I hope all of you can deal with the PTSD! That's tough, it seems that all of you have it to a certain degree! [/QUOTE] I am so sure of that one, but my dh cannot and will not say that considering the career field he is in at the time.... I worry for my son, will it some day come back to haunt us that we did not get the professional help here. Yet, sometimes I feel that he is the best off, he healed through it with the heart of a child. Me, I don't deny it, I can't stand to smell a bbq cooking now, any loud bangs used to send me under the nearest thing I could find, I only cringe inside now. The fire horn here is actually an air raid siren sound, oh yup, just love when that thing goes off. There is an airport 1/4 mile up the road from us, I used to duck through my yard to hang up my clothes. Comically I look back now and realize that someone had a warped sense of humor. So many of my fears were snuck into my world to help me to become desensitized, to help me deal with those fears. I know I'm not alone in all of this, and hope to some day find a place where I could go and talk with others about it. So many people here are transplanted from NYC, they fled to this country scene to get away from the "hot zone". And they too have found out that the people here don't understand. God bless them, they are so fortunate to not have too. Someone told me that they don't want us to "dirty up their town" with our horror stories. I hated them at the time, but now understand, we brought our baggage, our pain to them, they did not want to believe that an idyllic little country town could ever be put through something like that..... Nope, I'm not healed, never will be, but wow, have I come a looooooooong way!!!! Yup, gonna write that book some day and blow a biiiiiig raspberry at those fools who hurt us, HALF of that book will be the amazing stories that unfolded after that day, the gooood stories!! Beth
HUH??? Someone called me??? Yes, we're up at 6:00, and we started back in on that schedule this morning. Not too easy after two weeks of Carl home and rolling out of bed sometime between 8 and 10, lol!!! The early day really works MUCH better for us as a family, but I'm not really a "morning" person. Beth, sweetie, <<<<BIG HUGS>>>> to you!!! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. Am so sorry that those not effected directly made it so much more difficult for you!!! Ohio, btw, has a bad rep for laws. They're not too bad, though not as open as I'd like!
It's not about it working for Garrett and I.. I know it would work for us. It won't work though if the little ones are up. Our home is small.. very small.. and with 2 preschoolers up and about it's not a quiet place. Garrett just can't handle any outside noise or movement, he has no control over it.. he just can't stay focused when there is anything going on around him. We had a half hour before the 2 little ones heard us and were up this morning.. in that half hour we did our journal entry, and almost a whole 30 problem page of double digit multiplication. Once they were up forget it.. it took 4 more hours to 6 division problems, and 2 pages of "circle the verb, noun, adj. etc" type work. (We are reviewing the first half of the year this week and prepping for the standardized test he has to take this year. Beth tests are required in 3rd 5th and 8th grades). He really needs the one on one, no distraction time. We have thought of working at night, but our walls are thin and until the schoolhouse is finished we can't avoid the noise of the little ones.
Hey, Sommer, maybe Jackie can tell you what that cocoa was she had from Starbucks the other day!! Hey sis, you going to hang around longer this time?!
My nephew is in 9th grade so testing shouldn't matter! Here in SC we are exempt as hsers but the school is supposed to "invite" the students to take the tests if the parent wants them to.
Starbucks? I live in hickville.. the nearest starbucks is in the next town.. it just opened, but before that it was an hour away..lol I still have never had a starbucks Yes Beth.. I hope you stick around
hehe.. here the schools invite you to come when they do testing.. but I learned why... they get money based on the scores.. and homeschoolers usually have better scores, so they want us so they get more money...lol. The law just states that the homeschool educator can't give the tests.. we can buy them for 30 bucks and have anyone else give them.. my mom or MIL will give it, then we have to mail it in to be graded by the test company, just like the school does.
Dh has no clue what he wants to do when he gets out. Thankfully he has several options, one of them being to stay on at his current job as a civilian until he decides what he wants to do. I will not miss it at all--except for the awesome playground on base and the commissary!:lol:
Ok.. now I will try to answer your questions.. I will use red in your quote to try not to miss anything. We aren't at highschool level yet, but I am a planner (but not a follow througher..lol) and have looked to the future quite a bit. Ok.. you have to file your affidavit before you begin, and then before Aug 31 of every year after that. Your affidavit has to include a list of objectives.. I make mine very vague!!! and a shot record.. or at least a doccument stating that you have one.. I think askpauline has some you can print. There are certain subjects you have to cover in the elementry level, and certain subjects you have to cover on the secondary level, but what you cover in them are really up to you. No one can say you aren't teaching the right thing about that subject, or you aren't doing it the right way.. example.. you don't have to give a spelling test, just teach spelling. At the end of the year you have to have an evaluation by a person certified (a teacher, psych. or a person previously authorized by the state) to evaluate on your level (elem. or secondary), and send the evaluation letter and your portfolio to the school district by June 30th. They look it over and send it back to you (our district calls us to pick it up), but we send it certified mail so we have proof it went just in case they should ever argue with us. Some districts are homeschool friendly and some aren't. Our old superintendant wasn't very nice to deal with, and tried to get away with crap that he didn't really have the right to do.. like demand to see my diploma, I did it just because I didn't feel like fighting about it and have nothing to hide, but by law they can't ask to see it, your notorized affidavit states you have it and that is all you are required to show to prove it. We have a new superintendant now, she is very nice and is homeschool friendly. Some of my favorite sites about homeschooling here in PA are: http://home.comcast.net/~askpauline/index.html (this is my favorite one.. it makes the laws the easiest to understand) www.pahomeschoolers.com (they have a booklet "Guide to the PA Homeschool Law" you can buy for a few bucks. Our school district gave us a copy.. I love it! It too makes the laws seem a lot easier to deal with) These 3 are ok also.. http://www.phea.net/ http://www.phen.org/home101.html http://www.pahomeschool.com/ There are groups to join to get a diploma.. http://www.echsdiploma.org/index.html is one and also I think it's pahomeschoolers.com has one too. You just have to keep your transcript and send a copy to them every year and pay their fee. Hope this helps some. Our laws really aren't that bad. I have heard we are the hardest, but if you are actually teaching your kid then they aren't hard to follow.
Hi, I live in PA. We aren't reporting yet, our first year reporting will be this year for my oldest. You don't have to be "official" until the year they are 8 at the beginning of the school. I'm nervous as all get out as PA is a pretty highly regulated state. I've heard, though, that it really boils down to the district in which you live how good or bad it can be. Askpauline.com is a GREAT resource. I use it for all my forms and reporting. I'm practicing this year creating a portfolio and I'm going to have my daughter evaluated officially. She's also technically in 3rd grade right now, so she'll have to take some kind of standardized tests in Math and L/A. I'm not too worried, as their are 8 or 9 approved tests that vary from really easy to really difficult. Also, it's a falacy that it has to be a licensed teacher or psych that administers the standardized test...according to what I've been told (the end of the year evaluation, however HAS to be an approved person). Well, at least in our district the standardized tests just have to happen somewhere other than the home and be monitored by someone other than the teacher/parent. I happen to have a good friend who is a licensed evaluator for the state who teaches my daughter during our bible study each week. She's going to do the eval and the test monitoring for me - as soon as I decide WHICH test I want her to take! As far as keeping the log, I've been told that it doesn't have to be so cumbersome. You just keep a log of books read and used and subjects covered in a day. AND, I have a place where I check off the days we "do" school and make sure I get to 180 days. But then the definition of WHAT is a school day? Learning is not all book learning, field trips and the like count as school. I count our Tuesdays, although all she does is Handwriting, and a standardized test prep book (grammar, math, reading comp, map skills, etc). BUT, she goes to a homeschooler class with other kids - gets socialization, gym class, they usually learn something, etc. So it counts as far as I'm concerned. I always record Tuesdays as a school day...she usually ends up learning a lot. We also participate in a book club. Where the girls read a book, then once every 6 weeks they get together and do a craft, eat snack based on the book, discuss the book. I try to make it part of our curriculum too and make vocab lists, puzzles and stuff about the book. She LOVES that, but that day counts as school....even if she doesn nothing else but book club that day (and it has happened). I worry a lot about it...but many seasoned PA H/S have told me not to worry and that it will all be fine. Hope that helps. P.S. if you end up near me, there are some great organizations. We have one here that is a "high school" where you enlist with them in 9th grade, and they have a class advisor, do class trips, and they monitor your requirements for you. At the end of 12th grade your child gets a diploma, not testing for a GED but an actual diploma.
O.k., that is what we had always figured, walk out in BDU's one day, and walk back in with civies on the next. Wellllll, the closest base is almost 3 hours away!!! So, that is out. Mine is actually surprising me, coming home the other day and saying that he wants to work with the VA, specifically the vets coming back now. I think it stems from the months after 9/11 when he was part of the deployment team sending (as he called them) the babes into the woods. It still haunts him how when they came back so changed. And we know it is even more so now. That was where PA came up, the chance to stay in the area near my parents who are now about 1 1/2 hours away. We try to go once a month in good weather to do what we can to help out. I will admit, I miss the lifestyle as we knew it on a base sooooo much. I miss being able to live in a rainbow society, a neighborhood where others understood the lingo, the TDYS, no comments about what kind of man would leave his family alone for months at a time...... O.k., yup, I reallllllly miss the commisary!!!!! We will see, keep in touch and let me know how things are going for you!!! Beth
[QUOTE P.S. if you end up near me, there are some great organizations. We have one here that is a "high school" where you enlist with them in 9th grade, and they have a class advisor, do class trips, and they monitor your requirements for you. At the end of 12th grade your child gets a diploma, not testing for a GED but an actual diploma. [/QUOTE] Wow, now that would be wonderful!!!! That is a real concern for me, I have been thinking about going to an on-line situation where he would be given a "diploma" when done. I know that more and more colleges are becoming hs friendly, but so many of them still want a diploma or GED. We are not unschooling, we are definitely curriculum based, but it is not specifically just one publisher, like AOP or such. So, here we have to test every yr. from 9th-12th. Are you saying that I don't have to test there in those grades? Wow, that would be great. Mind you, we like the idea, because it helps us to know what he needs strengthening in, and figure it will help on a College application, but, it would be nice not to have to if we so choose. Here there is a wonderful comm. college that is extremely hs friendly and will let your child take classes starting at 16 as long as the parent is also there. Do you know if there are any there? If we stay in this area we are talking about doing that. We know the college inside and out anyway because we use their indoor pool as long as it is not too cold!! Thanks all for the fantastic input!!! And good luck to you, hon, it sounds like you have it pretty much figured out. Beth
Wow, soooo much input!!!! When I can get my head out of this fog (got the yucky virus/crud), I will really study all of the great sites you posted. Thank you sooooooo much!!!!!! Beth
No, you don't have to test every year.. just keep your transcript, there are places online that teach you how, and have printable forms. I'm sure there are community colleges that would accept homeschool students here. Our are has no colleges.. only 3 large state universities and a few trade schools.. but even none of them are in my town. Krista is in a more "city-ish" area, we are in a more country area, so I'm sure there are more oppertunities there than there are here. Most colleges/universities do accept homeschooled students... including all of the ivy league schools! Penn State University is very homeschool friendly, and they have campuses all over the state. If you can get your hands on a copy of "The Homeschooling Handbook" by Mary Griffith there is a list of colleges/universities that have accepted homeschoolers, and I'm sure that is not a complete list.. it's very reassuring! But there are the diploma programs, and they aren't too awefully hard to deal with either.
I just wanted to thank all of you for your help, wow, I wasn't expecting it!!!!! Bless you all for your help and kindness!!!! Beth
YES! Crazymama's right! I'm in a more city-ish setting! ICK!!! Crazy when you think just how much of PA is NOT that way, isn't it? I'm in North Penn School District. Other locals are Central Bucks and Souderton....I've heard Souderton is EXTREMELY H/S friendly. I've heard the only real issue with North Penn is that they lose things easily and not give them originals of your portfolio. Of course, I've NEVER reported yet, so I'm not sure from first hand experience yet. Gosh, I'm scared! LOL
