Fun in the sun

The kids are enjoying the sun.  They can get pretty creative with the sheets and jungle gym.

When we first got here, I couldn't find the kids' birth certificates and SS cards so I couldn't register them for public school.  The whole way down they kept hounding me to home school them (Leslie home schools her kids) so I decided to as well.  Doug ended up finding the documents in storage a few day later but the kids really wanted to keep home schooling.  So far it's going really well.  I had tried home schooling a few years back but it didn't go so well.  I had to check in with the state every month and twice a week had to drive the kids to the Parsley Center so they could go to "school" with other home schooled kids.  The kids weren't thriving and I was stressed and really didn't enjoy it.

This next year, I was looking forward to having the kids in school all day, having a few hours a day for myself.  This was a hard decision for me but by not being able to find the papers right away, I felt that was an answer to my prayers.  Shannon has struggled so much in school, learning is not her thing and she has to have an IEP (individual education plan).  Although she's in 7th grade, her learning level is the 4th grade level.  I was having to go in every year and sit with couselors to go over the plan for the following year and to see how she's progressed throughout the current school year.  I always felt deflated at the end of those meetings, like somehow it was my fault she wasn't progressing they way they felt she needed to be progressing.

So far, this new school year has started out great. I still sometimes wish I had more time during the day just for myself but it is nice having the kids home and not having to worry about school lunches and activities.  If I need to run an errand, the older kids are home to watch the younger ones, which makes things real nice.  Keeping my fingers crossed that it continues to work out well.