ABC and "Da Da"

OK - I was told recently that I need to have fun with our home schooling. Too relax. RELAX!? Are you kidding me! lol I've been up until midnight every night preparing our next days adventure with learning. Being our first week and everything is unorganized AND being unorganized is not in my vocabulary has been testing my patience. So three days into a new school year, my children that are being home schooled have already been accomplishing placement tests for their math, have started physical education logs, have briefly learned our solar system, have done word search puzzles, have completed "What in the world" and "The Canadian Reader" units and our fourteen year old made his first resume which we will deliver! Tonight while blogging I've designed a few creative writing assignments for tomorrow, basically to test their abilities with writing and grammar. (Something I struggle with while writing myself....) What I find exciting is - the outcome of their creativeness! Two of our children have assignments writing about their visions of tomorrow. Meaning what will their house look like in 2050? What foods will they eat? What will they be wearing? Where will they be?! For our younger children, their writing assignments are looking at a picture and writing what they see. Unfortunately this could be beyond their capabilites but there is no harm in trying. My thoughts are to collect their math placements and writing abilites before October then start on their actual grade appropiate program. In one way I feel stressed but in another way I feel intrigued already knowing more about my children from home schooling from only three days! I spoke with our rescource worker this afternoon and she gave me a great idea. Taking our home schooled children to Kool and Child and purchasing some excercise books of their own interest. I thought, "WOW, that is an awesome idea and we're totally doing that!" I'm hoping we can adapt and enjoy home schooling. I can't say it's smooth sailing because it's NOT! I've been frustrated with the whole ordering concept, I don't want to purchase what our children can't accomplish and I'm mostly at a loss ordering items that I can not see physically. Sometimes I have no idea. "Sigh" I feel inadequate. I'm starting to praise other parents that are home schooling successfully and teachers in general. This isn't easy. Then of course adding the oppositional child. "Joy to my world" For me, besides the frustrations, I am enjoying the nightly next day plan I've been preparing. Not to mention, I am learning along with our children. Learning about reading strategies, identfying topics, making connections and teaching them to highlight relevant facts, returning and going back. I know recently a high wire act was successfully completed on Niagara Falls (June 15th) For the first time in more than 100 years, a man crossed a 550 metre cable suspended between two cranes, 61 metres above roaring water. I briefly caught this on the news BUT we learned about it today! I thought that was pretty cool. So home schooling has it's moments. What I like is......I get to design their learning. I believe if they're interested, they'll be successful. Tonight they asked me, "What are we learning tomorrow?" NOT that they're excited, they're worried what's next. lol I just said, "You will have to wait and see" Honestly that gives me more time to prepare! In the meantime.......I'm taking a break and blogging. This is also another successful day with our children in public school and for myself maintaining my own goals with strengthening training at our local gym. No mission is impossible.

"Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production, or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. SEEMING TO DO IS NOT DOING" - Thomas Edison.