Time Flies and by the way I'm now Hannah's Official "Learning Coach"

It's hard to believe another month has come and gone.  It's been a busy, but good month.   Hannah has been asking for the past year or so to home school.  We told her we would look into while she was in Utah with Elizabeth and we did as promised.  I know that as I began our "fact finding mission" I was just going through the motions.  I really didn't see that it would be a viable option for our family.  The planets must have aligned, because with each meeting I went to, and with each new person I met I became more intrigued and my mind opened up to the possibilities.

The Wednesday before school began, we found ourselves at an enrollment meeting for a virtual charter school.  I am still amazed by the resources and curriculum they have made available to us.  One of my biggest fears was how we would handle Algebra.  I know how important a foundation in Algebra can be.  Hannah has a synchronous Algebra class for an hour four mornings a week.  She logs on and has teacher who teaches as if she was in a classroom of students.  They all interact.  It's really pretty incredible.  She's making friends all over the state.

Hannah has other classes that she "drops in" on a few times a week.  Each subject has a teacher who Hannah can interact with and I took it as a good sign when we discovered that her Lit/Comp teacher, who is also her homeroom teacher, is LDS.

I had to commit to 5 to 6 hours a day as Hannah's learning coach.  Now I'm basically here for support and to check her work.  At first I hovered a bit much and I'm sure she felt a bit smothered. We're all figuring it out. 

We have several outings we can attend each month.  Some of the outings are educational and some are just fun.  We have several youth in our stake who are involved with the same school that we are and we are able to meet at outings.  Last Friday we went to Gettysburg for mini golf and next Friday we get to go for an educational outing. 

School keeps us incredibly busy.  Hannah has gone from teachers giving her a study guide where she can simply regurgitate information, to truly reading and searching out the answers.  I like the fact that History, Art and Music are all correlated.  I'm learning way more than I ever learned in 8th grade.  She will be much better prepared for the college experience.  Even if we only do this for one year, we will all benefit.

 Hannah's Principal

 Hannah using mom's computer before her laptop arrived.

 Finally!  Our books and computer arrived about two weeks after school began.  We were able to access most everything online, but we did have some catching up to do. We are finally on schedule except for art.

 It felt like Christmas.

 We've had more interaction with teachers and administration this year than the previous several years. We actually feel like we are a part of Hannah's education and that we're in the know. They seem to love for you to volunteer through elementary school, but then they wish you'd go away.

 They couldn't have picked a better day for last weeks outing to Gettysburg. (Still can't believe we're twenty miles from Gettysburg, PA)

 Oh yes I did.  Hole in one on the first hole.  On the 11th hole I lost my ball to the water hazard, oh well. By the end of the round each of us had made a hole in one.

The little orange speck floating towards the waterfall is my ball. Better luck next time.

 The backside of water in case you couldn't tell.  Two PE hours. Gotta love it.

I believe we're where we are supposed to be right now. So many things brought us to this point. You gotta love the journey!