FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL!

While this morning was not a good morning for me (see blog below) it WAS a great morning for the kids! Today school started, even for their homeschooling program. There is BIG news for our Kindergartener, Zak. So make sure to read on thru since the big news is in a few paragraphs. The first day of school for their type of schooling meant going in and revisiting their teacher and getting some of their first-of-the-year placement exams so I can test them this week. The teacher needs a firm idea of where their work and curriculum will start this year.

Most of you know that I am homeschooling them and they are enrolled in a home-study school that is actually a public school. We meet w/ their teacher (both have the same teacher) once a week to turn a weeks' worth of work and to pick up the next weeks' work. They take it all home, I teach them, and then we go in a week and turn it all in again. How and when we do it is completely up to us. I love the flexibility, I love watching them learn right before my eyes, not missing major developments through the days and weeks, doing all SORTS of fun projects with them, and sitting w/ them on the beach when we've finished our week early!





One of my VERY most favorite and exciting parts of this school is the fact that the curriculum is adjusted to each child, per subject. For instance, Charlie came to them in April in 1st grade. She was given her curriculum and through trial and error, we figured out JUST where she belonged in each subject. In reading and math, she is doing higher level work. So that is what she is given. She is still considered a 2nd grader but she is not held to that curriculum if another level (higher or lower) is needed.


Zak's BIG NEWS!

So, I had some concerns about Zak b/c he is reading already and checked out his first chapter book yesterday!! The Kindergarten curriculum includes letter/number/color/shape recognition, sounds, counting to 10, etc. His teacher figured he may need to skip most of these elements since he knows them already. So, she may skip him to 1st grade! WHOO HOO! We'll know next week. We don't really care what grade he is in, as long as he is where he needs to be, and we have firmly believed he is past the Kindergarten skills since he's on to reading bigger books, adding/subtracting, etc. What a big boy!! He's so excited and so are we!

Here are some pics of the kids today!