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 .

Nothing Ever Goes as Planned

Momentum Slows Down ~ But We have All Year

To Get it Done

The last two weeks, we did the bare minimum. Not a bad deal since we are just beginning the school year.

We did have a small vacation and I didn't want to monitor homeschool work during it, so, we relaxed and just enjoyed.

Dungeons and Dragons is now the popular game in the house. Only issue is my Tiger Lilly had grown tired of being the Dungeon Master and requested that I learn to do it. O_o doesn't she know I am a working parent?! The other homeschool parents bailed on the 'learn to be a DM' so, for her, I'll do it.

My son's Paddling season is coming to an end. This was a canoe expedition they went on where they did open water switches of paddlers.

Speed Racer on Paddling Team Distance Run

Then, while at the store, waiting for my daughter to get out of the dressing room, a nice lady gave this to me. Boy, oh boy did it make my day! A wink from God is sometimes needed.

The note was beautiful and reminded me that Jesus loves me. Wow! Made me check that frown I had for sure.

KIDS PROGRESS

SPEED RACER's starts of in good shape.This is a 2 week review because, hey, we got off track. The first week, he only finished his College Biology Class and Biology Labs (that is an online class by the way). He likes science way more than I anticipated.

Homeschool Classes:
Investing: We've only watched 2 Youtube videos in the series and haven't started the Cashflow game yet.

-Our stock watching has become depressing since our stock dropped. We view it with an app called Robinhood. 

Recreational Pilot License Training: He wants to get this next summer so we are adding it into his curriculum.

-He didn't do the videos or quizzes this week.

Black History: We are deep diving into specific events like Black Wall Street and Pilots that have to do with our subjects.

-  We didn't do the videos I purchased this week.

Astronomy: Something he wants to explore.

- Didn't get to these.

Bible Review: We are doing this together with videos.

- 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.

- He only cooked one day each week.
- Car Repair - he reviewed video on changing the oil.

PE: Distance Canoe Team, Martial Arts and Breakdancing.

- Practiced with Distance Canoe Team - See the distance race above, that's the end of season run.
- Martial Arts - practiced two times each week.
- Breakdancing - had a performance (stay tuned, I'll post when I get it)

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.

- Didn't go since he had Paddling.

College Classes
4 Weeks into Biol 101 and Biol 102 (lab)
1 week Info Sys in Org - Started 1 class this week

Biology with Lab (Aug to Oct)
-Finished class discussions
-Finished Week 3 of 8 class Labs
-Finished Week 3 of 8 quiz

Information Systems in Organizations (Sept to Nov)
-Finished intro discussion
-Finished Assigned Reading
-Reviewed interactive Learning Activity
-Completed Quiz1


Introduction to In-depth Research (Sept to Oct)
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

Her new job is flying her to SanDiego, CA for two-day training.

Problem is, she is only 17 yrs old and can't rent a car. So...hubs is going with her since I can't take off work (I also get lost a lot).

She starts her GRAD-SCHOOL class in two weeks. 

Also, she spent the last two weeks playing video games. She just finished Spiderman and Gods of War.

WORK and HOME BALANCE Working and Homeschooling 

MEAL PREP: We bombed on this the last two weeks. Fast food and junk. Only 2 meals were made by Speed Racer and one by Tiger Lilly.

HOUSE CLEANING: I got those kiddos cleaning in exchange for video game play. Only my room isn't clean (oops). 

LESSON PLANNING: I am so behind on this, it's not funny. I started mid week and we just tried winging it, hence why we weren't as productive. 

MARRIAGE CHECKUP: We needed that vacation. Just saying, we left the kids and went on long walks and had some fun.

SELF CARE: I used my husband's foot massager and back massager, both gifts my kids bought HIM and not ME .

Discipline for Homeschool vs Every Day Life

Separating Types of Discipline in Your Homeschool and Your Everyday Life for your kid

There are many times my frustration with my kids had to do with their time management regarding homeschool work, their schedule, their motivation for their work or the quality of their work.

Problem is, PARENTING and HOMESCHOOL TEACHER roles are RATHER DIFFERENT and it BENEFITS US TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

HOMESCHOOLING DISCIPLINE

In our homeschool, dad and mom are the teachers and administrators. We have to decide the boundaries, the behaviors we want our kids to have when addressing learning.

IT CHANGES OVER THE YEARS and it should, as your kid grows, and you grow.

When our kids were in Elementary school and we homeschooled them, our goal was FOCUS, QUIET, and BUILDING CORE LEARNING KEYS in Math, Reading, Writing, Comprehension and Logic.

So, we put RULES and GOALS in place, and consequences in place when work wasn't done, or the kid was disrespectful.

Rules should be displayed, reviewed and have consequences.

For School ONLY, we had a rule to

1. Share why you don't want to do your assignment? [Need more help? / I am bored / I just don't feel like doing anything / I want to do something else'

This will help you assess WHY THE KID DOESN'T WANT to finish their work.

2. Expected Behaviors While Learning. [Watch Video / Watch Teacher / Focus Your Attention]

When those behaviors weren't met, we had a consequence > STUDENT GIVE TEACHER a BETTER EXAMPLE of how to teach the material > OR Student you have the weekend to learn it and present since the method was delivered in a way you don't want to follow.

MAKE YOUR KID PART OF THE SOLUTION to a DISCIPLINED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

In all cases where you have a consequence, have the child answer questions to be part of the solution for encouraging them to get on board with the learning.

Also, have a consequence. If they don't want to finish their work. They don't get to watch TV, play outside, go to a sport > until it's done.

DISCIPLINE FOR EVERYDAY LIFE

Remember if your kid went to traditional school, you would be the enforcer of discipline at home. A very different and sometimes less diplomatic form of discipline.

TALKING BACK > Do you allow it? Should you allow it?

I allow my kids to have a respectful stage to voice their feelings. When it's not respectful, they have to deal with the consequences of punishment and us taking away something we have given them.

DO Not ALLOW yelling, cursing, or tantrums. Your child has to learn to respect others, if they want respect. Although, mom or dad my not strike them, in the real world, someone will. Teach them to think and deal with the consequences of violence, nasty language and disregard for forms of authority.

We ASK THEM THE QUESTIONS that MOVE THEM TOWARDS THE BEST ANSWER to get their buy-in and ownership of their behavior.

They also have to agree, that we have the final say. They also have to apologize for their disrespectful behavior. *Make this part of the daily reminders*

CHORES and RESPONSIBILITIES

This is also an area where we have a standard and a consequence for not meeting the standard. If my kid doesn't feel as though the chore is fair, they can state why and give a solution. If we don't agree with the solution, the work better get done, or there is a consequence of loss of some type of freedom or financial gain from the chore.