A week in the life of me - Friday

TGIF! This new school program has me really appreciating weekends more. Usually Rand wakes me up around 6:45 on Fridays so we can work out. This morning we stayed in bed until 7:45 instead. As you can tell we are not doing a great job keeping up with the P90X workouts. Between missing Wednesdays and Thursdays when I have to get up early and drive into town for the girls' classes and being so tired from driving into town twice a week, it has been difficult.

I got out of bed and woke up the girls at 8am. I got some laundry started. Then I ate breakfast and checked email and facebook. I attempted to get in the shower, but Sierra had an earring crisis. She hadn't worn earrings in a few days and couldn't get an earring into her right earlobe. Once that crisis was solved, I got in the shower. When I got out, the girls had finished their morning chores. Sierra and Kali were working their school work and Arwen was playing on the computer. Kali needed help with science and Sierra needed help with her literature assessment. By the time I was done helping them, it was 10:30 and I still hadn't done anything with Arwen, yet. I managed to do math, phonics and art with Arwen before lunch. Lunch break included Saddle Club, of course.

We were just getting ready to start back up with school work when a neighbor girl stopped by to see if Sierra, Kali and Arwen wanted to come over and make cookies. I had forgotten that today was Furlough Friday. Right now in Hawaii the kids have 17 Fridays off school as a way to cut costs. Well, I have been trying to help Sierra make friends with this girl for a while, so I wasn't about to say no. I sent the kids off and thought, wow unexpected time alone!

I got all of the girls K12 school work recorded and looked through what we need to do on Monday, so I wouldn't have to think about it over the weekend. Then I started straightening up the house. I turned on an episode to of Desperate Housewives to watch/listen to while I worked. Once the house was in order, I started working on all of the things that needed to get done that had been building up during this busy week. I sent an email, sorted paperwork, request some CD's from the library, changed a light bulb, dusted the fans, balanced the budget, charged the camera battery and caught up on my blog reading.

Rand got home early because his last class was canceled. I chatted with him some and then we watched some TV while I sorted the laundry. He then took a nap and I did some ironing. Then I remembered that I promised Rand that I would make him a new treat, so I made some coconut bars that I had been wanting to try.

Then girls got home at 5pm. I informed them that we wouldn't be doing any school over the weekend as I had originally suggested when I sent them off to make cookies in the middle of our school day. I am try hard not to get caught up in being "behind" with this program. We started out behind since we didn't sign up until the beginning of the 2nd quarter and I have been trying to catch up, but it has really been driving me crazy. I am really trying to just relax and take things day by day.

I worked on this blog post for a while and then some on more of the junk that is piling up - paid some bills, addressed Arwen's birthday thank you notes, started uploading some books on Itunes.

At this point it was after 6pm. Rand woke up from his nap and I pondered out loud about what we should have for dinner. When we first moved to Hawaii, Rand cooked everyday. Then he started teaching and asked if I could cook on Mondays and Wednesdays and I agreed to. A few weeks later Rand seemed to lose his motivation to cook. This is a cycle that we often go through. Rand cooks for a while and then gets bored of cooking. Then I cook for a while and then Rand gets bored of my cooking and then he cooks for a while, etc. But with starting a new homeschool program, I knew it would be too much for me to take over the cooking, so I have been encouraging Rand to continue cooking even though he has not been in the mood lately.

Anyway, by the time we figure out that we would work together to make sweet and sour for dinner, it was very late. We didn't eat until about 8pm. We watched Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and when it was over it was bedtime for the girls. Rand is doing the dishes again. What an awesome idea he had to get me to spend less money! And I am typing this post. We will probably watch some TV and then head to bed.

A week in the life of me - Thursday

Another busy day. Up at 6:15, showered, got the girls up. Well, I got Kali and Arwen up. Rand got Sierra up and took her to his office, so she could do her school work while he taught his morning class. This is the first time we have tried this. Normally I take Sierra with me and she works on her school at the Learning Center. It hasn't been working very well because the Learning Center is noisy sometimes and she has trouble concentrating.

Kali and Arwen and I listened to some School House Rock during our morning drive. I didn't want to start a new book without Sierra. I finally got Arwen into the 1st grade Science and History classes, so she had 3 hour's of classes. Kali had her Hawaiian History class from 9 - 10:15. I took my glorious hour of alone time to go looking for a few more Christmas gifts for the girls. I was unsuccessful. The thing I was looking for was way over priced, so I decided against getting it.

Back at the Learning Center, Kali and I worked on her school work until it was time to pick up Arwen at noon. Then it was time for our monthly trip to Costco. I had been thinking that I would only have to run errands a few times a month during our trips to "town" for the girls' classes, but there has only been one time this whole quarter that we have come straight home. Every week we seem to have shopping needs or dentist appointments or doctor's appointments.

Costco was thrilling as usual. Arwen was pretty cranky. We made a deal that she would stop riding in the cart when she turned 7, so today was our first Costco trip that she had to walk. Getting up early and going to 3 hours of classes before going to Costco did not make for a cooperative kid.

We made it home with only a 10 minute delay while driving past the North Shore surfing competition. I spent most of the time driving home wondering if I be able to take a nap when I got home. Of course as soon as we arrive home we had to unload all of the Costco stuff. I decided that I was only going to put the perishables away and then get that nap I had been thinking about. I was delayed a bit because the maintenance guys had arrived and I had to put in a load of laundry to show them that the washer was leaking. I was so grateful that Rand agree to stay awake while the maintenance men finished working so I could go take a nap.

As I was getting ready to go lay down, Kali got invited to go play with a girl from one of her K12 classes that lives a few blocks away. I decided to let her walk over by herself. Then another neighbor invited Sierra and Arwen over and they walked over together. Finally, I was ready for my power nap. I only laid down for an hour, but it was very refreshing and I really needed it.

When I got up I checked my email and facebook. I am getting very behind on my blog reading during this busy week. Then I recorded the girls' K12 school work for the day and figured out what we need to do tomorrow. Sierra did really well working on her own and with Rand today. Between carpooling and leaving Sierra home on the Thursdays that I drive, so I can have some time to myself, I may survive next quarter without losing my mind.

It started to rain and it was getting dark, so I drove over and picked up Kali. I was planning to pick up Sierra and Arwen, too, but Rand called to let me know that they had already walked home. When I got back I needed to finish looking over the school stuff.

Neither Rand nor I felt up to cooking dinner, so we had frozen pizza. While the pizza was cooking, I worked on putting away the rest of the Costco stuff. By the time the pizza was ready it was 7:15 , so we watching Survivor while eating. After dinner, Rand cleaned up because he made a deal with me that he would do the dishes once for every $25 I went below the budget at Costco and Target this week. I took this time to start working on this post. Now I will finish straightening up the house, get the kids to bed, and watch some TV with Rand before heading off to bed.

A week in the life of me - Wednesday

Today Sierra had classes at the Learning Center. These classes were one of the main reasons we decided to try K12 this year. The classes haven't turned out to be too great though. Half of them have been canceled and the content of some of them hasn't been great. The math class is basically 45 minutes for her math work with the teacher available for help. The history class has been a sub showing a video and a jeopardy game covering stuff that Sierra hasn't learned, yet because we started a quarter late. But she likes the English and Science classes, so...

Anyway, we got up early because it is an hour drive to the Learning Center, 6:15 for me and 7 for the girls. Probably the best thing about going to the Learning Center is the time we get to listen to books in the car. Today we finished up The Lightning Thief. Kali and Arwen and I worked on school work at the Center while Sierra was at her classes. It started out great. The area we were working in was quiet and the girls were getting through their work quickly. After about an hour and a half, it started getting noisy and the girls started losing focus, but we got everything we needed to get done done, so I was happy.

When Sierra was done with her classes we headed to Target. It is the beginning of the month and we needed a bunch of stuff and I had some time to kill before my dentist appointment. I found pretty much everything I needed which rarely happens, so again I was happy.

The dentist appointment went well, two fillings. I was out of there in a hour. On the way home we listen to Joseph and the Amazing in Technicolor Dreamcoat - Go, Go , Go Joseph!

We got home in time for Kali to do a make up violin lesson after she missed yesterday's when she banged up her knee. She only made it through half the lesson though because she got pale and started to pass out - yikes. I figured it must have been because she hadn't eaten enough. It is very difficult to pack a lunch for her because she is so picky. I took her home and made her eat some peanut butter on a spoon.

By then it was time to make dinner. I took a few minutes to check my email and facebook. I am getting very backed up on my blog reading since I have been so busy these last few days. I made dinner and was all set to eat at the table tonight, but the girls wanted to watch A Year Without a Santa Claus, which is one of my favorites, so I caved... again.

After dinner involved kitchen clean up , showers for the girls, and getting ready for another day down at the Learning Center. Sierra is going to stay home with Rand tomorrow, so I made sure she had all of her books gathered. Then I figured out what I needed for Kali and Arwen.

I am not sure how much longer I can handle this schedule. When I first found out about this program I was thinking the classes for all of the grade levels were on the same day and that I would have a little break. I also thought the Center was 45 minutes away instead of an hour. Instead I am driving an hour there and back 2 days a week and I always have aleast one kid with me who needs to do school work. Next quarter I am going to carpool on Thursdays. Hopefully that will help.

Now I am off to pack lunches for tomorrow and watch some Glee before stumbling off to bed.

P.S. I did not end up do plyometrics while watching Biggest Loser yesterday. Instead I ate chocolate that Rand got for us when he went caroling with the youth.

A week in the life of me - Tuesday

The alarm went off at 7am. I hit the snooze button a number of times. I was tired from staying up too late last night, something I have a tendency to do when Rand goes to bed early. I have to take advantage of the quiet, alone time when I get it, you know. I actually only stayed up until 12:30, but I am an 8 hours of sleep kind of girl and I get pretty cranky when I don't get it.

I shuffled out of bed, got the laundry started, and did 1/2 of the P90X yoga workout. The full workout is an hour and half for heaven's sake. Who has that kind of time to exercise? Not a homeschooling mom, that's for sure! Then I ate breakfast while doing my morning computer routine - email, facebook, google reader. Eventually I knew I needed to get up and get the day started, but I was lacking motivation. At 9, I told Sierra and Kali to get started with their school work and I got in the shower. When I got out of the shower, they both needed help. Kali with a science experiment and Sierra with history. Eventually, I got started working with Arwen. It must have been about 10am by then. Arwen and I did math, phonics, and language arts. At this point, Kali and Sierra needed my help again, but it was getting to be lunch time, so we took a break. Just before lunch I made some phone calls - renewed library books, called about Rand's student loans, and talked to the housing office about our rent and a maintenance issue...

Rand was home for lunch again, so we got to hang out, which was nice. He was also done with work for the day, so he was able to help with school, which was doubly nice since the most of the rest of the work that all 3 girls had for the day required help. After lunch he worked with Kali and I worked with Arwen. Sierra had an art project to do, so she worked on that.

We didn't get done with school until almost 3 today. Some neighbor girls came over while their mom was running errands shortly there after. They played while I tidied up the house. Normally, I would have made the girls help, but since we had guests, I was on my own. I got everything cleaned up, cleaned the bathrooms that got skipped yesterday, and switched the laundry. Oh, I had to plan out and pack up the school work for Kali and Arwen to do while Sierra is at her classes tomorrow. At this point it was almost time to take Kali to her violin lesson. I am sure I took a few minutes to get on the computer.

Just before violin lesson time, Kali fell on our front porch and really banged up her knee. She was in no condition to stand for a 45 minute lesson, so I ran over to the teacher's house to let her know that Kali wouldn't be coming and to pay her for the month. I then headed over to the library to return some books and get some holds.

I returned just in time for dinner. Rand, who normally cooks on Tuesdays, was asleep. He had to be at a church activity in an hour, so we decided it would be spaghetti night. Dinner and Jeopardy followed. I would rather sit at the table, but I am a sucker for Jeopardy especially now that I can answer some of the questions with all that I have learned from homeschooling ;)

After dinner involved the usual kitchen and bedroom/playroom cleaning. Rand is off at his activity and here I am. I still need to pack lunches for tomorrow and fold all the laundry that I did today. When Rand gets home we will do our plyometric workout while watching Biggest Loser, an improvement over our previous routine of eating really unhealthy food while watching people trying to lose weight.

Hopefully I will get to bed earlier tonight. I have to get up by 6:15 to get Sierra to her classes on time.

A week in the life of me - Monday

I was reading a friend's blog recently and she did a series of post where she chronicled a typical week in her life. I thought it would be fun to do the same. My weeks are not exactly typical these days since we turned our world upside down by enrolling in K12, but this is what it looks like right now.

My husband and I are attempting to do P90X. We have been doing it for about 7 weeks with a few weeks of skipping quite a few workouts. Last week was pretty bad with the holiday... But today we got up at 6:45 and worked out. Then I ate breakfast while checking email and Facebook and Google Reader. After that I showered and reminded the girls to do their morning chores.

I took Arwen to her Monday group at 9am. She and some other first graders that are doing K12 get together every Monday to do Science and History together. The moms take turn teaching. Next week is my turn. Sierra and Kali started working on their school work while I was gone. When I got back I alternated working with them until 11:30 when I needed to go pick up Arwen. When Arwen and I returned I checked off the lessons that Arwen did with the group and then it was lunch time. Rand was home for lunch, so I ate and hung out with him while the girls watched Saddle Club and ate their lunch.

When Saddle Club was over we got back to the school work. We were done by 2pm, which is about the earliest we have gotten done since we started - woo hoo! At first we were trying to catch up and then we added in some Story of the World History because I already had some books from the library from before we started K12 that I wanted to read before they were due back.

Monday is cleaning day, so we did chores after school time. Vacuuming, dusting, sweeping and mopping the floor. I helped Sierra with the sweeping since most of our house is tile, but then I didn't get to my job for this week which is cleaning the bathrooms. By the time we finish cleaning and I go the lunch dishes cleaned up it was about 3:30. I made some phone calls and checked email, facebook, etc. and then headed to the grocery store around 4pm.

I got back from the store about 5:20 and unloaded and started to put away the groceries. Once I got the perishables put away I started working on dinner. Rand grilled burgers and I made guacamole. We watched Jeopardy during dinner. I don't like to watch TV during dinner, but we do some especially when we have something like hamburgers. I knew the answer (question) to Final Jeopardy - "Who is Lady Macbeth?"

After dinner I cleaned up the kitchen and the girl's cleaned up their rooms, wait... I think they cleaned up before dinner, so they must have gone off to play (which means their rooms are probably messy again). At 8pm we made hot chocolate and watched Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas.

Then it was time to send the girls off to bed. I finished tidying up the house and looked over tomorrow's school plan. At 10pm, Rand announced that he was heading to bed early. I did the second part of today's P90X workout - Ab Ripper... then got on the computer, remembered that I wanted to do this blog post and here I am. I still need to pay some bills and send a couple of emails. Then I am off to bed to start all over again.

K12: an update

We've been at this K12 thing for 5 weeks and I'm not gonna lie, it's been tough. I spent a lot of days thinking about quitting, wondering when we could quit, wondering what our next plan would be if we did quit. Yet, here I am still planning to continue through Christmas break and probably through the rest of the school year.

And here is why:

When we first started out, it was very overwhelming. Arwen's school is entirely with me. All of Kali's lessons are adult guided, so I at least need to teach her concepts before she can work on her own. And Sierra still needs a lot of help understand what she is supposed to do.

I was overwhelmed and I also felt stuck. Even if we quit K12, I still had to figure out how to make sure all 3 of my kids were being academically challenged. At this point I was thinking that public school may be best choice because while teaching elementary age felt within my ability, teaching a middle schooler AND 2 elementary aged kids was seeming to be almost impossible. But now we live in Hawaii where the schools are horrible, so Rand felt that public school would not be an option. So I felt stuck.

And feeling stuck made me cranky and made me have a bad attitude about K12. I finally came to terms with the fact that right now homeschooling is the best option for my kids and that for this school year K12 is what we should be doing. It is still hard and time consuming, but at least now I have a better attitude.

My plan (at least for this week...) is to keep doing K12 this year and then go back to doing our own thing next year. One good thing about K12 is that it has helped me to see the things we were missing in our homeschool. After doing K12 for a year, I feel like I will be better prepared to create an appropriate curriculum for each of my kids. Also, I think it will be a good experience for my kids to attend the classes (even if they are an hour drive away and take way too much time out of our schedule...). I am hoping to work on getting the most out of using K12 this year and trying not to get stressed out over it.

Livin' in Hawaii

OK, enough of the homeschooling stuff. There have been a few moments recently where we haven't been busy figuring out this new way of doing school and we have been using the time to enjoy living in Hawaii.

Thanks to my wonderful hubby we have been going to the beach A LOT. Even when I have been feeling overwhelmed and worn out, he says let's go to the beach. And you know what? It has been a great way to relieve stress!

We have gone boogie boarding at our local beach. (It is a 5 minute drive from our house!)


Played in the sand at Waimea bay


Avoided the blue bubbles after Sierra got stung the first week we were here.

Went snorkeling in Shark's Cove (There are no actual sharks. Legend says that it was given the name to scare people off and keep it from getting crowded)

Eating at the Hukilau Cafe - rumor has it that Jack Johnson frequents this joint.

And taking care of the baby geckos that are living in our house.