Homeschooling and the law

Especially as it pertains to reporting.

I had finally fully wrapped my head around Minnesota's homeschooling statute and what was required. I was comfortable. I knew what to do and when, and where, and why. This is good!

I'm a list-maker, and I like having a firm grip on as many of the details of a situation as possible.

This moving thing is throwing a giant monkey wrench in my well ordered homeschool world. We haven't done a full school week since this has started.

Subjects hanging in the wind! Chaos!

I know we'll get back on track and fortunately we had already finished a good deal of the work for the year. We'll be OK on this front.

I am now trying to look into all the things I need to do to legally homeschool once we are settled in our new home. I'm a little befuddled. I'd had years to look at the previous material and now only months!

Self Education

In the form of buying a house. For the first time.

Gulp.

Moving

My actual physical family is moving, not the blog. We're relocating soon, so posts may be sporadic for the next month or so.

We're moving to Wyoming, so we have a whole new set of laws to learn!

The kids and I are taking a small break from regularly scheduled schooling. We're researching our soon to be new home. Sweet Pea is working through an Evan Moor science workbook. She's also reading the Leminy Snicket series and really enjoying them!

The rest of us are packing. A lot. I'm remembering how much I dislike packing.

Initial Saxon review

We've been using Saxon math here for the last month or so. Both girls have been using it (at different levels, obviously ).

Some things I've noticed already vs. Singapore:

• parental involvement
• time
• review
• manipulatives
• level

Parental involvement is much higher in Saxon. There's a lot of time spent teaching and working together, so if you are looking for a self teaching book this is not it. You will not really be able to just assign a lesson and do something else while they work.

Time seems to be less right now. Teaching and Meeting book don't really take long, and the workbook pages are so well covered before they are assigned that it's not difficult for the child to finish. We're doing both pages in one sitting, all the problems.

Review. This is one of the biggest reasons we switched and something I am really happy with. Something is introduced and then constantly revisited and refreshed. Sweet Pea was really frustrated with Singapore that topics would come up, she'd learn them, and then we'd leave them. I was spending a lot of time (and ink) finding or making review sheets for her. I didn't like that- I want a curriculum that has it all together for me.

Manipulatives- I really like all the hands on parts of Saxon. It's not all manipulative work like Miquon (which we tried and failed with) but it's not all book work, either. Singapore did have suggestions for hands on stuff, but as the parent you had to locate materials and plan it out and that can be really hard to do.

Level. I did not take Ewe's advice and go a level up. I should have. Sweet Pea finished Singapore 2a and 2B and I put her in Saxon 2. It's all really easy for her but it is building her confidence up so we'll just go through at a quicker place and move into Saxon 3 by fall. Singapore does seem more advanced then Saxon, but Saxon seems far more thorough. It kind of felt like Singapore was advancing at the cost of mastery.