Whatever you do, DON'T laugh

Last night, for the umpteenth time since moving into the new house, I went in to tell the boys to settle down, turn the light back off and go to sleep.  The sight I beheld when I opened the door was this...... Jake standing in the middle of the room wearing nothing but Mr. Incredible underpants with 2 Nerf guns tucked in the waistband and coming out the leg holes.  As I stood there speechless, trying desperately not to laugh, he proceeded to pull them out and raise both hands in the air and ask me "WHAT?!?" as if he had absolutely no idea why I was back in their room a mere minutes after I had just been there.  It took everything I had in me not to laugh hysterically.  I have found that laughing while disciplining kids really is not every effective.  If only I had the camera in hand.

One week down, how many to go?

We are finishing up our first week.  All said and done I am happy with our decision to do this and the curriculum that was chosen.  Have we had some stressful moments? Yes. Has there been some whining and crying?  Yes.  But we have made it through the first week and still are able to look at one another without crying.

• Sarahs teacher has changed her to a different math book since having been in a traditional school and not been very strong in the subject.  This way she will be back up to speed next year. 
• Alex continues to whine, resist and daydream.  This too shall pass as he finally realizes he has to pay attention and do the work if he wants to go outside, play the Wii, etc.
• Jake is still pestering both of them.  One day I am sure he will stop.  Maybe when I am able to catch my breath enough to work in a little preschool with him.
• I am able to teach Science one semester and History the other instead of doing both at the same time, alternating days.  Better for them to follow along & easier on me.

I actually had a moment last night when I realized I was smiling.  As I thought about why this was I realized that I am a homeschool mom, my kids are doing well and  I haven't pulled my hair out yet.  Each day gets better.  They even hunkered down yesterday and got their work completed by lunchtime and were able to go outside for the afternoon!

Day One of Homeschooling

 Well, we started right on time, 8:00 a.m. yesterday morning.  Soon after that the whining started, internet quit & Jake was crying.  In a nutshell I was flustered.  We got through the day though with 90% of the required lessons completed by 5:00 p.m.  Thank goodness for crockpots otherwise we may not have eaten last night.

Kevin have some wise words for Alex... "Mom is your teacher during the day.  You wouldn't whine & refuse to do work for Mrs James or Mrs Ward so you will not be doing it for Mom. If you continue to misbehave you will get sent to the Principals office.  Know who the Principal is now?  ME!"  The reply was a sheepish "Oh!"

Here they are at the start of the first day, ready to go at their workstations.  Jake was happy to watch Bob the Builder.  Well, for a little while anyway.

Anxious, Apprehensive and Unable To Sleep.

Well, it is 11:47 P.M. on the eve of my first day as "teacher."  I admit I am excited to actually start using all these great materials, a bit nervous about how to juggle it all and tired beyond belief.  Unfortunately I wasn't paying attention and had WAY too much sweet tea to drink today so sleep is not likely for awhile, even though I really should be in dreamland by now.  Grandpa and Grandma brought the kids new desks today.  They helped me get everything set back up and Sarah and Alex are now separated into different sides of the room.  It looks really nice and now they have much more space to work. 


I have gone into the Online School and made sure I have checked off all the "Advanced Prep" needed for the days to come.  Still, I worry.  I cannot help it, I am genetically programed to worry.  Will I be able to juggle educating 2 kids as well as keep a 4 year-old occupied, entertained and hopefully a bit of education there too?  When will I get the lawn mowed, house cleaned, laundry done, get to the 4-H meetings, etc?  How are they going to deal with me as the teacher as well as Mom?  How am I ever going to prepare for Jake's Sunday School lessons or have time to make it to Wednesday night class?  Will we ever eat dinner at a reasonable hour?  Kevin brought home a ton of lunch meat & cheese on Saturday.  He thought it might help take some of the stress off if we just had subs for dinner.  I am blessed with a wonderful, thoughtful husband.  He may regret it when we have subs for dinner all week! :0)


I have joined a Yahoo! Group for families enrolled in Ohio Virtual Academy (OHVA) and that has been very helpful.  They are all very supportive and always ready to offer tips & suggestions.  K12, the curriculum we are using, has their own private version of Facebook called the "Parents Lounge."  There are families from all over the world using K12 there to support, connect and interact.  That has been a great resource for help as well.  I have also picked the brain of a traditional homeschooler and Sister in the church.  She had some wonderful advise and helpful ideas borne of her experience.  I am sure it wont be long before I am leaning on my sister-in-law for ideas and help too.


I am in no way doubting my decision to make this change.  I am confident in that at least.  I am tired of sending them off to let others influence, bully, tease & intimidate them while no one does anything about it.  My kids are very bright, they have that advantage.  Otherwise I think they would be far behind in the education they have thus far received at the local public school.  Add to all this internet connection problems, not having sold our old house, a bum knee and feeling like I am coming down with a cold......and you have one very frustrated Mom.


Well, this frustrated,worried, anxious, apprehensive Mom is finally going to try to get some sleep.  I am sure that I will look back at this in the days, weeks and months to come and think....."What was I so worried about."

Dinosaurs!

The zoo had this great exhibit of animatronic dinosaurs.  We all really liked seeing them life size & moving.

Jake checks out the T-Rex, WOAH!!!

Cleveland Zoo

Last weekend Kevin ended up not having to work so we headed to the Cleveland Zoo.  Aunt Kerry met us there & we all had a great time!

Sarah with the monkey statue.  She wants a picture here every time we go.

There were mister fans set up to help cool us off & the kids enjoyed that!

Jake enjoys the slushee from Aunt Kerry.  I think he almost fell in!

I had to get a picture of this face. 

Well Repairs

When we moved into our new home we knew that the water was an issue.  There just wasn't enough of it.  I was only able to do one small load of laundry per day & we had to schedule bathing so you didn't run out mid shower.  And they were VERY short showers!  A few weeks ago a local drilling company was able to get their equipment out here and start drilling to see if they could hit more water farther down.

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Here comes the drilling rig!

All set up beside the house.

The kids liked to sit on our bed & watch the goings on!

This is how the guys leveled the rig out.  I was a nervous wreck it would slide off & head down the front yard!

In the end they were able to get plenty of water only about 40 feet farther down!  The last 2 weeks have been great.  No more short showers, running out when we try to wash dishes & I can actually to a large load of laundry, even more than one on any day.  They also feel we will be able to fill the pool next spring.

Wise Words

I recently attended a New Parent Orientation for the Online Public School we have chosen for the kids.  During this meeting a quote from a veteran parent really resonated with me.  I have decided to print it out & hang it in our classroom to get me through those not so productive days.

"On a good day, we do our schoolwork with a good attitude in a clean house with well-balanced meals wearing clean clothes.  On a bad day, we throw a few tantrums in our messy house and eat cereal and frozen pizza in our pajamas!  One the good days AND the bad days we are growing academically, building character and learning to love one another - these are the things that make the bad days worth it." ~ OHVA Parent

Jake and His Digger "Zippy"

Last week Sarah and Alex stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Couchey's house.  Jake and I worked in the yard a bit and he announced to me that he had named his little digger tractor "Zippy."  He also mentioned that when using heavy equipment you should always have the proper safety equipment, i.e. the blue metal basket on his head!

He absolutely loves digging in the gravel, almost as much as he loves those yellow boots.  If we are outside, they are most likely on his feet.  Probably why he hasn't gotten poison ivy like I did.

School Time Again, but with a change!

After continued disappointment with our local school district, we have decided to begin homeschooling our kids through Ohio Virtual Academy which uses the K12 curriculum. There was alot of research, praying and thoughtful consideration put into this change and we both feel it is best for our family. We have received an amazing amount of support from the Academy Staff as well as the staff at K12. I will be attending a New Parent Orientation later this month and I am really excited to see in more detail what our days will be like.  We have been provided all the materials, computers and printers at no cost.  It is all paid for by our taxes like the local school district receives.  This is an online public school and they are required to take all the same tests as a traditional school.  There is a teacher assigned to our home and the lessons are taught by the K12 staff online.  I am here to make sure they are staying on task, not fooling around as well as answer questions and help out with homework like I would if they were attending a traditional public school.

Our day will start at 8:00 a.m. and once we get set into a schedule that works for us they can be done by noon!  They can even work ahead and have a day off each week.  I was concerned that there would be some resistance to this change but they are really excited.  Even Jake will do some preschool lessons.

I took some pics of our "classroom" to share.

 

Their workstations.  Each computer has headphones & a microphone so that they can communicate with their teacher.

Alex's textbooks for the first Semester.

Alex's workbooks for the year.

Sarah's textbooks and workbooks!

My Teacher manuals if I need to refer to them after the teachers have left for the day.

Jake's station.  He has a preschool workbook, coloring books and other fun stuff to help keep him occupied.