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lisabelle
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lisabelle

lisabelle

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Hi Everyone --

 

After giving ds over to the public school system for 6 years (K-5) I am done. Homeschooling is something I've kept in my mind since ds was born, but as a product of public schools myself, and a rather successful one at that, I wanted to give public schools a chance. After 5 years of being an active volunteer, last year I couldn't *bear* the classroom environment anymore--the chaos, the large stretches of time that don't involve learning but more...babysitting, the behaviorally challenging children that eat up so much learning time. My son is strong in math and what limited science he's been exposed to. He loves to read and I keep his bookshelves filled with a variety of the kinds of books I know he'll love. His major struggle has always been with writing, from penmanship to actual essay writing. I've asked his teachers for advice on what I can do to help and received nothing. So I've pulled ds from his school and enrolled him at the district's Homeschool Resource Center.

 

I'm very excited, picking out my materials and planning our year. I'm learning a lot from reading WTM and incorporating many of the ideas. I'm sure I'll just bore you all to death once I've got my materials and plans pinned down!

 

Lisa

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lisabelle

lisabelle

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For Chrissy:

 

Edmonds Heights K-12 is in the Edmonds School District (and I believe they take students from out of district, but I'm not positive). I've attended orientation, enrolled ds, but I'm not entirely sure what to expect. Ds has taken after-hours piano lessons there for the past 3 years and what I know of the environment is limited to those after-hours goings on in the building where ds takes piano lessons. There is tai kwan do in one room, and they have a very strong musical theater program where rehearsals are going on in another room. I know their MT program competes at the state level and generally do quite well. My main interest in being affiliated with the school is that they offer a LEGO robotics team which ds ABSOLUTELY wants to do. I also like, in the future he can learn a foreign language in a classroom setting, and their laboratories for science classes are much more well stocked than my home will ever be.

 

Here's the blurb from their About Us page:

 

We operate as an alternative school under WAC 392-121-182 Alternative Learning Experience Requirements.

 

We are a K-12 program designed to enroll students in Edmonds School District and outlying areas.

 

Edmonds Heights K-12 recognizes the parent as the primary teacher and works as a resource to the family to insure a high quality learning experience for each child consistent with the expectations of the student’s family and the Essential Learning’s established by the state Commission on Student Learning.

 

Once enrolled and oriented to the program, each student and their parents meet with a certificated staff member to review their personalized written student learning plan (WSLP). Thereafter parents meet face to face with their WSLP advisor three times yearly to review their student WSLP as well as enter monthly progress.

 

Each student is allocated a dollar amount for the purchase of curriculum materials and classes that is proportional to their enrollment date and enrollment level. All expenditures must be listed in the student learning plan as academic resources.

Edmonds Heights K-12 is open from 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM five days a week. Our calendar runs on a semester schedule with school starting right after Labor Day and running through mid June.

 

Students enrolled in Edmonds Heights may choose from a wide variety of classes and workshops. For example, students may take language classes (currently Spanish, American Sign Language and Latin). Students also have the opportunity to participate in a variety of workshops in writing, math, science, art, music and more.

 

Students may also utilize computers in our technology labs or one of the many computers located in designated areas throughout the campus. All computers are connected to an internal network, the district’s network and provide access to the Internet.

 

Families wishing to enroll in Edmonds Heights K-12 must do the following:

**Enrollment for the fall of 2010 is still open. Enrollment packets can be picked up in the main office starting August 23rd. All families interested in enrolling must attend a program tour. The August tour is Tuesday, August 24th, at 2pm starting in the Library. Check in at the main office. Completed packets will be due by Friday, August 27th.**

General enrollment guidelines: Sign up for and attend a program orientation tour. Tours are conducted the first Tuesday of each month by a designated parent or Edmonds Heights K-12 staff member and will include a tour of the facility and discussion of the program. For times of tours please call our office (425) 431-7840 ext 9. Following the tour all families will be given the opportunity to fill out a placement form for each child to begin the enrollment process to enter Edmonds Heights. For all in-district students, Edmonds Heights staff will review the placement form, and you may be given an enrollment packet for each child you wish to enroll. For students living outside the Edmonds School District we may have a waiting list so please check with the staff to see if we have openings available.

 

All new Families must complete an 8 week orientation course with an Edmonds Heights staff person. This orientation class meets one day a week for an hour and outlines our program policies and procedures, support for educating your student, and ensures a successful transition into our program. During the 8 week orientation period new students can be on campus, make use of our library and computer labs, and may take two on campus classes, as space is available. Education is taking place primarily at home and with the parent as the primary educator. After the 8 week orientation period new families may sign up for all other Edmonds Heights classes. If you have any questions about our new family orientation process please call the main office.

 

 

Their website: edmondshrc.edu

 

 

Lisa

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lisabelle

lisabelle

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So far (I haven't made any purchases yet):

 

TT for math

MLC for language arts (thinking we'll start with the Voyage series)

I LOVE those Oxford University Press series on Ancient History and then Medieval and Early Modern History. The price is pretty steep though. I'm thinking of asking grandma in CA to buy them, but am NOT telling her that we're HS'ing.

Ellen McHenry's The Elements and that banned Golden Book of Chemistry for science

For literature we're doing an intensive reading of The Complete Tales of Sherlock Holmes, with lots of supplementary materials. I'm hoping to grab a few science experiments out of our reading too.

Critical Thinking's Building Thinking Skills Level 2 with some Mindbenders

He'll continue private piano lessons and private viola lessons as well as continuing to play in his former school's orchestra.

For PE he'll be doing private golf instruction on the weekends and we're BOTH going to give the Couch To 5K plan a try.

I'm taking a class (Microbiology) 2 evenings a week in the fall. And then dh will work with ds (oh, heck, is name is Matt), and they'll be doing the stuff that's FUN to them. They'll be playing the stock market game ($10,000 imaginary dollars to invest in the stock market and tracking investments over the course of the year. Dh will start teaching Matt to read the business pages.

And then they'll do a little light radio theory (Matt's studying right now to get his Amateur Radio license).

And of course, there's the hope that Matt will get to be on the LEGO Robotics Team at the Homeschool Resource Center.

 

I know...it sounds OVERWHELMING. It won't be every subject every day. But if you all look at this and think I really need to cut back and have some advice where to cut back, I'd really appreciate it.

Edited by lisabelle
adding still more stuff to our list! GAH!
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Catherine

Catherine

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Except that I transferred my ds to a private school for sixth grade (looking for solutions) and it was a worse disaster than ps was for him. You'll find SO much helpful information on these boards. Just take what you can use and ignore the rest. Welcome!

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