The weekend is upon us and I almost forgot to post my music selection for the week. My playlist this time around is centered on the themes of believing, never giving up, and sticking together.

Today Scholar Owl and I went to the group portfolio review. It was an hour drive to get there and it went well. There were two certified teachers present that have worked in public schools and told me to give Scholar Owl credit for the work he did complete in his Algebra workbooks, not fail him for not completing the entire set.

They reminded me that entire point of homeschooling is to allow the student to work at their own pace for one and that most public schools only get through about a third of the textbook material so the fact that he got through half of that third at his own pace as a special needs student is pretty good. So he got a B- instead of an F. They also went over the high school transcript for me because I wanted to make sure I am setting that up correctly.

Basically, the lesson of the day is that Scholar Owl is doing alright. I just need to chill and not set the standards so high. I need to be meeting him where he is at and go from there. You can’t produce skill sets from nothing. You have to develop the building blocks for those skills first. And that takes time and practice. Lots of practice.

And of course my dad went on his speech later today about how my son won’t be able to get a job as a homeschool kid because he won’t have a high school diploma or a GED because my cousin’s kids were homeschooled and Walmart won’t hire them unless they get a GED and one of them has failed the GED exam twice now.

I don’t know what the deal is there. I have no idea what they’ve done or haven’t done. What I do know is that I read the state laws for homeschooling EVRY YEAR to make sure I’m not messing something up. I’ve got a paid membership with the Home Schoolers of Maine (HOME) which is the organization that the state government recommends. I need to renew my membership with the National Homeschool Legal Association which HOME strongly recommends all their members join. I’m following their guidelines and steps. They keep saying that homeschool students can have high school diplomas just like public school students and this is why the high school transcript is so important.

Dad tried to tell me this was bullshit. I don’t think he understands that the transcript IS the actual official proof of the diploma. He kept saying that it only mattered for college. So I will need to contact the people over at HOME to clarify this and see if they have any official documentation on it because this isn’t the first time Dad and I have gone the rounds on it. I wouldn’t have gone the route of home schooling if Scholar Owl wasn’t going to get a diploma. Why would any parent?

I just know this argument is getting very old.