Broken Tub

The bathtub in the kids bathroom has a plumbing problem and has been draining under the house. Rich doesn't want to crawl under the house to fix it until ALL the ground is dry.In the meantime, we are all sharing 1 little shower. We had to improvise for Savanah, and she loved it!

HOMESCHOOLING COMEBACKS!

I don't find myself very quick witted, or fast on my feet. Good comebacks and remark don't come until long after they are needed. Rarely do I find that I have a really good come back, and I think, " Man, that was really good, and funny too." Maybe I am just too nice to people!
I found this fantastic article called, " The bitter homeschooler's wish". This is for all the things that I thought, long after conversations were over, and wished I could have said them! Hope you enjoy it! I thought it was hilarious!


The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List By Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling Magazine, Issue #1, Fall 2007

1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it?

2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts.

3 Quit interrupting my kid at her dance lesson, scout meeting, choir practice, baseball game, art class, field trip, park day, music class, 4H club, or soccer lesson to ask her if as a homeschooler she ever gets to socialize.

4 Don't assume that every homeschooler you meet is homeschooling for the same reasons and in the same way as that one homeschooler you know.

5 If that homeschooler you know is actually someone you saw on TV, either on the news or on a "reality" show, the above goes double.

6 Please stop telling us horror stories about the homeschoolers you know, know of, or think you might know who ruined their lives by homeschooling. You're probably the same little bluebird of happiness whose hobby is running up to pregnant women and inducing premature labor by telling them every ghastly birth story you've ever heard. We all hate you, so please go away.

7 We don't look horrified and start quizzing your kids when we hear they're in public school. Please stop drilling our children like potential oil fields to see if we're doing what you consider an adequate job of homeschooling.

8 Stop assuming all homeschoolers are religious.

9 Stop assuming that if we're religious, we must be homeschooling for religious reasons.

10 We didn't go through all the reading, learning, thinking, weighing of options, experimenting, and worrying that goes into homeschooling just to annoy you. Really. This was a deeply personal decision, tailored to the specifics of our family. Stop taking the bare fact of our being homeschoolers as either an affront or a judgment about your own educational decisions.

11 Please stop questioning my competency and demanding to see my credentials. I didn't have to complete a course in catering to successfully cook dinner for my family; I don't need a degree in teaching to educate my children. If spending at least twelve years in the kind of chew-it-up-and-spit-it-out educational facility we call public school left me with so little information in my memory banks that I can't teach the basics of an elementary education to my nearest and dearest, maybe there's a reason I'm so reluctant to send my child to school.

12 If my kid's only six and you ask me with a straight face how I can possibly teach him what he'd learn in school, please understand that you're calling me an idiot. Don't act shocked if I decide to respond in kind.

13 Stop assuming that because the word "home" is right there in "homeschool," we never leave the house. We're the ones who go to the amusement parks, museums, and zoos in the middle of the week and in the off-season and laugh at you because you have to go on weekends and holidays when it's crowded and icky.

14 Stop assuming that because the word "school" is right there in homeschool, we must sit around at a desk for six or eight hours every day, just like your kid does. Even if we're into the "school" side of education — and many of us prefer a more organic approach — we can burn through a lot of material a lot more efficiently, because we don't have to gear our lessons to the lowest common denominator.

15 Stop asking, "But what about the Prom?" Even if the idea that my kid might not be able to indulge in a night of over-hyped, over-priced revelry was enough to break my heart, plenty of kids who do go to school don't get to go to the Prom. For all you know, I'm one of them. I might still be bitter about it. So go be shallow somewhere else.

16 Don't ask my kid if she wouldn't rather go to school unless you don't mind if I ask your kid if he wouldn't rather stay home and get some sleep now and then.

17 Stop saying, "Oh, I could never homeschool!" Even if you think it's some kind of compliment, it sounds more like you're horrified. One of these days, I won't bother disagreeing with you any more.

18 If you can remember anything from chemistry or calculus class, you're allowed to ask how we'll teach these subjects to our kids. If you can't, thank you for the reassurance that we couldn't possibly do a worse job than your teachers did, and might even do a better one.

19 Stop asking about how hard it must be to be my child's teacher as well as her parent. I don't see much difference between bossing my kid around academically and bossing him around the way I do about everything else.

20 Stop saying that my kid is shy, outgoing, aggressive, anxious, quiet, boisterous, argumentative, pouty, fidgety, chatty, whiny, or loud because he's homeschooled. It's not fair that all the kids who go to school can be as annoying as they want to without being branded as representative of anything but childhood.

21 Quit assuming that my kid must be some kind of prodigy because she's homeschooled.

22 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of prodigy because I homeschool my kids.

23 Quit assuming that I must be some kind of saint because I homeschool my kids.

24 Stop talking about all the great childhood memories my kids won't get because they don't go to school, unless you want me to start asking about all the not-so-great childhood memories you have because you went to school.

25 Here's a thought: If you can't say something nice about homeschooling, Just be quiet!

Pneumonia

After 3 days of a high fever I decided to take Joseph to the Dr. I don't particularly like Doctors, but knew that something was very wrong with him. Not wanting to load up all my children and drive an hour to Nocona to see my brother in law, I just went to an urgent care clinic here in town. They informed me that he was very congested in his chest, yet he hadn't coughed once. They took his temperature ( 104) and took ex rays. The Dr. told me that it looked like it was just bronchitis, that I needed to push the fluids, he then gave jojo a shot and sent us on our way. Do you know what it is like to try and force feed a little boy who doesn't feel good and doesn't want to eat and drink?

That night was terrible. Rich was working over time, so I put him in bed with me. I could tell that he was struggling to breathe and he moaned most of the night. I decided to take him to see Brent ( my bro in law). I trust him more than any other medical professional. I knew that he would do all that he could to find out what was wrong and treat him as well.

Upon arriving he noticed that Joseph was severely dehydrated, and also that he was struggling to breathe as well as lots of chest congestion. What he needed the most right away was fluids. We initially tried to start an I.V in the clinic, but he was so dehydrated that the nurse could not get into a vein. Poor thing was so sick he didn't even move, just screamed.

Brent sent us over to the hospital. where they are a little better at little dehydrated veins. While doing their regular routine checks, they noticed that Josephs oxygen levels where low. It was then decided that he needed much more than just fluids.

After a total of 8 sticks, and 3 sites blown, they decided to call the anaesthesiologist for help. By then Joseph had had it and was fighting quite a bit. He offered to give him something to relax him so he wouldn't squirm. He took his time looking, making sure that he would get it on his first stick. Sure enough, with Jojo loopy, and almost unresponsive he got it in the top of his hand the first try.

They rest of the day was quiet. They treated Joseph with fluids, strong antibiotics, and oxygen. Joseph was so sick and so worn out that he just slept. Later that evening the urgent care clinic called Rich at home and said that they had just read the ex ray film ( 28 hours later) and said that Joseph had a pretty bad case of Pneumonia and that we should take him to the hospital to be treated. Oooooh, I was mad! I should have gone to Brent in the first place.

After the first day, Joseph decided that he no longer needed the I.V, so he yanked it out and bled all over the bed. He was feeling a little better by now, so a little bit of his turdy side was starting to shine through. Treatment wasn't finished, ( he was so dehydrated that he didn't even urinate for over 24 hours with the I.V ) He still needed LOTS of fluids, more meds, and so a new site had to be found. By now he was hydrated enough that finding a nice plump vein wasn't quite as hard. This time, it went in the foot.

Much of the rest of our stay was very boring and uneventful. We were both miserable, couldn't sleep, and confined to a small room with nothing to do. He is home now and doing much better. I am so grateful for my brother in law, and modern medicine. I know that with the level of dehydration he had, and what little oxygen he was receiving, he wouldn't have made it very long.

There is nothing worse than a sick child and nothing you can do to make them better.

( Unless you wake up sick, come home to more sick children, and a house that has been completely destroyed in your absence! That my friend, is a story for another blog)

My Very sick Baby.

Poor Joseph. Almost all the fight had left him, until they came at him with a needle. After being poked several time, they called the anaesthesiologist ( who was a pro!!). He offered to give him something to help him relax so we could get an I.V Started. Here he is very drugged and almost unresponsive.

After yanking his I.V out of his hand and bleeding all over his bed, we had to start all over again. This time in his foot because most of the good veins were blown on the 8 times they initially tried on his first I.V

Joseph finally feels a little better and Uncle Brent says we can go home.