Home School 101

School started on Tuesday and it sure has been an interesting proposition. Catherine being home schooled this year makes for some interesting stuff. She is taking 6 classes. Plus I am teaching her about cooking, cleaning and gardening. Her classes are Language Arts, Life Science, World History, Algebra, Literature and P.E. Easy.

The first day went great. She was excited to learn. We did our shopping in the morning and ran some errands. Then we got started. We have made lesson plans going through the first three weeks. I use the curriculum from the school and then I add to it. We add videos, art, science experiments, and anything else I can think of. We went through the curriculum quickly. We watched a video about Pompeii and we read a lot of Harry Potter. It was fun. Day 2 went a little more bumpy. She was excited in the morning. We made cinnamon rolls and ate them while we got started. But there was a bump. Carolynn.

 People are getting more and more fed up with traditional public school. They don't have money to pay teachers. Programs are being cut. Classes are over crowded. The school the girls go to is a charter school. They have options for home schoolers plus they have classes. However, this year, the school is FULL. More children than they had anticipated have enrolled and they are currently using a small temporary campus while the permanent buildings are being built. They are set to open for next semester. And until then, there just isn't room. Since Carolynn's facilitator didn't sign her up properly last year for classes, she is doing home school for a few classes. And on Wednesday and Friday, she doesn't have to go to school until afternoon. Carolynn is doing home school for World History, Photography and P.E.

So yesterday morning, not only did Catherine sit down with me to get to work, so did Carolynn. This made for a lot of chatting and Catherine watching Carolynn and petting the dogs and cats and fidgeting around. She just wouldn't focus or anything. It took her forever to get anything done. FOREVER.

 I am sure we will work it out as we go. I will say that it is much more fun to home school kids who want to be taught. That semester we home schooled Carolynn when she was in the 8th grade was awful because she fought the whole time. This time we are having fun. Mostly. Sometimes.