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A full week with overtime at work ~ Oh My!

Yes, It's been one of those weeks!

You know the kind where you question your sanity?

Why oh why did I choose this week to try to do the following...

Work overtime 12 hours.
Host a Homeschool High School Cup Games and Event Planning Party.
Volunteer to pick up and drop off husband and daughters at the airport.
And too much more...(above is what I looked like after it all)

KIDS PROGRESS

SPEED RACER's been bored.Since paddling is winding down and he doesn't have his sister as his homeschool companion much anymore, he complains about boredom.

This is a huge transition for him, learning to entertain himself. He is a bit lonely, so I'm going to have to creatively find activities for him. Thinking of letting him go to aftercare at one of the local boys and girls clubs.

Homeschool Classes:
Investing: We've only watched 1 Youtube video in the series and haven't started the Cashflow game yet.

-After watching the Stock Market Crash and Market Bubbles video we played the Cover Your Assets Game. We needed four players so we gathered his siblings to play.

Recreational Pilot License Training: He wants to get this next summer so we are adding it into his curriculum. We got through 2 videos from the Sporty Pilot License lessons.

-He finished two videos with one quiz. He actually did pretty good.

Black History: This week we watched a documentary on African Jews and The Moors. The highlight was watching the movie The Tuskegee Airmen.

-  We had a discussion on all, but the most interesting was his perspective on The Tuskegee Airmen movie.

Astronomy: Something he wants to explore.

- Didn't get to these. I know, it's been three weeks and we haven't touched these yet.

Bible Review: We are doing this together with videos. The Truth Unveiled Video playlist has been good for him. He asked several deep questions and we did some deep diving on topics.

- Watched two videos from the Bible video series we found on Youtube.

Cooking and Car Repair: The cooking I am letting him build his own recipes and prep dinner. Car Repair, he is helping his father and brother fix our cars. Oil Changes, Brake Pad changes, etc.

- This week he prepped dinner three times.
- Car Repair - he refused to watch more videos until he gets some hands on experience.

PE: Distance Canoe Team, Martial Arts and Breakdancing.

- Martial Arts - practiced two times each week.
- Breakdancing - back to practice on Friday.

JavaScript and Unity 3D Programming: A Saturday small class with a teacher that meets from 8am til 1:30pm. All other kids are public school kids.

- He went to class all day Saturday and wanted to sign up for the Hackathon coming next month.

College Classes
5 Week of 8 -  into Biol 101 and Biol 102 (lab)
2 Week of 8 - Info Sys in Org - Started 1 class this week
1 Week of 8 - Introduction to In-depth Research

Biology with Lab (Aug to Oct)
-Finished class discussions
-Finished Week 5 of 8 class Labs
-Finished Week 5 of 8 quiz

Information Systems in Organizations (Sept to Nov)
-Finished Two discussions
-Finished Assigned Reading
-Reviewed interactive Learning Activity
-Completed Quiz 2
-Case Stud Paper

Introduction to In-depth Research (Sept to Oct)
-Finished discussion
-Quiz 1
-Quiz 2
-Research Log Project
Advanced Business Writing (Oct to Dec)
College Algebra (Oct to Dec)


TIGER LILLY the Homeschool Graduate with a BS Degree, now Working on MS Degree

After many challenges with her new company's lack of communication, she has started her new job. They just didn't know what to do with a 17 year old Software Developer, they'd assumed she was much older due to her maturity.

She starts her GRAD-SCHOOL class in one week. 

WORK and HOME BALANCE Working and Homeschooling 

MEAL PREP: Speed Racer did most of the cooking of  meals this week and one by Tiger Lilly.

HOUSE CLEANING: We had to clean the house for company on Tuesday. After that it was downhill. 

LESSON PLANNING: I did better this week, even though I wonder how much of it he follows nowadays. He still requests it as though its a contract of what he has to do before he can go out with his friends. 

MARRIAGE CHECKUP: Hubs has lots of patience as I signed him up to take his daughters to San Diego at the last minute.

SELF CARE: Did nothing for myself this week .

Transitioning Kid To College, Working Parent Challenge

Fun Times and School Grind

Visiting a friend for a Yummy Southern Cooked Dinner

Girls Day Out, Makeup Class at Sephora

Finding ways to play and have fun with our older kids has been fun. We've done dance competitions, Poetry Slams, Martial Arts Tournaments and more these last few months.

SCHOOL IS LOOKING A LOT LIKE COLLEGE NOW

I've promoted Speed Racer to college classes and he has a tutor, Tiger Lilly, who checks his work before he turns it into me (which saves mom a lot of time and effort). Then I verify he is doing okay, and give him the approval to move on. 

Meanwhile, we are planning a wedding for my oldest son, helping Tiger Lilly land her first internship and launch her new micro-business with her sister Rose, while considering what she wants to do for graduate school.

OUR WEEKS IN MOTION

I'm updating you all monthly as our schooling viewpoint has changed now in my sixth year of homeschooling. 

Mom's and Dad's day looks like this:

Mom leaves early for work. Dad gets kids up, reviews work from the night before when mom bailed and went to bed, tells them what to review, or fix. Kids do work, mom gets home, or drops in for lunch, reviews work, answer questions, reviews work prior to them turning it into their online class, then verify work assigned for the day is done.


SPEED RACER's Progress

Started New Plan in January. He is now taking all College Classes. This is where the rigor of Abeka and mom's curriculum is really helping him with time management. He is doing well with retaining a lot of the information in these courses and doing pretty well in them.

Why the Change?
He told me that he was bored studying for CLEPS and DSST, that he'd rather just take a class. Also, the thought of sitting still for 2 hrs to take an exam outside of our home, made him anxious. So, we tried Straighterline, and he suggested Study.com since he liked the format. I figured, why not try both. He liked both. He just kept surprising me as he really caught on, and has been moving a decent pace. 

Concerns?
He hasn't taken the proctored exam yet. With both Straighterline and Study.com he has to. So we practiced me watching him during one of the practice exams using a program called join.me and after a few tries, he did okay.

Does It Seem Like Too Much?
Since I've pretty much groomed my kids to have a vigorous, and intensive school day, this to him seems so much easier than mom making him do long assignments and tons of work that is out of his control. He told me this was easier O_o 

How do We Manage the Tough Spots
He has a tutor in Math, and English who helps him with his papers he has to turn in.

The Plan?
The plan is for him to finish as many classes with Straighterline (that are open book finals) and with Study.com that he can use for upper credits and courses that Straighterline doesn't have to transfer to his online college of choice (UMUC.edu). Both programs transfer direct to UMUC.

Then, when he finishes his online BS degree in Information Systems, he wants to get his pilot license and go to school to learn to repair airplanes. So...we will see.


Straighterline Classes: Does in Evening with Mom available if he needs help
College Credit Earned: English 101
College Credits Working On: English 102, US History 2, Environmental Science
College Credits Planned: Nutrition, Religion, Intro to Business, Business Ethics, College Success, Cultural Anthropology

Study.com Classes: He does these during the day without help
College Credits Working On: Intro to Computing , Business Information Systems, Personal Finance
College Credits Planned: MicroEcon, MacroEcon, Marketing, Business Management, Sociology & Psychology (he finished these last year but didn't take the final exam ~ so he is retaking it and will take final.

Dual Enrollment ~ UMUC.edu (Online University - 8 week classes)
He is enrolled and taking classes as a non-degree seeking homeschooled student.
College Credits Working On: Speech, College Math (already on week 5 of 8 week course)
College Credits Planned: US History 1, Research, College Algebra

Overall, he is on schedule to finish these courses by June. If he does, he would officially be a Sophomore in college at 14 yrs old.

TIGER LILLY's Progress

Tiger Lilly is finishing up her final requirement for her degree in Information Systems with minor in Computer Science, and Graphic Arts. She is taking Principles in Web Design, Digital Marketing and Trends in Application Management-Capstone Course.

Starting in April (after her college classes are done) she is building some software products for her marketing clients (she has 2 clients). Then she plans on working on more art, her web comic and novella.

Internship interviews, are over and she landed two summer internships. She doesn't have to make a decision until April.

WORK and HOME BALANCE

Working and Homeschooling 

MEAL PREP: This is going well now that we decided to eat healthy and remove the rice, potatoes, and pasta.

HOUSE CLEANING: Well, this has been touch and go. Kids don't want to do the dishes since the dish washer was broken. 

LESSON PLANNING: So much easier!!! I just ask them to send me their plans for the week. They now do their weekly schedule and I just verify it. Mom delegation works! 

MARRIAGE CHECKUP: Hubs and I are making our time together more of a priority. We have gone to some comedy shows together, had some friends over for his birthday, and just went for some long drives.

SELF CARE: I've failed miserably on this. Like, haven't done a dog on thing to pamper myself. However, I've been pampering my girls. I got to stop doing that. Soon.  

Our First 2016 Trial Week of School

This week is the second full week of our schedule. However, in between, we went camping over the weekend.

My two youngest kiddos, aka, students decided they would put up the tents and set up all the camping site.

 

They had a bit of fun with the set up.

OUR WEEK OF SCHOOL

Cha-Cha-Changes

Well, I had to change around Speed Racer's schedule. Realized (1) the Abeka Physics was WAY too intensive (2) that we only really had 3 to 4 evening hours of one on one time to get various subjects done, if he was going to do his PE classes like dance, soccer and martial arts.

For Tiger Lilly, she is reviewing and learning homeschool Calculus using both CTCMath and Saxon, but still says she wants some help. Therefore, I'm on the hunt for a tutor. She also wanted me to add back her ART curriculum since she didn't finish it. 

Positive Observations

My son has MATURED greatly and is a wonderful independent learner. Tiger Lilly loves teaching her brother and assisting him with his work.

I never would have thought my Speed Racer could calm down and be focused (even though he has to listen to music while he works or even stands up while typing). 

There are still some classes I have to be involved in (the Abeka classes for administering Quizzes or Test) and the follow up review of his Study.com, math drills and Vocabulary and Spelling I still check.

KEEPING THEM FOCUSED

Means I lock up the cellphones, the game controllers and tablets until their work is done, done, done. It's worked very well.

Timer - yes, I still use one. We set it 5 minutes before end of task time and it keeps everyone on focus.

If work isn't finished by the time the timer goes on, it becomes 'homework' for my child to do on Saturday.

Workboxes are helpful yet another year. They finish their work and when I am done doing whatever I need to do around the house, I go and check their progress. However, it's not as much needed for validation of the online work as that gets emailed to me.

Speed Racer's Week: 

Blended Middle School/High Schooler 12 yrs old

Mon - Friday
He does his Study.com classes on his own. On days he has a test (which is only 1 every week) he has a longer class.

(10 am-12pm) Daily Independent
Study.com
Psychology and Sociology are his favorites. He tends to actually watch the entire 5 to 7 min videos and wiz through the quizzes.

Macro Econ and Information Systems takes him longer to complete the quizzes and he prefers to read these lessons.

Physics was a course that he originally had in AbekaAcademy.com but he told me it was way too much math and work for him to be interested. He requested to move it to a Study.com class. Since then it's been working out great and he enjoys it.

(1pm-2pm) Daily Independent

Membean he does 20 mins of Vocabulary
Geometry (Teaching Textbooks) takes him about 30 minutes
Ace Reader is his speed reading and comprehension online class he finished in 10 min

(2-3pm) Mon and Wed with Tiger Lilly tutoring him

Java Homeschool Programming takes him 30 min to 60 min depending on task

(3pm-4:30pm) Daily

Then Mom or Dad are available to give him Quizzes and Test
Geometry AbekaAcademy takes him about 45 min to 60 min to watch video, take notes, do homework.

Copy work takes 10 minutes he's doing Great Quotes & Writing in Cursive

Sequential Spelling takes 20 minutes for him to do, he is at Level 5 and gets most all correct

(5pm) Martial Arts  or Soccer
He loves going to his sports since he gets to play with his friends. This year my husband isn't coaching but the team is pretty big for soccer. His Martial arts class has a few other homeschoolers there he plays with.

(6:15-6:30pm) 2 days a week
3-minute devotional for guys Bible Devotionals administered by Dad and Big Brother and he prefers his brother, but his brother is long winded with discussion times, lol!

(6:30-7:15pm) Dinner

(7:15pm-7:30pm) 2 days a week
Math Drill sheet are done and cover addition, subtraction, fractions, long division, exponents and are only supposed to take a few minutes but I give him 15 mins.

(7:30pm - 9:30pm) 5 days week
Chemistry he is taking with Abeka and so far likes it and is doing well at it.

(9:30pm-10:30pm) 3 or 2 days a week 
English Literature and American Literature he is taking with Abeka on alternating days.

Tiger Lilly's Week: High Schooler /Dual Enrolled 15 yrs old

She decided she didn't want to take the Digipen schedule after seeing how intensive the course was for homework.

Mon - Friday
Her schedule is still on the 'lighter' side since her college classes don't start until 8/22. However, here are her days.

11am-12pm - 3 days a week
Software Development class I had her do a Trade Analysis of Game design frameworks she can use in the development of her games. She enjoyed it and got the draft to me after two days of working on it.
12pm-1pm - 5 days a week
See the Light Art Class she gets to practice her drawing and it pushes her beyond her comfort zone. She is doing this instead of the Animation class.

1pm-2pm - 5 days a week
Homeschool Programming Android Programming takes her about 30 minutes to an hour

2pm-3pm - 3 days a week
Calculus with Saxon & Dive and CTCMath is a bit difficult for her. She is doing C work and requested a tutor.

6pm-7:30pm - 3 days a week
She goes to the gym with her dad and on Friday's she is 'trying' out martial arts at a new school.

7pm-8pm - 1 day a week
Japanese with 1.5 hr tutoring on Tuesdays. She spends the rest of the week practicing it on us.

8pm-9pm - 2 days a week
3-minute Devotional for Girls has been changed to just 2 days a week and she enjoyed the lesson, likes saying the prayers.

WORKING PARENT's LOG

Meals Love, love, love the Airfry. My daughter is able to make dinner before I get home. Also, the freezer meal prep worked well since my oldest son now helps prep. So basically, I only have to do dinner 3 days a week. Hubs doesn't do it at all.

Cleaning. Well we had more of a 'pass the buck' chore chart going on. It was requested I change the days of the week that the older kids do the kitchen. Hum.....

Work & Life Balance. I had to work late this week for 3 days. Ugh, I was so tired. However, my kids were very independent in doing their work.

Lesson Planning. It didn't get done until 11pm on Sunday night. Not my best, but we did go camping this weekend.

Rest. I am getting 5 to 6 hours on the days I had to work late. When we went camping, I got no darn sleep.

Marriage Check Up. We were supposed to go to the movies. Well, that fell through, but we promised to do it this weekend. The only problem is my hubs is a night owl who likes to go to the midnight movies when we have to wake up and go to work the next day. Needless to say, we argue about this and sometimes I give in, other times he does.

Flying and Overnights at the Polynesian Center! Hooray!

This Was The Best Idea Ever!

Yes, I am loving my new home. Love the wonderful things I can do with my kids and new experiences. Flying Planes! Overnights at the Polynesian Center and Sea Life Parks. Hooray!

Speed Racer's first Flying lesson. The boy even landed the plane. His pilot teacher told him he was a natural. 

Then they had an overnight campout with their dad at the Sea Life Park where the leading man worked in the movie FIFTY FIRST DATES.

And...just this week, we went spent the night at the Polynesian Cultural Center and it was fantastic. All these great get togethers were coordinated by our homeschool group moms. Amazing women to put together these customized homeschool adventures.

Speed Racer volunteering for acting out story telling at the Polynesian Center.

BACK TO THE GRIND of planning next school year.

Yepper, that's what I've been doing this week. I was looking at a program called Dual Credit At Home since I tried putting together a program for my older students and JUST DIDN'T HAVE THE TIME. 

So, a friend of mine is thinking of going in half with me.

Speed Racer's plan is basically going to be Abeka, some Landry Academy classes (redo of Alg 1) and Study.com for this year to orientate him with the subjects to be covered the following year. But the following year, I am considering just having him do Dual Credit At Home for CLEPs and DSST test. Both colleges we are considering accept the tests.

Tiger Lilly, will take her college courses and a few Landry and Digipen classes. I'm also looking for an in person Japanese tutorial school here since it is like the 2nd language here. This summer she is taking Java Programming 2 with the college and Calculus as a homeschooling course to prepare her for the college course this Fall.

TVs in the BEDROOMS

I am allowing the kids to have TVs in their bedrooms now. However, they are not hooked up to cable television but we are using a ROKU device for them to access netflix and hulu. 

School Work in Bedrooms

It's come a time where I had to separate them. Speed Racer is a constant distraction to Tiger Lilly. So I installed camera's in Tiger Lilly's room to make sure she stays on task. And Speed Racer is stuck at the dining room table or portable desk I have set up for him in the living room until he is finished his work.

SPEED RACER (age 11yrs) my Middle Schooler

Homeschooled at 4th grade on.

Speed Racer can't finish the projects for two of his Landry classes. Sheesh! The items have been lost in shipping or we just can't find them. I won't spend the $200 for supply replacement. Therefore, he will just watch the videos, do the reading and the questions for chapters in Electricity and Robotics He did 2 assignments over the last two weeks in his Scratch.

Finally finished 2 weeks worth of work in his 5 Paragraph Writing Class.

Getting through Algebra 1 with good scores. Basic Math review with CTCMath on Fractions - something it seems like the kid keeps forgetting.

Membean he has recovered some of his word recognition loss. Making good leeway with Python Programming.

TIGER LILLY (age 14 yrs) the Dual enrolled High Schooler

Homeschooled at 7th grade on.

The college courses are challenging. I  had to hire her a tutor for Pre-Calc.  The teacher in this class isn't very helpful and the school doesn't offer tutoring other than peer tutor service that is hit or miss. We dropped the Pre-Calc College class and are reviewing Pre-Calc using CLEP Professor and working with the tutor. Tiger Lilly will retake that class the 1st half of summer.  We agreed that if she wanted to drop the class, she had to use the time before the re-take to study and prepare. Also, we went on 'Rate My Professor' and researched the summer online course teacher better. The one Tiger Lilly had, actually got a 'D' score from students. (Epic Fail on mom's part).

She is doing well with her Professional Writing Class and I check her homework assignments. Economics took awhile to get the hang of. She is passing the test with B's instead of the D she made the first week which freaked her out.

The Landry courses is slow going. I asked them to stop grading her for the course. It's alright because I will take over the grading of the topic for her. She is frustrated she can't participate in the live classes do to our timezone change. C Programming she is now on the #2 program of the 3 she was behind, but she keeps slipping further. PC Pro is caught up with quizzes and video viewing. Unfortunately with Japanese we are to a point of frustration with how far behind we are. I am going to find a school for her in person to work on it.

The Relational Database design using Udemy and SQLZoo is easy to her and I believe she will do well in this class this fall semester.


WORKING PARENT's LOG


Meals are on a roll. We are now making veggie and fruit smoothies daily so the kids get in their vitamins. It's also helped me as a meal replacement for dinner. I pre-made cut the fruit and placed in the freezer. Also, pre-made dinner and tried some new recipes. Hubby's here and he's been prepping dinner for me. I am going to miss that when he starts back at work on Monday.

Cleaning. Well we have been making up our beds daily, easy to clean until another shipped box shoes up at our door that we have to unpack. Ugh!

Work & Life Balance. Finally, things have calmed down at the day gig. Love the new job though. The work really gives me a good diversion from things I have to do at home. And I get in 2 - 15 minute walks as well as a 30 minute lunch break with some work friends. I enjoy having the juggle of both work and home. It gives me and hubby tons to talk about. Also, ways to meet new friends.

Lesson Planning. On track these weeks, but it's our Spring schedule and not as hectic. Since we are back to doing year around school, I won't get a complete break from this.

Rest. I am sleeping like a baby, now that hubby is here and reminding me to go to sleep at a decent hour, lol! And he is helping with homeschooling.  

Marriage Check Up. These last weeks have been wonderful since hubby is here. We try not to bicker as much since we still remember how much we missed each other. But we haven't resumed date night every week since the kiddos are hogging up dad's free time for video game playing and sight seeing.