Time for another little rant. Last time, I was complaining about if I would have time for all of this. I still plan on making it through the year. I'm pretty good at starting something new, having a hard time getting used to it, hating it for a while, and either quitting (and then wondering why I couldn't have stuck it out) or figuring it out and deciding it's not that bad.
Right now, I'm just thinking this is bad, and annoying, and stupid. I'm tired. I had a full day of life. Child number one injured his hand over the weekend, and he needed to see the Dr. And get Xrays. Things needed to be cleaned and organized so we can actually do this school-at-home thing. Dinner needed to be made. DH has a broken arm and is in a cast for another month, so even though he had the day off, he's limited in what he can do to help. Argh. So at 10 pm tonight, I sat down to prep lessons for tomorrow.
The k12 website is slow and confusing. It has a daily and weekly plan for each child. In those plans, there is a link to see what needs to be done for advance prep. Sounds nice, I know. But when the advance prep is telling me to print this or that, and there's no link to the thing that needs to be printed, I have to start hunting around on the website to find it. So far, I've concluded that the only way to find these materials is to actually start the lesson (I get a little popup window telling me that this lesson is for my child, not me.) and go through the online activities to the point where it says it's time to go offline. Then it has a list of what is needed, and a link to print what needs to be printed. If it were that easy, I might not be so irritated. In the middle of all of this, or if I take too long on the links (sometimes the print job is a bit big and I want to see if I really have to print it, or if I can just look at it online), my session times out and I have to log back on. Or even better: I'm trying to figure out what lessons really need to be done (one page says one thing, and a different page says another), and I click on a link that should show me the lesson, and I get a little popup note telling me that there was a problem with my link, and that I need to log in AGAIN, and try again. Every time I log in, I have to wait for it to load. Every time I hit a new link on the site, I have to wait for it to load.
And it is now going on midnight. the anxiety is beginning to build, and I'm very slowly getting things together. And I really need to go to bed!
I was so worried about building my own curriculum. Now I'm thinking that this could really help me gain the confidence to do that. Not only do I have to worry about this crappy, confusing website, I have to touch bases with their teachers once or twice a week (I'm just a learning coach here), and attend online workshops to learn how to teach my kids (I think I'm already pretty good at that), And worry about all of this extra stuff. How bad could putting my own curriculum together really be? It would cut out all of this crap, and probably save me a lot of time. And get me more sleep.
And now I shall go to bed. Things will work out one way or another, and if I don't have my sleep, I will have mushy brains and a mad face, and maybe a headache.
MAN! I just realized that I haven't gotten any chocolate yet!
Monday, August 5, 2013
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
I have to get this out somewhere
I don't have time to journal, though I think journaling is a lovely idea. I have just created a blog in the heat of the moment. I have tried to create a blog one other time. I think it had 2 posts over a four year period. What the heck? nobody will read this anyway, and it gives me an escape from what I'm trying to do, and spares the ears of those whom I might otherwise be whining at (Saving many friendships, and possibly a marriage).
I am a mom. I am trying to home school three children. I pulled them out of public school 6 months ago, and began what turned into an un-schooling period. We had a curriculum, we were all ready to go. Until I realized that the pre-packaged educations I purchased weren't going to work for them. So I started to throw things out (send them back) but I couldn't settle on any replacements. What if I spent all that money and time again and again just to see that it wasn't the right fit? The next thing you know, we were Un-schooling, full throttle. That was fun, and very relaxing, but I would like my kids to actually be gaining some knowledge, and I don't want to wait until the 9-yr-old is 16 before he decides he wants to write an essay or learn long division.
So I looked into, and enrolled my little darlings in K12, public school online. they send you a whole curriculum for free. Hooray. And the kids have lessons on and offline. They only go to 8th grade where we live, but oh well. something to keep me sane. Only right now, I'm feeling less sane than I did a few days ago, before I started this. Before we started this.
School doesn't actually start for them for a few more days, but they have assignments anyway. And the website is slow and a bit confusing. There are things I'm supposed to do as the "learning coach," to prepare ahead of time to get the lessons ready. They each have a teacher whom we will communicate with online (but not til Friday), and we all have to look at "how to" videos and intros. And there are boxes and boxes of supplies that I haven't opened yet, and the supplies I'm told I need are printable online. So I print, and print, and print, and try to figure out how all of this stuff is supposed to go together, all the while feeling anxiety pangs in my stomach. I have other things to do, you know, like clean the house and take kids to appointments, and did I mention that I just got my realtor's license? And I have clients. What on earth have I gotten myself into?
And then guess what? after three days of printing and printing and printing some more, I realize that all the stuff I printed (using up the rest of my white printing paper and then printing on orange and purple paper) didn't have to be printed! it's all in a teacher's guide that was sent to me in one of those boxes. And the workbook (that I had already found) that the 9-yr-old already wrote in, wasn't supposed to be written in, because when this is all over (this section of his education), I send the books back. Of course. It's free, after all.
So I actually have two students doing k12. The other one is a 9th grader, and our k12 stops at 8th.
That's two full curricula, for which I have to read overviews of every lesson, plan ahead, and figure out how to teach this all to them by midnight of each day. I'm now thinking that someone should have warned me that this might be more time consuming than just a 6 hour day (they told me on the phone that it would be a 6 hour day). I'm thinking, for me, at least, my days could easily be 12 hour days, and longer, because I do have other things to do, and one other child who needs an education. And a 10th grader, who decided to stay in public school. Thank goodness.
Now onto the 7th grader's art lesson, and then my rant will be complete (for today anyway). After looking at some renaissance art and a little diagram of characteristics of art from that period, the student is assigned to create a self protrait, using the renaissance style. Umm, ok. Just like that, huh? I've already hidden in my closet once today, realizing that we have no paper bags to keep me from hyperventilating, and I have no chocolate. Grocery shopping! yes, I have to do that sometime, too! but when?
After reading that little bit of instruction, I all of a sudden wanted to throw up. (Mental note: create a closet kit with paper bags, chocolate, and a throw-up-bowl-or barf-bag.) All of this stress! I am no artist. My 7th grader is a bit better than me, but still. is there maybe a video that shows how to create that style of art? Somewhere hidden in this k12 website? and I can feel the inner-lining of my stomach slowly being eaten away as I worry about the work the 4th grader should be doing, but with my guidance, which I'm not giving him, because I want to throw up and eat chocolate in my closet (not in that order, or any order).
And school doesn't officially start until Friday.
This is the beginning. I promised a year. So here we go. Maybe a mental breakdown (complete with a hospital stay where they watch me go to the bathroom to keep me from drowning myself in the toilet and I wear gowns with no strings) would free from this commitment, but I'll try not to have one. I'll just blog instead. or maybe not. we'll see.
I am a mom. I am trying to home school three children. I pulled them out of public school 6 months ago, and began what turned into an un-schooling period. We had a curriculum, we were all ready to go. Until I realized that the pre-packaged educations I purchased weren't going to work for them. So I started to throw things out (send them back) but I couldn't settle on any replacements. What if I spent all that money and time again and again just to see that it wasn't the right fit? The next thing you know, we were Un-schooling, full throttle. That was fun, and very relaxing, but I would like my kids to actually be gaining some knowledge, and I don't want to wait until the 9-yr-old is 16 before he decides he wants to write an essay or learn long division.
So I looked into, and enrolled my little darlings in K12, public school online. they send you a whole curriculum for free. Hooray. And the kids have lessons on and offline. They only go to 8th grade where we live, but oh well. something to keep me sane. Only right now, I'm feeling less sane than I did a few days ago, before I started this. Before we started this.
School doesn't actually start for them for a few more days, but they have assignments anyway. And the website is slow and a bit confusing. There are things I'm supposed to do as the "learning coach," to prepare ahead of time to get the lessons ready. They each have a teacher whom we will communicate with online (but not til Friday), and we all have to look at "how to" videos and intros. And there are boxes and boxes of supplies that I haven't opened yet, and the supplies I'm told I need are printable online. So I print, and print, and print, and try to figure out how all of this stuff is supposed to go together, all the while feeling anxiety pangs in my stomach. I have other things to do, you know, like clean the house and take kids to appointments, and did I mention that I just got my realtor's license? And I have clients. What on earth have I gotten myself into?
And then guess what? after three days of printing and printing and printing some more, I realize that all the stuff I printed (using up the rest of my white printing paper and then printing on orange and purple paper) didn't have to be printed! it's all in a teacher's guide that was sent to me in one of those boxes. And the workbook (that I had already found) that the 9-yr-old already wrote in, wasn't supposed to be written in, because when this is all over (this section of his education), I send the books back. Of course. It's free, after all.
So I actually have two students doing k12. The other one is a 9th grader, and our k12 stops at 8th.
That's two full curricula, for which I have to read overviews of every lesson, plan ahead, and figure out how to teach this all to them by midnight of each day. I'm now thinking that someone should have warned me that this might be more time consuming than just a 6 hour day (they told me on the phone that it would be a 6 hour day). I'm thinking, for me, at least, my days could easily be 12 hour days, and longer, because I do have other things to do, and one other child who needs an education. And a 10th grader, who decided to stay in public school. Thank goodness.
Now onto the 7th grader's art lesson, and then my rant will be complete (for today anyway). After looking at some renaissance art and a little diagram of characteristics of art from that period, the student is assigned to create a self protrait, using the renaissance style. Umm, ok. Just like that, huh? I've already hidden in my closet once today, realizing that we have no paper bags to keep me from hyperventilating, and I have no chocolate. Grocery shopping! yes, I have to do that sometime, too! but when?
After reading that little bit of instruction, I all of a sudden wanted to throw up. (Mental note: create a closet kit with paper bags, chocolate, and a throw-up-bowl-or barf-bag.) All of this stress! I am no artist. My 7th grader is a bit better than me, but still. is there maybe a video that shows how to create that style of art? Somewhere hidden in this k12 website? and I can feel the inner-lining of my stomach slowly being eaten away as I worry about the work the 4th grader should be doing, but with my guidance, which I'm not giving him, because I want to throw up and eat chocolate in my closet (not in that order, or any order).
And school doesn't officially start until Friday.
This is the beginning. I promised a year. So here we go. Maybe a mental breakdown (complete with a hospital stay where they watch me go to the bathroom to keep me from drowning myself in the toilet and I wear gowns with no strings) would free from this commitment, but I'll try not to have one. I'll just blog instead. or maybe not. we'll see.
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