Not the Easiest Week

I apologize in advance. This will probably be a very random post and will, unfortunately, be influenced by the type of week that I've had. On Tuesday morning I woke up with pink eye. It's really sucky when that happens because I'm allergic to the OTC and prescription drops for it, so I always have to just ride it out. Then shortly after lunch my husband called to let me know that starting at the end of November, his office would be switching to 4 day work weeks. I immediately had to decide how to deal with losing 20% of our income. Believe me, I am beyond grateful that in our current economy my husband still has a good job. However, it was still a big stress and I immediately had to go to my problem solving head-space.

Just a couple of hours later, we got the oh so personal robocall that our kids no longer had an accredited school authority due to the immediate cancellation of accreditation of their board. As I've stated on Facebook, I have no desire to have an opinion on the allegations, but my kids were just left out to drown. So I moved on to the next major issue that required the use of my problem solving head-space.

We sent their registrations in to a new board yesterday and I am hope that their paperwork will be processed and that they will be officially accepted early next week.

With all of the news about our previous board becoming very public this week, I've heard a few things that have really upset me. One of the things I heard yesterday was the opinion that taxpayer dollars shouldn't be "wasted" on private schools . Our previous board was a private board. Our anticipated new board is a separate (Catholic) board. So I got information directly from Alberta Education and did the math last night. This year I saved the government (and taxpayers) a minimum of $13,969.57 by home educating my kids. That amount does not include the fact that one of my kids was expected to be coded this year, which would have cost even more. I saved them 73.6%. The only thing that I can logically conclude is that I am helping taxpayers, not wasting their money. Furthermore, we are taxpayers in this house as well. If you feel that your money shouldn't pay for the education of my kids, then why should my money help pay for the education of your's?

I also was told that alternatives to the public system shouldn't be funded when there are "fine public schools already". If you know my family at all, you know that we tried very hard for 4.5 years to make the public system work for us. We even had some very phenomenal teachers in there working very closely with us. It just did not work properly for my kids. Why should we be punished if the public system didn't work for them? How is that fair?

The last comment that really frustrated me was that someone didn't agree with home schooling because they'd seen it go so far wrong. Let's be real here. Both home education and public education have been known to go so far wrong and have also been known to go very well. I don't ever say that I don't agree with public school, let alone for the reason that I have seen (far more often) that it has gone so far wrong in some cases. I simply say that it didn't fit the needs of my kids and that home education works much better for them.

Again, I apologize for the negative tone of this post. I just wanted it to be real and to also get some things off of my chest so that they didn't keep festering there. So I'll end the post on a happier note now.

The boys finished their swimming lessons yesterday. Although Brettley didn't pass his class, he made great progress and didn't have much that he wasn't able to pass off. Caleb and Tyrell both passed their classes and are looking forward to their next levels in the new year. They loved swimming and all made a lot of progress. We have really learned to be better supports for one another this week and it has helped us to grow closer as a family, which is always a wonderful thing.

Swimming and School

The boys started their swimming lessons last week. They all have the same teacher, and we are at the pool for a long time (over 2 hours), but it's worth it. Caleb and Brettley have also had colds, but Caleb's is gone now and Brettley is improving.

Brettley's attitude about school has gotten much better in the past week (except for one day that he was the most sick). Tyrell has had a rough few days with staying focused and not giving up if something is difficult. Caleb is doing awesome. It helps that he is used to this routine. He is currently doing his novel study of Underground to Canada and he is reading way ahead of schedule because he's so interested in it.

Caleb also has started Cubs for the year. Tyrell is really excited to start it at the end of October.

Yesterday we went out and delivered flyers for the food drive we participate in annually. The boys love it and look forward to it. On Saturday we do pick up. They are curious to see how well we do this year.

Not too much else is new around here. Just still trying to find our groove for the school routine. Hopefully we'll get there in the next couple of weeks.

Home School Has Started

Yesterday we took the kids on their first field trip of the school year to the John Janzen Nature Centre. The boys loved it there. It was very interactive. Some of the things they got to do were touch a salamander, see honeybees about their every day life and do a nature walk. It was definitely a hit. We did the shorter trail, but Caleb asked if we can try the longer one next year. Definitely something to think about.





Today was our first full day of the school year. The boys have their subjects broken down into 9 blocks. After 3 blocks, they take a break to do 2 chores and have a snack. Same thing after the next 3 blocks. Today Caleb and Tyrell were done very quickly. Brettley took the longest at 3.75 hours, and that was because he was fussing about doing his English for a good 30 minutes. I guess it will take him a while to get used to a school routine. Their blocks are:
Prayer & Spiritual Thought
Reading
Math
English Language Arts
Social Studies
Science
Spelling
Health and Computers
Creative Time

Starting in the middle of the month, they will also be doing music on Fridays. Caleb's former piano teacher has offered to do music class for them once per week, which is a huge blessing for our family. They don't do an official gym class, but they start their weekly swimming lessons this week, which is for September and October. We'll take a couple of months off, and then do another round of swimming lessons in the new year. They get free outside time, and they're content with that.
 

 

Horray for Bretts

Hey! Not a huge update because I'm pretty tired at the moment, but I wanted to share a bit of exciting news. We had planned for Brettley to be doing Kindergarten level work next year because we figured he'd take a long to time learning how to read. However, he is excelling in that area and will be able to do grade 1 level work in the fall, so he gets to skip right by Kindergarten. We're so impressed with how quickly he is progressing.

Also, we had a celebration last week in our family as all 3 kids are now officially home schooled. They were so excited to set off a pop rocket, have a silly string fight, eat DQ ice cream cake and get their certificates welcoming them as students for the 2016-2017 school year. The next day, on Canada Day, we had a fun family water fight, which was a blast.

Anyway, hopefully I'll update better in a couple of weeks. I have a hard time remembering to go on to the laptop to update this.

Walking Like a Boss and Yummy Beverages

So about 2 weeks ago I went for my quarterly doctor's appointment (which happens when you take the meds that I do). He brought up the sleep study I did a few months back that came back negative and asked how my sleep has been. I'll be honest here, I've struggled with insomnia and poor sleep for as long as I can remember. Even at my healthiest this was always a problem for me. However, my doctor decided that I needed to exercise and eat less. While I'm convinced they won't actually solve my insomnia issue (I was very thin as a teenager and this was occurring back then as well), I acknowledge that I do need to make healthier choices. My doctor told me that I need to take at least 10,000 steps per day. I had waffled on getting a FitBit for a while now, but I figured if I was being required to watch my steps anyway, I may as well take the plunge, so we went and got me a FitBit Charge, which also tracks my sleep. Then a couple of days later my back got re-injured (which is a whole other story), and I wasn't able to walk lots for about a week. But I was back at it this Monday. It has been one of the best investments I've ever made (along with my new Asics, which make all of the difference). Today I got smart and remembered to use music while I walk. It was the best that I've felt in many months. I'm really looking forward to keeping this going. Instead of dreading exercise each day, I look forward to seeing how quickly in the day I can reach my goal. I also am eating a more appropriate amount of food. I make an exception 1 evening per week where I won't think about what I'm eating, as long as I'm not gorging myself or anything. As for my steps, I won't be worrying about them on Sundays. Whatever I get for a normal Sunday is whatever I get.

On a separate note, our sugar-free coconut and vanilla Torani syrups came today. I made myself a Dirty Coke Zero mocktail and it was amazing. I definitely wouldn't be able to have more than 1 per day, though, it tastes way too strong. You can find the link here. We had a really hard time finding the Torani syrups in the city, so we ordered them from Amazon.

Next Year's Plan

Two weeks ago we (all 5 of us) finally got to meet our home school facilitator in person. We felt that he's a very good fit for our family. Our visit made me very glad that we decided to stick with the traditional (parent-directed) style. It would have been hard to give up that kind of freedom. All 3 of our boys were officially accepted for the 2016-2017 school year. Brettley will be doing mostly Kindergarten level work, but is officially registered for grade 1, just because of when his birthday is and for funding reasons. I ended up changing a bunch of curriculum plans last minute after John and I sat down and talked some things out. So here is what we are doing for next year.

All of our boys will start the day with prayer together and a little reading from the Primary 7 manual (New Testament). Then we will do reading. Caleb and Tyrell can choose what they will read from and read for 15-20 minutes each day. Brettley and I will continue using all of his Bob Books to teach him to read. Eventually during the year he will move on to other phonics sets that we have, but Bob Books are his starting point. After reading is done the boys will do Math. Caleb will be using Switched-On Schoolhouse, which is a computer based curriculum from a Christian publisher. Caleb's best mark is Math, but he doesn't enjoy it, so we decided that if it was computer based he may find it more exciting. Tyrell will be using Complete Canadian Curriculum and Complete MathSmart, since he says he loves worksheets the best. Brettley will use workbooks from the dollar store and Walmart in addition to Brain Quest (and their Star Wars line) as well as using lots of different manipulatives.

The boys will then get to do their first 2 chores of the day and have a snack.

After the break they will do English Language Arts. Caleb is going to be using LIFEPAC from the same publisher as his math program and will read Underground to Canada for his novel. Tyrell will be using Complete Canadian Curriculum and Complete EnglishSmart as well as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for his novel. Brettley will use dollar store, Walmart, Brain Quest and Star Wars workbooks.
Next is Social Studies, which has been a big pain, in my opinion. There's no good Canadian curriculum sets similar to other programs. So Caleb will be using the Courage and Conquest Living History Bundle, Discovering Canada's Government and Canadian Geography & Mapping Skills. Tyrell will be using Complete Canadian Curriculum and Pioneers in Canada. Brettley will be using Brain Quest and online resources. We will be taking a field trip to Fort Edmonton Park.
Caleb and Tyrell will both be using Complete Canadian Curriculum and Complete ScienceSmart for their Science. Brettley will be using iPad apps, online resources and Netflix learning shows for science. We will also be taking 2 trips to the Telus World of Science and a trip to the Valley Zoo. Tyrell will be doing a trip to the John Janzen Nature Center, as well.

Then they will have a break to do their other 2 chores and have another snack.

Caleb and Tyrell will then do their spelling work from the Evan-Moor books. I haven't fully decided what Brettley will be doing during this time yet. Probably work on a Handwriting Without Tears book. After spelling is the Health/Computers block. Depending on the day, they will either do health activities, laptop games, a typing lesson or iPad games. We are using Canadian Health Activities and Canadian Character Education for health. Caleb will also do a unit study about Inside Out. I am still decided on our typing program, but I have it narrowed down to Dance Mat Typing or typing.com
Our last block of the day is Creative Time, where they are free to choose what they want to do, as long as it's something creative related. It could be a craft, drawing, colouring, dancing or something like that.

We should be done by lunch each day, as a few of these blocks will actually only take about 10-15 minutes. I am flexible about how things will work out each day, but this is our general plan, since Caleb and I are both people who require a routine. So that's our plan for next year. Caleb chose to give up French, and I wasn't going to push it. While we will be active regularly and will be doing swimming lessons in the year, we won't have a formal gym class. We aren't taking off nearly as many days as Edmonton Public Schools are, so we should be done the year around mid to late April. The kids were very clear that they'd rather have a longer summer break than lots of breaks during the school year. We are so excited to start!

So the schedule looks like:
Block 1 - Religion
Block 2 - Free Reading
Block 3 - Math
BREAK AND CHORES
Block 4 - ELA
Block 5 - Social
Block 6 - Science
BREAK AND CHORES
Block 7 - Spelling
Block 8 - Health/Computers
Block 9 - Creative Time
LUNCH AND END OF SCHOOL DAY

Decision Time

I'm seriously considering making a separate blog for my home schooling posts, where I could write happily about once per week and say what we've been up to and how things are going. However, I'm pretty worried that if I create a separate blog that I'll never have anything to say on here. Is anyone still reading this? Does anyone have any suggestions about this? Thanks in advance :)