A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Little Princess sprained her other ankle, too.  She was just walking to her seat at the dining room table to do some math when she lost her balance on the boot and tried to catch herself by putting out her healthy foot.   It rolled. It popped. It hurt and bruised. When we took her back to the orthopedic office for her 2-week follow-up for the first sprain, they confirmed the second one.   It's not as severe, but they offered her another boot because with neither ankle working correctly, she needs support. She refused. With the doc's approval, she's wearing a simple drugstore brace that has hard support. She limps all over the place, but when she doesn't think I'm looking, I see the strain of pain in her face. I am having to remind her often to rest with her feet up. That injury took place on Tuesday afternoon. On Friday evening, Lola came screaming into the house, clutching her face, blood seeping between her fingers. I cut butterfly bandages out of regular Band...

 I am now 52 years old. My children are ages 9, 9, 11, 12, 12, 13, 14, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24. I have been homeschooling for over 20 years. Prior to that, I was a public school teacher (middle school English, K-3 special ed, and K-12 substitute). I find myself feeling very reflective about self, family, home, spiritual growth, marriage, goals, wishes, dreams, etc. Rather than try to put my mental ramblings into reasonable, readable sentences, I'll say this:  It's been a wild ride, and I'm grateful for the life I've lived thus far. I feel very aware of how few homeschooling years remain to me. Oh!  How I want to make them count! This week I did a rather good job at making memories with my children. The teens and I continued The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin and our American Literature text.  The best moment of the week was reading The Declaration of Independence from beginning to end.  I cried. (Just a little) The kids (I read it aloud while the younger kids w...

 At least it has been emotional for Lola and Baymax. I guess it was the previous week that got so emotional for Brother and Beowulf, but it all spread over the weekend, and then kind of spread to other kids. Brother had an actual dissociative episode that needed to be discussed with his case manager, his psychiatrist, and our FSP.   That's a lot of time talking with professionals! The good thing is that his meds are working well enough that he actually was able to remember the episode after it was over, and he was able to talk about how he saw the world.   This is unusual, but his psychiatrist still says it was a dissociative episode. Even though the experience was tough for everyone, we are certain it was not the result of a poor medication regimen, rather it was a one-off from a stressful week of having Sir Walter Scott gone, our van not working, rehearsals and shows for Newsies , etc. All of the adults consulting on his case agree that his meds are actually w...