Homeschooling update: charter school

Over the summer, I tried to get Nate enrolled in a charter school. We would still have been homeschooling, but with the charter school enrollment, I would meet once a month with a teacher and show her the work we were doing. She would sign off on each subject area and attendance. This would mean I wouldn't have to file an affidavit with the state saying we are our own private school in our home, since Nate would technically be enrolled in a school. It would also mean we would be able to use funds through the charter school to purchase curriculum and supplies and enroll in classes (like sports classes, music lessons, or other extracurriculars like this awesome one).

I chose a particular charter (Sky Mountain) because it was the most pro-parent, the most open to whatever style of teaching/learning the parents chose for their child.

But the application process got majorly stalled in July because of Nate's special ed history. There was lots of back and forth, with emails and calls to various people at the charter and also at our school district trying to get the appropriate proof that Nate no longer needs services. The school year start date came and went, and we didn't get enrolled, so I moved on to plain old homeschooling and planned to file the affidavit in October, figuring that, at best, we would have to wait until January for the charter.

Then at the end of September I got an intake interview phone call, then an enrollment meeting call the next day, and then I signed the enrollment paperwork the day after that! Woo hoo! So Nate is enrolled in Sky Mountain.

I really like our Education Specialist (ES), the teacher who meets with us once a month. She has good ideas and is totally on board with how we "do" school around here--some formal (textbooks, worksheets, curricula), some informal ("natural" learning through cooking/making recipes, talking about stuff in our regular day, etc.).

As for using those funds we are allocated, I've sifted through the huge approved vendor list and found several great things. Nate is most excited to do a sport (which he never asked to do until he saw Lucy do gymnastics); what I've found so far either doesn't work with our schedule (on Mondays when I'm working or on Wednesdays during AWANA) or will have to wait until January to start. BUT it's so nice to have all these possibilities opened up to us!