Aug. 31, 2006 God, Buddha and Dinosaurs
There's something to be said for homeschooling at this moment in time. All our ps friends are getting ready for school, buying new school clothes, school supplies, and getting all those beginning of the year jitters. We, on the other hand, are sailing along status quo, studying dinosaurs, asteroids, and going over our fire escape routes and drills. We're not anxious about the school year, we're going at our own pace, not worrying about new teachers or any other of the many things that worry a child entering school for the first time!
We can, in theory, save that money from the 'back to school budget' and use it on extra things like field trips, vacations, or college. Not to mention the fact we're going to "need" curriculums eventually. I've not actually researched the curriculum market out there, but there are conflicting reports out there as to wether or not we actually do need one. I assume as long as the basics are covered, it doesn't matter, but until I grow more confident, I'll most likely want one for first and second grade, so I know what I ought to be covering and all. Beyond that, who knows? It's too soon to tell.
Today, we really started to work on where God fits into the whole asteroid and dinosaur thing. My clever daughter noticed there are no dinos in the bible, and wonders where they came from, and if God sent the asteroid(s). I wasn't entirely sure how to answer that, and I told her so. She asked me why I didn't know! I told her no one was there to tell us where God was in all that, but if He's eternal, He most likely was there. Perhaps the dinos were His first attempt at life, but he didn't divulge that info to Adam? But I thought God was perfect - and does that mean perfect beings make mistakes? It just opened up a whole lot of gaps. I fell back to Buddhist philosophy and compromised there - and said that God decided the dinos were perfect, and wanted to take them all to Heaven/Nirvana and let them be reborn as something else. That's why the mammals were able to take over Earth. They were the reborn dinos. Like I say all the time: "I don't know. No one was there. Just my thoughts and opinions."
I'm starting to think readings from some of the Dhammapada would be nice to have Daughter learn, in addition to the simplified Bible texts. She's obviously curious enough to tackle it, and has all these questions already. Seems funny to me that someone who's only 5 would have such BIG questions about the world already!
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Aug. 29, 2006 I thought I was over it!
Last evening, when I got the mail, there was a small package from Pampers. This package contained one free newborn diaper. It only served to remind me that had I not miscarried in January, I would be about 39 weeks along. It served to depress me all over again. I honestly thought I was over it as much as I could be.... I know I'm just going to keep getting diapers in the mail from them, reminding me throughout the first couple years exactly what stage of development my baby would be at, had he survived and not been "called back home" before entering the world.
Funny, but that friend who recently had the shower, is due about a week after I was supposed to be due, and seeing her didn't send me into a whole teary emotional thingy. Just seeing the diaper did it for me. At least I'll have someone to give the free diaper samples to, so it's not a TOTAL waste.
I just thought I was over it!
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I just read thru my entire blog and realized there are some loose ends I needed to update on - if, for no other reason than to keep my OWN train of thought on track!
The SMART bus line should be ashamed of itself, for one thing. Remember that play date? It never happened because the bus never showed up. We waited over an hour for a bus that was supposed to circulate every 45 mins. To top it off, the only bus we DID see, passed us by, driver waving at us. WAVING. I'm not kidding. Kept on driving. I started writing a letter to SMART bus, but realized there was no point really. What are they going to do? Send me an apology? Send me coupons for free bus service? Sorry, but I don't think now I'd ride them for free anyhow! They can take their services (if you can call it that when they don't actually seem to offer any) and keep 'em.  It'll save me a dollar fifty at any rate. We decided to walk anything under five miles one way. Let us get some exercize, and keep our money in our pockets where it'll do US some good!
My brother's moving in a few more weeks. He'll be in FL, while I'm here in MI. It'll be hard to deal with. Daughter's really upset by it, and has regressed a bit with the potty training stuff. I HOPE that's the connection at any rate! It's hard to still have potty accidents with a 5 yr old. I thought we were done with accidents to be honest. This particular uncle is her FAVORITE uncle. She used to watch him eat. It was her favorite thing to do when she was an infant, toddler and even still as a little kid. Nothing special in the way he eats, but she just loves to watch him eat! He plays with her, goofs off with her, and generally regresses to being 5 when the two of them are together. It's endearing to watch and I'll most likely be a crier once he's gone. I've never been that good at goodbyes.
Dinosaur unit stalled out for today anyhow. We took a break from that at her request and worked the basics for a while. I took some time to explain why her name only starts with a capital letter, and no other letters are capitalized. Well, I TRIED to explain it. We read a lot, and I asked her if she remembers seeing other names looking like that, with a mix of letters, and she seemed to understand. ... at least I HOPE she did...
What's making me proud lately is that she's gradually moving from the "pre reading level pre-k" books to the "reading level k" books. She's learning by hearing it once or twice, taking clues from the first and last letters of the word, the picture cues, and the story line (If barbie and biscuit books at that level can be said to HAVE a story line...) and she's reading books to ME!
OH! We finished a chapter book! (Where I read, she does the paying attention) We read Whimsy the Talking Pony by Sandy Duval. She actually clapped at the ending! It was so precious! Of course, it was about a talking pony, so we had her attention from the get-go. Our next attempt is Charlotte's Web - since the movie's coming out soon. We'd like to finish the book before seeing the movie. Same with the new How to Eat Fried Worms - I just don't think we'd be able to motivate her into that one at five, you know? That one seems more like second grade 7-8 yr old stuff, but who knows what she'd like. It might just be gross enough for her to enjoy.
She still enjoys dislocating her shoulder and other joints just to watch me squirm and tell her not to do it. I admit - the freaking out alone is what's motivating her to continue, but if you saw it, it's practically impossible to NOT freak out when you see that shoulder pop out and all that!
Okay, today I took over the TV for most of the day for an ABC Family Marathon of Kyle XY. I admit, I took a day off cleaning and all that in order to have one guilty pleasure type day. We're all allowed one of those once in a while, right? ... Right!?! Too late now, muhuahua! I already took one! Thankfully, for most of my guilty day, daughter played outside, played with her toys upstairs, and we threw in a board game and a card game - I'm not a total child abandoner!
The hybridized bees are still hanging around. According to my research, bees hybridize more on their own than scientists gave them credit for. And I've come to peace with the whole wasp incident. I read on more than one website that an initial allergic reaction to wasp venom gradually will decrease in time, as opposed to an actual bee allergy which can build, causing an increase in reaction over time, eventually becoming fatal.
RANDOM THOUGHT: When I was in the library, I noticed a TON of books in the children's section regarding "back to school" or "first day of school" and tells children what to expect on their first days. Curiously enough, there's NOTHING out there that deals with homeschoolers and their first days 'back to school' or anything. OR how to deal with the mainstreamers questions like this one: "Oh, you're 5? Are you going to start Kindergarden this year?" I wonder how an author would market such stories.....
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Aug. 27, 2006 What's been going on with me, anyhow?
My friends! Obviously we decided to homeschool. Our area's not the safest, and our religious views differ from those in our current surroundings.
For the past few years, we have done the best we can on very little. We made the sacrifice of money for the benefit of the development of our little girl. I know sometimes it got tough. Our friends and family are to be thanked many times over for bailing us out of some pretty sticky situations over the years. (Including the most recent broken car and sick dog episodes)
Things are heading for an upswing. Hubby works as a mortgage banker now, started 3 months ago, and we're looking forward to commission checks as a way to get started on paying back so much generosity from friends and family. Soon, we'll have another car again, and I'll be able to join the homeschooler group's field trips and picnics and play groups and all that! Not to mention being able to drive out once in a while and see about RIDING lessons for our daughter!!
(Well, really - a horse to ride on at any rate. I can teach her the basics.)
The dog that got sick, Bella, is doing much better now and is back to her annoying, hyperactive, loveable, cute self. The other dog, K, has "graduated" in my mind from training, as she's passed the major test of remaining calm and submissive to our daughter during walks where I was not there to "override controls" so to speak. It's a thing of beauty that makes me wish over and over again I had a digital video camera! I'd LOVE to send that into Cesar Millan's website. It was just perfect. Go Daughter!
My sister turned 16 the other day. It makes me feel old.
My friend had a baby shower today, and LOVED the sweater I crocheted for her new baby boy. I just hope it fits him! I have never been to a more fun shower! The entire families were invited, not just the women, and it was at an all you can eat buffet! Talk about my kind of party! It's also worth noting the family is Wiccan, which means once we get into comparitive religion, we'll have a (whaddya call 'em) consultant in that particular field.
I started a dinosaur unit last week. She's liking the dinos, and I'm loving the questions that come along with that. Especially the ones that deal with exactly WHERE did the dinos come from - they're not mentioned in the Bible - did God put 'em there? Did God make everything? HOW did God make everything?
My answers dealt with the Buddhist hierarchy of beings to answer where the dinos came from, and that God decided what forms come when, and whatever mysterious criteria He deemed as making a 'good plankton' turn into a 'good jellyfish' to a 'good dinosaur' and everything in between. I said no one knows exactly how it happened, so there's lots of arguements between religious leaders and scientists and no one can really agree WHY the dinos were here, or exactly WHY they died out (or for that matter, why some remained unchanged and did not go extinct - i.e. turtles, jellyfish, alligators/crocodiles) or what, if anything, guided evolution of a species (mammoth to elephant, prehistoric horse to modern horse). It's been challenging, but tons of fun.
We're hoping to get past the stories, the coloring, etc. and get to the museums and do our own little backyard excavation to dig for fossils. I'm also hoping to get a hold of an x-box soon, and use the Jurrasic park video game as a teaching tool. There's surprisingly a LOT of info in that particular game, including dino bios, habitat, time period, and what they might have dined on. Plus, it's a park managing type game, which would teach basic budgeting skills, and touches a little on running a business (even if it IS fictional).
It's too late for me - obviously. I've just referred to a VIDEO game as a TEACHING tool!
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Aug. 26, 2006 Buddhist Christian Homeschooling
(This one's for rcelliot who asked how I reconcile the 2 religions in my life - I hope it answers the questions)
I was raised with a Catholic father and a Baptist mother. I mention this as my brothers and sister and I were all raised with the ideals of Christianity, but never attended church on a regular basis. We went to a foreign language Catholic church for Easter and Christmas, and had to sit thru mass in 2 different languages. As children, understandibly, we were bored. This leads me to my years in High School when I started studying Japanese language and culture. We learned about all kinds of Asian religion as well (Starting from India to show the spread of Buddhism).
At the time, I didn't put much stock in these foreign beliefs, but after spending 4 months in Japan, I realized there are many different ways to live, and thought to study comparative religion in college. After much deliberation, bible study, and reading many many books on both Christianity and Buddhism, I realized I was more comfortable in Buddhism than I was in Christianity. How did I realize this? I was dinking around on the internet and found a website called beliefnet.com. I'm not here to plug it or force any visits to it or anything, but there was an online quiz on there on what religion you are by asking your core beliefs and their importance (i.e. how important is reading the bible: I read it every day, once a week,...etc.) and it said my beliefs were 90% congruent with Mahayana Buddhism. That sparked a whole little research project for me on what exactly Mahayana Buddhism IS. Reading the texts and hearing "their side" of the stories made me realize that there is room for God in Buddhism, that there is an open dialogue for allowing for Jesus as a philosopher (where a belief that ALL people are part of the divine in Buddhism).
I believe the way to please God is to be present during every moment given to you. I believe in the eightfold path and the four noble truths. My Buddhist view leads me to be my own best moral compass. Always striving to be the best I can be, the kindest I can be, the most compassionate I can be, the most truthful person I can be, etc. helps me deal with my emotions in a more constructive way, and teaches me to see things from other points of view, rather than resorting to 'hating' something or someone. I do not believe in the resurrection as a factual event, which I know is something sacred to true Christians. I see it as a symbolic story, as I see the whole of the Bible texts. Not to say Buddhist texts are fact, either, but symbolic stories. I do not believe the bread and wine are the body and blood of Christ, but believe it to be a spiritual moment celebrating the connectedness of ALL beings, from bacteria to God, and everything in between. I take that as a reminder of our connectedness.
I believe God exists, I believe that as people who are imperfect - we cannot possibly KNOW for sure what God wants from us. Therefore, we behave as best as we can, always striving to be kind to everyone and attempt to keep others from suffering in any way possible. We also try to keep from attaching to any ideals (who's to say what's "ideal" anyhow?) or believe in anything we haven't experienced for ourselves.
Look at it this way - For our entire lives, we were told Pluto is a planet, right? Now it isn't a planet anymore.
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Aug. 22, 2006 I'm not bad at 3s, I'm just too good at Ms.
My daughter says this to me today as I ask her to practice writing her 3s because they're turning into 'm's on the worksheets. "I'm not bad at 3s, I'm just too good at m's." I started cracking up! What insight! What cleverness! What a point of view to have of the world. We should all adopt that mentality.
Like this: I'm not bad at follow thru, I'm just too good at planning amazing events!
Or: I'm not bad at organization, I'm just too good at making messes.
or: I'm not bad at being punctural, I'm just too good at making dramatic entrances!
We're trucking along in first grade math! I'm tooooooo proud! She's getting to where she can do the addition and subtraction up to 10 in her head! I'm overjoyed! (Not to mention completely impressed she can DO that at only 5 yrs old!!!)
I've gotta go! We're meeting our first official homeschool-playdate at McDonald's this afternoon! And I have to take THE BUS!!! Wish us luck with public transportation!!!
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Aug. 18, 2006 Brother, where art thou?
Okay, we all know I was stung in the butt by a wasp, but what we don't know is I'm currently struggling with a nest of some type of unidentified bee. They're underground, or inside my failed compost pile from last year. (that's a whole other story, my trying to compost...) The bees in question are a little bigger than the normal honeybee, and they're fuzzy, but smaller than the normal sized bumblebee. How am I an expert on bees all of a sudden? I have a garden in front with sunflowers, and have been watching the different kinds of bees for 3 years now. Sunflowers bring my favorite songbird, the yellow goldfinches, right to my front window! But I digress...
These bees are not aggressive. I found the hive by running over the entrance with the lawnmower (2 weeks before getting stung in the bottom, BTW, and that was a wasp). And if the bees were going to sting me, they had ample opportunity when I was sticking the lawnmower in the shed. See, I left that back section until last, and I was right in front of the shed, I mowed over the tall weeds that were growing on my failed heap, cut the mower off, put it away, closed the door, and noticed a swarm developing where I just mowed. I panicked, of course - who wouldn't - and ran inside. They settled down in about a half hour, and I went BACK out there to look at what they were. Which is how I figure they're a cross-bred bumble bee.
The issue? They're not aggressive, they're living in a habitat I created (by accident, of course) and part of the Buddhist philosophy is to not harm other creatures. In Buddhist views, those bees could be people I met in other lives, and by killing them before their time, I force them to remain bees in their next lives, rather than afford them the opportunity to move up in the "chain of existance" as I like to call it. Also, the karmic consequences are most likely not good.
I try at every opportunity to respect life. These guys are not hurting anyone, and haven't been a problem to my daughter, or my 2 loving canine family members, so what's the point in poisioning them? Not only do I damage the delicate natural ecosystem I've worked so hard to create back there without using pesticides or inorganic fertilizer, but I run the risk of also possibly getting stung repeatedly and DYING from my venom allergy. I don't see my life as something worth risking over a bunch of non aggressive bees in the backyard......
What we learned from this: Never start a compost heap without reading the literature out there, and PROPERLY constructing the pile so as not to afford some random breed of bumble bee room to hive there.
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Aug. 17, 2006 Socialization Questions
I can't believe with how much information out there on homeschooling that there are still people who think your child will be a social retard for not being in a mainstream school. It infuriates me to no end! I can't even come up with the gentle answers to the question "What about socialization?" I just stare at the asker, dumbfounded, rather than insult their intelligence. I mean, really!
How many people only deal with people of their same age group on a daily basis aside from public school kids? In your first job, did you or did you not need to learn how to relate to people older and younger than you? It's not like I'm specifically grooming my daughter to work at a national fast food chain, but there are few examples of 'grown-ups' in the 'real world' who have to deal only with their age group, right? Please point them out if you know about those grown-ups, because I'm pretty sure they're the ones who are the minority.
I need to think up a speech for those question-askers that is gentle, and kind and leaves them thinking I care about them - until they get home and think on it a while and say to themselves "did I get insulted back there? Must be my imagination, but still..." Any ideas?
How 'bout "I'm glad to hear you care about my daughter's socialization. I can't imagine a more social child, or a situation where I would fail to foster such growth in her!" Which has an undertone of "butt out, and stop insulting me" at the same time, but sounds pretty kind when managed to be uttered without that sarcastic tone I find in my voice as I practice it.
Try number 2: "Oh my God, I had no idea children needed socialization! Thank you for pointing that out! Without you, my little girl would be a complete social retard who might ask questions like you just did! Try researching something before you insult me by saying I wouldn't socialize my child properly..." OH WAIT! that's what I'm trying to AVOID saying.....
I think I'll try to memorize the first one....
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Aug. 10, 2006 Back to Homeschool!
Aah! There's nothing like a homeschooler taking advantage of all those wonderful back to school sales! Everything is sooo cheap it's like stealing!
I'm so proud of us! My daughter and I WALKED from our house to the local library and back! A grand total of 3.12 miles! I feel great about myself now! And not to mention feeling pretty great about the 5 year old trucking along as if it were just a romp in the park. We brought water and snacks, took breaks in the shade (well, the little one did - I could've kept on going!) I never thought I would feel so happy walking into the air conditioning.
I got a ton of books for her in math - since she's been doing so well - and a few books for myself. There's this great Michael's book they had in the new books section and I HAD to take it! Me and my crochet and knitting! I've been working so hard on a knit afghan it's crazy. I can only work on it in my spare time, and when I am not too tired. I got books from Douglas Adams so I could read the books that inspired one of my favorite movies, a book on endangered animals in my state, and a funny book called "What would Buffy Do?" which seemed so funny! My husband and I watched Buffy all the time when it first started, and we were hooked. I can't wait to see if he'll actually read it or not, LOL.
I'm trying so hard to put in Buddhist info on homeschooling into these blogs, but it's so hard when I haven't another outlet for all these stories and events! I'll try harder to do so, and if anyone's interested in studying Buddhism or has questions, feel free to comment and I will try to answer as many inquiries as I get. I try to teach my daughter to respect life, wether it's an insect or other animal. I try to get her to sit with me and quiet her mind (but that's laughable as she's still just 5). There are days we try to talk about everything being connected, like when we make bread from the flour that comes from the wheat that takes in sunshine, rain and the clouds, day and night, etc. It's still a bit thick in concept for someone who is 5, but I think she SORT of gets it since we DO have a garden and she sees the seeds from start to finish to start again. We are excited to have a bumper crop of tomatoes this year. We like to harvest the seeds from the tomatoes by squeezing the mush into a bowl, adding water, stirring and letting it set for a week. All the crud floats, and the good seeds are at the bottom. Drain the water, place the seeds on a paper towel to dry and store in a freezer bag in the freezer until March, in the fridge until April and then plant away!
Anyhow, it's getting late again! Peace!
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Aug. 8, 2006 The days get better!
Finally, the days are getting better! We had a productive homeschooling day today, she actually was doing those fun, age appropriate SAT testing comparisons (a is to b as c is to what?) with shapes and numbers. She has officially completed kindergarden math!
She told me today she likes doing homeschool. She's so funny. She said, "You're the best teacher anyhow because you let me do what I want." She's referring to the fact I let her bend the directions on the worksheets. She can write her name with different color crayons for each letter, she can color the items any color she wants to, THEN circle them, things like that. It's really only important to me if she's grasping the concept. The fact that she wants to make everything prettier and artsy is fine with me. I am not going to stomp on her 5 year old creativity.
As far as what else we're learning, I'm thinking of starting at the "beginning of time" with the theories of how the earth and universe were made. We're most likely going to do some museum hopping to get that ball rolling, toss in some dinosaurs and eras and all that. I dunno. I'm famous for the big plans and the not so great follow up. It'd be fun to get her into dinosaurs, learning the names and times the different dinos lived.
I'll keep you updated on how that will go.... 
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Aug. 7, 2006 Mistakes we make!
My husband was out with a small group of employees who all won some kind of sales contest and got to take a limo ride out to the latest Tigers Baseball game. He's amazing at sales, and was lucky and skilled enough to be a top seller in his group!
The problem? He was talking in the limo about education (don't ask how that came up, I don't know) and saying that he thinks the worst thing to happen to public schools was the teacher's union.
The VICE PRESIDENT'S wife was in the limo. Guess what she does for a living?!? Yep, she's a PS teacher who is a UNION LEADER!
Thankfully, hubby's a quick wit and rescued himself with a statement like "Well, we're not going to be able to homeschool much longer, cuz as soon as we get back to the office, Tom's going to FIRE me, and we're going to have to find new jobs!" LOL Everyone laughed, thankfully, but it is one of those things! You have to be careful as a homeschooler when out among coworkers! You never know when you're going to make a statement that will totally offend or put someone off and ruin your promotion chances! Or at least the chance to network with the "powerful" higher-ups!
Actually, hubby got it wrong. The problem with the public schools, IMHO is that "no child left behind" crap. That and whole word recognition instead of phonics, the personal agendas of the teachers creeping into the lesson plans, the student body being personally unbalanced here in the East Detroit School District with gangs, bad family situations, drugs, and all the other horror stories we hear from neighbors and faculty members. No thanks! The worst part of public schools is probably the student body influence. We've joined a homeschooler group thru Yahoo! and are getting together with them for our child's "socialization."
In fact, it's not even just the public out here at large. It's our neighborhood! We used to babysit for a family last summer who had a daughter the same age as ours. This kid came over in 90 degree heat with a box of mac & cheese for lunch. Like I am supposed to heat up MY kitchen for that? OR there were days where there were 2 slices of cheese and a fruit roll up. Those were this kid's lunches! Why? The kid did not eat sandwiches, fruit, veggies, or even popcorn! I sent home a note asking for the little girl to have more healthy snacks!
She would come over in her PJs, and she had BEAUTIFUL curly hair, but it was never brushed - the parents thought that could be MY job! I have no experience with curly hair. Eventually, I just left it alone. I stopped brushing her hair. I had two reasons for that: one was that it shouldn't be up to the BABYSITTER to comb hair that was that high maintenance, and the other reason was that I was getting payed LESS than the daycare facility and I shouldn't be expected to do MORE work than they did, right? It's not like daycare lets you drop off the kids in PJs with unkempt hair and food for them to cook on a STOVE, right?
Eventually, things didn't work out between our families. (Mom got offended when I asked her to have her kid ready for the day when she arrived at my doorstep, and I still don't totally understand that...) The kids still loved eachother, but the bad habits of the guest trickled down into my own little girl.
My child finally realized it was over between them when she wanted to invite this 'friend' over for her birthday party. I let her, and the friend didn't show. It was learned that the friend didn't invite my child over for HER birthday, so she decided that wasn't very nice and dropped this other kid as a friend.
My mistake? Agreeing to watch the child to begin with. I should've gotten to know the family better before welcoming all this drama into our home. I should've arranged a payment plan with the family so there was no drama in that (I'm not even going to back that up with the stories - I'd be here all day!) and I should've been more firm with the meal choices so my child would remain in a health(ier) food environment, and I should've explained my dicipline philosophy better to the family so they didn't think I was being unfair to anyone. (we're about par with Supernanny's philosophies)
The point? We all make mistakes in life - what's important is that we learn from them and MOVE ON! Live in the now and don't dwell on what's past or what's yet to come.
I have to go now, my little girl wants to read Biscuit books to me! I'm so lucky!
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Aug. 5, 2006 My Horrible Week
Ever have a really bad week? I just did! First, the car breaks down - the engine blew. This was on a Friday night. By Saturday, the city had it stickered, and wanted it removed by Tuesday. I tried to have it donated only to be completely ignored by all internet car donation websites that dealt with my city and all. Then, the other car - a minivan - is out of gas. Gas is over $3/gallon and we have a 25 gallon tank. And a full tank lasts 2 weeks just going to work and back - no extra trips. (Work is pretty far away...) So we get to fill up the tank!
The next day, our one and a half year old puppy starts bleeding from her reproductive area - and it's NOT a normal heat cycle, it's too much blood, it's all over the carpet, dripping and soaking her fur, and we panic. I had to borrow money from a friend to get her seen by a vet, and she's got a uterine infection, normally seen in dogs over 5. It's another $2-300 to get her spayed now because of the infection. We thought we'd have to have her put down, my little girl was so sad, I was sad, and it was just awful.
So we're calling around and the only place willing to work with us is The Humane Society of Auburn Hills, who normally doesn't work with people. When we explained the situation to them, they were willing to work with us and only ask us for $50. Being low income on top of everything helped us get that kind of deal, but it is really encouraging us to ask our richer friends to remember the HSAH when they donate to a charity next time.
Meanwhile, the city is still on us about the stupid "abandoned vehicle" and we have to get it taken care of that day or we're responsible for the expense of the city towing it. We're talking about from Friday to Wednesday, not even a week yet! So we call a junk tow company to take it away for free (it'd be better if we could've gotten like 50 bucks for it, but whatever). This same day, we have to meet the tow truck guy (we did that before the vet) so we've got the sick dog (Bella) in the car, and she's bleeding all over her blankie, looking sicker and sicker, and as we're at the Secretary of State the phone rings. Guess who? The car donation place. Day late and a dollar short.
I'm supposed to have a meeting with the church pastor to keep an after school program running and all I can think about is my dog in surgery and how she's got seperation anxiety and she's probably driving the vet staff nuts. The pastor is hearing my story, car gone, dog in surgery, then the phone rings. In true pastorial fashion, she offers me the car. The vet is around 13 to 15 miles away one way (gas still expensive) and she just lets me take her car like it's nothing. I can't help crying at the generosity and all that. I'm truly grateful. The meeting was postponed, and I got to get Bella back the same day.
Then, yesterday, I'm finally mowing the lawn (it's been a couple weeks because the weather has been over 100 degrees for a week straight) and I'm 3/4 of the way done and I get stung by a wasp. I'm allergic. I got stung (here's the kicker) IN THE BUTT! My behind right now is so swollen it's like I have 2 left cheeks. I can't sit, I can't stand, I'm in PAIN and now that it's the second day, it's ITCHING like I sat on a pile of mosqitoes and let 2,000 of them bite me there. Icing it doesn't help as much as it SHOULD, my sore area is hot and swollen, antihistamines are helping, but.......
Bella's doing fine, I'm GOING to BE fine, the car's still gone - so we're down to one vehicle. It might have been a week from hell, but the blessings were matching the strife (sort of).
At least getting stung in the butt is a funny place to get stung, and I didn't die from shock. The lawn needs finishing still, it's been a day already but I can't risk it while my body's still reacting to the first sting. I'll either have to do it tomorrow evening, or get a neighborhood kid to do it so the lawn isn't that uneven.
That's been my week. What we learned: Sometimes stuff happens and you need to rely on friends and the kindness most people are capable of. When the need is great, the need will somehow be filled.
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Aug. 1, 2006 Newbie says HI to all!
Hello everyone!
I'm a newbie to not only this site, but to blogging in general! Bear with me if you want to read about my trials and all that about being the only Buddhist/Christian homeschooler (on the planet? I feel so alone in that regard, LOL) around that I know of.
My little girl is 5 now, and we're so proud that she's just learning how to read by sounding out the letters within a word! She's shocking us every day learning without much direction. Her math skills are genius level (IMHO, anyhow!) and she's working on first grade workbooks for math and kindergarden for most other things. Money's our biggest issue still, but we're working on it, she knows a penny is one cent, and beyond that she's not there!
We're currently focusing on writing, reading and math, everything else seems to fall in there with simple explanations and questions (like "Mom, what's the 4th of July about? Why do we do fireworks?" that kind of thing) I'm ALWAYS answering questions, and when I don't know, we go to the local library to find out (or the Internet, whichever seems like the more fun!)
I've found that teaching the principals of Buddhism and Christianity are more difficult than I planned on, it seems a bit obscure to a 5 year old what God is exactly or what 'connectedness' really means. We do our best, and figure she's only 5 and how bad can we mess her up yet? We're still learning all the ins and outs of exactly HOW to go about homeschooling. We're keeping a flexible schedule and have joined a Yahoo homeschooling group for my area to bounce ideas around. The best thing about homeschooling is being able to go at my own pace and teach whatever I think is appropriate for her age group. We're currently using a friend who's daughter is 2 years older than mine as a guide for whatever she's learning in school, we try to echo it or catch up by that time. That seems to be working so far, as we can compare notes on what our children are learning and make sure mine doesn't fall too far behind (or that we're pushing too far too fast, either) from the other children in her age group.
I'm enjoying every moment of learning with my little girl as well. It's so fun to study the anatomy of a butterfly or the biology of our garden and re-learn all I have forgotten (the difference between the pistil and the stamen for example) and to just explore and learn with and from eachother.... sighs... It's good to have a blog! I might just LOVE this!
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