Hart's Happenings

School Reports

It's time to give the grandparents, aunts and uncles a report on how the children are doing in school.  It's hard to come up with details on the phone, so you usually just hear "fine!"  I try to save these once/year "report cards" so that the children have some sort of keepsake record.

Kaleigh:  In school here in the UK she would be in year 2, and in Australia year 1, the US 1st grade.  She is currently at year 2 level in phonics (most likely because we don't push it), reading and spelling about 2 years ahead, and doesn't really have to think about math at all.  We started the year half way through 1st grade math (UK year 2) and after a few years jumped to 2nd grade.  She would most likely be fine if she skipped another year, but I'm paranoid about missing any of the basics.  She started violin lessons a few weeks ago, and after a rockier start now seems to be ok with it!  She plays tennis on a Saturday morning, and can now get the ball back over the net - not quite as bad as her mother, but not completely sporty either.  She attends an art and craft group every 2nd Friday.

Emily:  UK year 6, Australia end of year 4, US 5th grade.  This year Em is taking US 5th grade Bible, Reading, Math and Science through BJUhomesat on dvd.  I'm working with her on Abeka Language A (4th grade), CLP spelling (4th grade), Rosetta Stone French and CLP handwriting (4th grade).  Considering where she was 3 years ago she's doing brilliantly, and would now be well above the average state school level in each class.  Slow and steady wins the race! She was 2 years behind when we started homeschooling and is now quite competent!  She also plays tennis on a Saturday morning, and is quite good, and received a distinction in her last violin exam - violin seems to come naturally to her.  She attends an art and craft group every 2nd Friday.

Samuel:  UK year 8, Australia end of year 6, US 7th grade.  Sam is taking US 7th grade Math, Life Science, English (Grammar and Literature), and World Studies (History and Geography) with BJUhomesat DVD.  He's continuing with CLP handwriting and Rosetta Stone French.  He's consistently above 90% in everything except major writing assignments which would be more like 70%.  He continues to do well with cricket, but is taking a break this term from winter training for the first time in a few years.  He has joined the girls in Saturday morning tennis.  He continues to do well with piano - not overly drawn to it, but he works hard anyway. 

Melissa:  UK year 10, Australia end of year 9, US 9th grade.  Lis is taking BJU homesat on DVD for 10th grade Geometry, Biology, English (grammar and literature), 9th grade Geography, French and Bible.  She continues with violin (working on grade 6) and piano (grade 2), plays in a string group on a Monday evening, and is progressing well in music theory.  She attends a sewing class every 2nd Tuesday.

Aside from the reports, I have an update on Melissa's high school plan:

If Lis was in high school here, the last 4 years of school are structured so that they study for 2 years for a GCSE qualification (usually in 10 subjects/classes) and then 2 years study for A levels (1st year AS, 2nd year A2, anywhere from 2-5 classes over the 2 years, most often just 3!)  This is for years/grades 10-13, she would currently be in year 10 for school here, which is equiv US 9th grade.

Using BJ homesat is soooooooo different to standard UK education, but it's been excellent for us (in the standard of education, the christian content and the interesting format), especially as we have had to adjust from an NZ system, to Australian, to UK...you just aren't too bothered by the "norm".  One major difference though is that the UK system has one full year more formal schooling than the US/NZ/Aust systems (to reach the same standard for university - it's just more spread out), which means that if we continue with BJU all the way then Lis would be graduating a year ahead of her friends the same age..no biggie in practical terms though.

We think that the system of going from 10 classes down to so few is a little crazy..kind of like a splatter gun approach for 2 years with hardly any depth and then a huge jump. It seems like an expensive waste of time, and the depth is barely past  a decent 9th grade curriculum. So every time someone has asked if our kids will take GCSE's we have said no, and they think that our kids will be scarred for life.  I had looked around online for A level courses, and could only find those with prerequisites of 6 GCSE passes.  Last month though I found an online programme that allows for taking A levels without GCSE's!!!!!!!!  This is huge! 

Lis is currently half way through BJU homesat 10th grade at age nearly 15.  So because of her younger age (she skipped a year) we will have her also complete 11th grade with BJU - even though it's approx the same standard as first year A levels.  She will then study via this online course for 5 A levels.  This is considered a large amount, but she will take Biology for one of them, and that material is almost the same as BJU 10th grade Biology, so a large portion should just be review!  She will graduate at the same time as her friends in school, achieve some qualifications, and some of the courses look great.

You may be exhausted after reading all of this, but you certainly can't complain that it's lacking in detail!  I'll be back sometime in the next few days with pictures of our new home