GCA 2009-2010 has begun : )

God has called and asked; therefore I have chosen to honor that calling. When we first decided to home school, it was a calling that God was moving in me and I was adamant that he was NOT talking to me. The more I prayed through this, the stronger the calling was and now we are teaching all 3 various levels and courses to get SAT exams completed and fulfilled and graduation requirements. My day starts at 7 a.m. when I start my day in prayer with coffee, and then I begin printing out lesson sheets so I am organized. I finally bought me a nice computer program that creates the transcript, tallies up their grades and makes their report cards. Yay, for software!!! I sit in my office working quickly because the kids are up at 9 and usually only JD is eager for school to start. The girls roll around by 9:30 griping but DO take their lessons back upstairs and by 10 a.m. the craziness begins. Michelle is usually my first customer as she hates math so I begin helping her work through solving tedious Algebra problems, then it is Krissy who is waiting too in hand with her set of Algebra problems, then it is JD waiting patiently with his Grammar and by the time I know it, it is 5 p.m. and the cycle just continued. The stack gets bigger on my desk and the teacher tasks just continue. I designed an SAT curriculum this summer for my girls which included 8000 possible SAT words and that alone takes me hours creating and printing and studying myself before I give to them. Then in between all this, there is lunch, and breakfast and dinner we order in most of the time unless Dave is home, then he cooks for us. By 8 p.m. I usually take a break to catch up on some paper work then by the time I realize it, the day has passed me by. Dave is home by 10:30 and we talk till midnight and then I start again, same routine. Somehow, Grad school also gets done in between there. I do cry a lot. It helps me release the overwhelming day. Dave is pretty awesome to just sit with me and I get foot rubs while I cry. This is not a complaint session, it’s just my day in a nutshell and I am honored that God has entrusted me with the academic knowledge instilled in my children. This school year will be a tad bit more consuming as it entails various high school courses all of which require lots of one on one plus JD’s now taking advanced math and Science.

JD:
We will begin this School year with Zoology 1, 2 and 3 and Math 5th grade as he tested out of the 4th. JD is an awesome student. He loves school; he loves learning and moves through everything with a joy and exciting of what is being presented for him. He will also take Grammar, Language Arts, Poetry, Health, History, Art, and is continuing the study of the book of Mathew.

Michelle:
Well, what I can tell you about Michelle. She hates math, she hates Grammar, BUT she loves History, and she enjoys the Bible studies. She is NOT looking forward to Biology and NOT looking forward to Grammar, and NOT wanting to take psychology but she is excited about World Geography, Health and keyboarding. We will be taking French I this year and the curriculum is on its way. Oh and she also has English I, the Literature books plus projects. She chose to take all these classes because she would like to early enroll for college. So she is pushing herself and me to get this done. I am proud of her but at the same time overwhelmed with her decision. I know it can be done but I will continue praying about this goal she has set for herself. She plans to get a PhD possibly in Theology, possibly History. Her aspiration is to teach Theology at the University level.

Krissy:
Wow, we have Advanced Biology so she can CLEP out of it or possibly just pass at the college level, Algebra II, Economics, Government, Jesus and His Followers study and Life management under God, English 4, Psychology and SAT preparations. She does NOT like any of it except Bible and Literature. She is addicted to the Twilight series and she does enjoy texting as an extracurricular activity. I wonder if that can go on her transcript. She’s great at it. Krissy serves in the Preschool ministry at our church and aspires to be a school teacher.

Both girls plan to work in our practice when I am self employed with my PhD in Counseling. Michelle will handle the insurance and bookkeeping and Krissy will help with calls, scheduling, etc…

I am proud of all 3 children even though they yell at me, complain about the work, disagree with how I teach and gripe about the tedious lessons that they claim are being taught at a college level… (The violin plays softly), I am honored and I cherish every moment as we begin a new home school year at Godines Christian Academy.

Thank you God for providing the finances and time so that I may continue to home school our children. We do have some struggles along the way, but faith has shown that each and every time, we make it and every year we start again knowing that God will pull us through even the hardest of days.

-Marie