Cancer Survivor, writing about Health and Fitness as you age

Designed by Freepik Our older son just started high school and it is a whole new world for us, including the language. I should mention that neither my husband nor myself went to high school in the U.S, so it really is a whole new world for us. Here are excerpts of some of the messages I've received: " All AISD high schools have the same bell schedule and 8 classes: 1,2,3,4 on A days and 2,4,6,8 on B days. A days are M/W and alternating F." "[ SchoolName ] wants to start and end earlier, so we have a 0 period both A and B days (0A and 0B) and we don't have 4th or 8th period." Some days are "late start" days, where the school doesn't start until, well, later and there is a different bus and location for pickup. The school schedule also changes on late start days. Maybe this is to keep the kids on their toes? One message goes on to say that, "The kids have this all figured out." Say whaaa???!! Fabulous if yo...

I have posted before about the education system and how I felt about public vs private school. After having my son in private school for 3 years, he is now back in public school. See my prior posts here: Path to Private School and My Education Rant. Was it worth it to have him in private school? Now there's a question. I think he would have done well in public school although there is no doubt he did get challenged in private school. It would seem that the question isn't so much public vs private, but more, who is the teacher? I've also taken a step back in my expectations and how I view education. I have always compared the kind of schoolwork that my son does with what I did when I was growing up. I came from a different education system, where we would spend hours doing homework and revision for tests and extra lessons was normal. My son? He is in middle school and does his homework in school and spends no more than 30 minutes at home doing work. If I don'...

Just headlining it so you can ignore this post as you like. I've explained my difficulties with the public school system back in 2008 , but I figured since Lucas has now completed one year in private school, I've earned the right to another post.  So, what have I learnt over this past year? Broad spectrum Yes, rather self-evident, but there is a broad spectrum of how parents feel about education and parents may make choices that appear conflicting. For example, I have had one mother tell me that they believe in a public school education for their children. But then in the other breath, tells me that her son is doing Kumon Math after school, and extra Math over the holidays and extra reading to get his reading up 2-grade levels (ahead of where he's supposed to be). We, on the other hand, believe that except for homework and supplemental projects that Lucas might be interested in, school is for school and home is for play. I had extra lessons when I was in primary (ele...

So we've been struggling over what to do with Lucas since we feel that his needs aren't getting met in public school. I've decided that if I home-schooled, what would be missing is the diversity of perspectives that he would get in a classroom setting. I looked into co-ops but I couldn't find exactly what I was looking for. (That would have to be a whole separate post!) Regardless, it led me back to private school. I initially put down a list of what I was hoping for in any school that Lucas attends, then tried to figure out what options could meet that criteria. The top requirement was academic rigour. He could stay in public school if there was some way to provide a channel for him to be with other children that share his interests and abilities (e.g. through a school program). We've tried to work with the school (and other parents) to get this off the ground but it hasn't gone anywhere, despite the very optimistic and enthusiastic response we got from the...

Well, if you haven't, you are not alone. Until very recently, there was no way I felt I could homeschool. Aside from the obvious conflict with my goal of getting more "me" time, Lucas and I butt heads all the time. I figured there was no way he would ever learn from me. Although Lucas goes to a good public school, there is an extra layer (of group activity) that would truly motivate him, that is missing. So we've been considering private school. Needless to say the price-tag for private school has made me think more seriously about homeschooling. I've joined some online groups and I've been getting to know some parents who homeschool. They've assured me that it is not as hard as it looks.....hmmmm..ok. Even though I'd read a lot, I had no idea of how developed homeschooling is - it is truly a parallel education system. I knew about the curriculum, materials and philosophies, but they do so much more. They arrange entries to science competitions...