Thursday, August 22, 2013

Worst day (yesterday)

Yesterday was probably the the worst day ever school wise. The only thing I got done was an assessment and some questions I got wrong yesterday. Everything else was either partially done or not done at all. My mom had to take the things away so I couldn't waste more time. I'm supposed to have done more school today, but I'm not too sure I'll get it all done, especially since next week I'll be at my dad's house for my brother's wedding.

 Slacka-lacka- doo-dong!

~RLG~

Monday, August 19, 2013

today looked like this

sleeping in and cuddle time before school

mapping out the Ring of Fire with almonds
teaching himself a new song before the math Scantron


after test swim


pre-test prep -- Bach's Toccata & Fugue in D Minor

this is how we prep for the fall Scantron assessment test


Back to school, ehhh...

I'm in 6th grade ( Big deal). This new school year, despite mainly being review, is still a pain in the ass. I just finished mapping with almonds, but that was still a challenge. Usually, I just estimate the latitude and longitude numbers, but the hardest thing was keeping your almonds on the line of long and latt. Also, I just got an email from Gamestop to get some shiny legendary Pokemon (Yes, I am a die-hard Pokemaniac). The thing is I'm racing against time to do Scantrons (tests you do in the beginning of the year). The thing is if I finish the Scantrons before 4:30 today, I get to throw water balloons at the teachers at Community Day! I finished the Reading Scantron on Saturday, and then the website was down and acting up so I couldn't log back in to do the Math part. My mim thinks I have plenty o' time, but, I don't.

wooggily-boogily-woogity.

~RLG~

we're back -- bigger & better

It's our second Monday of the 6th grade. This is our fourth year of using K12's curriculum through CAVA (California Virtual Academy). We now have an extremely good grasp on how to work through the curriculum, how to make it more interesting when Rile gets bored, how to get a good day's work in under almost any situation. I have learned how to maneuver through certain parts of his curriculum to make them work better for us, to optimize the lessons, to work them into his novel writing and other interests.

We had a crazy time last school year when he broke his right arm (dominant, writing hand) on September 1st with two huge goals with deadlines --- to get all of the 4th grade curriculum completed before Thanksgiving break AND to write a 30,000 word novel written in the month of November as part of NaNoWriMo. I am happy to report he managed to get everything accomplished!

The past two years have seen a lot of upheavals and moving - we had to leave our Morning Glory Cottage when the landlord lost his own home and evicted us to move his family onto the property. Eldest daughter moved out on her own, Little Dude & I struggled to get by and when that fell apart, we moved out of the county to live with my mother's family & help care for my 93 year old grandfather, who suffers from dementia. When that ended, we were able to return "home" to San Diego. Luckily the job I took (with housing!) allowed us to begin attending our local Community Day program. That shifted our K12 CAVA experience into a whole new level and we are so thrilled by that.

Now, we have moved yet again, with another move just off in the wings. I am now more than just vocal about the option of online schools, I am officially a parent advocate and have been to Congressional offices to talk about it. Rile & I have set out new goals and are seriously looking at his path to med school (ACK!). We are starting a LEGO Robotics team at our Community Day, as well looking into another extracurricular STEM team activity. I will be writing for a Non Profit website & am beginning a personal business venture in great earnest this year, too. This may be our busiest school here to date. And it is certainly one we want to share with you in our blog. Rile & I have committed to updating on a VERY regular basis as part of our schedule. We thank you in advance for joining us!

K & R