Off To Our Review

This state is not the best when it comes to being homeschool-friendly, but there are worse. The one big pain in the binder is that we have to go to the county Board of Education office twice a year to get "monitored". It's like a reverse parent-teacher conference where, instead of the teacher showing the parent what they've done in school for the past semester, the parent has to show the county representative what they've done at home. Technically, all I have to do is show them a portfolio (no grades or tests are required) of representative work in each subject the government schools would have attempted to teach in their school. In reality, we pack up almost everything we did for the past 4 months (plus the work we did over the summer) and lug it all down to Centreville. The monitors are usually former government school teachers turned homeschooler, so they are very easy to deal with; they know exactly what we homeschoolers are going through. Rather than being a difficult ordeal, it's fun for me to talk about and compare homeschool curricula with them. There are other options available that would get me out of having to cart the troops to the county office, but I kinda look forward to the feedback I get. Also, the kids' grandfather (Vicki's dad) is HR Director for the Board of Education and, as he works in the building we'll be going to, we get to go cause a bit chaos in his office (whether he's in or not, the ladies that work in his office love to see the kids on their semi-annual visit). Plus, today is Poppop's birthday, so hopefully he'll be there when we arrive.

The really really nice thing about today is that we'll be done school until January 2. Government schools are open all week, so this is the kids' treat, being off for an extra few days before Christmas.