One year on the trail

This blog was meant to chronicle our first year of homeschooling. It has been untouched for over a year. DOH!

The short of it...

It has been eye-openingly wonderful, amazing, fun, enlightening, and difficult. Let's not forget difficult.

C started his first homeschooling class while still in public school. 52. A challenge to read and blog 52 books  (of mutual choosing) in 52 weeks and keep a blog on them. We revised, amended, extended, and finally completed this project. I feel good about the conversations that resulted from his books, and I'm proud of his dedication. I would not recommend this project to others! 52 books in 52 weeks is intense even for voracious readers, add blogging in and it's a rough schedule. It left little time for him to read books of his choosing. Toward the end I wondered if I was killing his appetite for books altogether. I was relieved when 2 days after his reading was complete he had completed 2 novels of his choosing.


C signed up for English Composition at Community College on campus in the Fall '11 semester. I took on role of detective when C told me he had gotten an email from his professor:

1. dont worry about our views coinciding or not - you'd be amazed at the variety of views i am capable of accommodating without hurting myself 
2. your writing is so good i dont really know whether i can teach you anything within the framework of this syllabus. as i said, i would like to talk to you more and see if there's anything i can do to help you
3. write journal only if you have time and/or desire. in your case, it is absolutely not a requirement. unfortunately, you do have to turn in the regular essays for me to justify your (almost inevitable) A at the end of the semester.

It seemed unlikely to me that a 15 year old would do so well on 2 assignments that it would warrant this rave from a professor even at community college, and very convenient that he would be given a pass 1/2 of his written work. The mail was sent from a gmail account not a college assigned .edu. Ultimately, I determined this was a legitimate email. Towards the end of the semester, C complained that the work was too easy, it was like 3rd grade. Surely, he was exaggerating. Except he wasn't. I spied worksheets in his folder on when to use its or it's, and there, their, and they're. I'm horrified by the education system. I remind you this was not an English skills get you up to par to take on the college credit courses. This was college level credit. YIKES.

The other problem I had with this course was it was twice a week for an hour and 15 minutes. Not enough time to do anything while I waited. I often brought Gideon and spread out in the back of the minivan and did his lessons. Thankfully, a mild winter made this possible without running the car unnecessarily.  C is currently taking Business Law and Business Organization and Management with MCCC Spring '12 and 3 more courses in the Fall. All online! Next Spring he can do what he wants, he'll be able to drive himself over there as many times as he feels the need. I however think once more for registration will be plenty for myself.

He started Trig with Life of Fred, but quickly found this method not suitable for him and has taken on Math U See Precalculus, a much better fit.

Physics Demystified served as science with field trips.

Japanese with FREE Livemocha.com

He studied Macroeconomics and hopes to take the CLEP exam.

American Government is a free class run by another mom. A handful of kids come together and discuss politics, policy, current events. They started with a dvd lecture series but decided to start learning through movies such as The People Speak, Separate but Equal, Thrive, Monumental.

About a month ago we got the call that the e-cubed group for which Caleb had been put on the waiting list had an opening. It's a great teen led group that meets weekly. They have book club, art, science, music, and country classes that rotate throughout the month. I am very impressed with them and Caleb seems to be open to trying things and joining in. It's been a great addition to our hectic lives.

He's been involved in a guitar meet up once a month showing off the efforts of his daily practice,  Tae Kwon Do  lessons weekly, and writing fan fiction or card games at the homeschooler meetup at Minnie B Veal Community Center. Plus soccer will be starting this week. It's a jam packed week for us. Next post will cover the evolution of G's first year.