A progression...
Tuesday, January 29, 2013 at 10:10AM So. January's been pretty dang full of thinking. I know I've not said much here, but it's been a lot of thinking through what we're doing with this whole homeschooling thing. ;) In particular, it's been a lot of figuring out what to do regarding the fact that *gasp* we have a middle schooler, who could potentially be dealing with high school issues in a year or two! Because it's confusing (and has been, lol), I'm going to attempt now to list out how our thinking progressed (for my own record and because I know I love reading other people's stories)...
1. It started with the whole LEAP dealio (more here). In the end, we're opting to finish out the year at LEAP...because they already got funding for the boys so we may as well use it and because the boys want to. But. I made the decision to stop expending any more emotional energy on them. It was personal, and I realized that my time would be better spent on other things than trying to change something that was/is highly unlikely to change anyhow. (Yeah, long story.) Plus, in stepping back and really evaluating how we're spending our time in the first place, we're no longer convinced that LEAP is as beneficial for us. (Another long story mostly involving how much/little the boys were being challenged and inspired, lol.)
2. So. With that decision made, we started thinking about what we wanted to do with that "extra" day for next year. We started tossing around the idea of switching to Fort Collin's program or taking more field trips or just schooling more or planning more play dates. (Noah informs me, though, that these are no longer called play dates when you're *twelve*...lol.) (For the record, we're leaning toward the Fort Collins program for the younger two and more schooling time for Noah.)
3. Then, my pal Deanna started freaking out about the fact that high school's just around the corner. And she was contagious. ;) This led us to freak out a bit and start looking into all sorts of options for Noah. (Yes, Deanna, I'm blaming you, lol! Thanks!)
4. So, we started talking through the different options and started realizing that, um, public schools start everything (like registration and information nights and lotteries) in January for the upcoming fall. Yikes. Fortunately, Noah's only 6th grade this year. But if you start looking at calendars, that doesn't leave a full two and a half years before we have to figure out high school. Oy. (Plus, see #7 below.)
5. We briefly looked at our local public high schools. Whilst we think well of the school district and all, we quickly realized that a public high school experience still isn't the right fit for Noah. ;)
6. As luck would have it, we got a postcard that very week about an upcoming information night. We took it as a sign and checked out the local school district's online/hybrid school option (PSD Global Academy). Their information night was good and their staff was inspiring. They made us feel confident and hopeful and a little bit excited by the plan of starting Noah heading in his own direction and starting to separate him a bit from his younger brothers. I thought maybe it would be a good thing for him to have someone other than just me to answer to and to get him used to a more rigorous schedule.
Then, I started asking around about the program and the curriculum they use. And I came to the conclusion that I just wasn't willing to give up that much control over his education quite yet. (Specifically, I worried over being able to be in one level/grade for math and science while in another for language arts. I also worried about busy work and the amount of time it was asking families to log for the sake of logging time.)
7. After that, we went to an information meeting for a local charter high school where kids can take college level classes while in high school and earn both high school and college credit for them. I think we have a winner, folks. ;) Nathan and I are pretty stoked by what we heard and excited for the possibilities. We've talked with Noah about it and he's on board. We'll continue to gather information and look at other choices (because I like to make lists and am indecisive like that, lol), but this is our plan of the moment.
Note, we have more details to iron out and questions to ask, but what we understand is that he could even potentially apply/enroll next January to test into certain classes as an 8th grader (which he'd be that following fall). We'd be looking to do that on a part time basis, which is, we're told, doable...it would be a more gentle introduction and would play to his strengths.
8. This means that Noah and I sat down yesterday and really looked at his course load so far and started talking about what "normal" high school course loads look like...and whether he wanted to shoot to start any of that sooner...and how we're going to get from here to there...and what colleges might be looking for. It was awesome. Seriously. I'm thrilled and just ordered a new math curriculum to get us to algebra sooner/stronger than our current curriculum would. And he *gets* why and understands that it'll be more work! Hallelujah! (I'll probably do an update on our curriculum choices before too long, as I'm in the process now of switching some stuff out.)
So. That's what's been going on inside my head for the past month. ;)
Mostly, I'm just so grateful for the time to think this stuff through and for the fact that Nathan and I (and Noah) are on the same page. And, I'm truly excited to have a better idea of our upcoming direction for at least one boy. Direction + a longer term plan = good. ;)
(Incidentally, we want to make sure the boys know that we're looking at each of them individually and that what's right for one might not necessarily be right for another...that we're really trying to plan according to the boy and who he is, not some elusive ideal. (And, yes, this means we'll go through this all over again in not too long for Asher, lol.))
Whew. Now that I'm starting to see what's to come, I can look back and be thankful for the whole LEAP dealio...for the wake up call to stop and evaluate rather than just continuing with what we knew. Thanks, too, to Deanna for freaking out...we needed that nudge and are so glad that we'll get to survive high schoolers together!
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