Sometimes I really think I'm crazy

I felt crazy yesterday. Crazy for taking 2 kids out of public school, who liked their teacher, their class, and school in general. They watch spanish videos in the morning after breakfast, run around the house fighting, yelling, playing, and whatever else they can do without hurting one another, Computer games for a bit, lunch, quiet time of reading, workbooks, drawing, nap (yeah well I try), and TV all evening. My oldest Nala, 9 years old, does more book work. She chose to stay in GCA and finish out the year but she has a lot of work to catch up on. She asked me why we don't do anything fun like the stuff they did in school. The mindless activities that I thought were not important, anything having to do with candy and contests, . I thought about what she said and tried to figure out a way to be creative at home with the limited resources. I have a few trips set up, once a week at least so far. I will implement Edible Art days and Awards for them since I see they liked that aspect of school.

Today was a good day, I thought. No book work, a play in the morning at the Aurora Theatre. Gary Grinkle's Battles with Wrinkles and Other Troubles in Mudgeville was a very cute play which 2 of my girls liked. Nina, Ms Everything is Boring, didn't like it she says...even though I saw her crack a smile a number of times.

I did get a Science Experiment book. It was recommended by a good friend of mine from NY who homeschools her 6 yr old and 3 yr old.

I hope I feel normal tomorrow.

2 Days of Traffic Hell..

Well my bad, I drove out to the city. In my defense I was running late as I always am and if I took the train all the way out there I would have missed the show. On Thursday, my friend got us tickets last minute to see The Ohmies. It says for kids 8 and under, but my 9 year old really enjoyed some parts of it. I missed most of it because since I drove out there I had to go feed the meter. When I first went out, I remembered the street I parked out but I felt totally lost all of a sudden and I forgot where I parked. If someone saw my face and saw me walking half way down the street then back the other way, then back the opposite direction again they probably would have thought something was wrong with me. I finally found it but jeez, I felt so silly. As soon as it was over I rushed out to get to the car. My step father lived up in Harlem so I called him and we made a quick stop over to see him. I didn't get to see him when we came up in August so it was a nice visit. We left around 4p, and finally after all the traffic we got home around 630p. I could not believe it took so long.

Then fast forward to today. I had a plan to get out around 11am to get to Sony Wonder Technology Lab for our scheduled reservation of 1230pm. I did the laundry as soon as I got off of work at 730a and although the kids were actually ready on time, before I knew it, the time said 1120a and there was no way we were gonna make it to the city by 1230p. So I decided to drive part way. I parked over in Long Island City which is a hop, skip, and a jump from Manhattan. We took the train 3 stops to midtown and even though we missed our reservation at 1230p, most likely due to the cold, there was no line and we were able to walk right in. It was such a fun, cool, place that the kids really enjoyed. There were a lot of goofy teeny bobbers hanging around but not too bad. We had 5 minutes of "doing the news"and reading from a tele prompter and reporting about polar bears, video games, making movies, and programming a robot. On our way to the train I realized we were walking past FAO Schwartz.

I have never been so I had to take the kids to look even if I couldn't buy anything. Much to my surprise there were quite a few under $20 items, and plenty of ridiculously priced items such as the huge stuffed dog for $100 and the $250,000 Big Piano from the movie "Big", a Barbie Foosball table for $25,000 (only 10 were made) and a Barbie collectible Gold Label doll for $150.

We headed back around 430p. The traffic was a little better than yesterday, we made it home by 6p but the kids were upset it was too dark to go outside and play in the snow again. Well there is talk about yet more snow this weekend. I really hope we make it out of here on Monday. I will always love NY but I can't wait to get back to my home in GA.

Finally we get out...

I wanted to make it out somewhere before the snow came on Wednesday. So we didn't get to Rockefeller Center for iceskating. I was really disappointed for that but we'll do it one of these days We went to Queens World Ice at Flushing Meadow Park for Ice Skating and we had a ball. I haven't been ice skating since I was about 7 or so. My girls were scared they wouldn't know how to skate but I reassured them that they would be really good at it. They can roller skate and are generally active kids so i had no doubts they would be skating all over by themselves. It took them a little bit to get warmed up but once they did no one wanted to hold hands or the sides anymore. I wish I got better pictures. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so the ones I got were all of them hanging out on the sides...and then later we were having so much skating forgot to try again. We went with a friend of mine and her two girls. Despite all the screaming teeny boppers hanging out, I didn't hear any foul language and the music was clean yet popular. The girls thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I was happy I could get them out for some fun. Later we went to visit a the old neighborhood...just for a little. It was late so we didn't spend too much time but I wanted to see them just in case the snow kept us in the rest of our stay here.

I borrowed my friend's

Moby wrap thinking, oh I can use this

when I take the kids ice skating but

thankfully hubby didn't have to work and

he stayed with Lil Man.

A New Year

Everyone will be officially homeschooled starting NOW. I need to file my letter of intent while I'm here so the school will stop sending letters about the kids missing more than the acceptable amount of days.



On another note: It's a new year and we're in New York, snow on the ground, just made it in after a snowstorm. I want to try to make it to the following museums that we missed in 2008 before we left: Sony Wonder Technology Lab, Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, and Children's Museum of Manhattan, All Free! I love NY, really!

Indecisive

The 2 girls who are in public school were home this week for thanksgiving vacation. We didn't do much and did not do any "school". We did read every day so at least like I felt like we did something. I did work with Nala on math. Hubby and I were trying to decide if we should officially bring the girls home now instead of waiting for january. I don't know what to do with everyone all day right now. We don't have money for any sports or classes now, I feel like the girls will be bored watching tv, which is not what I want either. I want their days to be filled with interesting and fun moments, the kinds of things that capture their attention at school. I just don't know how I can compete.

Starting Over

Here I am 2.5 years later. I came across my blog by accident, forgot I even started it but wishing I had continued with it. I don't know if I will but i wanted to try this again.

Where do I begin? Well we're in GA now, came here as a homeschooling family, loving it and starting new however things were not what we expected. The homeschooling community seemed so different and somewhat secluded than what we were used to in NY. In addition, we chose to live in a suburb community away from the city, 30 miles to be exact, away from everything it seemed. There were no free museums from what I found, a few free days but nothing like we had in NY. My girls didn't have any friends like they were used to. We tried to find our place here. The girls joined a homeschooling girls scout troop and there were park days....but it just wasn't enough. About 6 months into our life here I found out about a program called GVA, GA Virtual Academy. Basically School at Home....Books, manipulatives, and a computer is provided to students. Everything is laid out for you. No curriculum planning. It was great...or so I thought. Maybe a little too structured. Nala enjoyed it but Nina didn't like it. It was "fake school" to her. They missed the camaraderie between her NY friends. I just didn't know how to make it work, how to keep them busy, or how to give them the socialization that they craved and needed. That September 2009 I registered them at school....and it wasn't so bad. I worked a lot of overtime, had time for myself throughout the day, got some sleep, paid off some bills. The girls seemed to enjoy school, did well at their academics and enjoyed extra curricular activities such as ballet, tumbling and cooking classes.

Fast forward to May 2010, Nala, now 9 years old, said that she wanted to be homeschooled again. She was not being bullied or harassed at school. She wanted to continue the adventures we had our first year with amazing trips and easy days. I was surprised, excited, and scared. I was due with baby #4 in July and didn't know how i would homeschool her. In addition, my husband was back and forth between GA and NY for work so I didn't know what was going to happen. How could I homeschool just 1 child? What about my other 2 in school? Could I really go from no children at home to 4 at home? All of these questions however I decided to just start off with her and see where it went after that. We did GVA again which is now GCA--GA Cyber Academy. It was still very structured and was way more books this time around but it's a big help to me. After I work my 8 hr shift, I give Nala a list of things to do, maybe 2 hrs of stuff. She takes breaks in between by reading or having a snack. I take a 2 hr nap with my 4.5 month old son. When I get up we review her work and start new lessons. It may vary with me staying up for a little first and do a lesson or two and then going to sleep. Either way Nala works independently and does very well on her own.

Our experience isn't going quite how I wanted. I'm still having a problem with the socialization. We don't have money for activities right now. We did re join the group from 2 years ago but she still feels like a newbie and no one there is quite her age. I guess this is still a work in progress......we've done some trips but not like I want. I want more of the museums, art, history, and music that we were able to incorporate before. Have I once again made a mistake with this? Now my other 2 kids....I've brought up the topic of them coming home with us and they still want to be in school. They enjoy it. I've been thinking of what I can do. I have some ideas.

So with my husband finally home permanently and on my side, we have decided to bring the 2 girls in public school, Nina and Natasha home in January. We will have money for a few classes for them and are building a friendship with another homeschooling family their age.

I really think I can do this and I really want to make this work. Why blog? This is for me and my kids. To document our adventures in learning and to show them how much I love them.



Nala won 3rd place in her first Science Fair.
The Effects of Salt on the Temperature of Boiling Water.

April 16, 2008

So I finished my quarterly report and sending it off tomorrow. I had Nala tested in March using a CAT 5 test. I wanted to get an idea how she's doing. I felt like I wasn't doing enough however she tested 96% and on a grade level 3.6, her math was low, she did not finish the section....looking back I already knew this: I knew she was having a problems with math but we've been working on it daily. I knew she was well beyond first grade reading level because of the books she reads on her own. Nala has definitely improved with math. We have moved on to double digit addition and subtraction and she's doing well.

I've been working with Nina on reading and writing letters and numbers.

I just recently began working with Natasha on counting and colors.

Even though we don't do social studies, history, and geograpy in a structured way like I hear others do we read alot and that's where most of history comes from. Every now and then I may find a lesson on science and incorporate it into a history lesson or geography. I keep comparing myself to other parents and comparing my kids t0 other kids thinking we have to be similar to someone else but it's really what works for our family. My kids are great and doing really well in this homeschooling environment and I think I'm doing a good job teaching my kids.