Homeschool and Harvest

I haven't been updating here because I haven't done any homeschooling this week. We are up to our necks in summer harvest and on top of that I am trying to get things organized and packed for a vacation to the beach and to the lake. The temps here are in the 80's and 90's this week so my early morning hours that I usually use to update my blogs are now spent outside getting the garden and yard work done before the heat.

It's now 5:23 am and the sky is just beginning to be streaked with the dawn. I'm going to skip my shower this morning and just go straight outside and get started. I need to water everything thoroughly, clean the deck, and around 7:30 am I'm going to fire up the mower. Hopefully the neighbors will be pretty much up by then and not be too upset at the noise.

I also have to go over the garden very carefully for produce that will be too big when we get home. Tomorrow morning I'm going to pick everything that is even close to maturing because of the week ahead when I wont be picking. I'm praying for temps in the 70's next week so the garden don't get out of hand.

The only home school thing I have done is to order Tinks Teaching Textbooks for Math. Yesterday I went to the charter school and they ordered them for me. By getting the books through them I can get them with state funding that is set aside for each students textbooks.

Our homeschool Academy here is really a state charter public school. They are pioneering a new idea wherein they offer elective classes to homeschoolers. High school can take core classes there too. The state pays for everything up to a predetermined amount set by them. A child in 6th grade like Tink gets $600 for her schooling.

We dont actually get the money in cold cash. It is set aside for curriculum and classes by accepted vendors. You can school at home using your faith based curriculum's but they will not pay for anything that is faith based. So I can get them to pay for Tinks Teaching Textbooks but not for the rest of her books.

I know here in Oregon there is a huge uproar about homeschoolers taking advantage of public school money for classes. I agree that it blurs the lines between homeschool and state and if I could I would school without the use of them but my husband is not on board with that so far. He just has this thing that a state teacher needs to oversee everything! It's frustrating.

So anyway that means Tinks entire curriculum is here and I still have to go to the homeschool store and purchase Peters Math. He is doing Bob Jones. So one more book to buy and all my curriculum will be here. Of course, I still have to purchase stuff for my tutoring students. That is a harder job than for my own because I know my own kids so well and know exactly what is a good fit.

Well its a hair past 5:30 so I better get to the garden. At 9:30 I have physical therapy for my back. Its kinda ironic that I bend and weed and pick veggies for three hours, then go to therapy and come back and do more of the same. I'm not sure how much the therapy will help under those circumstances but a woman has to do what a woman has to do!