Give Me Structure

Oh.My.Soul.  I can't take it.  I can't.  They are driving me INSANE!  E has been finished with school for nearly two weeks now and it's been cartoons and playstation all day long.  The girls are still finishing up their respective workbooks and such but with no real schedule.  We're winging it.  I wanted (needed) to relax our days a little due to hubby's new work hours forcing me to wake up at 5:30am.  Somehow, the kids thought that meant they should get up too.  Umm, no.  Why are they trying to go downstairs to watch TV at 7:00am???  For real?!  I had to remind them there is no reason for them to get up so early now.  They weren't happy about that but settled for an 8:00 compromise.  Still early but more reasonable than 7:00.   Once breakfast has been eaten they are either in front of the TV or on the computer.  Part of me doesn't mind but there's the other part that needs the peace and quiet of children reading or studying in workbooks.  All day I hear "mom, can I watch this", "she hit me", "they won't share".  Puhlease, leave me alone.  When is my vacation?   Nope, can't continue like this.  I'm gonna become one of those homeschoolers who school year round.  They need the structure.  This freedom of play all day, veg in front of the TV or computer is no bueno.  We'll be doing some reading assignments, math games/worksheets and organized art  projects to keep us busy 2 - 3 days a week.  Oh, and I guess I can muster the strength to walk to the playground once or twice during the week.

We're Done!

Woo Hoo!  My young man E, has completed all his lessons for the year.  Fifth grade here we come!!  He is beyond excited and so proud of himself.  He worked HARD this week and sacrificed playtime, fun computer time, tv....  I'm proud of him.  I had my end year conference with his teacher, (who gave him rave reviews) and she was also proud of his progress.  We got the official word from her that he has been promoted. yay!  We also discussed plans for next year, which include dropping music (their program kinda sucks, IMO) and adding Spanish.  It was his choice... I would've chosen French.  We expect to get his new materials in early August.  He's now looking forward to a summer filled with PlayStation and a couple summer camp classes. But first, we have a school sponsored Celebration Day at a local park on Friday and our own family celebration after Dad comes home from work later that day. 

Finally Friday

That's pretty much how I feel about this week.  It's been busy.   Things are winding down for E so I'm busy double checking his courses to make sure he is getting everything caught up for the year.  He's in no danger of not making the 920 hours requirement for the year but I also want him to finish all of his courses.
I let the girls unschool for the week because it's becoming a strain on my emotions to constantly tell them to do their work.   So, this week I gave them some flexibility and let them enjoy some of the lesson samples from K12.  They really enjoyed them and makes me look forward to the next school year.

"Dr. Bones" science game



E had a busy week of "test prep" sessions with his teachers and offline.  His brain is surely on overload so we were more than happy to take some time today and go have an unplanned recess with other students and parents.  It was nice to be out in the sun (and wind) watching him run and play.  He really needed it and totally enjoyed his recess.  He even played a little volleyball for the first time.  I didn't take pics 'cause I was too busy running my mouth.  Oh, he even met a therapy dog and learned a little about their jobs.  *thumbs up for supplemental learning hours - social studies, health & P.E.

The girls had their share of running and playing outside too.

It was a good week, full of learning and play.  Next week... state testing!

Sunday Night Thoughts

Right now, I'm getting my lesson plan/schedules done for the week. (Just for the girls since E's plans are done by k12).  I'm so very tired of doing this.  It's so TEE-DEE-US.  Ugh!  What makes it more difficult is that they are a little ahead of their grade level in some areas.  It's hard to find the right work for them to do.  Tae, my first grader, loves to work and gets excited about learning but if she hits a roadblock she'll freak out.  However, my sweet little Yaya, my precious kindergartener is tough to figure out.  She doesn't like to write (unless SHE makes the decision to write), she knows her math but if she can see that it is the same type of work Tae is doing, she'll stop and say, "I can't do that, it's first grade work."  WAH??  If I give her stuff geared toward kindegarteners, she'll say it's "too easy" or "I don't want to do this because I already know the answers."  If I could put them on the computer and let them have at it, they wouldn't complain a bit.  SO FRUSTRATING.  Goodness.  I've flirted with the idea of unschooling them but somehow it turns into straight up playtime.  I don't know, maybe letting them (especially Yaya) lead is the better way to go for the remainder of the school year and summer.  I'll give them the access to the books, worksheets, etc. but let them decide if they want to do it. (??)  I don't know. 

Last Week

... was a pretty productive week.  The girls are officially enrolled in school.  yay!  My homepage on the OLS (on-line school) now shows all three kids as my students. (giddy!)  Of course there are no courses loaded yet but I can see a list of the courses they each will have the next school year.

E has been working hard this past week on test prep. Two days out of the week, he has a class connect session with his teacher who goes over different questions and methods to succeed on the state assessments.  He will take those exams in about three weeks. 

My mind and time was filled with trying to figure out how we I will organize the school supplies for all three kids.  This year we made the dining room our school room. 

wall map and calendar boards from start of school year

E's computer in the dining room (before start of school year)

However, for the next school year, I don't know if I want all three of them in the same room.   E will be in the 5th grade while the girls will be in 1st and 2nd.  A part of me believes there needs to be some separation.  I feel like I should keep the girls in a different area from him.  I don't know.  It's all being tossed around my brain right now.  Thankfully, I have a full summer ahead to work it all out.  This week, I'm enjoying a much needed break from the daily grind of schooling.  Woo hoo it's Spring Break!!!

Enrollment

This week, we made the decision to enroll our youngest children, our daughters T & A ages 6 and 5, respectively into the Virtual Academy at K12. It’s a bittersweet moment for me. On the one hand, I am excited about the learning and challenges they willl experience throughout the school year. On the other, my babies are growing up! How did that happen? I look at them and think they are so small and precious, how could I possibly let them out of my sight! Thankfully, I don’t have to. We didn’t intend to enroll them in the public school system so young. We independently homeschooled E through the third grade. We only decided to enroll him in K12 for financial reasons. Praise the Lord it was an available option in our state. We didn’t have the option in NY. Anyhoo, the applications have been submitted for T & A so now we wait for the telephone conference with our PAL (Personal Admissions Liaison) to answer some questions to fill in the blanks, perhaps submit other documentation. They don’t know about their new enrollment yet. I will wait until the enrollment is approved before I let them in on the change. They are gonna be so excited. New computers! I’ll be excited for them until then. In the meanwhile, I need to figure out organization for the new school items. Time to purge!! They will get a lot of stuff. I’m so excited!

Intro to Us!

Welcome to Missions Academy. I’m a wife to a wonderful husand and mom to three wonderful blessings. My son E is 10, daughter Tae is 6 and daughter A (yaya) is 5. I knew I wanted to homeschool before my oldest child turned one. It’s always been something I knew I would do. I never wanted anyone other than family to look after my child and future children. To this day, only one friend has ever watched (babysat) any of my children and that was only once. Nothing against her but we are very protective of our blessings. Anyhoo, I was able to leave work after my second child was born in 2005 and we’ve been going strong ever since. We’ve always been independent homeschoolers until the 2011-12 school year when we enrolled my son in K12′s virtual academy. What a change. Now as my youngest is reaching compulsory school age, the husband and I have decided it would be a good idea to enroll our daughters in the school as well. After searching many, many blogs and educational resources, I didn’t find many families like mine; Multiple age/grade students all doing online school at home. So, I decided I would start this little blog to document our journey of having multiple students enrolled in a virtual academy. So although the current school year is winding down and E is getting ready to take his very first state assessments, we are preparing to introduce our youngest children to the world of public education… AT HOME!