Hi all!
I suppose it's time to start our K12/Virtual School thread again for the fall. Our boxes o'materials arrived a couple weeks ago and I've yet to unpack them.
The plan is to get the desk all cleaned up and organized before I unpack - start the year well on track! So that's my goal this week (among many other goals of course
).
So - here it is! The support thread for those families who are doing a virtual academy/school (k12 or otherwise) this year - newbies and old-timers are all welcome, we look forward to hearing from everyone! It would probably be nice if we all introduce ourselves a little so everyone knows "who" everyone is.
This is my family's second year of k12. Dd1 will be a first grader this year. We liked kindergarten quite a bit, other than the music program -- really liked our teacher, and liked the flexibility combined with forced accountability for me (I tend to procrastinate, so needing to do attendance etc. really kept me on track!). Initially we thought we'd just do k12 for a year or so, mostly because I was overwhelmed by trying to figure out what the 'right' curriculum to follow would be, for homeschooling independently and k12 was to give me a year to research while still homeschooling; but we are back this year. We do k12 because we travel a lot, which wouldn't be possible if dd1 were in school; and also because she has an egg allergy which the school didn't seem very receptive about when we discussed it with them, and of course, concerns about overall academic theory/focus in the public schools. We very much appreciate that most days, Ina's school takes around 2 hours (sometimes less, sometimes more).
Our WYVA doesn't really start 'til the 24th, but we are thinking about starting to ramp up next week - I'd like to get ahead because dh's Grandma (94) is coming for a two week visit the last week of August and we'd like to spend as much time as we can with her. Also, if I can start ahead and stay ahead, that would mean that we might be able to end 2-3 weeks 'ahead' in the spring - which would allow me (and dd1) to really enjoy getting the garden in and basically do a garden "unit study."
This summer we did a little schoolish work - we did a unit study on butterflies, with a butterfly kit, which was a lot of fun, and we did random math from the first grade math curriculum, since we'd worked ahead far enough that we got that before the end of the K year. Also, we read books from the library all summer, so I think dd1's reading skills are well maintained/improved over the summer. I haven't worked on handwriting at all, and plan to actually do a little review on that this coming week ... Ina wrote a backwards "a" last week signing a birthday card (of course, one that was going to a skeptical family member
).
We are planning to do music lessons (still undecided whether violin or piano) this year instead of the k12 music; we were told that would be an option for us this year. We will either need to rent a scaled violin, or purchase an electric keyboard if we do piano, so either way it's an investment. Ina would like to do both. So my Big Project tomorrow is to go to the local music store and ask them what they charge to rent scale violins (if they do), check out their keyboards, see what teachers they have on list and recommend - I hope to know what we're doing for music by tomorrow evening.
My other big goal this year, is to check out the two local homeschooling groups. We have some friends that the girls play with - but they're younger than Ina, and although she does Cloverbuds and swim lessons/art class, those are more sporadic, less interactive - and the swim lessons are with older kids at this point, too. Ina told me the other day that she really would like to have more friends her own age. SO -- I'll check out the homeschooling groups and see what they're like. I dread it a little since most of the homeschoolers here chose to homeschool because of their religious beliefs, and that's not at all our concern.
I got a lecture from my aunt about when Ina will go to "real" school, this summer. Ugh.
I knew she was opposed to homeschooling, but it still stunk to have the conversation with her.
Our K12 'teacher' emailed today to say that we will be working with a different teacher this fall - she's been assigned to do only 2nd graders this year (last year they assigned teachers to various grade levels so she worked with k-5 I think). This must mean they have more students this year?! Maybe our local gatherings will actually have a few more people in attendance, but we will miss our teacher, who was very flexible and supportive of how we were working with Ina (and didn't make us do any online class time with her other than during her phone calls).
Looking forward to hearing from everyone else - how was your summer, what are your plans/goals?
I suppose it's time to start our K12/Virtual School thread again for the fall. Our boxes o'materials arrived a couple weeks ago and I've yet to unpack them.
So - here it is! The support thread for those families who are doing a virtual academy/school (k12 or otherwise) this year - newbies and old-timers are all welcome, we look forward to hearing from everyone! It would probably be nice if we all introduce ourselves a little so everyone knows "who" everyone is.
This is my family's second year of k12. Dd1 will be a first grader this year. We liked kindergarten quite a bit, other than the music program -- really liked our teacher, and liked the flexibility combined with forced accountability for me (I tend to procrastinate, so needing to do attendance etc. really kept me on track!). Initially we thought we'd just do k12 for a year or so, mostly because I was overwhelmed by trying to figure out what the 'right' curriculum to follow would be, for homeschooling independently and k12 was to give me a year to research while still homeschooling; but we are back this year. We do k12 because we travel a lot, which wouldn't be possible if dd1 were in school; and also because she has an egg allergy which the school didn't seem very receptive about when we discussed it with them, and of course, concerns about overall academic theory/focus in the public schools. We very much appreciate that most days, Ina's school takes around 2 hours (sometimes less, sometimes more).
Our WYVA doesn't really start 'til the 24th, but we are thinking about starting to ramp up next week - I'd like to get ahead because dh's Grandma (94) is coming for a two week visit the last week of August and we'd like to spend as much time as we can with her. Also, if I can start ahead and stay ahead, that would mean that we might be able to end 2-3 weeks 'ahead' in the spring - which would allow me (and dd1) to really enjoy getting the garden in and basically do a garden "unit study."
This summer we did a little schoolish work - we did a unit study on butterflies, with a butterfly kit, which was a lot of fun, and we did random math from the first grade math curriculum, since we'd worked ahead far enough that we got that before the end of the K year. Also, we read books from the library all summer, so I think dd1's reading skills are well maintained/improved over the summer. I haven't worked on handwriting at all, and plan to actually do a little review on that this coming week ... Ina wrote a backwards "a" last week signing a birthday card (of course, one that was going to a skeptical family member
We are planning to do music lessons (still undecided whether violin or piano) this year instead of the k12 music; we were told that would be an option for us this year. We will either need to rent a scaled violin, or purchase an electric keyboard if we do piano, so either way it's an investment. Ina would like to do both. So my Big Project tomorrow is to go to the local music store and ask them what they charge to rent scale violins (if they do), check out their keyboards, see what teachers they have on list and recommend - I hope to know what we're doing for music by tomorrow evening.
My other big goal this year, is to check out the two local homeschooling groups. We have some friends that the girls play with - but they're younger than Ina, and although she does Cloverbuds and swim lessons/art class, those are more sporadic, less interactive - and the swim lessons are with older kids at this point, too. Ina told me the other day that she really would like to have more friends her own age. SO -- I'll check out the homeschooling groups and see what they're like. I dread it a little since most of the homeschoolers here chose to homeschool because of their religious beliefs, and that's not at all our concern.
I got a lecture from my aunt about when Ina will go to "real" school, this summer. Ugh.
Our K12 'teacher' emailed today to say that we will be working with a different teacher this fall - she's been assigned to do only 2nd graders this year (last year they assigned teachers to various grade levels so she worked with k-5 I think). This must mean they have more students this year?! Maybe our local gatherings will actually have a few more people in attendance, but we will miss our teacher, who was very flexible and supportive of how we were working with Ina (and didn't make us do any online class time with her other than during her phone calls).
Looking forward to hearing from everyone else - how was your summer, what are your plans/goals?