2 down...

178 to go.

School days, that is.

It feels sort of good to be sharpening pencils and shuffling school books. Makes me feel more focused some how.

I gotta tell ya though I enrolled all 3 of the older kids in a charter school and though I'm comfortable with the decision I feel a bit like a quitter. A homeschool quitter.

I mean, they are still at home and I'm still doing all their work with them so its not that bad. If you're not familiar with the whole charter school thing the easiest explanation is that it's public school at home. The kids have teachers to answer to and tests and grades but they are still home and I'm responsible for getting everything done.

Son The Eldest chartered last year because he was officially at the high school level and I didn't want to jump through the PA education hoops to get him a diploma. With a charter school he'll get one and have a "regular" graduation. He did so well last year and I was so much more organized that I decided to enroll kids #2 and #3 for this year. So there ya have it. I'm glad we have this option and I'm happy with the charter school I chose because I'm familiar with the curriculum they use and in fact we've used it ourselves during our homeschool years.

The crazy thing is that I have a High schooler, a Middle schooler, an Elementary student, and a pre-schooler.

So anyway, school is in full swing, the mums are blooming and I'm thinking wool. Well, actually I'm always think'in wool but thats okay.

I've been invited to be part of a blog tour for a new knitting book and I'll have details about that in the next few days.

To celebrate... I cut all my hair off. Well, not all of it but this really is the shortest its been in years. The last time I cut it this short I was pregnant with kid #2 and was convinced I needed a more mature-easy-maintenance hair style since I already had a toddler and was about to have a new baby so I had it cut short and then I cried hysterically for days.

There's no crying this time.. I love it! So there's your self-portrait-in-a-bathroom-mirror-shot that bloggers love not so much.

Comments

First, the hair looks great. Second, a quitter? Really?!! As a mom of two (the first just entering Kindergarten) I'm impressed with anyone who has taken on homeschooling. Not to mention runs their own business on top of it. I thought about it but was overwhelmed with the responsibility. Instead I'm using the info I gathered to supplement and support my kids as they go through the public system. I'd hardly call you a quitter. You sound like a pretty dedicated mom to me.

[stefaneener]

Our charter school works slightly differently -- same idea, less structure, but we're not in high school yet.

I like the structure but I envy the friends who are so graceful at it. I do a lot of "sit down and DO IT," and I'm so not a natural teacher. Ugh.

[Meredith]

Nice hair cut Marie! Now go make you bed.
: )

Great hair cut! I love it.

[Tammy]

We're just getting back in the swing of things too. My oldest is in 10th at the local high school and my 9th grader is still at home but is taking classes through our co-ops and has a computer program for math. So I'm really only here to help him with questions he might have. Even my 6th grader is taking 3 classes and doing math on the computer. So I get to work with my 4th grader and teach my K student how to read and write. There's a light...

Your hair looks great by the way!

[bezzie]

I like the hair!

That's an interesting way y'all do charter schools. Charter schools where I've lived (Ok, in MI where I found them most prevalent and had friends' kids in them) is that the Charter School was held *at* school, and was just like regular public school they just had some more hoops to jump thru on the adminsitrative level--but in exchange for the hoope jumping they could focus more on teaching differently than your normal run of the mill public schools. That's kind of cool the way they do it your neck of the woods.

[Dani]

Your hair looks great. Very flattering!