Our First Day of School

Up at 6:30 this morning to get Case off to his first day of high school. I actually got up in time to make Pancakes and bacon and make sure he had his vitamins! I picked him up at the end of school and his comment for my question of "how was it?", typical teenage answer,"fine". He did elaborate after more pointed questions. What did they do? Go over rules all day. Does that mean I can do that in our homeschool and count it as a school day?

We don't have all of Amelia's books yet. I have to wait for them to come through the mail. However, we have started on what she does have -spelling, grammar, recitation, and spirituality. She has already memorized Robert Frosts "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" for recitation - she had two weeks to get it down. Since she has done this so quickly, I think I will have her do some block crayon drawing with it.







Ainslee won't formally start until next week. This week we are working on refining our rhythm. As I take Case to school, Amelia gets up and does her morning things and then assists Ainslee in getting up and getting dressed. This is Ainslee's first year of having designated things to do in the morning. Although it is no more that getting dressed, eating breakfast and making her bed, it is something that will help establish the start of the day and our rhythm. While Amelia was doing her schoolwork, Ainslee was very content to play outside for a while followed by some water play in the kitchen.

Case is Registered!

Can you believe it!?!?!? What a hassle, but we finally got it done with the help of someone from the district office after a few phone calls from Brian (he is so good at that).
I have to say we probably went in there looking like the proud parents of "my kid is great and can do no wrong". Thank GOD Case proved us right!
I will admit after expressing our faith in his abilities, I was a bit scared when he was about to be tested. After all, St. Joseph's did let us know, in no uncertain terms, that he just did not meet their standards (nose in the air and all).
He did great. His reading level was 12th grade to college level and on everything else he scored "WELL above" the standard level (yes, that is a quote from the district rep. with well capitalized for emphasis just the way she said it). He is signed up for mostly honors classes, with the exception being English since he hasn't done the required summer reading and one other where it just wasn't available. He did get credit for his Physical Science and will be taking Biology honors.
Brian said the lady from the district called him back after all was said and done and had nothing but glowing things to say about Case. He was so polite and mature and intelligent. WHEW!!! Thanks babe for not making a lier out of me and your dad.

Trials and tribulations

It has been a few weeks since I have posted and I have to say those few weeks have not been the best. Although the kids have continued with their schooling, it has not been enjoyable. I feel I have struggled to get them to do the minimum and have gotten nowhere near the enriching parts of why we really wanted to do Waldorf in the first place.

Amelia and I really weren't enjoying Persia too much and did a few stories and a bit of history, but pretty much abandoned it after that and have moved on to Botany. I was really excited about that, but it doesn't seem to be going much better. I thought it was going to be so creative and we just haven't gotten there. I even threatened to send Amelia back to school next year if she couldn't do the few simple things I request to help the day go smoothly, such as getting up. Like I am one to speak with the schedule I have been keeping this last month. I even went so far as to look at private schools and housing nearer to them. UGH! I am sure, as I am writing this, it is all due to Mom not having her act together these last several weeks. Amelia usually falls in line if Mom has it together. Or, at least, it doesn't bother Mom so much and she is better equipped to handle Amelia's personality.

Case is prodding along with the same stuff. I can't get him to do any handwork. Even tried to have him pick out the project an he just won't do it unless I nag, nag, nag. He also gets behind in the basic stuff he is suppposed to be doing and then has to catch up over the weekend or the next week.

The newest not great thing is that Brian has been admitted to the hospital with a splenic infarct. What the $@#&!?! The outcome of that one is yet to be determined. I am here next to his hospital bed as I am writing this.

I do have to say we have had some enjoyable days interspersed in these trying times. We went out with my friend and co-worker, Ama, and her family on her boat for Memorial Day. We had a day on our own boat one day and a great evening by the pool with kayaking on the lake. Ainslee was evenable to paddle all by herself! Case is in a golf league and has had his first tournament and really enjoyed it despite being absolutely beat by the end of the 18 holes and has definately been bitten by the golf bug. He is eager to get back out on the golf course.

So not Waldorf

Okay, so everything we are doing may not end up Waldorf, but we are trying to find what works. Case is doing an online math program that seems to be working well so far. Amelia will do it in the next day or so just for the month I think. Then we will be off to more Waldorfy things. We are seriously thinking of having Case go back to school and are looking at boarding schools. He has been saying he wants to go. Not so sure about the boarding part, but he seems to want to experience it for a bit. We are looking at a school where he could continue as a day student if we build where we think we will. We will see how that works out.
Amelia is looking at the Sir Circumference books and we are discussing the concepts in each book for the next several days. Today was geometry dealing with rectangles, squares, and circles. We cut out the shapes to act out the problems in the book. She seemed to enjoy it and really comprehend the concepts. Woo-hoo!

Finding the key

Today was an overall good day. The rhythm of life seems to be coming together more. The meals are a big part of it. If I can get the meals down the rest of the day seems to flow better. I have heard this plenty through Waldorf groups, but didn't really get it until now. Brian 's diet helps too. I don't have the option of going out to eat, which is actually much better for us all. If I do well providing the meals this means I have gotten out of bed early enough to get breakfast. Getting up early enough to do this helps the day flow much smoother. We are not rushing through most things. Today there came a point of time when I wasn't quite sure what to do with my time. There was plenty to do, but I didn't want to get overwhelmed and some of it just really didn't matter at that point. I made the decision that everything didn't have to be done today. Some of it could wait for tomorrow or the next day. Some of it would have had to anyway.

I started the day off with starting coffee ad fixing Alika's food and letting her out; then came shower and dressing. I was then able to fix breakfast prior to waking the kids. They ate and did their morning household work and then Case moved on to his Math on the computer. Clothes were being washed and the house was being picked up. I am considering using FLYlady and used some of the ideas I read about on her website last night. It seemed to work fairly well. It, of course, wasn't as perfect as I would truly like for it to be, but what ever is? By this time it was lunch time and I fixed up some leftover stir fry. A few more household work items and the I wasn't quite sure what to do, but somehow I kept busy. Although, at this point, I' m not really sure at what. The memory seems to have escaped me. Off to town for dinner fixing's and to the bank. Got sidetracked at Tuesday morning looking for a tablecloth to protect the table. Got home and realized dinner would not be ready for Case and Brian before they had to leave for the game. Started cooking anyway. Brian came home and was in a foul mood due to the wrecked car not being mended to his satisfaction. The dinner situation didn't help. After a while off they went to the game. Ainslee decided to fix some "soup" while I was finishing up dinner. Amelia was looking through catalogs deciding what she wanted to be for next Halloween. They sit down to eat while I clean up the "Soup" and dinner mess. Now her I am reporting about our day at the computer. Hopefully, the night will go well. I need to clean out the van for tomorrow and get the kids ready for bed Much of the house is still a bit of a mess and the clothes aren't completely done, but "after all, tomorrow is another day" and there always the next and the next and the next.

I really need to add a post about our trip to Atlanta. We did so much, but that will take some time that I don't have right now, so I think I will talk about Tiempo Libre. This is a Cuban band we went to see at Clemson on Monday. Brian saw a write up in the paper and thought it would be fun. It was. We all enjoyed it very much. They are a very lively band and were quite good at gaining audience participation. There was quite a mix of peoples present. From Ainslee at 3 to great grandmas. People were dancing in the aisles and Amelia and Case could hardly keep still. In the end I got up with Amelia and showed her how to dance to Cuban music. Ainslee was having a blast being able to move about as she pleased to the beat. We bought a CD and will bring it out and all learn how to dance. The kids got the programs and the CD autographed. They always think that is so cool. It was an excellent night that we all enjoyed very much.
Here is a slideshow from Atlanta, They do say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here are 30 pictures... that should be worth about 30,000, right?

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Light at the end of the tunnel

Okay. I think it may all be coming together despite all our impediments lately. First the dream house turned out to not be so dreamy. That was a big disappointment for all of us and put us back to the starting block. Next, we had a good one, but still one that caused problems. The mobile home (the thorn in our side) is now going to be sold. WOOHOO!!! However, we have a very short time span in which to find a new place to live. So now we are off to find a condo. One we are hoping we can live in for a while and will be a good investment property. We will still continue to look for the dream place, but we are now thinking this will have to be property and a house that we build.

Despite all this. It looks like we are actually going to get it together. We are settling into more of a rhythm with our days and the planning for the school year is off and running. In the meantime, Case and Amelia are reviewing some of what they have already covered in the past. Case learned long division this week and today learned how to add fractions with different denominators. Both Case and Amelia are turning out to be avid readers. I never would have thought this a year ago. Case is reading the Harry Potter series and A Series of Unfortunate Events and eagerly awaiting the final book in the Inheritance Trilogy. Amelia is reading the Spiderwick Chronicles and Little House on the Prairie.

We will be happy when we finally get to settle into a place we can call "home".