuesday 8/13/19 at 10a.m. (mark your calendar!)

Where: On our new registration portal (you need to become a member in order to register, see below for membership details. Click here to become a member!)

DON’T DELAY! If you wait until the day of class registration to try to do your membership, you will have to wait up to a day or two to register for classes, and remember, since the classes our amazing volunteer teachers put together are so affordable, creative, engaging and overall awesome…spots fill up quickly!

What classes are left?

We have a few spots left in the following classes (please check our class list for updated spot availability. We have other classes that are now full but a waitlist is available for them as well, so be sure to visit our site for detailed and up-to-date information):

• Toddler Time – Tuesdays at 10am; 3-4 y.o. (4 spots left)

• LEGO EV3 Robotics – Tuesdays at 11am; 9-16 y.o. (5 spots left)

• Little Learners Spanish – Tuesdays at 12pm; 5-8 y.o. (5 spots left)

• LEGO WeDo Robotics – Tuesdays at 12pm; 5-8 y.o. (1 spot left)

• Spanish Grammar – Tuesdays at 12pm; 10-13 y.o. (3 spots left)

• More Fiber Arts – Thursdays at 10am; 9-14 y.o. (3 spots left)

• LEGO EV3 Robotics – Thursdays at 11am; 9-16 y.o. (1 spot left)

• Gibtown: Gibson’s Carnival Past – Thursdays at 11am; 8-16 y.o. (10 spots left)

Our new website/registration portal is up and running!

MEMBERSHIP: All families that want to be part of the Alliance co-op, field trips, workshops, etc. need to become a member. Membership is $15 per family** (for the year) and gives you access to all Alliance activities, including field trips, workshops, and the music ensemble! If you are not a member you will not be able to register for classes or events until your membership has been approved.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR NEW SITE AND BECOME A MEMBER!

PLEASE NOTE:

• **Existing members (formerly field trip members) are grandfathered in. If you have already paid membership, DO NOT PAY (or click on the paypal button). We will handle waiving the fee from behind the scenes. You need only complete the info form.
• Membership has to be approved. It may take up to 24-48 hours for that approval after submission.
• You will not have access to the site until we approve the membership
• You MUST be an approved member to register for classes. The website will not let you register if your membership has not been approved. So, don’t wait! Become a member now to ensure class registration is quick and easy once registration opens!

This website will become our go-to site for events, updates and more. That way, everyone will have access to all Alliance-related happenings on one easy-to-use platform!

PLEASE visit our site and complete your membership as soon as possible.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. info@allianceforknowledge.org

click here to access our new website and become a member today!

New Website And Registration Portal!

Our new website/registration portal is up and running! While it’s still work in progress, we have the membership and class registration pages ready to go!

All families that want to be part of the Alliance co-op, field trips, workshops, etc. need to become a member. Membership is $15 per family** and gives you access to all Alliance activities. If you are not a member you will not be able to register for classes or events until your membership has been approved.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR NEW SITE AND BECOME A MEMBER!

PLEASE NOTE:

• **Existing members (formerly field trip members) are grandfathered in. If you have already paid membership, DO NOT PAY (or click on the paypal button). We will handle waiving the fee from behind the scenes. You need only complete the info form.
• Membership has to be approved. It may take up to 24-48 hours for that approval after submission.
• You will not have access to the site until we approve the membership
• You MUST be an approved member to register for classes. The website will not let you register if your membership has not been approved. So, don’t wait! Become a member now to ensure class registration is quick and easy once registration opens!

This website will become our go-to site for events, updates and more. That way, everyone will have access to all Alliance-related happenings on one easy-to-use platform!

PLEASE visit our site and complete your membership as soon as possible.

DON’T DELAY! If you wait until the day of class registration to try to do your membership, you will have to wait up to a day or two to register for classes, and remember, since the classes our amazing volunteer teachers put together are so affordable, creative, engaging and overall awesome…spots fill up quickly!

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. info@allianceforknowledge.org

click here to access our new website and become a member today!

We have a Fall Location!

Over the past few months your co-op board has been furiously working to secure affordable and functional locations for fall classes. Thanks to our wonderful members we have found a location for fall that will allow the co-op to keep classes at the same rate of $1/per student, per class session ($9/9-week class session).

Music Showcase has welcomed our co-op!

• Music Showcase is located at 402 Oakfield Dr in Brandon
• We will have use of 3 classrooms on Tuesdays and Thursdays :: 10AM – 1PM
• Music Showcase has a cafe-style waiting area with indoor and outdoor seating – tables and chairs
• Behavior expectations will be different from our previous location. Children will want to bring things to keep them occupied during wait times. Games, art supplies, electronics, etc. This is a great opportunity for playing board games together!

Class descriptions click here

We are aiming on opening registration for returning family the week of August 5th and then for new families the week of August 12th. However as we will be switching registration platforms, these dates may be slid back one week if we encounter any issues.

We have some upcoming changes to our registration system and membership. Your board is always working to keep everything as simple and affordable as possible. Look for a post next week with Membership and Registration info.

We appreciate all the support, location suggestions, scheduling suggestions, and patience our families have shared as we navigate these changes for our co-op. Our families take the spirit of cooperation to heart!

PLEASE READ: Update About Our Status With The County (5/9/19)

In this post:

• We have a meeting scheduled with county officials!
• Don’t forget the Alliance meeting May 21st, 2019 @2:30 p.m. at Brandon Library!
• Commissioner’s meeting on 5/15/19 does not have our issues on its agenda, we will hold off attending that meeting.
• Stay tuned in case we do need to attend future meetings!
• We need your help! Send us info about places we could use in the community! Please reach out to your resources.

Organizers will be meeting with county officials:

We would like to inform everyone that our efforts have not been in vain! We have had great response from the county officials and they requested an in-person meeting with the organizers!

We are confident this meeting will provide us with the information we need in order to come up with appropriate plans of action for the Alliance.

Don’t forget our meeting! 5/21/19

We look forward to our Alliance meeting May 21st, 2019 at 2:30 p.m. at Brandon Library, where we will provide you with all the information we gather from meeting with County officials.

At this time, we believe it is best to continue the conversation with the county decision-makers who have demonstrated an interest in working with us, and afterwards discuss with you if we still have a need to be present in a future’s Commissioner’s meeting.

Hold off on attending commissioner’s meeting 5/15/19!

Based on the commissioner’s agenda (as of today), it does not look like budgeting would be an item of discussion, and we have been made aware of the fact that these budgeting decisions are internal within the Parks and Rec department.

We do not dissuade you from being active participants in our community and representing our community at the commissioner’s meeting on the 15th, but based on incomplete information as well as current planned agenda items, we don’t feel like this would be best use of everyone’s time and effort to bring our concerns to the county commissioners.

Stay tuned in case we need to attend a meeting, though!

We may need you to attend a future meeting depending on the outcome with our meeting with the park.

Help us find alternative locations!

Please continue to reach out to your community. Some families have provided us with potential locations where we might be able to continue programs if the county facilities are no longer an option in the future. If you can provide us with the basic facility information and a contact person to call, we can do the rest!

Send us your leads! info@allianceforknowledge.org

ATTENTION: Fall 2019 Registration is Currently ON HOLD

In this post:

• Changes are happening within the county, these could affect us. We are still waiting for details
• Mark your calendar: Meeting set for Tuesday 5/21/19 2:30pm-3:30pm at Brandon Library, to discuss this. It’s an in-person event and will also be broadcast online.
• Commissioner’s meeting will be 5/15/19 at 9am in Tampa.

---

We have been informed there will be changes within the County’s Parks and Rec Department that could potentially affect our ability to carry out our Fall 2019 Session at the Parks and Rec facilities.

At this time, we have no details about changes but have been told proposals will be reviewed and decided upon by the end of May.

Mark your calendar: We will be holding a meeting at Brandon Library on Tuesday May 21st, 2:30p.m.-3:30p.m.

The idea is to come together as a community to figure out alternatives and a plan-of-action to help maintain our momentum, continue nurturing our kids’ creativity and growth, and keep our community engaged in learning in a co-operative, inclusive, and affordable environment! If you cannot make it, we will also be broadcasting it live.

Alliance meeting agenda:

• Inform everyone of any final decisions/details we can get from the county by the time we meet. We plan on attending/tuning in to the Commissioner’s Meeting 5/15/19 to gain more knowledge about county plans for our programs. (See details below)
• Brainstorm possible alternative locations to carry out our low-cost/free programs.
• Determine a plan of action that can be implemented by the officers, coordinators, and all the families.

---

Commissioner’s Meeting at the County Center Downtown Tampa (we don’t know yet if these proposals will be on the agenda for this particular meeting):

601 E. Kennedy Blvd., 2nd Floor Board Room

May 15th, 2019 – 9 a.m.

April 2019 Updates!

In this post:

• Learning co-ops: small Class Registration Fee change.
• Alliance Administrative Fee is now simplified!
• Alliance Officers – LIVE online Q&A.

---

Homeschool Learning Co-op Class Registration Fee Change

Starting Fall 2019 the class registration fee will be $2.00 per week, per child (each class is part of a 9-18 week session, so each class will be $18-$36 depending on the number of weeks the class runs for).

This is a necessary increase to help us offset the cost of opening up a paid position for an On-Site Supervisor. It would be a small stipend, but we know from first-hand experience that it is a job that entails a substantial amount of time and responsibility, so we are hoping to provide some financial compensation to anyone able and qualified to take on the position.

---

Alliance Administrative Fee – Now Simplified!

We have encountered a lot of confusion regarding membership in the Alliance, the Administrative Fee, and what it entails. As we continue through this learning process, we are happy when we are able to simplify things for everyone!

Here’s the breakdown for the NEW Administrative Fee structure:

• Everyone has to pay for the Alliance Administrative Fee. Regardless of what you are doing with the Alliance (e.g., Community Ensemble, Workshops, Field Trips, Learning Co-Ops), if you engage in any Alliance activity, you will need to pay the yearly fee (just once!).
• This Administrative Fee entitles you to any of the above-mentioned activities and anything else that the Alliance puts together!
• The fee amount:
  • $10.00/year for a single-child household
  • $20.00/year for a multi-child household

---

Alliance Officers LIVE Online Q&A

click HERE to subscribe!

A few weeks ago, the Alliance Officers faced their dislike of being in front of cameras and opened up the floor to our families and friends by conducting a LIVE Online Q&A session.

We definitely encountered some technical difficulties! But we were able to salvage most of the footage and learned a lot in the process in preparation for the next time!

We will be doing these LIVE Q&A regularly, so please be on the lookout for our next LIVE Online Q&A!

To watch the previous Q&A, please follow this link. If you have Facebook, you can see the second half of our video by clicking here (we had to switch to Facebook LIVE due to some difficulties we were facing!). Don’t forget to LIKE our Facebook Page, we need more likes so we can access all the tools Facebook gives pages with 1000 likes! We would be able to embed a calendar of events, make detailed polls, and other things that would make communication so much better!

Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to the YOUTUBE Channel (the more subscribers we have, the more things we as a community can do with YouTube!).

Don’t Forget to TUNE IN TOMORROW!

We (the organizers) are excited for the opportunity to engage in an open discussion with our wonderful community at the Alliance! We are all in this together, and want to know what you have in mind, your questions, feedback, and how we can all work together to continue our mission!

We are doing this LIVE YouTube feed so that we can have an interactive communication with everyone who can attend, since it is difficult to get in touch with everyone at one time.

We want to share with you about how we started, and where we stand now. Share our moments of joy and what we have learned from the not-so-easy moments! We continue to put in our efforts, hearts, and time as 100% volunteers, because we believe in our cause and we feel overjoyed to be a part of such a collaborative community!

So, tune in to our LIVE YouTube video where you can chime in with your thoughts and we will be able to answer in real time! Here are the details:

What: Our VERY FIRST LIVE STREAMED FAQ

Where: On our YouTube channel (Subscribe for future videos!)

When: This Thursday (4/4/19) at 11am!

If you can’t attend this interactive online forum, please send us your questions so we can answer them: info@allianceforknowledge.org

Tune In on Thursday! FAQ Live on YouTube(4/4/19)

Don’t miss it!

What: Our VERY FIRST LIVE STREAMED FAQ

Where: On our YouTube channel (Subscribe for future videos!)

When: This Thursday at 11am!

Why: We will share our story, our humble beginnings, our incredible growth, and our vision for the future of the Alliance!

As we have grown, have had wonderful experiences as well as growing pains. Due to our limited free time and the many things we have going on, both as volunteers at the Alliance and in our daily lives, we have not had the opportunity to answer the questions you have and haven’t had the opportunity to open the floor for discussions and ideas.

We hope you will participate, ask all the questions we forget to answer, give your feedback, pitch your ideas, and let’s get to know one another because that’s the only way we can really function as a community!

If you are unable to attend but have a question or something to add to the discussion, we want to hear from you, so please email us at info@allianceforknowledge.org