Thankful Thursday – April 23, 2009

First of all, I need to do a little housekeeping.  My daughter who has been known on my blog as Ga’hoole Girl will now be known as Rosie Girl.  Now, on to being thankful!

This week, I am particularly thankful for our school district.  This may seem rather strange since we homeschool, so I need to explain.  Rosie Girl had her first track meet today.  She is able to be on the track team because our school district has been accommodating toward her this year.  Next year, she won’t be able to do any sports because the high school sports are part of WIAA (the Wisconsin high school athletic organization) which states that students must be enrolled full-time to be able to participate in sports.  However, in our district’s middle school, the sports aren’t part of WIAA, so they have let her be on the track team.

We also had a very productive meeting earlier in the year with the principal of the middle school/high school (it’s a small district) about having Wild Man in band and Rosie Girl in a foods class next year.  He was happy to do what he can to facilitate their educational experiences within the school board guidelines.

Rosie Girl is going to be applying for jobs around town in the next couple of weeks and will probably need a work permit.  In researching the work permits, we found that kids can apply for them through the schools.  Mr. Math Tutor called the high school (he knows the guidance counselor since he did some of his educational observations there) and asked if they could do the work permit for Rosie Girl.  They told us the requirements and were happy to do it even though she is homeschooled.

I know that not every homeschooled family has a comfortable relationship with their local school district, but I am so thankful that ours has gone well.  We still don’t feel the need to put our kids in school for their entire educational experience, but we recognize that there are some things that we can’t provide well at home, particularly since we are in a small town.  I thank God often for the people He has put around us to help with our homeschooling effort.  (And, no, not every Thankful Thursday post will be about homeschooling – there is more to my life than this, but Rosie Girl’s track meet today made me think about this!)

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