Tori's first day at college - it was a big day for both of us. This was her first time in a classroom and my first time not being a part of her learning. She got a little turned around in the hallway, but wasn't late to class. There are only 15 students in her Sociology class, she thinks an even split of typical college age students and adults. She did say one of the students was sleeping. On the first day! She has one assignment due mid June but will have reading assignments each week. She enjoyed it but was surprised that it was so easy. Tori thinks her teacher looks and kind of sounds like my dad.
Rather than a photo with a lunchbox and backpack, she has a satchel and a purse.
About to head off to class.
She said the teacher asked today if any of the students in the class were high school students, she's the only one. He then asked what she thought of the FCAT (yearly state achievement test), she replied "I'm homeschooled", implying she doesn't have to and never has taken that test. I tensed up a little expecting her to relate that his response would be something negative. I'd previously warned her that not all teachers appreciate homeschoolers, but to keep in mind that our choice to homeschool is just as valid as the choice to use public or private schools. The teacher responded to her statement, "I'm homeschooled" with, "We should discuss all the benefits of homeschooling." You'll just have to imagine my huge inward sigh of relief. They didn't end up discussing the subject, but maybe it will come up later. Tori is a very confident person in general, and I'm sure she won't have any difficulty standing her ground, so to speak, but I'm very relieved she wasn't met with any hostility in her first class ever.
First purchase of college textbooks - her two books were priced $130 used at the college bookstore or $175 new, why would anyone buy new? We found one of the books online through eBay for $27 with shipping, and bought the other at a local used college textbook store for $38. Ouch!
First purchase of school supplies not on sale - we've never had a first day of school before, so we'd always buy school supplies a couple of weeks after school starts and get a full year supply for 4 kids for under $20. I spent at least that much for Tori for this one class!
First time to see a sky really full of stars - we drove about 4 hours north to an island in the Gulf with the darkest night sky east of the Mississippi. We have too much light pollution to see many stars here. I'd seen this image and it intrigued me.
I'd never imagined you could see that many stars without using a telescope. When I discovered you can, I thought we'd have to go out to the desert or out into the Gulf on a boat to get away from the light. I found a few places online listing truly dark night skies in Florida and we went for a little (poorly planned) adventure. Even with the mistakes we made, it was unbelievably beautiful. We went to Shired Island, an island at the tail end of a national wildlife refuge. The spot is completely accessible but also very remote. We will go back, but hopefully with a little more prep and planning and a little more understanding of the night sky. We've borrowed a telescope from friends and will learn as much as we can about astronomy before attending a public stargazing event at the end of the month. I need to buy a planisphere to help us understand what little we can see here at home.
Last performing arts event until the fall - We attended a play in Tampa about Leonardi daVinci. It was pretty interesting. I wish they'd talked a little more about the inventions he designed.
Last field trip and Teacher Meeting until August - Spring Fun Day is usually held as a separate event, it was combined with the last TM this year. It makes a lot of sense to do it that way, so I imagine it will continue. I hung out in the pavilion with my mom friends this time while the kids participated in the games. There are a couple more events planned by group members, but we have begun our summer plan already so we are skipping those.
Beth catches up with some of her girlfriends.
Tori is looking a little tired.
Lili's self portrait of her face painting.
Evie's lion, she adores lions.
Um, yeah, I don't know what is happening here.
Last PE class until August - The Presidential Physical Fitness Test awards ceremony and end of the year picnic for PE was held yesterday. Beth got a National level award. Tori, Lili and Evie got Participant level awards. We didn't stay long as we are all (except Beth) still sick. We all have colds, fortunately not flu. Evie always gets fever, but the rest of us have had them too, along with the sneezing and sniffling and chapped noses and headaches. Blech!
Here are some photos of the Water Games day. PE always ends with some fun and wet field games.
Half of Evie's group, playing a musical hot potato game, where the potato was a water bottle used to spray someone else.
The big girls group getting ready to play a water balloon toss.
The big girls with their coaches, Keith and Esther DeRouen.
Last Lit Club meeting until October - The movie watching after reading the book discussion went really well. I wish I'd thought to take pictures, oh well. I'll spend this summer reading and selecting books for next year.
First sunburn - It was finally warm enough for me to swim last week, I didn't stay in long that time. Then I went in again a couple of days ago and came out sunburnt. I like to swim without the kids, it's more peaceful that way. Our pool isn't big enough for true swimming, so mostly I just relax and float. Combine that with a low humidity day and lots of peace and quiet and you get a quick sunburn.
First summer storm - I know it's not technically summer yet, but it is definitely summer weather in Florida. We have hit the point where the day gets hot enough and the air is humid enough to result in afternoon thunderstorms. It's been really dry here and there have been a lot of wildfires. The lightning from the storms don't help with the fires, but the rain sure will.
From here on until August, we will do school just about every day. Mornings will be spent on schoolwork, afternoons in the pool. We'll head to the library about once a week, and will take days off here and there when we feel like it.
Tori is almost finished with both Algebra II and English I. She is taking the finals for both of those this week. She starts two new FLVS classes next week, American History and World History. She should finish both those classes in January and will then take a half credit American Government class. Those are the last classes she has to take for high school only. All the rest of her classes will be through PCC, either dual enrolling where she will earn high school credit and college credit at the same time, or just college only.
Beth is working in the second semester of Algebra I and is doing so much better when I sit with her for the lessons. I'm absolutely not teaching her, she gets the information much faster than I do. I think she just needed the extra encouragement and interaction to help her do well. She will finish Language Arts 3 at the end of July and Algebra I at the end of August. I thought I'd already selected her next classes, but don't find it in my records. So, we'll go through and pick them out later today.
Lili is almost finished with M/J Math 2, and will move on to a Personal Fitness class June 1. She is just about finished with the first semester of Spanish I and will continue in that class until some time in September. She always does well in her classes and frequently works ahead of pace.
Evie is ready to start her first FLVS class, Keyboarding. It is the first class all of the girls have started with. It is one of the more difficult classes, but it teaches them to type by touch. FLVS classes are done online, so it is to their benefit to be able to type as soon as possible. The work itself isn't difficult, but there is a lot of time spent learning to type, plus the learning curve of how to prepare and submit lessons online.
All of the girls will continue with their homeschool lessons which include Sequential Spelling, Bible study and Wordly Wise. Tori is in the last book of Wordly Wise, so when that one is done, she won't have any more of that work to do.
I will be working on the Personal Economics class I started planning last summer. I got a little lost in what path I wanted to use when planning and ended up overwhelmed by it, so I put it on hold last fall. I'm determined to make it happen this time. At the end of summer I will make a listing of field trips I'd like to set up for the year, I led a lot of trips this year. We start our art co-op again sometime in August with a new family joining in.
That's it for the update. Off to work on laundry, catch up on some reading and have some lunch.
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