This week has been one of those weeks that I just couldn't keep up with it and had too many fun things thrown at me. Between my being sick and Missa's broken foot, I've been lucky to get some chores and math lessons done daily. So, we are going to just do math and journals tomorrow and call it a week I think. I'm going to tweak a few things to fit our family better over the long weekend and start back to it on Monday refreshed. Maybe I'll take some time and sneak off to a coffee shop with my Kindle and my phone (and maybe the laptop if I can get it to turn on, it is really moody) and enjoy a bit of quiet for an hour or so with a latte and no kids (yes, that includes the baby if I can keep it under an hour and a half that I'm gone and I remember to feed him real good before I sneak off).
Hopefully next week is a bit smoother. I just downloaded a free unit study and notebooking set from Hands Of A Child, and then bought the book for my Kindle that goes with it. I didn't plan initially to do a unit on "Island of the Blue Dolphins" but I think it will be a fun change from our normal stuff before we really dig back into it again. If I can't complete this unit study with the kids, I have issues beyond just having had a rough week.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
isn't the hospital fun?
The last couple days we've had some interesting things happen here. First, on Sunday I ended up at the local Urgent Care clinic as soon as they opened. I was diagnosed with the flu and bronchitis, and given medications to take care of that (tomorrow is my last day of antibiotics). So obviously, on Monday I didn't feel much like doing anything but I did anyway, and it turned out to be our most productive day of homeschool yet (and this includes the 4 years we homeschooled before the oldest 3 kids went to school part of this year).
Then on Tuesday we had our normal day, and just after finishing lessons for the night (we're late afternoon schoolers here, it works better for our lifestyle) Missa decided to get on the floor to wrestle with PJ. He likes to climb on anyone on the floor, smacking them and bouncing on them while laughing and squealing. Missa loves to wrestle with him, and he gets hysterical goofy when it is Missa who is doing the wrestling (I think she may be his favorite sister). Anyway, Liddy and Kimmy decided that it looked fun, so they joined PJ in wrestling Missa. One of them came down just right on her foot, and about 9 hours later the doctor at the emergency room told us that she had fractured a growth plate in her foot and put her into a shoe splint and referred us to an amazing orthopedist. By the time I got home with her (and PJ along for the ride) it was 2:30am so she crashed on a sofa for the night after taking some Advil.
This morning was her first follow-up with the ortho, and he changed it from a shoe splint thing to a full boot (also known as a type of walking cast). She's to wear it until her appointment in March, and rest and elevate it as much as she can (no running, jumping, stuff like that and NO sleeping on the top bunk). He hopefully will clear her to not wear it at that appointment after the repeat x-rays to check how it is healing.
Which brings me to our fun picture of the day. This is Missa showing that even with injury and not getting to bed at a decent hour, she can still do her schoolwork at home.
And this is what her foot looks like under that boot, I took it while we were waiting for the orthopedist to come look at it and tell us what to do. Notice those fat little toes there and the discoloration? My cell phone may not take the greatest pictures, but it does well enough to show off some of the swelling and bruising.
She obviously doesn't feel too hot, especially with just Tylenol for the pain. But she's a trooper, and got a 100% on today's math test (Math-U-See Gamma lesson 4 test, tomorrow she'll do lesson 5's test)
And all of the family agrees, we all hope that Scott doesn't have to work too late tonight so that I can go to bed early to make up for the lack of sleep (we may have gotten in at 2:30 but I didn't fall asleep until after 4 from the adrenaline). If this momma doesn't get enough sleep, she is a cranky pants and yells a lot.
Hopefully the rest of this week is uneventful, I don't think I could take much more excitement right now.
Then on Tuesday we had our normal day, and just after finishing lessons for the night (we're late afternoon schoolers here, it works better for our lifestyle) Missa decided to get on the floor to wrestle with PJ. He likes to climb on anyone on the floor, smacking them and bouncing on them while laughing and squealing. Missa loves to wrestle with him, and he gets hysterical goofy when it is Missa who is doing the wrestling (I think she may be his favorite sister). Anyway, Liddy and Kimmy decided that it looked fun, so they joined PJ in wrestling Missa. One of them came down just right on her foot, and about 9 hours later the doctor at the emergency room told us that she had fractured a growth plate in her foot and put her into a shoe splint and referred us to an amazing orthopedist. By the time I got home with her (and PJ along for the ride) it was 2:30am so she crashed on a sofa for the night after taking some Advil.
This morning was her first follow-up with the ortho, and he changed it from a shoe splint thing to a full boot (also known as a type of walking cast). She's to wear it until her appointment in March, and rest and elevate it as much as she can (no running, jumping, stuff like that and NO sleeping on the top bunk). He hopefully will clear her to not wear it at that appointment after the repeat x-rays to check how it is healing.
Which brings me to our fun picture of the day. This is Missa showing that even with injury and not getting to bed at a decent hour, she can still do her schoolwork at home.
And this is what her foot looks like under that boot, I took it while we were waiting for the orthopedist to come look at it and tell us what to do. Notice those fat little toes there and the discoloration? My cell phone may not take the greatest pictures, but it does well enough to show off some of the swelling and bruising.
And all of the family agrees, we all hope that Scott doesn't have to work too late tonight so that I can go to bed early to make up for the lack of sleep (we may have gotten in at 2:30 but I didn't fall asleep until after 4 from the adrenaline). If this momma doesn't get enough sleep, she is a cranky pants and yells a lot.
Hopefully the rest of this week is uneventful, I don't think I could take much more excitement right now.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
homeschooling funny
Homeschooling can be physically painful at times. Seriously, it can. This actually happened to me during lessons today.
I had Missa doing a math test, Liddy doing some drill practice with an app on my phone, and Kimmy doing her daily computer time so I figured that it would be a great time to sit and work with Jojo on skip counting. She's having trouble with counting by 5's, so we got out the laminated hundred chart and I marked the 5's for her so she could see them as we counted together. We got comfy on the floor together, and then I made the mistake of laying down.
Until I laid down, PJ was happily playing nearby with a toy. He likes to wrestle, and when he saw me lay down he immediately got up and walked over to me, then before I could react he had both hands firmly planted in my hair and had climbed up on my head. Just try to picture me laying there at an odd angle, unable to reach the baby sitting on my head with both hands tightly grabbing my hair as he bounces up and down and squeals and laughs hysterically while I yell for Missa to PLEASE stop taking her math test for a minute and come get her brother off my head.
The joys of having a little boy..... and older children that I'm trying to teach while said little boy refuses to take his nap. The girls all collapsed with laughter, PJ finally fell off my head (Missa was laughing too hard to rescue me), and I ended up having to go to my bedroom for a brief time out to cry and compose myself.
I had Missa doing a math test, Liddy doing some drill practice with an app on my phone, and Kimmy doing her daily computer time so I figured that it would be a great time to sit and work with Jojo on skip counting. She's having trouble with counting by 5's, so we got out the laminated hundred chart and I marked the 5's for her so she could see them as we counted together. We got comfy on the floor together, and then I made the mistake of laying down.
Until I laid down, PJ was happily playing nearby with a toy. He likes to wrestle, and when he saw me lay down he immediately got up and walked over to me, then before I could react he had both hands firmly planted in my hair and had climbed up on my head. Just try to picture me laying there at an odd angle, unable to reach the baby sitting on my head with both hands tightly grabbing my hair as he bounces up and down and squeals and laughs hysterically while I yell for Missa to PLEASE stop taking her math test for a minute and come get her brother off my head.
The joys of having a little boy..... and older children that I'm trying to teach while said little boy refuses to take his nap. The girls all collapsed with laughter, PJ finally fell off my head (Missa was laughing too hard to rescue me), and I ended up having to go to my bedroom for a brief time out to cry and compose myself.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
back to homeschool, life as usual
Well this week is so far going better than I expected. We decided this week to just do grammar, math, and literature lessons and then add in history and science and all the other stuff they want to learn (I agreed to lessons in Spanish, crochet, calligraphy, sewing, cooking, and origami also) as we adjust to schooling at home. We are having a lot of fun at home and working well, but there is a lot of fighting right now that i could do without. Today would be a great example. So far today, Liddy has been sent to her room for throwing toys at a sister in anger (trying to injure her with them), Missa has slapped Kimmy in the face because Kimmy didn't want her to join her in her play, and a LOT of screaming and yelling. I think they are getting on each others' nerves right now so I need to come up with some ways to keep them occupied and working together.
In math Kimmy is going through Alpha to buy me a little time before I have to get her a Beta book, and Liddy is reviewing material in her Beta book that she needs more practice on before I move her up to Gamma. She's having a little trouble with regrouping, so this was a perfect choice for her. Missa, she is straight into Gamma and right now we are doing the tests first to find her spot, if she gets 100% on the test we move to the next lesson but if she doesn't we review the material. She's liking the pace of it this way, and is really proud of being able to just test out of lessons like they are nothing to her.
Grammar has been a bit of a struggle, but more on my end than anything else. See, I've never had much success with learning proper grammar (as I'm sure you may have noticed in my blog, I know I make some simple mistakes in writing although I am a natural writer in general so I have been able to kind of muddle through without getting any of it). However, I feel that grammar is something that my children need to learn so that they can be successful later in college, and it is doubly important for my dyslexic student. So I took the time to find a good solid program that will hold my hand through teaching grammar properly with little knowledge on my part, and Easy Grammar fit the bill on this one. I'm learning right alongside my girls, right now we are studying prepositions and I'm finally getting what a preposition is. Yes, at almost 31 I am finally learning grammar. The hurdle I have encountered is related to my lack of printer ink at the moment. Without ink, I have to hand-write the worksheets for the oldest girls to do. I do not like creating worksheets by hand, but I did it today. Scott said that we can get some more ink when he gets paid Friday so that I don't have to keep dealing with the hassle of hand-writing practice sheets. I just have to get through tomorrow's lessons, and then we will have the money for me to go to the store Friday for printer ink.
I really should read to the kids now that we have finished almost all the girls' seatwork for the day, but I'm enjoying sitting down and relaxing before I head off to the kitchen to do some prep for dinner and make the pie for dessert. I have had a few moments this week where I asked myself what I was thinking to pull them out of school, but overall so far it has been going well.
In math Kimmy is going through Alpha to buy me a little time before I have to get her a Beta book, and Liddy is reviewing material in her Beta book that she needs more practice on before I move her up to Gamma. She's having a little trouble with regrouping, so this was a perfect choice for her. Missa, she is straight into Gamma and right now we are doing the tests first to find her spot, if she gets 100% on the test we move to the next lesson but if she doesn't we review the material. She's liking the pace of it this way, and is really proud of being able to just test out of lessons like they are nothing to her.
Grammar has been a bit of a struggle, but more on my end than anything else. See, I've never had much success with learning proper grammar (as I'm sure you may have noticed in my blog, I know I make some simple mistakes in writing although I am a natural writer in general so I have been able to kind of muddle through without getting any of it). However, I feel that grammar is something that my children need to learn so that they can be successful later in college, and it is doubly important for my dyslexic student. So I took the time to find a good solid program that will hold my hand through teaching grammar properly with little knowledge on my part, and Easy Grammar fit the bill on this one. I'm learning right alongside my girls, right now we are studying prepositions and I'm finally getting what a preposition is. Yes, at almost 31 I am finally learning grammar. The hurdle I have encountered is related to my lack of printer ink at the moment. Without ink, I have to hand-write the worksheets for the oldest girls to do. I do not like creating worksheets by hand, but I did it today. Scott said that we can get some more ink when he gets paid Friday so that I don't have to keep dealing with the hassle of hand-writing practice sheets. I just have to get through tomorrow's lessons, and then we will have the money for me to go to the store Friday for printer ink.
I really should read to the kids now that we have finished almost all the girls' seatwork for the day, but I'm enjoying sitting down and relaxing before I head off to the kitchen to do some prep for dinner and make the pie for dessert. I have had a few moments this week where I asked myself what I was thinking to pull them out of school, but overall so far it has been going well.
Friday, January 18, 2013
homeschool week 1 tentative plans
We have a 4 day week for our first week of homeschool, due to a field trip I have planned Monday to the zoo. So I am trying to decide where we are starting and what to do.
I wanted to spend this first week working with the girls on reading a map and the different symbols and such on maps before we start Cantering the Country. I need to find my road atlas so that I have a nice big map to use for this. Our vocabulary this week will be directional and geographic words that we would find on a map, with a quiz at the end of the week to see how well they got the vocabulary.
In science, I thought it would be fun to do the Animal Classification lapbook at Homeschool Share with the girls before we start digging into the science part of our US studies. I can't print off the material for that until next weekend though, so we are going to do that in week 2 I guess and not do any science this first week.
For language arts, I plan to get the girls each a book to read and they will do a mini book report for me. We also will begin Easy Grammar, which the first unit is prepositions so I am going to start working with them on memorizing the list of prepositions that they need to learn this year (there is a total of 40 that they must memorize to be successful in the program this year). Easy Grammar is for the oldest two girls, Kimmy will work on nouns and verbs as well as ending punctuation for sentences (but she is welcome to join her big sisters in grammar if she wants, and may end up doing it with them totally if she seems to be catching on completely).
In math, the older girls will practice multiplication facts memorization and do some drill quizzes like I remember doing in school. I'll make a chart to show what facts groups they memorized and we will focus on one fact group at a time in daily drills. First up will be x0, x1, and x2 facts as a big group because I know they pretty much have those mastered then we'll do x3 daily until they get them, and keep moving forward from there. I can do each girl separately at the same time this way and then just go from there. Kimmy will review basic addition and subtraction facts and then we'll start Beta with her.
Our copywork this week will be a bible verse that I have yet to pick out, and it will be related to a character trait I've not decided on either. This is a new thing in our homeschool, as I have never really incorporated Scripture or character traits into our lessons. I think we will do a notebook for traits so that they can record it as we do lessons. I'm still working out the kinks in this plan, and may not start it until week 2 or 3 depending on how much time I have this weekend to spend thinking on it.
And of course, lots of playing, crafting, and reading together. I think this week I'll read "Detectives in Togas" to the girls and get them doing a journal page after each chapter. I have a BUNCH of books hanging around from our days with Sonlight that I can use for literature time. I'll just grab one off the shelf and read a chapter a day (or a couple times a day, depending on how the girls like the book) to cover that until we start our US studies since I have lots of literature included in that study.
I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew with this one!
I wanted to spend this first week working with the girls on reading a map and the different symbols and such on maps before we start Cantering the Country. I need to find my road atlas so that I have a nice big map to use for this. Our vocabulary this week will be directional and geographic words that we would find on a map, with a quiz at the end of the week to see how well they got the vocabulary.
In science, I thought it would be fun to do the Animal Classification lapbook at Homeschool Share with the girls before we start digging into the science part of our US studies. I can't print off the material for that until next weekend though, so we are going to do that in week 2 I guess and not do any science this first week.
For language arts, I plan to get the girls each a book to read and they will do a mini book report for me. We also will begin Easy Grammar, which the first unit is prepositions so I am going to start working with them on memorizing the list of prepositions that they need to learn this year (there is a total of 40 that they must memorize to be successful in the program this year). Easy Grammar is for the oldest two girls, Kimmy will work on nouns and verbs as well as ending punctuation for sentences (but she is welcome to join her big sisters in grammar if she wants, and may end up doing it with them totally if she seems to be catching on completely).
In math, the older girls will practice multiplication facts memorization and do some drill quizzes like I remember doing in school. I'll make a chart to show what facts groups they memorized and we will focus on one fact group at a time in daily drills. First up will be x0, x1, and x2 facts as a big group because I know they pretty much have those mastered then we'll do x3 daily until they get them, and keep moving forward from there. I can do each girl separately at the same time this way and then just go from there. Kimmy will review basic addition and subtraction facts and then we'll start Beta with her.
Our copywork this week will be a bible verse that I have yet to pick out, and it will be related to a character trait I've not decided on either. This is a new thing in our homeschool, as I have never really incorporated Scripture or character traits into our lessons. I think we will do a notebook for traits so that they can record it as we do lessons. I'm still working out the kinks in this plan, and may not start it until week 2 or 3 depending on how much time I have this weekend to spend thinking on it.
And of course, lots of playing, crafting, and reading together. I think this week I'll read "Detectives in Togas" to the girls and get them doing a journal page after each chapter. I have a BUNCH of books hanging around from our days with Sonlight that I can use for literature time. I'll just grab one off the shelf and read a chapter a day (or a couple times a day, depending on how the girls like the book) to cover that until we start our US studies since I have lots of literature included in that study.
I hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew with this one!
Thursday, January 17, 2013
the last day
Today was the last day of school for the big 3 girls. The school had a scheduled late start day, so they had a hot pancake breakfast before they got on the bus this morning. I didn't know what to expect to happen today, but it went really well. They all came home with their supplies and a couple had math workbooks in their backpacks, and we are all excited to get started with schoolwork at home next week. I'm going to let them enjoy tomorrow as a weekend day like the school had scheduled for today, and we will take Monday to go to the Columbus Zoo I think since they have free admission (just pay parking that day, plus the cost of the gas I'll need to get there and back). Tuesday, we will get started on lessons at home like we didn't miss a beat. I know exactly where each kid needs to be placed in math, and after a trip to the library this weekend for some books I should be ready to go.
We all feel as if a weight has been lifted from our shoulders in making this change. The school the girls went to is a great school and they did very well and we all had a wonderful experience, but now it is time for us to get back to life as it is meant to be in our home. I am looking forward to the start of this chapter in our lives, the chapter of sending them to school was a great experience and we learned a lot but it is time to get back to normal.
We all feel as if a weight has been lifted from our shoulders in making this change. The school the girls went to is a great school and they did very well and we all had a wonderful experience, but now it is time for us to get back to life as it is meant to be in our home. I am looking forward to the start of this chapter in our lives, the chapter of sending them to school was a great experience and we learned a lot but it is time to get back to normal.
Monday, January 14, 2013
Our last week with public school
This is an interesting day for me. It started off like any typical Monday, but smoother than normal. There was no arguing and fighting from the girls when I woke them up to get ready for school, and only one fit when it was time to go out to catch the bus. The girls are as excited as I am right now about this week ending I think, and are sticking it out to get things done so we can get back to our REAL life again here starting Thursday afternoon when they get home.
There is no school on Friday this week, and Thursday the girls have late start so this is a short week to live through. It also is the last week of the semester, so they will have gone for half of the year. We've had a lot of great experiences with the school they attended this half year, and I don't regret sending them at all. It was truly needed for us to have this opportunity. However, I have done a lot of soul searching in this time and rediscovered things about myself that I had forgotten, and now it is time for us to pick up again with learning at home.
I plan to go easy on the girls the first week or two, as we find our footing again and develop a good working routine for everything. We will do math and language arts for sure daily, but are going to wait on the rest until I get the printer Scott said we should be able to buy me (he agreed that I need a laser printer with teaching them at home, I burn through too much ink to make an inkjet worthwhile for regular use). Here's what I have in mind for the remainder of this year and all of next school year (maybe beyond, depending on how long we take to work through this unit study series).
Cantering the Country (multi-subject unit study for grades 1-6 on US Geography)
Easy Grammar
Math-U-See
See, keeping it simple and keeping it together. The girls will all work together to learn cursive, and then in pairs (Missa and Liddy; Kimmy and Jojo) for math and language arts. Jojo will finish this year with Ohio Virtual Academy, so our first history focus for the other kids will be to learn to read different kinds of maps and I'll include them in some of her history lessons for second semester with it being some basic US history topics.
As you can tell, I have a plan in place for us to jump right back in, and I will adjust and add to it as time goes along to fit our needs better. The unit study will include as many subjects as possible, so while we are in each state we will learn about the state bird, tree, flower, any artists and/or musicians, and a couple major historical things about the state. If there is no artist or musician to study, then we will look for landmarks, monuments, memorials, or even study the state seal and the design on that state's quarter to cover the arts. I'm hoping to spend 1-2 weeks in each state, but may stretch some longer depending on what is available for that state. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
There is no school on Friday this week, and Thursday the girls have late start so this is a short week to live through. It also is the last week of the semester, so they will have gone for half of the year. We've had a lot of great experiences with the school they attended this half year, and I don't regret sending them at all. It was truly needed for us to have this opportunity. However, I have done a lot of soul searching in this time and rediscovered things about myself that I had forgotten, and now it is time for us to pick up again with learning at home.
I plan to go easy on the girls the first week or two, as we find our footing again and develop a good working routine for everything. We will do math and language arts for sure daily, but are going to wait on the rest until I get the printer Scott said we should be able to buy me (he agreed that I need a laser printer with teaching them at home, I burn through too much ink to make an inkjet worthwhile for regular use). Here's what I have in mind for the remainder of this year and all of next school year (maybe beyond, depending on how long we take to work through this unit study series).
Cantering the Country (multi-subject unit study for grades 1-6 on US Geography)
Easy Grammar
Math-U-See
See, keeping it simple and keeping it together. The girls will all work together to learn cursive, and then in pairs (Missa and Liddy; Kimmy and Jojo) for math and language arts. Jojo will finish this year with Ohio Virtual Academy, so our first history focus for the other kids will be to learn to read different kinds of maps and I'll include them in some of her history lessons for second semester with it being some basic US history topics.
As you can tell, I have a plan in place for us to jump right back in, and I will adjust and add to it as time goes along to fit our needs better. The unit study will include as many subjects as possible, so while we are in each state we will learn about the state bird, tree, flower, any artists and/or musicians, and a couple major historical things about the state. If there is no artist or musician to study, then we will look for landmarks, monuments, memorials, or even study the state seal and the design on that state's quarter to cover the arts. I'm hoping to spend 1-2 weeks in each state, but may stretch some longer depending on what is available for that state. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.
Thursday, January 10, 2013
change of plans
This week has been emotional for me. 2 days ago my last living grandparent died, and I won't be able to attend the service because it is in Florida and we live in Ohio (can't afford Scott to take off work to stay with the kids and can't afford for me to fly OR drive down). I've been kind of in a daze yesterday and today as it fully sinks in. Then today happened.
This afternoon I got a call from the kids' school. They sent out an automated call to all families to notify us that the school was under lockdown. It turned out to be nothing, but still I was worried about my two girls at school (Missa was home with a low grade fever and other symptoms) until they got home from school 3 hours later. On top of that, there was a shooting in California and another school there is under lockdown as well while they hunt for a suspect in a crime (I'm not sure they are related or not).
As a result, I will be filing my notice of intent as soon as I can get a hold of the form. I am hoping that their last day will be the same as the end of the semester at their school, which is next Thursday. I need to get hold of that form and get it all done and sent in ASAP. I was going to slowly do this, one kid at a time using OHVA, but instead I am going to just straight up homeschool.
This afternoon I got a call from the kids' school. They sent out an automated call to all families to notify us that the school was under lockdown. It turned out to be nothing, but still I was worried about my two girls at school (Missa was home with a low grade fever and other symptoms) until they got home from school 3 hours later. On top of that, there was a shooting in California and another school there is under lockdown as well while they hunt for a suspect in a crime (I'm not sure they are related or not).
As a result, I will be filing my notice of intent as soon as I can get a hold of the form. I am hoping that their last day will be the same as the end of the semester at their school, which is next Thursday. I need to get hold of that form and get it all done and sent in ASAP. I was going to slowly do this, one kid at a time using OHVA, but instead I am going to just straight up homeschool.
Sunday, January 06, 2013
January 2013 starting off with a bang
Well, here it is 6am on Sunday morning. It is just me and Missa awake, as she is a total morning person and does not sleep past 6am even on weekends and holidays. She is doing some multiplication practice games on the other computer, and PJ is settling back to sleep in my lap (ah the joys of a nursing baby). So I thought I'd share a bit of what we have going on here already this year to look forward to.
Yesterday I completed the first step of the process to enroll Missa in Ohio Virtual Academy with Jojo for the remainder of this school year. Scott and I had discussed it a while now, and he knows that I'm dead serious about this so he's hesitantly supportive. He isn't entirely certain that it is the right move at this time, but he's waiting to see how it goes. Missa is thrilled and can't wait until the process is completed so that she can come back to lessons at home with me. I, on the other hand, am feeling a bit apprehensive at this since it is adding a lot to my day (although a good portion of my role is going to be supportive and assisting her in the process, as I understand that the kids become more independent starting in 3rd grade).
As for the other girls, when Liddy and Kimmy finish this school year we'll discuss things to figure out what to do from there. For now, the best choice for each child is to have Missa and Jojo at home with OHVA and then have Liddy and Kimmy at the charter school. Liddy doesn't listen to me or respect my authority as a parent anyway, so I doubt she'd respect my authority as her educator if she came back home. She needs to prove to me that she's going to show some respect and follow instructions from me before I'll consider it, and I've made this perfectly clear to her. Kimmy, well she loves the charter school and is pulling straight A's (with most of them being 100% grades) so I'm not going to mess with a good thing right now.
I expect that I'll get some resistance from those two once Missa's transfer is done and she starts OHVA, but they will get over it.
Yesterday I completed the first step of the process to enroll Missa in Ohio Virtual Academy with Jojo for the remainder of this school year. Scott and I had discussed it a while now, and he knows that I'm dead serious about this so he's hesitantly supportive. He isn't entirely certain that it is the right move at this time, but he's waiting to see how it goes. Missa is thrilled and can't wait until the process is completed so that she can come back to lessons at home with me. I, on the other hand, am feeling a bit apprehensive at this since it is adding a lot to my day (although a good portion of my role is going to be supportive and assisting her in the process, as I understand that the kids become more independent starting in 3rd grade).
As for the other girls, when Liddy and Kimmy finish this school year we'll discuss things to figure out what to do from there. For now, the best choice for each child is to have Missa and Jojo at home with OHVA and then have Liddy and Kimmy at the charter school. Liddy doesn't listen to me or respect my authority as a parent anyway, so I doubt she'd respect my authority as her educator if she came back home. She needs to prove to me that she's going to show some respect and follow instructions from me before I'll consider it, and I've made this perfectly clear to her. Kimmy, well she loves the charter school and is pulling straight A's (with most of them being 100% grades) so I'm not going to mess with a good thing right now.
I expect that I'll get some resistance from those two once Missa's transfer is done and she starts OHVA, but they will get over it.
Friday, January 04, 2013
the end of Christmas break
Today is the last weekday of our Christmas break here. The oldest 3 girls go back to school on Monday (much to Jojo's delight!) and I settle back into our schooling routine at home here with Jojo. It has been a nice break here, having all the kids at home. Even with the fighting that inevitably happens when siblings are together it has been a fairly smooth two weeks vacation. I am not really looking forward to Monday, having to send the girls off on the bus again. I miss having them all here with me, and am looking forward to the end of May even more than ever now.
This 2 weeks we have watched tv, played in the snow (a LOT), went on a short trip to another part of the state to visit friends, and battled the flu. We laughed together, cleaned house together, and complained over the trash truck not coming to our street this week together (talk about a disaster for us! we need the trash picked up weekly).
I just wish that Scott would agree to me pulling the girls out now, or starting to at least.
This 2 weeks we have watched tv, played in the snow (a LOT), went on a short trip to another part of the state to visit friends, and battled the flu. We laughed together, cleaned house together, and complained over the trash truck not coming to our street this week together (talk about a disaster for us! we need the trash picked up weekly).
I just wish that Scott would agree to me pulling the girls out now, or starting to at least.
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