Sooooo

I feel so weird. I haven't typed for my own enjoyment for months now. My summer online classes completely burned me out and made me hate computers. At one point I seriously did not even check my email for three weeks. If you think I'm kidding, you have no idea how much stress I was under.
But it was such a fun summer once I decided that I was in over my head and started dropping classes. I really hate that I put so much on myself, but at least I know where my priorities really are and that what I thought I wanted to go to school for, I really don't want to do.
So, yea to lessons learned the hard way.

Let's see....
Skylar is being homeschooled. She just finished placement testing on Monday and yesterday and today we worked on finishing up getting her records sent to Southeast Academy. SEA is an online private school out of VA which we chose to go with rather than trying to go the homeschool route on our own. We pay a small monthly tuition and SEA sets up the curriculum (of which Sky gets to choose several electives) based on her test scores and past school transcript, grades the work (written and online), provides support, keeps the grades, provides the standardized testing and report cards, and a bunch of other stuff I'm leaving out. I'm hoping it will turn out to be a great choice. We just wanted Sky to have the organization and structure of a ready-made curriculum (not reliant upon her parents' poor planning skills), but still have freedom to go as fast or slow as she needs to, focusing on the things she needs or wants to work on. I want to be able to personalize her education to meet her needs, not the needs of public school.
Skylar plans on taking core subjects, as well as Spanish and (maybe next year) French. For her enrichment studies, there are lots of options. The art teacher at her former elementary school offered her the opportunity to come in and work on advanced projects as well as help with the younger art classes. She's getting plenty of PE in her dance classes. She's taking Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, and Pointe. The only other activity I'd like her to have on a regular basis is music. George could definitely help her out there, but we don't have any instruments in the house presently except for our keyboard. Sky said she'd like to take piano lessons, but we are already spending a small fortune on her dance classes. I dropped $150 in one day last week buying her pointe shoes, lyrical shoes, and a leotard. There is no way we can do piano lessons, too. Besides, I'm trying really hard to keep things as simple as possible (yeah right).
Bart and Drake and I are doing karate together. Drake is so cute! He actually does pretty well paying attention in class.
And Lucy, my "Miss Tippytoes", just had a birthday and is now actually two years old. Lucy dances around the house on tiptoe, just like her big sister, so she acquired the nickname "Miss Tippytoes". Even Drake calls her Miss Tippytoes. It's very cute.
Oh, and I don't know if I mentioned it, but since spring we have acquired a dog, two parakeets, and a cockatiel. I'm still not entirely sure how all this came about, but I will tell you it's kind of crazy but cool. The cockatiel is my bird, my early birthday present from George and the kids, and I named him Picasso. He likes to sit on my shoulder or hop down while I'm studying to nibble holes in the pages of my $200 text books. I don't mind at all - I think it's hilarious since the bookstore will only give me $10 for the things anyway, no matter how good the condition is. At least someone is getting some enjoyment from them.