April, please don't shower!

March was brutal enough with sickness, frigid temps, death in the family, too much rain, and so on. If you could stay slightly sunny, Miss April, that would be wonderful!  We've had enough gloom for a loooooong while!

Things picking up around here with 4H in gear, school winding down, days getting longer (FINALLY) so I thought I'd just post a funny.  The kids helped me work on coloring eggs last week for Easter as they always do.

We tried a new approach with the shaving cream-

Save yourself the hassle- yeah it's cool to work with and doesn't splash BUT it doesn't color well and takes for-freaking-ever!!  Skip it, I'll deal with vinegar stench next year.

 Anyhooo...so now it's Monday, Easter has gone by.  I grab one of the colored eggs for a quick lunch... smack the sucker on the counter to start cracking it to peel and it more does more of a TWHUMP than a crack. WTH??  Before I can smack it again, I peek in and it's raw.  Ok, double WTH??  Someone hand me a skillet, like QUICKly!   I guess I'll just cook an egg instead of eating a boiled one, but that doesn't explain how a colored egg because uncooked.
  Miss B gets a smile on her face and says, 'Well I guess I did get an April Fools on you!  When we were coloring eggs I wanted to do one more so I just grabbed one from the fridge.'   Seriously??        

Thuds. head. against. wall.  
God, I love that girl!

The shell in my hand is pastel purple, but it's very light.  Another negative for the shaving cream coloring approach.   Thank goodness for great quality farm fresh eggs- those shells are tough- or that egg would have probably been a mess all over the whole pile of colored eggs.

Thankful

One year ago, I was in a whole different place, not a good place. A very sad, kicked in the gut place...
 
All I can say is, "WHAT a difference a year makes! !"   An awesome man who loves me, helped by some fantastically supportive friends and family, two fun-loving kids and I have had a dream-come-true of a year!   Sure there have been a few tough spots to work through (mostly within myself), but overall, those don't even scratch the surface of how freaking happy I am!  Can't even explain how loved I feel...without a doubt! 

I'm sure y'all have something to be thankful for- that's mine.

Time?? Ha!

The past month around here has been a five-ring circus...

I truly intended to finish the "Shoulda" post and I have just been BUSY, but the gist of that post was, I did the most difficult thing of my life and made Mr. FixIt move out. More details forthcoming, but yes, I do honestly love him and I don't doubt he loves me-just some serious issues need worked out. He has still been around for the kids/weekend days/school and dance functions/etc. Though this situation is much more stressful for him than me (too bad), I am doing fine! On top of THAT fuss, in the past several weeks...HOLD THAT THOUGHT!

Ok, I'm back- I had to go log B's last few lessons that are DUE to be logged TODAY. Yes, today the 12th and it's now 12:08 in the morning on the 13th- CRAP!

See what life has been like?? Jeesh! Not boring, lol. Anywhoo, back to that list of STUFF that has made my cup overfloweth recently:

-Tossed husband. CHECK
(issues on the mend now, but that thought cracked me up, couldn't resist- hehe)

-Dance recital week-two nights of rehearsals and two recitals. T several numbers and B one number. Mom stayed with us for a few nights as a bonus to chaos. CHECK.

-Switched from TW-piece of doodoo-Cable and started DSL. CHECK!

-Workhorse Dell brought back from the dead after near a week of attempts and more than my quota of heavy cussing. CHECK! (due to P-O-S TWCable)

-Shoveled three layers out of the PIT/office, revealing the next 8 or 10 to be removed! CHECK!

-Worked like feinds to catch up three weeks of school lessons completed and attendance not logged due to lack of internet due to POS cable and down network due to crashing Dell due to POS cable!! AAARRRRGGHHH!! CHECK.

-Friend and Premier mom from SC arrived, stayed a few days (too SHORT!) to help train me in the jewelry business. CHECK.

-Near-blind, scared of his own shadow old Benny boy is on calendar to be put to sleep next week and presently in quaranteen. CHECK. (yes, he bit someone...not a good day)

-I discovered yesterday that our yearly Alex's Lemonade Stand to raise funds for Pediatric Cancer Research is THIS weekend, not next month!! So last night and this morning were spent getting cookies, 4 gallons of lemonade and materials ready for an afternoon stand TODAY! Phew! CHECK.

To end on a positive note :-D
*Husband is seeing a counselor to help deal with issues (more later) and has become a new man, an open, willing-to-show emotion man- I'm in SHOCK, but loving it!! If he keeps it up, he may be back home before too much longer.
* DSL is running great and near speeds of the cable even though it is supposed to be 10 times slower.
*I had a great visit with Ms. K, my Premier mom and learned a LOT this week!!
*The little girl Ben bit will be ok, thank the Lord!
*The kids raised $45+ during their 4-hour lemonade stand today! Woohoo!! They will set it up again for Sunday afternoon. Google 'Alex's Lemonade Stand' for more details.
*I just submitted an order to Premier for my training show held earlier this week!! My official 'first' show is tomorrow!!

That about wraps it up. Now I need to get my arse into bed so tomorow I can be prepared for some family visiting and to dazzle some gals into earning themselves some free jewelry!!

Long day

Up at 6:30 this morning.

One funeral mass for great uncle 2+ hours away.

Stop for lunch- see more family by complete coincidence.

One calling hours for great aunt 1 hour away from the first.

Lots of family.

Long drive home.

Quick stop for dinner.

Kids wound up like 8-day clocks from being fairly well-behaved and cooped up all day in the truck.

Dance class.

If I wasn't tired before- I'm DEAD now. Nighty nite!!

Justification-Part 1

As if I have to justify my decisions regarding my kids' lives and well being...but I'm going to do it anyway because I'm hurt and extremely pissed off. Grab a snack and a drink...this could be long and/or take several posts to get through.

I did not make the decision to school my children at home overnight, in fact it took months. As a former public and private school teacher, it was not my concern that I could teach or knowing how to teach various subjects, but more that I was doing the right thing by yanking my child (then both children) out of a school system with friends, rules and order, and all activities relating to "school." Also, as a teacher, I had seen way too many examples of "homeschooled" children being thrown into my classes mid-year, grossly unprepared and many levels behind their peers. Having taught K-5 through 5th grades, I knew that I would not do that to my children. I know what kids should be learning in math at each level and how to figure out my child's reading level or know what spelling rules and words are appropriate by that reading level. I know how to integrate history and science into reading as well as art and music back into those, but what about the other stuff?? Being in a classroom. Having that group of friends for recess and after-school functions. Playing in band or singing in chorus. Field day--I love field day! How could I deny my kids that??

My initial reason for even thinking about homeschooling was solely for academics. I had to make that priority over the other "stuff." It began with the horrible math program EveryDay Math. Groan with me. My last year teaching in SC we piloted that horrid waste of time and money. Ok-yes it does have some good points, EDM is an awesome tool for kids to learn problem-solving strategies and for those kids who don't 'get' math the traditional way, but it should be used as such...a TOOL. Not the main curriculum. Also Miss B started K-5 with EDM and completed 2nd grade with it. The local school here adopted it after we'd moved, coming from a district in SC that had BEEN using it (with much frustration). When B started 3rd grade locally, her math skills other than problem solving had not improved from K-5 level. Truly. Though by EDM standards, her scores were all As or checks (local school stopped using letter grades that same year) and the school, school board and curriculum director all assured me she was doing fine. Well yes, according to EDM she is-- though most of that is her ability to problem solve which integrates reading and comprehension which she does very well. My fuss was that third graders take achievement tests in MATH. Fourth graders take state proficiency tests in MATH which are not based on EDM style. Those tests check all aspects of math learning- knowing facts and working with large numbers included. EDM does not teach math facts. No practice of multiplication tables or division. Practice is sporadic through other problems, such as finding how many pints are in six quarts. You multiply right? Not if you don't know 6x2 off the top of your head you don't. You have to draw a diagram to figure it out. No such thing as , "Let's practice your 6 facts today." I know memorization is not everything or even learning truly, but there are some things you just have to know, to build other concepts from. Then one day when the whole multiplication "clicks" OMG- I know WHY 5x7=35! the child has the facts tucked in their brains already. But if that 4th grade child does not have that knowledge and takes four minutes of a timed test to draw pictures of seven groups and five sticks in each group then counts them all to add them up to figure out the above problem (which is a good early strategy to learn why/how for multiplication, don't get me wrong), that child's chance of finishing that 90-question timed test is slim to not happenin'. Especially if they have to do that for every single problem, not just the word problems because that child does not KNOW the facts because that child has not been allowed to practice those facts. Same goes for addition and subtraction. No facts practice- you end up with third graders counting 8+4 on their fingers or drawing sticks to add up. Not even touch counting is allowed. See my frustration??

As a teacher who made sure her third graders (and above of course) knew their facts so we could work with other math concepts, this system just frustrates me. My kids (class) could do conversions of weights and measures like nothing else. Fractions?? Oh yeah, my kids smoked fractions on state tests. Try to reduce fractions or make common denominators without knowing your multiplication facts?? Skills which are expected for fourth grade and definitely in fifth grade. Found out this local school touting EDM and arguing with me that it is "the best" does not use EDM for grades 5 and up. What?? So you take them from this lack of fact-learning system and toss them in the pre-algebra math REQUIRING facts mastery?? Oh, THAT makes sense. About as much sense as TP holder mounted in the hallway. Sorry, I'm done. My child had been a guinea pig for EDM across two states for three years and I'd had enough. No more. Good luck with these kids when they all bomb the proficiency test and require tutors for middle school math. Mine will not. I'll find somewhere with a better math program. That's exactly what I told the curriculum director for the local school. And that's exactly what I did.