Back To School We Go ( from homeschooling back to public)

I haven't had to worry about back to school shopping for 2 years.

My kids are going back to public school this year after being home schooled for the past 2 years. I have mixed emotions and feelings about it. There are things I like and advantages and disadvantages to both. 

The girls chose  to go back this year. I really struggled with what to do with my son and we have come across a path that has led us to him going to school and living with his grandma. It wasn't exactly an easy choice to make but it definitely feels like the right choice. 

Lots of changes going on and I hope that everything will turn out for the better. Who knows what will be in store for us next year. Homeschooling was a wonderful experience and I do not regret it!

My oldest daughter will be in seventh grade starting tomorrow. My youngest daughter will start third grade on Tuesday. My husband goes back to SLCC for Fall semester on Wednesday. My son will start 10th grade next Monday. I can't believe we'll have someone in Elementary school, Junior High (middle school, whatever you want to call it), High School and College. Let the fun and chaos begin.

Join the club ( a bit raw and personal)

It's not a club you'd want to join. First we joined the Unemployment Club. I would have thought that we would fall apart. But we're standing strong. In a way, I feel that things have never been better. Not financially of course, but we're spending more time as a family and we're happy. It's kind of weird. Shouldn't we feel depressed or in despair? Well we don't. Sure, it's a bit scary at times, but I guess we know that it won't last. We've all had to step up a little and it feels good.

Here is a chance for new opportunities. John and I had talked about donating plasma before and we just never did. Well now we're going as often as we can. It's nice to bring in a little extra money and spend time together doing something to help others. John is working on going back to school. I think it's awesome. He has wonderful benfefits to use from being in the military. As a homeschooling family I know that this will be great for us. It will teach our kids a lot and leave a big impression. Heck, it might even teach me a thing or two.   ;-)


I've mentioned before that money has been tight since John got out of the Navy. We had carefully planned it out, but some things didn't happen like they were supposed to, which meant that we didn't have as much income. About a month or two before he got laid off, we started talking about short selling our home.

There were multiple reasons:

• Our income was about $1100 less than when we qualified for the home in 2006
• Even though our income shrank, the bills weren't getting any smaller
• We were extremely upside down (our home is worth $70,000 less than what we paid for and we've refinanced a few times)
• The commute was getting to us (we live a good hour and a half round-trip from anywhere or civilization as I call it)
• Because of the commute, we were spending a good amount of money on gas (and putting plenty of miles on our vehicles)
• It was all wearing on us, we were getting tired on the drives home
• We felt like we were getting nowhere, struggling just to get by
• When we first moved out here, part of the reason was because we couldn't afford to stay in the same county as we were before. Now that houses have gone down, we feel that we have a chance to get back to where we came from. (eventually)

Then my husband got laid off in October, so we really had no choice but to join the short sale club. We could barely get by before, how could we get by with even less money coming in? We're surprised that we've been able to stay here this long. Over the last 2-3 years we have watched our neighborhood disintegrate as our neighbors have moved out up and down and all around our street. So here we are next on the list.

Please know that we do LOVE our house, our neighborhood, our neighbors and our community. It's just our time to go. It has been awesome and we'll miss it, but we are ready to move on to our new chapter in life.

Our kids are definitely learning life skills right now.

• Coping Skills
• Problem Solving
• The power of laughter
• The importance of a good sense of humor
• Working together as a team

Our home is a decent size. Including the partially finished basement, we have about 3200 square feet. Well we have gotten pretty darn comfortable here. Yet, I doubt our next home will be the same size. I'm pretty sure we're going to have to downsize. Besides, I know we have too much stuff.  We have all been working our butts off to get this house ready to show to people. And they have been filing in left and right. Our lives are chaotic and crazy right now. We still have plenty of stuff to do, but it seems doable. I'm looking at this as a fresh start. I'm usually pretty positive and easy going, but I'm surprised at just how well I'm handling all this. I've been pleasantly surprised that my husband is reacting in the same way. When we heard that John might got laid off, I thought I'd cry when it actually happened. Then I thought I'd cry if we had to sell the house. Yet I keep getting through it all without a tear. We'll come out of this better than ever.

Home school science fun

Just one of the reasons I love home-schooling. Not only can I learn along with the kids, but learning can happen any day, any time.

I love it even more, when my husband gets involved. This was a little experiment we found in a book that my 6 year old got at the library about electricity.

Surrogacy update, life and health

So, I've been kind of boring. I even went a month between posts. You must all hate me. Not really, but I thought I'd be dramatic. Maybe you're a little disapponted? Maybe you forgot I even exist?

Well, here's the updates:

I am still unable to find insurance that will cover me as a surrogate. So after going over the few options, I realized there was only one way to go. That would be to not use insurance, and to have the IP's (intended parents) pay "cash" for the medical fees. Sometimes, I think a cash discount plan is better than even having insurance. We pay alot in premiums, copays, etc. We can hardly afford our premiums, let alone go see a Dr.

Anyway, I got sidetracked. I've been making calls, collecting information. So far, I've only been able to connect with my ob/gyn's office.  The lady there was helpful and gave me a breakdown of costs.  I thought it actually sounded pretty decent. Now these were just the Dr.'s fees for visits and the delivery. She gave me the price for ultrasounds, etc. It all sounded reasonable. I just have to get the fees for the hospital stay and anesthesiologist, etc. Some of you may think I'm crazy, but I think it's going to be just about the same as if I had insurance and they were paying all the premiums, copays, deductibles. I was told about a pay out plan aawhile back. You pay $XX for the plan, they pay out $XXXX if you are hospitalized, for whatever reason. They do not care if you are a surrogate, how you got pregnant, etc. I already talked to this guy and he made it sound like this plan would work for me, etc. I thought it sounded great, but then I said, what about Dr. visits? Oh I don't know what you'd do about that... I was so excited that I thought I had found something to COVER the surrogacy and all the maternity costs. But I think we could do this along with the cash discount for the visits and everything else. At least that would be some kind of coverage.

You would think that it would get easier each time. I mean technically, I 've been a surrogate 3 times now. Each surrogacy has it's complications, it's hold ups. I'm not even matched yet!  Gotta get this all squared away first. Hoping to be matched this Fall though.    :)

Other news?

I'm still battling sinus issues. Headaches, pain, pressure. Going to an ear nose and throat specialist this week. No fun, but hopefully I'll get some answers soon and get all of this resolved.

I am trying to finish out the school year with the kids. I will keep them somewhat inovled over the summer with some kind of schooling. It's been a great homeschooling year. We are planning a family vacation for Fall and I can't wait. We are going to California- Disneyland, etc. We are ALL finding ways to earn/save money to go. It will be a good experience.

I'll try not to keep you waiting as long for my next post....

XOXOXOXOXOXO,

Mormon Surrogate

Balance and good bye holiday _______

I have lost the few extra pounds I gained over the holidays. This week has been great. Somehow with the kids home, my focus is better and there's more of a balance around here.

 It's crazy because I used to be one of those moms who couldn't wait to send her kids back to school over winter break or summer vacation. But here we are learning and growing together and I wouldn't have it any other way. They still have the choice to go back to school, but I'm enjoying this for now. We'll take it a school year at a time.

Our relationships are improving, we're working toghether, their rooms aren't such a disaster. It's not 100% noticeable, but we're all getting more done. It feels great!

The kids used to get home from school and not want to clean or do anything but veg and watch tv, etc.  They were tired and worn out from being at school "all day". Well not anymore. Not as much fighting to clean up. Everyone wakes up nice and happy. No stressing over homework! No more fighting over homework. Oh also, it was a crazy school schedule between the 3 of them. Jeremy would have to be up by 6:00 and out the door by 7:20. Tristan would be up by 7:50 and out the door by 8:55. Jessica would be up around 9:30 and out the door at 12:30. I used to walk her to school, but now that it's cold, I've had to drive her. (chosen to)
Then Jeremy would get home about 3:30 and the girls at 3:50. Since we live out in nowhere land and it's a good 45 minute drive to go anywhere, plus another 45 to get back, I didn't have much time to do anything. If I did leave I was worried that I'd get stuck somewhere and not get home in time. Talk about a stressful situation. If I need to go somewhere now, we just go. It's all a learning experience.

In a way, I wish I had done this a long time ago. It might have been nice to have them home while we were in San Diego. and John was in the Navy. But then again the teachers there were great. (I'll give them that! John and I aren't big fans of living in San Diego. It's a nice place to *visit* but our experiences of living there weren't the best. We did meet some great people there, but there were too many unfriendly people. Could have been the military environment, the crappy area, but that was our experience.)

I'm not 100% against public school! I want to make that clear. There are some great teachers out there and some great schools. However, not all the teachers are great and not all the schools are great. Sometimes I am shocked and surprised to see how a teacher treats her students and how little patience they can have. I'm just happy to know that I am now confident that I can give my kids what they need. I am also getting plenty in return.

Calories burned, home-school kids and office stuff

I have burned 272 calories today! Just thought I'd track it somewhere, lol. Woohoo!

We are still working out all the kinks in home-schooling. I have looked into lot's of options. I have mainly been researching TJED and I really like it! I've also looked into unschooling. I don't agree with it all 100% but there are parts of it that sure make sense! (I tried doing way too much of it and it stressed me out big time!)  I'm looking for a healthy balance that makes us all happy. I'm making the "curriculum" fit the child, not the other way around. We study life in reality.

I have found out that Jeremy LIKES tests and workbooks. Even though he was "failing" most his classes, he still wants me to teach what he was taught at school. I'm sure that's all he was used to, as frustrating as it was. We're taking it all one little step at a time. He is still happier than ever, which was my 1st "goal" with all this.

Tristan has decided to join the home-school team around here. I don't know if I can keep up with her. She was doing so well in school. However, I think there is nothing wrong with her trying out home-school and letting her make the choice. Jessica changes her mind daily. She usually wants to stay home until about 10 minutes before school starts, and then she wants to go. I guess she kind of gets the best of both worlds since she's in Kindergarten and only goes for about 3 hours.

It all feels good!

My office is THIS much closer to being finished.  That feels awesome! John did a good job and I am glad I helped out as much as I could. I just need to do a little touch up painting around the doors and we can move stuff in.We're only going to move a little at a time. I still need to go through some stuff in my current office and decide what all will go down there. Right now my current office is also a storage room. Not going to happen in the new office. We do still need to "finish" around the window.. but not a big deal. We are trying to find something cool to put in the window well so that I'm not looking out into, well an ugly window well. 
:)

Exclusion from Public School and IEP

My son is officially "excluded" from attending public school. They offered easing him out and having him go part time, but I declined. (This was the middle school, the district approved his exclusion 100%)


So, I was told to come in and sign some paper work and sign a refusal of IEP services. We had to walk around and have the teachers sign him out, make sure he didn't owe for books, etc. Well 75% of the teachers were in an assembly, so we got as many signatures as possible. One teacher gave him a packet to take home and work on and he could turn it in to get a "C" instead of an "I". I didn't really know why that would matter since I'm home-schooling him now. We turned in the paper and I was asked to sign the refusal of IEP services. I was told that if I wanted to, he could go to school JUST for his "special" classes. Well that is math where he has his LD and it's only on "A" days 4th period. So that would be Monday, Wednesday, Friday at about 1:00 PM. For some reason I said, Sure we can try that. Don't know if I'm crazy, but I thought, maybe this would be a good transition for him. ?? I'll have to take him on those days and then the bus will bring him home. Hopefully I can drop him off right after I take his sister to Kindergarten.
I also thought this would be good, because he won't lose his IEP and everything that goes along with it. So I won't have to worry about getting it re-instated down the road. It took a LONG time to get this one in place. I hope that this will be good for him. We'll see.

The teacher within

I have mentioned before that my 12 year old son struggles with ADHD/LD,Anxiety and depression. He has struggled off and on in school. He's had some great teachers and some real crappy teachers. He is very smart and we are often surprised at the interesting facts he tells us. He has been having a hard time adjusting to middle school. He's pretty much failing all his classes. His teachers make him feel bad for asking questions or asking for help. Kids tease him and pick on him and he feels stupid. He has a hard time getting up and getting ready for school. It's a constant struggle as I remind him every 10 minutes to wake up and keep moving. (He'll eat, then fall asleep in the bathrroom, maybe get dressed, then fall asleep in my room or his room) Once or twice he's missed the bus.

I was reading some friend's blogs the other night and came accross one that talked about homeschooling. I had actually considered this at one time, but felt I didn't have what it takes to be a teacher, especially to a "special needs" child. And yet, something clicked when I came upon her blog. It felt so right to look into homeschooling my son. I'm still researching it all, but we are on our way.  When he missed the bus yesterday, I thought "How on earth am I supposed to drive 30 minutes into town on icy/snowy roads in our van?"  "What if I get stuck, what if we get in an accident?" My girls weren't awake yet, so I'd have to get them up and ready and take him late. I know it might sound like poor planning on my part. Or maybe you think I'm irresponsible? But I didn't feel good about taking him. It was the last straw and I had had enough. (Sometimes his bus doesn't even wait for him and will leave a few minutes early than scheduled)

So yesterday I just had him do some studying. I had him look up things online while I researched homeschooling and where to begin. This morning I let him sleep in till 8:30. What a difference! It still took a couple tries to wake him up, but he woke up HAPPY! He got up without arguing, he actually seemed ready for the day! I had him eat breakfast and got him started on some educational games. He's done some science, problem solving and world history. Then I had him take a 15 minute break and made him some hot chocolate. Then it was reading time. (Literature Arts books that we acquired somehow) Then back to educational games. He is eating it all up! It's amazing. He was even reading to his little sister. I haven't seen him so happy and willing to learn in a long time. Now, I'm just winging it to start out, but I think this is a great start!
I am studying different curriculums and will hopefully have a set plan for next week.

I would love to hear from other home school moms! I do not however want to hear from those against homeschooling.
By the way, my 2 daughters are doing wonderfully in school and I will be keeping them in school for now. My son needs the one on one attention, and I need to get my footing. Who knows what next year will bring though. 

I might get my basement office finished for Christmas. It's been a work in progress, doing little things at a time, with a little bit of money at a time. I'm thinking my "old" office will probably become a classroom of sorts, and I'm all kinds of excited about the possibilites.