I have to admit that this year's school has kept me on my toes.
All 3 boys are home this year. David is in 7th grade and we began the year with him open enrolled into the Appleton school district virtual school. We withdrew him within 10 days. That will tell you how well it worked for him. His teacher was over tasked with more than 40 students. She had no lesson plans prepared and it was over-the-top frustrating for both David and I. We had no idea what we were suppose to do for the Language Arts or Social Studies lessons. He had a different teacher for Math (he was enrolled in 8th grade math due to his advancement). That teacher was on the ball! Boy, I wish he taught all the classes. We would've stayed. Everything was clearly laid out, links were working and overall it was very easy to follow. We requested another 7th grade teacher but there was only 1 for that grade. No wonder we couldn't even log in to her room. What a mess. So we punted. We contacted the Department of Education and filed our home school form. We scrambled week 2 of school and bought all our curriculum to be shipped ASAP. I stayed up for days lesson planning to get us caught up.
Caleb is is grade 3 and he also is home. Caleb was also enrolled with Appleton school district virtual school and he is having a great experience. We withdrew David, but we continued with Caleb. His teacher is wonderful. Everything we need to do is well planned and communicated. The standard of education is obviously higher in Appleton than here in Evansville. Our district really has a long way to go. We are very pleased with the virtual school experience Caleb is having. It is a true indicator that the teacher makes all the difference. Caleb has done a number of writing projects that are WELL above the level of the 3rd grade classes at our local school.
Nathan is home as well. He is technically in kindergarten due to his September 8th birthday. However, he does 1st and 2nd grade class work with me. He reads chapter books while his peers are learning their vowel sounds. He is learning how to carry and borrow in 2 and 3 digit addition and subtraction while his peers are learning how to count to 50. Don't get me wrong, he will attend the public school just as the other boys have done at some point. He will get a year of pure social education, just as David and Caleb got. Nathan will really thrive in the school environment due to his disposition.But for now, I plan to give him a big educational head start.
The boys are all in swim lessons and will continue with that thru the winter. David and Caleb will start wrestling in about a week. This, on top of AWANA and music lessons, means we are more busy than I would like. I can't even make a grocery list, between all the responsibilities. I longed for the days of preschool to be over and here we are. Now it is go, go, go. I have entered the taxi driver stage. I do have to admit that I love them at this age. It is a rare thing for them to interrupt my sleep, I don't wipe anyone else's bottom, and at swim lessons no one accompanies me into the ladies locker room. WHOOT!
Our everyday commitments keep us busy, but add on the events of a normal life and we have been playing defense more than I would like. David has been doing farm work part time, our dog got fleas in September, my phone got dropped and I lost all my pictures and videos, and someone bashed John's car side mirror off while parked at work.
I am thankful though, all of us made it thru October without pneumonia from the moldy leaves. There was a lot of sickness in my Cubbie class. Those little Cubbies are adorable, but I knew I was increasing my chances of getting sick by being their teacher. We sanitize and teach kiddos how to cough in their elbow a lot!
I wish I had pictures of the last 3 months to add, but they are lost forever. Sigh.
