24 March 2012

Panic time!!

This is not what I was going to write about today, but I think it's more relevant to me right now. Always in the back of my mind (and I'm sure in the minds of most homeschoolers) is the thought, Am I doing enough? Are they learning what they need to now and to get into college? Am I failing them by keeping them home?

These all came to the front again today when I saw a friend's post on facebook that her (always homeschooled) daughter got into JMU. Congratulations to her! But that panic rose up again, are MY girls going to get into college? I know Sweet Pea has a unique enough outlook on life and her life experiences are different enough that she'll stand out that way, but are the academics enough? If not, I've only got 2.5 years to fix it. I'll probably worry about it for the next 2.5 years until she gets accepted into college.

On the other hand, with her goals, she may not go to college right away. Something else to think about - how to prepare her for life after high school, taking a couple of years off to chase her dreams, then head back to college. College will still be there in a year or two. And knowing her, she'll figure out a way to take classes online or during the summers or both while she's dream chasing. That could work, too.

Maybe I just need to focus on what's going on now, making sure she's doing the best she can with what she's got in front of her at the moment. I think we've got a good plan for high school and that's about all we can do for right now. We'll do some tweaking, I'm sure, but right now we need to focus on this school year and finish it out well.

21 March 2012

Spring has come!

It's been a while. We've been busy with vacation, school, and snowboarding. Now that snowboard season is over for this year, I'll have more time for many things. We're also done with vacationing for a while, so I guess that leaves us with school. At least school is moving along well. A few subjects are already wrapping up for the year. I may have the girls start on the next level or I may just fill in with library books for a while.

French and German are on spring break this week so we made a quick trip to visit family. I think spring break was scheduled in the middle of the class (it ends in May) but it sure messes up our schedule since Rosie Jane has a break from dance next month. Oh well, we'll just keep working on school and maybe take a day trip to Williamsburg or Charlottesville next month. Spring is a lovely time to visit either place.

You can tell it's spring - I'm starting to get curriculum catalogs in the mail already. It's time to start thinking about what we're doing next school year. As I've already said, I know what we're doing for most everything but there's still a few things up in the air. I'm also looking forward to the convention and looking at the vendors there, you never know what you're going to find. I'm hoping to find just the right thing for a few holes that I've got to fill.

One of the things I'm really looking forward to now that it's spring - we'll get to start doing school outside again. We've done school on the deck, in the hammock (best for reading books), and also on blankets in the backyard. Time for that again. We're also going to get in some science and p.e. time by taking the dog for walks in some of the nearby parks. It's time to get outside!