But things are settling down a bit now.
I'm done with most of my painting.
Oh, and here is a pic of our new California home (it's a bit hard to see the entire home from the angle I snapped the photo)...but it's a typical, modest California-style home in a pretty decent neighborhood about 25 minutes out from the ocean (which means it's warmer!!! Yippee!!)
The girls are super happy about the climate change. There are quite a few neighborhood and community parks, so that's always nice...not to mention I'm only a short 4 minutes away from Target, Walmart, Kohls, and the mall.
The local schools, on the other hand, are questionable (I'm sure the teachers are working really hard to get the delayed English learners up to par), but there is only so much a school can do within one academic year.
Private schools are decently priced compared to Alabama (can you believe it???), but we have chosen to homeschool yet another year. Mainly because our constant moving is interrupting, and also because Ny has requested to continue homeschooling.
We found a Classical Conversations group in Monterey and quite happily paid the fee (one time fee of about $400, plus materials)...with the the idea that it was cheaper than paying that same amount monthly for private school. We meet with the group once a week and Ny gets several classes (art, science, history, Latin, math) rolled into a period of about 3 1/2 hours with a specially trained CC tutor who is paid to teach the class. We parents have to be present in the class to observe the methods and repeat them at home, and we participate by assisting the tutors in any way they need help. I like it a lot and it is Ny and Z's one time during the week where they connect with friends for a few hours.
On Fridays we have a local play group too...I just haven't attended the one closer to our new town yet...so we'll check that out and see how it goes.
At this point, our biggest needs are meeting up with friends on a more consistent basis (Ny is at the age where forming and keeping relationships is really important...and it's tough when you keep moving...so that's one of her main needs right now), and getting some form of a consistent home + school routine together in our new house. You know the drill- new environment, new rules, new routines to learn. It's like starting all over again- leaving your former comfort zone of what to expect and creating and learning new ones. So that's what we're working on - even simple things, like getting our kids back onto consistent bed time routines, and...ditching curriculum that doesn't work!
Yep.
We found that the Steck Vaughn spelling wasn't going so well. Ny was giving the output, understood the concepts, but it bored her to tears. She has finally asked me to not make her do it anymore. After reviewing the book one last time, I agree. So we're trying something new with that (we got these spelling bee flashcards and are just learning around 20 a week- definitions, roots, and spelling). So far that is all I've got planned for spelling. But that's another topic for another blog post.
How did Z take the move?
You know what? All of the withdrawal she's been through this summer turned out to be one of those phases where she perceived another major change was upon the family- and she was, of course, upset and didn't know how to express her feelings. Well, thankfully, her silence has been broken, she's not as moody (in fact she's gotten pretty happy since she moved here and enjoyed all those days of sunshine and NO FOG!) But now we're working on the 3 year old tantrum issues...but getting through that too.
I was talking to a friend this weekend who reminded how much children need consistency and how to tap into their best mode of learning (so for me, it's visual, and perhaps so for my kids too). Meaning, if I have visual learners they are far more likely to respond to chore charts with visual cues than to my constant derailing and nagging about what they need to do next or haven't already done. So I'm working on that bit.
Yeah. Being a mom is a process.
I'll, of course, have more updates soon...
I've been thinking about plucking out a new blog that comes from a different angle other than home schooling.I haven't been able to quite give that much thought yet, though, considering how tied up I am mentally right now with just sorting through life.
For now, though, school is in full swing and I've got my hands full enough already,
Till later...
