Just got my grade back on the paper I wrote for my Written communication class. I Got a 90!!! 😃 . I only hope I can do as well on the research paper I need to do.

Science class…took my first science exam today, got a 95. 🎉🎉🎉

Got an 83 on my first English paper, Not too bad but I think I could’ve done better. Still waiting on the grade for my 2nd paper.

Worst part about school…. writing papers. I’m a writer I love to write, but I hate writing papers about topics chosen by other people. It sucks!

So, I’m trying to do the math section school, and I’m really hating it :(. Math was never really one of my favorite subjects.

For those not in the know, my son attends an online free public high school, and for a while now he has been struggleing with his courses. Everytime I would check his classes to see what his progress was he would become upset and defensive (he is a teenager you know). But he also wasn’t getting the work done. So after arguing with him quite a few times He finally tells me that he feels overwhelmed by them. So I’ve decided to take a new approach with his classes in order to help him get ahead.

Every Week his teachers post a weekly checklist of what assignments must be completed. I will be checking them and then throughout each school day I will give my son his assignments for each class one class at a time. So as not to overwhelm him with too much at one time. I tried this approach for the first time today and he has actually seemed quite receptive to it. I could hear the tone in his voice when he asked me what he needed to do and I responded by only giving him his Math assignements. When he asked if there was anything else I told him just to worry about the math and let me know when he was done with it. He was quite happy with that and argument free went on to take care of his work.

Hopefully this new method will help him to succeed.

Things like these are why I’m very thankful to have the online highschool option available to my son. I was able to see the problem, identify and fix it before he got too far behind, because I’m involved in his education on a daily basis. Had he went to a brick & mortar public school I’m affraid this issue would have gone un-noticed for quite some time. The reason I initially decided to enroll him in an online highschool was because he was struggling at school so much and not able to recieve any of the one & one attention he really needed. Not all children learn in the same manner and my son appears to need more one & one time then some others. With this option availbile I’m able to help provide that to him. But he can also call, email his teachers and counseler if he needs to. So if you have a child he might be struggling or seems to do better in a one on one enviroment virutal school should definitely be considered as an option.

I’ve starting working towards getting my G.E.D. thanks to the wonderful people over at free-ed.net. The website offers a host of free online courses, so I enrolled myself in the G.E.D.-College prep course they offer. I’m hoping to have my GED by next spring. At some point though I will be enrolling in Excel High School in order to get my high school equivalency certificate. I hear having both will make it much easier for me to get into College, which I would like to do as some point in the future.

I’m enjoying feeling productive that’s for sure, though my hand is taking quite a beating as I’m not used to all the writing any more…lol. I’m currently keeping a learning journal with hand written notes. They advise us to do so, and hand writing notes do help me with remembering what I’m learning. If anyone is intersted in persuing their G.E.D. I highly recommend signing up for free-ed’s course. It’s been very helpful to me so far.

Angel

This semester in school Kenzie classes are as follows

• English I: Literature & Composition
• Physical Education I
• Latin I
• Geometry
• Biology
• Digital Video Editing & Production
• Skills for Health II

Outside of school we are also exploring a few other topics history, philosophy, and astronomy are all areas where Kenzie has shown an interest.

Currently we are exploring a few philosophy books, the philosophy of the Matrix and the philosophy of Star Wars. We recently watched a documentary on the dark ages as well as a documentary about evolution. Astronomy will be covered by having Kenzie keep an astrological journal. Each night he’ll be going outside and keeping track of how many stars he can see (not the number but a general idea either a lot, a little or medium) as well as what phase the moon is in and which constellations he can see. We are also going to explore planetary sciences.

I’m very much looking forward to this year.

Today I was shocked to discover that My 16 yr old was never made to memorize the Preamble to the Constitution. In fact when I rattled of the first line he couldn’t even tell me what it was from. I find that to be very sad. The constitution is a very important part of our history and the preamble is a very powerful statement as to why this country was founded. How can our children, essentially our future hope to better our society if they can’t look too and learn from the lessons of the past? I’m proud to say that my child will be memorizing the preamble and analyzing it.

The more news articles I read about about incidents in public schools, The happier I become that my son is no longer attending a regular public school. Anymore it just seems like it’s the faculty against the kids. The thing that really gets me is how schools seem to think the practically own the kids. I recently read an article about some kids who were suspended from school for pictures they put on myspace. I don’t know about any one else but as a parent I would have been fuming had my childs school tried to pull this.

Granted everyone should have an education, but I really don’t think that regular school is the way to go for everyone, and as long as the system continues to go downhill, and be at war with our kids less of them are going to be happy and/or succeed at school. As a parent I never really liked the idea of sending my kids off to complete strangers for 8 hours a day, having them become lost in the in crowd of the ever increasing size of classrooms. How can one teacher manage to help each student on any kind of personal level with they have a new set of 30-40 kids every hour to deal with? How is it that some kids excel at school while others stumble the whole time and it’s always just a bit late whenever somebody takes notice and tries to do anything, at that point the child is already lost.

Having no other option for the longest time, my son did attend public school. Always it seemed like the same cycle every year; he would start the year great, then half way through his grades would collapse. My son is now a student at an online public high school. He takes his classes on the internet, a few times a week he has “Live Sessions” where the students and teachers interact through whiteboard. The rest of the time he takes his classes through the schools website. Working on assignments/projects at his own pace. If he’s really into science, he doesn’t have to just stop working because the bell rang, so he can move on the next class. He just keeps on working on it, until he’s done. He’s teachers call him (yes on the phone) and discuss his grades or a current assignment, or even just to see how he’s doing. His counselor calls on a regular basis to give encouragement and to make sure he’s happy in his classes. He can still play sports through his local school, and this school regularly organizes pizza parties, outings and school events. He will have a prom, as well as a regular graduation just like all the other students in public school.

As a parent the upsides to his attending this school for me have been, the ability pin point struggling points early on, so that we can face them together. The fact that both myself and my husband can be very involved in his learning experience. If he’s reading about economics, we can have a discussion about it, and know what he’s being taught. If he’s really into art class, we can decided well let’s take the day off today and head to a museum. He can then write up a report on the trip and that counts towards his grade. The biggest concern most people seem to have when they find out about his schooling has been “well what about His social Life” and to be honest he has a great social life. Most of his friends already attended different schools then him anyway, and if I remember correctly school isn’t supposed to be about having a social life. The last time my son attended public school, I clearly remember the handbook stating kids can not hold hands, kiss or even hug for that matter. Kenzie doesn’t have any less of a social life then any of his other friends who do attend regular school. He still goes to the mall, the movies, the skating rink and other places just like other kids. The only difference is that I know he’s actually learning something and getting an education that is sticking with him. His first semester just ended and we asked him if he wanted to stay in this school or return to regular school, without so much as a pause he quickly replied “I want to stay in this school”, and when we asked him why he said “because here it seems like the teachers actually care”.