DASH4? or is it DASH5?

PREVIOUS DASHNYAM POSTS:
DASH1
DASH2
DASH3

Because I did not do a DASH entry yesterday (Thursday) on Day 4, do I call this entry DASH5, because it is Day 5 with Dash OR do I call it DASH4 because it is the 4th entry in the Dashnyam Chronicles?

Did that sentence really need to have the word 'because' three times??

Last back-track a bit to yesterday for a short overview of Day 4 with Dash. Yesterday I drove him to school, spent an hour talking to attendance officers and parent support people. They were all very kind and helpful. I was armed with phone numbers and a calendar with all the odd days that school starts/ends at different times that normal or there is no school. And there are LOTS of those days!!

I finally got my google calendar loaded up with all the new info and deleted all my old times and plans for our school. They will be re-planned this weekend.

Paul stopped by our house waiting for time to take the bus home (A friend from Grover Beach that takes classes down here and rides the bus). Gavin walked Dashnyam home. The boys relaxed, D did a little homework, we went to church, came home, Dash forgot to finish his homework until 10PM, so he was up kinda late.


NOW for DAY 5....
I guess I should call this entry DASH4&5. or DASH 4/5.

I woke, very unwillingly, at 7:14 and got to Dashnyam's room around 7:17. He was still sleep. I thought he didn't understand how to turn on his alarm clock, but Gavin to old me he did have it on, but when it went off at 7AM, Dashnyam turned it off and went back to bed. He was tired from staying up late to finish his homework. I'll have to give him more notice of when we have things planned in the evenings so he can get his homework done around our schedule..

I sent all 3 of my boys out to walk Dashnyam to school with giving Gavin specific instructions of timing how long it takes. They left the house at 8:10 and said it took 13 minutes to get Dashnyam to the corner. It's about a 3-4 minute walk for Dashnyam to get all the way to his class. So we'll plan on a 20 minute walk,to account for waiting on the light and cars to cross streets. Ki said they lucked out with the street crossing today and didn;t have to wait to cross any streets.

I made chai. I discovered that those bulk, Mexican, inexpensive cinnamon sticks are CHEAP for a reason.. they are cheap cinnamon! The whole entire bag has no cinnamon smell, the sticks broken have no yummy cinnamon scent and I licked one and it didn't taste like cinnamon at all. So I added extra clove and anise to my chai. but it's not as good as with the cinnamon. That'll teach me to buy cheap spices!

10:00 - Gavin is learning Japanese, Ki is doing laundry, and Connor is cooking a PVC pipe in the oven. The leather hardening didn't work well yesterday. They will try again after gathering more information.
They are working on weapons for Feast of Mars (Amtgard camp). Connor seems to have finished and socked his weapon today. i has something planned. I need to sew some sashes.


One of Dash's teachers emailed me today, in response to one I sent her, just checking on how he is understanding and going in the class, since he had told me he was a little confused. Sounds like things are going well. He took a reading placement test today to make sure he is in the class he needs to be or if he needs to be moved.

I wonder if I can get Brian to take the 4 boys to church tonight and leave me at home.

TRUTH IS THURSDAY

(Visit Julianna to link up or read more TRUTH IS ...Thursday posts)

Truth Is....... I am very glad my boys are NOT in the local public high school. Day 3 of dealing with the school system and I am ALREADY fed-up with it. And let's not EVEN get into me having to be on a Public School schedule.


Truth Is...... I fired my lazer.

Truth Is..... I don't know if I will make it to my next acupuncture appointment.

Truth Is.... I should have opted for a massage instead of acupunture, or maybe both.

Truth Is.... I enjoy this big, busy mess of hosting a foreign exchange student! And Dashnyam is a great kid! (read about Dashnyam HERE)

Truth Is... I need to stop hosting foreign kids because each time I do my list of "Countries I want to Visit" gets longer..... Or maybe just host from countries I have already visited.... but where's the fun in THAT?

Truth Is... it is time to color my hair; cover those greys again.


Truth Is.... the boys will have more school work/less unschool this year. Sort of. Though in high school, unschool often still looks a bit like 'curriculum/classes' in a way. They decided what they wanted to learn and now will have to follow the text book/course guide and do it. I got a Lapbook/ journal for Ki to do with his science. I am sure he will "Make it His Own" though.

~ His text book, journal, and audio CD arrived today, but they sent the wrong text book, so we have to wait a week to get that to use to plan his science days.


Truth Is..... I am tired and feel to brain-dead to think of anymore "Truths."

DASH3

After his classes, we took Dashnyam to the Farmer's Market . He was offered a piece of plum. The stand owner used a wooden skewer to hand them out. I held the skewer with the piece of plum out fr Dashnyam. He leaned forward and ate it off the skewer, much to the chagrin of the stand owner, who instantly felt bad for his reaction as it made Dashnyam feel bad.

We then walked to the Apple Guy. The apple guy is really nice. He always makes us smile for a free sample. He was handing a sample to Dashnyam then told him he has to smile first, it's their rule. Dashnyam didn't understand him at first, so I repeated it slowly. I told Apple Guy "this is our exchange student from Mongolia that I mentioned last week." (because I am SURE he remembers MY conversation from all the farmers markets he goes to almost daily.) He shook Dashnyams hand and introduced himself (and I STILL can not remember his name) and asked Daashnyam a few questions.

We then walked to the ice cream store (on the far side of the parking lot). I bought the boys cones, we walked back to the van, then had to buy crickets and bloodworms. We went to PetSmart. We walked around with Dashnyam looking at the fish, birds, cats, etc. Dashnyam said they only have dogs for pets in Mongolia. His family doesn't have a dog though. I wonder how accurate that is. I can't imagine a place without cats as pets, or frogs, or other 'non-dog' animals.

Once home, I realized I forgot to buy lasagna noodles, so I biked to Von's while D&G picked tomatoes and C&K brought the laundry in from the line. They played on the computer while I cooked stuff. I then had Dashnyam, Connor, and Ki assemble the 2 lasagnas. MMMMMmmmm, the lasagna was YUMMY!! Dashnyam loved it, too. Connor always loves lasagna.

Brian took G&D to buy wood for making a bunk bed, K&C stayed home. Me, too. So I could type this blog.

I got a recorded message from the school today, informing me Dashnyam was Absent for his first class today and it is unexcused and I need to turn in a note....... UM- He did not even get his class schedule until 9:30-- AFTER the first period class was over anyway!! The school is the one who decided to not givehim his schedule yesterday like was originally planned. and now I have to turn in a note for him unexcused absence.
DAY 1 and I am ALREADY SICK of dealing with the public school!

ug.

Oh, his schedule! He got English, US History, and PE:Aquatics. School is from 8:30-2:30. YEAH!!!! I am kinda glad he did not get the extra morning class or the extra evening class- as that would make the school day from 7:30-3:30. The morning would have been 'ok', but I am mostly glad he gets out at 2:30 so we have time for things like the beach and farmers markets and other fun activities! And he goes in ate enough we can eat breakfast with him!
And I'm sure he'll learn lots from us, probably more than if he had those extra classes. He'll be with us for reading Story of the World. I'll have him read part of it out aloud (my boys all do this) and I think I'll ask Brian to do a little math with maybe.

PREVIOUS DASHNYAM POSTS:
DASH1
DASH2

DASH2

I will start this entry off by answering a few questions:

(from Julianna-)
So, I'm facinated. Are you home schooling him as well, or is he going to HS and benifitting from your home school adventures?

Is he completely fluent in English? How long is he staying? Is there any culture shock?

Inquiring minds want to know. :)


He will be attending the local high school as soon as everyone gets their act together, gets a schedule, ect. He took a placement test on Monday and has a meeting Wed morning about his schedule. I have no idea if he will start classes Wed or later. I am not home schooling him, but I'm sure he will benefit from time to time, from what we have going on here plus he'll be able to understand me. Some of the teachers at the high school are native Spanish Speakers who speak English as a 2nd language and are often difficult to understand for a foreigner in a class room setting.

He is NOT fluent in English but speaks well enough for us to have conversations. I learned that McDonalds has not invaded Mongolia yet!

I am not sure about culture shock, but he is getting over Jet Lag finally.

He and his friends back home have Facebook accounts and he plays Call of Duty on the computer at home.

Now for Day 2 of the Dashnyam Chronicles:

I was very tired this morning and a tad headachey. and very hungry.
My morning shower didn't even help me feel more awake. No matter. There was work to be done. My boys were awake. (small repeat from previous post here->) I had Ki start making pancake batter while Gavin and I hung a load of laundry. Connor cooked the pig bacon and Gavin did one fast batch of turkey bacon. It gets cooked in the microwave and only takes 3.5 minutes. Dashnyam woke up in the middle of that time (thanks to a call from me) and he was assigned the task of cooking scrambled eggs. I got another load of laundry started, then we sat to our breakfast. Ki adds pecans to my pancakes!

While we were eating breakfast, I read the first section of our Story of the World (history) book.

After Breakfast Gavin and Connor did a little Japanese study (and science research). I looked up times for the farm, for pumpkin engraving, but they didn't open until 1 and Dashnyam had to be at school at 2, so we'll do that later. We all went to the park instead. We first stopped by Target to buy a soccer ball and an inexpensive Frisbee. The boys enjoyed kicking around the ball and throwing the Frisbee- at the same time. They did a little pond-rock-hopping, walked in the 'wooded area', and then we had lunch at Burger King.

At home Dashnyam got ready for his meeting at school while Connor and I hung clothes out to dry. then I took Ibuprofen and went to bed when Gina picked up Dashnyam for his meeting. I fell instantly asleep. It was one of those deep coma-like sleeps.
I woke up an hour later and found that Dashnyam had been home for a while due to the meeting being canceled. He has to be at school tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9AM for the meeting about his class schedule.

While I was checking my email and still feeling half asleep, Dashnyam came and asked if he could help clean anything. I pointed to the kitchen (where the dishwasher was open) I told him to get the other boys and put away the dishes from the dishwasher. He went in the kitchen and started washing dishes. I got Ki and Connor to help him with clearing the dishwasher, then had Gavin wash a couple dishes. I brought in the laundry and washed the rest of the dishes. If it weren't for the prompting of Dashnyam, I'd have just zoned out till time for Bible Study.

I had G&C check on that college class, which they were dropped from the list, but can sit in on and hope they can be accepted if there is room. Turns out the class was in Lompoc!
I am not driving an hour Tues and Thur for a class they are just sitting in on an off chance they MIGHT get to take it. I was pretty disappointed, but that's how the cookie crumbles, I guess.

All 4 boys were playing Halo when I got home from Bible Study. I never even asked what they ended up getting themselves for dinner.

(CLICK HERE to read DASH1 blog entry)

PICTURES from today-

DASH1

DAY 1 with our foreign exchange student from Mongolia. Slightly out of sequence.

KI, CONNOR, DASHNYAM, GAVIN - at Pismo Beach. It was Dashnyams first time to a beach. He and the other boys had a fun time wave jumping. Itt's too coold to swim and I am too fearful of sharks to want them out too far, The have fuun waavee jumping and if the waves are good enough, my boys will also body surf. I'm sure Dashnyam will get to enjoy larger waves some time whle he's here. Dashnyam slept on the way home. He slept on the way there, too. Jet Lag from a 15 hur time difference. Dinner was Lemon Pepper Chicken (crock pot) with bread & dipping sauce and asparagus. The asparagus had a delightful glaze of Balsamic Vinegar with a touch of soy sauce and brown sugar.

Connor & Gavin decided to make Spaghhetti Sauce Yesterday and had Dashnyam help. But Connor used too much much oregano. I told him tooo much, because I wasn't paying attention and forgot he also was using some Italian Seasoning. Dashnyam would have been better off eating the ham sandwich he packed for hiss lunch. He ended up only doing a placement test at school yesterday so he was home by noon and just ate lunch with us.

Dashnyam's family own a restaurant in Mongolia. I look forward to a Mongolian meal!

Below is Dashnyam on his first day at the high school, but iit was just testing, so not a full, real day.

And here are some pictures from the beach ....

*****************************************************

Yesterday, aftr the beach and while I was working on dinner, Gavin and Dashnyam went for a walk in the neighborhood. After dinner, they played on Xbox. I made banana bread. Dashnyam liked that a lot! with 6 of us eating, I need to make a double batch of banana bread next time! And I'lll have Dashnyam help. He says he likes cooking.

****************************************************


This morning Dashnyam slept in till 9. He didn't have school in the morning. Gavin helped me hang a load of laundry ut to dry while Ki started making pancakes. Connor made the pork bacon and Gavin made a batch of turkey bacon (for Ki). Dashnyam set the table and made scrambled eggs. I supervised and started a load of laundry.

Laundry is Ki's morning job, but during the school year he has a deal where he makes breakfast a couple days a week instead of doing laundry. This school year he is doing breakfast on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

While we ate breakfast, I read the first section in our Story of the World book to the boys. after a few weeks I'll have to ask Dashnyam how much he understands from my reading. Or maybe just have him take a quiz with the other boys.

Tomatoes/Moles/Math

Soksey caught 2 moles in the backyard. He's been stalking them for weeks. He finally caught 2 and presented them to Gavin today, neatly displayed on Gavin's bed.

The boys pet the cat, let him smell his kill, then fed him treats to reward his skill and heroic behavior is ridding the yard of the rodent delinquents that have made a molehill of half the yard.

I hope we don't miss out on too many of our tomatoes the 2 weeks we are gone. We have about a dozen little green ones and a few more that are larger and turning orange - on their way to red. Then we have dozens and dozens of blossoms!

And my sugar snap pea plants are also covered in blossoms. I better not miss out on too many of those either.

I have some limes ready to pick and my key limes should ready to pick enough to do something with in a week. I'll have to find some recipes. Maybe a pie again... or lime mousse....

I did this years High School Transcripts for G&C. Sometimes I think Gavin may have done enough computer programming for a whole years class. And I wonder is researching weapons can count as a semester class- he sure does enough of it. I chalked it up to Social Studies and History. Which I list as very general classes (just Social Studies and History) and figure they do enough Hodge-Podge, random research in those areas it counts as a school year course.

here is what I listed for Gavin (some of these full year, some of them single semester)

Algebra 2 (which he actually has to finish this summer)

Physics 1

Driver's Education (he took an online course, I think the DE courses at the schools here count as 1 semester, so that's what I counted it as- though he completed it in 3 days)

Astronomy

Shop/Car Maintenance (I figure all the car work he's done with his dad and the engine model he made, and all the power tool usage he's done- count towards a semester of 'shop/car maintenance'

10th Grade English (whatever. I dunno.)

Physical Education

Computer Science

Art (he's been teaching himself anime this year, plus done a few painting classes, and a sketching class)

History

Social Studies

Home-Ec

**** **** **** **** **** **** ****

Connor's is Similar.

I need to get them doing more volunteer, organizations stuff .... I hear colleges really like seeing that stuff on transcripts.

Quasi-Confsion

I called today about getting a work permit for Gavin. I didn’t know which came first- applying for a job or getting a work permit so he can apply for a job. He needs to apply for a job and have a job lined up first, before he gets a work permit.

The lady wanted to now what school sponsors us. I told her we homeschool & are not sponsored by another school. She then asks about what charter school, or other private school, are we affiliated with. I told her we don’t go through a charter school; it’s just us. She was confused. I was confused as to what they wanted to know. I think the PSA I filed today will be good enough. I have a copy.

In order to grant a wok permit the schools need to have his grades approved. We don’t really ‘do grades’. So I have to go through websites to see what classes are offered in a typical 10th grade so I can figure out what we have done and how it applies to those topics then give a grade letter.
AND we have just had 1 month of school so far, what kind of grades do they expect after just 1 month?

I need an attendance record. I wonder if they’ll accept my “Days Absent Record” in the bottom drawer.

I never replaced our Social Security Cards. I had them in my purse when we were moving here. Dumb idea- but for a big move it seemed good at the time to have them handy. Well, my purse was stolen. I looked into getting them replaced. I forget what I found out, but for whatever reason I guess I decided as long as I have the numbers written down at the house (which I do), I didn’t need replacement cards.
Looks like I do now!

Unschooling would be a lot easier if no one ever required grades or records- but they do at some point. That’s where the “QUASI-“ part of quasi-unschooling comes in.

*small rant* He’s MY kid, I know what he’s doing daily, I know his schooling and as long as I sign that he can get a job he should be able to! It should not be at the discretion of a public school system he does not even attend! *end rant*

The PSA (Public School Affidavit) is always a little unnerving to me. It asks about administrator names and director titles, etc. It was easier in Ohio to submit a form. Just think; if we lived in Texas we’d not have to submit anything at all! But I filled it out and submitted it so we are legally submitted- whatever that means. It’s not approval or anything.