Academics
summer school registration
As summer is approaching, so is registration for summer classes. Homestead administers courses through Indiana Online Academy (IOA) from June 10- July 21. Registration has been open since March 1 and closes at June 5 at 2 PM. Students are allowed to take 2 courses per summer at $60 per course. If interested in registering, go to IOA's website & look at this document for more information on registration, courses, and payments.
Students who need a laptop for summer school, should NOT turn it in on the last day of school. They should keep their laptop for the summer.
new summer reading program
The research is clear that children who don't read during the summer can lose up to 3 months of reading progress. Encouraging our Spartans to read over the summer is one of the many ways we are preparing our students for academic excellence while fostering a life-long love of reading. In a time where there are very few experiences that are shared by every student in our building, we see this as a unique opportunity to be united in a single academic pursuit. Every student will read the book I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys. Each student enrolled at Homestead for the 2024-2025 school year received a book and an assignment handout – the Summer Reading Literature Review Sheet – from their English teacher prior to the last day of school in May 2024. Students are required to read the book and complete the Summer Reading Literature Review Sheet during the months of June and July. This assigned handout will be collected by their English teacher on the first day of school, August 7th. Because the books were purchased by the district, they will be reused, so students should use sticky notes if they would like to annotate while reading. If you have questions, check out Homestead's website and this informative Summer Reading PDF. Below is a summary of the book:
"Trust no one.
Tell no one
Spies are everywhere.
Romania, 1989.
Communist regimes are crumbling across Europe. Seventeen-year-old Cristian Florescu dreams of becoming a writer, but Romanians aren’t free to dream; they are bound by rules and force. Amidst the tyrannical dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu in a country governed by isolation and fear, Cristian is blackmailed by the secret police to become an informer. He’s left with only two choices: betray everyone and everything he loves—or use his position to creatively undermine the most notoriously evil dictator in Eastern Europe.
Cristian risks everything to unmask the truth behind the regime, give voice to fellow Romanians, and expose to the world what is happening in his country. He eagerly joins the revolution to fight for change when the time arrives. But what is the cost of freedom?"
tHE SPARTANA IS now DIGITAL
The Spartana is Homestead's magazine publication. Due to changes in state funding laws, Indiana schools are no longer allowed to assign student fees. Unfortunately, this leaves The Spartana without a budget to print copies of the publication. Starting in September 2023, all new editions of The Spartana will be online both in our monthly newsletter, on Homestead's main website, on HHS In Depth, and on Canvas announcements. The Spartana is not just a publication for the students, but for parents and teachers as well!
graduation pathways
Hopefully students have noticed that they each have a 9th period course on their PowerSchool homepage (Project Based Learning). This course represents the students' work with the Graduation Pathways Canvas course being completed during the extra class time in 5th period.
In their extended 5th period class (longer period due to lunch), students have time to work on some activities in the Graduation Pathways Canvas course related to college and career aspirations and readiness. Students without a 5th period class should make time to complete the tasks in this Canvas course as well. It is a state requirement of all Indiana high school students.
Because completion of these activities is a graduation requirement put forth by the state, listing it in PowerSchool will allow it to show up on their transcripts. At the end of the semester, students will then have a “Pass” in PowerSchool to represent they have completed the necessary graduation requirement for a high school diploma. Below is an image of the course listed in PowerSchool.
