The End of Virtual School

Yeay!!! Ok, one of the benefits of being on my own is that I can make the decisions that I feel are best for my family. My daughter has been fighting me on school, she just doesn't like the virtual school set-up. To tell you the truth, I haven't liked it from day 1 as well. I grew less and less enchanted with it as the "teacher" became more and more involved in not only what to teach but also how and when to teach it.
Today I had enough. The teacher called to let me know that my daughter was "seriously behind" her classmates, and she was nearing "alarm status". I asked the teacher if the other children could add and subtract, or if they know the planets in our solar system. That stumped her. :-) My daughter is having problems with handwriting, and that is the main focus of the K curriculum in this particular school. The teacher would email me on occasion stating that in 1st grade there is twice as much writing, so my daughter had better "get a move-on". Her statements were much more long-winded (can you get more long-winded than me?) :-)
I called the school and politely un-enrolled her. I will be sending back the materials next week, and we will be free to school the way we want to. I think I will head over to Ambleside and see which books I should check out from the library this week. No More Twaddle - YEAY!!! The virtual school sent us all these books that I definitely would not have chosen for myself, and a lot of them changed certain words due to "political correctness". For example, in a folk story, they stated that a metal worker (in other words, a horseshoe maker) was a female (not likely). Or that "Native Americans" vied for land from the Settlers (in other words, the Indians and Pilgrims were fighting).
No more! We will learn things the way they happened, not the "politically correct" way. And she will not read twaddle anymore. Well, ok, she can still have her bedtime stories :-) But no more twaddle for reading comprehension. I will start a plan over the weekend, and by next week, school should definitely be more fun for all of us.
In hope for a better tomorrow,
One Christian Mom

Venting Post

Sorry, but I have to get this off my chest, and since this is my blog, here goes :-)



Sometimes I don't know what I am feeling... anger, rage, self pity, pity for my alcoholic husband??? Last night he told me that in the intrest of "honesty regardless of feelings" (what's that all about, anyway?) that he is upset with me for making him move out. I made him move out because while drunk he hurt two of the children. He's only been sober a week, I don't feel safe enough yet to let him back in! HE'S ANGRY WITH ME???!!! What is that all about???!!! I mean, he upset me to the point of tears, and those don't come easily anymore.

Can anyone explain this "honesty regardless of feelings" is all about? Is this an AA teaching? If so, I guess I had better toughen up, because this will probably open up a floodgates of everything he has been holding back for 7 years. He has never been communicative so it will be interesting to see what else he's upset about.



Thanks to all for your everlasting understanding and encouragement.

Venting over :-)

One Christian Mom

Not Much Time

I don't have too much time for a post today. The baby is still getting fevers, and he is crying most of the time. He is distracted right now because his sister let him play in her room so mommy could get some stuff done :-) She is being a good girl today. Yesterday she had her moments, but today was better. I think day by day, as she realizes that this is stable now, things will get better.



My middle son is just loving being home. He is playing with his Christmas toys as if nothing ever happened. We got a netflix subscription for Christmas, and I picked one for them - they have been watching it all day :-) They don't usually get TV all day, but I am still weaning them down from tv 24-7 at relative's homes. I never realized how much TV people watch!



It is icy here, so there are no services this evening. I can't wait until next Wednesday now, I haven't been to wed services in so long, not since my hubby moved back home the first time. Well, I had better get some "stuff done" while the baby isn't looking for "uppies" :-)



One Christian Mom

To Homeschool or Not To Homeschool?

I am having a really hard time schooling my daughter right now. I read about this when making the decision to homeschool, that people go through this, but it seems like we will never get back on track. We just arrived home yesterday, and have still yet to unpack. We didn't get a winter break because we were playing catch-up from the surgery. The baby and I are sick, and my daughter doesn't want to do school. All of this adds up, and it makes for a very hard time. We haven't opened a schoolbook since Sunday, when we finished our catch-up and now we need to catch up all over again.

If we were traditional homeschoolers, I guess I could just push it all back and say oh well, lets just start up again. But I have a virtual teacher breathing down my back telling me that no matter my circumstances, we have to "keep up" and send in our portfolio which is already late. I am just at my wits end thinking about things. Will it all settle down for long enough for us to catch up and do well, or do I just drop the whole program, which I don't care for anyway, and start my own thing for the rest of the year.

She is only in Kindergarten, will this affect the rest of her school career? Probably not. If I liked the program she was in, would this even be an issue? Probably not. Could I do our own thing and still keep up enough for her to enter first grade in the fall? Probably.

So here's the problem. Am I disciplined enough to "do our own thing" every day like school if I don't have the virtual teacher breathing down my neck? I don't know. Something to ponder I guess.

Thanks for reading :-)
Comments, as always, are welcome!
One Christian Mom

A Cute Moment - Life Lessons From A 5 Year Old

We had a cute moment amidst the chaos today, and it helped me remember why I am going through all of this. My daughter, God bless her! The baby has not stopped crying for most of the day today. He is teething, and I think that that, coupled with all the moving we have been doing has just set him off. He cried for most of the day yesterday, and a good portion of the day today. My daughter was tired of hearing him cry despite my attempts to comfort him. She told me to make him face her, she would "do the trick". :-)

Well, she did! She started singing and dancing to her heart's content. She made up a song about being the littlest person and God and Jesus loving us just the same. Something about God being the biggest there is, and loving even the smallest of us. It was really cute, especially since she makes these things up off the top of her head. She doesn't rhyme, but that's not important. She sings all out of key and dances the most untrained dance, and it is awesome!!! The baby thought so, too. :-) He started smiling and clapping for her, and she just kept right on going. She must have sang for a good 10 minutes or so before she got tired and stopped. Don't you know that the baby hasn't cried since? He ate dinner, drank a bottle, and is watching tv - not usually allowed, but given the circumstances I am allowing it today.

She helped me remember two things. 1) I am going through this right now for my children and 2) God is bigger than us all, and he will help us perservere!

Great lessons coming from a 5 year old!

In Love,
One Christian Mom

Home Again

Phew! A lot has happened since my last post. I don't really feel like getting into it right now, I probably will in a later post. The short of it is that the kids and I are home, and hubby is staying with his parents. We are all safe and sound, if not a little tired from the travelling. We are thankful for all the family who helped us out during these last weeks, but are happy to be home.

That's it for now, I promise to explain more soon - if not today maybe tomorrow. I need to get settled :-)

One Christian Mom