On Our Way…
02 Jun 2011 1 Comment
in Our Progress, Start Up Tags: CCSD, NVVA, Plans, testing
Two days ago I mailed out our Notices of Intention to Homeschool. I was happy to do it. Am I weird that I felt a little “liberated” as I dropped them into the mailbox at the post office?? Seriously, it felt a bit freeing. I’m excited to be off on this adventure. While I truly loved our experience with NVVA, the one thing I hated was all the testing the kids had to do. CRT’s and DRA’s and Achievement Series Tests, oh my!! There were times when it was just super annoying. I will be so glad not to have to deal with those any more!
In the process of preparing the Notices of Intent to Homeschool, I had to prepare an educational plan for each child. The Clark County School District is quite vague about what they want when it comes to this. My understanding is I could have put down “We are going to do 1st grade math, science, history and language arts,” and that probably would have sufficed. However, I decided to use the opportunity to outline, in detail, what I really did want to do. Make no mistake, this was done for my benefit, not for CCSD. I have to be honest, I was pretty excited when I was done with them, and I was very pleased with how they turned out. I plan on using them as a basic guide to help keep me on track.
So, we finished one of the first steps and we are on our way. It feels good. Well….until I think about everything else we have to do! But for now, I will savor this small triumph.
This Week’s Fun Stuff
27 Oct 2009 Leave a Comment
in Uncategorized Tags: activities, History, NVVA, Science
This last Saturday, I took the kids to the Old Mormon Fort for a history program they offer every month. It was so cool. This month, they learned about mining, especially here in Nevada. They even got to do some “mining” of their own by looking for “gold,” “silver,” and “copper” in birdseed. We had to search through the birdseed for tiny beads that represented the different metals. They did a great job. They also learned a bit about abandoned mines throughout the state and how important it is to stay away from them! The class was put on by geologist Bill Durbin from the State of Nevada, Division of Minerals. I also found out they will be putting on a workshop about teaching about minerals and earth science in March and April of 2010. I’m hoping to be able to attend that.
Then, on Monday, we went to a Nevada Virtual Academy sponsored Fall Festival. The kids had a great time. They dressed up in their costumes (and got me to dress up as well). When we got there, they had a ton of games and activities for the kids to do (and a ton of candy to go with them). It was great for the kids to socialize and have so much fun!
