Well since I last wrote I began having issues with my blood pressure going up and it just woulnd't go down. The monday before Marilyn's birthday I had to go in and have them check my blood pressure because I felt so sick. I felt weak and tired and just like my heart was pounding in my chest. It was very scary for me to feel that way.
I went in and my blood pressure reading was 152/98! Those are some scary numbers that's for sure. I've seen people walking around with worse numbers but that made me feel mighty icky. So they've started me on a low dose of high blood pressure meds.
I will admit that stress is just one of those ugly factors in my life. The past three years since Maggie was born has been nothing but doctors, traveling , more doctors and more traveling. Dealing with doctors have no clue, some clue and a clue. But the trick was finding which one. The stresses of basically jumping up and down to get them to listen to me that my baby wasn't feeling good has taken a toll on me. Which it really, really stinks. At 33 years old I shouldn't be worrying about these sort of things. I should be enjoying life right now , enjoying my children and my husband. Not worrying about things like my thyroid and all its many components.
Today luckily my blood pressure went down to 122/98. The bottom number is still a bit high but I've only been on the med for one whole day and I was told it could take 2 weeks for it to really take effect. So not so shabby there. My doctor did go over the results of my sono and said I have a couple of cysts on the right side of my thyroid but I have a "blob" a mass of some sort on my left side. I would lie if I said I wasn't scared. I am very scared. I just wish there was a quick fix to this . You know kind of like your appendix. Oops its inflammed lets just get it out of there. Unfortunately its not that easy. They need to figure out what is up , and what that blob is. I'm not looking forward to someone messing with my neck. What a sensitive area!! I am hoping that this is just hormonal issues causing it and it can be something 'fixed' with medication. But I have a feeling its not going to be that simple. Nothing for me ever seems to be that way for some reason. Its been the theme of my life.
I will admit that I'm tired of doctors, tired of medical stuff. I would just like a break and have some enjoyment in life.
All I know I can do is that is to just pray. Pray to God that he can at least help me heal myself. He doesn't even need to heal me , but if he can at least throw me an anchor and help me heal myself I would be so appreciative. I need to be here for my girls.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Thursday, January 7, 2010
My crazy life....
Just when things begin to stablize with Maggie of course it has to be my turn. I've had to deal with hypothyroidism for at least 6yrs now. I believe I've had it all of my life. But that's another story.
I guess when one medical journey ends with one family member another one starts with someone else, and that's me. I mean why not? I'm only responsible for caring for four children, and schooling them , and taking them to activities which we all love to do.
My problem is that I have a few cysts on my thyroid and trust me I'm not happy to hear that. Not at all. I believe whole heartedly that its because my thyroid has not been managed very well by my doctors, and at times it makes me angry to think about it. I'm just praying that I won't have to have surgery but then I guess what are they going to do to deal with the cysts? I'll admit my 3yr old is a much braver person than I am. She has had 5 surgeries so far in her first 3yrs of life and numerous procedures that I've lost count on. Yet she bounces back like a ball. Me on the other hand I am a wimp. Or at least over the years I've become one. I think with a combination of having surgeries myself, the older I get the harder it is to recover, and the fact I have dealt with so many doctors and seen so much with Maggie I think that I've just about had enough with it all.
I know my friends have extended their concern but I think the worse piece of 'caring' I've gotten was when a friend of mine said to me " God is doing this because he wants you to slow down." I don't think so. Why would God cause me to have something wrong with me to make me slow down? Why would he want me to slow down? He blessed me with the responsibilty of four beautiful little girls. How can you slow down? Isn't that what happens when the kids grow up and leave the nest? Then you can slow down a little? God certainly doesn't need to make me ill to tell me to slow down that's for sure. He could tell me in other ways if He really wanted me to. I believe that Satan has his hand in it and truely and honestly I want him gone, out of here and to leave me the heck alone. We've been through enough and I just feel like I'm at my wits end. I just want some happiness for a little while. A break. Maggie is finally 'stable' at the moment and now I have to deal with myself? Come on.
I am even just about half way done with my college work too. I have always wanted to finish college and get my degree. I tried twice after getting married. In the beginning I was having some marriage issues so I dropped out.Then surely enough the next attempt I ended up pregnant with Marilyn and very sick and couldn't even concentrate so I dropped out again. Waited for a long time and here I am finally doing something with my life so I can make it much better and Wham! Really I am learning to hate the saying " God doesn't give you what you can't handle." I think that is a load of bull. He has given me way more then a normal person's share of hard times. My life has been nothing but hard since my childhood and beyond.
I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but how much can one person take?
I guess all I can do is keep my chin up and pray for the best. Hoping and praying that I can continue to homeschool my children and that its nothing major.
I guess when one medical journey ends with one family member another one starts with someone else, and that's me. I mean why not? I'm only responsible for caring for four children, and schooling them , and taking them to activities which we all love to do.
My problem is that I have a few cysts on my thyroid and trust me I'm not happy to hear that. Not at all. I believe whole heartedly that its because my thyroid has not been managed very well by my doctors, and at times it makes me angry to think about it. I'm just praying that I won't have to have surgery but then I guess what are they going to do to deal with the cysts? I'll admit my 3yr old is a much braver person than I am. She has had 5 surgeries so far in her first 3yrs of life and numerous procedures that I've lost count on. Yet she bounces back like a ball. Me on the other hand I am a wimp. Or at least over the years I've become one. I think with a combination of having surgeries myself, the older I get the harder it is to recover, and the fact I have dealt with so many doctors and seen so much with Maggie I think that I've just about had enough with it all.
I know my friends have extended their concern but I think the worse piece of 'caring' I've gotten was when a friend of mine said to me " God is doing this because he wants you to slow down." I don't think so. Why would God cause me to have something wrong with me to make me slow down? Why would he want me to slow down? He blessed me with the responsibilty of four beautiful little girls. How can you slow down? Isn't that what happens when the kids grow up and leave the nest? Then you can slow down a little? God certainly doesn't need to make me ill to tell me to slow down that's for sure. He could tell me in other ways if He really wanted me to. I believe that Satan has his hand in it and truely and honestly I want him gone, out of here and to leave me the heck alone. We've been through enough and I just feel like I'm at my wits end. I just want some happiness for a little while. A break. Maggie is finally 'stable' at the moment and now I have to deal with myself? Come on.
I am even just about half way done with my college work too. I have always wanted to finish college and get my degree. I tried twice after getting married. In the beginning I was having some marriage issues so I dropped out.Then surely enough the next attempt I ended up pregnant with Marilyn and very sick and couldn't even concentrate so I dropped out again. Waited for a long time and here I am finally doing something with my life so I can make it much better and Wham! Really I am learning to hate the saying " God doesn't give you what you can't handle." I think that is a load of bull. He has given me way more then a normal person's share of hard times. My life has been nothing but hard since my childhood and beyond.
I don't want to sound like I'm complaining, but how much can one person take?
I guess all I can do is keep my chin up and pray for the best. Hoping and praying that I can continue to homeschool my children and that its nothing major.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas Cantata
Well after spending most of my evening downloading the video. Here is it. The 2009 Christmas Cantata with the girls. This is a 25 minute video so sit back and relax and enjoy. Also, please forgive the video. First, it was downloaded on One True Media so its not the original video quality. Second, not the best of hand holding with the camera. So please forgive some of the shakiness. We weren't in the best of spots. In hind sight we should have recorded it at the evening program because there were fewer people there and we wouldn't of been video taping the back of people's heads, or picking up background noise of children. Nonetheless we got it and I can say it was much better in person then it seemed on the video tape.
Here is our gift to you! Hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Here is our gift to you! Hope everyone has a VERY Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Tape 2 and When in Rome.....
Okay. So I know the title is a little corny. I'm sure your rolling your eyes as you see it on the screen. But I have to share with you this strange fasination I have had with tape lately. You can come to my house and find , scotch tape, masking tape, duct tape and even medical tape. The tape that I find I go through the most though is packaging tape. So as you read this you ask yourself, well why? Why do you go through so much packing tape?
The reason is that my daughters love to play with the collection of file folder games that I have procured throughout the years of homeschooling.
If you google file folder games you will find that there are many free resources on which you can download and print various games you can glue, tape and laminate into a folder and they can learn... excuse me play games on various topice from math, language arts, from history to science and even Bible school topics. Today I had counted that for my older girls I have about 38 games thus far and for Maggie I have a total of ten. So you can see I have definitely given our printer a good work out. Out of all of those games I've maybe created 3 or 4 of my own from googling clipart and then making my own games. Even today I created a game for the girls so they could study their Latin vocabulary. They love it and had fun and told me it was much more fun then just sitting there trying to memorize it from their book.
Okay so you ask why are we talking about tape then? Early on I found that with my file folder games I could use packaging tape to laminate them. Instead of going out and buying a machine and then the expensive laminate I could easily go to Walmart and spend less then $8 for two rolls of packaging tape. If I was really spendy I would go to the Fed Ex store here in town and buy their really heavy duty packaging tape. Fed Ex tape to me is the gold standard in packaging tape and honestly the best for laminating them. In the real world though I can't always buy it and settle for my Walmart tape. It does the job well and they look fanstastic.
I think next to butt cream I could easily say that we could hold stock in packaging tape here and make a fortune. LOL. Or maybe I help the packaging tape business make a lot of money.
Well also since I've mentioned File Folder games. Today I had gotten a bit crafty as the girls sat and did their work. I decided to make something fun for them to help aid in learning their Latin vocabulary. They always find it a drag to use the flashcards. So I thought I'd spiffy things up a bit. So I Googled my way through clip art and this is what I came up with:
Our cheesy title for the game
The helmets with the Latin words on them.
The little soldiers with the definitions.
Once I had the idea in my head I found that the game was pretty easy to make. I plan on making some more Latin games to get us through the Latina Christiana series. I do like the series. Its reasonably priced and they have DVD's to help teach the concepts. I never had taken Latin so this is a new experience for me as well. I am learning right along with them. Its the beauty of homeschooling though. You learn all of the things you never learned as a child.
Here are the links to the clip art that I used:
Roman soldier
www.fotosearch.com/CSP140/k1400910/
Roman helmet
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/roman.html
The reason is that my daughters love to play with the collection of file folder games that I have procured throughout the years of homeschooling.
If you google file folder games you will find that there are many free resources on which you can download and print various games you can glue, tape and laminate into a folder and they can learn... excuse me play games on various topice from math, language arts, from history to science and even Bible school topics. Today I had counted that for my older girls I have about 38 games thus far and for Maggie I have a total of ten. So you can see I have definitely given our printer a good work out. Out of all of those games I've maybe created 3 or 4 of my own from googling clipart and then making my own games. Even today I created a game for the girls so they could study their Latin vocabulary. They love it and had fun and told me it was much more fun then just sitting there trying to memorize it from their book.
Okay so you ask why are we talking about tape then? Early on I found that with my file folder games I could use packaging tape to laminate them. Instead of going out and buying a machine and then the expensive laminate I could easily go to Walmart and spend less then $8 for two rolls of packaging tape. If I was really spendy I would go to the Fed Ex store here in town and buy their really heavy duty packaging tape. Fed Ex tape to me is the gold standard in packaging tape and honestly the best for laminating them. In the real world though I can't always buy it and settle for my Walmart tape. It does the job well and they look fanstastic.
I think next to butt cream I could easily say that we could hold stock in packaging tape here and make a fortune. LOL. Or maybe I help the packaging tape business make a lot of money.
Well also since I've mentioned File Folder games. Today I had gotten a bit crafty as the girls sat and did their work. I decided to make something fun for them to help aid in learning their Latin vocabulary. They always find it a drag to use the flashcards. So I thought I'd spiffy things up a bit. So I Googled my way through clip art and this is what I came up with:
Our cheesy title for the game
The helmets with the Latin words on them.
The little soldiers with the definitions.
Once I had the idea in my head I found that the game was pretty easy to make. I plan on making some more Latin games to get us through the Latina Christiana series. I do like the series. Its reasonably priced and they have DVD's to help teach the concepts. I never had taken Latin so this is a new experience for me as well. I am learning right along with them. Its the beauty of homeschooling though. You learn all of the things you never learned as a child.
Here are the links to the clip art that I used:
Roman soldier
www.fotosearch.com/CSP140/k1400910/
Roman helmet
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/clipart/clip/roman.html
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Girl Scout Party
Of course you would think I had pictures of this too. But I don't. Its funny that I have a video camera and a regular camera and I don't take either of them with me half of the time.
Today the girls had tons of fun at their Girl Scout cookie party. They had Christmas arts and crafts, pizza and exchanged cookies. Let's just say that this time of the year is not good on my figure. LOL.
Actually I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. This month has gone by so fast that's for sure. I can't wait until this winter is over that's for sure. I'm finding the older I get the less tolerace I have for this sort of weather anymore. No fun I tell ya.
School is going so so for us right now. I'm just feeling so schooled out. I'm glad that in 3 more days I'll have a break from my own school work for the next two weeks. I'm also glad to know that by Feburary I'll be half way done with my degree. I'm far from being done as my ultimate goal is getting my bachelors degree. But I'm taking this college thing one step at a time.
I'm also rethinking next year as well as far as schooling the girls is concerned. I know something needs to change. I like the K12 , the girls like it too. But I'm just feeling a little burnt out. Having three children and two of them need my direct attention at all times is tough. Then stretching myself even further for Marilyn when she has questions and trying to keep track of my 3yr old is not easy at all. Then by the end of the day I'm working on my school work. Its just an exhausting cycle. I am hoping that I can just homeschool on my own , maybe use a combination of Christian LIght , Ace and add in some good books from Sonlight. That would be my perfect world.
Anyways here is to a good day and that is all folks!
Today the girls had tons of fun at their Girl Scout cookie party. They had Christmas arts and crafts, pizza and exchanged cookies. Let's just say that this time of the year is not good on my figure. LOL.
Actually I can't believe that Christmas is almost here. This month has gone by so fast that's for sure. I can't wait until this winter is over that's for sure. I'm finding the older I get the less tolerace I have for this sort of weather anymore. No fun I tell ya.
School is going so so for us right now. I'm just feeling so schooled out. I'm glad that in 3 more days I'll have a break from my own school work for the next two weeks. I'm also glad to know that by Feburary I'll be half way done with my degree. I'm far from being done as my ultimate goal is getting my bachelors degree. But I'm taking this college thing one step at a time.
I'm also rethinking next year as well as far as schooling the girls is concerned. I know something needs to change. I like the K12 , the girls like it too. But I'm just feeling a little burnt out. Having three children and two of them need my direct attention at all times is tough. Then stretching myself even further for Marilyn when she has questions and trying to keep track of my 3yr old is not easy at all. Then by the end of the day I'm working on my school work. Its just an exhausting cycle. I am hoping that I can just homeschool on my own , maybe use a combination of Christian LIght , Ace and add in some good books from Sonlight. That would be my perfect world.
Anyways here is to a good day and that is all folks!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
File Folder Games , oh my!
Okay. So I usually have a picture to post on my blog about the things I talk about. I may even post a picture later on when I get a moment and its not almost 1 o'clock in the morning.
But I'd thought I'd take a moment and talk about File Folder Games.
I was just looking at our little stack of File Folder games in our living room. Did you know there are tons of free File Folder Games to download and print on the internet? If your really crafty you can even make them yourselves. I'll admit, I'm crafty but not that crafty. No, just kidding. I could do it if I had the time. Between teaching the girls, doing my mom duties, and college school work there is only so much time left in the day. So there are other moms out there that take the time to put these games together and they post them for free. All I can say is bless their hearts that they are actually help make my life a bit easier.
What are File Folder games you ask? They are bascially educational games made out of file folders. Minus the printer ink, they are easy to put together and the kids have fun and learn all at the same time and they don't even know it.
They can be as simple as using a coloring book and crayons, file folder, and glue.
Or if your like me finding premade games so all you need to do is print them , cut, glue and laminate. There are many free ones online and there are some that you can purchase online. I've even found you can purchase them in workbook form so all you have to do is cut them out of the book , glue , then laminate.
Such as this one. I have found Rainbow Resource has great prices on them.
Or better yet,, if you want to skip the whole cutting process and you just want to open and go then something already made for you might be beneficial. Such as these:
I'll admit though that would take the fun of the cutting , gluing and laminating away. For me the very act of sitting down and cutting paper can be relaxing after a crazy day of school.
As I was saying I've accumulated quite a few of these games in the past few years. I counted about 40 of them today. That doesn't include the ones I make for Maggie to sit and play with.
I have found they make great 'distractors' for one child when I am working with another child. Plus I know they are learning something from them in the process. Its much better then having the usual chaos of have the other three running around while I try to teach one of them something.
I'll admit, File Folder games are right up there with making Lapbooks. They are fun for the kids and educational all at the same time. They are very hands on and great for kids who learn best doing hands on things. Even if they don't all children love games.
Here is a list of my favorite places to go for my freebie games:
www.filefolderfun.com
www.preschoolprintables.com
http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp ( great for toddlers)
http://www.myffgames.com/ ( this one you do have to purchase but they are the only ones at the moment that i know of that have File Folder games up to 4th grade)
http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads_foldergames.html ( has a few simple games to print out for free)
http://www.gigglygames.net/freebies.htm
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/ChristianFileFolderGames.html
http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleFileFolderGames.html
http://www.childcareland.com/free.html ( games and file folder games for prek-K)
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/printables/filefolder.htm ( there are three of them on this website)
http://www.filefolderheaven.com/shop/ ( have some freebies)
I'm sure there maybe other sites but these are the major ones that I have been able to find that offer free file folder games.
I do hope in the future that I will be able to find games for children in upper grades. I've made one of my own so far and one of these days I'll have to share it on here so others can benefit from it.
But I'd thought I'd take a moment and talk about File Folder Games.
I was just looking at our little stack of File Folder games in our living room. Did you know there are tons of free File Folder Games to download and print on the internet? If your really crafty you can even make them yourselves. I'll admit, I'm crafty but not that crafty. No, just kidding. I could do it if I had the time. Between teaching the girls, doing my mom duties, and college school work there is only so much time left in the day. So there are other moms out there that take the time to put these games together and they post them for free. All I can say is bless their hearts that they are actually help make my life a bit easier.
What are File Folder games you ask? They are bascially educational games made out of file folders. Minus the printer ink, they are easy to put together and the kids have fun and learn all at the same time and they don't even know it.
They can be as simple as using a coloring book and crayons, file folder, and glue.
Or if your like me finding premade games so all you need to do is print them , cut, glue and laminate. There are many free ones online and there are some that you can purchase online. I've even found you can purchase them in workbook form so all you have to do is cut them out of the book , glue , then laminate.
Such as this one. I have found Rainbow Resource has great prices on them.
Or better yet,, if you want to skip the whole cutting process and you just want to open and go then something already made for you might be beneficial. Such as these:
I'll admit though that would take the fun of the cutting , gluing and laminating away. For me the very act of sitting down and cutting paper can be relaxing after a crazy day of school.
As I was saying I've accumulated quite a few of these games in the past few years. I counted about 40 of them today. That doesn't include the ones I make for Maggie to sit and play with.
I have found they make great 'distractors' for one child when I am working with another child. Plus I know they are learning something from them in the process. Its much better then having the usual chaos of have the other three running around while I try to teach one of them something.
I'll admit, File Folder games are right up there with making Lapbooks. They are fun for the kids and educational all at the same time. They are very hands on and great for kids who learn best doing hands on things. Even if they don't all children love games.
Here is a list of my favorite places to go for my freebie games:
www.filefolderfun.com
www.preschoolprintables.com
http://www.mormonchic.com/crafty/filefolders.asp ( great for toddlers)
http://www.myffgames.com/ ( this one you do have to purchase but they are the only ones at the moment that i know of that have File Folder games up to 4th grade)
http://www.positivelyautism.com/downloads_foldergames.html ( has a few simple games to print out for free)
http://www.gigglygames.net/freebies.htm
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/ChristianFileFolderGames.html
http://www.biblestoryprintables.com/BibleFileFolderGames.html
http://www.childcareland.com/free.html ( games and file folder games for prek-K)
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/printables/filefolder.htm ( there are three of them on this website)
http://www.filefolderheaven.com/shop/ ( have some freebies)
I'm sure there maybe other sites but these are the major ones that I have been able to find that offer free file folder games.
I do hope in the future that I will be able to find games for children in upper grades. I've made one of my own so far and one of these days I'll have to share it on here so others can benefit from it.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Homeschooling Blahs
If you can't tell by the title its easy to see that I am going through homeschooling blahs.
We began our homeschooling journey when Marilyn was 4.5 years old. My baby girl will be 12 this January so we've been homeschooling for almost 8yrs. Its hard to believe it but really that's how long we've been at it.
In that time I've homeschooled on my own and we've utilized cyberschooling during our journey.
I remember the fun and the joy that the elementary grades brought when I taught Marilyn reading and math, and Katie as well.
I'm finding this year that my homeschooling enjoyment is just being sucked from me. When Marilyn was 7 years old we decided to join with a cyberschool in our state. I mean I would have free curriculum ( school books are expensive) and the school could deal with the paperwork accountability that I would otherwise have to do with our school district. I mean what could be better?
That first year was a total disaster. Marilyn fought me tooth and nail, letting me know each day that she wasn't going to do her school work. I can't tell you how many tears and arguments were shed that year. Katie , she did great. Always wanting to please her mommy.
The 2nd year was difficult, but not as bad as the first. Then the third year came along and Marilyn began to be more cooperative. But we were finding that we were just going through the motions to get those green Calvert tests done to send to the school. Then the 4th year came along and Maggie was born. That was a horrific time of turmoil and uncertainty dealing with all of the health problems that kept surfacing from her condition. I'm not even sure how we did it that year. It was just all a horrible blur to me. But we did it and I was proud. The 5th year we decided to give the virtual classes a try and boy that was just a horrible mistake.Technology and me donot mix at all. Marilyn was frustrated, I was frustrated and nothing was getting accomplished. Then during that year we have to travel with Maggie to Cincinnati and this gave me the perfect "excuse" to cut ties with the cyberschool altogether and just homeschool on my own. Even though it was almost the end of the school year I managed to throw some curriculum together and though it wasn't perfectly executed we mangaged and finished out the school year. I was happily awaiting to homeschool the two older girls and leave Hannah in with the other cyber we were with as it was working fine for her. So I pulled Katie out and got all the paperwork signed for the school district and we were officially homeschoolers once again.
I was so happy but of course doubt set in my mind. I had some curriculum to start out the year but not all of it.. We were working with parts of curriculum and the girls were just not enjoying it. So a friend of Marilyn's was with the cyber Hannah was in and of course I once again got talked into doing it. So once again we are with another cyber and this year I just feel like the fun, the enjoyment of learning is just being sucked out of me. The girls tell me they like their cyberschool but our days are being filled with Scantron tests, and even some tears because of the pressure. There is Study Island once again and on top of it all school work. I just feel so totally stressed out lately that its not funny.
One thing is for certain I will NOT be doing cyberschool with Maggie. Of course I could pull the older girls out but they are actually progressing this year, though in some areas we really need to work on things such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
They enjoy the activities that we would probably not be doing since finaces are still really tight for us. Our area doesn't have social homeschoolers in the the sense they don't like to get out and do much to get together or become friends with. So just getting together with kids that homeschool is such a treat for them. I do try but others really don't seem interested.
Don't get me wrong I do like the curriculum( wish I could afford it myself), its the extra stuff that we HAVE to do with the school that is just causing my homeschool blahs.
We began our homeschooling journey when Marilyn was 4.5 years old. My baby girl will be 12 this January so we've been homeschooling for almost 8yrs. Its hard to believe it but really that's how long we've been at it.
In that time I've homeschooled on my own and we've utilized cyberschooling during our journey.
I remember the fun and the joy that the elementary grades brought when I taught Marilyn reading and math, and Katie as well.
I'm finding this year that my homeschooling enjoyment is just being sucked from me. When Marilyn was 7 years old we decided to join with a cyberschool in our state. I mean I would have free curriculum ( school books are expensive) and the school could deal with the paperwork accountability that I would otherwise have to do with our school district. I mean what could be better?
That first year was a total disaster. Marilyn fought me tooth and nail, letting me know each day that she wasn't going to do her school work. I can't tell you how many tears and arguments were shed that year. Katie , she did great. Always wanting to please her mommy.
The 2nd year was difficult, but not as bad as the first. Then the third year came along and Marilyn began to be more cooperative. But we were finding that we were just going through the motions to get those green Calvert tests done to send to the school. Then the 4th year came along and Maggie was born. That was a horrific time of turmoil and uncertainty dealing with all of the health problems that kept surfacing from her condition. I'm not even sure how we did it that year. It was just all a horrible blur to me. But we did it and I was proud. The 5th year we decided to give the virtual classes a try and boy that was just a horrible mistake.Technology and me donot mix at all. Marilyn was frustrated, I was frustrated and nothing was getting accomplished. Then during that year we have to travel with Maggie to Cincinnati and this gave me the perfect "excuse" to cut ties with the cyberschool altogether and just homeschool on my own. Even though it was almost the end of the school year I managed to throw some curriculum together and though it wasn't perfectly executed we mangaged and finished out the school year. I was happily awaiting to homeschool the two older girls and leave Hannah in with the other cyber we were with as it was working fine for her. So I pulled Katie out and got all the paperwork signed for the school district and we were officially homeschoolers once again.
I was so happy but of course doubt set in my mind. I had some curriculum to start out the year but not all of it.. We were working with parts of curriculum and the girls were just not enjoying it. So a friend of Marilyn's was with the cyber Hannah was in and of course I once again got talked into doing it. So once again we are with another cyber and this year I just feel like the fun, the enjoyment of learning is just being sucked out of me. The girls tell me they like their cyberschool but our days are being filled with Scantron tests, and even some tears because of the pressure. There is Study Island once again and on top of it all school work. I just feel so totally stressed out lately that its not funny.
One thing is for certain I will NOT be doing cyberschool with Maggie. Of course I could pull the older girls out but they are actually progressing this year, though in some areas we really need to work on things such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts.
They enjoy the activities that we would probably not be doing since finaces are still really tight for us. Our area doesn't have social homeschoolers in the the sense they don't like to get out and do much to get together or become friends with. So just getting together with kids that homeschool is such a treat for them. I do try but others really don't seem interested.
Don't get me wrong I do like the curriculum( wish I could afford it myself), its the extra stuff that we HAVE to do with the school that is just causing my homeschool blahs.
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