So as Christmas rolled around ... this gig called "VIPkid" was taking off. Christmas was not bleak, but I gave more to the two small ones hoping the big ones would understand, they were both adults now and had had many big Christmases in their past. I even managed to sneak in some Black Friday shopping.
I was SO exhausted. Waking up at 4:30 every single morning for over 40 days and still trying to run a full schedule ... .... but the shocking thing was the "involuntary naps". I found that I had no control over these naps that I would suddenly find myself waking up and a whole hour was gone out of my day. Never in my life had I had this much problem staying awake ... and I chalked it up to one more thing in my brain that the stroke had affected. In my attempts to stay awake for the 2 hours required (5am - 7am) that could be booked as a short notice, I started watching the "Highlander" series on Amazon Prime. A show that had been on my "rewatch" status for a long time. (Side Note: my husband says I don't watch TV like you are supposed to - I fast forward and skip whole sections) anyway, I managed to cover the entire series in a little over 2 months of these early morning times.
I homeschooled 2 extra kids 3 days a week, and those days, I just opened the door at 7am and kept going with my day. Otherwise, I went back to bed or turned off the light and fell asleep in my chair. Nights remained chaotic as the ref was .. reffing ... and he was seldom home nights between McDonald's and reffing. At this time also, our car seemed to be IN the shop for repairs almost as often as it was OUT. From late August on, with growing frequency, we had one electrical repair after another from needing to replace a "newish" battery to a starter and so on. This meant that getting anywhere was difficult and we relied heavily on friends and family to get us places.
Finally my "big break" arrived! December 23, wee house of the morning, I managed a booking that didn't disappear! And I taught my first class to a kid named "Hamburger" I think, or was it "Minecraft". We laughed and enjoyed ourselves and managed to only go over a few minutes. Another class the next day, and 4 in a row Christmas morning. And a few rebooked and left 5 apples. I was so excited.
As we rolled through January, I was becoming more desperate for sleep. I did not want to sleep through the school day, and being a light sleeper, the refs very different schedule and only 3 beds in the house, meant I was falling asleep at odd times, forcing those 2 hours awake, and often taking advantage of any reprieve (kids in church or on an outing) just to be able to sleep in quiet bliss for a few hours. Without it, my blood pressure shot up. Also, I'm a sleepy snacker. If I'm tired, I eat to stay awake. And the negative side effect is ... pounds. I began to notice my hard won weight loss beginning to reverse.
Being desperate, I began dragging blankets and pillows into the hallway or Sunshine's room, just to sleep for a few hours before teaching.
As January rolled to the end, I found myself very close to my goal of 50 classes per month, but just shy of the 45 class bonus. I sent in a ticket, and to my delight, a few more classes booked, bringing me to 46 for the month. I was OVER THE MOON. For the first time, there was a deposit to my bank for VIPkid. It wasn't much, but it would relieve the tight budget. ... Or help pay for the car bills.
At any rate .... I was making a bit of cash and for the first time in 20 years, we didn't wonder if the paycheck would stretch to cover the bills.
February did see us hitting a major glitch. We had a 1TB data plan ... imagine our shock when we were notified 20 days into the month that we were over our plan! HOW did we use up a whole TB of data? We traced the source back to my computer ... and then to my teaching Chrome Account. .... It took us about 2 weeks, but most of the data was being eaten by my using Google Slides group accounts. Once I copied the files into my own account, changed to Firefox, and put a choker program to close the tabs that I was not using, the data usage dropped to normal.
Just if you are wondering ... Teaching 4-5 classes with Google Slides runs about a GB of data is all. Which means that if I have to use our hot spot (and I have) then I do not have to worry about using the entire data plan for our cell phones. I use Google Slides on 2 devices. I have a borrowed iphone that I use for reward slides, and my personal phone is for the teaching slides.
Currently my hours are from 4:30 - 7:00 AM every morning, and Friday and Saturday nights from 6:30 to 11PM ... whatever books. I try to not book more than 5 either night and give myself a break every 2 or 3 classes.
I have a bedtime goal of 10-11 pm, though I'm good if I get in bed by midnight. I have taught as early as 3:30am, but found it too exhausting to power through to 7am. I tried teaching just week mornings for 3 hours. But that was harder than 7 days a week. I didn't book classes past 9:30 until recently.
China passed new laws and now I have lost my 7am - 8am teaching slots (everybody did). So, I moved that class to 4am/4:30am ... and discovered 5 classes is my upper limit without a break. I have to take off the headphones and walk around! 5 x 7 is 35, so I make up those last 5 classes on the weekend nights. I may try to push to 50 a week if I can establish a routine for the family.
After my last class, I do feedback until my eyes start closing, then drop into a bed and sleep until my body lets me wake up again between 9 and 11 am. THEN we get going on the day. In total, I require 6 hours of sleep to function, and if I am woken after that 6 hours, I can't go back to sleep.
I also started my own YouTube Channel! ENJOY!
If you want to learn more?... Use my referral link. I do help answer questions and point you in the direction of more help if you need it.
Sorry, this opportunity is no longer available in California.
https://www.vipkid.com/mkt/landing/personal?referralToken=feaab199743bc457bb432c2e2fd45689&refereeId=22183117
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTQyvjRMBIg&t=227s
Homeschooling Information and Freebies - from a Christian Worldview
