Stay the Course

I feel like a ship navigating the seas. I remind myself that I must stay on course. I begin the week with a plan that has been very carefully thought out and placed in a nice neat format called A Beka Curriculum Guide.  All that is required of me is to read the lesson plans, copy the material on the board and tell about it. 

Stay the course, I think to myself. Today I will cover all subjects exactly the way it is designed. I will use all of my visual aides that go with the program. I will be sure to get it set up the night before so that I look like I have it all together. I will not fumble around and look for things. The room will begin neat, clean and organized every Monday morning. Yes indeed, this week I will stay the course.So I wake on Monday and discover that my body is not use to some crazy time shift. I am not yet recovered from working my weekend shifts in the ICU. I will wake. I will go to the room and be sure it is all neat, clean and organized. I will gather the material that will be needed and set my sail to the wind. I plan to hold tight to the wheel and stay the course.

Then the telephone rings. "Good morning mom" she says. "he left for work and did not move the car seat to my van".  "I am exhausted, my feet are aching something terrible and I really do not feel like coming to pick up the kids." I say.  "Tell you what" I continue, "the temperature is going to be wonderful today"  I convince her that they will not even be able to concentrate.  See how quickly the tide can change?  The wind blew one way and I let it carry me over that edge.  I wanted to stay the course, I just could not control the tide and the winds that change them.

Suddenly, I have sunk to the level that I am afraid happens far to often some days. Then I see them in a co-op classroom with others their age and feel confident that we are doing very good overall. Sure the public schools had just celebrated their 100 days of school. We will too in 38 more days. We don't have a calendar that tells us what to do, I think to myself. 

Oh no!  I look at the calendar and it tells me that we have homeschool classes at the St. Louis Zoo at 11:30 today. I had just suggested to my daughter that she take the kids out for a walk and get some yard work accomplished as a family. After all, that has educational value as well.  I must call her.

Ring, ring...."you have reached the voicemail..."  Let me try again. Let me try again. 

"What?" she says as she picks up the phone.  "Are they dressed" I ask. "Yes" she replies.  I am elated because as it turns out I can now once again stay the course.  It was planned months ago that school today was not my responsibility.  I have paid for classes to be taught by professional zoologists.  I hop in the ship and head to her house. All would be fine if I was not feeling rushed.  If only, in my charting the course for the week I would have turned over the page on the calendar last week and discovered the plan.  Oh well, I can't bother with that now.  The day was going to be sunny and actually hot, so this is a win-win sort of day.  Again, the winds have shifted the tide but we are back on a course that was plotted out by a much more rationale person than I am now. When I plotted that course the year was fresh and new.

Load in girls, we have to get on the road but wait a moment. Here comes the two year old. He heard the word zoo and put on his foot braces and shoes while I was on the way.  Seems we are now all going to the zoo. 

Arrival is a success with fifteen minutes to spare. That is provided that the rest of the St. Louis area was not out on a spring break and all those crazy parents who took vacation time to spend the week with them have brought them to the zoo.  The presence of my daughter becomes very evident and I use her.  Two hop out of the car while the rest of us head to the south parking lot.  The north lot is full and the parking down the roads make it difficult to navigate the streets of Forrest Park.  Being a zoo member means free parking, trust me, it pays for itself in no time at all.

Educationally speaking we are on course again. The pain in my feet is about to feel like hot, sharp razors slicing through my skin. Being the driver I was left with the car seat child. That child becomes a stroller child as soon as the car door opens.  We make our way toward my daughter and find that they are still waiting for the teacher to gather the children and head to the classroom. 

Next comes the dreaded stop. Well, I say dreaded but it was a promised stop months ago. This is the month that Grace was promised she could go to the Build-A-Bear in the zoo. She saved up money and even chose to avoid a souvenir at the Disney on Ice show.  Owen wants a flamingo.  Really, does he need a flamingo? He did not count every penny and help clean my house to earn money.  He was a fish tossed onto my ship today when the wave came through. So he gets a pink flamingo but no clothes or other items. Thankfully he is not into such things.  He loves his flamingo so much. Names it FeeFee and later that night sleep with him.

Now that we have accomplished this I must eat.  I did not have anything and I feel like I could pass out.  Another wave comes over my ship and we realize that the hundreds of people at the zoo will also be hungry and thirsty. Normally there are plenty of venues to accommodate such a crowd. That of course is provided that it is after freeze time zone. The calendar on the wall says that things are still locked up and the pipes have been winterized. 

A short time passes and it is time for Faith to get out of class. We have one hour to wait before Grace's class will start. Glass cuts into my feet.  My back muscles begin to weaken and I am stooping over in my steps. Faith will need to get a snack as well, so I can stop and sit.

I must have let go of the wheel because havoc breaks out. Grace dropped her hippo into the prairie dog  area.  I grab a child by the ankles and hung them upside down. I do not plan to drop the sails yet, there is still wind a blowin'.  Crisis averted. 

Fortunately it is time for the next class.  I take a child and leave everybody behind.  Upon my return I discover they have left the area. No problem, with modern technology I will just send her a text and find them.  Modern technology has not yet figured out how to be sure that I have a charged telephone when I leave the house.  Truth be known, I had lost the thing in the car and it was only while we were looking for a parking place that it was found and put on a charger in the first place. 

I turn to these nice city folks and ask if perhaps I can call my daughter, as I show them my dead telephone.  Turns out that I could not find a nice city folk. Being the captain of this voyage I am able to problem solve.  I will go to my car where I can sit and relax. I can charge the telephone and when the class is about over I will drive over to the north lot pick up area. I will send a text to my daughter so she knows the plan. 

In my ship, that we affectionately call Bessie, I make several turns of my rudder and get to the pick up point. I never hear back from my daughter. What in the world? I get a text from a co-op buddy who is with my family and she tells me the cell is dead.  Class is about to be over and they need to know where I am and what the plan is going to be. Text messages back and forth.

First set of children arrive to car. Daughter goes in the building again to gather Grace from class. I find myself at car seat duty again. I teach Faith how to change into her gymnastic clothes in the car, un-noticed.  She is finished and buckled in when the next child arrives. She knows the drill about how to change.

We again catch a good tide that take us back out to sea. I have managed to get back on course several times today. We arrive at gymnastics class with three minutes to spare.

I find it is pushing 6pm.  I am on my way home. The telephone rings.  Honestly, I do not know how he knew I had found my phone but I hear on the other end, "What do you have planned for dinner?" 

HA!  Turns out that I never completed the plan from Friday so I was able to appear as if I had managed to stay on course as a wife too. 

I do think there is a moral to this very true story and turn of events. Let me begin with the fact that I know we are not on schedule for the typical school year. This day only goes to show that if you just steady your course from time to time, the wind and tides that will distract and move you in a different direction will also give you an exciting journey as your reach your final destination. We all reach our destination at one point in time. I will not worry about the time, I will be sure to keep us on point and most of all, I will enjoy and endure the journey.

Life and Living Education

When I began this blog I felt it would be all about the formal education of my grandchildren. I knew some of our home school experience would be traditional and some would be rather nontraditional. What I did not prepare myself for is the daily life and living education that would be included. I imagine that the brick and mortar schools touch on this as do the skeptics in regards to social skills. DO NOT get me wrong! I do not believe that a brick building is the best place to socialize a child. I believe the opposite in fact.  Yet, I do think that there are areas of conduct that are taught early on in a school setting and perhaps due to fear of punishment or loss of recess time kiddos catch on fast.

I find that I am still teaching G that grabbing a hold of a person to hug them good-bye is not socially acceptable behavior. Mind you, I am not talking about a grandmother or uncle, but a person who strikes up a conversation in a check out line.  No matter how many times I say it there seems to be a joyfulness within G that must hug. I find this Christmas season that she did much better at this but still she would yell out to an entire room-- MERRY CHRISTMAS as she would exit. Perhaps I should have halted that but I did not. I want all to hear that it is the season of Christ birth and she is happy to announce it. 

Other areas of education are including household tasks that they probably would not have touched if they were not home all day. Since their mother has had a long recovery I have begun doing things with them that she would probably thought they were too young. A few days ago we began dinner prep while I fixed breakfast. I showed the F and G how to peel carrots and prep potatoes for their pot roast that was going to be placed in the slow cooker.  WOW, they shocked me! They are taking on more tasks in the home that directly effect them but would be helpful to the running of a busy household. G filled a shopping cart from a shopping list and directed F along the way so she was also helping. Then there is the area of appreciation. Not being in a selfish world it seems easy to redirect selfish behavior and gratitude for the things in your life.

Still, modern world finds its way into our life. G is certain she needs a cell phone. She tells us about all her friends who have one. So I explained the day of those friends. Lets see, they wake early morning and are dropped off at a sitters house. From there, they walk to the school rain or shine as the sitter has many tiny ones. I explain that a lot can happen in a three block walk and some walk farther than that. When school is let out they walk back to the sitters house. I explained that all her friends who have a cell phone also have divorced parents. As I create my summary I tell her how fortunate she is that she has an uncomplicated life. That she always knows who is taking care of her at any given moment. That all the people who take care of her are family members who are 100% reliable. That if the time ever comes that she is riding her bike to town, or in the care of a sitter we would make sure she could reach us in an emergency but for now the need is not there.  OK she tells me but then asked if she could have a phone so she could text her friends.  BANG BANG BANG my head hits the wall. Life is an education for me on a daily basis.

I hope all have had a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.

My Perfect Day

Today we took a hike in our vastly wooded area next door. My neighbor is the Kaskaskia Fish and Wildlife Area. What a good neighbor they are as I have access to a wealth of nature resources to share with the girls.

The leaves are perfect, the weather was perfect and so off we were. I had the day off from my job because we did not have enough patients in the ICU. On our hike we found owl pellets that we explored, mussel shells, newly fallen trees that have created a terrific tree house and jungle gym, fresh kill of some feathered critter with some scattered fresh remains, beaver signs, animal tracks, somebody's deer stand, camouflaged tree frog, and great examples of hitch-hike seeds.

I love where we live. Life experiences are great especially when you have curious and eager learners at hand. It was not a school day but the way the girls were into things you sure would think it was. The told me all I would want to know about so many things that my mind is still spinning. Every day is an opportunity to make new memories with them and I am lucky to have made many today.

Each girl made me a fall time sensory box today.  It is filled with pine cones, pecans, acorns, pine needles, moss, drying leaves that crunch small branches with tiny red berries but they caution me not to eat it.  I am so lucky to have such excellent teachers.

More than what is learned in a classroom

This past week the television has not been on. We, as on extended family, have been getting the house in order. Not my house but the house that G and F live in. It took all of us but everything is in its place. Well almost everything, we have a clean learning area but the items in that area need to be arranged for the new year. I let G and F know right away that we needed and expected their help. I gave them the excuse that K is pregnant and I am getting too old to crawl along the floor picking up things but then I also told them that they really need to take on the accountability in the family to help "make it go".

They really seemed to take on the teachings this week and did not complain about what needed to be done. When we reached their toy area I sat back and gave direction on how to manage and clean the area. They need that right now, we all understand how it is when you look at a task and are not sure where to begin.  I hope that this is an ongoing thing. I believe that one other advantage to home education is that it is more about developing a complete independent effective adult. To do that you include them into the daily grind of homemaking, you take the extra minute it takes for them to help pay for an item at the store, you cover a grocery list and assess the needs of the household, you develop a menu together, you fold laundry and put the items where they belong.  This is an area that I know I failed as a mother. I went to work, gave them everything and expected nothing. WOW, let me tell you that it has shown in both of my adult children.

My own children learned much outside of their brick and mortar school as we were an active household. But it is only in the last two years that my 30 yr old son is taking full responsibility of his life. K, the mother to G and F is 24 yrs old and she is a great mom but it is only because she is now a SAHM that she is managing the homemaker skills. I just did not include them on a daily basis and so it was their disadvantage as an adult.

Last night my son took the time to teach G how to ride her bike without training wheels. She should have had them off before now but was too afraid. So, she did not ride her bike much as she did not find it a lot of  fun anymore. Of course, training wheels slow down a person of her age and size. Uncle D was wonderful, she was on her own in no time and then he taught her how to lean into a turn and get started on her own. She was so proud of herself, and told me that she did not know riding a bike could be so much fun.

Overall it has been a week of valuable lessons even though our structured lessons do not begin until next week.

OH, I almost forgot......... I got  the co-op email last night and they announce a group movie that include a 67 page lesson plan. It is a true story called DOLPHIN TALE.  We are looking forward to this. Even Grandpa wants to go.

Schooling At Home vs Home-Schooling

The light bulb is on!!!!

In my beginning post, as I prepared for this journey, there was all kinds of verbiage about preparing the class room.  I obtained desks, I set up specific learning area and prepared to be in the front of a classroom to tell the girls what they needed to know.

I now have the double easel at the edge of the living room and dinning room to pull around and use as I need it. During paint time I placed that easel in the middle of the kitchen so the paint spills could easily be cleaned up.  The text books and workbooks fill a chair that is usually unused at my table and the leaf extensions of the table are permanently in place.  The walls of the kitchen, in between the decor of the home, have cardboard crayons in the correct corresponding color to match the word and a large home made math chart to reinforce some basic addition facts an rules. 

I have looked at this so far as my failure to maintain structure and control. UNTIL last night!!  I was taken to a broadcast archive in the process of searching, not sure what I was searching for even.  The broadcast was in the archives of September 2010 of Dr. James Dobson. I clicked first on the Sept 1 broadcast and listened to an old interview that Dr. Dobson feels is key to the current home-school movement into the mainstream.  The second one was specifically about home-schooling. 

It was an eye opener into my own evolution so to speak as a teacher of these girls.  Why, just yesterday, before hearing this information, I asked a friend who lives in Texas how far along they were in the lesson plans.  Her view was that it did not matter, that we are a private school and we know what and when is the best time to teach our individual children.

I reflect upon that and imagine being in a traditional setting.  In the public school those who struggle and have qualifying test get to have an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Well, well---isn't every child in need of an individual plan to learn.  Every child has common ground that is used to teach them but they all also have their own special way of grasping things, of flourishing to be all they are capable of, and they all deserve and IEP.

We tend to teach in the method that we are most familiar with. For me that is the public school method but as a parent I saw and learned the flaws of that method. Being the grandparent who is teaching I feel then that I am specially qualified to recognize the individual needs, I use to anguish over it when my own children were in the PS system. However, the broadcast explains that for many, like myself, there is eventually a shift from schooling your child at home to the true homeschooling experience.

I know I will never completely get rid of the standard style workbook and prepared lesson plans as they are an excellent guide for me.  Perhaps being a nurse has helped me to evolve quickly to a homeschooling environment.  Nurses learn and practice a "nursing process" which calls for the formulation of objectives, interventions and evaluation for each individual health-care issue. After twenty-six years that process is now second nature and guides me unknowingly in other matters of my life.  Perhaps that is how I managed to evolve to the homeschooling level so quickly.

The plans for the week (and the next few) involve a large amount of my "off curriculum" as we begin our first lap-book lesson that will intertwine a daily account of things to be thankful for, Thanksgiving, Native Americans, map skills locating Europe and Plymouth--in the process there will also be recognition of numbers in numerical configuration along with written language: a discussion of trust and honor: religious freedom: how hard work is needed to prepare for the future---in the simple example of preparing food to make it through a winter.  Gee I can go on and on as I feel the excitement of taking on the homeschooling mentality to its most rich fulfillment. 

Today, after a little math and writing, we will wander into our woods.  I will take them into a world of learning through imagination and exploration. 

I am so blessed!!!!!!!!!!

Holding on my own degree, I guess

I really thought this would be the right time to advance my own education as well.  I continue to work every Sat and Sun in a local hospital ICU. I really love that job and feel that nursing is not my career but my ministry.  As I age I know that the bedside care I have come to love is not something I can do later. Nursing is very physically demanding. 

Sure, sure I have said this before but why would I stop working on my Masters Degree so that I can teach nursing later on.  It is simple, my family is first and my new grand-baby will be here in April.  IF...IF M gets the new job and K can stop her job then of course I can return to college.  Right now that is not the situation so I must halt what I am doing. K is very sick still, not new baby sick but APS sick.  She needs everything I can muster to help out right now. 

God has different plans for my life it is clear.  I must follow as it is given me each day.  Maybe He does not intend for me to teach in the classroom but use me in the clinical setting as I do now. I so enjoy having students with me for the day, they enjoy the experience and the local Community College nursing instructors have been encouraging me to join them.  I must consider that God needs me where I am. After all, teaching puts me back to work dive days per week.  My weekend option program is a terrific gig!!!

That is all for now.  I hope this did not sound like I am terribley disappointed as I know enough to follow the path He puts in front of me and rejoice in it, even if I have a temporary disappointed moment.

Will have to wait until Aug 30th

I had really hoped that I could get started before I began school for the girls. The next session I can enroll in will begin on Aug 30th, to make it easier for me I will begin the girls school the week before. Besides our pool will still be open and we can use some swim time our PE time as well. 

I know that I am to further my own education as well. I have felt it for several years.  All the financial paperwork is just not completed for me to begin next week.

Begin July5th

I am suppose to begin on July 5th with my class as I reach for my stars.  I hope to complete my advanced nursing degree.  We had so many unexpected this year with my own illness and then my daughter's extended illness, I am tyring  to stay committed to this start date.

I am faithful and believe if God intends for this to happen it will be revealed to me. 

Next week is VBS and the following I should be online in class.