SOS and more

It's been about 3 weeks now since my son started doing the SOS English and History programs. It's going well for the most part. I've been checking over his work either before I go to bed or when I get up in the morning. He's doing well in all his subjects. His problem seems to be the projects and essays. I did not set up a term so there are no due dates on any of the lessons. He has skipped over the essays in English and some of the Projects/Experiments in Chemistry. I told him he is to have the essays done by the end of this coming week, or I will go back in and set up a term. Then he WILL have due dates. He's been doing two or more lessons/quizzes a day which is good. So I'm happy about that. I just wish he'd do the essays/projects/experiments a little faster.

He is suppose to be doing Wordly Wise too. I get frustrated with him because he doesn't tell me he's completed something and then give me the paperwork. He says he puts it on the cabinet, but how am I suppose to know unless he tells me? I guess I'm going to have to redo my assignment calendar so that he will do the other work that I want him to do. I still want him to do some of the worksheets I printed out for History. We are watching a video on English grammar from Standard Deviants that I hope will help him to understand grammar better. We have other videos to watch also.

I've thought about finding a tutor to work with him on his writing/composition. Maybe that's why he's been putting off the essays in English? He has some problems with writing complete sentences that actually make sense. I think he writes the way he talks sometimes. I should have made him write more when he was younger. That's mostly my fault. My own reading disability caused me to shy away from having to try and understand what he had written. I should have had someone else (like my husband) do that for me. So now we have to buckle down and work extra hard on that.

I am concerned about my son's social life or rather lack of it. He is more interested in playing his online video games than anything else. If he didn't have bowling, judo and now teen court to do, he'd never go anywhere. He likes being around other kids his age and always has a great time whenever there is some sort of activity going on. Unfortunately, there aren't that many kids his age to hang out with, and the ones there are, don't live close by. Everyone else is so busy, that I can't even get the teen group I started to do anything. I've tried to plan a couple of events but only got a couple of responses so ended up canceling the event. I'm getting real discouraged and have thought about doing away with the teen group. I could always keep in touch with those people in the group if I wanted to have a get-together.

I remember when I was in high school. I had a core group of friends that I always hung around with. Unfortunately, I am no longer in touch with them. My daughter has a few people she knew in public school that she still talks to, and there are some from the youth organization she was involved in she still sees. Who will my son have to talk to from his childhood? That really makes me sad. When we left a couple of homeschool groups that just weren't fitting our needs anymore, the few teens that were in those groups have never gotten in touch with him. I have since found out that they are all buddy-buddy with each other. It makes me wonder then, what's wrong with my son? Did he do or say something to the other teens to make them mad? I don't think he did. I'd like to think it's one of those "out of sight, out of mind" type things. I guess I just worry so much about him. It took a long time for him to come out of his shell. I'd hate to see him go back into it. It would be nice if he found someone his own age to be his "best friend" rather than only want to hang around mom and dad (although it's nice he likes to be around us, but he needs more than us). I will continue to do what I can for him to see that he has other teens to be with. He should be out there just hanging out and talking on the phone or perhaps going on a date, doing something besides sitting at home all the time.

Moving update

We are not moving after all. Hubby didn't get the job. It's good in a way. We won't have to deal with packing things up and moving them clear across the country. Our son won't have to leave his friends. And we won't have to worry about what to do with our house. I was getting kind of hyped up about moving though. I guess after spending 20 years with the military and having to move about every 4 years, you never really get over the moving bug. I was sort of looking forward to living in an area that had lots of big trees and not just the scraggly looking mesquites like we have here. At least now I don't have to worry about having to deal with the local public school superintendent. Whew! I haven't had to deal with the local school district in all these years and I wasn't looking forward to doing it now. Thank goodness! My son is happier too. Although I'm still not happy that my husband has to continue to work in another city and the fact that we only get to see him on weekends. We are still hoping that he will find a job that is closer to home. Until then, I'm happy to continue on with homeschooling my son in a state that is very homeschool friendly!

Moving?

There is a very big possibility that we will be moving to Georgia. Not that we really want to, but my husband may have a job there. He flies out there Wed. for a Thurs. interview. Now to me, that would indicate that he has the job if he wants it. A company doesn't spend all that money just to tell you no. I am really torn about it too. My son has said that he will not move (of course he will since he's underage) and I don't really want to leave my home. I'm not real concerned about the homeschool laws out there. I can circumvent those, but the "rules" are so ridiculous it's funny. I do object to having to report anything to the local school superintendent though. I've never had to do that.

Just in case we do move, I've been doing some research on local homeschool groups and other activities that my son can become involved in. If the job does happen, then I will be able to find out more about the area we will be moving to and also get connected to the homeschool community ahead of time. My son doesn't want to leave his friends...really I think it's his one best friend. It's taken him a while to make some friends and I really don't want to take him away from that. That's why I want to get involved before we would move so that he would have some connection beforehand with other kids out there. I think though that now that my son realizes that people do accept him for who he is, that he won't have any problem making new friends. He is more outgoing now. He may not go right up to someone and start talking to them, but if they talk to him, he will converse with them.

I considered the possibility of putting my son back in public school, thinking that would be easier for him to acclimate himself into the local teen scene. But after looking at the requirements for kids going into public school, I changed my mind. They require several vaccinations and a letter from the health dept. that the child received those vaccinations. Now my son has had almost all of his shots except chicken pox and meningitis. For one, I've heard that some people who have gotten the chicken pox vaccination still get the disease. So what's the point in getting vaccinated? I don't know about the meningitis one. I don't really believe that either vaccination has been around long enough to know what the side effects are of the shot. If it wasn't for the shots, I seriously might consider putting him in public school. He would hate it I'm sure. He doesn't like most p.s. kids. Guess he's prejudice. I told him not all p.s. kids are bad. Just look at his bowling teammate. She's a great kid, but then she is an exception. Anyway, the vaccinations are my main reason for NOT putting him into p.s. in Georgia.

I'm still checking into all of the other rules and regulations. I've got to really investigate the driving requirements. It may take longer for him to get a license out there. And I wouldn't be able to use the driving program I bought which would suck.

I think it's so much harder to move while homeschooling than it was when my kids were in p.s. Seriously! I didn't have to deal with the different rules and regulations when they were in p.s. They were up-to-date on their shots and I had all their school records either with me or sent to the new school from the old one. With homeschooling, you have to find out what the other state requires and if they are homeschool friendly (and Texas is!). I would have to keep records for things that I didn't do before. And then submit some of those records to the local superintendent! I really don't want anything to do with the local schools. A lot of them tend to overstep their bounds.

Guess there's no reason to get all worked up about it though. I will have to wait until hubby goes for his interview and then he should know something within a few days of that. I'll let you know what happens.

Update on my son

My son seems to be feeling better. He still gets tired though which is to be expected. We haven't done much in the way of school work though. He went to his theater and chorus class yesterday and did fine. They sit mostly anyway so he didn't overdo it. Today he has a history class but it's just watching a video and he can either sit or lie on the floor to watch it. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo. I plan on getting a wheelchair for him. I don't want him to get too worn out. I figure by sitting in a wheelchair and having your mom push you around would give him a laugh. After all mom hasn't pushed him in a "stroller" since he was little. lol!

Found out about this driving program coming up in May. The kids learn about driving safety, drunk driving, what to look for in a used car, automobile safety tips and get the opportunity to learn and practice handling a car in emergency situations. They practice controlled skids and maneuvering out of a skid and hydroplaning. The class is taught by actual race car drivers. Now how cool is that? They do require the kids have either their driver's license or a valid learner's permit by the time of the class. So we will have to get him the driver's handbook so he can study for and take the test to get his permit. When I told my hubby about this class, he said he wanted to do it too. Too bad it's for 21 and younger. lol! I guess I should get over to the site and sign up for it before it's too late. We have about 2 1/2 mths to study for this, so that should be long enough for him to memorize the manual and pass the test. Don't you think? ha!

I found another algebra book. This one is called "Illustrated Effortless Algebra". I skimmed through the book and it seems to be very helpful. There are loads of illustrations that help explain the different formulas and equations. I think that I could even learn algebra from this book! I just hope it helps my son better understand what he is doing.

We are going to Scarborough Faire during school days. We will meet up with some other homeschoolers. We've been a few times in the past on regular days and really enjoyed ourselves. There aren't as many vendors during school days, but that's okay. The kids get a free coupon so we can come back again with hubby. I think it'll be fun for the kids. Someone suggested the teens dress up. I think that would be fun. If they do, I'll post pics here with the new digital camcorder/camera my hubby got me.

Next week it's back to work for my son. I didn't push him to do any school work this week. I figured he needed to just rest and relax. It was kind of like an early spring break for him even if we normally don't do spring break. I'm going to have to fix our school schedule since he'll be going past the time I had set for school to be over. Oh well, it's not like we haven't gone past our deadline before!

Thank goodness we homeschool!

I am so glad we homeschool otherwise I might be faced with my son missing many, many days of school. He had been sick last week from what I thought was a cold. But as the week went on, he started complaining of his throat being sore and extremely tired. I didn't think he had strep throat because he didn't have the telltale signs of it. I also didn't think it was the flu because he didn't have an upset stomach or any of the other symptoms of the flu. So I reached back in my memory of when my daughter had the same symptoms, and my first thought was mono. But I thought, no that couldn't be because he doesn't drink or eat after anyone and I KNEW that he hadn't kissed anyone either (or at least I didn't think he had). I decided though on Friday that I had to take him to the doctor just to ease my mind. Sure enough after blood was drawn and the doctor finished his exam, he concluded that my son did indeed have mono. Oh joy! At least it wasn't leukemia which was one of the diseases running through my head!

It will take several weeks for him to recuperate from this disease. He will just have to take things easy and not over do it. Good thing he doesn't play any contact sports. He does bowl on a Sat. morning league so that may have to be curtailed for now.

We have several events coming up that I'm a little concerned about. One is our local homeschool zoo day. I've already sent in my reservation along with my money. They do have a limited number of wheelchairs at the zoo, so I'm thinking I will get one. I'll have to take the paperwork the doctor gave me showing that he has mono just so the zoo staff won't think I'm trying to pull a quick one on them. He also has a Theater and Chorus class on Tues. in which they are working on a play they will perform at the end of the year. I told him I would talk to the instructors and explain the situation, but I felt that he could sit there and read his part or sing or whatever it is that they do. He can participate in the physical activities only if he feels like it. There is a homeschool dance coming up March 10th. I think he'll be okay to go to this. It's still a few weeks off. He can always not dance if he wants to.

I remember when my daughter had mono. She was home for about a week, then went back to school but was only there for a few days I think before coming home again. She missed a lot of school that semester. I remember when she did go back to her history class, there was a student teacher who was not very nice. I don't think she cared if my daughter was sick or not. She expected her to turn in the work that was assigned even though the student was allowed so many days to turn it in after being out sick. That probably contributed to the many reasons we decided to homeschool.

We will take our time with his school work. I'm not really on a schedule, but I would like for him to be finished with all his work by the end of May this year. Anyway, I won't push him to do several hours of school work at one time each day. I told him he can do a little bit, then rest for a little bit, then go back to his school work. He'll be fine and things will work out in the long run.

Some family slideshows

Our family and my dad.

Some of my favorite photos.

Old Posts, New Blog

I am gradually moving some of my posts over from homeschoolblooger.com. It's not that I don't like the other site, it's just that I feel kind of out of place over there. Most of the people I have noticed are very religous. Not that I am against that, that's their choice. I'm just not one of those people. I respect them for their views but I did not want to feel that I had to "hide" any of my own personal views. People have the right to their beliefs and views as I do. I just didn't (don't) feel like having my views questioned.

That's all.

Should I only write about homeschooling?

I have been reading a few other blogs and they all seem to talk about other things besides just homeschooling. I started to wonder if I should talk about other things too. I do have another blog and a MySpace blog. The first one is my venting site. I don't give out that address because I keep it as my own personal online journal. Whenever I get really frustrated with things going on in my life, I go there to vent. No one else reads it (as far as I know since I've never had any comments left on it), and I don't expect anyone to read that blog. The MySpace blog is just a place where I can have fun posting crazy things like different surveys I've taken. It's also a way for me to connect with friends of mine that I don't normally get to chat with. Most of those people are under 30, although I did connect with a friend from high school. I found this homeschool blog, and was only going to use it for homeschool stuff. I find though that I want to post other things going on around me than just the homeschool things we are doing, which really isn't much. I can only write so much about my homeschool schedule that I'm writing up for next year. Besides, who wants to read only about that?

So I decided that I am going to write about more things that just homeschool stuff. For instance, I sat here this morning watching the mockingbirds flittering around in my mesquite tree and my hanging flower pots that are hanging in it. One of them snatched something out of one of the pots and took it down to the ground. I'm hoping it was some kind of bug that was possibly eating my flowers. Another bird flew down to see what the first one had. I was really enjoying watching these four birds flitter around and have fun doing bird things. I can only enjoy this when my dogs are inside as they love to chase the birds away.

Before we arranged our computer desks the way they are now, I only got to look at a wall. Now I am able to look out the back window towards our creek and the occasional cow that resides on a neighbors property. Luckily, I can't see any of the gas wells that have popped up around me from where I sit. If I was to move to my right some, then I could see the eye sore that some land owner decided to put in.

Here is a picture of what I can see from my backdoor:



Unfortunately, from this view you can see the gas well off in the distance (it's a beige dot just above the 1st fence post to the right of the gate). Luckily I can't see it from where I sit. But this gives you an idea of the view. I need to take another picture but with no recordable rain in a while, the grass and every other living thing is suffering. I love living in the country though!

It's Saturday

Yay! It's Saturday. It means we can relax and enjoy our weekend. Maybe. Hubby is out mowing the grass. Hopefully we will be able to go to see the radio control planes today. I would like to go watch the planes. They are model airplanes but BIG planes. Not little ones. These people spend thousands of dollars on these planes. I've looked at the pictures on the website and they are amazing. I'm sure we could incorporate some type of learning thing into this, but I'd rather just go look at the planes, and watch them fly them.

I finished my sons daily schedule. Of course it can be modified but this will give him an idea of when he is suppose to be working on a certain subject and for how long. My next step is working out a schedule telling him what he suppose to be doing every day or each week in each subject. In my planning notes I have down how many pages he is suppose to be doing each day. I may just let him keep his own record of what he does each day/week. I have two different forms: one for daily academic record and the other is for weekly academic record. You use a daily one for each subject. You write down the date and what pages they did. On the weekly record (also one per subject) you write down the week(s) covered, what pages were done, and what the content or activity was. I like the daily one myself. When the kids did School of Tomorrow, they each had cards that they had to write down all that they did each day in each subject. It was a way for them to keep track of what they were doing themselves and to make sure that they stayed on track. All I had to do was check their cards to make sure that they were doing something each day. They were required to do several pages a day and this helped them keep track of that. I'll give my son an estimate of how much I want him to do in each subject and hopefully, he'll do more and not less like he's done in the past. If I notice that he's not doing as much each day or if he has been skipping some things, then he'll end up having his computer game time taken away. I really don't think we'll have a problem though since I plan on being more involved in his core subjects. After all, that's why I have the teacher's editions!

Hubby is done mowing. He'll go take a shower now and then maybe we can go watch the airplanes. I hope so. See ya!

Just a little info

Hi! My name is Terry and I am in my 6th year of homeschooling. I started out homeschooling my daughter and son. My daughter graduated in May 2002. It was a lovely graduation and to me was so much better than the public school one I had so many years ago. I had been wanting to homeschool for several years, ever since we moved to Plano, Texas. My daughter had changed schools a few times during the middle of the year in the past, so I knew she wouldn't have any problem this time. Boy was I wrong. When she transferred from Austin to Plano, she was so far behind that she never did catch up. She went from taking honors classes in Austin to the basic ones at Plano. Her grades went from mostly A's to some B's and C's and a few F's. She lost all interest in school and trying to do better. When my son transferred, he actually did better. He was stuck in a bi-lingual kindergarten class in Austin. We were not "allowed" to transfer him to another classroom that spoke mostly English. When he started kindergarten in Plano, he blossomed. The teachers had no trouble with him at all. Little did I know what was in store for him in 1st grade. He had horrible teachers (yes, that is plural) in 1st grade. His second grade teacher was a little better and his 3rd grade teacher was the best. I was worried about him going into 4th though, so after talking it over with my husband, we decided to try our hand at homeschooling. The first year went pretty well. We used what I call a satellite school. I graded the workbooks and sent the tests to the school for them to grade and to keep all the records. The next year I switched my son to a different company (same type of curriculum though) and kept my daughter with the other "school". That was so that she could participate in their graduation at the end of the year. Well things don't always turn out the way you'd like. My daughter "dropped out" of school. We had some problems at home with her and she ended up moving out for a couple of months. We had already planned on her graduating with the homeschool group we belonged to and had purchased all the items for that graduation. She assumed that she would be able to graduate with them even though she had not completed her school work. We gave her a choice, either finish the books or get your GED. She got her GED. She actually did quite well on the test but then she's always done well on the state required tests. She was just lazy when it came to doing the actual work. I continued to homeschool my son but he kind of got pushed to the background when the problems with my daughter started. Plus we had other problems going on in our life at that moment. But I did the best I could. My son ended up doing 6th grade work twice because of the upheaval going on in our lives most of 2002 until about June 2003. Hubby had lost his job in March 2002 and we sold our house in Dec. 2002. We lived in our RV for a few months and moved from Plano to just south of Ft. Worth. After purchasing some land and buying a new home for it, we finally could get back to normal. Or as normal as possible. By now my son was doing his schoolwork all on the computer. It was great for him and me. I pretty much didn't have to do anything but check over his work and make sure he was on track. Then Dec. 7th, 2003 hit. I had a heartattack and had to have a stent put in. I wasn't up to par after that and was feeling hopeless which is not unusual after a heartattack. I thought things were getting better until my new cardiologist wanted to do another angiogram to check my stent. Come to find out it had closed and the other blockages had gotten worse. I needed by-pass surgery. So on April 13th 2004 I had a triple by-pass. I came through with flying colors and one long scar in the middle of my chest as a reminder of all I went through. My dear son says that he was so concerned about me that he couldn't do his school work (I really want to believe him! ha!). I got him back on track and he finally finished up his 6th grade work while at the same time doing 7th grade. I switched some of his curriculum back to books because I wanted him to write his answers in his own handwriting instead of doing it all on the computer. His handwriting is atrocious, so thankgoodness for computers! We supplement some of his work with videos of shows I've taped and other sources I can find. I'm pretty laid back when it comes to his schoolwork, so I guess I unschool but at the same time use textbooks. He continues to do his work from his textbooks but I'm not as vigilante about making sure that he's doing that days worth of work. After all, we aren't really on a schedule like the public schools. He's learning everyday and that's what really matters. We are all happy with our arrangement and don't ever want to be tied down to the public school schedule. I can't imagine not having my son around all day. I remember when my daughter was little and in public school. I hated seeing her leave everyday. How different things would be now if we had started homeschooling her sooner. At least I had a bigger hand in my sons growing up and can see how different he sees the world. He doesn't have the "you owe me" attitude that the public school instilled in my daughter. So that's about us. Probably more than you wanted to read. I do tend to go on and on about things. lol!