School at Home

James and I have been disappointed with the school choices for Seth here in our neighborhood. We considered homeschooling but I didn't feel very qualified or organized to try homeschooling.  Yesterday, I was reading the blog of a relative who home schools and she mentioned that her kids had been in a state sponsored program and really enjoyed it.  I decided to check out if Utah offers something similar and opened a whole can of worms.  I started to research a charter school here called the Utah Virtual Academy.  The school allows parents to teach their kids at home with the support of accredited teachers and they provide all the cirriculum and supplies all for free because they are a public school. 

After looking at everything I could find about the school and the cirriculum online, James and I decided to try and get Seth enrolled.  We weren't very hopeful because it is so late in the year, but James called them to see if there were any openings and we were surprised that they were still enrolling.  I filled out the enrollment application online, and then I went to my mom's house to check out her new kitchen cabinets.  I asked her what her thoughts were on trying to homeschool Seth with this method.  The cirriculum the school uses is called K12 and my mom said that one of her students had used K12 and that his mom really liked it.  Then my sister, Marrisse, walked in and overheard us talking and she says, "I got a DVD in the mail from K12 today."  She had been thinking about homeschooling her kids at the beginning of the summer and had requested information from them then.  We decided to watch the DVD and while we were watching it Marrisse got a phone call from the Academy asking if she was still interested in the school.  So in one day I went from knowing nothing about K12 to having several encounters with it from different sources.

James and I attended an information session for the school this afternoon, we both felt really good about it and decided to give the program a shot.  I kind of feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders even though it's going to be a lot of work for me.  I hope I feel the same way when we are in the midst of the school year.  :)  I'm going to try and keep this blog updated regularly and let you know how the program is going and how Seth and I are enjoying it.  School starts on the 24th so wish me luck!