I know what they know

Well, we are in week 3 of hour alternative schooling...home school, f2f and online all in one! It's been an interesting adjustment, but not a difficult one. We usually start at 7:30 am and finish by 1:30 pm. Then, we scoot out for gymnastics, sailing, the library or a trip to the beach.

Homework is usually very little -- just stuff that didn't get done in the day, rather than more of the same busy work, worksheets.

Best of all, I know what my kids are learning and what they know. No more random grades on a report card, or graded worksheets with letters or percentages of correct/incorrect items. Now, when they get something wrong, we correct it right away by working through it again. We don't wait for weeks or months for the report card to show up to tell us we didn't know what we were supposed to know.

In K12.com curriculum, history is an important element, as is all the usual cast -- math, science, language arts, etc. But history has a special place and is well presented in a manner is fascinating for the kids. They are anxious to learn about the past and happy to discuss how it is or isn't like their lives today.

Working side-by-side, we can make connections on the spot. We can reason through something that doesn't make sense, or pop online if we need more info. We don't have to wait to go to the computer lab to do research, nor do we need to wait our turn to check out a book to give us more information.

Art is part of our weekly learning, where we not only learn about and practice art techniques, but we learn how to discover art, how to interpret art, and how to appreciate it. And there is always some interesting tidbit of information about the artist and his/her life.

Spanish is delivered online through fun, interactive stories and activities. We can then chat about words, ideas and phrases and practice them whenever and wherever the occasion presents itself.

We have P.E. every day. Sometimes we ride bikes, play soccer or go to organized sports like gymnastics, football, sailing, etc. Most days, we jump in our pool to play Marco Polo and to cool down.

The down sides,well, there are a few. No recess with all our buddies. No side chat in the back of the room with classmates. No assemblies. However, we are looking forward to starting the f2f part of the Hawaii Technology Academy, where we believe some of these down sides will be appeased.