Friday, July 17, 2020

Job/School

Well, I did a crazy thing during the coronavirus pandemic, I got a job. Benjamin was accepted into the local Montessori school and while I was talking with them about my degree from USC, they told me that they needed a special education teacher. I told them that I had a degree in severe disabilities and they needed a LD teacher. They asked me to apply. I did. I got the job. Now I am in a panic, I need to take some classes in LD and have to learn a lot in a short period of time! I also need to learn how they teach in the Montessori way so that I can integrate the two, something the last teacher didn't do.

The job is part time which is good with me. They lost the room they were using last year to the nurse who needed a room for isolation. Looks like I will be using a conference room. I have no suppose and no ideas. I have been doing internet searches for Montessori special education so get some ideas. Anyone teach in a Montessori school? They went public two years ago and haven't really been able to get the special education program going well. All the IEP's need to be rewritten and so much to do. Oh, and they start school next Wednesday. I am not sure when I start as I am still in processing but I suspect it will be real soon.

I have had a bit of panic as I wonder if I have bitten off too much but I am also excited by the challenge. It is also such a strange time to be embarking on a new career! The folks here in SC don't seem to be doing a very good job on doing what they need to do to lower our virus count. So much fighting over a simple mask. Making something about freedoms and such just seems crazy to me.

School is a huge issue here. We have decided to let Benjamin go to classes. They seem to have a lot of safeguards in place and I will be there so I guess we will be or not be exposed together.  I feel that his age group will be more willing to adhere to the safeguards. However, I worry about my high schoolers. Our foster will be doing virtual school. She was bullied a lot last year and right before they went out of school she had one boy cough into his hand and then rub it on her. I can see that still happening. She is delighted that she can do school at home.

Larissa is starting high school this year and has already started her homeschooling. She is taking a virtual voice class with the local arts program and we are about to start her history and language arts. I am still looking at math. Next semester we will be doing science and computer. Anyone know of a good online computer class? We are somewhat doing year round and staggering classes. She needs a total of 24 credits and we are looking to do 6 credits a year. Oh, I forgot Spanish. Hmm, 7 per year. Benjamin will be learning Spanish this year and one of his teachers is from Peru. Tasha also has Vaida enrolled in a school where they learn Spanish. So now I need to find a Spanish program too.

Anthony says he wants to go to school so I will allow him to do that. He has no problems and is a germaphobe so I know he will stay away from people!

I am not sure what we will do with Emma and Michelle. They showed that they will not do the school work unless someone is constantly on them. They will either go to school where I am not sure if they will follow that safety guidelines or not or they will do the live virtual classes. We haven't decided yet.

Anyone else struggling? Sarah will be home this semester since Spain got cancelled. John is still working from home. I have a 4 year old foster child who needs 4K but I don't know what to do about that. All my kids have different needs. It is just crazy!  I want to get back to normal. I want to be excited for Benjamin started at the new school without feeling some level of concern. I want for my kids to all go to high school and do all the social things that high schoolers do. I want people to stop fighting each other because of different beliefs, I want to be able to go to the store and not feel this twinge when I walk in and then struggle because what I need to buy may be unavailable or the limits for purchases hamper me feeding my family. sigh, sorry for the rant. I know I have so much to be thankful for! But ugh!


5 comments:

  1. Check out teaching textbooks online math program i heard great things about it especially we ith dyslexia

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  2. We have been very happy with CompuScholar online computer classes. There are video lessons, automatically graded quizzes, and projects, which are easily graded by a parent using a provided rubric. My grandson took their AP course Computer Science A (Java) this past year. He earned a 5 on the AP exam this spring. He is currently taking the Unity Game Programming course for fun. And we are about to start our younger homeschooler on their introductory course called Digital Savvy. You can pay for a full year or pay by the month. It was $15 a month or $120 a year. We chose the monthly option since our homeschooler enjoys computers and we thought he would complete the course quickly. It took him 7 months to complete the course.

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  3. Duolingo is a good foreign language program that many of the school districts across the U.S. use. It's also free which is really great. Also, go to the Khan Academy website and you can get so much of what you need there. A really great on-line math program is Teaching Textbooks. On their website you can do some online samples before purchasing and they have tests for the kids to take to figure out where to start them. They also keep track of all of the grade, tests, etc.

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  4. I imagine you are insanely busy, but I'm wondering how everything is going. I miss your blog.

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