Solo

This week my husband was out of town for work. This has been the first time I had to fly solo since we started cyber school. Typically he is not very involved with the school day. He does work from home and I do pop into his office from time to time to chat or rant...depending on how the day has been going. This week, there was no one to rant to. I drank a lot of coffee. I also found out that even one piece of Halloween candy after breakfast can cause an already bouncy child to become nearly unbearable.

My husband is now home and I can stop considering the Prozac IV drip....

This picture is a sample of what things look like as I plan for a week of school. I like to see what I am working on... I need that hands on kind of work zone. I can now typically prepare a week's worth of work in about an hour. I also spend maybe 15-20 minutes the night before pulling the books for the next day and checking that I know what is coming. Much better than the sleepless nights I had the first month.

Tomorrow JT and I are going to a performance of Beethoven's 7th Symphony in Harrisburg. It is offered free to children through the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra. I am going with a group of other moms and kids who either home school or cyber school. JT and I are also going to the Harrisburg State Museum while we are close. He has been bugging me to take him to a museum for months, so we can't miss our chance. I just hope I can find my way around the city.

Tonight we were chatting about how this school week had gone. Even though things were more stressful than usual, I felt like it had been a good week. We spent more time than usual focusing on the arts. It really made the learning so much more meaningful. Today JT spent about 45 minutes drawing a picture of a castle and battle (some of his favorites) while listening to the symphony that we will see performed tomorrow. He also spent more time than usual playing piano this week. We have spent so much time focusing on Math since school started. Once again we fell into the same trap as the brick and mortar schools. School is not only about Math and learning to read. It's about learning to love to learn. We did that this week.

*Check out this site to find out ways to expand your child's art exposure: Americans for the Arts