Imperfect Genius

Hey! Surprise, I’m not dead! I’m still not 100% but I am starting to feel a little better. The biggest obstacle now is catching up on rest (it’s hard to sleep peacefully when you’re coughing your lungs out) and then catching up on all the stuff I was suppose to be doing the last ten days.

Along that line, I went out today to run my paperwork to the superintendent’s office. I know, I was a day late in getting the proof of progress turned in (it’s suppose to be submitted by August 1st) but that’s life. Anyways, I checked my mail on the way and there was a thick envelope from the school board office. Inside I found a list of approved correspondence schools and a letter dated July 31st from the Director of Instruction reminding me that I must provide notice this year if I intend to homeschool.

The letter goes on to say that I should complete the enclosed form and return it. I’ve heard that a lot of schools like to mail forms out, but under the law we are not required to use them. I always write my own notice because the school forms are often poorly worded or not up-to-date with the most current law. The odd thing about the letter is that it gives a deadline of September 1st for turning this in. This is weird because code of Virginia says this paperwork must be turned in by Aug 15th.

On the form there is a reminder about providing proof of progress and it says this must be provided by August 17th. Again, this doesn’t quite match up with what I’m familiar with, as the deadline has always been August 1st. I don’t understand the weird dates!

When I got to the school board office no one was around. I stood there for a moment before an older gentleman meandered down the hallway and asked if he could help me. I explained I needed to turn in some paperwork so he went to fetch someone for me. A few minutes later a janitor came out, said everyone else had gone home already, and offered to take my paperwork. Eek, I wasn’t feeling to comfortable about that!

Fortunately, before I had to make a decision, a man came swooping around the corner and introduced himself as the Director of Instruction and said in a big, happy voice, “Come with me, I’ll be glad to take care of this!” I followed him back to his office where he cleared a box of textbooks off a chair and offered me a seat beside him. He asked me how I felt our year had gone and then took my paperwork and looked through it.

He commented on Mehalje’s test scores and remarked that we must have worked very hard. I said, “Well, she’s a bright child, so we don’t have to work too hard, but she does like to be challenged.” He asked if she was reading yet and did she read a little bit each day and I responded that yes, she is reading very well and enjoys doing it everyday.

I had the envelope from the school in my hand so we talked about that for a few moments. I pointed out the change in the law to option four, which they had not taken into account on the form. Then we talked about correspondence schools. He was curious about why we didn’t use one so I explained they were cost prohibitive and also that we did not used a boxed curriculum because we weren’t sure what materials we would need that far in advance.

That lead to a brief description of child-led learning, although I did not use those words. I just stated that we took time to explore her interests and adapted our learning program to address her strengths and weaknesses. I explained this meant sometimes we’d come across a subject she’d want to cover extensively, while at other times she mastered a skill very quickly, so we didn’t want to invest in a set of materials she might not need six months from now.

In all it was a very pleasant twenty minute conversation! He asked lots of questions and was soooo interested in everything I said. A few times when I paused to find the right words he’d jump in and finish my thoughts. Most of the time we were on the same page, so that was nice. I think I recovered pretty well from being “pounced on” unexpectedly. I’m not sure if I’m the only homeschooler delivers paperwork in person or if he’s new at his job and trying to make sense of the homeschooling community, but it was definitely an interesting experience!

Last year when I went to turn in my paperwork I was giving it to the secretary when the superintendent came out and took an interest in me and scooped my paperwork up from her desk. If this pattern continues, next year I should be invited to a school board meeting, lol.