Hi! I hope you are all well, it has been a long time since we have talked. So many of you have followed me for so long, and I have fallen off of the map. We are are doing well, really well overall. The kids are growing, so that sucks. LOL! Do you remember when we started hybrid homeschooling?...
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| From our Hawaii trip last year. |
That was the harbinger of the changes. The kids started a charter school where they are home schooling three days a week and on campus for two. I learned during the quarantine that I cannot teach my children, so it became a fast and furious (and ever evolving) search on how to best educate my kiddos.
Why homeschool? Welp it isn't that exactly, we still go to a charter school. It just looks...different. It began with my son. My oldest came home and said that she was worried about him going to the middle school (he was in 5th grade). She said the kids were really mean to the kids with special needs. I panicked. Immediately I began trying to contact the middle school. I went there in person twice, emailed the counselor, and even saw the principal on one of my visits. NOT A SINGLE PERSON CONTACTED ME BACK. You guys I have a masters degree in special education. I have worked in public schools, and this is NOT ok.
At that moment I started to look for alternatives. I asked a lot of questions in local Facebook groups, and talked to his therapists. This one school name kept popping up, and I was chatting with a mom whose kiddos had just matriculated about the experience. My girls were in the car and when I got off the phone with her my oldest said, "That sounds really cool." I was floored. After some discussion, she wanted to apply too. Obviously Belle was thrown into that mix. It was the beginning of the school year and its a lottery. WE GOT THE CALL THAT THEY WERE IN. Like three weeks into the school year.
We jumped. Both feet, all of us into this new experience. Not only for social reasons, but for a long time we have felt that schools are limiting the future thinkers of tomorrow. Unless you fit into the box of being able to perform, sitting at a desk for 6 hours (or more) doing a lot of crap. Then they come home and have more work after sitting for so long. Its not natural for kids to sit down, be quiet and do that kind of work. Kids don't get to play anymore at school, and they are kids! They aren't given time to build, explore, and find their personal drive. They are taught for exposure, not mastery, because teachers can't. Let me be clear, this isn't on teachers. This is on educational administration and the government. So while it was a quick transition, we had been thinking about this for a long time.
The new school has chickens. It's small, and community focused. The kids get excited about a topic, and the teacher can deviate because they don't have to worry about the standardized tests. I'm sure you are wondering about my kiddos and test scores? They take a yearly test that all the kids here in CA do, and they are still achieving! They are above grade level in a lot of areas (including math). It works for us now. Maybe not tomorrow, but today it works.
It was NOT easy. I cried a lot, wondered a lot if we had made a horrible decision. They are doing very well. They are happy. Clara is now in a 5 day a week science and math based charter high school. She is doing the damn thing.
Now to me. Writing is and was a creative outlet for me. With three kids home all the flipping time, I could not get into a creative zone. I tried, and I tried for a long time. Here comes the major pivot...
After my mastectomy, I started doing Pilates. I freaking loved it. When we moved, I found a studio community here that is just fab. As usual, Dr. Daddy suggested I think about teaching Pilates (he always has these crazy ideas like me writing for a job). I poo pood him for a long time until that same studio decided to run their own training course.
Here I am after one year of course work and 400 (500?) of practical hours as a Pilates teacher, and employed for 6 months. I feel fulfilled creatively, the clients are so varied, and I am able to craft my schedule around the kiddos. We will be paying off my coursework for a year but LOL. It is also so rewarding to take (mostly) women through a healing, and health journey. To see their progress, their growing confidence, and the community. I really love it.
So that is it. For now. I will write when I feel the flow coming, but for now I am on IG. Not as regularly, but still sharing our fun (with some Pilates thrown in there too).
xoxox,
Christy
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