New School Year, New Approach

Sierra at recess today.

So today marks the first day my daughter attends 6th grade with K12's Ohio Virtual Academy. This is her second year with them. Last year she came in late, in September, and we were constantly feeling like we were behind. I also had problems with my daughter goofing off behind my back.

Wyatt loves playing at the park.

This year I vowed to not repeat last years mistakes. So we've made a couple changes. First of all, coming in at the beginning of the year is a huge help. I know that if we get our five hours (minimum) done each day we are on track. Today we logged ten hours just because she had completed a few things before the actual school year began that I could not credit till the first day. 

I also blocked all other websites besides educational ones using a program called K9 Web Protection. She needs my password (which she does not know) before she can go to other websites. Less goofing off means we are done earlier in the day, and then both mama and child is happy.

Of course there is the usual first day glitches. Her class connect didn't want to open for us today. After clearing the cache' we finally got it working, and we were able to "meet" her teachers and learn about what is expected of us this year.

For those parents who are interested, or are just starting your K12 journey, do you have any questions I can answer? 

 You can ask them here, or go to my Cafemom's K12 Virtual Academy Group.

Are Pagan Parents Crunchy?

"Are Pagan parents automatically considered crunchy parents?"

So what is a crunchy parent? Well a crunchy parent is someone who is very minimalistic and likes to get back to the basics. They usually believe in cloth diapering, baby wearing, AP parenting, breastfeeding, and attachment parenting. There's a certain "hippy aspect" to crunchy parenting.

Hey nothing wrong with being a bit hippy. I think most Pagans already believe in getting back to basics and are very environment conscious so it is pretty easy to make choices to switch to cloth diapers and forgo the millions of diapers going to the landfill. However that doesn't mean Pagan parents will embrace every aspect of crunchy parenting. Just because you don't embrace a particular aspect of the crunchy lifestyle also doesn't mean you're not a crunchy parent.

Take Kara Kay's video for instance. In her video she explains the ways she is not embracing the crunchy lifestyle.

So am I crunchy? I've never really considered myself so until recently. Lets make a list.

1. I cloth diaper
2. Home school
3. Recycle cans and use my own bags and/or request some things not to be bagged. 
4. Breastfeed my LO (19 months now) 
5. Try to grow herbs. Hey its the thought that counts right? 
6. No CIO. Though we did do CIO with my oldest. 
7. Use herbs medicinally. 

Ways I am not crunchy?

1. My cloth diapers do come from China (for the most part). 
2. I use non-green chemicals to clean my house. Though using vinegar or baking soda is sometimes all I need.
3. I believe in discipline in the home. Kids don't get away with much in my home. Spanking is never completely out of the question, though used sparingly. I'm definitely not the AP parent type.
4. Tried baby wearing but it hurt my back. Hey you try having huge babies with a bad back. It hurts like hell. 

I'm sure there's more I could add to that list, but I'll stop there.

Are you a crunchy parent? Do you think crunchy parenting would fit well into your Pagan lifestyle? Feel free to use this as a blog prompt.

Pagan Home School Project

For the past couple of months I have been home schooling my daughter through the K12 program. Technically it's public school at home, but that's besides the point.

The point is that I am her "learning coach", and I've made it a priority to teach her more about different subjects K12 doesn't cover. One of those subjects is Paganism.

When searching online for Pagan home school worksheets I realized there really isn't a lot offered out there. So I decided I would make it my new mission to create my own printable work sheets.

Now this is a very new project and in its infancy. I would really like some help with this, so if anyone out there thinks they'd like to join me in creating work sheets please email me!

The website for this project is: paganhomeschooling.webs.com

There is one available document I put together yesterday. It's about Sabbats. My next project will be about Yule since it's coming up.

Bloggers, there is a forum there that you are more than welcome to post content or links on as long as it's useful to help teach students. You will need to join the site to post the content.

I hope this site will become a large resource for Pagan parents. Share with your friends!

Blessings, Love and Light.

SWC