Moving my kids and myself from traditional to alternative ed

This summer has been one of bold changes. Since we thought we were going to be moving to Europe (husband is in the Navy, which means lots of moves), we prepared ourselves for big changes. For starters, I decided to leave my teaching job at St. Anthony School so that a new teacher could step in the first of the school year. I will only be managing the grant project for the school. The grant, called Schools of the Future, is to help schools transform from traditional schools to schools of the 21st century, read -- schools that practice critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, communication, etc. This parring down of my responsibilities will also give me more time to focus on my kids' education and to complete the last few courses for my PhD in educational technology.

Now, the biggest move has been to take the kids out of St. Anthony School, a very traditional Catholic school (it has yet to "transform") and to put them in a hybrid charter school called Hawaii Technology Academy (HTA). This school is quite the model for alternative schools -- at least for 2009. It combines online, face-2-face and home schooling for K-12 students. It uses a recognized curriculum called K12 (K to the 12th power) as its base. Students get the best of all 3 learning scenarios.

This move has already been a great learning experience for me too. I now play the role of "learning coach" for my kids (8 and 6). I am looking forward to this experience as a way to discover alternative education for K-12 -- I will compare it to all that I have read about needs of the 21st century, disruptive innovation, etc. More details to follow!