Going back to work, homeschooling, and life

I decided to take a part time job to earn a little extra money for my upcoming trip to Haiti and to pay some debt. It's been a rough transition going from homeschooling blogger to working 30+ hours a week.

I have had little time to blog or for the internet at all. I took my son to a sitter, worked, picked up my child, tried to spend time with him and then went to bed with throbbing feet. I have plantar fascitis. I thought my flip flops helped cure it but in actuality it was probably my sedentary lifestyle. My feet are so tender and throb so bad at night that I couldn't sleep and the thought of going back to work the next day brought tears to my eyes. I am back to doing feet exercises and stretches. I've bought two separate inserts for my shoes, but I'm probably going to have to go back to the foot doctor.

Homeschooling while you're working isn't hard if your child is self motivated. Mine is not. He has a laptop that he can take to the sitter and so his work but he had so much fun today at his Nanny's that he didn't do it so I had to be the bad guy and tell him that he was going to do it when he got him, yes I realize it's going to be 6pm but those are consequences of goofing off while I am at work.

I know eventually we will get in a rhythm and be able to balance homeschool, my blog, my social media responsibilities, and work.

I am also looking for a more long term job that has better pay and benefits so prayers are appreciated!

We survived! The first week of Homeschool and Co-op

This week we started back to school! We are homeschool. It isn't as big a deal to us as public school but we still try to make it fun. It was also our first two days of our homeschool co-op. I am a co-leader of Adventure Homeschoolers of East TN. We are a very laid back co-op that my friend started when she couldn't find a homeschool group that she "fit" into. We meet on the first Tuesday and Wednesday of the month for enrichment classes at Imagination Forest, a local toy store. 

 We have grown since that picture was taken this past May. We have had steady growth since we started offering classes at imagination forest. Our homeschool group started out in Alecia's dining room. We would have science class every Monday. 

and we grew until that turned into THIS

I teach Astronomy and Health & Safety. I love Astronomy. I love everything about space, the stars, the planets, it's all very fascinating to me. If you haven't heard of Louie Giglio you should look him up he is awesome. I want to share my excitement about the universe with the kids and get them excited and hopefully one of them will grow up and become an astronaut and convince NASA to let me go up. Even though I suffer from dyscalculia and can't do math to save my life, lol. I'm sure I can be of some use up there? 

Check out our co-op here-> https://www.facebook.com/groups/341058799308240/ 

Back to our first week of school. This week was mostly placement tests which was more of a headache than it should have been. We had never taken placement tests before and I was using a new program. I didn't realize I was using it incorrectly and what I thought was a five hour placement test ended up being a whole months worth of math assignments and not even the placement test. My son and I were in tears.  Thankfully my friend ,who is my "village"(bless her heart), gave him the test tonight in thirty minutes. Crisis averted. 

  I homeschool out of necessity. My son has life threatening food allergies and Asperger's. He had so many issues with his elementary school and it was apparent to me that the best way for me to keep him safe would be to homeschool him. It wasn't just me being over protective it was severe violations of his IEP AND Section 504. There were also problems with bullying. So when he had to switch schools due to us moving I just saw it as a sign and decided to just homeschool him. Two years later and he is doing great. He has friends, he is socialized, and he is safe.

I wouldn't trade it for anything. Especially with everything that is going on in the world. I know he is learning the bible. He is learning what I want him to learn, not the government, and he is not stuck in a desk all day he is out in the world learning hands on. 

Back to school.....already? Homeschool Co-op Party.

Today we had our back to school party with our homeschool co-op. It was a color explosion. There was powdered color dye the kids threw at each other (like the color runs) and we tie dyed t-shirts. There were snacks galore. Lots of cupcakes, fruit, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, chips, cookies, and snow cones. It was a blast. The kids played our favorite new game called Duck, Duck, Goose, but wait that's not new... Oh it is when you add water!

I went to my friend's kids vbs commencement and they did this.I went and got her and said, hey we have to do this tomorrow. You take a bowl of water and the person who is it goes around and puts their hand in the water and drops water on each persons head saying duck, duck, duck until they get to the goose and they dump the whole bowl on them. If they get caught they have to sit in the mosh pit. Which is the kiddie pool filled with water. I don't know why we didn't think of this when I was a kid. It's so much fun.

I did not stay outside a lot. I feel really bad. This big ole girl just can't take the heat. Give me Spring or Fall any day. So I stayed inside and manned the snow cone maker. My favorite part is just sitting and talking to the Moms. We all deal with so much and sometimes our kids are 90% of the conversation we have on a daily basis so getting some Mom time is a must. Our co-op has such a wonderful mix of moms. We are a melting pot of misfits.

Our co-op started when our leader Alecia had trouble finding a co-op she "fit" into. Some co-op's are really rigorous, so much so that it's basically school. They have very strict rules and regulations. We are very laid back and easy going. We have a lot of kids on the spectrum so we understand disruption. We cater to those who don't "fit" elsewhere.

I cannot believe August is almost here and we will be right back in the swing of things. I also can't believe I have a fifth grader. God willing we will make it, it takes a village and I have an awesome one.

My fifth grader

And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. (Deuteronomy 6:7 KJV)