Day 44

One more day before my first quarterly is due in.  Thankfully my school district is fairly easy going.  I'm not worried about it, and I may even do it during the day tomorrow.  I basically take last year's first quarterly report and keep the format, changing the info as needed.

According to the HSLDA web site:

"Required Days of Instruction: The substantial equivalent of 180 days. 900 hours per year for grades 1-6; 990 hours per year for grades 7-12. Required Subjects: (grades K through 12): patriotism and citizenship, about substance abuse, traffic safety, fire safety; (grades 1 through 6): arithmetic, reading, spelling, writing, English, geography, United States history, science, health, music, visual arts, and physical education; (grades 7 and 8): English, history and geography, science, mathematics, physical education, health, art, music, practical arts, and library skills; (at least once in first 8 grades): United States and New York history and constitutions; (grades 9 through 12): 4 credits English, 4 credits of social studies—including American history, participation in government, and economics—2 credits of math, 2 credits of science, 1 credit of art or music, .5 credit of health, 2 credits of physical education, and 3 credits of electives. N.Y. Educ. Law §§ 801, 804, 806, 808, 3204. "

This seems very loose, and it is.  This is NY State law, and it's what we follow.  Hence the fact that I'm sending my quarterly after 45 days.  I can't count the hours, because I wouldn't know what to count.  Do I count listening to an audio CD in the car?  Probably.  Do I count discussing nutrition and labelling in a food store?  Sure, but how long does that count for?  Who can say?  What are they learning by observing when I don't know?  Are they really learning when I think they are?  I also frequently make the mistake of not counting the preparation time.  This is supposed to be counted in the total number of hours as well.  I tried counting the hours when the kids were in kindergarten, and stopped half-way through because we were already close to 900.  So, I'll count the days and go with that. 

Today was light, and it was really quite nice.  We had the morning off, and played tennis in the surprisingly nice sun, then had Numeracy Club.  Even with the morning at home, lessons didn't get finished until the evening because everyone had projects they wanted to work on, and we also watched Assignment: the World.  I like the way they always draw them back in with a story they know kids will enjoy.  Today they talked about Wallabys.  We'll work on the three clues they give for next week, and maybe we'll actually be able to guess what the stories will be if we get to it, but for now, it's enough to work out the clues and see that we got them right.  One thing at a time!

All in all, a decent day!