Me & My Boy

So first I got lazy, and then I got bored, and then I went to Florida again for a few weeks. But now I'm back! And I'm going to be trying to update for the next few days if possible. And while I was gone, my background, font, and everything went all weird, so I will have to try to fix it soon. I've been busy homeschooling my son but also doing school myself. I have enrolled full time (14 credit hours) into a Medical Transcription program that's all online. I was really looking for a career that I could do that was interesting, use my medical knowledge, and grammar skills, but still be at home for Jamie. I think this is the job. I should finish up the program in June and get my certificate so that I can start applying for jobs this summer. I'm trying to survive off student loan money and maybe a part time job.

Homeschooling started off with a bang. Not a fun bang, the kind of bang that scares you and makes you wonder how it happened and how do you make it stop?!?! Yeah....not so much fun at first. It was my fault, I planned too much out I think. And Jamie was overwhelmed, and also not used to the mama/teacher role. He won't sit still, he wants to play, or sit in my lap, or lay on the floor...anything but concentrate on what we're doing. So I backed off some and I think I have a routine established. BTW-He did cry for the first 8 days of school. Everyday. Because I was MEAN and made him sit at his desk and practice his handwriting. Mmmhmmm.


So this is how our morning starts out. We wake up at 8ish (don't be hatin', that's our homeschooling priviledge of sleeping in), then we eat breakfast, get dressed, and start the day out with phonics. I've learned that its better to get that done and over with. I don't use all the MANY MANY MANY exercises and lessons that his A Beka Teacher manual says to do, because its based for a classroom with multiple kids, with multiple learning abilities. I have found what works for Jamie, and that's a quick review of what we did yesterday, a short lesson on today's letter, or blend, or whatever we're doing, and then here's the best part - I LET HIM WRITE ON THE WHITEBOARD. Who would have thought that this would make the whole day start off great? He loves to write on it, so I have him mark out the "silent e", or put the "smily face" on top of the short vowel sound, or when its time to do math, I let him draw "5 triangles", etc. After phonics we do a quick handwriting worksheet that I let him do alone while I feed the animals, or make my bed. I used to sit next to him and correct him when he made a mistake in writing, but that stressed him out and got me frustrated, so its better when we do it this way. Now he's excited to show me what he did and takes constructive criticsm well, i.e. "Jamie, that 'a' looks little wobbly, can you go fix it?" and he's happy to fix it. After that we do "Numbers", because really, its not quite math yet. I am surprised how quickly he picks up the concept and can now count to 100, count by 10, and by 2s to 20. When we started in August, he could only count to 20 and even that was a bit crazy:"...11, 12,13,16,19,20!".
So, we're getting there.:) We have a group of homeschooling parents that homeschool in our county and in the surrounding counties that get together every month. We plan field trips and activities to get the kids together. Friday we had a field trip to a radio station, where the DJ was going to show the kids how it ran and all, but Jamie was running a fever and was quite pitiful, so we didn't get to go. In December we're all going to Disney on Ice to see High School Musical. We went last year and saw Disney Princesses Dream Come True, and Jamie love it, as did my 11 year old brother. Its just exciting and fun and they put on a great show. Right at the beginning of August the kids got to go to the beach together, which was fun for them too.
I guess that's all for now. I promise to keep my blogging skills up (hand over my heart). Because I can take the 10 minutes to do it. :)

Labels: Update