Building blogs twelve: Where oh where has all the time gone, Oh where oh where could it be?

It's been a while since I've wrote here.  Things have been very busy.  At some points, I believe my sanity even ran away and hid without me.  Then, when I sit down and just think about what all has happened in the past few months, I become grateful that we're still alive and well.

We had our first experiences with online school planning and dealing with doctor's appointments and funerals.  It really didn't go that bad.  You see, that is the some of the beauty I am finding with this school option.  Not only were we able to work through our personal times, but we were able to flex our schedule so that we did not have to take any time off either.

I must say for myself, the hardest part is remembering to log on and record the attendance.  But I am proud of myself that I have been able to do this, every single day that it was needed.  Now I know, that if I can do this, anyone can.

Pledge of allegiance, all by herself :)

Building blogs eleven: Oh to fall in love

I think we have fell in love with this school.  Sounds corny, but it's true.  This school has everything to offer a family.  We are taking full advantage of it all and trying to be very active.

My little one is all signed up for Book it!  Remember that program? Read books and get pizza?  That is every child's dream.  I remember doing that and I can't wait to see my little one's face, the first time she gets a pizza for reading.

Also, the You Earned It! program is awesome.  I discovered it yesterday and was taken in awe by it.  How cool is that, that your student can earn points just by doing things like orientation and LEAP and in turn be rewarded? Also, they can turn in their points to help others who are need, such as bottles of water or shoes overseas.  How many public schools do you know, can say that they do that? ;)

Building blogs ten: I'm not that mom..

It's funny because I have ran into quite a few people who think I'm crazy for choosing the online public school option, verses the traditional Bricks and Mortar setting.  Now, I will tell you their reasoning.  The same statements follow their judgements with, "school is my break away from the kids" as they giggle.

Now you see, I'm not that mom.  I don't see school as a vacation from my children.  As a family, we researched and interviewed many families of different school settings before we made our final decision.  Once we were set with OCA, we knew it was right for us.  I enjoy being able to know what my child is doing in school, having that direct contact with the school and especially, not arguing with a child about homework (our work is done!).

There are a lot of things I could say that we enjoy over the traditional school.  No school buses, no waiting for her to come home late in the afternoon, no asking her what she learned and getting an I don't know answer, no conversations of who wore what and who is so and so's best friend, no stories of who got beat up on the playground.. although some of these we will eventually deal with anyway, because we do have social events routinely, it is not part of my daily worries.

I could go on and on in comparison.  For now, I won't.  I will leave that for a later building blogs post.  I will just say, that I don't apreciate the parents that use a school system as a sitter.  I feel very strongly that you should care and show support in your child's education, in your child overall.  And really, these parents should take a few steps back while judging me.. and take a minute to look in the mirror.  I am not saying all parents who put they're children in traditional school settings use a school for a sitter, I'm saying the ones that judge others because they admittingly do- are.

Moral of the story.. be careful of what you say, before you say it.  Because you might in turn be calling yourself out, instead.

Building blogs nine: Creativity is everywhere

We have been very productive lately.  Education is definetly everywhere and this family has taken full advantage!  Recently we took a trip to the Ohio Renassiance Festival where we got to witness real live jousting, hand crafted materials and more.  (This was not a school field trip however we found it to be educational for the kids anyway).

Yesterday our activity was to go on a Discovery walk, and so today we decided to do it again but make it a Nature walk.  We took a bag with us and as we came across items we gathered them.  After comming inside, we made a poster of how our season (early this year.. but we live in Ohio so what's new) is changing from summer to fall.  Not to mention, it made the little ones a bit more hungry for lunch, and a wee bit more tired for rest time. :)  Science at it's best!

Building blogs eight: The 12 days of Chris..oh, OCA

We are officially twelve days in, as of today. Hurrah!  Our schedule is down to a tee.  We are rockin' and rollin' through school now.  It feels so good to get up with a somewhat flexible routine and begin our day.  The flexibility the school gives us is amazing.  Our family has adjusted very well.

Building blogs seven: Let the good and bad days begin!

So, as mom I've come to learn, that there will be days that are definetly more challenging than others.  The words "I can't" and "Moooooom" will be said out of frustration, and patience will be challenged.  Ironically enough, on the "I can't" day, the story for the day was the little engine that could.

We read the story and discussed it for a bit.  Not much later, the "I can't"s started creeping back again.  Again we discuss the little engine that could and with a "okay okay" we were a bit more patient with the next assignment.

The majority of our days have been wonderful.  For that, we're thankful. :)

Building blogs six: Who's teaching who?

Me: "You did a great job on that circle. I'm proud of you!"
The aparently smarter than me kindergartner: "Mom, that's an oval.. not a circle. See?"

I must be doing something right if she recognized the difference.  But now I'm thinking.. man, maybe I'm the one that needs to take this kindergarten class hehe.

Building blogs five: Say that one more time?

I have now officially experienced what I have read so much about, answering the questions about a public charter school.  I really do not mind.  As a matter of fact, I love sharing the positive experiences we're having with everyone.  But I must say, it is a bit overwhelming.

Today I finally said to someone, just give me a  little bit to gather my thoughts- as I've repeated myself of the same answer to many other people these past two days.  Ten minutes, I got the same question again and kindly answered it lol.

However the initial reaction is the same from everyone.  The immediate response is this, "Oh so it's homeschool".  At this point I'm thinking.. were you listening to me? lol.  I simply say, eh okay kind of.. I guess..   Then I repeat the public charter school explanation, and by this point my answer is clear.

I am pleased to say I have had no negative responses.  Which makes me happy but I do know that at some point, I will come across one.  And when that time happens I will be ready. With patience, kindness, love and understanding to their own perspective.  On another note, the sarcastic part of me will be very quiet and not say, butt out.. haha :)

Overall we are very pleased with our decision to go with OCA.  Our first Livelesson was very cool and my daughter is loving the assignments.  I am finding it not be as overwhelming as I'd imagined and doing well with handling my own classwork.  I greatly encourage everyone to look into CA.  I will gladly keep passing on the word, not matter how many times I am asked. :)

Building blogs four: First day

Here we are on the first day of school with OCA.  My daughter was up and ready to roll at 7a.m. this morning, all by herself.  Asked for breakfast, was dressed and ready.. for the first time.  Normally she is my itty bitty slacker.. mope around and not really enthused to do much. Not this morning though!

I had everything wrote down that we needed to gather and do today, last night.  So we'd be set.  I'm keeping a notebook/journal as we go along.  That was a great suggestion, thanks CA via facebook.  This will definitely help me go back and review my own notes and what we've done.

Now the fun part, figuring out why the desktop computers in our house randomly turn themselves off.  Yup, even her school computer is doing it.  If I were a bit more paranoid than the average joe, I'd think some paranormal thing was messing with me, heh.  I am trying to get this problem solved though, as it's rather annoying when your working hard on something, and the computer just restarts itself.  We'll get that figured out, and hopefully soon.

So anyway, we are set on our first day! Our first live lesson is at 9:30 this morning, it will be neat to see.  The bell system we have here is pretty nifty.  I was able to set it up to only go off on certain days/hours and set the bells. So we have what I like to call "pretty tones" instead of harsh wake you up ones.  Also, I incorporated some other fun things that even the almost two year old can do with us.  I have a flag in the room, and hung up the pledge of allegiance so we say that and a prayer in the morning.  We are also doing a stretch after breakfast to help get our bodies motivated.  And of course the normal book and nap in the afternoon.

With all that said, we are going to rock this first day.  Now, let's see how the rest of the week goes. ;)

Building Blogs Three: Ready, Set, Go!

Okay, so I had planned to post pictures of our classroom setting. However it has not happened because my cord for my camera had gotten misplaced.  Well the cord was found, but now the batteries on the camera have failed me. If you're finding this funny, that's okay because so did I.  The irony of how it all worked made me giggle a bit.

That's okay though, because in the meantime, I have been able to take a step back and look at how I had it all set up.  In turn, I made a few changes.  I re-hung posters in some new places and added a few new things.  We also moved an additional shelf into the room to hold the art/craft supplies and misc. school supplies.  It looks very organized and we're very happy with how it turned out.

We recently logged in to the school and I was reading the tips for parents post.  I came across a post that said the mom had found a timer for her computer, that helped them with the time changes throughout the day.  I thought this sounded cool.. not so much for my kindergartner but for myself.  I have a puppy in house training, an almost two year old in potty training and now a kindergartner.. plus I am in college myself.  I need all of the help I can get!

So I looked up Yahoo some school bell timers and found one that suited us well.  It is a trial however it works out great.  I set it with a normal day schedule for us and how we might do things when school starts.  We've been working with it these past few days to help us get used to the schedule, and what the different bell sounds mean.  So far, so good.

I recently was in Indiana and there was an ad for Ollie's department store.  They had school supplies on sale for .35 with rebates.  In the end, some of the items with the rebates ended up as low as .10 each and two of the items were free.

Now we are officially on the countdown to the beginning of school.  I know most moms cry when they're children start kindergarten, however I am very excited.  Almost more excited than she is.  Probably because I know she is ready, or maybe because I'm confident as a family we chose the right school.  Either way, we are counting down the days on the calendar.  School, here we come!

Help OCA :)

http://bit.ly/azmpjw

Building Blogs Two: Field trips, modeling clay and teachers, Oh my!

As we make our way into the upcoming school year, we are getting more excited by the day.  That's right everyone, the countdown to school starting has begun!  On our journey into the new school year, we have started reviewing some things that we will find ourselves doing.  No shock and awe factor here, smooth sailing we see for this family.

You will find throughout most of my blogs, I use the use we and us.. I am referring to my family as a whole.  This is not just an adventure for my daughter as she begins school, but for the family as well.  Because when something happens to one family member, the family is affected as a whole.

Now, back to what I was getting to..  We have set everything up and still have small things coming through the mail as the day so go on.  Which we are happy for, because as the items come in, it keeps the excitement coming.  And I want that excitement to live on for as long as possible.

I have talked about with my daughter (who is four, will be five in September) the school and some things we should expect to happen.  Now I must give her lots of credit.  Even with having the supplies on shelves, but within reach, she is doing wonderful about not "sneaking" into any of it.  However I have her greatly occupied with other things, it is still in eyesight and becomes eye candy when she sees it.  occasionally I hear "Oh mommy please can we open..."  and as hard as it is to say no (haha! be strong!)  I do.

I keep checking into Connections Academy periodically to see if there are any upcoming meetings or trips on the boards.  I don't want us to miss out anything important, like meeting other families or activities.  We were considering girl scouts this year, but now we are thinking maybe we should wait and see what the new school year holds for us first.  We don't want to be too overwhelmed with activities in our first year.  Especially with having a younger sibling.. who is potty training!  (Really, I am as sane as the next soccer mom.)

My daughter is so excited to be able to meet her teacher, or teachers.  And I am happy to have guided her this far, but I am also ready to meet her teacher(s) as well.  I think it is great that Connections Academy has so much guidance.  As a family we are very  pleased with how much this school has to offer!

Now onto getting the pictures, off of my camera and onto my computer.  My goal is pictures posted by the end of the day.. let's see what happens!
Happy blogging everyone.

Building blogs, number one

Hello all!
We are a family with a student in the public charter school, Connections Academy.
It was suggested that families create a blog or scrapbook of some sort and so we thought we'd give it a try.
On this page we will keep track the best we can on our journey with school.
After creating this blog, I already am anxious to see the end and review yet another small chapter in my child's life.  How exciting!
A few weeks ago we recieved our computer and other school goods in the mail.  We were VERY excited!  Our kindergartner was so excited to open the boxes and see what was inside.  There were books, crayons, paint and so much more.
We moved a shelf into what we call "the classroom" in our home.  On this shelf we started collecting all of the things from the list of items that she would need for the school year.  As the shelf started to fill up it become more real and real!  This little girl was officially, a kindergartner!
We got the computer set up next to "mommy's big computer".  Turned it on and made sure everything was set up right.  And, check! It was done.
The hardest part now is keeping occupied until school starts, and staying out of the school supplies for the year.  So on that note, I got some good deals at Menard's for school supplies and some activity books.  Things to do until the new school year arrives.
Everyone at Connections Academy has been so kind, and everything has been right on schedule.  We are loving this school already.
Cheers to the upcomming school year!