Homeschool Connections

I just recently found out about this and it was very timely.   You know that I have been anxious about free-styling high school again after quite a long gap (actually it is only 2 years since my daughter graduated but she was so self-directed I was hardly doing anything by her senior year except support and sympathy and occasional advice). 

I was just reading Sandy's post The Truth about Mom which was a reflection on Sarah's post and ultimately from Angie's Principles of Happy Moms Who Home Educate.    Sandy wrote:

"Delegate out of humility."

Why is that so difficult for me?  I'm delegating in a big way this year, putting my kids in a two-day a week program that will cover all their core classes plus foreign language and then enrolling them in electives elsewhere.  I never, ever thought I would do that.  I resisted doing it for at least a year.  But I don't have any choice.  In the spring, I simply crashed.  I couldn't go any further.  I looked at my soon-to-be high schooler and realized I just couldn't do it again, not without help. So here we are.

Now my history is that for many years I didn't delegate.  Partly it was because I couldn't.   We have no co-ops in our area; in fact, hardly any homeschoolers; if we drove to distant areas, it takes huge pieces out of our day.  And because of Aidan's frail medical condition for many years, we couldn't really commit to much anyway because we never knew when our lives would get turned around.   And then, there was the economy -- not much spare change.   So partly it was because it wasn't easy to delegate, but part was, ahem, that I didn't want to give up control.  I have to recognize that aspect of it, too. 

But I realize now in retrospect that I was motivated to sign on with K12 because I was sooo tiiirred of doing it completely solo.   And I loved doing K12 last year; even though it wasn't precisely custom-designed to my ideal it was close enough to work; I plan to continue with Paddy at least through 4th grade; after that we'll see.  

It wasn't going to be a solution for Kieron in high school though.  It isn't Catholic, and in high school it gets more like a conventional high school experience with lots of intervention and "showing your work".   So I was feeling anxious about that, which brings me back to Homeschool Connections.   I had heard about their live courses, but they were out of our price range and anyway, I have a history of difficulty with getting onto the computer consistently at a set time.   I know, because I've participated in live book chats and in some of K12's live video courses, and I just have problems that way.

But I just found that you can subscribe to Homeschool Connections on a monthly basis for a much more economical rate ($1 for the first week; $30 a month after that), and use all the recorded classes.   This means no scheduled times, and that Kieron can hear the lectures without having to worry that the teacher might, gasp, call on him or something!  (When he's an upperclassman I can see enrolling him in a live class to get him more geared towards college work).   You can unsub easily, too, so you can theoretically be subbed just during the parts of the year where you need some extra input (September and February, maybe?) and then get off when you're doing all right on your own. 

I'm so happy about this right now.  It's Catholic, and classical, and geared to college prep.  I know and like several of the people who are involved in it, which is also a plus.   It fits right in as supplement and enrichment for what I have planned for Kieron.   He can do Logic, and Latin Boot Camp, and the Odyssey as the Soul of Pre-Socratic Wisdom, and SAT prep, and History Camp which helps you think about the presuppositions behind historical writing, and The Mass Explained, and it just goes on... all the things I would like to focus on with him but wasn't sure if I could pull off.   These classes won't be the core of our program, partly because Kieron is going to have to get used to the lecture format and partly because they are mostly set up as mini-courses lasting 4-7 weeks, but it will make a nice plus. 

I was listening to them myself yesterday, and it revived my lifetime-student craving which never quite goes away, but sometimes gets buried.    When you're subscribed, it's one price for the whole family, by the way, so theoretically I could have my college son listen to the adult course on career searches, etc.

This is the sort of thing that makes me love the internet.   Oh, I should do the standard disclaimer that I'm not connected with HC or getting money for this post or anything.    I'm just happy about what looks like an answer to prayer!  Subscribing has already paid off for me in this way though:  because I like the courses myself and am getting more inspired about this upcoming year because of that.    That "when Mama is happy" thing again.