madameblogalot

The senior year of high school *should* be “the perfect year”. It is the culmination of all the previous years you have put into your education. As my son started his senior year this year, my husband and I sat down with him and talked with him about this “transition” year. We want things to be moving toward more independence, toward more decision making/real life consequences, more toward the adult world.

What has followed for us is my son’s decision to homeschool and take dual credit classes at a local community college. He has also bought himself a car. He is looking for a suitable part time job. He has the privilege and responsibility of being a high school student and college student all at once. I think that the way this is working out for him, it could in fact turn out to be a perfect year for him.

It is quiet. Very quiet here. This summer has brought changes our way again. It seems we have been living a topsy-turvey life for several years now.

Today my daughter started her first day of public school. High school. I can’t say that I am particularly happy about it, but we let it be her choice. She will be gone all day for classes and volleyball. On the flip side of that, my son has decided after three years to return to homeschooling for his senior year of high school! He is taking outside classes three days a week, one day at a homeschool co-op and two days at a community college. The other two days will be for classes at home and homework. He is also planning on playing basketball.

So while it is quiet right now, we have plenty of craziness to keep us busy for the next school year!

I was thinking that it would be a good idea to just rent a text book for a semester and sure enough, there are several sites available that do just that! I found a site that has my son’s books for rent and/or sale cheaper than I expected. There are rentals available from 30-130 days at reasonable rates. I also found that to buy the book was half what it would have cost us locally. Since he will likely need the book for two semesters, I chose to purchase the book, which was only $9 more than renting it for the semester. His other book we rented for $10 for the semester.

When renting, you are allowed minimal highlighting while using the book to study. And the shipping is free as is the return shipping. They are also looking for students to be campus representatives. These kids can then earn certificates for future book rentals/purchases as well as bonuses.

As we walked in this evening from getting the mail, my husband told me to wait. He said the Space Station would be passing by in just a few minutes. As it was heading NorthWest to SouthEast, we knew where to watch. Just as he got the kids out, I saw it “appear” in the sky. It is amazing how fast it moves! And my husband said this night’s fly by was historic as it is the last time the space shuttle Atlantis would be docked to the station.

I always find it funny to explain words to my kids and then hear them learn to use them. I told my daughter that something was “sappy” the other day. She’d not heard that one and asked what it meant. Like any good mom, I told her to look it up (which is really easy on the new computer!) Here is what she read out to me:

“sappy-oversentimental, mawkish”

I liked the description and told her that I did want to “mock” the thing I’d been talking about. She corrected me then and told me the word she’d read out was m-a-w-k-i-s-h. I didn’t know that one. So…we looked it up too. Here is what we found:

“mawkish-sentimental in a feeble or sickly way”

She loved it! She said she can’t wait to use it the next time she sees any PDA going on!!

I have seen a lot of places offer tutoring to students of all ages. One of the biggest areas of tutoring seems to be Reading Intervention. I have never had experience with any of this kind of tutoring, unless you count the year I homeschooled my nephews. But even then I pretty much started at the beginning by using phonics to give them keys to decode nearly all words.

There are many different forms and approaches to tutoring reading. I think my favorite is the one offered by our public library. They use dogs to have the hesitant students read aloud to!

I think learning to read and to read well is the key to all other learning. No matter what else a person wants to learn, they can learn it if they first learn how to read and to become a proficient reader.

My daughter and I are going on a field trip with my parents and my nephews. And I am really looking forward to it! We are going to the State Fair in Dallas and then to see Mary Poppins! It should be a day filled with fun, sweets (the kids are already planning all they want to eat!), and an evening of fun and song. I think I am ready for a little time away doing something fun!

Today was my first parent/teacher phone conference with my daughter’s homeroom teacher. As she is attending a virtual school, we have never met the teachers. I have known for at least a week about the phone conference today, so I was ready for it. Or so I thought. The questions were fine, mostly she was just getting to know my daughter and her preferences and learning style. However, my phone started beeping at me during the conversation, letting me know it was about to die. I told the teacher that it was about to die and was about to plug it in to the charger when it did die! Right in the middle of the interview! I was very embarrassed! What a bad first impression. When we did reconnect, after a couple of tries, I did apologize and she was gracious about it. Still, I was very embarrassed!

My daughter got her rough draft back from her fist assignment. She did really well! She got the 15/15 points with some good comments from her teacher: “Beautifully done! Great story! It was a joy to read.” She was very happy about that! The only editing comment the teacher made was to say that my daughter should have written “my brother and me” instead of “me and my brother”. My daughter knew that and wished she had not made a “stupid mistake”! I told her that after all, it is a rough draft!

My daughter submitted her first written rough draft to her online school today. It was rather stressful for her as the rough draft had to be typed, have things in proper order, voice, and person. It also had to have proper spellings throughout the piece. It was a very polished rough draft she sent in!