E-schooling Adventures

For those of you who don't know, I e-school my son from home.

It's somewhat different from homeschooling, as I do not create the curriculum or daily plan. I use the provided curriculum. Now, while my son does attend school at home and I do many of the things that a teacher does (oversee his work, score assessments, help him when he has questions, teach the lesson, etc.), e-schooling is not homeschooling.

Anyway, my son is an advanced reader. He is reading 120 words per minute, while the goal for his class is 60 words per minute by the end of first grade. In second grade, the child is expected to reach 105 words per minute. Carter is reading at a third-grade level.

In order to get Carter up to speed with his own reading level, his teacher suggested that we assess in literature and comprehension instead of going through each and every individual lesson (since it's things that he already knows). She wants us to be able to order second grade coursework before March (the deadline).

It seems simple enough, right? Well, literature and comprehension consist of reading, vocabulary, handwriting, and phonics. That means that we have to assess in all of those subjects and have them completed by the deadline. If we don't? Well, if we don't, that means that he'll be left with no literature & comprehension coursework from the provided curriculum for the rest of the year once it's completed.

I'm pretty stressed out over this. These assessments are long, especially in reading. It takes us an hour and a half to complete one reading assessment, and we're trying to complete two per day, plus two assessments in every other sub-category of literature and comprehension, and finally our "everyday" lessons, like math, science, and history.

What were once five and a half hour school days have turned into eight hours or more.

We're burnt out.

We'll get through it though. No worries. I'm just frazzled!