Q&A!

I love interacting with my followers and fellow bloggers and also reading posts where I learn about the blogger that I follow. I asked my followers on all social media platforms to submit questions to me that are outside of the normal “where do you live?” “what’s your name?” etc. questions so that y’all can learn a little about me! So let’s see what y’all have come up with!

What inspired you to create Our Chaotic Mess?
Writing has always been my favorite subject and I have always found that writing is a great way for me to get things off my chest. I have always wanted to have a blog but over the years, and trying multiple different platforms, I kept giving up because I couldn’t commit to a consistent schedule of posting. About a year and a half ago I decided to jump in one more time and really TRY this time. I sat down with a notebook and jotted down what I wanted to blog about and a some key words that explained my life and what I would be blogging about. Coming up with the name of my blog was by far the hardest part. When reading over the different topics that I planned to write about it sounded like a mess of shit then you add in everything that I currently have on my plate and you have chaos! And with that being said you have Our Chaotic Mess – a life that I am happily leading, messes and all! You will find that I blog about a little of everything – good and bad – and through this blog I have opened up a lot about things that I have gone through and my mental health. I chose to open up about these because if even ONE person reading those posts finds something they can relate with or sees something they think will help them then I am happy to share!

What kind of books do you like to read?
I love to read – in fact I have been carrying my Kindle with me everywhere lately! Right now I am reading Two by Two by Nicholas Sparks. You will find mostly romance or young adult fiction in my library. I have read the Twilight series, Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest series, 50 Shades series, tons of Nicholas Sparks books, Stephen King books, etc. I don’t really get into science fiction, documentary, or stuff like that – that’s the types of books you will find in my husband’s library.

What’s your dream career?
If I answered this a couple years ago I would have said something dealing with children. However, after completing my internship for my associate’s degree I have found a new love for the hospice field. My ultimate dream career is to be a Medical Social Worker in the hospice field. This is something that I never would have imagined wanting to do but during my internship something spoke to me and now I know that is where I am meant to be. I absolutely LOVED working with my patients and being a support to the family as well during such a difficult time. My husband’s granddad is currently on hospice and over the last year I have continued to learn so much about the field and have enjoyed being able to answer questions they have. I don’t work in the field yet but that is my plan once I am done with my schooling.

Who do you miss the most in your life?
My grandparents, definitely. I grew up with them as my parents, pretty much, and I was extremely close to both of them. My grandpa died when I was 11 and my grandma when I was 19. Both of these deaths were hard for me and I still have difficulty getting through both the anniversaries of their deaths and their birthdays.

What’s a goal you have for this month, or next month?
I have so many goals! The biggest goal I have for this month is finishing this term strong (I have this week and next week left)! Next month will be basically the same as I will be due at the end of the next term and beginning of the following term so either the final exams of next term or the beginning of the following term will be met with anxiety and chaos.

What made you decide to choose homeschooling?
Long story short, she was being bullied for years, on and off, and despite our interaction with the school and superintendent nothing was done. This started in Pre-k with her getting picked on by a couple kids – nothing harmful just the typical picking kids do. Her Kindergarten year was a little better but she still had some picking from a few kids. The picking happened because she is a tomboy and does not like “girl” stuff. First grade is when the real bullying began. It went from being made fun of to physical between first and third grade. Second grade was great, she had an amazing teacher who did not allow any bullying to happen to any of the kids and she made that clear on back to school night. A loved her and didn’t really have any issues the whole year. Third grade was rough. In third grade they started block scheduling to “get used to middle school” and while they were switching classes there was no adult supervision. She would get pushed, slapped, hit, etc. but it was always her word against the other kids because “no one saw anything happen.” We met with her teachers, the teachers aids, the assistant principal, and the principal. None of which were any real help. “We will keep an eye on it and see if we can get to the bottom of it.”

Fast forward about a month and I am waiting for the bus to drop her off at the end of the school day. It was a Monday, the week before Thanksgiving break. A gets off the bus, head down, slowly walking towards the house. Once she’s across the road and into our driveway the bus pulls away. Once she gets to me she raises her head and she’s got tears in her eyes. I ask her what’s wrong and she simply pulls off her glasses. There was a red circle around her eye that matched the frame of her lenses. I asked her what happened and she tells me that some kid punched her in the eye because she did not like a game that he was talking about. I called the school and told them what had happened and I was told that they would have a meeting with the bus driver and the bus aid when they returned back to school and would give me a call the next morning.

I take A to school the next morning, go into the office, and ask how the meeting went. I was told that neither the bus driver or the aid saw anyone hit her but they would continue looking into it. I told them I would check again when I picked her up from school that day. The kid was in an older grade and the likelihood of them seeing each other during the day was very slim so I was not particularly worried about that. I go to pick her up and I am told that the kid said he didn’t punch her. End of story. Except I was not allowing it to end there. My daughter had evidence that she was hit so someone was going to see consequences. I set up a phone meeting with the superintendent the next day. This went pretty much the same as it did when I met with the school. “No one saw anything happen but we will try to figure it out.” I was not happy with this and told them that something needed to be done because my daughter got hit, whether they wanted to acknowledge that or not.

This went on all week. That Thursday night we talked to A about being homeschooled and she immediately agreed. So Friday I took her to school, got everything around that I needed to legally pull her from school, turned it in, and picked her up. I told the principal that she would no longer be attending their school and that Tuesday would be her last day. She wanted to go the last two days before Thanksgiving break to say bye to her friends.

We officially started our homeschool journey on November 28, 2016.

Can you explain how a typical day of homeschooling goes?
Let me start by saying that there is no “typical” homeschool day but here is a drawn out schedule or routine that I have come up with and usually follow. There are times when things change – when we have appointments or other engagements – and I have to switch some things around. Also, a day in the life of a homeschooler is much different for each family, as well. So this applies to just us and our kids.
Monday:
8:00 am – Wake up, breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, clean up.
9:00 am – School starts with Math. We go over the topic we are working on, go over instructions for all worksheets she has to do for the day and she does the work. During this time I am working on letters, shapes, colors, and numbers with S. I am close by so if A needs help with anything I am available.
10:00 am – Snack break while I check over math work and we go over what she got wrong and fix it together.
10:30 am – Language Arts/English work is completed. Normally this is a grammar assignment and a reading comprehension assignment. She also reads for 45 minutes and then writes a summary of what she’s read and logs it in her reading log. Sometimes her reading is done outside of our school hours and I am okay with that as long as she logs it and does her summary when she is done. When she is done I check her work and go over anything that she got wrong and we fix it together.
11:30 am – Clean up school stuff and put it all back. During this time she also sharpens any pencils or colored pencils that have went dull so that they are ready for the next day. While A is cleaning up S and I are working on more of her work. We just begun tracing shapes and letters so that is what she does during A’s clean up time.
Noon – Lunch time for both girls then we clean up the table and I do both breakfast and lunch dishes.
1:00 pm – A goes outside with dad (assuming it’s nice enough outside) for martial arts, bike riding, or a game of soccer or basketball.. or whatever else he comes up with. This is her P.E. credit. While A is outside with her dad S is usually doing free play time as she does enough running around and all that and she’s not old enough for me to HAVE to do all of the subjects that I have to do with A.

Once she has completed her outside time with her dad she is done with school and then has to work on any chores that she has for the day. Once her chores are done she is free to do as she pleases but she only gets an hour of screen time a day unless she does extra chores to accumulate time towards screen time.

Monday evenings A has Ninja Class at our local gymnastics center from 5-6.

Tuesday – Friday:
8:00 am – Wake up, breakfast, brush teeth, get dressed, clean up.
9:00 am – School starts with Math. We go over the topic we are working on, go over instructions for all worksheets she has to do for the day and she does the work. During this time I am working on letters, shapes, colors, and numbers with S. I am close by so if A needs help with anything I am available.
10:00 am – Snack break while I check over math work and we go over what she got wrong and fix it together.
10:30 am – Language Arts/English work is completed. Normally this is a grammar assignment and a reading comprehension assignment. She also reads for 45 minutes and then writes a summary of what she’s read and logs it in her reading log. Sometimes her reading is done outside of our school hours and I am okay with that as long as she logs it and does her summary when she is done. When she is done I check her work and go over anything that she got wrong and we fix it together.
11:30 am – Lunch time for both girls. Then we clean up and I do dishes from breakfast and lunch.
1:00 pm – History work is next. For this we do either a documentary (normally something I find on YouTube) or a reading assignment in her textbook with questions corresponding to the topic. During this time S and I work on her tracing (on Wednesday and Friday). Once she is done with her tracing she is done with school.
2:00 pm – Science is next on the list. This subject changes depending on topic. We either read and answer questions, do an experiment, or whatever else the topic calls for. For example, last year when we learned about the skeletal system we built a skeleton over the course of a week or two.
3:00 pm – Our last subject is health. We do health on Wednesday and Friday only. This is the same as science.. it really just depends on the topic as to what we are doing for the day. Then it is time to clean up school stuff and put it all back. During this time she also sharpens any pencils or colored pencils that have went dull so that they are ready for the next day.

On Wednesday A has Girl Scouts from 4-5:30.

Art is not something that we throw into schooling because she is always drawing and her dad has a bachelor of fine arts so they are always talking about art in one way or another. We just don’t sit down and focus on it as school.

Now, these times are very flexible. I added them so that it would be easier to read for y’all but if she finishes early we move right along to the next subject. Some days it takes her til 2 or 3 to finish school and other days she is done at lunch time. Math is her biggest struggle so that almost always takes the full hour to complete because we spend time focusing on steps and procedures.

If you could give one piece of advice to new bloggers what would it be?
If I could give one piece of advice to new bloggers it would be to work your blog however you see fit! What I mean by this is that there is not a rule book that you must follow. You do not need to post everyday or every week. There are times when I post twice a week, once a week.. or once or twice a month. Life will happen, things will get in the way.. DO NOT STRESS IT. Another things is that you do not have to just blog about ONE topic. As you can see with my blog I am all over the place. If you want to blog about just one thing, that’s great! If you find that you are interested in covering multiple topics, go for it! Again, DO NOT STRESS IT! It will all come together and work out in the end. Trust me.

Thank you so much for asking me questions. I had a good time answering these and will probably post more of these in the future as I get new followers and get asked new questions.

xoxo.