9:30 am
This is real school.
I haven't a clue what I'm doing. I'd like to interject a series of colorful words in between but I'll refrain. My anxiety level is going up and I've already taken my meds. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to just be as helpful as I can be to Annika.
Except that she's a teensie weensie upset with me.
She asked for some help but later said that I make my explanations even more difficult. I'm not sure exactly how else I'm supposed to explain it to her. I rather thought I explained myself well but I may as well speak Pig Latin. So I'm stepping back, minding my own business for the time being and letting her have some space to do her work. She's a smart kid. She'll figure it out.
I would really prefer to be just a cheerleader, a comforting shoulder, the mom who comes up to her when she's stumped and says, "There, there, it will work out."
I need another batch of coffee.
11:00 am
Anni is in better spirits. She made her favorite breakfast and has moved on to Literature. It's her favorite class and she's comfortably reading on her favorite chair. I move on to another Learning Coach session and another opportunity to hopefully gain a little more insight this time on parent networking because my efforts up to this point has crashed into a brick wall.
Making Connections: Getting Involved in the Virtual Education Community
Three minutes before the session starts and there are only four attendees so far. That just seems so par for the course for me. I feel like I'm talking to an empty room sometimes. I've invited others in my area for a meet and greet on the IDVA Facebook page and I've yet to get any responses. My discussions in the Parent Lounge have also gone unanswered so far. I can't figure it out. Do I have an odor that's projecting through the keyboard? There are few IDVA'rs i my valley so I'm branching out to the homeschooling group in the area. With any luck, maybe some of these folks will come out of the woodwork soon.
1:00 pm
I switched out my mom/learning coach hat to mom/lunch lady hat a half hour ago and Anni is ready to break for a little lunch of pigs in a blanket. I figure that my quick meals will not be too unfamiliar to the processed foods they seem to love at school. I am excited to see that she needs no prodding to get back into her classes as soon as she's eaten.
I have to admit that giving her 15 minute breaks in between classes to check on her Facebook has kept the momentum going, eliminating the need for me to drag her back to her work. I'm just hoping this system works all year.
2:00 pm
My little student is down to American History and I have to leave for a meeting. I am still, technically, a working mom. I have my own business and work as a gym coach at a local health club. I feel comfortable enough to leave her to her studies and let her get as far as she can without me. But today, I did learn that the idea of allowing them "independent study" is not really feasible since they need their LC's password to access their daily assessments.
I suppose that I could give her the password but that would be like allowing the inmates to run the asylum, right?
4:00 pm
I return home. The 9th grader is back and Anni is snacking on a can of corn. She isn't quite done so I help her finish out the last class. On the way to my meeting, I had called the middle school to fax me a daily school schedule so Anni and I can discuss the differences between what she's doing now and how her friends are doing their work in school. Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect either at the end of this first real day but I was happy to see that she still accomplished a full seven-hour school-day of studies in just under four hours. Except for that fact that she misses her friends and hates math, she does say that she likes this way better.
That's a good start.
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