Getting Into The School Groove

We are well into the second week of school here and, I'm hoping, beginning to get our bearings. Schooling at home, via Kansas Connections Academy public virtual school, has many benefits but, of course, there are down sides to it as well. For example, we are all together at the same time. I can't magically make the toddler stop, well, being a toddler so that I can help the 4th grader figure out where Lewis and Clark were when they met Sacajawea or read today's story to the Kindergartner.

A nice benefit of virtual school is that it can happen virtually anywhere. I'm sorry, please forgive the pun! Sometimes one simply cannot stay home all day. But when you have a laptop, school can travel with you! Well, when you have a laptop and wifi. Luckily a LOT of places have wifi these days.

So what are the kids studying? I hear you asking me from across the virtual pond. How nice of you to ask! Corbin has the basic Kindergarten courses, writing his ABC, writing his name, basic counting (he's a little bored with that since he's good with numbers), learning about being a good citizen, learning about basic scientific procedure (the scientific method), drawing the 5 main types of lines, and outside of KCA he's recently begun piano lessons. He's excited about it!

Alice is working on place values for thousands and millions in math, writing a memoir in Language Arts (and she's just started reading about Lewis and Clark), learning about Kansas History, learning about applying the scientific method to volcanic investigations, learning how to read and replicate maps including inset maps, learning the difference (and how to paint) between expressionism and realism, and practicing her typing. She also had her first ballet class of the year tonight. She's been taking ballet since she was 4 and this year she begins pre-point! She'll be doing 2 hours (approx) a day, three days a week of ballet this year. Good thing she loves it!

Aleksander, of course, being 13 months old is mostly learning how to not run into the wall and how to climb any and everything. He has a few words, can run full speed, and still dislikes shoes. He does, however, enjoy food!

Overall, I think we've had a good start to the school year. And in a couple of weeks, the kids will start at Religious School at our Synagogue again on Sunday mornings. Then we'll be even busier.

Do you have any questions about virtual school? Please ASK! I promise to reply.