My School Expanded

 This summer, when it became apparent that public schools were not going to open in person, I was convinced that my school house was full. But then there was the afternoon that I was on the mower and God pointed out to me that, in fact, I was being selfish and there was room for two more in my school house. Renee and Lydia, my nieces. The option for them was to spend the day sitting socially distanced in a classroom with a handful of other staff children--doing their online work alone and twiddling their thumbs in the afternoon. That does not sound like a happy month! We finished week one at Carla's Academy last week and I think it's safe to say that they had a happy week. 

With Janell's permission to share my stories, I'm going to document this four week journey because I want to remember how I didn't think I could do this, how I have a group of friends and family that support me, how Mom and I worked together and how crazy this whole beginning to school year 20-21 is. 

There were a couple reasons that I wanted to Renee and Lydia to come to my house every day and not be split up between multiple locations. I thought that it would be easiest if one person (besides Janell) figured out the school platform and took responsibility for and I wanted the girls to have a school routine. My request was that my Mom would help me on the days that she would have kept Renee and Lydia at her house. Mom was more than happy to do that!

Renee is independent. She does her work alone and I really don't interfere. I check in with her but she doesn't ask me questions and always assures me that she is fine. Her teacher seems to have a way of organizing the day's work that Renee can follow. 

Lydia's teacher uploads the week's work in one long mostly unorganized list. Each day I go through the list and compile the next day's work in a list. If it doesn't help Lydia, it sure helps me know what needs to get done!

Typing is time consuming for Lydia. As much as I can, I type what she dictates. In math, she has to enter the answers in a separate document than the worksheet. It is cumbersome to switch back and forth between tabs for every problem. What 9 year old has the attention span for that? Another major roadblock for success is that often maps and graphs do not fit on the screen in a size that is readable.

And then there was this Social Studies project. My student was not interested. It was a pain to navigate on the screen. I let her submit a half hearted effort--and she got 100/100. I know that not every answer was correct. Could the teacher leave a note for the parent when we don't have to try, please?

On Thursday morning Renee opened up her computer to find that all of her work from Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday had been deleted. That created an avalanche of emotions. Ultimately we found out that her teacher had made a mistake and had deleted her work. Thankfully her teacher was reasonable and did not require her to redo the work. 

All the weird Google Classroom things aside, I think they are living their best school life for right now. The weather has been just gorgeous and every morning all of the children are outside playing before we start school and at lunchtime and after they finish their work.

This is all in addition to keeping my own four students going on their work. I feel like Anna is the one getting the last bit of me. Mom was here 2 days last week. She helps with the housework and usually at least one child with schoolwork. 

Last week went better than I could have hoped. I felt more tired than I imagined I would. I struggled with math as much as I thought I would. I hope these kiddos felt as loved and cared for as they are.
 

Duck, NC

This week we had the opportunity to spend a couple days with my parents at the Outer Banks. I had never been to Outer Banks. We were greeted with a rainbow. By the time we unloaded the car, it was almost a full rainbow.

I went to buy groceries with Dad. Ice cream was on the list and when there was Tillamook ice cream, it didn't matter that it was the most expensive ice cream in the freezer. Isaiah quickly gave up the cheap ice cream for the best.

Our condo was literally in the best spot of the whole complex. We had the ocean to the front of the balcony and the pool to the left. Sunset by the pool was first night was pretty nice. The beach was rough and windy. There were a lot of pretty shells that Anna enjoyed collecting.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial was our tourist stop for the afternoon. We walked through the Visitor Center, the kids and I walked the length of the first 4 flights and then we walked up the hill to the memorial.

The view from the top of the hill was neat.

Supper was at a seafood restaurant. Josiah wanted to try flounder and Aliza wanted to try a crab cake. Crab cakes in NC are not like Maryland crab cakes! Aliza also go California rolls which sh was very excited about.

That evening Grandad showed the children a toothpick game. He eventually told them the strategies to win, but only after lots of rounds of him winning. There was a lot of laughter and some frustration. Anna was hilarious...she was completely cracked up by Dad's belly laugh which just made enough laugh even harder.

On Aliza's bucket list was watching the sunrise. She and I sat in the gazebo and watched the sun rise through the clouds. It was pretty--and then we went back to bed!

No one was really ready to go home...especially Anna. She was pretty sure she wanted to stay the rest of the week with Grandma and Grandad.
 

Enjoy the Journey

Here I am four weeks into the 10th year of my homeschooling journey. Some days I look at this journey more as a career. This year I have 9th, 7th, 4th and 1st grade students. No two years are alike. Even as I am teaching grades that I have already taught, each child is unique and brings different strengths and needs to that grade. The journey is always new. 

I think everyone carries a sense of dread for this school year. I’ve been trying to figure out why I feel that way since my method of education hasn’t changed. Maybe it’s from knowing how quickly dance and church can close and how fast disappointments pile up. Maybe just having a high schooler and knowing I’m on a 4 year countdown to launch 🚀 is an extra weight on my heart. 

Homeschool moms have a special ability to be hard on themselves knowing that we carry the full burden for educating our children. That’s where I can lose sight of the enjoyment on the journey. I want to take a deep breath when I’m frazzled because one, two, three or four of my precious students are distracted, emotional, frustrated or just plain old using any trick they can to avoid schoolwork. I want to see the positive things on the hard days and leave margin in the schedule for fun. 

I don’t want to miss the journey because I’m so busy checking off the to do list. I want to savor and soak up the journey...like I did when all 4 of the kids grabbed a popsicle on Friday and gathered around the picnic table. They were all engaged in conversation and I just stood at the door smiling. 

Joy Dare::August

 7372. Cooking day

 7373. Meghan's ability to keep Josiah talking

7374. All the cousins playing outside

7375. Renee helping happily

7376. Outside cleanup before the storm

7377. Kids that are flexible

7378. Safety during the storm

7379. A day without internet

7380. Receiving generosity

7381. Working together to clean up the yard

7382. Taking Aliza to Bible study

7383. Morning rainbow

7384. The morning was a little crazy but it worked out

7385. The girls had fun baking

7386. A story that made Grandad laugh

7387. New-to-me stove and refrigerator

7388. Josiah had fun at the birthday party

7389. Seeing my cousin so happy and relaxed

7390. Second cousins meeting and playing together

7391. Rest

7392. School ready

7393. Normal bedtime

7394. First day of school went pretty well

7395. Isaiah writing so carefully

7396. Stargazing

7397. Seeing some meteors

7398. Safety on the road

7399. Adventure excitement

7400. Josiah thinking of others

7401. Waterfalls

7402. Anna and Isaiah walking farther than they thought they could

7403. All the outside playing

7404. Anna's nighttime silliness

7405. Kayaking

7406. Perfect temperatures to sit outside

7407. Late snack for the drive home

7408. Pretty mugs and Kenyan tea

7409. First full day of school

7410. Porch evening

7411. My own Ipad

7412. Sitting by the pool

7413. Blueberry pie

7414. Josiah pretty excited about a kayak to use as his own

7415. Brothers

7416. A quiet walk

7417. Aliza's heart and attitude

7418. Josiah finding something he really enjoys

7419. Waking up to the sound of rain

7420. A weekend day at home

7421. Yard work date with Jeremy

7422. Feeling renewed at the end of the weekend

7423. Church

7424. Reading, scrapbooking, Netflix

7425. Motivated students on a Monday morning

7426. Good workers to finish cleaning up the yard

7427. Josiah doing things he didn't think he could do

7428. Aliza and Isaiah watching the lightening

7429. Friends

7430. All the things Jeremy takes care of

7431. Watermelon

7432. Isaiah's pinky promises

7433. The children and Mom didn't get hurt

7434. An extra layer of clothes

7435. Key lime pie ice cream in a waffle cone

7436. Being able to watch the live stream of my cousin Jenny's funeral

7437. Getting my CBS book

7438. Warm cookies

7439. Our bed full of children during the lightening storm

7440. Lunch with a friend

7441. Summer supper

7442. Quiet day of rest

7443. Jeremy taking time to help Aliza

7444. Watching Joel be surprised

7445. Hint of seasons changing in the morning air

7446. Loving the best I can

2 Kayaking Trips and a Dog Bite

I've debated for almost a week whether I was going to write this story or not. It looks like I've decided to write. 

 After kayaking in the stream, Josiah could hardly wait to go again. Jeff and Janell had a kayak that we could use and we excitedly loaded it into the van and brought it home. At the first opportunity we took the kayak to a lake in Pocomoke. It takes a bit of getting used to to drive with a kayak blocking my blind spot. (I can see out the back window.)

Josiah loved the lake. The tough part was that whoever was not kayaking didn't really have anything to do. So my next thought was to take the kayak to the bayside of Assateague. The water is shallow--perfect for kayaking and swimming.

So last Thursday we loaded up the kayak again and headed to Assateague. My Mom agreed to come along and bring Renee and Lydia with her. Neither of us had ever been to this particular beach. We got there, claimed a piece of beach and carried the kayak out. The water was knee deep farther than I wanted the children to be out so we set some boundaries and got settled in. Maybe we had been there 15-20 minutes. I don't think it was more than that when a dog came running up to Lydia and Aliza who were at the edge of the water. The dog was not on a leash and no one was immediately there to claim it. Aliza and Lydia were not comfortable. Lydia stood pretty still. Aliza came running to me. The dog followed Aliza. I got between the dog and Aliza. (This all happened very quickly.) The dog continued to growl, jumped and bit me on my ribs just below my bra line. 

I immediately thought I was bleeding and was stunned. I don't know exactly when the owners showed up and how the dog got called back to them. I looked and realized I was not bleeding and then I was overwhelmingly grateful that it was me and not the children or Mom who was bit. In retrospect I was also so grateful that I had decided to put a double layer swimsuit top on that morning. I have mostly just worn a tank top to the beach with shorts, but I thought maybe I would kayak and so put on the bathing suit top. I think that the bathsuit and the tank top protected me enough to keep the skin was breaking.

The owners of the dog were shocked and felt really bad. Of course this dog had *never* bitten before. I told them I forgave them. Mom kept telling them to keep their dog on the leash. And they left. Unfortunately, we did not think to get their information. In the moment, I knew I would not need medical treatment and I did not think any farther than that. 

And then it started to HURT! Like heck. My children still can't believe I said "heck." lol. I got some ice and tried to calm down, without much success. I was really shook up. By then Mom and I were also starting to think of the ramifications of not getting their information. I was crying and trying not to cry so that the children wouldn't be more upset. 

What kind of dog was it? It looked like a bulldog to me. It's body was not one that you would expect to jump as high as it did. Later a witness walked by and she said that the face looked like it had pit bull in it. 

Ultimately, I did go to the ranger station and make a report. It was rather pointless, but I did feel better telling the authorities. I got back to the beach and everyone had eaten lunch and settled in to playing. I still had not settled down. I could not sit still. My fingers were still tingling. It wasn't too much longer before we packed up and headed over to Berlin for ice cream at the Island Creamery. Key Lime Pie ice cream in a waffle cone tasted really good. 

The bruise was purple and pretty painful for a couple days. The teeth marks did develop scabs. I can still see every part of the bruise but it is healing. The scene still plays in my mind vividly, but not as often as the first 24 hours.  

Bottom line is that I'm so grateful that this wasn't worse than it was.