We're still here

It's now almost November and I find myself wanting to hibernate. It's getting dark so early and starting to cool down.

We've been doing various hands on projects and art work and following their interests all over the place. They both seem to be doing well with their reading coaches. Getting the boy to participate has been half the battle. He wants me to sit in the cubicle with him. I bring a book or play games on my phone while he works. Some days, I wish I could drop them off and run off for an hour! But, it's helpful for me to see what he's doing and how much he knows (which is a lot more than he lets on as usual).

Both, #2 and #3 will be completing assessments this year to keep their IEPS (Individualized Education Plan). This allows us to maintain their eligibility for services if they return to school or if we decide to access those services in the future. Always nice to have some kind of safety net.

The bigger surprise for me is how much I feel like my relationships have improved with the kids. I mean they weren't bad to begin with but we are getting to a deeper level now. We still get on each other's nerves too!

Rolling with the punches

    Summer wasn't fun for me. I'm still not 100% and am very frustrated. But, the pain is improving everyday.
      In school news, #1 seems to be enjoying 7th grade at her new school. She loves riding the city bus there and back (when she didn't have soccer). She's made some friends and knows how to open her locker now! We are just getting back into the swing of things with the younger 2 at home. Some days are better than others. I am learning and relearning as much as they are. My notions of what education and learning are seem to be getting challenged every day by these two small humans!
     And the world keeps spinning.

A Rough Start to our Summer!

For the past month, I've been having back pain which I attributed to exercise and being almost 40. Well, after weeks of worsening pain which included a trip to the ER, I found myself in an MRI machine.

Immediately, after the MRI results were read, I found myself going to the ER again. After hours of sitting in pain, I was admitted. It turns out that I somehow ended up with an infection that traveled through my blood and decided to move into my spinal chord. I came pretty close to paralysis or worse.

There was a week long hospital stay which included a pretty painful spinal biopsy, that I was awake for.

I'm now home but attached to a machine that will dispense antibiotics every 4 hours for the next 6 weeks. I wish I could say that I'm having a positive attitude about still being here and being able to walk but I'm not there yet.

I'm still in a lot of pain and I'm angry. I was exercising and trying to eat (mostly) healthy and I'm sitting here in pain and no one knows how or why this happened. Our summer is certainly not going how I hoped it would!

What did you do today?

Like any other parents, we'd ask our kids questions about their day (before we started homeschooling). They'd say things like: "I forgot", "Nothing", and so on. Our son would go even further and say that he didn't talk to anyone or play with anyone. Now, this was not true because I would see him at various times playing with friends, answering questions, participating and so on.

Now, kids (and some adults) will ask my homeschoolers what they did or what they are learning and they say: "Nothing", "I don't know", or "We watched TV or played games". They forget to mention the sewing classes they attend, the writing class, the homeschool meet-ups, the science fair at a local university, learning how to cook, and so on.

Sometimes, they don't even realize they are learning different things. The pic above is from a hike we took this morning. On that hike, they looked for (and spotted) animal tracks, talked about pollution in the water, read detour signs (which then meant changing our planned hiking route), took turns with each other's bike and scooter and so on. Yet, if someone asks them what they did today, they will say "Nothing" or maybe "We walked the dog".

And, yes later on there will be a math lesson and some reading time. That's just how we roll right now!

Outsourcing...

It's almost the end of a pretty full school year. The oldest is moving on to Middleschool in the fall. We don't know where yet as all of the placements haven't been sent out yet.

Our 2 homeschoolers have been doing all kinds of things. Our youngest kind of forced us onto an unschooled path and we are still figuring things out.

At this point, I've realized that outsourcing is good, and sometimes necessary. As, I'm writing this (on my phone!), they are attending a writing class. #3 is a reluctant writer at home so I've realized that I needed an alternate plan. Boom, homeschool writing class!

Hopefully, they have a good time! Now, back to my coffee! 

Making me a priority is hard sometimes...

    In the past few years, I have been successful at weight loss but put the weight back on. First, with a knee injury and then an arm injury. Both required surgery, a few months to recover and then physical therapy. To be honest, I stopped the arm PT early because I was doing more at home with my arm than what was happening at the hospital. Hello, groceries and laundry for 5 people!

I am at the point where I just wasn't feeling good. So, we reexamined our budget and rejoined the YMCA.  I'm starting the Couch to 5K program again (aka C25K) and doing weights 3 times a week. My right arm (the surgery arm) already feels a bit better and straighter after only a few weeks.

Yet, sometimes, I feel guilty. About taking time out of the day to work out. To take advantage of the child care at the Y during the week, this typically means heading in at the end of the day. And lets be honest, sometimes one just would rather veg out on the couch than strap on gym gear and go get sweaty.

Today, there was chasing the dog to spray him with a medicine for a rash on his stomach, 2 math quizzes to give, reading stories, rehearsing a play, music class, homework for the oldest and laundry....so much laundry (nudists may have the right idea here). Yet, I packed my gear in the car and after school pick up, a quick bite at McDs and then music class, we headed off to the gym. If the younger 2 had HW, I don't know if this would be as easy as their HW generally caused an insane amount of drama!

And now, at home, more laundry is going and I feel better for having gone! Now bring on bed time please!

Chaos and Perfection

    The past week, #2 and I have focused on her completing an annual exam. The state of NY requires homeschoolers to choose a test every other year, starting in 4th grade. Then every year, starting in 9th. She was downright indignant that #3 didn't have to test this year. What can I say kid? Life isn't always fair.

A friend commented that while she could see positive changes in my kids, her idea of school remains firmly rooted in the idea of desks, a teacher and a classroom. That's cool as that was my idea about it too and still is sometimes. #2 surprised me by saying she didn't think she wanted to return to school when she got older. I said ok, we'll see what happens when the time comes.

Some days are great and some days have me questioning my sanity and wondering if I can request a coffee/wine iv drip from my doctor! Today, is a good day so far. #2 finished her test while holding one of our cats. Then, they played on the computer and they are ending their day with constructing their own experiments. I'm not sure what they are doing but they are fully engaged and working both independently and together. We'll end the evening with a drum class for #3,  pizza for dinner, and a math lesson. For some reason, his math goes a lot smoother at night these days.