Thanks so much to those of you who expressed care for me with my exhaustion. I have been really tired and run down; struggling with headaches and feelings of pressure with the housework and organization, photography work, and just having to run everyone everywhere to squeeze in all the Summer fun that we can! But all this "fun" is just tons of work for me and I'm just plain tired. But I'm finally getting more sleep and am making plans to simplify my life quite a bit. More on that below...

But in other news, Todd is studying for Step 2 Boards (which is huge and only a few days away now, on the 24th) and needs to be left alone but I just keep bugging him or getting in his way trying to do laundry and holler at the kids at the same time! LOL! He's patient and takes breaks to talk to me when I start to loose it but I feel so guilty taking away from his study time at all... And then of course once Boards are done he and I both have to hit the applications for residency hard and knock all that out! There is just massive amounts of paperwork to do to have everything ready and I'm glad to finally be able to be helpful with something tangible! (I mean besides ironing shirts and pants and cooking meals!)

*side note: I was watching House last night and all I could think of while watching these doctors argue back and forth on treatment plans and possible diagnosis was 'that shirt must have taken 15 minutes to iron so nice' and 'how long it must have taken to decide which tie to hang up with it'... I hate that job! Ya know... just for the record! Scrubs are so much easier to wash and fold!!! Can't wait until the hospital washes and folds his scrubs and I don't have to iron dress shirts, pants, and lab coats anymore or find ties to match!!!...end side note*

So Summer is coming to a close and Todd and I have done almost nothing fun for just us. No date nights; only the occasional movie night (at home, of course) and I'm fresh out of creativity to spice things up! I know, this pity party is getting me nowhere but med school somehow is sucking the life out of us and I'm just about to loose complete patience with it! Only 9 more months but I'm starting to wonder if I'll survive!! (I will. It just feels good to say that sometimes...)

And now to the big changes... So the "great public school experiment" was fine and the kids learned a lot. We finally met all kinds of nice families in our neighborhood that we didn't even know existed and Trenton was able to get caught up to grade level but he struggled with bullies and social pressure. He came home sometimes grouchy and aggressive and we started to get concerned. We could talk him through it but looking at years of these same kids had us wondering what the effect of that would be. The girls... well, I'm a little disappointed with myself for giving in on the grade change. They were both bored and under-challenged and felt a little foolish for being so old in their class.  On the one hand, Tacey was having a blast hanging out with all the little kids in Kindergarten but she was bored academically. Trina, from the first moment she showed up in 1st grade was instantly the love of "Ian's" life, this little boy in her class. She was teased to death about it and she was really embarrassed by his flirtatiousness. This is FIRST GRADE people!! FIRST GRADE! What is up with first grade boys hitting on little first grade girls?? We helped her to deal with it and handle the teasing but she was really tired of it and so were we. Trina started begging in March to be homeschooled again and we started doing some thinking.

Listening to AM talk radio one day I heard an ad for K12 and the Lawrence Virtual School. I tucked it into the back of my mind and then one day when Todd and I were talking about the things we missed about homeschooling I mentioned the ad. I looked up the website and started doing some research.  LVS is a federally funded public school but it is completely online and requires no attendance. The best part for me was the personal teacher assigned to the students. The students are assigned an Education Specialist w ho is a certified Kansas teacher. She helps organize lessons to fit our lifestyle, set realistic goals for each semester, trouble shoot any road blocks or learning challenges, and provides support and guidance when needed. She monitors the student's progress and makes sure we are on track to finish the year out on time. If we get behind she can help us put together a new schedule with realistic goals so we can get back on track. One of my biggest struggles with homeschooling was accountability and staying on track so this part of LVS was huge to me! I wasn't about to tackle homeschooling again only to fail so this had to be something way different then what we had been doing.

But truly for us one of the linch pins in our decision was finding out that since it is federally funded as a public school it is free to residents of Kansas! The program comes with all books and supplies, a computer with built in wireless internet access, and a printer all free of charge, including shipping right to your door! Since we still own our farm in Kansas we had decided when we moved to Kansas City, Missouri to keep our residency status in Kansas and live in Missouri as students. That worked well for us since the farm was our only source of real income during medical school and we were there on a regular basis. I talked to the enrollment center and explained our duel residency issues and they didn't have any problem with it. We could still enroll since we are Kansas tax payers. I started to really get excited!

So we started through the enrollment process. We didn't talk to the kids much about it still waiting to see what would happen as we got further into the process. I was completely surprised that the people I was talking to throughout the enrollment really knew homeschooling and had a love and respect for what it was and why it worked. They knew the individualized training was superior and that the parents are the best primary educators of their children. I was shocked! They stressed over and over that this wasn't just "online public school" this was HOMESCHOOL and would need the lifestyle and commitment of traditional homeschooling. I couldn't believe what I was hearing... The education specialists I met were homeschool moms who worked from home helping other homeschool families. It was awesome! I could relate to their schedule. One mom/specialist said they do all their Math, Language Arts, Science, and History during the traditional school year and the electives such as Art, Music, and Spanish in the Summer. Some families work one month and then take one week off all year round instead of taking a Summer vacation. "You can do that?" I asked? "Sure! The virtual school is open year round!" they assured me. I love that!

So we received the acceptance packet in the mail and we sat down with the kids and the DVD they sent. When it was over they were so excited they were jumping around the livingroom so excited they couldn't contain it! Trenton couldn't wait for the microscope to come in the mail and to start his school early in the morning before the girls got up. Trina and Tacey were thrilled to be placed back on grade level and able to catch up. Another bonus of the Kansas school system was that Tyler met the cut off for enrollment in Kindergarten. In Missouri her birthday was too late for her to be enrolled but Kansas had a different date and she was eligible. Todd and I wanted her in Kindergarten as early as possible to give her time to adjust to the schedule and figure out what was expected of her with the whole schooling thing. If she really struggled (which I know she will) then she can repeat a grade and still be on track age wise. And also since this is public school they have specialists trained in dealing with learning disorders and challenges. I need that support and guidance when it comes to her special needs. She's darling but she focuses about as well as a 6 week old puppy! lol! I need all the help I can get!

And there you have it! The latest adventures in education for our family. We are excited but I am planning on stepping back from my internet and phone life for a while. If you call and I don't call you back right away please understand that it kills me!! I love my dear friends and would ten times rather chat with you all then do school with the kiddos... I would much rather read blogs and write articles on photography than cook supper or put on the 10th load of laundry for the day. But I needed a reality check and I think these past few weeks have been just that. I'm gonna be saying "no" more now and being fine with it. I'm gonna turn on the answering machine and the ringer off and not notice the messages. But if you do call, PLEASE leave a message! I love to at least hear your voice and know that I am loved even if I can't chat right then!

So peace and joy is my focus for the next few weeks and getting started with K12. Thanks so much for staying with me through this massive post! I'll really miss you all!!!

I should have pictures to include with this post but I am just barely functioning... This week has taken way too much out of me and I don't even know where to start catching you up on the busy-ness!! Testing with all 4 oldest kiddos, madly trying to keep the house work from getting away from me, planning a 4th of July cookout for 15 people, getting the kids ready to be in the first annual 4th of July parade in our neighborhood, spending hours talking and trying to catch up with Todd, wrestling with some newfound personal issues/problems, and now subsequently sinking into a hole of depression and exhaustion that I'm not sure how to recover from all could have something to do with my mood this afternoon!! Ok, just writing that makes me feel better... I think I'd better stop while I'm ahead[?] (or behind or whatever). I have a feeling this will only go downhill from here.... I think I'll rent a movie, eat a leftover hamburger, and try to feel more human.

...ok, as my photography has grown to more than 'just for fun' I decided it was time to separate work from family now. It has been a dream of mine to work from home for a very long time and I have been working on and growing in my interest in photography now for over 7 years. Since getting my new camera work has started trickling in and I sat down yesterday to come up with a new name for my "company". I wanted to steer clear of words like photo, photography, and images as well as anything to do with my name. I like my name; just didn't like having it in my business name and besides, these are so over used and worn out that I wanted something different, bright, and modern. My baby brother, Caleb, offered to help me brain storm and he is the creative genius behind my new company name: TrulyTaken! We then bought the .com (which I can hardly believe was available!! YAY!!) and I am sooo excited I can hardly see straight!! I hope to get together enough money to have a decent website up and running soon but for now I am just happy to be starting down this road with a name I love and some loyal customers!

So my old Francis_Clan blog (for which I had bought a premium account last Fall) now is sporting it's new name: trulytaken and this is the new home for my personal blog. I am in the process of figuring out the whole 'transfer of old posts' thing but this place should start to come together in no time! Thanks so much for the tremendous outpouring of support you xanga peeps have given me and for your continued loyalty. It always amazes me that people like my pictures and it's really fun to hear from you, my dear friends!

Thanks for subscribing and hope you are having a great day!!

Isn't he beautiful?! Farewell, Dear Friend! Posted 4/25/2006 at 12:12 PM

---

Our favorite neighbors, the Aikin's, are a retired couple across the street who are just precious friends. They leave each year for Arizona for the winter and return in the spring. We missed them so much this winter but now they have returned and brought gifts for the kids. I took pictures of the hats they got for them as they are some of the funniest things I've seen! They are made of thin card board, I think, so they probably are going to break before long but I managed to get some pictures. They can be worn a couple of ways and even squished out for a comical look! What fun....

 

---