Friday, August 27, 2010
Fifth Grade Teacher
Well David was assigned his teacher today. Ms. Fobo. The scheduler has been run and David can hardly wait til the 7th of September for school to start. We are still awaiting Michael's class assignment for St charles Virtual Academy and hopefully that will be taken care of soon. Amanda's friend Sammi has decided to join us for school and she will be attending St Charles as well. So that is a total of 5 kids I will have in my classroom this year...I hope I survive.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
The Boxes Have Arrived
OK. Yesterday was very busy and I did not have the time to properly document the experience. Kevin our UPS guy was sick and his replacement was a little off. Every time we heard a truck outside me and the kids were at the window seeing if it was UPS. Only to walk away feeling a bit dejected. Finally at 12:46 the brown truck arrived and the kids were out the door like a shot! The poor guy had no idea what was going on. So I breifly explained to him what was going on and like a good boy read off the names on the boxes and handed them to the kids who thanked him and then ran for the house. Once all the packages were inside, they very impatiently waited for me to get the camera so I could take their picture then tape was flying off the boxes.
After I made sure that all was there, they quickly put their books in order on their shelves and started examining all the kits and books.
Amanda, Scott and David are the only ones who got their stuff yesterday. Michael is going to school thru St. Charles Virtual Academy and has not picked out his schedule yet. But the school says he will be doing so in the next 10 days. He is using the K12 program for school. I am also going to be coaching Sammii (Amanda's friend) with the St Charles VA. I am going to have a very very very busy year.
I am posting pics of the classroom as well. The kids picked the colors for their chairs and desks and they all agreed on the color for the classroom. The room has 2 windows and in an effort to cut down on daydreaming I painted the windows so light can come in but they cant see out.
Friday, August 13, 2010
The School Supplies...They are coming!!
I just got an email today that the kids school supplies will be here next week. Poor Kevin (UPS guy) will have 2 boxes for each kid and a computer in 2 boxes. He has been warned however and said he will honk when they com so the kids can help carry things in the house. OH MY this is almost as good as Christmas!
Virtual School part dos
Well I told you about Michael and why he chose to do the virtual school option but I forgot why he chose K12. He likes to go with the familiar and since we did K12 in Florida that is what he is doing here.
Now on to Amanda. She is in 8th grade this year, 14 years of age with a 20 year old mind. She has chosen to do Connections Academy for her virtual school because she wants to graduate early. She drinks in all knowledge and can't learn enough. Public brick and mortar school was deeply boring to her. Yes she has a few friends but she is not boy crazy or radically punk like they are and outside of school she really only has one friend. Her goal for the 2010-2011 school year is to make it through 8th and 9th grade. I believe she can do it.
Scott and David are in 6th and 5th grade and are also tired of the drama that goes on in school. They like the fact that they can do school at home and don't have to wake up at 530 to catch a bus. They are my afternoon learners. Anything that is taught to them before 11am is wasted. So they get to sleep til they wake up, have breakfast, watch an episode of Zack and Cody, then off to the classroom to start their day. Also if we decide to go to Missouri to visit friends they don't have to make up any work. Just take the laptops and log in to school for a few hours. This is going to be a great year!
Now on to Amanda. She is in 8th grade this year, 14 years of age with a 20 year old mind. She has chosen to do Connections Academy for her virtual school because she wants to graduate early. She drinks in all knowledge and can't learn enough. Public brick and mortar school was deeply boring to her. Yes she has a few friends but she is not boy crazy or radically punk like they are and outside of school she really only has one friend. Her goal for the 2010-2011 school year is to make it through 8th and 9th grade. I believe she can do it.
Scott and David are in 6th and 5th grade and are also tired of the drama that goes on in school. They like the fact that they can do school at home and don't have to wake up at 530 to catch a bus. They are my afternoon learners. Anything that is taught to them before 11am is wasted. So they get to sleep til they wake up, have breakfast, watch an episode of Zack and Cody, then off to the classroom to start their day. Also if we decide to go to Missouri to visit friends they don't have to make up any work. Just take the laptops and log in to school for a few hours. This is going to be a great year!
Virtual School?
Ok here I go. I am not a professional blogger so please forgive me any mistakes.
I started this to keep a record of my 4 children and their virtual school career. Yes I have 4. And each child or young adult has his or her own reason for wanting to do virtual school and reasons for choosing the program that they did. I have two programs going in my home this year. My oldest has chosen a K12 partner school program ( more on this later) while my daughter and two youngest sons have chosen the Connections Academy option.
This is the first year that the Michigan School system has allowed this "virtual school" option. We moved to Michigan in 2006 from Tampa Florida for reasons I really don't want to go into here. My children were all K12 students and the only one who had been in a brick and mortar school was the oldest-Michael. They were all a bit of grade level except my daughter who was doing work 2 grades above her age. We moved here knowing it was going to be an adjustment and soon found out how much of an adjustment we were in for. No virtual school. No being a grade ahead of your age group. Well the kids were BORED! They began acting up by not doing homework, developing a who cares attitude and the occasional fight. After spending a few hours with teachers and principals I realized that they have the same attitude.
Fast forward, it is now 2009-2010 school year, My oldest son Michael, who has gotten into legal trouble last school year has decided to clean up his act. He informs his old friends of his plans to stay out of trouble and get on the honor roll for his 8th grade school year. Now that Michael is no longer hanging out with this crowd they decide to make his life miserable. Beat him up in the halls, jumped him at the bus stop and all sorts of things. We talked with the principal and tried to get him some type of protection to no avail. March 22, 2010 I got a phone call early in the morning stating that Michael was suspended from the bus and would have to find alternate method to school. I informed Michael of this and so he started walking to school. March 24, 2010 Michael was jumped off school property and beaten. "Since it happened off school property there is nothing we can do" was the resopnse I got from the principal. March 25, 2010, in order to avoid a repeat of the day before Michael took a different way home. He was followed by 7-9 kids who threw rocks and whatever they could find at him. They followed him for a mile and a half when Michael found a golf club lying in the ditch and picked it up. He had had enough! Now this is very important: He threatened the boys with the club but did NOT hit anyone with it. 2 of the boys called the police and claimed that they were minding their own business when Michael started hitting them with the club. Michael was arrested for felonious assault and taken to the Juvinile Detention Center for 48 days. In the meantime, one of those little punks recorded the entire thing from start to finish on his cell phone and the day after the incident was showing it around school as kind of a "ha ha we got him arrested" when the principal heard about the video he took the phone and turned it and a list of students names over to police. Ok now that being said I still didn't want him in that school. It was serious "PARTY TIME" when he found out that K12 had been approved for Michigan. So begining September 7 2010 he will be attending St Charles virtual school and I have never seen him happier.
I started this to keep a record of my 4 children and their virtual school career. Yes I have 4. And each child or young adult has his or her own reason for wanting to do virtual school and reasons for choosing the program that they did. I have two programs going in my home this year. My oldest has chosen a K12 partner school program ( more on this later) while my daughter and two youngest sons have chosen the Connections Academy option.
This is the first year that the Michigan School system has allowed this "virtual school" option. We moved to Michigan in 2006 from Tampa Florida for reasons I really don't want to go into here. My children were all K12 students and the only one who had been in a brick and mortar school was the oldest-Michael. They were all a bit of grade level except my daughter who was doing work 2 grades above her age. We moved here knowing it was going to be an adjustment and soon found out how much of an adjustment we were in for. No virtual school. No being a grade ahead of your age group. Well the kids were BORED! They began acting up by not doing homework, developing a who cares attitude and the occasional fight. After spending a few hours with teachers and principals I realized that they have the same attitude.
Fast forward, it is now 2009-2010 school year, My oldest son Michael, who has gotten into legal trouble last school year has decided to clean up his act. He informs his old friends of his plans to stay out of trouble and get on the honor roll for his 8th grade school year. Now that Michael is no longer hanging out with this crowd they decide to make his life miserable. Beat him up in the halls, jumped him at the bus stop and all sorts of things. We talked with the principal and tried to get him some type of protection to no avail. March 22, 2010 I got a phone call early in the morning stating that Michael was suspended from the bus and would have to find alternate method to school. I informed Michael of this and so he started walking to school. March 24, 2010 Michael was jumped off school property and beaten. "Since it happened off school property there is nothing we can do" was the resopnse I got from the principal. March 25, 2010, in order to avoid a repeat of the day before Michael took a different way home. He was followed by 7-9 kids who threw rocks and whatever they could find at him. They followed him for a mile and a half when Michael found a golf club lying in the ditch and picked it up. He had had enough! Now this is very important: He threatened the boys with the club but did NOT hit anyone with it. 2 of the boys called the police and claimed that they were minding their own business when Michael started hitting them with the club. Michael was arrested for felonious assault and taken to the Juvinile Detention Center for 48 days. In the meantime, one of those little punks recorded the entire thing from start to finish on his cell phone and the day after the incident was showing it around school as kind of a "ha ha we got him arrested" when the principal heard about the video he took the phone and turned it and a list of students names over to police. Ok now that being said I still didn't want him in that school. It was serious "PARTY TIME" when he found out that K12 had been approved for Michigan. So begining September 7 2010 he will be attending St Charles virtual school and I have never seen him happier.
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