teaching

All posts tagged teaching

How To Stress Out Your Mom…

Published May 19, 2016 by Angela

Stressed Mom 3

  1. Get a letter in the mail the high school sends in March, letting her know you are in danger of graduating.
  2. Do not let her see that letter, or mention anything about the above situation.
  3. Make her pay $250.00 for your cap, gown, and invitations.
  4. Make her spend $40.00 on stamps, and $80.00 on photos for the invitations.
  5. Make her find addresses and fill all of them out, and get them in the mail.
  6. Continue to NOT tell her there is a chance you are not graduating at all.
  7. Tell her on Monday, at 2 pm, that she has until 3 pm, that day, to pay $161.00 for your band camp bill, or you do not get to receive your diploma.
  8. Again; continue to NOT tell her there is a chance you are not graduating at all.
  9. Let your school counselor call her at work to tell her to get ahold of you and tell you to get to the school, or you are not graduating.
  10. WHAT???
  11. Tell your Mom you are doing your best, but you just do not think you can get it done in time.
  12. Again; do not mention the letter sent to her in March that you opened and disposed of.
  13. Let your Mom call the school counselor 2 hours later, and have the counselor tell Mommy that they sent a letter in March.
  14. Let your Mom find out that you have one more assignment to do, that has to be turned in that day, but you have to work that night.

Stressed Mom 4

I wish I could truly express the amount, and severity, of emotions I was going through for a couple days. But honestly, I would not wish that on my worst enemy. And I have a few.

She passed her class, and she will be graduating with the rest of her class.

And I will be so happy to have the graduation done, the open house finished, and I can go on my merry way, worrying about the 2 girls I still have at home….

UGH

 

Homeschooling Hamlet

Published April 20, 2016 by Angela

Yes; I am doing it. I have not picked up anything Shakespeare since I was in high school. I am about to have my 9th grader begin working on this, and I thought it only fair that I read it as well. 

I am reading a “made easy” version that has the original play on the left side of the pages, and an updated version, i.e. easier to understand modern words, on the right hand side. I am hoping to really get an understanding of this so I can help Erin along the way.

How do you feel about Shakespeare? I am open to any advice on lesson plans with this type of reading!

a day off from work to get ahead on homeschooling lessons and some of my own reading for enjoyment; I hope!

How Much Is Too Much?

Published March 1, 2016 by Angela

…and when you do it to yourself, should you really be complaining about it?

Yes, I did it to myself, and I am still going to complain about it.

Sorry; it is what I do…

So to avoid doing my homework for my college class. I did this:

 

And then I came home and did my homework.

And checked my 9th graders homeschooling homework.

And set her assignments for tomorrow.

And cooked dinner. And moved some laundry. And checked my blogs. And maybe cried a little…

I could get rid of my college classes, but I want to go further with my company.

I could force my 14 year old to go to public school, but it didn’t work before.

I could give up teaching the youth group at church on Wednesdays, but they depend on me. And I depend on them. To make me laugh, and learn with them.

So what do you give up when it seems like it is too much?

Anyone Else Feel Like This?

Published March 25, 2014 by Angela

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/common-core-parent-facebook-post-indiana-school-181841158.html  

I have been dealing with this common core math teaching issue for a couple years. My 9 year old is doing basic math problems in such a manner that I cannot help her. I literally cannot help her. I have taken numerous math-based college classes, I have 2 college degrees, working on my 3rd, and I cannot help her.

Honestly, it pisses me off a bit. OK, a lot. She is not going to be taught how to write in cursive (other than by me), and she is processing a basic math problem that can be done in a couple steps in 20+ steps.

How exactly are we helping our children’s education? How are they learning to be successful? Much like the father in the above link points out, if anyone tried to do their job by completing math in this manner, they would be fired. No employer wants you doing a 3-step process in 108 steps. 108 steps!

Check out the link, and let me know what kind of ridiculous public school teaching/learning situations you are dealing with!

 

Online School for Homeschool

Published March 6, 2014 by Angela

It’s about that time; I will begin the enrollment process for my homeschooler so she can do 8th grade in an online environment.

I almost feel like I am giving up, passing the buck, putting the responsibility on someone else. Yeah, I probably am. But with everything I have tried for the past 7+ months, I cannot seem to find what is needed to motivate Erin to be excited about learning. She used to love school (before the bullying issues) and she does really well with some of her homeschooling. World History is a breeze; math, not so much. Reading stories and doing book reports? Piece of cake. Science, ehh, she could take it or leave it.

I think something more structured, with a set schedule and hard and fast deadlines will help her stay on pace. Obviously I cannot do anything to reward or punish her enough to make her want to do her work consistently. I realize that homeschooling is generally a more laid back type of learning environment (I mean that in the best way possible), but unfortunately, I have the personality of schedules, time frames, and deadlines. This is still an environment I am trying to adjust to.

Having experience with online learning for numerous years, I do think she will do well with this.

Have you done online learning, and what did you think about it?

 

On To A New Week!

Published February 10, 2014 by Angela

I feel like I have been falling behind on several things since 2014 began. I would like to blame college but that 1st class was only 3 weeks long, and it ended a couple weeks ago.

I really think the lack of sunshine is making me so tired (and yes, bitchy! Remember that last post?) I have stocked up on some Vitamin D, hoping this helps. Normally I would go tanning, or fake-and-bake as we say here in Michigan. As much as I love the look of a nice tan, I have stopped doing this a couple years ago due to concern about the safety of it, as well as skin cancer. Being red-headed, fair-skinned, and full of freckles, I should have never had a tan, ever 🙂

I feel like I have been getting off-track on the homeschooling. If Erin is getting behind, it is because I am not pushing her hard enough. And I am not talking about making her do school 8 hours a day (although I wish she would!) I am talking about making the time I need to in order to make sure she is understanding everything, and what she has questions on. Checking her work every day is just not enough, and what used to be hours a day discussing her work feels like less and less.

So as each day here in West Michigan gets a bit longer with more sunshine (even though we don’t see it), I am refocusing on staying on task, and keeping Erin on task. I would like to wrap up her 1st year of homeschooling on a positive note, having accomplished everything we planned out last August. My intention for her 8th grade year is to enroll her in online school. I think that will help keep her on task and more focused. She sure gets distracted easily! And yes, she gets it from me 🙂 Online schooling takes a special kind of discipline, and since I have been going to college like this for more years than I’ll tell you, I think this is definitely going to help both of us with homeschooling.

 

What Do You Mean You Can’t Read or Write in Cursive?

Published January 30, 2014 by Angela

How did I not know that my 9 year old, 4th grade daughter cannot read or write in cursive? What else have they stopped teaching in public schools? It’s bad enough they changed how they teach math that I am no longer capable of helping her. But to stand behind her while she is on the internet and she tells me she cannot read the text because the font is in cursive. WHAT???

What happened to this?

What happened to this?

She “learned” it in 3rd grade, her 4th grade teacher has not once mentioned reading or writing in cursive. I fear that we are getting to the point where kindergarteners are going to learn how to type on a tablet, and they won’t even know how to write or what a pencil is.

How my 4th grader feels about cursive writing

How my 4th grader feels about cursive writing

So, my solution is I am going to teach her cursive reading and writing. And then I am going to wait for her to tell me what her teacher says when she turns in her spelling words written in cursive.

Does everything in our lives have to change or disappear because of technology? Can’t they coincide and get along???

What are your kids not being taught anymore?

I Can’t Pick Up After You Forever

Published December 9, 2013 by Angela

5:45 am-

15 y.o.: Mom, where’s my “To Kill A Mockingbird Book?”

Me: In your bag

15 y.o.: No, it isn’t

Me: Well the last time I saw it, it was halfway under the sofa because it fell out of your book bag that you dropped in the middle of the living room floor for everyone to trip over.

15 y.o.: I can’t find it

Me: Well, I would move the sofa out. Your sister hung up your book bag for me and I told her to put your book in it.

No Luck…. I didn’t tell her I have a copy of it in the bookshelf in the basement.

I can’t get mad at her messiness, because I know I was the exact same way. But it seems like every day I am playing Sherlock Holmes, looking for school books, homework, socks, and toys.

Toys. Toys I don’t even remember them having and certainly didn’t play with 🙂 Toys they try to describe to me and I do not understand. I know for a fact 2 of the three have brand new school clothes floating around this house somewhere, still with the tags on and never worn! Because I ask them where it is and they don’t know.

What I should do is find the stuff myself and wrap it up as Christmas gifts 🙂

When did I become so old? LOL

I completely understand why my Dad went through my bedroom every month while I was growing up, with a garbage bag, and threw out everything on the floor. The only difference between he and I though, is that he would never replace something he threw away because of my messiness. (Yes, I have thrown stuff out, only to buy it again, and I am fully ashamed to say that!)

Nothing in the world is truer than this!

Nothing in the world is truer than this!

As I complain (sarcastically) I am very lucky to have 3 awesome girls still at home (4 awesome girls, one being a Junior in college). They do very well when asked to do something for me, but I swear to goodness I will never, ever know how after a pair of socks are worn once, its mate is never-to-be-seen again!

Do you have any special tricks to get your kids to be organized?

You Ate WHAT For Lunch?

Published November 21, 2013 by Angela

I can understand the cheeseburger that Erin fried up, even the scrambled eggs she had (hopefully for breakfast), but I cannot fathom what she did with the rest of ALL of my eggs that she hard-boiled. I am talking about an 18 pack of eggs. Let’s say she was really hungry (she is a growing 12-year-old) she could reasonably eat 3-4 scrambled eggs. I mean, we all know eggs shrink by ½ once they are scrambled, right? But what she did with the other 14 eggs that she says she hard-boiled is beyond me. She does not like egg-salad, or the egg yolks in boiled eggs, but she will eat deviled eggs. Yes, it makes no sense. But it is what it is.

I was actually more concerned that she possibly did eat an extraordinary amount of eggs, and was looking at her sideways all of last night for any excessive flushing of the face, or nausea, or anything else that would indicate she was having a protein/cholesterol overload.

What is even more scary, is that she did not eat all of these eggs, and they are still in my house, somewhere, and I will likely discover them a day past their “beyond ripe and smelling” expiration date.

So today, I am making her a PB & J sandwich, putting some chips in a bag, and apple and a yogurt, a couple small pieces of chocolate, and hoping she finds it sufficient and doesn’t decide to cook the turkey in my freezer for a snack between lunch and dinner.

I’m not kidding folks, I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried 🙂