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Okay, so this week is the week I try to get into the swing of things.  :)  I showed the boys the new schedule, and we are going to try to follow it.  Today I have to go to work, then hopefully the evening will go as the schedule has planned.  :)  Tomorrow I wake up at six!  The one thing Daniel is excited about (he didn't like the whole schedule thing) is that if he does well (stays focused) in the morning, then his afternoon has the possibility of being "free time".  :D 

I'll keep ya posted. 

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Okay, so we've been doing school for about two weeks now, but today we ventured out into the whole WAVA school day. We did math, language arts, and literature. Tomorrow I hope to include history & art. We need to find a spot to do art, though. :) It was fun, although it took longer than I hoped. So now I am trying to prepare for tomorrow. They don't allow me to do a lot of prep beforehand for Daniel's math, though. And I haven't figured out their schedule yet, either. Think I am going to have to use my homeschool tracker software. :)
The boys did well; it was a good day.

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Yesterday I finally received the long-awaited e-mail.  Jonathan & Daniel have been approved for WAVA.  We'll have to see how this goes.  I did write to the lady who helped me through the end part.  I told her how I had to run everywhere because I didn't know or understand what I was supposed to be doing.  Things like obtaining the district release form and the district notification form -- well, the district release form is actually an attendance form that could have been obtained by walking up the alley to the school behind us!!!  Because I didn't know this, we drove to Oakland Alternative School, went to the wrong building there, found the right building, got the right form, but no one there could help me ... had to run downtown to the Central Administration Building (which, by the way, is a HUGE brick building - all beautfiul and new-looking ... while Oakland looked like a prison.  Side note: did you know that schools are given $9,000 per kid each school year?!  Isn't that insane???  I found out what they do with a lot of that money when I visited the Central Administration Building!).  The people there were nice enough, even helpful.  Found out more info from them than I had from WAVA. :o)  Oh, while I was there, I asked them if they got money for homeshool kids.  They told me, "no." Then one lady said, "We should!  We give them money!"  (when I told Jef he said I should have asked where this money is and could I get some of it please? :o) )  I found that humorous.  I had thought if they were getting money, that could be why they were so slow and unhelpful.  The Steilacoom School District will get some money because we signed up part-time. 

All that to say this -- Friday I received three e-mails from K-12.  Two were telling me Jonathan & Daniel were approved and the third was to help me see how to use the site.  :o)  Hopefully the curriculum is rushing here!  :o) 

I'll keep you posted. 

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Well, the new public school virtual academy has me jumping through hoops which is causing me to reconsider my decsion!  Yikes!  They needed birth certificates, shot records and forms from me & from the school district (which I finally understand and know where to go and get them!).  They haven't sent any curriculum yet.  When I talked to the K12 people this week, they said my order wasn't even in processing!!! 

All of this, along with our printer being out of ink, means we haven't done much in the way of school this week.  The best laid plans ...

Now the printer has ink, so I am going to print stuff this weekend and WE WILL DO SCHOOL next week!  (think of it as a victory cry)  The poor kids are just so bored. 

Today, though, we are taking a holiday (wish I lived in England!).  We're going to the Fair.  God provided tickets for free for all of us.  So we are going to go & do all the free stuff.  No rides or lunch this year, but we'll see all the animals & maybe even get to see the Beach Boys in concert (grandstand seating is free)!  :)  It should be fun!  And it will only cost us about $20 ($7 for parking and the rest for snacks)!  God is good!!  Oh, yeah, we were even given free scone coupons!!  :)  Yum!

Hope you all have a terrific weekend!!

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Hi All! Things have been busy here this last week or so.

This week we (the kids & I) went to the park twice to play with friends. I also went shopping for fabric for a quilt, then on Thursday I went to a quilting thing at the church! We have really enjoyed our new church. Tuesday found me in SeaTac with Michelle, my pastor's wife, attending an info meeting for WAVA (WAshington Virtual Academy).
Allow me to share the story (you know how I love stories!!).
Awhile ago, I heard about WAVA. I thought it sounded like something good, but I wasn't sure. The more I heard about it, though, the less I liked it. WAVA is an internet school, funded through the public school. They will give you everything for free. You get curriculum, books, workbooks, even science stuff - all for free. This sounded good. Since it is a public school-funded program, you would have a teacher over you. Then I learned that each family has to meet with a teacher once a week. Then I heard the teacher will also call you during the week to check up on you!! That was too intrusive for me, so I pretty much signed off on the idea of WAVA.
When Michelle asked me if I wanted to go to the informational meeting with her, I said yes. I was going to say no, but then I thought maybe I'd get some answers. So Tuesday we drove up to SeaTac. The meeting was good. They had different tables set up with the curriculum your child would be using. The curriculum looked good - especially the Language Arts and math. There was a lady from WAVA there who gave a presentation. She had a lot of info. Here are some things I found out -
* the parent/teacher meetings are limited to the phone (every other week) and e-mail (every opposite other week).
* you can maintain your homeschool status by enrolling your child in no more than five classes (they only need math, l/a, history, science & art!!!).
* If you maintain your homeschool status, your interaction with the teacher is limited further.
* The kids are tested with the WASL, but if you remain a homeschooler, your

child(ren) is(are) not subject to the WASL (which makes me happy because I do NOT like the WASL. And I don't want to teach the children to a test.).
*You can withdraw at any time.
* there are placement tests for your kids to take online, and you may use them even if you don't decide to enroll.
All of this to say, we decided to enroll the kids and see how it goes. Daniel is done with his tests, Jonathan is finishing his last one today. I'll keep you informed on how it goes!

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