WE LOVE OUR SCHOOL AT HOME!!

Really, we do!  My son tells everyone how much he loves his school.
He has even said that he wants to stay in TECCA and not go to a brick & mortar school.

This makes me happy.  For three reasons.

1.  We made a great decision, obviously.
2.  He REALLY enjoys it!
3.  I get to continue a life at home with my family.

I'm glad it's more than my husband and I making a decision for him.  He also has his voice heard about his education choices.

What is TEC Connections Academy?  First, Connections Academy is a FREE virtual K-12 public school option.  TEC of Connections Academy is the Commonwealth of Massachusetts branch for Connections.  Connections Academy is nationwide.  You can visit their site to find one in your state.

Because TECCA is public charter school, it's FREE!  You receive all of your school materials, such as textbooks, workbooks and subject kits (Science, Art and Math kits) in the mail free of charge.  The school pays for the shipping.  Depending on the grade, up to 80% of the classes are online.  If you don't have a computer, the school can lend you one to use for school purposes.  That's free too!  But the computer is just a loaner for school purposes.

The school also has a superintendent, principal, councilors, and teachers.  They are all state certified,

Adam Goldberg, TECCA Superintendent

so they are official teachers that instruct your child's class.  The curriculum follows the state standards since the Massachusetts Board of Education is the district that governs the school.

The superintendent for TECCA is Adam Goldberg.  He is great!  Very passionate for TECCA and the success of the students and families.

Just because the school is virtual does not mean it lacks what a traditional brick and mortar school provides.  They have clubs for students to join, frequent field trips, prom, graduation, yearbook, school newspaper, assemblies, field days, and interactive class time.  Those are called LiveLessons.
Daily, your child would log on to the portal to see and interact with their teachers and peers.

If you would like more information on Connections Academy or specifically TECCA please click the links provided.  You can also ask me any questions you may have.  Leave a comment below!

Unitl then,

Kdot Out!

Look what I got in the mail today.  Assured!

So, back in 2014 I decided to join Motor Club of America (MCA) as club member. 

One evening I had a frightening incident while making an errand to get some items to complete my husband's work lunch (dinner, whatever you want to call it!  He worked the overnight shift).  As I was pulling into the parking lot of our local Cumberland Farms, my tiny Lexus made an abrupt stop with a loud noise.  I thought I had hit something but knew nothing was in front of me.  So I tried to back up and that loud noise was there again and my car barely moved.  I get out to see what was happening and my front right tire was completely off the axle!

Just imagine for a moment if I was on the highway!  The danger!  With my kids!

Fortunately, it was just me and not with my child.  Thankfully, I didn't take the highway route to

Main St.

Anywho, the Lex needed to be towed.  I was in one town and my mechanic was in the next town over.  Not too far from each other but enough for me to realize that my current motor club didn't cover the mileage to get there.  That certain motor club has the same special vowel three times.
It frustrated me that even though I paid a premium, I still had to pay extra $$ because it went over 3 miles. 

It's funny that a week later, my brother in law posted a Facebook status about this alternative motor club he had just signed up for.  Of course I looked into and feel for it hard!


This motor club, MCA, offered way more than what I was previously signed up for. 

UNLIMITED 100 mile towing was the major deal for me.  (No more 3 to 4 uses a year for this gal!)
Bail Bonds?!?!  Are you serious?!  Lawyer Fees?!?  Stop!  Just stop.  Where they do that at?

Theses are some of the things that caught my attention.  So I signed up!

Felt safe ever since!  Used them a couple times more after that.  I wish I would have taped my experiences. 

The last experience was when we bought a nicely used Cadillac Escalade from the next state over.  About 60 miles away from our home.  One morning it would not start.  We were still under warranty so it needed to be towed back to the dealer.  Our lovely UNLIMITED 100 MILE TOWING plan came to our home, asked where it needed to go, we signed, and it was off to the dealer 60 MILES away.  NO HASSLE!

Thank The Most High for showing us Motor Club of America.  It has saved us some worry.

Education has always been important to me. 

I knew right away when I learned I was carrying my first child, that he was going to do school at home. 

I remember when I was a teenager, I was homeschooled for a series.  That was the best part of my secondary school years.  I promised myself that when I have children, I will dedicate my time into their education and not leave it up to the system.

Am I against the system?  Maybe.  For my own children I am.  But I don't criticize or have an opinion on those that choose to place their kids in brick and mortar schools.  That is your choice.  My choice has of no factor to what you choose to do.  We are not the same and everyone lives according to what works for them.  No issues there.

Luckily, times have changed since I was in school.  The world wide web and communication via the sources has greatly improved.

I started Diggy's education at birth.  I never did the "baby talk".  I spoke clear words and allowed him to see and hear me use my tongue and sounds to communicate.  He started practicing early with sounds of the tongue.  His coos would have a /g/ and /l/ sound.  He even had some vowel sounds, mainly short a.  He would make sounds like "laga" "I-gl" and said "us" often.  This is at 1-3 months.
He would always watch the mouth and tongue when he was spoken to.

As he developed, his learning got more advanced.  I played classical music often during play and lunch time.  It is said this aids in brain stimulation.  Our house was full of blocks.  I think this contributes to his love of math.  I read to him every night.  He had certain books that were his favorite and became familiar with them.  He would try certain sounds to words he would remember in the books as I read them, like "yum" "boom" "pow" for example.  This was at 5-9 months.  He was practicing two syllable words by his first birthday. 

Because of efforts on his development, I needed to keep going.  I couldn't stop being the main source of his academic achievements.  By 2.5 years old, we started ABCMouse.com.  At this point, he was pretty tech savvy already.  This is their generation, and holding him back from technology was not what his father and I thought we should do.  He did well in the program for a few years.




Severely sick with pregnancy hyperemesis but a mom gotta keep going.

We did try brick and mortar school for him.  We signed him up for preschool.
In our opinion, it was a fail.  He seem to not learn much to advance his education.  Everyday he said they played often, did a craft, and had a couple of stories read.  When he was home with me, I was teaching site words and sounds, practiced his pencil grip for straight lines and circles, introduction to math, and science about different plants, animals, and parts of the world.  We withdrew him and I went back to being his primary learning coach.

I don't blame anyone for what I believe was a lack at the preschool.  They have many students at different levels and but so many educators.  They do what they have to do to get kids along.  It just wasn't the placement we thought for Diggy.  He also was happy to be back home for learning. 

When time came for him to get started for Kindergarten, I didn't want to enroll at a brick and mortar but I was also on the fence of  'freelance' homeschooling.  Freelance homeschooling is when the parents freely decide what they teach for subjects at home.  I needed to have a more structured curriculum like ABCMouse. 

I knew about K12.  I was a learning coach for my nephew when my sister (who works like 70 hours a week at her job) signed him up in the previous year.  What we didn't like was that it was the same district teachers that were in the town's brick and mortar schools.  My nephew had advanced academic development as well and was placed in K12 to match his level.   Conflicts with these teachers caused him to be withdrawn from the school. 

Thankfully, I saw a commercial on TV about Connections Academy.  Oh boy was I excited and eager to learn more about this opportunity.  Connections Academy is a public charter school done at home.  I immediately told my sister in law, who had the same views about our public school system.  We both have been happily assisting our children's academic success through this school.  Our kids are happy, we are happy. 

To learn more on our journey and experiences, follow my TEC Connections Academy (TECCA)  entries or you can see some things we do on our YouTube channel, The KdotCarterHabit.

Until then,

Kdot Out!