Today I'll drop our Termination of Homeschooling paperwork in the mail.
A journey that began in 1992 when my sister and I began homeschooling and continued through my two youngest sisters and then my daughter, has taken a new course. For the first time in years, not a single person in my family is homeschooling!
Though I comfort myself with the thought that I've really just outsourced a few classes to the professionals. :)
After an entire summer of deliberation and discussion, Marianna decided to attend Key West High School. We looked at many, many options. Okay, a few options. It is a small island after all! She has a huge goal in mind and that was reflected in a huge way in the decision-making process. We came up with 4 options.
1. Continue in our rut.
2. Home School 2 High School
3. Boarding School
4. Key West High School
1. I think it's safe to say that we both were bored out of our gourds with our modus operandi. It didn't matter which new curriculum was chosen, it was still going to be her and I staring at each other everyday.
2. There is one private sort of a high school option here in Key West called Home School 2 High School. They meet at the community college and students graduate with an associates as well as a high school diploma. They take classses from the college professors, attend classes at the high school and parents teach some classes. This costs $6000 a year. Add a few thousand more and she could attend a really nice boarding school - option #3!
3. Briefly browsed around Florida boarding schools, in particular, Miami schools as the nearest large city. Not impressed. Except for one boys school which is non-applicable and a school that I don't think is actually IRL but rather a scam. Too bad as it looked right up her alley.
4. Key West High School has all the courses she wants to take, she can graduate with AP (advanced placement) courses or DE (dual enrollment at college). They placed her in all honors courses for freshman year and most very, VERY important - her counselors and ROTC instructor have an entire wall of photos of students that they've gotten into West Point, Annapolis, New London and Colorado Springs. They've trod this path many times and are familar with the territory. I'm not. It's time to let them do their job and become the support crew rather than the driver.
I'm okay with that. Really. :)
And Marianna? She is loving that big old school! She went from seeing friends on Fridays or if we drove 100 miles to being surrounded by 300 freshmen alone.
And she's okay with that. Really. :)
The first day of school photo.
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Comments [6]
Dawn has asked what came home in our library bags this week. I'm happy to oblige as I do love chatting books up!
First up is one for me to read, Maisie Dobbs. It comes highly recommended and it has been forever since I've read a good mystery! Of course, I need to finish I Capture the Castle from last week's haul first though! I always forget that Dodie Smith also wrote 101 Dalmations, the thought of which simply tickles me.
Up next is Millions of Cats which won the Newberry Award in 1928 so how could I pass up one more chance to read one of Marianna's favorite books (we're in between the Wars in history currently)?
Third in line is the terrific Sophisticated Ladies, Great Women of Jazz. Brief biographies of 14 songbirds.
Ella's BIG Chance is fourth in the pile and is a charming rendition of the Cinderella story set in the Jazz Age with a lovely little twist at the end. I simply adore the various dresses in this book.
Bebop doo-wop! Jazz on a Saturday Night, can't hold still, get our fill, never will, please don't stop! Don't forget to listen to the CD in the back of the book - terrific!
Can you believe that Duke Ellington is a decade old now? I remember first seeing those scratchboard illustrations in my college Lit for Kids class. It sure doesn't seem as if it was that long ago!
Up next is the simply titled Jazz. Lovely poems like Piano:
Sweet and gentle, so surprising
Music fills us, hear it rising
Like a charming angel choir
Reaching, preaching souls on fire.
Now, I have to confess that I'd never heard of Art Tatum but when his book Piano Starts Here, the Young Art Tatum popped up on the library's website under Jazz, I went and ordered it. Boy, am I glad I did! Such a sweet book, I actually teared up a tad when he spends his first earnings on a golden music box for his mother and a baseball glove for his father so he can play during lunch at the factory.
The classic Norman Rockwell, Storyteller with a Brush reveals whom our artist of the month is now. :)
While Flight and Charles Lindbergh and the Spirit of Saint Louis reveal Marianna's new obsession with airplanes. It all began with Snoopy and the Red Baron during our studies of World War I and researching what exactly a Sopwith Camel is.
I guess it may be time to start researching Sun N Fun!
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See this?
I know your instinct is to dart your eyes to the other side of the road and sing la-la-la loudly, but go ahead and take a real good look.
You know what this is right?
Well, you'd be wrong.
This is the bus stop for Sugarloaf School. In other words, Marianna's bus stop if she wasn't homeschooled.
I'm thankful we homeschool.
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I had the pleasure of being interviewed the other day by Christine of Perils of Parenting and Other Ponderings. She writes for the Homeschool Blog Awards site which is where you will find my interview!
Thank you, Christine, it was a pleasure!
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Governor Crist has declared March 30 - April 6 as Home Education Week:
"WHEREAS, over two decades of studies indicate most children who are home educated exhibit self-confidence, good citizenship, exceptional academic test scores, higher than average college attendance and success and many have proven devotion to their country by faithfully serving in the armed forces of the United states;"
and
"WHEREAS, from the earliest days of our nation, there have been some prominent Americans who were home educated including George Washington, John Quincy Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Booker T. Washington, Helen Keller, and Sandra Day O'Connor."
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Happy October to you! It's Fall!
With the lack of 4 seasons here in the sub-tropics we declare October and November as the Autumn months. December and January are Winter, followed by the Spring months of February and March leaving everything else to fall under the broad umbrella of Summer.
So after 6 months of heat we were quite excited to see the cooler month of October arrive. That's rather tongue in cheek I'm afraid, as most days are still hitting 90, but the mornings are cool enough to go for a walk, a walk that is pleasant if you're back by 9am!
Which fits in perfectly with something else that October signals the beginning of - school! Yes, our formal tablework began on Monday. This week is a fairly light review in all subjects and shockingly every day so far (okay, two days and hopefully today) we have managed to cover all 6 items in our Rule of Six!
That makes me absurdly happy.
As does the fact that Mixologist won in my impromptu poll last week! And as much as I'd like to stick around and chat a bit more, I've got lunch and school and work tonight on my plate for today!
P.S. In the stores new produce is appearing with the change in seasons too. One of the most unique is the larger red scaled fruit pictured at the bottom of my journal above. Has anyone tried a Dragon Fruit? I think it is also called a Pitaya. Any hints on eating it?
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Marianna and I are off for our weekly volunteer time at the Tropical Forest and Botanical Gardens.
Do you and yours volunteer somewhere?
What are your best tips to make it a successful venture when children are involved?
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Trumpet fanfare, if you please!
You are now reading the blog of the winner of the Conch Republic Conch Blowing Contest! Me? That's right! But that's not all...Marianna won the kiddo division too! Along with assorted T-shirts and cooly cups, several gift certificates for dinners and such, I won a day cruise for two on a Tall Ship! Wow! Could this mean a date with my husband in the near future? Too exciting!
Sorry, Marianna!
What else happened over the last week? A fabulous parade in which some great Great Danes were spotted - LOL! We've been ever so fond of these dogs ever since meeting up with Hal's cousin Jeannine in NW Florida last fall. She runs the North West Florida Great Dane Rescue and we met some wonderful dogs through her. You'd have loved this harlequin, Jeannine, such a beautiful (huge!) dog.
Great Danes weren't the only thing on parade though, we were too! Only one photo before the batteries died but here we are decked out with as many flags as we could tape to our bikes or carry. Okay, so Hal is the only one carrying one, I think that big of a flag would have tipped me over!
Great time was had by all the bicyclists as we were so very lucky to be placed right behind Howard Livingston and the MM24 Band and their famous outboard motor margarita maker that they strolled down the street, firing it up every block or so and giving away free margaritas - yummy!
Next big event was the Bloody Battle - aarrrgh! Conch Ships versus the Coast Guard.
Little fighting dinghies even came out in force.
Coast Guard and Tall Ships duke it out with water cannons and long loaves of Cuban Bread.
One of our favorite Tall Ships, the Jolly Rover was out in splendid form, simply gorgeous!
Later in the week the very famous Bed Races ran down Duval Street. Two of our favorites were the Hawaiian bed...
...and a Pirate bed. We didn't stick around for the races themselves. A single time trial was plenty for us. Can you imagine pushing beds on wheels down a street for hours and hours trying to better your time and position? Neither could we so we took off and visited the Green Parrot.
With a fiddle contest blazing away who could keep their feet from dancing? Not these two, that's for certain!
So if the blog had seemed a tad quiet the past week now you know why!
Phew! This week Sunday was a day of rest. Catnaps in the cockpit, Peter Duck read alouds and good old fashioned home cooking were the highlights.
Delightful!
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...of the Rolling Stones, no that's not right!
That's us! You recall this post on the Sucession? This is what we get for actually showing up early and getting seats front and center!
Great shot of Marianna and Hal and I'm in pink right between them, though you can't see me for some reason. Is pink the new camo of Key West?
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April 24, 2007, 5:37 am
Have you heard the news?
Bee a smart one and buzz over to Sprittibee for the latest Homeschooling Carnival and if that isn't enough great reading to last you this week, I've just found the Archives...uh, oh!
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