Orientation

I cannot tell you how horrible today's orientation was. It was literally the worst 3 hours of Zara's life up to this point (yes, I know...she' had an easy life). Anyway, some genius with LAVCA figured that putting 100 people (preschoolers up to seniors in high school PLUS their parents) in an UN-AIRCONDITIONED gym/auditorium thing on metal chairs with no PA system and no breaks would be a fine idea. I can think of no other word but "torture" to sit through and listen while the administrator explained the minutia of powering up a computer (kill me please) and clicking on certain icons, etc, etc....

The students (and parents) came from sooo many walks of life, but my first reaction (hence the Facebook update) can be summed up by saying that I really felt like we were just in the wrong place. Zara has been student of the month, spelling bee winner, Straight A Honor Roll, (nearly) perfect behavior, and super BFF at Doyle Elementary so naturally she needs to just stay. After all, how many people can say their public school still sings "Happy Birthday Jesus" at their Christmas Program every year?

"Miserable" is not nearly a strong enough word to describe to you how Zara and I were both feeling during that meeting, but I was the one who couldn't see the forest for the trees. Thankfully, Zara's perception is broader than mine and she kept whispering to me... at least my school won't be this horrible...I never have to come back here, right mom??? I was whispering back to her things like...If you want to bust out of here, I'll take you school supply and uniform shopping and you can start school with your friends on Friday.... She stood firm though.

The ONLY silver lining on this horribly dark cloud was meeting her teacher. Her teacher lives in Alabama, but was at the orientation and was just the nicest, most calming presence for my miserable 6 year old peach. About 2 1/2 hours into the lecture, Zara was actually beginning to sob because she was hot, aching butt, bored out of her mind, thirsty, and about to probably have a brain explosion...I decided enough was enough and we got up to leave, but I first wanted to meet her teacher...I'm so glad we found her milling around in the back because it truly helped turn my attitude around. She also introduced us to another little girl that will be in her "class" named Carley....They live kinda near us, so hopefully we can get them together.

Oh yeah, a side note...they will have a few Friday events where the whole "school" is invited to attend (think Baton Rouge Zoo, Museums, etc) and they will all meet up at those. *although none of those are mandatory....

When we arrived home, there were two big boxes on the porch. No biggie...I get shipments of diapers and such all the time for our business, but these two particular boxes were special...they were full of Zara's K12 curriculum. Can I just say "wow!" ??? She got a globe, a world map, a paint set, an oil set, paint brushes, modeling clay, a tambourine, recorder thingy, music CDs and DVDs, a magnet set, a scale, a pulley, a graduated cylinder, measuring cups, tons of math manipulatives (base 10 and so on), books, books, and more books....she's super excited about her Knights of the Round Table book. We're both big fans of the BBC show Merlin, and it looks like they're gonna talk a little British history in 2nd grade. There's also a cool book on Pompeii which I assume will be her introduction to a little LATIN!!!! :))))

We've learned that she has to do 30 hours a week (on average) which means she can do about 7 1/2 hours a day and be off on Fridays if she wants, or she can even do 5 hours a day, six days a week....or skip the entire week and do 60 hours the next week (although that's frowned upon, obviously).

Anyway, school doesn't officially start until August 17th for us, but we were told that we can go ahead and get started on some of the lessons...just keep track of our hours and then we can add them later and take some time off. As long as we have I think 1072 hours for the school year, we've done what we need to do...and they can be accomplished at our own pace.

:))

I'm still happy about it for now, but still really sad that she won't be going to Doyle where my friends are teachers and her friends love her. Oh well....I'm 90% sure that she will be returning for 3rd grade because her sis will be going to kindergarten.

Please comment with your thoughts......I think I have lots of answers thanks to today's bore-ientation (thank you Michael Scott...LOL)....

Requirements

All of the info on this can be found at their website: http://lavca.k12start.com/
I just had to fax in a birth certificate, SS card, proof of residency (electric bill), and immunization records along with 2 or 3 forms provided by K12. badda-bing!

We are registered!

I got the notification via email and phone call today that my second grader is in! She will be starting Louisiana Virtual Charter Academy on August 17th! Woo hoo...She has been in traditional public school (actually, the same one I went to my entire life) for kindergarten and 1st grade, but I really wanted to try out homeschooling. Once I explained homeschooling to her, she begged for it this year.

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a Super Duper Type B personality. This means spontaneous, messy, disorganized, unplanned, etc. I do not care to hear your opinions on this...it is part of who I am, but something I try daily to work on and improve. So far, so good..well, sorta good. The idea of my scattered self developing lesson plans, grading papers, creating tests, and so on and so forth was starting to terrify me as the days got closer to the beginning of school...so, LVCA kinda saved the day.

I am not clear on the whole program, but I do know that it is FREE (holla!) for some school districts. We will follow the same calendar as the public school. My daughter will be online about an hour a day and will be under the instruction of a certified teacher. I am her official "learning coach", but will not be actually teaching her (ha ha...we shall see!! I've got the heart of a teacher, so not sure I can just sit idly by)...

Whether or not they are paying for our internet connection and/or sending my daughter a computer is yet to be determined, but I do know that they do this for some students. I'm inclined to say that we do not qualify, because our "PAL" hasn't discussed it at any length with me as of yet.

For now, we wait on a phone call from Zara's teacher... :)