We started our first full week of homeschooling this past week, and I have to say that everything went smoothly. We took a good week off...Trey needed a little break from everything, and I needed an opportunity to get my house back in order. 5 years of working full time took it's toll on my ability to keep the laundry monster at bay.
Starting this past Monday, we began our home school experience. I was so proud of Trey...he really did well. Of course, by Thursday, he had begun to test the limits between Mom and Teacher. But he really was exceptionally behaved. He received all high A's on his quizzes, and he was so proud. We are still in the planning process of our classroom, so he is working out of the living room for now. I made a make-shift bulletin board from a large framed print that I had, and I posted his work up above the piano for the whole family to see. Of course, I didn't leave Addie out...she has a math quiz hanging up there on which she made a 103%.
We are currently using the Alpha Omega Complete Curriculum set. Overall, I am pleased with it, but it does seem to be a little beneath his level. He was in an Advanced Placement school for Math and Engineering before we began homeschooling (Addison is still enrolled there)...and some of the things in the 3rd Grade Alpha Omega Curriculum is what he learned in Kindergarten. So, I'm having to do a lot of extra planning to make sure I supplement the boxed set adequately enough for his level of learning. Other than that, I like the fact that I can give a brief review of the previous days lesson and introduce new material at the beginning of each subject, and then he can work pretty much independently for the rest of the lesson. With Lindsay being not quite 3 years old, she's still having a difficult time letting me spend a lot of one on one time with Trey without interrupting.
I'd love to hear advice from anyone who is homeschooling an elementary level student, and also has a toddler running around. And I will try to post our lesson plans from this past week, as well as those for the upcoming week.
Home school is definitely a challenge, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. As I've said in recent posts, I used to work for the Texarkana Arkansas Police Department - actually, I still kind of work there. They asked me to stay on part time until they can find someone to replace me. I was kind of apprehensive because I knew how hard it was going to be for me to leave anyway...I really loved my job. I'm one of those cold-turkey types. When there comes a time for me to move on from something that I love, I am the type of person who needs to completely sever all ties, or else I wind up having regrets. I definitely didn't want to have regrets, but I couldn't tell them no. I grew up in a police family, so it was no surprise to me that I would come to think of them as an extension of my own family.
I only work for a few hours a week when I can...just to help them keep up with things until they find someone. But my first day back last week was a real eye-opener. Here I was feeling very apprehensive because I didn't want to regret leaving. But guess what...I didn't. The whole time I was there, I knew that I shouldn't have been. I felt so out of place...not because they had changed, but because I have. IN A WEEK! I knew that even though the department needed help, they didn't necessarily need ME. But my family does. EPIPHANY!!! It was one of those "Aha!" moments (as Oprah puts it).
While I will continue to fulfil my commitment to TAPD until they no longer need my service, I will never again question whether my decision to quit was a sound one. I know now that what I did was what was best for my son. That's all that matters...
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