Homeschooling - First Post

 Well, due to many issues we were having with our school last school year, we decided to pull our daughter out of public school and start our homeschooling journey.

My son, Xander's bio mom currently homeschools her other children and she was a great help pointing me in the right direction and encouraging me to just do it, and that everything would be ok.  I still don't know what I am doing yet, but it isn't as scary as I thought it would be.

I have found tons of resources and have even now narrowed down our curriculum mostly.  I have figured out the basic subjects at least.  And despite being introverted and having anxiety (&ADHD) I am excited to go on learning field trips with her as well.

I hope to be able to share our journey on this platform in the hopes it will help out another momma (or daddy).

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First Week of School

This may turn into one of those rambling blog posts, so please look away if you are not into mom ranting.  I personally am not into mom ranting either, but here I am - trying to write a follow up post to my week of being back at school and doing it, with three kids-while also working from home.

I am sure the burning question of the hour is, was this week easy?  The answer is no.  You may also want to know if anyone had fun, also no.  One child couldn't remember anything, not even the alphabet while the other cried (real tears) that he was stuck at home (he's a homebody) doing virtual learning and last but not least you have the carefree kid saying "oh my teachers haven't assigned any work today..." he is the luckiest kid on this plant, because the crying one had TONS of work to do!  Go figure.

So, this week has sucked.  I have yelled, people have cried (yes more then one-none of which was me), and my office has went from being a peaceful place to being a classroom.

It's okay though, it's just going to take some time to get into a good rhythm again.  By today, things have gotten better.  Though my patience are just shot. I am ready for a carefree weekend.  And that is exactly what is in store.

I don't know how people do it.  I just don't.  My house is a mess, I can't (or don't want to) cook anymore because I am exhausted at the end of my work/school day and I literally get ZERO moments alone, though one of my brats did say "well you get peace when you're asleep..." and he's not wrong - but still COME ON.  I am tired. I am old.  I am done.  (for the day) lol back at it on MONDAY!

xoxo, Lela

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Heat of Summer

We had a pretty rough week last week, our AC broke on Sunday & we finally got it up and running on Thursday!  It was a long-hot week.  I am sure you can appreciate having an AC in the middle of May-in Florida!  It's like basically all you've ever wanted or needed.

After a hot week, we finally were cooled off and able to do some house chores (because who wants to clean inside a house that is 90 degrees?  Olivia cleaned her room herself, and we were so proud of her we had to take a photo.....I know it's not perfect but it's darn good for a kid who hates to clean her room!

When I wasn't working I did try out my hand at some smash (with a hammer) floral art.  The first is some marigolds and the second is some parsley!  They are not perfect, but not bad for my first try!  I cannot wait to try it again on some nicer paper!

And of course, in the heat of the summer a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.....lol

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Friday Wrap-up

Week 7 of working from home and week 6 of distance learning (homeschooling).  What are my thoughts about this week?  I have none, I am numb and feel like doing nothing but watching Lifetime and drinking wine.  I swear I am going to come out of COVID19 fatter and depressed from watching so much crap on LMN.  Oh the drama.

Let's see, Olivia finished up her second packet of work this week.  It's due on Monday, and we'll pick up her last packet that is due May 28th - and after that, she is on Summer Break!  Whoo-hoo!  I wish I could take the summer off too.  And do what you ask, who knows?  Apparently starting Monday parts of Florida will open back up, so maybe the parks will be open and we can at least do something fun when I'm not at work that doesn't just involve our back yard.

You'd think I would have embraced this more, being home since retirement is just around the corner.  And perhaps I would if I could get out and do something when I am not working or teaching, I'd like to be able to walk through the stores like I had all the time in the world, and pace down the plant isles at Lowes for hours picking the perfect plants.

Soon I know, I know the world is slowly opening back up!  Slowly!

Cute kid; being daring in the FRONT yard for a walk!

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Moody Monday

So my moody Monday post today is going to be able lazy teenage boys.  I won't call any one of the two living in my house specifically but I will give you an idea of their entire day.

Wake up late, because they stayed up late.  Lay in bed, waking up for an hour.  Come out of the room at about 12:30pm at 1pm.  Make themselves a big bowl of cereal-sometimes two.  Scratch, adjust their junk while asking you how your day is going.  Put their bowl into the sink, return to the cesspool of a bedroom.  Have to be told to do their school work, wash that fing bowl they carelessly and stupidly put into the sink and brush their teeth.

That is my life, as a mom to teenage boys who are distance learning during COVID19 in America.

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Google Eyes

So since we’ve been stuck at home, I have been trying to think of fun craft ideas for Olivia to do in a way to keep her mind active and not just on school work.  I’ll be honest, I don’t really have a ton of crafting supplies so I had to reach out to trusty Amazon to purchase a kit filled with tons and tons of things like google eyes, pipe cleaner, buttons, puffy balls, glitter and other wonderful girly things.  This was our first project, a google eye pencil pal.  

Does anyone else have any ideas on what we could make?  I’d love to hear them!

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Friday Thoughts

Fridays are a day I look forward to right now, because that is a day I can work in my office uninterrupted all day long.  Not all parties are thrilled about that idea, and I’ll admit I have a little guilt about needing this time to do my work - but I am working on not allowing others to make me 1. Feel bad about myself and my decisions and 2. I cannot be everything for everyone everyday, and I am learning to be okay with that.  I have control issues, I know.  I am working on that too, oh my gosh-so much working.

I come out of my office to find Olivia struggling to work under dads rules as a teacher.  His rules don’t really differ that much over my own, he just wants her to look over her work by herself first and see if she can figure out what steps need to be made to complete the paper.  Which is just reading the instructions.  I go over the instructions with her prior to her working on the paper.

Anyway, to sum up the week-it’s been ok.  I am ready for the weekend however. So on to it I go.  I hope you all enjoy your days off as much as I will.

 To wind down, she played a little pool.

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Weston's German Pancakes

So, I woke up this morning to a partially cleaned kitchen.  I went to bed a little early last night, so I left Weston cleaning the kitchen.  I went to sleep, knowing that when I woke up in the morning I would be upset that the kitchen wasn't cleaned to my standards.

This morning, just as I suspected-I got up to a 1/2 ass job kitchen cleaning.  My mom was lucky enough to text me good morning as I was snapping photos of noodles in the sink left from the night before.  She gave me some great advice, she said: "go wake him up and make him clean it properly, he shouldn't be in there sleeping in....don't go in yelling or angry-just tell him to get up and fix the problems!"  I waited until I was cooled down - and did just that.  He got up and he re-did the kitchen.

Then he made me German Pancakes.

Mom Score!

What he used:

6 Eggs
1 Cup AP Flour
1 Cup Milk
4 Tbs of Butter
1 Tsp Vanilla
Sprinkle of Cinnamon
Pinch of Salt
Powdered Sugar for sprinkling on top
Syrup for pouring on top if desired

What he did:
Preheated the oven to 425, and as the oven heated he had the butter in a 9x12 pan melting.  While that was heating and melting, he mixed all the other stuff together in the stand mixer.  Once it was melted, he took the pan out and poured in the mixture-baked it for about 10 mins.  Once it was done he sprinkled lots of powdered sugar & then.....we ate it, and it was good-tasted like French toast & quiche had a cool sweet baby!

Oh and bonus, he gets culinary points for making food at home during the distance learning time.

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Home Schooling 101

So my advice for Homeschooling/Distant Learning during COVID19.....no rules.  Sure we have a schedule, but we change it every day to suit our daily needs.  We wear what we want, which is always comfortable.  Sometimes we don't brush our hair & sometimes we just need to draw in the iPad to have a break, and we do take plenty of breaks.  We have rearranged the office/classroom four times before we finally got a set up we both like and are comfortable in.  Every day, we are not only learning how to read, write, poetry, art, mathematics and language. But we are learning how to work and learn in one space together, we are learning to be at home all day and all night. We are learning more about cooking, baking and growing veggies.  We are learning about music, and blaring it when whenever we can, and dancing wildly when we need to just move.

I am excited what else we can learn together.

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Yard Picnic

Our sweet girl had a great first week with home-schooling.  I told her, if she was good all week, she could do an activity (her choice) with me, me and her dad, or just her dad.  She picked her dad, but couldn't come up with an idea for an activity-sooooo I helped a girl out and daddy is the best and a good sport!!

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