Will's First Year of High School at Home

Well, this school year has come to a close, and the new one is just around the corner. Well, kind of :). This year will be the first in a long time that I am choosing not to follow along with the school calendar (public or private) for our homeschool. Kate graduated in May and will be starting college classes at the end of August, so I'm thinking Will and I will probably wait to start school when she does.

May Highlights

Well, May was a busy month for us, as it probably was for some of you. Finishing up with school and all the end of the year details that go along with that, and trying to squeeze our family vacation in too, kept us hopping!

2013 Lady Eagles

Our 2012-2013 School Year

I think I can say that after almost two months back in school, we have settled back into our "normal" routine. Normal -- don't you just love that word? What's normal anyway? Just a setting on the washing machine...

Savannah, GA

Kate's 10th grade American history class went on a field trip to Savannah recently. Since I was asked to be a chaperon, Will had to tag along too. We toured the Roundhouse Railroad Museum, learning the history of this major repair facility of the Central of Georgia Railway, and why it was built in the port city of Savannah.

I don't think the kids appreciated the efforts of our tour guide as much as I did. But then again, I am quite the history buff.  My boys are somewhat interested in learning history, as it applies to certain things they are interested in at the time. My daughter, however, is one of those people who stores historical information in her short term memory bank just long enough to pass the test and then promptly forgets what she has learned. Sometimes I feel sad that my children don't appreciate history as much as I do, but I realize that God gives us all different interests.

2011-2012 School Year

Kate started school on Monday, August 8th. She is in 10th grade this year! She has been learning to drive this summer, and has been working on the Joshua Law requirements. I can't believe she will be 16 in February! My little girl is not so little any more. She still attends ACA, and I still tell her (often) that she can always come back home if she wants to. She always tells me, with a smile in her voice, that she really loves it at this small Christian school. They have 2 new students in her grade this year, for a total of 18 in the sophomore class. This is the biggest class yet at ACA!

Here is her class schedule:

Just Another Typical Week... Not!

Okay, so I knew things would be a little different, but I really didn't expect it to be THIS dramatic. We started school last week, on August 9th. Dd was excited about "going" to school this year. It was fun shopping for school clothes (as they have a dress code at school). It was exciting buying and gathering all those school supplies (albeit somewhat draining on the pocketbook). But... as Monday morning rolled around, she suddenly didn't seem so excited, or sure about this "going" to school business.

Dh and I tried to encourage her, spoke kind words of affirmation to her, assured her that these jittery feelings are a normal response when encountering something new, different. Still, she didn't seem convinced, but she wanted to try.

She did okay until mid-morning when, in her geography class, the teacher called on her to read aloud. She told me that it all went downhill from there. She tried to describe to me what she felt... "My voice was trembling, I could barely speak above a whisper, my heart was pounding and I couldn't hear anything except a loud roaring sound in my ears. I thought I was about to faint."

I've been there and done that! I have a real fear of speaking and/or reading aloud in front of others. In the days preceeding the start of school, I tried to discuss some of the things that she could expect that would be different from what she is used to, having been home-schooled.

She told me that in her Algebra class, the teacher covered the material so quickly she couldn't keep up. In the rest of her classes, she was so afraid that she would be called on to read aloud again. Needless to say, she spent much time in the bathroom, she couldn't eat her lunch and her stomach was upset and in pain all day. All in all, a miserable first day of school for my dd.

Now, for most people, I am sure this is just a normal part of life; but for dd, this is not good. She is the nervous, worrying sort (in a serious way)... so much so that it has caused a great deal of irritation in her stomach lining, which causes much pain for her. She has been on medication for this for about a year now, but after this day we felt that another visit to the doctor was in order.

He changed some of her medicines, suggested that we try altering (again) her diet, and try eliminating some of the sources of stress so that her stomach can heal itself. Dh made a trip to the school to speak to the teachers, and all are more than happy to help in whatever way they can (specifically not having her read aloud or speak in front of the class, for now). The algebra teacher already stays after school to help students, so dd makes a quick stop by her class if she had trouble with the lesson that day.

We are doing what we can to help her, most importantly we are lifting her up in prayer to our heavenly Father, and pointing her to Him in her time of need. I don't really understand why a child so young can spend so much time worrying about all the what-ifs in life, and stressing over even the smallest of concerns. She has been this way as long as I can remember. Yes, she knows what God says in His Word about worrying. We have talked to her about it; she has read it for herself. Applying what she knows... that's a different story.

We let her know that the door will always be open to come back to home-schooling. She has chosen to stay and finish the first semester, and then we will re-evaluate and decide what is best. She said that each day of last week seemed a little better than the first. She did comment that it doesn't take all day to finish the school work and the school day doesn't really need to be that long (lol). And that if she didn't love to participate in sports so much, coming back home would be a no-brainer!

She is enjoying cheerleading tremendously, and I think that is helping alot. On Friday, we went to the school to watch the pep rally. She seemed a little nervous to me, but she did great! And I think that being on the cheer squad and being in front of the crowd will help her to overcome her shyness and hopefully the nervousness. I have a feeling that when this semester comes to an end, she is going to be well-adjusted to life at school.

New Beginnings

We attended our daughter's high school orientation last night. She is no longer my little home-schooled girl. She's entering 9th grade at Appling Christian Academy. It is a very small Christian school...she has about 15 kids in her grade. She is on the cheer squad this fall. School starts Monday, August 9th.

This is her schedule:

1st period - PE
2nd period - Bible
3rd period - English
4th period - Biology
5th period - Algebra 1
6th period - Geography (first semester)
                   Speech (second semester)
7th period - Fine Arts/Study Hall/Sports Practice
Chapel is weekly on Friday mornings

She is excited, and nervous. Me? Well...my oldest son has moved about a 1 1/2 hour drive away, my daughter is starting 9th grade (at school, not at home)... I'm a basket case. Just kidding! Seriously... I'm full of different emotions right now. Of course I'm saddened at the change, but at the same time I'm excited for them.

My son feels like he is "really at college" now that he's at a big university. Whatever that means, lol. I'm just grateful that God gave us a year at a smaller college close to home to prepare us for this.

This is his schedule for Fall Semester:

Elementary German I
US History II
Intro to Information Technology
American Government I
Creative Writing III

He'll have 15 credit hours, and Lord willing, a job to round out his days.

My daughter is nervous about starting school. That sounds funny, doesn't it? Like we've never "started school." She met all her teachers last night and had lots of questions about how they "do" school -- at school. This will be a transition for her.

But on the other hand, she is excited. As I've mentioned before, God has given her a love for all things athletic, and He has gifted her in that area as well. She is quite a talented athlete. As we have no avenue for her to continue in sports if we continue to homeschool, this transition will open new doors for her. She loves all the sports and she will participate in all of them, cheerleading in the fall, basketball in the winter, and softball in the spring. She really loves basketball and softball and her dream is to play one of those sports at the college level one day!

And my youngest... this will definitely be a change for us! Only the two of us home all day. I am excited! I have more plans than I can ever complete with him, but I am looking forward to it. We'll be using Heart of Dakota for our main curriculum (lots of reading). I will mostly just use their history outline - we'll be taking a chronological journey from the 1500s to the 1970s through American history. We'll use their Bible study program and we'll learn the stories behind some of the greatest hymns using Hymns For a Kid's Heart - Vol. 1. We'll also continue in the Awana program (which focuses on scripture memorization) at church. 

For the language arts we'll use Learning Language Arts Through Literature, Spelling Power and Handwriting Without Tears. For math we'll use Teaching Textbooks 6. For science we'll use Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology 3: Land Animals of the Sixth Day. I love how they present science from a creationist viewpoint. I love how they focus on learning through an immersion approach. I can't tell you how impressed I was when my (then) 3rd grader could tell people much more than they wanted to know about birds when we finished Zoology 1, and about marine life when we finished Zoology 2. I can't believe how much my children have learned (and retained) using this method! I'm very excited that Jeannie Fulbright has written journals that we can use with this book! (Ok, that's my plug for Apologia Science!)

Well, I sure do get excited when talking about what we'll be doing for school. I'm pumped and ready for Monday!

But, in the meantime... I've got to get off this computer and start going through what's left in my son's room, sorting, cleaning out, getting ready to paint. My husband is ready to convert it to his work-out/exercise room. I would like to leave it as it is for a little longer, I guess for sentimental momma feelings lol. But dh likes to get on with things. And he keeps reminding me that God gives them to us for a season, and now it's time to let go. And he's right. And I know that my heart will catch on and believe that soon :)