Children Update

So...as I try to catch this blog up on what we have been doing  - I'll just give an update on the kids. Jack is now 13...another teenager in the house! Jack loves history and will be starting highschool next year. We had been debating the public school option, because, at least here in VA, if you don't start the child in 9th grade, but start them later, they end up being started as 9th graders, regardless of what proof you bring in with you that they have completed certain classes.

Our options were to send him to the highschool whose district we are in, but it is a high school not well known for its academic program. Or I could drive him to a different high school in our county without paying tuition, but that is 1/2 drive each way...so 2 hours in the car each day and still trying to homeschool Katrina and get everything else done. Or we could go the online classes route, but where we live, we don't have broadband, so right now that's not really working for us. Or we could go with Community College. Right now, we are looking towards keeping him home and teaching him here and when he turns 14 getting him signed up at the Community College for things like Geometry, Chemistry and such. We just weren't real happy with our public school options as we examined them. Jack enjoys studying history, is struggling a bit with algebra, finds science interesting and has made leaps and bounds with his knowledge of grammar and his handwriting this year. Jack has never been particularly good at handwriting (neither are his dad or one of his older brothers), so we went the learn how to type route. But now, he is learning cursive and is doing pretty well with it. I don't think that in another five years, anyone will know whether he learned it in 3rd grade or 8th. Another one of those wonderful advantages of homeschooling! Jack is active in our church youth group and is still taking piano lessons. He enjoys playing for church services. He prefers listening to audio books as opposed to reading them and has just finished the Lord of the Rings books and is now starting Eragon. He also enjoys Awanas.

Katrina is our extra creative child. She will be 10 in April and is dreading it because she doesn't want to get her 10 year booster!  She is always trying to figure out ways to start a business and make money. This past Christmas she received a BubbleGum Machine with the words 'Kat's Kandies' on it and we placed it in the local beauty shop. After two weeks, she had made 14.50 and was positively thrilled!  She also has just started her own blog recently here at HSB. She likes writing, reading, singing, and acting in plays she creates. She also loves animals. She loves reading about them and we have several pets, pretty much because of her. She is in 4th grade this year and she doesn't like history and she isn't crazy about grammar. She likes to write, she just doesn't want to worry about the rules. I am hoping this will get better as she matures. She is currently club secretary of our 4-H group and she enjoys going to Awanas. She is very social and would like every day to be a have a friend over day, but because we are a bit off the beaten path, that isn't always possible.