Fall Trail Rides Now Available
Experience the changing of the seasons - on the back of a trail horse! Fall is a beautiful time of year to breathe in the crisp air and calmly observe the seasonal evolution of our community's riverbed. Your private group will mosey through our town's natural territory, spying flora and fauna unique to our ecosystem. Only seconds from Copperhill in Valencia, you'll feel a world away.
Santa Clarita Valley Equestrian Center 296-9995

"My wife and I checked out quite a few schools before signing Sianna and Jada with the Santa Clarita School of Performing Arts. This place is truly special! The best thing about SCSOPA is they are not expecting a finished product - they have the classes to help you succeed in your career as an artist. They provide ongoing instruction in acting, singing, modeling and more. They also provide weekly opportunities to meet and read for some of the top talent agents and managers in the business. This is hands down the best school of its kind. We brought our two daughters here in September 2018. Four days after our initial meeting, our daughters had signed with a major management company and talent agent. Now one of our daughters has booked her first commercial. We are so thankful for the Santa Clarita School of Performing Arts and their staff."
The Elex Family

You can Finally Take your Small Child to an Art Show!
When you have kids, "culture" often changes from high-brow experiences coupled with craft cocktails to what's growing in that sippy cup that slid behind the couch.
An upside to social distancing - the Santa Clarita Artists Association will hold its 31st Annual Art Classic as a "Virtual" experience. Bring the kids! (All the way to the couch!). The public can view all of the artwork on the santaclaritaartists.org website a week prior to the Virtual Awards Ceremony that will be held on Zoom, Saturday, October 17 from 7pm to 8:30pm.

Host your own Curated Art Show at Home
Whether your kiddos are just mastering finger paints or have graduated to sketching, acrylics, mixed media or digital art, the Annual Art Classic is the perfect reason to encourage every member of your family to create art. A proven stress reliever that also has been shown to reduce symptoms of clinical anxiety and depression, making art is good for every age and stage. Celebrate the process with an at-home art show.

Choose a Theme
It can be a simple "best of," or you can encourage your artists to create according to a theme. Go with a current - "Fall," "Halloween," "Quarantine," "Zoom" - or leave it intentionally vague, like, "Beauty."

Celebrate Wins
Give positive feedback, even if you don't get the sense your kid is the next Picasso. Comment on their thoughtful color selection; let them know you're proud of them for their hard work; tell them how their art makes you feel.

Develop Language Skills & Emotional Intelligence
Ask them to describe their art, using open-ended questions: What feelings did you have when making this? Why did you choose this color/element/design? What do you hope people will feel when they see your art? How did you feel when you were done?

The Best Scary Movies to Watch Outside with Kids this Month
October SCV nights are cool, not cold - making them the perfect backdrop for an outdoor movie night, "Halloween Style." GlowHouseGaming's new family-fun specials include virtual-reality headset rentals, an outdoor video game van with four TVs and a lot more, but we're drawn to the jumbo projection screen rental! Make movie night truly memorable by choosing an age-appropriate "scary" (Or, truly scary - "Blair Witch" had us up for nights on end in college!) classic.
For the Littles
"Nightmare Before Christmas"
For Bigger Kids
"Jaws," "Jurassic Park," "The Goonies"
For Teens
"Scream," "Blair Witch Project"
glowhousegaming.com

PowerPoint & Zoom Orientations Now Available for those Interested in Foster Care-Adoption
Due to COVID-19, Children's Bureau is now offering a PowerPoint online foster care-adoption resource parent orientation that you can review at your own pace. For those who wish to attend a live video meeting, Zoom information meetings will take place, too, and will last one hour. This is the first required step to officially begin your process of becoming a foster or foster-adopt parent. Email rfrecruitment@all4kids.org to request the PowerPoint Orientation or to sign up for the Zoom orientation.

CHS Grad Publishes YA Novel
Tessa Cox, a Canyon High School grad, once managed bookstores - and now she's crafting literature featured in them. "Transference" is the first book in a new YA series about an adopted girl in a loving family who knows that her appearance, and many other genetic traits, were passed down to her from parents she never met - including the ability to do things people only read about in comic books. It's available for purchase on Amazon and other online retailers.