So homeschooling may be back on the table!

So it has been an extremely long time since I wrote in here but since nothing I had to say had to do with homeschooling I didn't bother but now the option looks to be back on the table!

My daughter Aurora who is now 6 years old going on 7 in April is in 1st grade at the local elementary school and it has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs and tons of emotions.  Her first year there (kindergarten) actually went surprisingly well.  We had a great teacher who really cared and taught Aurora a lot.  It was not as bad as I thought it would be even with my husband overseas for the first 7 months of school.  So we decided to keep the momentum going and continue with 1st grade there and see how it goes. 

This is where our world started to crumble.

From day 1 when I met her teacher at the open house I did not like her, but then again how can you attempt to like someone when they don't smile, don't talk to you or your child other than to introduce herself and point to us where Aurora will be sitting for the year?  Yeah, that is seriously all we got from her.  I left that place saying "oh boy, this is going to be a fun year".  But I still tried my hardest to make the best of it and continue to support the teacher thinking maybe our first encounter was an off day.  I was always sending in extra supplies, always offering to help out at parties and on field trips, sending her a Christmas gift, plus other little things here and there...................and not once, did I get a thank you note, a warm smile, or any form of gratification on her part.  Plus, add on the fact that Aurora was getting in trouble EVERYDAY!  And when I say everyday I mean everyday for the first 3 months (now she gets in trouble about 2 or 3 times a week on average) and I was getting very vague comments like "excessive talking" or "not following directions".  So at least twice now I have written to her asking her to be more specific so I can handle the situation at home, because I can not correct the issue if I do not know what the issues are.  And does she respond back or correct what I asked her to correct........NOPE!  Look, I know my child and she is not perfect and I would be a piss poor parent if I got on her case every single time that child spoke out of turn because my husband and I were both chatter boxes growing up.  But the simple fact is, she is 6 and she seems to get singled out constantly!!!  I have even tried to talk to her at our parent teacher conferences to get more out of her but she always always acts like she does not want to be there, that this is the worst job on the earth, and she can't wait to leave.

So another reason I am not happy with public school this year is because she is not being challenged.  My daughter knew how to add single digits before kindergarten and they just started learning that this past December!!!  She is at least at a 2nd if not 3rd reading grade level and is just incredibly bright and eager to learn!!  So why do I think she is getting in trouble a lot?  the real reason?  because she is BORED.......period!  She has been separated from the class (both years) to do special work because she is so far ahead, everyone says what a wonderful vocabulary she has and how smart she is and I do not think this school is doing her justice.

Last reason is my own personal problem and this is where I will differ a lot with people but it is my own personal beliefs.  They are teaching to much about God and religion in a public school setting!  We are not a religious family and to be frank my husband and I do not believe in God but we do respect others to believe and would NEVER force our beliefs or non-beliefs on our children, we want them to make up their own minds.  But when I hear my daughter come home and start talking about learning about Noah and the ark and angels in school then that really fires me up because there is a time and place for those types of things and it is called church!  Also, as I was helping out with their Thanksgiving party last year the teacher (not hers) made the kids pray before they ate..........I WAS FURIOUS!!!  But was not prepared to spark a debate in the classroom with a teacher I did not know, so I stayed quite.

So anywho, as you can see I'm not happy with the way things are going this year so we decided to try and get her into the county charter school.  Long story short there were 0 openings for second grade for next term and everyone was wait listed and she is number 23 on that list, so yeah, that's not happening, at least not for next year!

Now I am at that point where I need to make a decision to keep her at home and teach her myself for the next year, yank her out of a school she knows with friends she know, and try it out to see how it goes or do I give it one more year to tip the scales in one direction of the next, but at the same time putting her education and "being more challenged" at risk.  And also mind you I am in fact almost 6 months preggers with baby #2 on the way due in Mid-July - a little boy this time too =)  So I will have a couple of months to adjust to being a mom of two before we have to begin homeschooling but will that be enough time?

So now you all know everything that is going on with me at least in my daughters education and the choice I have to make.  And if you are wondering about hubby's point of view, he seems to be no help other than saying he is behind me 100% whatever I choose.  Geez thanks hun for your input!  So share your ideas, thoughts, and opinions below because I would love to hear from you =)

Her Call

Yeah, it doesn't look like I'll get the chance to write here anymore, at least for awhile.  My daughter decided she wanted to try public school for a year.......so I am letting her.  Next year we will re-asses and figure out what to do but for now I will not be homeschooling her.  It makes me sad, angry, frustrated, scared, and anxious but part of my belief for my daughter is that I need to let her make decisions........live with them........and learn from the experience; so we will see what happens. 

I hope to come back every now and then to update on what she is doing, how she likes or unlikes school, my feelings on the subject and so on.  So stay tuned for "colorful" posts ahead!!

Ugh

It's only week one into her kindergarten year and already I am doubting myself and whether or not I can really do this.  I'm always tired, never have any energy, seem to have lost my ability to organize and plan, and I don't know why?  I'm on new medication that has been taking me for a loop, I'm not eating right, I'm not exercising, I'm not getting out of the house, and I'm feeling very overwhelmed.  How can I be a good teacher if I'm so tired to even do it?  Plus it's not helping that I teach her something and literally 2 seconds later she has no idea what I'm talking about, doesn't matter how many times we go over it, she can't or won't concentrate nor remember what I teach.  Maybe I'm just having a bad week and it will get better; plus everyone always says it takes around a year to get used to homeschooling.  I am not a quitter by any means but I don't want to sacrifice her education for me not being able to get my shit together.  I don't know what to do, mainly cause I don't know why I am feeling bad all the time?  Guess I'll just press on and try and pull myself together.

BTW Aurora drew a VERY good picture of a peacock today!  So proud of her!

The Day from Hell!

The hubby is at work, the kid is finally in bed, and the day is almost over........THANK YOU!  A combination of me still adjusting to my new medication, my husband and I still adjusting to his new night shift schedule, my husband and daughter ticking me off every time I turn around, and numerous things going wrong today don't equal up to a very happy mommy.  I wanted this day over from the moment I woke up.

We didn't even start school today until around 3pm and actually didn't finish till around 8pm (it was a little here and a little there).  We did art, reading, and math today (I actually had a couple of others things planned but like I said, it was a bad day).  She got a wooden stool for Christmas last year and has been dying to paint it ever since so today she finally got to start on it.  For reading she and I sat down with the TAG system and read The Cat and the Hat.  During the story I told her how important it was to pay attention and listen to the words because that tells the story.  I kind of gave her a mini quiz on the book at the end of what it was about and what happened and she actually did really well with the answers (even making some rhyme like the book).  Then at bedtime I read her another chapter in Charlotte's Web.  We are at the part where Charlotte is getting ready to make her egg sack and Aurora asked what an egg sack is and how Charlotte makes it, so I explained what it looks like and that it is made out of a spider's "silk" used to make webs with; she thought that was pretty cool.  And for math we reviewed numbers 0-20.  She has 0-11 down but has trouble with the teens and especially number 12 for some reason.  So we did some hard studying with some flash cards and countable's and I think I'll be assigning some homework tomorrow on it and over the weekend just to keep it fresh in her memory until she has it.

Well I'm off to take a nice long relaxing bubble bath and let the stress of the day melt away!

First Day of Kindergarten

Well we had our first day of kindergarten today, something I've been waiting to do for a very long time now.  It feels really good knowing that I only have one thing to worry about in my life...and that is my daughters education.

Today we did history, science, reading, and writing.  For history/social studies we looked at what it means to be a family and the different types of families and she worked on learning her address.  For science we discussed the difference between living and non-living things; we watched a video and played a game all online on the subject.  For reading I read another chapter in Charlotte's Web to her, she read one of her books using the TAG system and then we briefly reviewed letters A-E just to make sure she still remembered upper and lower case forms, sounds, and a word or two that started with the letter.  And finally for writing I just had her write out the letters A-E in both upper and lower case form just to refresh her.  We were going to make homemade donuts today for "National Donut Day" but we just didn't have time and we were both very tired.  My husband Chad started night shift tonight so we wanted to spend a little time with him before he went to work.

I am finally a college graduate!!

As of May 14th I became the proud owner of an associates degree in applied science in Emergency Preparedness Technology!! Yes I am officially done with school..... now its time to focus on my daughter in full!

Ever since school ended I have been in plan mode for all her lessons. We will begin on June 1st with kindergarten material. I actually thought that we would just take the summer and do pre-school review and start kindergarten in the Fall but when I researched all of what is usually taught and learned in pre-school I found that Aurora all ready knew all of it........so I graduated her too! I made up a really cute pre-school certificate and put my graduation cap and gown on her and took a picture of her holding her certificate.

I planned on using Saxon homeschool math K but I just received it today and I don't like it at all. It moves WAY to slow and Aurora already knows half of what is covered. So I will be making all of her lessons from scratch for every subject, which is fine cause I feel like I have more control over what she learns from where and how. And I'm almost done planning all lessons for the first 2 weeks.

She is so excited to start homeschooling; she practically begs me to do it everyday and it really hurts to say no (cause I'm not ready) but I usually give her something small to work on to satisfy her appetite. I'm so lucky to have a daughter that loves to learn......and learn from mommy at that!

But mom, I want to do art!

So I have heard that now for about 4 days straight and it is getting on my nerves. But yeah, I get it, she is really getting into coloring (and getting very good at it BTW), finger painting, and using her new talent......scissors!

Ever since we started the letter books she loves to cut paper, and she colors something at least once a day (fridge is FULL!). But I'm also trying to get her to understand that school is not always about art and that we have to learn about our letters and numbers and lots of other really great stuff.

So I have been trying to combine the two; we learn numbers and letters and add art to the mix. When she is learning her letters we do the books and color pictures that start with that particular letter. With numbers........well I'm still working on that one! And for right now that is all we are really concentrating on because due to my schooling she is a little behind on those things and I want to get her caught up before I go back in the Spring and she gets put on pause once more.

Today we learned the letter H and she came up with 4 words all on her own that started with that letter...(Horse, Helicopter, Heat, and Hug). She also did really well on the letter's F and G last week. She came up with 10 words for the letter F all by herself!

We also read two chapters of Charlotte's web again and a book on Thanksgiving. We went over numbers 11 through 20 (I'm trying to get her to recognize them). Tomorrow we are going to the library for story time!