This is an article I found from the Home School Defense Association
providing a legal analysis of the homeschooling laws in Alabama.
AlabamaCompulsory Attendance Ages: "between the ages of 7 and 16"
(Alabama Code 16-28-3).Required Days of Instruction: 175 days
(Public Schools only)Church School Option for Homeschools: Home
schools qualify as church "schools"...operated as a ministry of a
local church, group of churches, denomination, and/or association of
churches on a nonprofit basis which do not receive any state or
federal funding (Alabama Code 16-28-1(2)). Every child attending a
church school is exempt fromt he requirements of this (compulsory
attendance) section provided the child complies with the procedures
in 16-28-7 (parent or guardian reporint attendance in church
school); see (a) below (Alabama Code 16-28-3). A church could
establish different church schools within each home. Also, under
this option, some homeschoolers enroll their children in an existing
church school but teach them at home. (a) "The enrollment and
attendance of a child in a church school must be filed with the
local public school superintendent by the parent...on a form
provided by the superintendent...which shall be countersigned by the
administrator of the church school." (Alabama Code 16-28-7). (No
requirement to file annually. Only need to file this form once at
initial enrollment in church school). (b) The principal teacher of
the church school must keep an attendance register for each day of
the school year (Alabama Code 16-28-8). (c) A church school must
offer grades K-12 or any combination thereof (16-28-1(2)). (d) If
the local school district believes a family is not in compliance
with the law, it must give the family 3 days written notice (16-28-
16) prior to instituting criminal charges. (e) According to Alabama
Attorney General's opinion dated January 3, 1997, "Other than the
state laws requiring parents to report attendance and for church
schools to report if a student is no longer in attendance at such a
church school, there is no provision of Alabama law that permits or
requires any state or local authority to regulate a church school."
Basically what all this means is, as a parent, you are required to
send in the Church School Enrollment Form and the Attendance
Reports. Thereis no requirement to teach for any specific number
of days, or any specific courses and there is no requirement for
church schools to be accreditated.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Making the Grade
The following is N's grades for the first 2 weeks. I'm going to be working even harder to bring up his History & Language grades. I'm not sure why he's having such a hard time in History this year. Language I understand ... plagiarism/sourcing really messed his overall grade up. I'm still very proud of his A-B average!
Thursday, August 14, 2008
The Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty
The Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt in 1978 led to a negotiated peace between the two nations. Signed in Washington, DC on March 26, 1979, the first between Israel and any of its Arab neighbors. Israel had a consistency policy since its founding in 1948 that called for direct, one-to-one negotiations as a method of resolving disputes with the Arab countries, but until Sadat brought Egypt to the table, no Arab country had been willing to talk to Israel!
Sadat and Begin shared in 1978 Nobel Peace Prize for their historic agreements. However, the initiative was far from universally popular in other Arab countries or even Sadat's own country, Egypt! Other Arab nations, and especially the Palestinians, saw Egypt's agreement with Israel as a stab in the back, leaving them weaker and with less bargaining leverage with Israel. Without Egypt, the, "United Arab Front" had not credibility. Sadat became isolated in the Arab world which led to his assassination in 1981.
my review on the supreme court
the supreme court
The supreme court is the highest court in america. it has a chief justice or head judge as well as eight assosciate judges.All the justices are appointed by the president and approved by the senate. the justices will serve for life unless they decide to retire.There job is to interpret the laws that are passed by congress.
Ever since our government was established, more than a hundred justices have served on the court, in fact until recently, all of them were men. Sandra Day O'connor was the very first woman to be called to the supreme court. She was appointed in 1981. Ruth Blader Ginsburg was choosen in 1983 as the second woman seated in supreme court.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Desert Plants
I'm learning about derert plants in Science. I'm going to write about my favorite ones & add photos to show their beauty.
The Saguaro often begins life in the shelter of a nurse tree or shrub. The Saguaro grows slowly, about an inch a year, but they grow to a great height, 15 to 50 feet! 
The Arizona Poppy's stems and leafs are hairy. Hairs can be white or yellowish. Elliptical leaves are one-third to an inch long and grow in pairs of four to ten per stem! The Arizona Poppy is common to flat, sandy grasslands from sea-level to 6,000 feet.
Cave Primrose's are perennial. The leaves are 3/4-8 long. From the basal cluster of the leaves a 2-11" long leafless, flowering stalk arises and bears a cluster of flowers.
Dogbane have thin reddish stems, they arise from the ground in spindly clusters to three feet tall. When cut or broken, the stems ooze a milky latex, similar to the milkweed family. Leaves arise either opposite or whorled pattern.Tuesday, August 12, 2008
computers & more 2............yes theres a sequal
this one took longer about an hour longer because i had export the frames individually as jpg's and import them into wmm and add them in backward and this is the result. i call it "use the force!"
North America Report
I'm focusing on Alabama since I live here.
Some people believe that Spanish explorers arrived on the Mobile Bay in 1519, and that the land was visited by Hernando De Soto in 1540. The first European settlement was founded by the French at Fort Luis de la Mobile in 1702. In 1763 British gained control of the area by the Treaty of Paris but had to cede almost all the Alabama region to the U.S and Spain after the American Revolution. The Confederacy was founded at Montgomery in February 1861, and, for a time was the Confederacy’s capital.
During the later 19th century, the economic of the state improved with industrialization. At the Tuskegee Institute, founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington, Dr. George Washington Carver carried out his famous agricultural research.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, Alabama was the site of such landmark Civil Rights Actions, as the bus boycott in Montgomery and the “Freedom March” from Selma to Montgomery.
Today paper, chemicals, rubber and plastics, apparel and textiles, primary metals and automobile manufacturing constitute the leading industries of America. Continuing as a major manufacturer of coal, iron and steel, Birmingham is also noted for its world renowned medical center. The state ranks high in the production of poultry, soybeans, milk, vegetables, livestock, wheat, cattle, cotton, peanuts, fruits, hogs and corn.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Computers & More
This is my new computer video that I put together & loaded it up to youtube. I call it Sith/Jedi training. This is 798 frames that I had to edit. I had to use a program called LS maker to add the light saber & blast effects. It took me about 2-3 hours just to edit this 27 second clip.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Homeschoolers warned to stay vigilant
A constitutional lawyer and author says the major victory for homeschooling families in California yesterday would not have been possible without the combined effort of conservative Christian legal and public policy groups.
The California Court of Appeal ruled Friday that the California Education Code allows parents to homeschool their children, reversing its original decision on the matter. The ruling means that parents do not have to obtain state credentials to teach their kids at home.
Mike Farris, chairman of Home School Legal Defense Association, says in its original decision the court was operating without any information about the current state of the law or practice of homeschooling.
"When homeschool advocacy that HSLDA does was joined with other family policy advocacy like Alliance Defense Fund, Liberty Counsel, Pacific Justice Institute, and a lot of other groups – Focus on the Family helped out, a whole team of people came to the defense of homeschooling. And with that new information the court was compelled by what was put forward that law really has changed in the last 50 years, and that homeschooling should be recognized as being authorized by the statutes of California."
Farris says the California case is a reminder to homeschooling families and their allies to "remain vigilant" because as he puts it, "things can sneak up on you if you're not paying attention."
Friday, August 8, 2008
Freedom Friday
"Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip." – Will Rogers
Fridays are pretty much stressful but easy. We take test on everything we have learned throughout the week. I'm proud to say that our first week was very successful.
N~ ended the week with a 100% in math, 93% in history, 97% in Science, and a 91% in English. He's a smart one. He's upset about his English grade cause he missed the questions by not answering exactly as the computer had set up. Honestly he wasn't even close and the questions were so hard that I had to look up the information in the teachers guide. It was on how to reference plagerism.
A~ this child is like a sponge. She picks everything up so quickly & then runs away with the knowledge. She has a 100% so far for every subject except Math. Math is her worst subject ... 96%. I wish that would have been my lowest grade growing up.
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
History
Elementary Theme pages Today daughter is leaning about international time zones and the vikings. The link above is a great place to go to find out all about the vikings. There are other great sites as well.
Son is learning about Galileo also see more --> Galileo today. Some interesting facts that I had forgotten about.
Things I learned about Galileo ~ N
"Galileo was born in 1564 and he began studying medicine at the University of Pisa. He dropped out for mathematics with Ostilio Ricci in the year 1592. In this year he obtained the Chair of Mathematics in Padua, he then set to work on the inclined plane and the pendulum."
For home ec the kids made turkey taco salad. It was actually very good.
1 pound ground turkey, salt, pepper, chili powder to taste, can of stewed tomatoes,1/2 onion chopped, a cup of lettuce per person, 1/2 oz cheese per person.
Saute the onion, add the ground turkey. Drain turkey when browned. Add spices to the meat ... top salad with meat mixture, add your serving of cheese to the top. Your done. This takes about 15 minutes to make.
Camera died on me before I could get a pic of the completed project, but it was beautiful.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Off with a Bang
Today was the first day of school. We did a little of this or that over the summer but since hubby was retiring we really took it easy & enjoyed the time with him.
Today son started a new program ... Switched on Schoolhouse otherwise known as (from here on out) SOS. It took a minute or two to get adjusted to the new program but once he got the hang of it, there was no stopping him. He learned a little about the meaning of history, historians, what a jack of all trades is. He did a recap of math from last year. He ended up breezing right through it ... he takes after me in the math department. =D He loves Science, but not when he has to actually study the terms used. I have to get him to understand that while it may not be as fun as experiments, it's just as important to know what the words mean and how to use them correctly in a sentence.
Now daughter is using the same curriculum as last year so she already knew what to expect ... or did she. This year I'm having her write not only with an ink pen but only in cursive. It's taking her a bit longer to write this way but before long she will be zooming through everything.
Final grades for the day ... I'm so proud of them. Daughter ended her day with perfect marks. Son, 100% in math which was a no brainer, 94 in Science ... he missed one answer so he had to go back & redo it, everytime he retries an answer he loses points ... same thing happened with his History. He actually got the definition right but the wording wasn't exactly as the book showed. Language he is very good at; he received perfect marks.
Later in the day we sis home economics. We have already covered measurement, stove safety, & utensils last year so today they will be going right into baking ... what are they baking? Peanut Butter cookies from scratch. This was interesting! Cookies came out a little brown but that didn't keep them from eating them. Of course they had to have milk ...
Recipe for Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients
DIRECTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla one at a time. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Press each ball once with fork tines.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.
Freebie ... math worksheet for grade 7. If you would like to print it out you will have to copy it into a source then print it out.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
2008-09 Course Description
ENGLISH
The seventh grade English curriculum includes units that develop skills in reading comprehension, writing, listening, thinking, and speaking. The study of literature includes novels, short stories, plays, poetry, and mythology. Literature units sharpen student thinking skills, increase knowledge, and deepen one’s understanding of human issues and social values. In grammar, emphasis is on knowing how to identify and properly use the eight parts of speech. Writing is an essential part of the literature unit. Students will learn how to write clear, concise sentences and paragraphs. Compositions will include writing stories, using dialogues, writing newspaper articles, and writing to show comparisons and descriptions. Creative writing is also part of the poetry unit. There is a strong emphasis on interpersonal communication skills, asking students to listen with an open mind.
FAMILY and CONSUMER SCIENCE
During first trimester, students receive an introduction to Family and Consumer Science and its wide range of course areas. The students are exposed to child care, nutrition, cooking and laundry skills. Students also learn how to use the sewing machine and basic sewing techniques, and complete a sewing project.
MATH
The Switched on Schoolhouse curriculum is used to investigate topics of study such as variables, similarity, ratios, proportions, percents, comparisons, integers, rational numbers, linear relationships, probability, and three-dimensional measurement. This curriculum is centered around students investigating new topics and ideas in a group setting. Students work together first with new material and problem solve before the class summarizes what they have learned together. The focus is not on memorizing properties and formulas of math but rather on knowing the how and why behind mathematical concepts. The problems in the book always have a real-life context to make is applicable and relevant to students. Students also get a chance to work with graphing calculators and Microsoft Excel.
PHYSICAL EDUCATION 7
Units of activity include proper warm up, physical fitness, basketball, tumbling, hip hop dance, bowling, swimming, tennis, baseball, horse riding and gymnastics.
SCIENCELife science is the study of living things in the world around us. How these living things relate to each other and to their environment is an important part of this study. Life science is not simply a collection of facts, but also includes learning to think logically like scientists. Students will practice using some of the skills and tools of the life scientist. For example, students will learn how to use a microscope to observe and identify protozoan life in pond water.
This course introduces the basic concepts of the cell, including its structure and function, and organization. Living organisms, ranging from the simplest bacteria to complex animals, are surveyed in all five kingdoms. Environmental concerns and its protection are also examined. Course work includes hands-on activities, lectures, demonstrations, films, and independent projects.
SOCIAL STUDIES
The study of history furnishes a wealth of material that can help students learn to appreciate the cultural diversity of the United States. Students will receive a broad view of the people and events that have contributed to the foundation of this country and the smooth operation of our system of democracy.
Our first and second trimesters on history will focus on the systematic study of the cause and effects of human action on our past and present. Emphasis will show how historical facts may be arranged, analyzed, and used in preparing historical accounts. Our period of history that we will concentrate on will be Post-American Revolutionary War, 1776, to reconstruct after the Civil War, 1865.
Our third trimester is devoted to economics. Economics is the study of how individuals and nations make choices about how to use scarce resources to fulfill their wants. We will study how to make wise choices with our limited resources. Also, we will study supply and demand, factors of production, economic systems throughout the world, our market economy, advertising, business structures in our system, the stock market, business cycles, money and banking, and careers in economics.
COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
This course provides students the opportunity to become familiar with and explore a variety of computer applications. Basic touch keyboarding instruction is provided early in the course followed by applications using the Microsoft Office Suite ®. Students will learn to use the computer as a problem-solving tool to complete a variety of projects. In addition, students will have an opportunity to demonstrate an understanding of computer concepts through integration of their computer knowledge by composing and producing documents for other classes.
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