Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Texas Virtual Academy

Well, it seems that it is definitely time to change the title of this blog site. Now that J is part of the Texas Virtual Academy (TXVA) powered by K-12 Online, her days are filled with meaningful and efficient assignments. I must admit that it's not NEARLY as fun and as engaging as our own Integrated Project-Based Homeschool Approach. But after nearing the end of our first major "project," I found myself wondering, "What's next?" That's when we received the call at the end of January informing us that J was off of their waitlist and could join their program, which includes field trips, on-line clubs with live virtual meetings, and live on-line math and language arts lessons each week.

I was also concerned about the gaps that could occur in various subjects as we pursued J's interest-based learning program. It turns out that much of what she is doing with TXVA is quite interesting and relevant to her, particularly the literature that she is reading. Within the next two weeks, she will begin a literature unit of her choosing. TXVA offers her about 15 different novels from which to choose, with complete on-line lessons available for each novel. She chose Jack London's "White Fang" (can't underline with this blog site), which is no surprise to anyone who knows her.

Her most interesting academic discovery is Shakespeare! TXVA sent her an abridged version of "Twelfth Night." She fell in love with the language and humor! What an amazing 12-year old we have!