Thursday, February 5, 2009

Thankful for CVA

We've been waiting....a long time. The time has finally come and we're thrilled. Or better yet, Mika is thrilled.

It can take For.Ev.Er. for community based instructors (CBI) to get all of their paperwork properly submitted for approval to our virtual academy, Columbia Virtual Academy. I'm not sure why it is so hard. I've seen the paperwork and it seems straight forward to me. We've been waiting about three months for one CBI to get approved for Mka and the day has finally arrived.

Open Arts Studio is a local art studio teaching classes in the fine arts, including clay, drawing, piano, guitar, and voice. Mika has been wanting to learn to draw. I started to teach her this year but it didn't last long. It's not on the top of my list for things to get done for school. Nor do I know how to teach art techniques at a child's level. So, I looked into classes, found them, and urged the studio to get approved with CVA. We just can't afford the classes otherwise. Now that they are approved, I can enroll Mika. Her first class will be February 18th.

Session 4, she'll be enrolled in homeschool drawing. Our goal is for her to begin a foundation in drawing techniques and learn to see...as in the way an artist sees. The class runs from 11:00am to 12:30pm. I'll have to figure out something to do with the boys for that hour and a half as it really isn't worth going home nor is the weather nice enough (consistently) for us to hit a nearby park. Hmmm....

Session 5, she'll be enrolled in a class called Draw, Write, and Be Published. This is the class she REALLY wants to take but we decided that since we have two sessions left, she could get some beginning drawing instruction in before taking this class. What is so neat with this class is that the kids write a story (something Mika loves to do), illustrate the story, and then the studio sends it in to be published into a real book. The final result looks just like any other picture book you'd check out at the library or purchase. She's excited about that one. Hopefully, she can keep her story short enough to fit into their perameters as I'm sure they aren't looking for a chapter book-length story.

There are some days that I am really thankful that we found (were told about) Columbia Virtual Academy. Today is one of those days. They just paid for Sammy's taekwondo lessons for the months of September through January. Tomorrow, I will be mailing them an order for next year's (it was originally planned for next year at any rate) math and language arts curriculum for Sammy as he'll soon be finished and needs something to do for the rest of the school year. Included in that order are more Mindbenders books for both kids; they love these deductive thinking skills puzzles. Finally, there's an order for more language arts for Mika.

All together...the art classes, the taekwondo, the curriculum...accounts for over $800 in school expenses that I don't have to pay myself. Being able to provide my kids with excellent curriculum of my choice and wonderful enrichment classes is definitely something I am thankful for.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Oh, I need to employ an editor. reading that back it could be interpreted that:
*** I am the man that threw the girl off the bridge- for clarification- I am not.

JoAnn said...

Benji, I deleted your first post because I could not edit out your email per your request. It was either all or nothing.

BTW, I didn't think you were the man who threw the girl off the bridge. I understood it.

The Four Week Vegan said...

I'm glad CVA is working so well for you and your family. Whatever makes your homeschool run in the best possible way is a good thing.

Suswan said...

I can't wait to read Mika's book!

Anonymous said...

no worries joanne.

I hope you are all praying for us over there.

I funnily enough grew up in the region where our fires were a death trap on saturday, and many of my friends families have lost all they have.

I just so didnt want this to happen to my beautiful country, state and friends.

I was so worried when we were put on high alert the day before.

I feel the alert in itself may have encouraged idiots with stoopid ideas though. in many ways such dire public alerts can serve as more of a detriment than they are perhaps worth.

You should see all the support we are giving one another. it is amazing how us aussies band together.

i dare say you all felt the same way back in 2001. :)

god bless. xo