I talk so all the time: 1/15/12

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Field Test: Serengeti Lions - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic Magazine

I could (and have) spent all day exploring the National Geographic website.

Photo of the Day: Best Pictures of December 2011, Gallery - National Geographic

22 degree's out? Perfect bike riding weather!

Gracelyn decided that because all the snow had melted-ish yesterday, it was perfect Bike Riding weather. Despite the fact that it was 22 degree's out. Madalyn's always good for anything. So, after we got home from daycare, outside we went.

Of course, Georgie is always along for the ride.

Steering? Not so much.

Gracelyn Marie.

Gracelyn was teaching Madalyn how to play the leapster, while she played on my NookColor.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Homeschool, Schomeschool.

This is how I feel sometimes (often) while home-schooling. Gracelyn can be so stubborn, she is difficult, and she sometimes flat out refuses to do anything. Not to mention, I am usually sleep deprived from my awful night/day sleep schedule. I am impatient, I am frustrated. It is hard. I feel like she isn't getting what she should from home schooling. I don't have time for co-ops, and LEAH groups. Granted, she does get a lot of social interaction between my mom (who home-schools my little sister) and our daycare, who both participate in Co-ops and Bible School and the such, but I feel like I'm not doing enough. I feel like a home-schooling failure. I want to quit. Throw the towel in. But, that isn't my style. So, we continue on.

If I was optimistic (which I never am) I would say that I would continue to homeschool her next year, but I don't see how I could possibly have the patience to do it, while maintaining my sanity. On the upside, we do have days when I feel like we accomplish a lot, that I have really taught her something, and that she listens to me and absorbs what I say. Those days are few and far between, though.

Our schedule is very random. I think this is part of the reason why I feel like a home-school parenting failure. I teach her whenever. Wherever. I work nights, so sometimes I pick them up from daycare early, or stay up on a weekend and teach her. I find this hard, as my tolerance level is a lot lower and one or both of us end up in tears, so I don't do it as often, anymore. Mostly, I teach on my days off. Well, my second day off. My first day off isn't a "day off", since I don't get home til 8am-ish that day. However, I rarely have two days off in a row, due to working overtime. Which helps us financially, but not her educationally. We will do a page out of a workbook here and there; before bed, while I'm making dinner, in the few minutes before I run out the door to work. I quiz her on spelling words in the car, she reads to me, we count in the car. We just sort of wing-it. She is caught up-ish as to where she "should" be in the book, but I feel it isn't "quality" education. I need to do better. It is so frustrating.

In the fall our private daycare is closing. She home-schools her four children and has run a full-time daycare for years-I don't blame her. Frankly, I have no idea how she does it, she is super-woman, all rolled up into a Christian, home-schooling, daycare running Mother. I envy her and her patience.

Which leads to the conundrum. Do I find another full-time daycare, and continue to homeschool? Do we move closer to my parents, but further from both our jobs? Do we send them to a private Christian school around here, but then what if we move this year, will my husband want to/have time to drive them to school? And Madalyn will only be 4 next month, we'd have to send her to the full-time preschool. How will she do away from us, and without Gracelyn? If we send them to school, we would still need a daycare for snow days, holidays, summer, ect. How will I do without them being at the trusted/reliable daycare? With them being in separate classes? In a foreign environment? With me wondering if they are sad and/or missing me? With not being able to text and see how they are doing? Not being able to pick them up whenever I wanted? Will I ever be able to find a daycare as trustworthy/reliable as ours, now? Can I find the patience to continue to homeschool, should we find a reliable daycare? It is all very stressful. I have procrastinated on figuring it out. It gives me a headache.

My husband wants them to go to school, he is not all for home-schooling like I am/want to be.

I want to start back to school soon. I want to go straight from RN to Masters. It's going to be very tedious, I imagine. I can barely hold myself together enough to teach Gracelyn now, with working full-time and then the overtime I pick up, let alone, adding a full curriculum to my schedule. Should I hold back on school, and continue to home-school? Do I have the patience for it? Can I find the patience for it?

Another issue with my pushing back my start date for school is the fact that I want to get my NP license. However, sometime in the future, 2013- 2015ish, they are making all Nurse Practitioners get a PhD in nursing. If I wanted to be a PhD, I would be a doctor. I have to start the program before that goes into effect, to be grandfathered in, I believe.

Man. I miss the days when my biggest stressor was where to sit in the lunchroom.

Another Silver, RN?!

Just found out that Upstate just hired a male nurse named Silver. I am speechless. I prided myself on being the only one.

Thoughts from a six year old.

"Mom, it was a black man's birthday yesterday". --Gracelyn.
"Yes, Martin Luther King".
"He is famous, but I still think Jesus is more famous".

What a little smarty pants. The way she puts things together, and the things she comes up with fascinate me.

News and Coffee

This seems so simple. News and Coffee. However, that is what I miss the most, working nights. It seems wrong to drink coffee all night. I want to wake up in the morning, when it's still dark, and drink my coffee and watch (or read) the news before the girls get up.

Instead, I come home at 8am-ish, go to bed (while craving my coffee) wake up around 3ish, (pending I sleep), go get the girls come home gulp down my coffee and go to work.

Coffee should be savored.

Not gulped in-between med passes, or while doing assessments on the computer. Coffee should be enjoyed while doing absolutely nothing, except watching/reading the news, and of course, while doing internet-y things.

Yahoo News. You. You have thoroughly disappointed me. Paula Dean having diabetes. Really? While it is somewhat interesting-- it is not news worthy. Some movie star having twins is not news worthy. Dear Abby, is not news worthy. Everything you call "News", while some of it may be interesting, is not News. It is something I would read at the checkout line in a grocery store on "OK" magazine. Or, whatever magazine is now popular.

Please, think up some decent articles. I am going back to my News Channel 9.

Starting my day, with coffee in hand, and heading to my Nurse Residency.