Homeschooling

I am on call for the hospital for the next 42 minutes.

Which is why I am still up.

Going to bed and being woken by the phone ringing 1/2 hour later is not fun.

I worked a 12 on Thursday night and an 8 last night.

I was scheduled for another 12 tonight but was offered call. So I took it.

I feel guilty when I take a "holiday" or call because I don't get paid for it. Well, I get a nominal rate for the hours I am on call, but that is it.

gah.

So here I sit, blogging and feeling guilty that I am not working.

Some of the benefits of staying home?
*house got cleaned up
*read to the boys
*nursed the baby before her bedtime
*long political discussion with Noah
*long discussion with Noah about Genesis
*3 games of sequence
*may get some sleep tonight, so I will be able to enjoy church and family tomorrow!

Just gotta keep remembering the benefits...

I am not working much during the week right now because of the homeschooling going on around here. It is so conflicting. I know I need to be home and at my best during the week, but having 4-5 day stretches off every week makes me more anxious about the shifts that I do work. It is hard to switch gears every weekend to work and than switch back to home, which is what (I think) is feeding my anxiety.

But...I've been meaning to post about homeschooling.

Things are going well. I occasionally have thoughts about how nice it would be to have Deacon in school all day and the other boys in preschool, but I know that it is somewhat selfish.

And for me, doing what is right for my kids is more important than my free time.

Yes, sometimes Deacon and I butt heads over the way school should be run...but do you know what? I am an adult and I should be able to having a working relationship with my own child. Don't you think?

We are busy though. Generally we can finish school in 2-3 hours if things are going well. In addition to that I try to do something for PE everyday. They are both doing swimming lessons once a week at the Y, Gym and swim once a week and Deacon is in flag football. We are also going to try to take advantage of the rock wall at our Y. The boys are all in AWANA and Deacon will start kid's choir too (he does not want to do choir, but I am insisting). Lincoln goes to preschool through the school district once a week and to private therapy once a week.

But the thing we are all most excited about?

The boys one-day-a-week school.

I found a place a little north of us that offers classes for homeschoolers. It is a little expensive, but I think it will be worth it! Once a week we go there for 3 hours. Roman is in the kindergarten class and Deacon is in a 1st/2nd grade Art/Science/Writing rotation. This has great benefits! They get to bring backpacks, get homework and have teachers and co-students; but they don't have to be gone every day from 8:40-4:20, which is how long the kids in our neighborhood are away being bussed and schooled every day. I love the program because unless it is my day to do some volunteer hours, I can drop the boys off and concentrate on the other 2 for the morning. I really didn't want to join a co-op and have to attend a parent support group...

We are using a hodge-podge of curriculum. I am using the language art books and math books that our school district provided for us. Deacon really likes them, and I have been fairly impressed as well. We are following Sonlight for science, Bible and history/geography and I have been supplementing it with "what your (K,1st, 2nd) grader needs to know" series. And of course we use the library a lot to supplement our text books.

We are all learning a lot!

Well, I am only on call for 3 more minutes, so I think I will call it a night. Happy Sunday, all :)