Our Adventure continues!

[mommy4ever]

But after today, it should be clear waters.

Today I got home from a dr. appt to find a message from the old principal. She is threatening to charge us with truancy!

So I called the new school board to see if she could. They told me, no, the girls have been gone only 8 days, and law here states 30. But they'd confirm. And since I had them on the phone(do you know how nice it is to have some one answer the phone when you call???), i asked if my forms were ok. She said the registrar will be looking at them that afternoon. She called me back and said we needed to set up a meeting. I asked if there was a problem, she said no, they just wanted a meeting. I explained i had a home daycare and it makes it difficult. So she put me on hold and spoke with the boss.

She said that if it was hard, that they would set up a teleconference, but wanted me to send the girls report cards.(and said she verified, and the principal didn't have a leg to stand on) So i sent the report cards. They called me back at 4:45 to tell me no meeting was required, that the girls report cards were more than enough to accept us By 5 I had a letter of acceptance in my email box. And they would be requesting a transfer of records from the school!

Now the früg in me, hesitated. There is a $300 late registration fee. When I hesitated about it, she said, being it was so late in the year, they would waive it, if I was willing to drive to the office at the end of the school year, to show their progress. For $300 I am more than happy to drive the 20 minutes. Although in a standard year, they'd come to me. I'm happy to go there and save $150/hr...lol. I will book an afternoon off and go to them!

So we are officially not truant. We are a legal homeschooling family.

DD11 has informed me she doesn't want to school next year, she likes working at home. She has several of her friends begging to be homeschooled..lol. Ironically, now that she isn't at school, she has more playdates with those friends from school, than she had before.

DD6 likes being home too. She works ok, a little distracted, but I'm not fully organized yet, so lots of just a minutes, let me find its. But I did get her set up on a great reading program online, and have some leapfrog dvd that are phonics. I have a shelf full of library books. We are working on french literacy. Trying to find more things to really build her vocab. I read her a couple french books at bedtime, and she reads the words she knows, asks me when i read, what it meant.... it will come. I need to see what movies we have that have french language options and do that too. I will institute a french hour(or 2) every day for both kids.

DD11 is very motivated. If I get her sheets ready the night before, she is going hard at 8am. By 10, she has covered 2 or 3 subjects, and extras like penmanship. Most of it independently, as the worksheets are self explanatory, but I help her whenever asked. By 11-11:30 she is done most hands on work, and is playing learning games, crosswords on her ds. Math on the ds. She is also excited that we found daytime piano lessons. She will only have 6 or 7 weeks, then they close for the summer, but it will give us a good indication if she will continue. It is the cheapest i have found, and with the highest recommendations in terms of fostering the love of music. And we also found out our freebie keyboard is touch sensitive, so she can do pianissimo and fortissimo on it, and everything in between! I didn't know that, so we don't really need a piano for a few years! She can learn touch on it!! YAY! We are really excited about that!

Not sure what else, it is a learning curve as I learn what they have learned or haven't. But so far they are liking it, I love having them home with me. And from what I can tell, dd6 is home with me until at least jr. high. DD11 another year, and then we'll see.

As we get more settled, it'll be easier. Dh worries I'll burn out, but he doesn't know the thrill of it! DD6 didn't read english. Not a bit. She read some french. Since starting a week ago.... i have got her reading basic english! I DID IT.... long way to go, but still, the school doesn't teach it until grade 2. Weird way to do it. But now, in just a week, i have her able to read simple books, do simple spelling word tests(oral). When she makes a mistake she seems scared. So I have to be very gentle, and just have her repeat correctly, then we do our happy dance...lol. So I wonder if this shy little one has been scolded for making mistakes.... with everything else that has happened, it wouldn't surprise me!

I have loved been blessed with the opportunity to see their first steps, teach/hear their first words, etc. I was very sad as the last 2 started school.... they were so tender. Now I get to teach them, work with them, encourage them, celebrate them each and every day! So much so I want dd13 to be home with us too! But she is doing well at school and thrives on the drama of it. She isn't one that has been bullied, as people are sometimes a little afraid of her self assured presence, that she just might pop in the nose if they are anything but nice to her..lol. In her little entourage, her friends are very protective of her. She doesn't care if not every one likes her, she picks a couple people, and is friends with them who cares about the rest. Don't know what went right with that child???? But it did. DS15 is moving toward an apprenticeship program, so he will only be in school 1 semester a year now, and in high school...i'm not sure i could do it. LOL But he would have benefitted being home, however, he got through it, we were very picky in his choice of jr. high and the bullying stopped there. He had a couple issues, i told him how to deal with, that informing the teachers and/or principal is not being a tattle, that that school doesn't tolerate it. It worked, in fact it was recorded, and they have a 3 strike rule, and those problem children were asked to leave the school. He has come into his own, and when his hormones occasionally mellow out and allow us to see him as human again, he's a great young man....

So that is our update! We are working at forming a system that works for us. So I'm off.... to do some marking, and consider getting lower grade workbooks in french as holy moly! There are some confusing words! We need to work our way up!

[mauimagic]

What great news on all fronts!! Mahalo plenty for sharing - look how far you all have come and YOU did it!! What a role model for all of us, especially your dear children!!

Cannot wait to hear what happens next!!

[mommy4ever]

DS15 laughs... he says...

No one messes with MY mom.

I told him, me is one thing, my kids is another...no one messes with my kids or they have to deal with me! And if they make me cry they have to deal with dad!

[2ndGenGranola]

Glad things are going well.

It is common for a school system to try to scare a parent with truancy. No wonder they produce children who bully. Here in the states we use HSLDA (Homeschool Legal). You may check and see if they service your area too. I don't know. They have helped us out several times.