Getting Prepared

I made an attendance sheet, because from what I've read you have to have one. I also did a sheet to help keep tract of lessons and such. I don't know how structured I will be, but I want to keep a record of what we do and what works. I am going to keep it all on the computer with a USB backup. I found the website that offer math and language for about $20 a month which I think is pretty good.

Part of getting prepared in telling my Mom what we are doing. You would probably ask what the big deal is. Well, I guess it's not that big of a deal, but I know that she is going to disagree. The funny thing is that Mari tells me everyday that another one of her friends is leaving the school that she attends. They are changing to other public schools or private, charter, or speciality. I was listening to NPR (national public radio) and they were talking about the teachers protesting because somebody seems to think that laying teachers off is a good idea. They are already short staffed. Mari's class has 24 children in it with 3 grade levels (1st, 2nd, 3rd). They will often pull the assistant from Mari's class and send her to another class to assist. There is no way in the world that her teacher can handle 24 children in 3 different grades alone.

The other day Mari came home crying about the way she had been falsely accused of misbehaving in class and the teacher believed the other students. She doesn't cry often so I felt that what she was saying was true. I hate to see her cry, especially because it doesn't happen often. Let's just say that my anger was kindled toward the other children. I know that we can't save our children from every instance of hurt feelings and false accusations, but in this case there are just too many children occupying one space.

On a lighter note we saw some lady bugs when we went for a walk. "We" being Mari, David, Simone, and myself. We stopped and picked them up and let them crawl on us. David's stayed on him for a long time. Mari was jealous because hers kept taking flight. We came home and found information on them as far as diet, anatomy, and variations. It was a good time on a beautiful day. I also found out that Ray's Splash Planet does homeschool Thursdays during school hours so I think that will be our physical education/science lesson (Why does fat float better than muscle?).

I am a part of two homeschool groups on http://www.ning.com/. I like it, but it is a bit much to keep up with. I participate more in the one that is in Ga. Perhaps I will start one here in Charlotte once I know a little more than nothing. I also joined a Yahoo! online group that doesn't seem to be too active, but I think it's because they must see each other a lot. That's all for now.