Home Schooling for Anna? Believe it or not, yes!

We have now joined the ranks of home schooling . . . but with a caveat. It's only for the last three weeks of the year.

For her first two years of school, Anna has been going to Veritas Academy in South Bend. This is a charter school run by Ball State University. The words "charter school" to my Democrat and union family members is clearly a sign of the end times. Mention the word "voucher" and that will really send them over the edge.

Anna has had two very good years there. She's had excellent teachers, and that truly makes all the difference. This year, she has developed a major love for science, due to the teacher she has had. She has learned a lot and developed a great foundation. Plus, she's been allowed to be a kid.

But, on the administrative level, things at the school have not been so rosy. Last summer, the headmaster who founded the school was dismissed when it was discovered he had been misappropriating funds. In addition, teachers were not getting paid. His successor was only here for the first few months of the year. They next hired someone who I don't believe has an adminstrator's license in Indiana. The school board is one of those entitities that invites feedback but gets ticked off if it ain't what they want to hear.

Then there was the incident a couple weeks ago with one of Anna's fellow 1st-graders. For gym class, they all load up in vans and head down the street to a church gymnasium. One of the 1st grade students had gone to the bathroom at the church. Those in charge of getting the students back to the school (they are in assigned vans) did not notice she was not there and returned to the school. It took them a while to notice their mistake. In fact, when Anna got to the church for her gym session, the girl was still there.

Uh, this is not good. Obviously, this put a lot of parents in an uproar. It very easily could have been Anna. You just can't make these kinds of mistakes with kids. Plus, of course, it's a clear violation of the No Child Left Behind law (chuckle, chuckle). So, Anna is out of there. Her "grammy" will watch her for the last few weeks, and we've bought some schooling materials to keep her busy throughout the day. We're not 100% sure where Anna will be going to school next year, but it won't be at Veritas.

Home schooling is not exactly the most regulated thing. To let the state know you are home schooling, we basically had to submit an online form with our name and address, that's it. So, whether you are taking trips to the museums in Chicago to just watching Scooby Doo videos, there won't be anyone checking up on you.