Trying Something New

So we are trying something new this year that will allow the kids to take some classes and do some activities that we previously couldn't have afforded.  I'm hoping it will have the added benefit of forcing us to keep a little more on track.

It's called My Tech High and it's pretty much a way for homeschoolers to use public education funds for their homeschool.  Technically they are enrolled in public school in order to use said funds and I'm really struggling with that idea.  We also have to report to the school on a regular basis and have our plans "approved" by the school.  I'm also struggling with those two things.  But, in spite of my misgivings, I decided to give the program a try.  I've enrolled Josie and Miri this year and next year plan to add Eli, Sarah and (possibly) Will.  We'll see how it goes.

So far, my plans haven't changed much other that adding "official" electives and planning to do much more hands on stuff that normal.  (That's the stuff that gets expensive.)  Eli, Miri and Josie are currently exploring the possibilities of the Snap Circuit set I got for Josie's science and are learning all sorts of things on their own.  I think the extra supplies and activities will be worth the hassle of reporting and the dislike of being connected with the public school system.

Anyway, so Josie's and Miri's reports will be shared here on my blog and we will send a link to the appropriate post to the "powers that be" each week.  I hope to continue blogging here at least once a week to share the stuff that doesn't end up in their learning logs, including stuff the other kids are doing as well as the not-so-successful attempts at various endeavors.

After I finish this post, we are going to create our first two learning logs (we got into the program after school had started so we are already behind) that we can share with the school.

For now, I'd like to report that our first week of school has been off to an okay start.  We started OWLS on Monday and the kids seem to like their classes.  Miri is doing a local homeschool choir, Eli is continuing to work on his Minecraft videos that he hopes to someday make a living at, and Josie has already done about 20 pages in her science book and is excited about the chemistry lab kit and aforementioned Snap Circuits set I got her.  Sarah and Will haven't done much yet but we plan to get them going a little more next week.  I'm excited to start a new year with new supplies and fresh minds.  Hopefully we'll have a more successful year than we've had in a few.

What did you learn this week?