How it goes..

Pretty good, actually.
Homeschooling, that is. I haven't killed Boy yet, and have only been tempted twice. Biology has been going really really well, because I found a great lesson online. I'm hoping that maybe I can do that the whole year- decide ahead of time what the topic is and then find a lesson online that someone else already went to the trouble to perfect. I just hope there are enough good lessons out there.
Now that I think about it, I wonder if I could do that for history and the like too.
Duh.
I'll have to look into that.
It did take me a while to find a lesson I was happy with. I wonder if it would save time in the long run. Maybe I would get quicker at finding lessons once I'd been doing it for a while.
But I digress. Boy starts out doing math. Then he reads for history and English, which gives me time to take a nap with Peanut, because she and I haven't slept well lately. She's teething, and not being one to suffer in silence, she cries and moans in her sleep. Boy never did that. He was such a happy baby. Always smiling, and if he did fall or bump something he looked at me to see if he needed to cry, and if I smiled and said "Whoopsy!" he wouldn't. Not so with Peanut. Oh no. The other day she rolled over and bumped her head on something. She screamed and screamed. I really mean she screamed, not that she cried loudly or wailed. Screamed. Everyone came running to see the blood. So you're thinking she's a bit of a drama queen, but I think it's slightly more than that, because she wouldn't roll from front to back for several days afterward. Refused. Laid on her tummy and wailed till someone else rolled her over. And all of these protests include real tears. I swear I didn't see tears in Boy's eyes for years. I just don't know what to make of it.
But I've digressed again! Sheesh. When I wake up we do something about lunch and Boy takes a break, but it's not like he really needs to because he's been reading something he wanted to read for the past hour. After lunch we've done Spanish and biology, which have gone very smoothly. Honestly, I don't know how I'd do this without the Internet though. Well actually, I guess I'd have to spend money. Quite a bit of money, for courses and texts. As it is, I've spent nothing so far. I do want to spend some money, but I want to be sure of what I'm spending it on first. It's nerve wracking to fork out $300 on a course you've never even seen. Not gonna do-er.
Boy practises his trumpet and he's done. Which is a little awkward, because New York dictates that he has to be in school for six hours a day (not counting lunch). I don't think that's fair. He doesn't have to walk between classes or go to his locker or have attendance taken- he should get to cash in on all the time he gains, but NY says no. Simon says I should work up some creative accounting. Which I suppose I may do at some point, but it isn't really necessary. We can totally fill up the time. I just don't think it's fair that we have to.
I also don't think it's fair for NY to tell me what subjects to teach if Boy does well on his tests. If I drop the ball I can see putting me on probation and dictating things to me, but until then I think I should get free rein. I guess some people here rely on the fact that there is very little oversight actually given to homeschooling. Plenty is mandated, little is done. So some parents do whatever they want and figure they'll get away with it. I'm a little nervous about that approach. You never know when it'll bite you in the ass. I'd rather bitch about it but do it right.
I've signed Boy up for an acting class. He's such a ham. It's just the thing, but it means I'll have to get up with Simon at 3:30 to drive him to work so I'll have the car. Simon says "Boohoo", but he goes to bed before I do.
I should go, the Peanut stirs.
Ephelba