My Heart A Bit Sad....

I wanted to start by thanking all those who posted & wrote e-mails to me, I will look into all of your ideas! Thank You : )

My heart was a bit sad yesterday, My son was home and he was on the computer when Kelly & I were doing school work. He said to me, "If I had school like this I would have quit - You talk to much"! Kelly jumped in and said, "I like it like this, She does all the work and I just sit here". Now you know I have found that Kelly really does take in the things we learn about even though she may be coloring or painting while I am reading, BUT I do do alot of the "work". When it came to a story she needed to write she kept putting it off, finding reasons why she could not do it. I wasn't going to give in and she handed back one paragrah that she wrote. Maybe I am doing to much of the "work" and she does need to do more.... I was just so happy she was actually retaining the information we talked about instead of having it go in one ear and then out the next that maybe I have been neglecting other things : (

I found this site for assesment test taking: Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills I thought it would help knowing what each grade level is learning. Gosh, by this Kelly is way behind in math.....

Teaching High School

I really have been thinking about what lies ahead for us in Kelly's homeschooling.
Do we really want to continue homeschooling for the next four years.... Am I capable of giving her a high school level of education? When she was in public school she had an IEP (Individual Education Program), So I am sure this would affect the "requirments" expected of her for graduation.... The one website I found about teaching high school mentions that you should print out your states requirements for graducation and start from there, but do you really teach to those requirements or do you follow your own path? Or do you teach to be able to pass the GED test? I would love to hear from those of you who have moved into that area of teaching "high school" you can e-mail me at justme32110@yahoo.com

P.s.- I found this great article about the topic of how to teach: http://www.homelifeacademy.com/heart_for_learning.php
Thanks!

Good News - Bad News

Start of another day....

I found this picture in the newspaper this morning of the pelicans flying over the beach, I wanted to share it with you, I thought it looked so peaceful.

Good News - Kelly is doing alittle better with the toothache, It doesn't seem to be hurting as much - Thank God!

Bad News - The job that my husband's boss told them they would be starting tomorrow in Alabama fell through : ( I can not tell you how upset we are to hear this.... We were soooo counting on this money! We have a $404.00 electric bill that we will be getting the shut off notice for any day now (I called around to see if we could get help - the one lady said to call back in about four weeks that they are so swamped with requests already. The other places I called are tapped out already by the huge demand of people in our area needing help). We get another unemployment check on thurs. which we could use to pay the electric bill but we are out of food stamp money and need to use some of that money for that..... I just have to pray everything will work out okay.

The Monday Blues.....

Kelly is still struggling with a terrible toothache!
I feel soooo terrible for her - She was up most the night last night (she had run out of anbesol, which has been the only thing to give her some pain free moments).
She is napping right now laying on the bench next to our table, I hope she can nap for awhile - no sleep always makes things worse!
The really sad part is I can't get her any help for all this pain! We just don't have any money to take her to the dentist, and I can't see any time in the near future when we will either : (
If you know of any home remedies that work for toothaches please let me know....
She has tried advil, ice bag on the area, salt water rinses and nothing so far as worked.
Needless to say a really down day here : (

I've Been Thinking....

I have really been mulling over - What do kids really need to learn about,
I think I have been struggle with this because of my having to work up Kelly's transcript.
I printed out from World Book what an 8th grader should be learning about as a general guide line.
Why do we teach some things and not others? How much do you really remember from 13 years of schooling? Do you really need to know the state bird of another state? Do you need to know the periodic table of elements? ect. How much of the stuff we teach do they really ever use? (Can you tell I haven't slept well in awhile).
Most everything can be looked up on the computer in minutes so there really is no need to know the "indepth" of things if there is no interest in it - Is there?
I really find this topic interesting.
I think to since our area has been hit really hard with the bad economy - Flagler County's unemployment rate is at 16%, Is it more important to focus in on job type things to learn? But there again, I know a Penn State graduate who can't find a job either and is working at a store.
I wonder if it is more important to just have the "love of learning".

Friday....

Nothing much new here....
Kelly still seems to be in that in between stage of being sick and not being sick.
To top it off the poor thing has a toothache also : (
We have been trying to get a little bit of schooling in each day but really we haven't gotten much done. We wrapped up early today because I saw it was pointless, She just feels lousy and cranky.
I went up to the library this morning - It is sad to say but going to the library is the highlight of my week. When I got there they were setting up for a play and had most of the children's book area roped off. The gal did help me by getting two of the books I needed. I hate when I can't browse through the books! Needless to say I came home with a poor selection of books for this up-coming week.
One of the inter-library books I have been waiting for weeks did come in today (The Yanks Are Coming) - The problem is that we have covered most all of what the book is about already using other texts : ( I will most likely send the book back without reading it - I hate that because I have to pay $2.00 for every inter-library book I order. I am debating if it is just easier to order the books from Amazon - most of the books are .01 plus $3.99 shipping, so for $4.00 I can get the books pretty much within a week and not have to wait almost a month for the inter-library book.
I did pick-up from the library Mommywood by Tori Spelling that I had requested so at least I have something to read again.... I just LOVE when you get a book and crack it open and submerge yourself in it!

Feeling Under The Weather : (

Kelly hasn't been feeling well since last night.... It's almost 11:00am and she is still laying in bed dosing on and off.
It's been brewing, she wasn't eating very much, then last night she said it was hard to breath, her throat was soar, headache, feeling shaky. My son works at a food store so I always worry that he is bringing home all those germs from the many different shoppers he runs into. He also mentioned that one of the guys he works with is sick as a dog coughing on everything (they told him to go home but he is in major need of a paycheck), the guy is taking today off though - my son is filling if for him. So not sure if Kelly is starting with the flu or what but I hate to see her not well : (
My son brought home "Transformers Revenge of the Fallen" video so that looks like what we will be doing today.