I haven't posted in over six months. There is no dire reason, I just have a very uncooperative computer. In fact, I'm shocked that my screen hasn't frozen right here in the middle of this post as it has every other time I've tried to blog.
We are at the end of a long and trying school year. But we have made it through and now are almost ready for summer. Many things have contributed to a challenging year: moving cross country and getting used to a new place and new people, dealing with a child's newly diagnosed special needs and the accompanying behavior issues, lonely children driving one another crazy because they have no friends to play with, homeschool burnout due to not getting a summer vacation and not having one's school planned adequately, a horrendously long and miserable winter, and bouts of depression for the homeschooling mom due to all of the above.
December was probably rock bottom. Things have been climbing steadily back uphill since January when one of my children started therapy and hope began to creep back into my life. That hope was just a bit more than a flicker, but its flame has brightened and burned more strongly since the weather started to warm up around the beginning of April. I never knew what a difference a little sunshine could make in a whole family's life. Schooling outdoors is the BEST thing ever.
Changes are in order for next year. My oldest is going back to school. This was an unexpected decision which I made early in this school year after receiving an unmistakable impression from God that it needed to happen. I have barely been able to meet both of my grades kids' needs this year and keep my own sanity. My second child's emotional and academic needs are so overwhelming and time consuming that I know I cannot continue to do both children justice. Not to mention, I have a sweet little 4-year-old who needs a piece of me too. My oldest is thrilled to be going back to school, which makes me a little sad, but at least I know he will do well and thrive there. I am also so relieved and excited to focus on just one grade next year. I'm not sure I will be able to keep with my own goal of streamlining and making things easier on myself, as I keep coming up with more and more plans and projects for my 3rd grader to fill the space left by Dallin's not being home.
In the meantime we are trying to enjoy our last month of school. Dallin will be studying astronomy, and Sariah will be studying gardening and insects. I purposely chose her block subject so that I could introduce punctuation using the imagery of "workers in the garden of words", an idea that I read in a book. Dallin wants me to become a BSA merit badge counselor so that I can pass him off on his Astronomy merit badge while he does his lesson block. Hopefully I can make that happen.
Pennsylvania is a very highly regulated state for homeschooling, which has added a great deal of stress to my year, although the main thing I have learned is that I actually don't need to stress. In the spring, I joined several facebook groups for PA homeschoolers, and I wish I would have joined them last fall. It would have saved me so much worry. Thank goodness for all those who have gone before me, and those ladies who make it their mission to deal with the laws, to lobby for new laws, to fight against bad laws, and to help the rest of understand both our responsibilities and our rights. I would never have known that our state passed a new law last October, a law which says I no longer have to submit my children's portfolios to the school district, but only to the evaluator of my choice who will then give me a letter of approval for the district. Also through another group I joined, I learned that a group evaluation was planned in my own town, put on by a group of homeschool evaluators who have made it their goal to provide evaluations that don't go one whit beyond what the law requires. So our first evaluation experience should be as painless as possible.
Hopefully once I get a new computer (which should hopefully be SOON, I just have to find the right deal), I can go back and post pictures of all the blocks we have done this past year. Dallin's favorite was business math, no surprise for the child who loves to make money. I think Sariah has enjoyed the Saints blocks fairly well, especially learning about St. Francis of Assisi.
We are at the end of a long and trying school year. But we have made it through and now are almost ready for summer. Many things have contributed to a challenging year: moving cross country and getting used to a new place and new people, dealing with a child's newly diagnosed special needs and the accompanying behavior issues, lonely children driving one another crazy because they have no friends to play with, homeschool burnout due to not getting a summer vacation and not having one's school planned adequately, a horrendously long and miserable winter, and bouts of depression for the homeschooling mom due to all of the above.
December was probably rock bottom. Things have been climbing steadily back uphill since January when one of my children started therapy and hope began to creep back into my life. That hope was just a bit more than a flicker, but its flame has brightened and burned more strongly since the weather started to warm up around the beginning of April. I never knew what a difference a little sunshine could make in a whole family's life. Schooling outdoors is the BEST thing ever.
Changes are in order for next year. My oldest is going back to school. This was an unexpected decision which I made early in this school year after receiving an unmistakable impression from God that it needed to happen. I have barely been able to meet both of my grades kids' needs this year and keep my own sanity. My second child's emotional and academic needs are so overwhelming and time consuming that I know I cannot continue to do both children justice. Not to mention, I have a sweet little 4-year-old who needs a piece of me too. My oldest is thrilled to be going back to school, which makes me a little sad, but at least I know he will do well and thrive there. I am also so relieved and excited to focus on just one grade next year. I'm not sure I will be able to keep with my own goal of streamlining and making things easier on myself, as I keep coming up with more and more plans and projects for my 3rd grader to fill the space left by Dallin's not being home.
In the meantime we are trying to enjoy our last month of school. Dallin will be studying astronomy, and Sariah will be studying gardening and insects. I purposely chose her block subject so that I could introduce punctuation using the imagery of "workers in the garden of words", an idea that I read in a book. Dallin wants me to become a BSA merit badge counselor so that I can pass him off on his Astronomy merit badge while he does his lesson block. Hopefully I can make that happen.
Pennsylvania is a very highly regulated state for homeschooling, which has added a great deal of stress to my year, although the main thing I have learned is that I actually don't need to stress. In the spring, I joined several facebook groups for PA homeschoolers, and I wish I would have joined them last fall. It would have saved me so much worry. Thank goodness for all those who have gone before me, and those ladies who make it their mission to deal with the laws, to lobby for new laws, to fight against bad laws, and to help the rest of understand both our responsibilities and our rights. I would never have known that our state passed a new law last October, a law which says I no longer have to submit my children's portfolios to the school district, but only to the evaluator of my choice who will then give me a letter of approval for the district. Also through another group I joined, I learned that a group evaluation was planned in my own town, put on by a group of homeschool evaluators who have made it their goal to provide evaluations that don't go one whit beyond what the law requires. So our first evaluation experience should be as painless as possible.
Hopefully once I get a new computer (which should hopefully be SOON, I just have to find the right deal), I can go back and post pictures of all the blocks we have done this past year. Dallin's favorite was business math, no surprise for the child who loves to make money. I think Sariah has enjoyed the Saints blocks fairly well, especially learning about St. Francis of Assisi.
Comments
Be kind to yourself,
Cathy
ps Would love to see the work you did together once you get your computer woes sorted :-)