Now to catch up....
Here we are. Third day in.
The first day came. (First, let me say, the kids have been begging to start school all summer long.) Everyone was excited. They dressed in their 'first day of school outfits', we took pictures, we had a yummy breakfast. All good.
School work. Still all good! I was amazed. I watched my 8yo son, who had been a terror all summer long, sit happily and work on his school work. Math. Grammar. Reading. Writing. It was all good. Smiles. Got it done quickly. We had a meeting that day with our Educational Specialist (ES - basically our teacher who holds our hand). Then out to lunch and an ice cream. Great day!
Day 2. Less motivation all around. We muddled through it. I'm still at the point where I'm having to flip through curriculum throughout the day. Going item by item trying to make sure I get everything done. Having a first grader is hard!! She has a LOT to learn this year. Reading being one of the most important. And she requires a lot of one on one attention. Which then leaves R alone to work (which works ok sometimes) and B is then harrassing everyone. This day resulted in crying at grammar.
So, here we are today.....
Day 3. Crying at grammar. Again. Thanks R. Break your mama's heart. He's basically begging me to not make him do grammar. "Can't I just skip it? I'm good at everything else!!" Exactly. He's bright. Like, really bright. And sure I'm his mama and I'm biased but seriously. He's pretty smart. So he's used to things being easy. And when they're not.... it's really hard for him. So that's where we are. Meanwhile, apparently D's supposed to sit down and write the numbers 1-70 every day??? And then pick a number and draw that many of something (circles, hearts, whatever). Ya. She was over that the very first day.
I don't know how we're going to do it. I mean. What's in this for all of us? Theoretically time together. Which could be nice, if it wasn't full of crying and frustration. I drive by their public school every time I leave the house. It taunts me with the possibility of days just filled with laughing at my silly B. Dropping my oldest lovelies off... and along with them, dropping off the responsibility of making sure they get a proper education.
Days like today, I'm not sure we're going to make it. But I'm stubborn. So I don't want to give up. I've heard stories of families loving homeschooling.... We could too, right? RIGHT???
*fingers crossed* for a better tomorrow....
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Where?
So. Homeschooling.
Yup. We're in it to win it. Or cry trying.
The where's of it. Obviously the majority of our learning takes place at home. I do have grand visions of weekly trips to the library and our local museums. We were supposed to go to the library on Monday. Haven't gotten there yet. But it's still on the list!!!
As for curriculum, we're enrolled with a local charter school. It's part of a branch of the Classical Academy. They have a pretty cool setup. Basically everything is handed to you. Day by day curriculum listed out. Plain. Simple. Should be easy enough right?
The kids will also be going to a 'Learning Center' once a week. There, they'll each take two kind of fun classes and then their whole history curriculum will be taken there. So, that's one thing off my plate. At least I know for sure, at the end of the year. They will definitely have learned some history. Baby steps.
So, since this is a charter school, we still answer to the state. That means regular state testing. State standards. Etc. I'm sure there's good and bad to that. But for our first year, it'll have to do.
Yup. We're in it to win it. Or cry trying.
The where's of it. Obviously the majority of our learning takes place at home. I do have grand visions of weekly trips to the library and our local museums. We were supposed to go to the library on Monday. Haven't gotten there yet. But it's still on the list!!!
As for curriculum, we're enrolled with a local charter school. It's part of a branch of the Classical Academy. They have a pretty cool setup. Basically everything is handed to you. Day by day curriculum listed out. Plain. Simple. Should be easy enough right?
The kids will also be going to a 'Learning Center' once a week. There, they'll each take two kind of fun classes and then their whole history curriculum will be taken there. So, that's one thing off my plate. At least I know for sure, at the end of the year. They will definitely have learned some history. Baby steps.
So, since this is a charter school, we still answer to the state. That means regular state testing. State standards. Etc. I'm sure there's good and bad to that. But for our first year, it'll have to do.
Welcome
Welcome to my world.
Once upon a time I had dream of working in a tall office building. Wearing amazing suits to work.... and basically trying to rule the world.
That has all changed.
Enter: my current life.
SAHM to three lovelies. R is 8. D will be 6 in a few weeks. And B will be 3 in a few weeks. After D joined our family, the hubs and I decided "wouldn't it be lovely to add just a bit of chaos to our picture perfect mom, dad, boy, girl, dog situation...." and along came B.
B.... she's awesome. She was the easiest baby ever. And the most difficult two year old of the bunch. She lies. On purpose. She thinks it's funny.... or thinks we'll believe her. Not really sure which. She's quirky and funny and awesome. But she definitely brought some chaos in with her.... which is what we wanted.... wasn't it?
So, here we are living our chaotic little life in a nice little suburb of Southern California. Things are going swell.... We live walking distance to a nice little public elementary school and R started there with kindergarten. He had an amazing teacher. Things were grand. First grade.... another amazing teacher. The kind you hope your child will have. Challenging, organized, fair, pleasant. Fantastic 1st grade year.
Then.... '10-'11 school year came. With it, R's 2nd grade teacher. Um. Not great. Disorganized, flightly... basically a hot mess. Minus the hot. D was lucky enough to get R's old kinder teacher and she was so, so happy. She loves school.... well, the social part of it at least... or she *did*.
So, the school year chugged along. I volunteered in D's class. Love her teacher. But noticed... not so great little girls in class. Justin Beiber obsessed. Talking about boyfriends. Nudging each other to 'mess up' on their work because one already had and they wanted 'to match'. Um. What?
I sat there and watched D kind of shrink into the background. She'd been so vibrant and friendly and engaging. And seeing her in that class.... broke my heart. The other girls were loud and bossy and D just quietly took it in all day. Then she came home -- and a monster was unleashed. All those pent up emotions came flooding out. She was moody and grumpy. Tired and irritable. Not a pretty picture.
Meanwhile, I couldn't bring myself to volunteer in R's class because.... well, I couldn't stand his teacher. The couple times I came in to help (like Dr. Seuss day, etc), I watched her waste my child's time. She and I met once because he hadn't completed an assignment due to being absent. It was about compass roses... I asked him about it. He told me all about it. I asked what he hadn't completed. She responded saying he hadn't colored it and she wanted him to stay in at recess to color his compass rose.... Um. What???!! So, you think you'll keep an 7yo boy in at recess and that'll be great for his learning.... to color? *sigh* Ya. Not a great scene.
At the end of the school year, I was standing around talking to a fellow mom who strangely had her eldest there with her. Uh, shouldn't that girl be in school? So, we were chatting and I found out she was being homeschooled. Oooooooh. I was intrigued.
See, homeschooling has always been on my heart. Not because I ever wanted to be a teacher. Because I'll be honest. I never have. That life plan would have interrupted with me ruling the world from my fancy office building in my designer suits. Nope. Never wanted to be a teacher. BUT. I have always wanted the best for my kids. I've thought about homeschooling ever since R was super little and we were living in a quiet little midwestern town with an awesome network of awesome families. Since we moved to our So Cal suburb, mainstream living has taken over and we nestled in near a decent little public school and our extended family and called it a day.
But, see, R's known about homeschooling... He hears about it from friends, he and I talked about it.... So, he'd beg me to homeschool him. I kept extolling to him the virtues of his public school: "oh, the friends" "oh, training for 'real life'" "real life isn't all about fun... there's *responsibility*" and on and on.
Finally. FINALLY. After last year, and specifically after meeting and talking to that awesome homeschooled girl, I felt I had to look into it. And so it began.
In reality, I didn't make the real and final decision to go through with homeschooling until the night before public school began. I went down, looked at the class lists. Saw R and D's names listed with their future classmates. Saw their teacher names. Saw their room numbers. Visualized their little desks with their names on them. Little cubbies for their backpacks. I turned to the kids and asked..... "Are you SURE you want to homeschool?" They both enthusiastically said "YES!!" and so it was.
Once upon a time I had dream of working in a tall office building. Wearing amazing suits to work.... and basically trying to rule the world.
That has all changed.
Enter: my current life.
SAHM to three lovelies. R is 8. D will be 6 in a few weeks. And B will be 3 in a few weeks. After D joined our family, the hubs and I decided "wouldn't it be lovely to add just a bit of chaos to our picture perfect mom, dad, boy, girl, dog situation...." and along came B.
B.... she's awesome. She was the easiest baby ever. And the most difficult two year old of the bunch. She lies. On purpose. She thinks it's funny.... or thinks we'll believe her. Not really sure which. She's quirky and funny and awesome. But she definitely brought some chaos in with her.... which is what we wanted.... wasn't it?
So, here we are living our chaotic little life in a nice little suburb of Southern California. Things are going swell.... We live walking distance to a nice little public elementary school and R started there with kindergarten. He had an amazing teacher. Things were grand. First grade.... another amazing teacher. The kind you hope your child will have. Challenging, organized, fair, pleasant. Fantastic 1st grade year.
Then.... '10-'11 school year came. With it, R's 2nd grade teacher. Um. Not great. Disorganized, flightly... basically a hot mess. Minus the hot. D was lucky enough to get R's old kinder teacher and she was so, so happy. She loves school.... well, the social part of it at least... or she *did*.
So, the school year chugged along. I volunteered in D's class. Love her teacher. But noticed... not so great little girls in class. Justin Beiber obsessed. Talking about boyfriends. Nudging each other to 'mess up' on their work because one already had and they wanted 'to match'. Um. What?
I sat there and watched D kind of shrink into the background. She'd been so vibrant and friendly and engaging. And seeing her in that class.... broke my heart. The other girls were loud and bossy and D just quietly took it in all day. Then she came home -- and a monster was unleashed. All those pent up emotions came flooding out. She was moody and grumpy. Tired and irritable. Not a pretty picture.
Meanwhile, I couldn't bring myself to volunteer in R's class because.... well, I couldn't stand his teacher. The couple times I came in to help (like Dr. Seuss day, etc), I watched her waste my child's time. She and I met once because he hadn't completed an assignment due to being absent. It was about compass roses... I asked him about it. He told me all about it. I asked what he hadn't completed. She responded saying he hadn't colored it and she wanted him to stay in at recess to color his compass rose.... Um. What???!! So, you think you'll keep an 7yo boy in at recess and that'll be great for his learning.... to color? *sigh* Ya. Not a great scene.
At the end of the school year, I was standing around talking to a fellow mom who strangely had her eldest there with her. Uh, shouldn't that girl be in school? So, we were chatting and I found out she was being homeschooled. Oooooooh. I was intrigued.
See, homeschooling has always been on my heart. Not because I ever wanted to be a teacher. Because I'll be honest. I never have. That life plan would have interrupted with me ruling the world from my fancy office building in my designer suits. Nope. Never wanted to be a teacher. BUT. I have always wanted the best for my kids. I've thought about homeschooling ever since R was super little and we were living in a quiet little midwestern town with an awesome network of awesome families. Since we moved to our So Cal suburb, mainstream living has taken over and we nestled in near a decent little public school and our extended family and called it a day.
But, see, R's known about homeschooling... He hears about it from friends, he and I talked about it.... So, he'd beg me to homeschool him. I kept extolling to him the virtues of his public school: "oh, the friends" "oh, training for 'real life'" "real life isn't all about fun... there's *responsibility*" and on and on.
Finally. FINALLY. After last year, and specifically after meeting and talking to that awesome homeschooled girl, I felt I had to look into it. And so it began.
In reality, I didn't make the real and final decision to go through with homeschooling until the night before public school began. I went down, looked at the class lists. Saw R and D's names listed with their future classmates. Saw their teacher names. Saw their room numbers. Visualized their little desks with their names on them. Little cubbies for their backpacks. I turned to the kids and asked..... "Are you SURE you want to homeschool?" They both enthusiastically said "YES!!" and so it was.
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