In The Mind of A Thirtysomething Mom

And Just Like That, It Was Over

Thank you to those who clicked on K's picture for Top Momma. Unfortunately, we didn't get enough clicks and our picture is no longer on the site. I submitted another pic, so hopefully they'll choose it and we can try again then.

See that? That's my sticker!  I'm happy I got it.  I know, how 1st grade of me.  But see, a lot of hard work went into getting that sticker.

Today I had M's homeschool meeting with the county official.  When you homeschool in our state, you have to have a twice yearly meeting with a county official to review your child's portfolio.  I have been dreading it since we decided to homeschool.  I didn't know what to expect, what to bring, what to say.  I was NOT looking forward to it at all.

Since I was so worried, I did the only suitable thing and just brought everything for him to look at.  I brought every book she works in, every paper we had saved, every art project, EVERYTHING!  Even though I was technically over prepared, I impressed him.  He asked for math work; plop, right in front of him.  He asked for curriculum; plop, right in front of him.  Reading; plop.  Art, Music, P.E.; plop, plop, plop.  I showed him my lesson plan book and he was like "Wow, you write alot."  I told him my degree was in Elementary Education and he was all "I kind of figured."  "Most parents aren't this detailed or organized."

*See that?  That's my pride swelling up!*

A couple more words of encourgement, and just like that it was over.  He had no recommendations on areas to improve, thank God.  He stuck my sticker on my form, wrote a comment for M, and said "See you in May."  Gotta love that!

If I had known it was going to be that easy, I would have been homeschooling all this time.  Okay, maybe not.  I'd probably be in a mental institution by now if I had done that.

Come back tomorrow for "a very special installment" of Thursday Thoughts.  (Doesn't that sound like that announcer voice from the old Afterschool specials?  "And now, a very special ..."  Yeah, I'm a dork.)

Schooling Decisions

I've been praying about this for awhile, and today we made the step.

We enrolled B into the local public school.

This was not an easy decision to make. I've gone back and forth time and again. I've cried, prayed and prayed again. In the end, homeschooling just wasn't working for him. There is WAY too much here to distract him, his grades are not what they could be and he doesn't want to listen to me.

It's really hard not to take it personally, I mean after all I am a certified teacher. I feel like I've not only failed him but also failed myself, both as a teacher and as a parent. I've tried to do what I thought was best and instead I don't feel like I've done anything at all. I knew teaching him would be difficult. Middle school is a hard age, but I didn't know it would be this hard. I think being around his peers will work out better for him in the long run. He's never had any problems making friends, and I don't think he will now either. He's just like his father in that aspect.

We met today with the school counselor. I had already filled out the paperwork, so today was just going over the schedule he had chosen and making sure everything was completed correctly. B chose chorus and art for this term and music and family and consumer sciences for the second term. FACS is like home-ec with some 21st century updates. 6th graders learn how to prepare and serve food and basic sewing skills. He'll also have the four-core courses: English, Math, Science and Social Studies, as well as P.E. The counselor decided based on his standardized test scores from 5th grade to place B in the advanced courses for Math and English. There are also after school clubs he can participate in if he so chooses. I think he's going to do just fine.

As far as M, she will still be taught here at home. We're going to finish this year and then she'll go to the school behind our house. Hopefully we're out of all the health issues and she'll have no problems making the transition next year.

For your Viewing Pleasure

I'm not going to write a long drawn out post today. (I know most of you are shouting yea at this point.) I feel like I've been run over by a mack truck and I can't breathe. I was fine until I started cleaning. That's it, I'm allergic to cleaning. Ha! Think that excuse will work? Nah, I didn't think so either. Instead, I'll share some pictures I've taken recently.

This is an art project B had to do for school. He had to listen to a piece of music and cut shapes that were indicative of how he felt while listening to it. He listened to "We Bow Down" which is a praise song. He said he felt love so that is what he showed. Great job huh?

This is a Bible project M had to do today. She had to color the pictures of God's animals and glue them on the paper. Well, gluing them flat wasn't good enough. She opted for the 3-D farmyard. I told her that it might be difficult, but she made it work. The legless horse is my personal favorite. I think she did a super job!

Can't show pictures without showing Miss K. Gee, wonder where she gets the "Mom, enough with the pictures" attitude. Couldn't be M now could it? Nah!

Um, yeah. This is what I pulled from the inner storage room yesterday. I've got to go through these and get the ones my dear friends aren't purchasing and put them on Ebay. As much as I love my friends, I don't think they're going to buy all these sets. 2 came by yesterday and 2 are coming by tonight. Hey, I've got to make money to pay for M's new bed somehow.

If you're interested on bidding on some great Stampin' Up! sets, my Ebay ID is Smoochiefrog. I'll get some up tonight and more will be up through the course of next week. There are over 100 left, so it'll take me some time.

We get the keys to our new house tomorrow, and I'll be painting tomorrow night. K's birthday is Saturday so I probably won't be around to post again until Sunday or so. Have a great weekend!

P.S. I see that I've had over 100 hits since last Monday. I hope I haven't bored over 100 people to death. If you've been bored to death, please accept my apologies. I'll do better, I promise. :)

First Day of School Nervousness

Well, here it is after midnight on the first day of school and of course I'm still up unable to sleep. Isn't that the way it always works?

I've already had B asking me if all the subjects will be covered each day. Funny isn't it how they worry about all the little things. I'm more concerned with getting everything in over the next 180 days and making sure that they're prepared for 2nd & 7th grades once this year is over. I'm looking long term and he's just worried about tomorrow. I'd love to just have that concern. The great news is that all the books have come in and my lesson plans are set for this week. The bad news is that in planning the lessons, I discovered that I needed a couple of teacher manuals due to the nature of the texts I'm using. That was another $70+. I'm so glad I'm made of money.

Since we're following the county calendar, Friday is a day off. We'll be doing Spelling and Bible quizzes and then heading for the Zoo (more on that in a minute)! B & M were a little upset to find out that quizzes & tests would be part of home-schooling. Crazy kids. I guess they just thought it would be chilling out at home and doing work as needed. Unfortunately for them, mom has an education degree and comes at home-schooling from an educator's standpoint, not a mother's standpoint. I see the need for tests, quizzes, projects, reports and if needed, homework. Oh the horror!

K is so excited to go to the Zoo on Friday. She is dying to see the Penguins. For some reason, that is her favorite animal right now and she goes crazy when she sees them. She starts yelling "pengin" "pengin" and trying to walk like them. I don't get it, but I laugh everytime nonetheless.

K's newest and best song right now is Jesus Loves Me. It is the BEST thing to hear. I'll try to get a clip of her singing that song too. This time I'll try not to sing with her to spare everyone's ears.

Homeschooling

A week without a post and now two in a row, scary huh?

We've made a decision to completely homeschool B & M this school year. We'd been talking and praying about it for a few weeks now and finally decided it was all or nothing. I was just going to do it until we moved and then enroll them in the public school there on base (post-it's Army, whatever-I'll never get used to that). Unfortunately it's looking like it'll be longer than we thought before we get a house out there. We had originally thought it would be this month, but now it's looking like it might not be until next month or later. I thought I could review with the kids until we moved, but upon re-examining the dates it would do them harm not to just go ahead and do the whole year. The public school where we live now is just NOT an option. We won't even discuss that. With me not working, private isn't affordable in the least bit. So last night I ordered the curriculum I'll be using. Most of M's is from BJU Press. B has BJU English and Spelling, Saxon Math and then they both have secular Science & Social Studies. We feel that using solely a Christian curriculum for Science & Social Studies is very limiting and they need to see various texts. They will both be using Alpha Omega for Bible and A Reason for Handwriting for Handwriting. B also has Literature, and Vocabulary. They both have Music, Art, and P.E. It'll be a busy year that's for sure. Somewhere in all this time I've got to move the house and potty train K. Fun, fun, fun!

Please pray for us that both the move and homeschooling go well and smoothly. We'll keep you updated!