Favorite homeschool websites

Enjoy this video/slideshow of our very favorite homeschooling websites for high school students. And they're free.



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Big Changes in GA High Schools

 This is interesting

Georgia wants to overhaul its high school curriculum, making it more like college with courses tailored to what students want to do after they graduate.

#Under the proposed plan, students would choose a "career cluster" that would lead them through the classes they need to either go on to a two-year or four-year college or to go straight into a job. The plan — which is expected to be taken up by the state Board of Education sometime this fall — would unravel the single-track approach instituted by former state schools Superintendent Kathy Cox that assumed every student was going to college.

 Read more here: http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2011/sep/18/ga-wants-make-high-school-more-college/

I find this interesting because GA has changed it's high school curriculum just a few years ago, making high school so stringent that students not aiming for college would have no choice but to drop out.  I was wondering how long it would take to notice.  I am not against stringent high school programs, but the past few years have been overkill. 

Not that I am exactly crazy about the new course of action either, but it's at least more realistic.

Under Georgia's plan, students would take the same general core of classes with basics like algebra, English and history. At the end of their sophomore year, students would choose a cluster to determine what advanced classes they take.

#For example, a student in the health sciences career cluster wanting to be a certified nursing assistant would take nutrition and wellness, chemistry and physical science — and go straight into a job after graduation. A student wanting to be a doctor would take Advanced Placement biology, physics and biotechnology and go to a four-year college.

 This is being billed as making high school more like college in GA.  I don't see that, but I am curious to see where this is all going.

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Georgia Virtual School Drama

Every other Friday night when assignments are due, I find myself cyber stalking my kids accounts to make sure their courses are entered.  If they are late, they will lose 10 points a day.

Daughter forgot one test completely, so I sent her to do it.  When she was done, the score had not calculated, when it finally did she had a low grade.  Fortunately, it was just one of several quizzes this week.  My problem is that we could not access the site for a couple of hours today, so I don't know if the site was still having problems, or if she did not know the material.  I have been on the internet for enough years to know how software glitches work.
(I made a note in her notebook about the site being down, just so that when final grades are issued, I can compare my notes to her grades to see if there is a pattern.  If there is, I will adjust accordingly.)

Speaking of the site being down for a couple of hours, my son announced that all of his work was complete.  So why is he downstairs right now just a few hours from deadline entering again?  I have no idea.  He was able to prove to me that he did the work.  Could it be because of access problems with the site earlier today?

Don't know that I can blame it on Ga Virtual School though since our internet provider SUCKS!  Take that Charter.  We went for two days last week without access.... that didn't help get any school work done. However, I could get to other sites today, just not the online classes.



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Georgia Cyber Academy does not equal Homeschooling

Georgia Cyber Academy was profiled on the local news.
http://www.11alive.com/news/article/205836/3/Going-to-a-virtual-charter-school

 That's all find and Dandy.  It is working for a lot of kids, although I also hear from a lot of kids it does not work for.   But, if it rocks your boat, go for it.


But.... Please don't call it homeschooling.

If public school at home, and homeschooling  becomes synonymous, people who want to homeschool without the governments help will lose their rights.

Ok... so I need to add a disclaimer here.

My kids are using Georgia Virtual School, which is individual classes provided online to all kids in the state, should they want to partake.

It walks the line between homeschool and public school.  It is taught by public school teachers and paid for by the state, but the parent remains in charge of what the kids take.

(I dare say that if we don't agree with a grade, we could technically re-evaluate the kid and assign our own grade. )

Anyway, I am kinda preaching to myself here.  Let's not confuse terms.  It seems nitpicking, but we are dealing with people's freedoms here.



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