Jump to content

Menu

xjayfro

Members
  • Posts

    1
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Reputation

0 Neutral

About xjayfro

  • Birthday 03/06/1974

Contact Methods

  • Website URL
    https://scatteredgraces.ca
  • Location
    Vancouver, BC, Canada
  • Occupation
    Event Specialist

Profile Information

  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
  • Interests
    jesus. wine. gf bread. dinner church. mental health. the mystics. spiritual direction. celebrating well. details. beauty. introverted.
  1. Greetings! In 2016, I had to stop homeschooling 2 of my 5 kids (I literally had 5 kids in 5 different schools) because of some personal issues that required multiple hospital stays and a slow recovery. But Covid has wrecked my sensitive kids and while DD1 is 23 and graduated (going to technical school and out on her own), DS2 is almost 18 and graduating next month from the catchment secondary school. DD3 is at said secondary school and is teeter tottering on whether or not to homeschool next year because she is always in the midst of all the drama. Because she stands up for the weak and abused (because she was once that person). Currently she is being threatened and is literally carrying a can of silly string with her to startle anyone who tries to attack her (although, she is a hook in rugby and she pulls people down like they are grass). DD4 hasn't been to school all day since, hmmm, her birthday on Jan 31, and that was her first day back after Christmas break. She managed about 3 weeks of 2 hour days (she has the MOST AWESOME TEACHER) but got sick just before Easter and hasn't been able to go back. Her teacher called me after we stopped by to visit when the class was gone (DD4's anxiety was so evident) and told me to homeschool her and told me that she is going to bat for me after months of the school trying to convince me otherwise. 🥰 DD5 hasn't been to school since spring break and missed at least 30 days of school before that because of attachment fears. My three eldest children were abandoned by their mother, and all have fetal alcohol effects as well as anxiety/depression and some eating concerns. DD3 has an eating disorder and is in the process of being diagnosed either bipolar or borderline personality disorder. It is rough. DD4 has severe social anxiety, and it takes a week of coaching to get her out of the house. She has a cousin with agoraphobia, and I have anxiety on both sides of my family as does my husband. DD5 just never wants to be separated from us. She can play all day in her room, listening to audiobooks, drawing dragons, and reading or writing about dragons, but otherwise we have to be in her sight. She can't even go into the Sunday School room with people we've known for 20 years if we don't go with her. I have a MA from Regent College here in Vancouver (James Houston read the scripture over our convocation this year) that took me 20 years to finish -fostering 15 children in the process and then, well, in the process of raising 5). I work for a for-profit organization that does development work for mostly faith based non-profits as well as for a charity that gives language to the church for mental ill health (free online courses on mental health, illness, stigma, recovery, caregiving, companionship, self-care...). I had two huge events this month so I had a break today to think about homeschool again... DD4 (13yo) was HS her kindergarten year, and part way through her grade one year gained acceptance into the francophone school. Turns out, at the end of grade two she only knew how to ask how to get a drink of water and how to go to the bathroom. She was passing everything, but because she had figured out how to do all the things on her own (math was especially hard). I think this has added to her school anxiety tremendously. Her current teacher (MAT mentioned above) comes by every few weeks to the house to have tea with her and just chat because she loves her. 🥰 Just as she cared for my DD3 (15.9yo). With both my grade 4 (DD5) and grade 7 (DD4) not really attending school this year, I am guessing I'm going to need to be really wise about how I manage their learning. They are both proficient or exceeding in ALL areas of study - but they just cannot manage the stress of the classroom. They are SO brilliant. The 10 year old writes better than I do, and I have an MA. The 13 yo has the most brilliant visual and written character development I've ever seen. Seriously think she could be the next Tolkien. She is that involved in mapping her worlds and creating languages and characters. Brilliant. But, I wonder if classical education is the right fit for them??? And if so, with me working 2 jobs (sometimes both full time at the same time - yea fundraising season) I don't have the actual ability to spend a ton of time 1:1 with them. And if the 16yo joins us, I'm really concerned how we are going to stay on the same page. I used Story of the World when I started homeschooling (DH is a history buff and Susan Wise Bauer did a special lecture series at Regent several years ago now). All the kids loved listening to the CDs in the car. I figure they could all listen to the same audiobooks (DH swears SWBauer said that listening=reading) and they could have varying assignments on them. What else could I do with the soon to be grades 5, 8, and 11 students next year to minimize the amount of time I have to create lesson plans and do 1:1 teaching. Both DD3 & DD4 have IEPs so whatever Distance Learning program we use will provide a teacher and ample $$ for tutoring. I will probably also pay for a psycho-educational assessment for DD5. Thank you for reading this much! Would love your recommendations on all. the. things. as I've been out of the homeschooling world for about 6 years now! Jen
×
×
  • Create New...