Pubic School

Today is Tyler’s first day on the new adventure we are calling public school.  This morning he was excited, nervous & scared.  I have no doubt that he’ll do great & come home with lots of stories.

This does not mean an end to our homeschooling.  It just means we’ve added a component of public schooling to our lives.  I will still have him working on things here at home and there are plenty of life lessons that still need to be taught.

The school that he’s attending seems good.  Everyone we met on Friday while registering was very friendly.  His teacher is male, which was really cool for Tyler.  He’s excited about having art class and gym class and going to the library.  Overall, he will learn things that I can’t teach him here at home, just like there are things I can teach him that school can’t.  It is all about balance and opportunities.  This will be an opportunity for him to spread his wings and experience some new things.

Mixed Bag

Starting school back up was rough, for both of us.  We started off slow and eased back into it, but there was complaining and procrastinating and all out “I’m not going to do that.”  In the end, though, we got everything done and we both survived.  Remind me to not take a break ever again!!

We did have to make some decisions about 4-H because the meetings are starting up.  1st up was the fact that we currently live in one county, but will probably be moving to a different county.  That was solved by deciding that since Daddy would still be living in the current county that we could still use that address for this year and then figure things out for next year when the time came.  2nd was Rabbit Club.  We got the rabbit (yes, she is adorable & is part of the family now) because he wanted to participate in Rabbit Club.  However, having an animal at the fair is a huge responsibility.  And not knowing my job situation at this time, I don’t know how much time I will have to be taking Tyler out to the fairgrounds to care for Blackie, which then makes things unfair for her, and have him participate in all the activities surrounding Rabbit Club.  So in the end, we’ve decided to table Rabbit Club until next year.  3rd was which projects he was still going to do.  He cut a few of them because he lost interest in them and there is so much going on right now that he’s overwhelmed, but he still has quite a few so I’m not worried about it.

We did have a class this past weekend that we attended.  Parents attended one class & kids another.  At the end, the teacher talked with the parents about how each kid did in the class.  These were the first things the teacher told us, “Tyler was an exceptional student and a joy to have in class.  I’m not sure if you’re aware of this or not, but he is very mature for his age.”  You all know I was thinking “Duh!  I’ve only been raising him for the last 9 years of his life, but sure I missed that.”  Now in my defense I had sat through an extremely boring class for 3 hours, so I was a little edgy, but do you think people really miss that about their kids?  Even so, I’m not one of them.

In a good note, Tyler did make a friend in the class and invited him to go sledding with us later that afternoon.  Yes, you did hear that correctly, my son is breaking out of his shell and starting to make friends all on his own.  I know that part of the next phase for Tyler to go through, the pre-teen phase, is related to his breaking away from his parents more so that he develops his own identity and that he is going to start looking toward peers more and more.  I’m hoping that I’ve given him enough of a basis in the years leading up to this time that he continues to make good decisions with each new step that he takes.

2010

Welcome to 2010!  Big changes in store for us this year.  Still don’t know what they will all be at this time.  Cross your fingers that I hear about a job soon.  We are starting back to our regular routine today, which includes homeschooling.  We’ve already done 155 days this school year, so I know we’re not behind in any way.  We’re going to start back in a little slowly since we did take the time off.  Today is logic puzzles, just to get the brain warmed up.  He got the 3 of them complete, but is working on redoing his graphing right now.  One little miscount and it’s all messed up.

I have decided to keep this blog going, no matter what changes happen in our situation.  Thank you to all who have contacted me with their support, thoughts and prayers.  I appreciate it more than you will ever know.

Still unsure

There are a lot of things that are still up in the air for Tyler & I right now.  For the time being, we are on a semi-break from homeschooling.  He’s at least a year ahead of other kids his age in public school, so I’m not worried about taking a few weeks off at this point while we figure things out.  I’m looking for a job, which is hard to come by in this area and during this time of the year, but I know the right job will come along at just the right time so that everything works out.  We’ve started the process of packing so that Tyler & I are ready to move when it is time (hopefully after I find a job.)

On the schooling front, I have been researching the local public schools to see what my options are, just in case he does need to go to school.  Breaks my heart to think about it, but it might have to happen.  I’ve also been reaching out to the local homeschooling community to see if there is a possibility of another homeschooling family letting Tyler hang out with them during the day and then I would do the actual teaching in the evenings & on the weekends.  I’ve also been tossing around the idea of seeing if there are any grandma-types out there who maybe want to a have a companion a few days a week so that Tyler’s time is spread out over a few people.  Yes, they sound like unconventional ideas, but this is me and I rarely do anything too conventional.

I do have one new venture.  I am now a published author (not just a blogger.)  Check me out here: http://www.examiner.com/x-33366-Indianapolis-Outdoor-Recreation-Examiner I’m going to be posting article about 3 times a week so make sure that you subscribe so that you know when new articles have been published.

We’re alive

Yes, we are alive.  Yes, for the time being we are still homeschooling.  No, I don’t know if we are going to get to continue.  Yes, there are lots of changes going on in our lives.  No, I don’t feel this is the platform to get into all the details.  As soon as a decision regarding Tyler’s continued schooling is made, I will let you know.

Exciting!

I know I haven’t posted lately, but we’ve been out living life and I’ve been running out of time to blog.  I will try to get back here more regularly.  But I have exciting news today!!!  Debbie from Homeschooling: Freedom and Fun for Your Family interviewed me about a month ago and today is the day that I appear on her blog.  Check it out here:  http://homeschoolingisfreedom.blogspot.com/2009/11/possibilities-for-fun-are-endless.html And while you are over there, check out all the wonderful interviews of other homeschoolers.  Thank you Debbie!!

The Simple Woman’s Daybook

FOR TODAY, With special thanks to Peggy at The Simple Woman’s Daybook who created the daybook.

October 26, 2009

Outside my window… the trees have either lost their leaves or they are displaying beautiful colors.

I am thinking… that sleep would be a wonderful thing if it actually happened.  Feeling really drained today.

I am thankful… for my wonderful friends.

From the learning rooms… probably not much today.  Tyler has a headache and I’m wore out, so I’ll just give in to his wanting a break.

From the kitchen… we’re having bacon burgers tonight.

I am wearing… jeans, long-sleeve shirt.

I am creating… my future.

I am going… to Loveway a little later then I’ll be home for the rest of the day.

I am reading… nothing right now.  Read some interesting books on CFS (or CFIDS, whichever you want to call it) yesterday at the bookstore.

I am hoping… that all the sickness stays away from my house.

I am hearing… the songs playing on Pandora.

Around the house… there is always a To-Do List.

One of my favorite things… catching up with a good friend.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Tues: TKD; Wed: Pet Refuge, riding lesson, pick up things for my Halloween costume; Thurs: Monster Hike at EEC, TKD; Fri: volunteer at Black Pine; Sat: Halloween at Black Pine with some good friends

Here is picture I am sharing… Tyler’s going to be a ninja again this year since his costume still fits.  He’s what he looked like last year:

My ninja

The Simple Woman’s Daybook

FOR TODAY, With special thanks to Peggy at The Simple Woman’s Daybook who created the daybook.

October 19, 2009

Outside my window… the sun is shining and the day is bright.

I am thinking… that fractions just got a whole lot harder. He wants to make up his own system for dealing with them instead of just listening to the way I explain them to him. I wouldn’t mind if his system actually worked, but it doesn’t and I think he needs to understand the process before he invents his own system.

I am thankful… for my life.

From the learning rooms… Obviously, fractions.

From the kitchen… I’m boiling chicken breasts to make a chicken pot pie for dinner tonight.

I am wearing… jeans, short sleeve t-shirt, slippers.

I am creating… my dreams.

I am going… no where for the rest of the day.

I am reading… various blog posts (trying to catch up!)

I am hoping… to get my muscles to relax a little so things wouldn’t be quite so painful.

I am hearing… the washer & dryer both beeping at me.

Around the house… I’m liking our new office/school room setup.

One of my favorite things… hikes to look at the fall colors.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Tues: TKD; Wed: Pet Refuge; Thurs: TKD; Fri: last day at camp

Here is picture I am sharing… Here’s the pic that I’m using for my FaceBook profile right now.

Fun art

The rest of the week

**2nd post of the day**

Here’s what went on for the rest of our week:

Mon – I headed to the health dept to get a TB test done so that I could volunteer at Black Pine.  My journey with the health dept has been a roller coaster ride.  First, I got corrected when I called to make the appointment that my name is actually Kristina instead of just Kristi.  Then I got told my address, which actually isn’t my current address & hasn’t been for a few years, but it is still my parents’ address.  The lady on the phone couldn’t believe that their records were that far out of date, like it was my fault or something.  Then she got all concerned about how far of a drive it would be for my appt on Thursday for my tetanus shot (the two things can’t be done at the same time even though they don’t have anything to do with one another, don’t know why since no one could actually explain it to me, but that’s just how it’s done) because that appt was going to be at their Goshen location.  Just so we’re clear, based on where I live it’s about half way in between the two locations.  So now I’m at my appt for the TB test and I didn’t write down the agency requesting my getting the TB test (off to the side of that was boxes to check for things like immigration, health care and something else.)  The paperwork lady told me I had to put down an agency and as I tried to explain to her what it was for, she interrupted me and asked me if I was there to get the test for immigration status.  Are you serious?  I was born in this county (yes, read that as county) and you apparently had my information on file to correct my name so you’d think it wasn’t an immigration issue.  It did finally explain the Black Pine thing & how it didn’t fit their boxes categories, so she just wrote it off to the side.  Then I got crap because the check number I was using was 101 (they only accept cash or checks).  They apparently have a policy to not allow low check numbers due to them being new accounts.  I explained that it was not a new account (it’s about 2 years old, that’s how often I write checks), that it was our HSA account and that if they accepted debit cards like everyone else that they wouldn’t have to worry about low check numbers.  She told me she’d let it slide this one time, but not the next time.  Finally, I get to go back and I get the test done.  Now that lady asks me when I can come back on Wed so that they can check the results, I explain to her that I’m going to the Goshen office on Thurs for the tetanus shot and they could just check it then.  And do you know what I was told, they don’t share records so that wouldn’t work and I’d have to come back on Wed.  This is the COUNTY health dept, the same one that set both of my appts, but they don’t share records.  Are you kidding me?  So I scheduled to go back on Wed afternoon.  And I was so glad to get out of there.

Mon (con’t) – Then after all that aggravation, I headed to the Goshen Recycling Center to empty all the yard waste out of the truck so they can turn it into mulch.  They were nice and only charged me half price since the guy thinks I have a small truck.  Don’t know how a Tacoma with the long bed is a small truck, but that’s fine with me if he thinks it.  Then I spent 45 minutes unloading all the grass, leaves and plant clippings from the truck.  Sure helped with the aggravation that I had accumulated from the health dept.  Got everything unloaded and took the truck through the car wash to clean it out.  Then I grabbed some lunch and headed to Loveway.  Loving on the horses helped me calm down, but the class I assisted with was a study in flexibility.  Nothing really went as planned, but in the end the kids had fun and everything got done so it all worked out.  I stayed after and helped take the horses back out to pasture and helped sweep out the barn.

Mon (con’t) – Then I was home to facilitate school for Tyler.  I thought it was going to take longer than it actually did because last time we did fractions, it took forever.  But something happened between the last time and this time, not sure what it was, but he flew through fractions and told me they are easy.  That’s good because I’m pretty sure we’re going to be adding irregular fractions this time around.

Tues – Tyler started watching Planet Earth videos for science.  He loves them and can’t wait for my to let him watch some more of them.  We had lunch with Grandma, then headed to the library for our weekly library trip.  Tyler also picked out 2 Star Wars movies to watch and he HAD to watch one that afternoon.  He also had TKD that evening.

Wed – We played with the cats at Pet Refuge in the Main Cat Room & in the Small Cat Room.  We also cleaned up after them, but we had help this week.  It was good to see our friend, Jenn, and we were super glad she’s finally feeling better after being sick.  I did head back to the health dept and got the paperwork to show that the TB test was negative.  Luckily that didn’t take long.  I got Tyler to play some math games on his computer.  He seems to retain things really well after he’s had to use it in situations like games.

Thurs – Tyler watched his other Star Wars video from the library and decided that for school he wanted to watch for things that didn’t make sense based on what happened in the other movies or for things like changes of scenery or clothing during a scene.  I thought it was a great way to work on noticing details so I let him.  You wouldn’t believe the number of things that he found.  I went to the Goshen location of the health dept to get my tetanus shot.  But that didn’t work out.  They refused to give it to me because of my latex allergy and told me that they would be surprised if any doctor would give it to me either.  I came home and did some research because I thought maybe latex was an ingredient and I didn’t know it.  But it turns out that the latex is either in the stopper of the vial or in the syringe itself, which contaminates the vaccine, which can cause the reaction.  And since we don’t know what the reaction would be (it’s like a bee sting, you never know if you are going to react strongly or not), they aren’t taking the chance.  So now I have medical reason for not getting some vaccinations.  In the evening I took Tyler to TKD.  We left early because he wasn’t feeling well, but after a bath and some extra Vitamin C, he seemed better.  And it turns out he was because he was good when he woke up on Fri morning.

And you can read about Fri (which was a totally awesome day) in the previous post here: http://soaringmountainsacademy.wordpress.com/2009/10/17/friday/

Friday

First, I have to tell you I’m still riding the high from yesterday.  It’s a kid in a candy store type feeling.  I had an awesome day, so I just have to share that first, then I’ll get back to what we did the rest of the week because we were busy.

The day started off with us getting up early to get ready to go to Black Pine Animal Park for my first day of volunteering.  I was excited and nervous.  Tyler got to come along and he gets to help me with some things, but not all things.  He didn’t help much yesterday since I was just learning, but he did great.  He played with the cats in the office area, Smudge & Cinder, he talked with Peaches (she’s a Moluccan Cockatoo and she’s famous, she’s been on TV and everything), he talked with some other volunteers that were on their breaks, and entertained himself with things he brought from home.  Now for what I did the 5 hours that we were there… I started out learning how to help take care of the animals in the office area.  These animals include Peaches (Moluccan Cockatoo), 2 finches, Lucy & Onyx (rabbits) , Smudge & Cinder (indoor cats) & 1 outdoor cat that has space in the maintenance shed.  I got to clean cages, feed & water them, and learn about any medications or special things that each of them need.  Then I got to go to the Primate House.  It is divided into 2 sections.  There is the chimpanzee section that I’m not allowed to go into since it requires lots more advanced training and years of experience and the other side containing various birds and primates.  I started out with the aviary while another volunteer took care of Yoda & Hanna (rhesus macaques) and Lisa (lion-tail macaque).  In the aviary there are macaws, Amazon parrots, Goffin’s cockatoos, and a Senegal parrot.  And let me tell you these birds can get noisy when they want to and they did several times while I was in the building.  The most talkative bird in there is Sammie (macaw).  He & I talked lots during the time that I cleaned cages, feed & watered, etc.  He says things like “Hello” and wants you to respond with “Hello Sammie”.  He likes to play “Marco Polo” with you, but he always has to have the “Marco” part.  And he was constantly saying “Look what I have” and then he would show me how he can undo the latches on the inside of his cage easily.  It’s a good thing the main latches are on the outside of his cage.  He also liked to say “Pretty bird” and “Good bird”.  The other one that talked to me was Augie (Senegal parrot).  He was much quieter than Sammie, but he did say “Hello” to me and he would whistle when I walked by his cage.  Pierre (Goffin’s cockatoo) tried to help me fix my hair.  My next animal encounter was with U2 & Fiat (cotton-top tamarins).  They are so cute & inquisitive.  They watched everything I did and followed me around their cage, but kept their distance.  Next up was 2 more macaws.  They stays at the top and front of their cage while I cleaned and didn’t really move much except to watch me until I brought in the food (which is always the last thing to be brought in).  Then they both came down to eat and watching them eat is amazing.  Next up was Joey (Patagonian cavy).  She got moved to a transition cage so I could clean and then I got to move her back.  I was surprised at how soft her fur was.  I guess I was just thinking that she’s a rodent so it would be more coarse.  Next up was Bandit (coatinumdi).  He got moved to a transition cage while I cleaned and his cage wasn’t too bad.  It was more interesting finding that he had hidden food around the landing area where he sleeps.  Next up was Mickey (Garnett’s Greater Bush Baby) and his cagemates.  I saw them sleeping and Mickey looked at me once, but since they are all nocturnal, they slept through my cleaning their cage.  The other thing about these animals is that they are heavily into scent marking, they actually urinate on their hands to mark their territories, which leaves sticky smelly residue everywhere and it is potent stuff.  The last animal I helped was Mae (Hamadryas baboon).  She didn’t want to leave her cage so we could clean it, but was finally enticed to the transition cage with her food.  And then it was time for me to leave after I filled out paperwork.  It was lots of work, but it was so worth it.

Tyler & I stopped and got lunch because we had to head to Mishawaka to meet with a potential riding instructor for me.  She was great, her facilities (barn, indoor arena, outdoor arena, pasture areas & trail riding area) were all wonderful, and her horses were beautiful (or handsome in the case of the boys.)  Andrea & I have messaged about it and we are going to take lessons from her.  In a side note to the whole meeting with her is how amazed I was with Tyler.  She has 3 dogs & currently 1 stray dog that she is trying to find a home for (he’s a black lab & very friendly, if you are interested, let me know), but these are big dogs and Tyler didn’t act scared at all.  Normally he’s scared of dogs, especially big dogs, if he hasn’t meet them before or watched them interact.  I was so proud of him.  Then when we were meeting some of the horses, he didn’t hesitate to pet them, too.  I can’t tell you how unbelievable that is.  Then as we are pulling out of the driveway he tells me he wants to take lessons, too.  Now I am in shock because I never would have guessed that Tyler was interested, so I ask him if he really wants to take riding lessons (just to clarify that I heard him correctly) and he tells me “No, I want to take the lessons that you took where you learn about horses and their pressure points so that I can learn how to train them.”  Wow!  My baby is growing up.  And then he asks me where we are going to live after he gets his black belt & I get my horse because we can’t have a horse where we currently live.  I was floored because this is the same boy who wanted us to promise him that we wouldn’t move again until after he’s done with high school and he’s reminded us of that even a few months ago.  And here he is supporting my dream to get a horse.  I love him!!!!  I don’t have an answer for him, but Trent mentioned in the evening (after he came home frustrated again from work) that the outskirts of Nashville sounds like a good idea.  I’m open to the Nashville area.  Tyler says he’s open to Nashville, but not until after he gets his black belt.  So it will be awhile before anything happens.