I know this school has some good and bad points. Every school or type of school does. But this school was truely a blessing to me this past 6 weeks.
We took a vacation to see my parents at the end of September. My mother had been sick for the past year with cancer. We were able to complete extra lessons ahead of time, then complete lessons during vacation. After the trip, Little Man was still ahead in lessons, nothing to make up!
A week after returning home, my mother passed away. We quickly left town again. We were able to complete some lessons, to stay busy during this time. We were out of town another week. He is only in K, but he didn't have any "catch up" to do when we returned. He didn't even miss any school days because we completed lessons over the weekend.
I am thankful GACA made it easy for him to complete lessons.
Have a blessed one.
Friday, November 8, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Going on Vacation!
We will be going on vacation Saturday! Going 'home' to Virginia. I have been adding extra lessons into Little Man's day so there won't be any lessons due while we are gone. We'll be coming home on a Tuesday, so only 2 days out really. But I don't want to do much when we get back either, so 3 days out :-)!
I plan to have him use the laptop for his 'Live Lessons' with his teacher. We will have several of his books for reading. I also have made sheets for writing practice. So Monday and Tuesday mornings, he will have school time, then the rest of the day will be free!
This is one of the things I really love about this school. He doesn't have to be stuck in a building to be at school.
Have a blessed one!
I plan to have him use the laptop for his 'Live Lessons' with his teacher. We will have several of his books for reading. I also have made sheets for writing practice. So Monday and Tuesday mornings, he will have school time, then the rest of the day will be free!
This is one of the things I really love about this school. He doesn't have to be stuck in a building to be at school.
Have a blessed one!
Thursday, September 5, 2013
I like the system.
Well this is week 4 of Georgia Connections Academy, and we are doing great! It is getting easier for both of us :-)!! If you want to have your child go this school, you have to make sure you are prepared every day. Then do a little more ;-))
Really that should be a no brainer, but it's easy to not look ahead, then follow the guide book as you do the lesson. It will save time, and help all involved if the 'learning coach' looks over the next days lessons, prior to starting the lesson. Some parts of the lesson you may be able to skip over, some lessons can be combined, some lessons you will need to add extra teaching tools. It all depends on you kid or 'student', and the lesson.
I have read on our message boards, that there is a lot more 'work' or 'learning' for each lesson or day. Several parents have sat in on classes and say a lot of time is spent keeping order. I can imagine! It takes a bit to keep mine in order through out the day LOL! My oldest has just started K so I don't know myself. But i'm sure it would depend on the class, ages of students, teachers, and school. I do know not all kids will speak up when they don't understand. Not every teacher will make sure every student 'gets it' before they move on. I'm happy to know I can take more time to make sure my kids understand. If they get more work, I'm fine with that. Practice makes perfect!
Have a blessed day!
Really that should be a no brainer, but it's easy to not look ahead, then follow the guide book as you do the lesson. It will save time, and help all involved if the 'learning coach' looks over the next days lessons, prior to starting the lesson. Some parts of the lesson you may be able to skip over, some lessons can be combined, some lessons you will need to add extra teaching tools. It all depends on you kid or 'student', and the lesson.
I have read on our message boards, that there is a lot more 'work' or 'learning' for each lesson or day. Several parents have sat in on classes and say a lot of time is spent keeping order. I can imagine! It takes a bit to keep mine in order through out the day LOL! My oldest has just started K so I don't know myself. But i'm sure it would depend on the class, ages of students, teachers, and school. I do know not all kids will speak up when they don't understand. Not every teacher will make sure every student 'gets it' before they move on. I'm happy to know I can take more time to make sure my kids understand. If they get more work, I'm fine with that. Practice makes perfect!
Have a blessed day!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Getting Through
Like anything, having your children attend Georgia Connections Academy will take; planning, preparation, and quite frankly, prayer.
Plan, plan, plan, what you want to accomplish for the week (month or year or day LOL). Then realize children do not always follow your plan. Neither does God, and His plan will be better. Plan anyway, it helps to have an idea or goal for the week.
Preparation for the day or week (if you can do it) has helped me so much. This should be a 'no brainer' but I realized I wasn't preparing as much as I could or should. Princess will complete all her work quickly. Butterfly will only do some of hers, but she's 2 so I'm happy :-). Having alternate things in mind really helps with both of them.
Little Man has a 'schedule', but I can have him complete whatever lessons I want him to really. He is ahead of schedule right now. If I look over his lessons before hand, it's easier to help him. I understand the lesson more. We can get through them more quickly. If he understand the concept, I can skip part of the lesson. That is something I am making myself do. My mind really wants to 'do' everything listed in the lesson. But, he will get frustrated if make him do things he 'has already done before' in another lesson.
He had a PE lesson for Monday. We went for a walk, and I went over the lesson with all the kids while we walked. When we got home, he finished another 10 minuets on the computer to complete PE. And today is a Saturday. He wasn't upset about doing 'school work'. If I hadn't made any preparation, we would have done the lesson Monday. Now we have extra time for something else.
God is working on my patience, and I'm working with Him to hold my peace through all of this. Butterfly is enjoying her terrible twos :-). I really believe God is using her to help me become more patient. Preparation for what's coming I guess.
One of the many things we enjoyed on our walk today...
Have a blessed day.
Plan, plan, plan, what you want to accomplish for the week (month or year or day LOL). Then realize children do not always follow your plan. Neither does God, and His plan will be better. Plan anyway, it helps to have an idea or goal for the week.
Preparation for the day or week (if you can do it) has helped me so much. This should be a 'no brainer' but I realized I wasn't preparing as much as I could or should. Princess will complete all her work quickly. Butterfly will only do some of hers, but she's 2 so I'm happy :-). Having alternate things in mind really helps with both of them.
Little Man has a 'schedule', but I can have him complete whatever lessons I want him to really. He is ahead of schedule right now. If I look over his lessons before hand, it's easier to help him. I understand the lesson more. We can get through them more quickly. If he understand the concept, I can skip part of the lesson. That is something I am making myself do. My mind really wants to 'do' everything listed in the lesson. But, he will get frustrated if make him do things he 'has already done before' in another lesson.
He had a PE lesson for Monday. We went for a walk, and I went over the lesson with all the kids while we walked. When we got home, he finished another 10 minuets on the computer to complete PE. And today is a Saturday. He wasn't upset about doing 'school work'. If I hadn't made any preparation, we would have done the lesson Monday. Now we have extra time for something else.
God is working on my patience, and I'm working with Him to hold my peace through all of this. Butterfly is enjoying her terrible twos :-). I really believe God is using her to help me become more patient. Preparation for what's coming I guess.
One of the many things we enjoyed on our walk today...
Have a blessed day.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
First Week Complete, Chairs are Here!
Well, we made it through the first week. It was a good week. I realized I wasn't really following the lesson instructions well. We were doing a science lesson, and it just didn't feel right.
If I open his lessons from my account, I can see instructions at the bottom. When Little Man opens his lessons from his account, the instructions aren't there. I can print them if needed, but I actually have books with lesson instructions in them. God bless me, SMH. We can get through with out me looking at them, but they do help. Questions to ask, things to look out for. But all in all, it was a good week. Monday we start having "Live Lessons" with the teacher. Little Man is very excited about that.
After a little drama, the chairs finally arrived! I think the "classroom" area looks great!
Now on to the week 2!
Have a blessed day!
If I open his lessons from my account, I can see instructions at the bottom. When Little Man opens his lessons from his account, the instructions aren't there. I can print them if needed, but I actually have books with lesson instructions in them. God bless me, SMH. We can get through with out me looking at them, but they do help. Questions to ask, things to look out for. But all in all, it was a good week. Monday we start having "Live Lessons" with the teacher. Little Man is very excited about that.
After a little drama, the chairs finally arrived! I think the "classroom" area looks great!
Now on to the week 2!
Have a blessed day!
Monday, August 12, 2013
We made it through the day!
Still don't have the chairs or the new shelves, but we did it. Actually, it was a good day. Not too different from our normal day.
Today, Little Man had Language Arts, Math, and Phys Ed. The lessons didn't take too long. I think I stretched them out a bit to make sure he knew everything. Princess and Butterfly worked "L l", they all worked on a Bible verse and calender. Princess has learned all the words from Starfall's Learn to Read stories.
I used items from 1+1+1=1, PreschoolMom.com, and Confessions of a Homeschooler for the Board. The "ABC's" are from 1+1+1=1 also.
Biggest problem of today... me :-). I was too excited to sleep. Of course, I decided to have regular coffee at 1pm yesterday, it helped me stay awake till 230am. I have been doing decaf, God bless me. Then there were the ants. SMH. Tonight, SLEEP, SLEEP, SLEEP, and MORE SLEEP for ALL of us!
Have a Blessed Day!
Today, Little Man had Language Arts, Math, and Phys Ed. The lessons didn't take too long. I think I stretched them out a bit to make sure he knew everything. Princess and Butterfly worked "L l", they all worked on a Bible verse and calender. Princess has learned all the words from Starfall's Learn to Read stories.
I used items from 1+1+1=1, PreschoolMom.com, and Confessions of a Homeschooler for the Board. The "ABC's" are from 1+1+1=1 also.
Biggest problem of today... me :-). I was too excited to sleep. Of course, I decided to have regular coffee at 1pm yesterday, it helped me stay awake till 230am. I have been doing decaf, God bless me. Then there were the ants. SMH. Tonight, SLEEP, SLEEP, SLEEP, and MORE SLEEP for ALL of us!
Have a Blessed Day!
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Desk Finished... We'll Be Ready Soon!
The desk is done! So happy about that. I still need the shelves above, and the chairs will be here soon (I pray). But even if they are standing...
OK, we do have shelves, but those will be gone soon. Hubby will put up two (or three :-) ) long shelves from window to wall.
On the board at their desk, I will have my girls look at several things for the week: letter, number, color, shape, Bible verse, character trait, and state. We also have a calender to go over the date, day of week, month of year, and weather. Little Man will do some of this in addition to Kindergarten. I've gotten things from a few blogs, but the main one is 1+1+1=1.
I truly LOVE her site. She has a program called Raising Rock Stars Preschool. Really, there is a ton of great free stuff on the site to use. If you want to help you kids with ABC's, numbers, and other things, it's a great place to go.
...WE HAVE A DESK!!
On the board at their desk, I will have my girls look at several things for the week: letter, number, color, shape, Bible verse, character trait, and state. We also have a calender to go over the date, day of week, month of year, and weather. Little Man will do some of this in addition to Kindergarten. I've gotten things from a few blogs, but the main one is 1+1+1=1.
I truly LOVE her site. She has a program called Raising Rock Stars Preschool. Really, there is a ton of great free stuff on the site to use. If you want to help you kids with ABC's, numbers, and other things, it's a great place to go.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Curriculum
I've been going over the curriculum from Georgia Connections Academy, and I really do like it. I've tried my best to prepare Little Man for Kindergarten. He will know some of what's being taught, but it will be put together differently. How his classes are aligned, the info works well together.
One thing that worried me when, I decided I may go this route, is how he would handle using the computer. I signed up for Starfall and worked with him going through their site. I love Starfall, so do the kids. It really is a great site for learning to read. Using their site helped him understand how to use the computer and mouse. I think he, or we :-), are as ready as we can be.
One thing that worried me when, I decided I may go this route, is how he would handle using the computer. I signed up for Starfall and worked with him going through their site. I love Starfall, so do the kids. It really is a great site for learning to read. Using their site helped him understand how to use the computer and mouse. I think he, or we :-), are as ready as we can be.
Friday, July 26, 2013
Our Supplies Are Here :-)
YEA!! We are so excited! We got our school supplies! There were a few things I didn't expect too.
Little Man was so happy to finally get his box of books. So was I ;-) His sisters were just as happy.
Butterfly was so excited, she wouldn't sit for a picture. Of course, this is before a few arguments over books broke out. Better they fight over who gets to read a book than who gets to play a game I guess.
Here is what we received from Georgia Connections Academy, all for Kindergarten:
We have already read a few of the books. The kids love, love, love books. Princess was very happy to see one called Flowers.
Now I have to finish shopping for other supplies, finish our desk, and get set up!
Little Man was so happy to finally get his box of books. So was I ;-) His sisters were just as happy.
Butterfly was so excited, she wouldn't sit for a picture. Of course, this is before a few arguments over books broke out. Better they fight over who gets to read a book than who gets to play a game I guess.
Here is what we received from Georgia Connections Academy, all for Kindergarten:
- Art Kit with watercolor paint, construction paper, and drawing paper pad
- Science Kit with modeling clay, hand lens, and 2 magnets
- Headset & Mic
- Letter Tiles
- Manipulative Kit
- School Envelopes
- Language Arts Course Guide & Resource Package
- Language Arts Answer Key
- Reading Street Package
- Readers & Writers Notebook
- Science A&B Course Guide
- Social Studies A&B Course Guide
- Math Course Guide & Answer Key
- Math Resource Package
- enVision Math
- Little Books Package
- Reader Package
We have already read a few of the books. The kids love, love, love books. Princess was very happy to see one called Flowers.
Now I have to finish shopping for other supplies, finish our desk, and get set up!
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Our New Adventure!
I am a stay at home mom of three children; Little man (5), Princess (4), and Butterfly (2).
School starts in just over two weeks and I will be homeshooling... sort of. Little Man will be attending Georgia Connections Academy, my other two will have Pre-K with me. GCA is a free online public school, so although Little Man will be in Kindergarten, he'll still be at home with me. This will be an experience :-) I've prayed about it, and I feel strongly that this is what I should be doing. I'll have to lean into Him more than ever, but that will make us even more blessed!
School starts in just over two weeks and I will be homeshooling... sort of. Little Man will be attending Georgia Connections Academy, my other two will have Pre-K with me. GCA is a free online public school, so although Little Man will be in Kindergarten, he'll still be at home with me. This will be an experience :-) I've prayed about it, and I feel strongly that this is what I should be doing. I'll have to lean into Him more than ever, but that will make us even more blessed!
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