Home Schooling

Okay, I am ready to make a decision, but just need to confirm with the hubbie.

Connections Academy. I have a link to it on the main page. What is it? It's a free, public/charter school education from home. In the basic sense, it is home schooling in that we will be doing school at home.

Let me tell you how I got to this decision. As you remember, I posted my feelings of being overwhelmed by all the curriculum and resources out there. As an American culture, we are blessed by such choices. I was cursed by them.

I learned a few things. Everyone I know who homeschools picks and chooses different curriculums.

You can pick one big "core" curriculum from many companies. I was seriously thinking about that until I saw the price. Whewie! What if I didn't like it? Yes there is a return policy, but.....okay, that didn't make me feel better at all.

I had a good talk with a friend who homeschools her three kids, and she is usually brutally honest with me. She agreed homeschool is a good idea for us, but she also said what I have been frightened of deep inside, "but you have your business." I just screamed inside, "Yes, I do, and it puts food on the table!" She then said, "You should try a canned curriculum." Yes, that is a huge core curriculum that gives you everything including lesson plans and even words to say. That sounds great to me until I get my feet under me.

So, I got my info packet from Connections Academy today. What is that? I enroll my kid in their "school". I get all the curriculum, supplies, schedules, and testing materials. JM would then follow that schedule and check in weekly with a public school teacher for instruction and "tutoring". We, as the parents, are referred to as "coaches". Yes, we guide, prod, help, encourage, support, but it's driven by the teacher.

What do I like about this? That personalized help from a teacher. It's not because I don't think I am capable, I don't think I have the time to do both a business and be the main teacher.

Is it Christian based? No, but kids coming out of Connections Academy are scoring far far better than classroom kids. Because it is only 3-4 hours of instruction a day, I can and will add the spiritual elements and instruction that we want. I can buy that curriculum! I like the focus on the basics of education and not trendy curriculum which seems to be what is in schools every few years. I like the addition of electives, specifically foreign languages for kindergartners! I like the electives of "home skills", which are cooking sewing, gardening. I like the field trips they plan and carry out. I like it! I think it will fit our needs. I like that I saw testimonials of families with two working parents who could do this and still get 8 hours of sleep a night. I am liking it, can you tell?

PLUS--it is in the state of Oregon! It is not in all 50 states, in fact, it is only a handful of states, and then only in certain districts. It is available to all kids in my state, no district boundaries! My kid will have an education from a tiny school district on the coast, which is the administration behind Connections in my state. My husband did some looking into that, and that almost didn't happen. The current laws state that kids must be in the boundary of the charter school they attend. When Connections Academy started in Oregon, kids could be from anywhere. Well, if another charter school comes along like Connections, the kids need to be in that school district's boundary. Click here for a nice article from a liberal publication on this. Good news for us! Plus, if I look at the other state's that Connections is in, they are "available to students in XYZ School District." Oregon was one of the few available to all kids in the state. Nice huh?

In my state, after the first year Connections started, they had to turn down kids because of the demand. When I heard that today, I almost cried. I worked so hard to boil this down!! I called them and asked...yes, it was a problem in the beginning, but it has been remedied and they are not turning anyone down now.

With traditional homeschooling there is testing, which is necessary. We need to know our kids are where they need to be. Because this is a "public school" education, the testing is built right in. What if my kid excels and needs to be challenged? What if my kid is deficient in some area? Those are all evaluated at test time, and a personal education plan is put in place to add some more challenges or focus on specifics. I also think that in the future if we adopt a child from the foster care system, this could be really great for them.

I also talked with a friend who homeschools in California, and there are several different ways a person could choose to homeschool. But, what I found interesting is that most do a charter school relationship with a family similar to this, but not sponsored by a public school. But support and resources come from a school as well as testing. I like the model. I think having support is the key for us.

Anyway, can you tell I feel better? Can you tell I think I have found what would be a good match. I will let you know what I find out as I start making appointments with them. At this point, I need to participate in an online informational session. I am looking forward to that and just need to find an evening to sign up for.

I also need to organize my house! T and I have been in contact today and I gave her some idea of what I want to do. I want to clean out our basement and move my office from a bedroom to the basement. Use that former office for a spare room/homeschool room. This is an old house, just smile and nod when I describe this. The only phone connection is in the current office, hence, the reason we have the computer, printer, my business office, etc. in it. So, for Connections Academy, which does a lot of online communication, it would be ideal to putting a computer, shelves and desk for the kids in for school. But we also need to run a phone connection to the basement so that I can still run the business. I also think that would get my candle business out of my face a bit by putting it in the basement. I can physically step away from it instead of just turning a corner. Lots to think about, and T was trembling when I told her my goal. We have a year!!

**UPDATE** Connections Academy is coming to Washington state. So my friends there don't need to be upset too much. Click here for the latest on that.