Hawaii

The following is a guest post from Jen for the 50 States feature at a glimpse of our life.

Hawaii is the 5oth state in the United States of American; it became a state on August 21, 1959.  Even though Hawaii is part of the United States of America, it has a very unique cultural and is very different from any other state in the country!

Hawaii is made up of a chain of 8 islands.  We love on Oahu (the most populated).  We have also visited The Big Island (The Island of Hawaii) and Kauai. 

50 State Facts

Hawaii has LOTS of things to see and do and it’s always warm!  It does rain sometimes, but rarely ever over the entire island (so there is always some place dry to go).  Rain is great because it brings us rainbows – you can see them often here!  That is why our license plates have rainbows on them!

Aloha is a Hawaiian word with many meanings.  It is most commonly used as a greeting – Hello or Goodbye.  It also means love and can be used to express compassion, regret or sympathy.

Some of our favorite activities to do and places to go on Oahu are:

Whale Watching

Waikiki Aquarium

Honolulu Zoo

Boogie Boarding

Bishop Museum

Living Art Marine Center

Snorkeling

Botanical Gardens

Geocaching

Waterfall Hiking

Tide Pooling

Polynesian Cultural Center

Laie Latter-Day Saint Temple

Getting Shave Ice in Haliewa

Pearl Harbor

Dolphin Quest

Sea Life Park

Water Park

Dole Plantation

to name a few…. 

There are also lots of great cultural events that happen around the island!

You can see all the great places we have gone on field trips and link up with your own field trips each week at our Field Trip Friday Blog Hop each week. 

Homeschooling in Hawaii is fairly easy.  First you must fill at an intent to homeschool form the year you decide to homeschool or the year your child will turn 6 years of age.  Then each year you must provide a progress report with work samples to the principal at the school your child would have attended if they were public schooled.  You must also take the standardized tests at the specified years. 

There are lots of homeschool support groups on the island, and even more if you are military.  There are even two Public Homeschooling Charters.  The first is Hawaii Tech Academy which uses a K12 curriculum, and the 2nd is Myron B. Thompson Academy which gives you a $1500 allotment to spend on approved curriculums and other homeschooling expenses. 

HYCO – Homeschoolers of Young Children, Oahu is a very active Facebook group that does lots of group trips all over the island.  We do at least 2-3 field trips a month with them, they are also hosting a science fair and art show, and there are sub groups for foreign language and music classes at reduced rates. 

MHEN – Military Home Educators Network is a very active group for military members on island.  They have PE classes, and other organized events and activities.

CHOH – Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii – has several smaller groups around the island.  They also host a yearly homeschoolers conference.

There several co-ops on the island as well as Classical Conversations.

Here are a few Hawaii printables I made to share:

Hawaii State Fact 3 part cards

Hawaii Foods 4 part cards

ALOHA!

Jen is a mother to 3 boys, and is in her second official year of homeschooling. She has a Master of Science in Early Childhood Education and worked with young children for many years before having her own. She likes to read, cook and get crafty. She is an Usborne Books Consultant and blogs at Chestnut Grove Academy.

This was our Christmas Video for 2012–Lots of great pictures to get a good idea of Hawaii life. (Though a few pictures are from our Alaska vacation last year).