First Period (9:15 AM–10:30 AM)

Drawing Fantasy Maps and Tokens

Tim Hereid

• ages 10–19 years
• Tuition: $216 for the 12-week Fall Semester
• Supplies: $25 for the 12-week Fall Semester

Create dynamic battle maps, sprawling cities, modest hamlets, rugged mountainscapes, and paths through dense and dangerous forests. This course is great for anyone who loves drawing, role-playing (as a GM or player), and imagining new worlds. Whether you’d simply like to learn how to better draw a tree or rock or you’d like to create an entire continent of maps, this is the class for you.

Using analog methods of creation (with an option for digital creation depending on access to enough devices), this class will teach students how to create maps for role-playing, imaginative play, and just plain fun. Course maps can be used for both in-person and online play.

This class will use the “Paint-Night” method of instructor-led creation at the beginning of class before students can spin off their own projects.

$25.00 supplies fee covers markers, pens, pencils, erasures, paper, and other art supplies

We will do our best to finish images/maps in class, but it may be the case that students will need to spend up to 30 minutes per week to finish work between classes.

This class will have a group project option.

Learn More   Register

Second Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

Painting

Kimberly Guedes

• ages 10–19 years
• Tuition: $150 for the 12-week Fall Semester
• Supplies: $40 for the 12-week Fall Semester

Students will learn the fundamentals of painting, including color theory, composition, and brushwork. Students will have the opportunity to work with a variety of painting mediums, such as watercolors, acrylics, and oils. They will also learn about different painting techniques, including blending, layering, and texture.

Learn More   Register

Fourth Period (2:00 PM–3:00 PM)

Photography Senior Seminar

Kathy Oaks

• ages 14–19 years
• Tuition: $120 for the 12-week Fall Semester

This is a synchronous (real-time or live) online course held on Thursdays. Classes will be held via Zoom. Students will need a quiet Zoom meeting space.

For photography students who want to deepen their knowledge and focus on developing their style further. This online senior seminar, facilitated by Kathy Oaks, will help experienced photographers explore topics of interest and work on independent projects.

Students will need a good working knowledge of their camera, depth of field, and composition, and basic editing skills.

Students should have a camera, phone, or tablet that lets them take photos; an app (such as Camera+) that allows phone users to change shutter speeds, white balance, etc.

Students can expect to spend about 30 to 60 minutes weekly on homework for this course.

This full-year course will be open to new students for the spring semester.

Learn More   Register

Fourth Period (1:50 PM–3:05 PM)

Art Club

PHS Clubs

• ages 10–19 years

An afternoon of self-expression and artistic exploration!

Find your voice, explore new artistic mediums, experiment with different styles, expand your portfolio, question everything, develop your techniques, collaborate with other artists, and solve problems as you create and interact with art and a supportive group of fellow artists.

Art Club is open to artists of all skill levels. Those with more experience will help you learn — and learn from you in turn!

All participants must sign up for insurance and safety reasons, but all PHS Clubs are open to visits from other clubs’ participants. Maybe some days you’re in the mood to draw, other days you feel like playing Uno, another day you want to relax and chat, and sometimes you just want to curl up in a comfy chair and read a book.

It’s easy to get boisterous when having fun, so PHS Clubs participants should be mindful of each Club’s focus, their fellow students (and their belongings), the shared classroom space, and the other classes in session. If in doubt, please defer to the Onsite Volunteers.

Families of enrolled students will work together to ensure there are art supplies for creating.

Parents, guardians, and caregivers of enrolled students serve as volunteer room monitors or fellow artists to ensure there are at least three adults on site every week. These are assigned as Fourth Onsite Volunteer shifts. Some students will need adult direction and assistance with making connections with their fellow students and engaging with the activities of the PHS Clubs. If you notice a student at loose ends, please step in: offer to introduce them to other students, help them find an engaging activity, or help them create a space for gaming or creating.

Learn More   Register

First Period (9:15 AM–10:30 AM)

Funky Hand Embroidery

Trina Greene

• ages 12–19 years
• Tuition: $137.50 for a 10-week Fall Semester
• Supplies: $30 for a 10-week Fall Semester

This is a 10-week (12½-hour) Fall Semester class. Classes will begin on Friday 22 September (the third week of PHS classes). There will be no class on Friday 8 September or Friday 15 September (the first and second week of PHS classes). Tuition has been adjusted to reflect this schedule.

Learn the relaxing art of hand embroidery. In the first part of the semester, we will be learning stitches as part of a small sampler. Then, create your own design! This won’t be your grandma’s kitchen towel embroidery but embroidery patterns with a side of funk. Previous designs are nature-scapes, feminism or liberal-leaning quotes, the world from a different lens, movies or cartoons, and art into stitching.

$30.00 supplies fee covers hoop, thread, needle, fabric, and sampler

Students will need both manual dexterity and concentration skills to best succeed in this class.

Students may spend from 30 minutes to 1 hour each week finishing stitches not finished during class time.

Learn More   Register

Second Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

Costumes and Cosplay

Sarah Beggs and Janet Lewis of Fiber Works MPLS

• ages 10–19 years
• Tuition: $180 for the 12-week Fall Semester
• Supplies: $10 for the 12-week Fall Semester

We’ll take a look at Anime, cartoons, comic books, manga, TV, and video game characters. Come up with creative ideas to take your drawing from paper to reality. Learn sewing basics. We will take a look at fabric, materials, and tools best used for costumes. We’ll spend time with construction, making patterns, cutting, gluing, and finishing. Characters all need props and make-up, so we’ll spend some time with prop ideas and how best to make them. Basic make-up techniques and products.

Most materials can be sourced free or very cheaply. Access to a sewing machine is helpful but not required.

$10.00 supplies fee covers fabric for weekly assignments, thread, pins, and sample kits

Students should bring a sketchbook, drawing tools (pencils, pens, colored pencils), and any other materials students determine needed for their final project to class.

Hand-sewing needles & thread are useful but not required.

Most weeks there will be about an hour of work to complete at home including sewing, sketching, sourcing materials, and research. There are weekly fun assignments and challenges. Each class will begin with a short review of the completed assignment and how it might factor into your project. Success in this course is dependent on students doing work outside of class. While this is not a graded course, we expect all students to complete all of the assignments to the best of their ability.

Learn More   Register

Fourth Period (1:50 PM–3:05 PM)

Maker Club

PHS Clubs

• ages 10–19 years

A collaborative workspace for making, learning, exploring, problem-solving, and sharing.

Open-ended hands-on self-directed learning develops critical thinking skills, boosts self-confidence, and can even foster entrepreneurship.

Build from raw materials such as cardboard, craft sticks, bamboo skewers, toothpicks, straws, PVC pipe, balsa wood, paper, fabric, paint, markers, crayons, duct tape, paper clips, binder clips, velcro, rubber bands, hot glue sticks, gorilla glue, brass fasteners, zip ties, string, yarn, and more.

Makers should be able to safely handle tools such as hot glue guns, scissors, hobby knives, utility knives, staplers, etc.

Learn More   Register

Second Period (10:35 AM–11:50 AM)

Shakespearean Youth Theater: Venus and Adonis

Lukas Brasherfons of Shakespearean Youth Theater

• ages 13–19 years
• Tuition: $137.50 for an 11-week Fall Semester

This is an 11-week (13¾-hour) Fall Semester class ending on Friday 1 December 2023 (the eleventh week of  PHS classes), one week early, so the final presentation will be on December 1. There will be no classes on Friday 8 December 2023 (the twelfth week of PHS classes). Tuition has been adjusted to reflect this schedule.

Dissect Shakespeare’s incredible yet underrecognized epic poem Venus and Adonis and work together to create a draft of an original theatrical adaptation of the piece.

Through close reading, dramatic consideration, and literary analysis, students will explore the uniquely exciting world of Shakespeare’s narrative poetry and hone their skills in devised theatre by taking a text not meant for the stage and creating a draft of a theatrical rendition.

Shakespeare’s mythological poem tells the story of romantic pursuit at the beginning of time and is rife for theatrical exploration due to its elements of action, passion, and tragedy. The class will culminate in a staged reading of the original adaptation created by the group.

This class will include a lot of out-loud cold reading of text in the class sessions.

Students should bring a notebook and writing implements to class each week.

Small assignments relating to the adaptation process may arise, but homework will not be a major part of the course. 1 hour at maximum.

For reference: Folger Shakespeare Library: Venus and Adonis

Learn More   Register

Second Period (10:30 AM–11:45 AM)

Collaborative Theater and Storytelling

Rebekah Jorgensen

• ages 10–19 years
• Tuition: $165 for the 12-week Fall Semester

This is a synchronous (real-time or live) online course held on Thursdays. Classes will be held via Skype. Students without Skype accounts will still be able to join using the web-based version. (Another platform may be needed, subject to student consensus.)

This course will provide students with an opportunity to create a web-based theater production. By incorporating creative writing, art, design, and stage presence, students will learn to create a modern dramatic performance created specifically to utilize the characteristics of online videoconferencing software. By thinking outside the box, students will be encouraged to produce a show that explores methods that aren’t always possible in a traditional theater setting.

Students will be expected to complete approximately one hour of homework outside of class, primarily writing, but also including reading and watching exploratory videos, and will be provided with additional enrichment activities to extend the learning if desired.

There will be some use of Google Drive for peer editing and collaborative writing.

Learn More   Register

Third Period (12:30 PM–1:45 PM)

LARPcraft: Creating a Live Action Role Play

Nic Rosenau and Séa Blake

• ages 10–19 years
• Tuition: $180 for the 12-week Fall Semester
• Supplies: $10 for the 12-week Fall Semester

LARPing is a great way to get exercise, build friendships, and improve social and communication skills including problem-solving and the art of negotiation.

You’ll use creativity, imagination, and strategy for story writing, world-building, and character creation and development (including costume and prop design and construction).

Students will work together to create a world, build a storyline, and create characters complete with a backstory and costume. The class will end with a LARP in which students will act as characters who advance the storyline and to which friends, family, and PHS members will be invited.

$10.00 supplies fee covers basic costume and prop construction materials such as glue, tape, thread, pins, etc.

Students will want to source materials for costumes and props to enhance their own characters and the world we build together.

Students will spend some time at home working on fleshing out their characters and the storylines and hunting for materials to build costumes and props as well finishing work on those.

The storyline will be built out via Google Docs which students may choose to work on individually or together outside of class.

Our final LARP will happen in the Fellowship Hall on the last day of class.

Learn More   Register

• Membership Troubleshooting
• Registration Troubleshooting
• Community Expectations
• FAQ

Support Planet Homeschool

PHS is a Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit and your donation may qualify as a charitable deduction for federal income tax purposes.

Support PHS

Contact our co-op’s Lead Volunteers at PlanetHomeschoolMN@gmail.com.