Homeschooling

Homeschooling never crossed my mind until my son was 4, I was about to finish college, and was seriously missing my husband. We thought about the possibility of going on the road with him for a few years while the boy was young and I could home school him. I was just finishing college to be an elementary teacher after all, and was loaded with information on how to teach.

However, I ended up getting a long term substitute teaching position for the fall semester right after I graduated and the little man was ready to start kindergarten. So I enrolled him at the school I would be working at, it was a great year for me but not so much for him. My little guy is full of energy and trying to sit in a classroom was quite a challenge. Things were not going to well for him, he was young (just barely made the age limit for starting school that year) and when my father in law passed away he regressed so much that I decided that redoing kindergarten would be a good idea. However for convenience I had him change schools for the following year. That was a huge mistake and I ended up pulling him the 5th week of school when he had been put on the wrong bus for the third time and the principal was like"well accidents happen", I was like"well he's 6 and it's only the 5th week of school so Good bye!"

So homeschooling begun and I had my little lady and life was going well. The little man was learning to read and we were able to spend more time together as a family. I was able to take the kids with me and visit the hubby when he was on near by jobs (with in few hours drive). The next year I got a job teaching, he went back to school, and the little gal went to a friends house for the day. Another horrible mistake! The school was opening for its first year and had no supplies to do so. I was given a classroom with 8 tables and 25 chairs and that was it. No books, no paper, no white board! How do I teach with NO supplies. Then the night before school started was the open house, I found out who my students were and their names for the FIRST time by them coming into the room and introducing themselves. Yeah!?

I found out that night that I would be teaching a combo class of first and second graders. Ok I can do this. I've taught (subbing and after school tutoring that is) kindergarten, first and second grade. I can do this, I hope.

The first few days went well, I did some basic assessments and getting to know each other activities, but these kids were at totally different levels and I was having a hard time figuring out where each one was  so that I could know what to teach them next. SO I did more assessments. Another week of assessing in and a parent wants to talk about all the assessing. "Why are you still assessing my child the second week of school if they had to take a test to get into this school? Don't you get those results?" No I did not get those results and what test is she talking about, my kid didn't have to take a test and he's in the class next door. Lets just say that things got worse form there. I had to bring all of my own supplies to teach with including stopping by a copy store to have worksheets for my class for the week. After my nightly complaining for 2 months and wanting to cry because my first classroom was a nightmare my hubby said it was ok to quit. So I did and so did 2 other teachers that weekend. I was not the only one who thought it was crap.

So back to home schooling, for a few weeks until I got my little man back into a great school. This year did not go well for him either. By the end of the school year I was teaching him for 2 to 3 hours after school each day to keep him on track with the rest of his class, so that he wouldn't have to repeat first grade too. He had already done kinder twice and the thought of first grade twice was not going to happen. So after having some serious discussions with my husband and doing some research we decided that homeschooling was a better idea and his Dr thought so too. So far we have been at it for a total of 2 years and this past year has really been a learning experience of what works best for us. What time of day to do school, how long to teach, working on independent work.... yade yada.

I see success for him and our family. We finally bought a trailer so that we could go on the road with my hubby, something that we though about doing 4 years ago. I am super excited, I get to home school my children and show them the country at the same time. The kids will get to learn history and geography by visiting museum and historical sites in the different states that we go to. Today's field trip will be to an old sugar plantation, we get to see slave houses and get see what it was like.

Gardening

At home, in sunny Arizona, I have taken over my whole front yard and it's one big garden. Eventually the back yard will be part of the garden too, right now that is the dogs domain. However I find my self missing my garden right now and we have only been on the road for a week. This is the first time we have gone on a job with my husband. He travels often for work and can be gone for a few days to a few months at a time, so we have decided to go with him. This current job is supposed to be 6 to 8 weeks in Louisiana.

So this is the garden at home:

Plants: watermelon, cantaloupe, pumpkins, mint, cilantro, parsley, tomatoes, basil, spinach, okra, corn, green beans, yellow squash, zucchini, grapes, strawberries, green leaf lettuce, chives, oregano, thyme, peppermint, and rosemary. Also marigolds are randomly planted around the garden in hopes to keep the aphids down.

Now for the garden on the road:

Plants: basil, mini bell peppers, and patio tomatoes.
I also have some green leaf started that I hope to get in a planter some time today or tomorrow.

At home there is a huge composting pile but I can't really do that in an RV park, or plant my garden in the ground. So the plants will be in planters, aka old milk jugs, and my composting will be from worms in a bucket.

Here are the happy worms:

It has all just begun, lets see how it works.

About me?

Life brings us challenges and we can make lemonade or we can complain. I chose to make lemonade and have decided to create this blog to document those challenges and exciting times in life, who knows maybe I'll be famous because of this blog and the crazy things I do :)  I could only hope.

So just a little bit about myself, I call myself a green bean because I have been "green" since before it was called "green". I recycle everything I can, the trash system at our house is quite complex (can it be composted?, can it go in the terracycle can?, can it be recycled?, and if it doesn't fall into one of these categories then I guess it can go in the trash). I have tried gardening many times in the past and think that I finally have it figured out and my garden at home is growing great. Of course so now I decide to go one the road with my husband and I miss my garden at home and wonder how in the world do I garden and do all this recycling in a 30 foot travel trailer with my husband, 2 kids and all my sewing crap ( cause I love to sew and crochet too).

Lets see how it works.