Still a blogging failure....

I guess I should change my blog to "Farnsworth Quarterly Report".
In our last issue Parker was having a bad time in school. I am happy to report that is not longer the case because *drumroll* I have pulled him out and we are official homeschoolers!!!! It is the best decision I could have possibly made. He was withdrawing and regressing at a terrible rate. i felt that we were losing Parker to the Wii and Club Penguin. Those had become his escapes because he was so unhappy. I think the thing that finally clinched it is when my fabulous friend Nikki commented that on Friday's Parker was shut down towards everyone but come Saturday afternoon he was a happy little camper. I finally pulled the plug on what was a bad situation.
There were so many issues that I couldn't possibly name them all. I have come to the conclusion that most public school systems are ridiculous. How is it that 25-30 children can be put into a room and they are expected to be on the exact same learned level as everyone else in the class. That completely discourages anyone from being gifted because no one has the time for one-on-one instruction time. Gifted students are "dumbed down" to the level as the majority or their classmates. This was one of the main issues with Parker. We have caught him up on everything except social behavior. He is about 18 months behind and is the youngest kid in his grade. Unfortunately (for the schools) he is also one of the smartest and can do work several grade levels ahead. He was bored and hated doing work that he could do in his head. He didn't want to write it down because it was so easy for him. This situation had disaster written all over it. He wold be bored, act out and get a referral. In the past two years he never received a referral (at the last school) and I think that is partly because his teachers were male. Sorry but there needs to be more men in the public schools. In the two months that Parker was at Chancey he received no less than 12 referrals. How can he go from none in two years to more than one a week?
You cannot tell me that he changed that much over the summer. Basically Parker was not going to sit there and do work that was so far behind him it would be like asking a high school senior to sing the ABC's over and over.
I am very happy with the decision I made and am having a great time so far. Parker is doing great and his little spirit is healing quickly. As another wonderful friend said "You have to think of Parker as if he were in Triage for his damaged spirit". That is what we are doing. *Putting soapbox away*

As for the rest, Noah is doing wonderfully and has a couple of words now. We love, love, love his school, teachers and speech therapist but JCPS will not let him stay after this year (don't even get me started).

Connor is doing well but needs to become more organized. Reece is doing well but got a "D" due to not turning in something that had nothing to do with grades or work...it was something I was supposed to sign but Reece forgot to give it to me. I will not go off on my tangent about that grade but suffice to say that I am beyond angry that my son went from a "B" to a "D" and it had nothing to do with his work.

We are seriously looking into homeschooling them all (except Noah) within a couple of years. It is a difficult decision as I was going to return to school in the Spring to finish my degree. I am so close but I am sure the season will come when it is my turn. The kids cannot be put on hold but my education can.

We are getting rid of all the carpet! We have gorgeous hardwood in the entry, dining room, hall and family room now. We are not even close to being done. We will also do all the rooms upstairs, our rooms and then we are putting travertine in the kitchen, breakfast nook and all three bathrooms as well as the fireplace surround. This is a small part of the floor. We are ripping out that awful vinyl in the picture.
When the house goes up for sale in the next year or so we want everything to be ready and updated.

We hope to buy some land with a couple other people who are on the same timeline as our family. Luckily we all get along and so do our kids. Hopefully it will come to fruition.

Anyway I have to fall into bed so I can get ready for the 26 (!!!!) people who will be here on Thanksgiving. I love to have a full house on the holidays.