Feeling Much Better Now, and Some Homeschool Talk

Hi everyone,
Thanks for all the well-wishes yesterday. They help!

The headache really peaked about 4 pm yesterday, but I didn't let it stop me. We headed over to my Mom's, so the kids could spend the evening with Gramma and their cousins while I went to my Classical Ed. meeting. I got home around 10:30, and thought my head was going to explode. There *used* to be a bottle of hydrocodone in my Mom's medicine cupboard, so I didn't bring mine last night, and the bottle was *GONE*! My little sister loves the stuff even more than I do, so I will be having a talk with her soon about sharing. ;-)
Update: My sister says she is innocent, so that means the Blind Mama must have put it somewhere. What a good waste of head-helping drugs!

So I lay on the couch, my head throbbing, watching the interesting pictures in my eyelids and trying not to barf; listening to Piano Girl breathing deep in her sleep, and finally got to sleep around 3 am, only to be woken up by my Mom coming in to turn the heat on (It's June for heaven's sake!). Fell asleep again about 3:30, and then woke again to Mom turning the heat off. Sigh. After about 2 hours of sleep for me, we all got up at 7 am and walked the Boy Cousins to school. The head feels a bit better, back to the manageable headache stage, but I am plum tuckered out.

Mom's Dr. appt. went well. I so love her Dr. He handles her crabbiness so well, and doesn't take offense. He is one of the few people I know who can make jokes about her (lack of) humour to her without her becoming offended. I had to advocate for her a bit with the ladies behind the front desk- I didn't go into the blood lab with her last week (you can bet I will from now on, regardless of her insistence that she is fine alone), and they had her sign a paper without reading it to her. Wasn't a big deal, but they made it one, focusing on which form she had filled out instead of just getting that I wanted the words "Blind lady-tell her what she is signing." written across the top of her charts. We finally got it straightened out, and I think it is good practice for me to be an advocate for her without making anyone wrong.

The good news is that her cholesterol is down quite a bit. It was so high in January, I was constantly worried about heart attacks or strokes. Dr. says it is still high, and wants me to focus on buying/making her healthy foods. If it is not even lower in 4 months, he is going to increase her Lipitor script. She hasn't been experiencing side effects, but gets crabby just having to take it, so she may be willing to work with me a bit more on the diet/food end of things. Her thyroid levels are also in range for the first time in 6 months, so that is good too! I guess the last 6 months of forcing her to get into the routine of taking her pills daily has paid off a bit.

Back to last night:
Even though my head was exploding, I really enjoyed the meeting. We had a guest speaker from New Albion Academy come and talk to us about keeping a classical eye open when shopping for curricula. It's funny, I think every woman in that room could have sat and listened and discussed forever, had we the time. The most intriguing discussion for me was the topic of the trivium (Grammar, logic, and rhetoric) as subjects, not developmental stages of learning (per Sayers or the WTM, for example). It was a fascinating subject, and gave me lots to think about in the ways our school has been successful in the past, and also some insight into why it isn't going so well now.

Two things I heard again last night that seem to be a recurring theme (I think the universe is trying very hard to get this message through to my cute little brain!) lately, is that "The teacher is the curriculum." and "The best teacher is an enthusiastic student." I remember getting this message when I read A Thomas Jefferson Education a few years ago as well. At that point, I promised myself I would read the same books the kids did, and teach myself latin alongside them. I held myself up to this ideal for a very short time, and I can really see where this has harmed our student/teacher relationships, and stifled much of the success and joy that used to be a part of our school. Time for me to poop or get off the pot as my Mom would say.

Anyhow, I think this talk will help me focus when attending the WHO convention next weekend. And for anyone local who reads this, and is planning on attending, I could use a ride this year!

So we are home now, and I am going to get a bunch of stuff done before I crash. If the strawberries and peppers are still alive, I will put them in pots, and it is on my chore list to tidy up the living room. The kids are going to mow the lawn, and mop up whatever that sticky stuff is. I don't want to know what they did to make it sticky, I really don't. I just want them to clean it up!

Oh, Papa Dude, if you are reading this, I want you to know how much I appreciate you and I know how hard you are working for us- sorry about last night, thanks for hanging in. We should both know better than to try to have a conversation when my head is exploding. Love you.

I plan on being in bed by 9 tonight, as we have piano lessons bright and squirrelly tomorrow morning. If the kids don't go right to sleep it won't be my problem- I have the whole bed to myself, and I am going to sleep right in the middle tonight! So only 8 hours to go till I can sleep.
TTFN,
LB