Raising Hands

I've been having a big ole pity party for myself these last couple months since my Hoshimoto's diagnosis. I was recently snapped back to reality by a phone call that my latest blood worked showed my situation deteriorating. It's never good when your doctors nurse calls to have you come in first thing the very next morning:-/  The last time I left the doctors office I had more questions than answers and became very overwhelmed by a lot of information on the web (good and bad). I've had time to wade through it and went to my appointment armed with good questions. My doctor (who has a terrible reputation and now I know why) brushed me off and basically ignored me.  He is the only endocrinologist in a 60 mile radius and he knows it. He can do whatever he wants. He's a charlatan.  So, now I have a diagnosis and a doctor who refuses to treat me. Well, refusing to run a more specific set of tests to make sure I don't need additional hormone support. One thing I've

When you live in a resort community the days and weeks between Memorial Day and Labor Day mean staying as far away from the beaches and outlet malls we love. There are super secret beaches where locals go to enjoy the Summer months but unless you're prepared to battle crowds and parking? We just stay away (Don't feel too sorry. We do brave the crowds. It is the beach after all.)  On the Tuesday after Labor Day the locals come crawling out of wherever they've been taking cover and take back the town. We picked up MomMom and PopPop and headed straight to our favorite pizza place followed by a stroll down the boardwalk.  We stopped to take a silly picture in front of a beachfront hotel which holds a bit of personal nostalgia. (Stephen had arranged a surprise engagement party for us after he proposed on the beach. With my parents as surprise guests.  I had left them in Indiana just the day before!)  We had a lovely afternoon and have already made a few more visits to walk the

We did it. We've drunk the Kool-Aid. We've crossed over. We're Homeschooling. We're having a ball. Of course it's all fun and games one week in. The process of getting here has been long. Six months ago I would have laughed in your face if you'd told me we'd be keeping Jacob home this year.  The realization that I actually could do it came while reading The Well Trained Mind . That, and some good talks with close friends. I've taken many curriculum suggestions from the book authors as well as my fellow homeschool moms. For phonics and reading we're using  The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading . We started a couple weeks ago and have hit our stride with it. For math we chose the Kindergarten curriculum from Saxon Math. I like how interactive it is so for. Jacob looks forward to it too. To round things out and make sure we didn't miss anything I bought the lot when it came to the Rod and Staff workbooks. I bought ten (A-