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. :)