Why Homeschool?

Let me preface this post with the line that I end up telling every parent I meet, "Never say never!"  After raising two children to the ages of 25 and 23 I have learned that "never say never" should probably be tattooed on the back of every parent's hand.

It is our intent, as of today, this very minute, to homeschool our girls who are 5, 4 and 3.  I may post in two weeks how much Sydney is enjoying public school but that's not what we have planned.  I have several friends who planned on homeschooling but they have all decided to send their children to some form of public or private school.  I support them 100%.  I did that with my older kids and did a celebration dance when they went.  I never cried or felt sad.  They did ok and made friends and except for one HORRIBLE year for John we all did fine.  They both graduated high school.  Frances is a senior at NC State majoring in something like Business Management with an emphasis on Human Resources and a minor in Accounting (I don't think I am too far off on that).   John is the Executive Sous Chef at the Raleigh Country Club.  Not bad for a 23 year old who never stepped into a classroom (and probably won't again) after his last day of high school.  He's a natural and doing what he loves.  Frances and John were the ones who first mention homeschooling.  They said, "Mom school has changed a lot.  We think you should consider homeschooling."  Sydney was about a year old and I just kind of laughed.  The more I thought about it and the more I heard about schools these days, the more we thought we might consider doing it.  Don't get me wrong, there are days that I think Residential Preschool should be offered to all families.  However, it was just YESTERDAY that Frances was 5 and John was 3.  They grow so fast and then it's done.  I feel like I missed out on so much of their lives because they were in school 8 hours a day learning how to succeed at taking standardized tests.  Then we had HOURS of homework each night that would frustrate all of us.   We could take the time we would spend on homework, add a little more to it and be done with our school work for the day.  We could learn somewhere other than seated in an air conditioned classroom with MAYBE 30 minutes of physical activity a day.  We can take trips without worrying about missing school.  We can do "class" whenever we want.  The girls can learn so much from each other too as we are already seeing.  Hopefully it will be a little easier since they are close in age and they can work on a lot of the same things.  Sydney will be starting "kindergarten" this year.  I looked up what the Standard Course of Study is for NC Public Schools.  She can do most of the stuff listed so I asked her what she wanted to learn.  She said she wants to learn to read so that's what we'll focus on.  We do lots of hands on things with just "worksheets" for handwriting and some phonics.  I'm totally inflexible about those two things and they will learn to write properly and they will be able to sound out words.  Other than that, we will follow their lead on what they want to learn while making sure we are covering the basics that they will need.  As they get older, we may switch to a more curriculum based learning but now I am just pulling ideas from different sources.  It really helps that Tim is totally on board with the whole homeschooling idea.  It just seems natural for us.  I love hearing him reading to the girls, helping them with their handwriting and showing them a love of learning.  He's more likely than I am to pick up the scary bugs for them to look at, touch, etc.  It works for us.....right now.  Will we do it forever?  I don't know but it's the plan.  I know...."never say never"!

Sadie the Foster Dog UPDATE

Examination at the NC State Vet School

Hiding in the corner at the vet school

We have had our foster dog Sadie, an 11 month old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, since late May.  We knew she had a spinal injury (compressed T11 vertebrae) from the beginning.  She has had x-rays and has seen 3 different vets including a neurologist who recommended an MRI.  We jumped through all the referral hoops to get to the NC State Vet School so she could have her MRI.  Her appointment was today at 11:30.  We get there and she is examined by 2 staff members.  She did great on some parts of the test and not so great on others.  Not much she did surprised me as I am pretty in tune with what she can do.  (I must add that she was an absolute ANGEL throughout all the testing and everyone fell in love with her.  Also, the staff was AMAZINGLY nice and patient with my questions.)  Then the resident came in and asked if they could take her outside without me, which was fine of course.  I like to evaluate children without their parents too. They came back telling me about how she was running, playing, etc.  Then I hear, "We think her front legs may be affected too."  I had never even CONSIDERED that her front legs were affected.  Like the resident put it, if you can forget about the elephant in the room (her super-affected rear legs) and concentrate on her front legs, you can see it.  Her front legs are affected.  Period.  But why?  A compressed T11 vertebrae may not be the cause of that.  Is it another issue near her neck or something in her cerebellum or just from compensation for her rear leg issues?  We need further testing.  The testing part was expected.   Oh, and she can't have an MRI because she has too much buckshot in her.  (Why the other neurologist didn't catch this is beyond me.) She needs a Myelogram and a spinal tap which are more invasive and have potentially horrible side effects (though rare).  I know Advil does too but I still take it.  So I am sitting there having to rethink EVERYTHING from procedures to the "all important" COST.  What might need to happen after all the testing??  I just wanted them to give her an MRI and tell me she was going to be like she is now until she's old and gray.  I wasn't hearing that.  Where was my calm, level-headed husband?  Oh yeah, he was at home watching the girls and the other dogs.  I just needed a voice of reason to tell me SOMETHING...."You are insane!"  "You are doing the right thing."  Something, anything.  I didn't have that.  Then I ask "When" and they say "the sooner the better".  I hear "this Thursday" (as in 2 days from now).  I look down at Sadie's sweet face and say "OK".    Sadie will have a Myelogram and spinal tap on Thursday.  Hopefully we will have some answers.

 I must repeat how wonderful the staff in the neurology department at the NC State Vet School is.  They are amazing!  Thank you for taking care of Sadie :o)

Sleep is so overrated.

I wonder if I will ever sleep through the night again?  I keep thinking "tonight will be the night" but it hasn't happened in a very long time.  With the girls it was the pregnancies, the co-sleeping (due to sheer laziness on my part not because I thought they would be damaged if I put them in their crib),  nursing every 2 hours, waking in the middle of the night and needing to sleep in bed with Mom and Dad.  That went on for years.  Now it's the dogs.  We have a king sized bed but it amazes me how much room 2 Chesapeakes need.  I get a sliver on the outside of one side and Tim sleeps where he can find a spot.  Lately we deal with fun stuff like Sadie's thrown up, Sadie or Beau have pooped, Beau needs to pee, they want to play, etc.  Last night I went to bed at 10 and set the alarm for 4:30 so I could be at the gym.  I am awakened at 1:44 am to Tim saying, "Sadie threw up."  I say, "OK".  He repeats, "Sadie threw up."  I say, "Do I need to clean it up?"  He says he already did it so I roll back over.  He repeats AGAIN, "Sadie threw up."  I am thinking to myself, "I added some dog food to her food today since she seemed really hungry and her poop looked good."  So I managed to mumble something like that out loud.  He says, "It was just chicken and rice."  I am thinking, "I changed to brown rice and probably fed her too much" but I didn't want to start a conversation for fear I would be awake for hours.  I said, "I understand Sadie threw up.  Good night."  and managed to fall back asleep after running every reason through my brain that Sadie could have thrown up 7 hours after I fed her.  (I should note that I am NOT nice when woken up in the middle of the night.  Period!)  At 4:00 am sharp, I hear whining at the gate at our door.  It's Sonny, the 10 yr old resident dog who NEVER needs to go out in the middle of the night.   He did today.  All 3 dogs stampeded down the stairs and went out.  By then, it was 4:10 and not even worth trying to get everyone situated back upstairs for 20 minutes when my alarm would go off.  I stayed up, went to the gym at 4:55, worked out for 1 1/2 hours and came home to a quiet house.  Everyone else was still sleeping, even the dogs. 

Off to refill my coffee cup!  Have a great day :)

Martha

An MRI for a Dog Costs WHAT??

Why would we even think about spending so much money on a "rescue dog"?   I've heard that from several people who say, "Think of how many OTHER dogs you could help with that much money?"  Well, what about THIS DOG?  Why doesn't she deserve the help she needs?  She didn't chose to have a damaged vertebrae.   In fact, the vets are amazed she has adapted so well to her injury.  She learned to "lay low" and not challenge other dogs.  She also learned how to work VERY hard to do what the other dogs are able to do easily.  Did I mention that she is a really nice dog?   After she stopped being terrified of everything, we got to see how sweet she is.  Funny but she was never, ever scared of the kids.  In fact, she adores them and they adore her.   I really think Sadie has a purpose in this world and  I will do whatever it takes to make sure she gets her MRI.  I am horrible at begging for money (even having money for that matter).  I am a mom to 5 kids, a wife, a special education teacher and dog rescuer.  None of those things pay very much in terms of money but the rewards are more than money can buy.  If you have any extra cash and think it's a worthy cause, feel free to donate towards Sadie's MRI at  Sadie's CBR R&R page .  Every dollar counts!  If not (and you think I've flipped my lid to want to spend that much money on a foster dog),  just send good thoughts that the MRI will show us that she won't get any worse.  I haven't let myself even think about other possible results.  We are all staying positive and will just have to cross that bridge if we need to.  We go to the NC State Vet School a week from tomorrow and should find out when her MRI will be.  We ALMOST have enough money raised to cover it!

Martha

Self Study in Beautician School

Zoe cut her hair....again.  This time we can tell where she cut it.  It's right in the front (of course) so now she has bangs that are about 1/2 inch long.  Good thing she has really curly hair.  It's just scary because she REALLY DID NOT CARE that she did it and had no explanation.  She's like that about a lot of things.  And we thought Hunter was going to give us the most trouble.  We are reconsidering that thought.

Martha

Formerly, the front part of Zoe's hair.

Zoe with her new "bangs".

Foster dogs

I volunteer with Chesapeake Bay Retriever Relief and Rescue which is how my husband and I met.   He ended up adopting a sweet young Chessie mix, Sonny, through me.  We still have him and now we are a foster home.  This year, we lost 3 dogs to old age and illness and the house seemed so quiet (relatively since a house with 5,4 and 3 year old girls can only be so quiet).   Sonny seemed lonely and depressed without any canine companions.  We heard about a sweet, scared young female with a spinal injury so we volunteered to take her.   We had Sadie for about 2 1/2 months when we heard about Beau, a 7 month old male in a shelter that needed a foster home.  He joined our home a week ago.  Both dogs were strays and it appears that neither dog had ever been inside a home before.  They certainly had not been well taken care of but they are both very loving and eager to please.  Beau is Mr. Confident and not scared of ANYTHING.  Sadie was scared of EVERYTHING when we got her but she's slowly getting used to all the things in our life.  We try to take them out as much as possible to get them used to different situations.  All 3 dogs get along great and enjoy each other's company.  Sadie and Beau are both great with the girls who kiss, hug, sing to, lay with, play with and share food with them.  We are working on housebreaking and basic manners with both dogs.  They seem to be quick learners and are generally well behaved.  We believe the dogs should be completely integrated into our home since Chessies love to be with their people.  We want to get to know all about the dogs so we can find them the best forever home.   Hopefully, they will have such a wonderful future that they will forget about their not so wonderful past.  

Beau is ready for adoption to a home who is willing to put up with his "puppy" behaviors.  He really needs another dog in the home unless his family has unlimited energy.  He is a very confident dog who will need an owner who can be in charge.  We have never seen any aggression with Beau when it comes to people, food or other dogs.  He does mount other dogs but seems to understand their corrections.  His recent neuter may help too. Beau constantly wags his tail and is one of the happiest dogs we have ever seen.  

Sadie is not ready for adoption at this time.  She has a shortened T11 vertebrae and has an appointment at the NC State Vet School on August 30.  We are raising money for an MRI to thoroughly assess her injury.  At this time, we do not know if her disability will get worse,  stay the same or require treatment.   You can follow her on Facebook at Sadie's Facebook or check out her webpage at CBR R&R Sadie .

Off to feed the dogs and hope all the dogs and kids sleep through the night.

Martha

My Very First Post

I have so much to say in my very first post but I don't have time right now.  The foster dogs (bless their hearts @@) woke me up at 5 am this morning so I had time to create my blog.  I can't write much since the girls and I are leaving for the beach in an hour and I haven't even gotten our suitcases out of the closet.  At least the blog is created and I even managed to put a picture on it!  Baby steps :)

Have a great Sunday!
Martha