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May 28, 2006
Chicago
We went to play in Chicago for a few days.
Have I mentioned that we love Chicago?
We only made it to one museum, which is bizarre for us. However we'll go back. It's not a problem.
The one museum we made it to was the Field. As we drove by the Field, we couldn't help but notice the huge banners announcing the return of the King Tut exhibit. I thought we had just had to write that exhibit off. Tut is there until January, so we were excited at the idea of coming back to Chicago to see it. The exhibit was set to open May 26. We were there May 25. Oh, well. We needed to pay a visit to Sue, anyway.
At the ticket counter we jokingly asked if there were any Tut tickets available for opening day. The lady assured us there were not. Then she gave us kind of a funny look. Now, we're used to funny looks, but this was a different, speculative kind.
"Well ..." she said, "how much time do you have? Do you want to see it today?"
Uh, yeah. That would be fine.
It seems that WGN had incorrectly announced the opening date as the 25th. As a result the exhibit had to open a day early, though they were being hush-hush about it so as not to mar the planned opening. Whatever. We grabbed the tickets and ran! No crowds! No lines! Cackles of glee!
The exhibit is good. My favorite pieces were the necklaces, headdress, knife, etc. found on the mummy itself, and the container that had held Tutankhamun's liver. (This picture does not do it justice. It's gorgeous.) The kids loved the various canopic jars and the sarcophagus.
The exhibit does a nice job of placing Tutankhamun in context, with information on his family and the state of Egypt when he became pharoah. Very well done.
Other than that, we played, we shopped, we ate, we walked. We walked along the lake. We walked up and down Michigan Avenue and State street. We played in the fountains at Millennium Park and Navy Pier. We rode the ferris wheel, and the carousel.
Right before we left we popped into Europa Books on State St. and found this. It's gorgeous. It's made to look like an illuminated manuscript. How can you resist? We also picked up an Asterix in Latin.
Happy.
Posted by lynx at 10:39 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 23, 2006
Which Latin?
Here's a nifty new comparison of Latin curricula. If you can't find a good curriculum here ... learn Greek instead.
Posted by lynx at 11:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Early Weekend
Well, we're off to have some fun for the weekend. In the meantime, I leave you a thought-provoking, evocative piece of performance art to contemplate.
Tashia - are you out there? When I watched this video, I had scary images of a little room in Mary Hay Hall ... Monty Python sketches and green dragons ... we totally could have done this.
(Apparently, this is a phenomenon.)
Posted by lynx at 11:07 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Okay, Jeff
What do you think of this?
Posted by lynx at 8:27 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
May 22, 2006
The Tentative Plan
I've been trying to take everything I've learned and read over the past few years, and put it into a plan for our kids.
So voila! Here is The Plan So Far. Click if you want all the gory details.
Question marks further down in the math, Latin and Greek areas are largely because so much is going to depend on ability and aptitude up to that point. It's too soon to tell if high school is going to see us zipping through calculus, or finally mastering algebra. And who knows how long it will take to get through the Latin texts - not I! Maybe Greek will be a bust. Maybe we'll be sick of Latin by 9th grade. If we only get through CW Herodotus, that will be FINE. There is much to be seen. I am going for "ambitious, but doable" here.
No science is on the list. That doesn't mean we won't study science. It does mean I have no idea, yet, what we'll study when. I think, though, that a good, solid grounding in math, logic, and Latin and Greek vocabulary will put us in a good position for science.
This is pulled largely from the Highlands Latin School curriculum, with input from The Latin-Centered Curriculum, and keeping with The Well-Trained Mind four-year history rotation. Whew. This is also based on Connor's school years; the other kids will be folded in as their time comes. I do not yet know to what extent I can combine Connor and Aidan for literature studies, or how long I will be able to keep them in the same level of the progymnasmata.
I reserve the right to change anything, at any time, or to scrap the whole thing and go bowling. This plan is not meant to be thought of as exhaustive or complete. In fact, it's meant to be a bare minimum tied to the kite tail of hope. This plan does not represent the fact that there will be lots of reading happening outside the plan (Stevenson, Poe, Orwell, Heinlein, Calvin and Hobbes).
Plus, this is the first time that their father will have seen The Plan, and I imagine he might have some comments.
5th Grade:
Math - Singapore 4B/5A, Right Start D
Connor surprised me by working more quickly through math, and is in Singapore 5B at midyear. Aidan is in Right Start D almost exclusively, and Singapore 3 is a supplement for him.
Latin - Latin Book One (Scott and Horn)
We've switched to Using Latin Book One, by the same authors. The text moves at a slightly slower pace. At midyear, we're about a quarter of the way through the book. It's going well.
Writing - Progym Fable and Narrative (Classical Writing - finish Aesop, possibly begin Homer),
Updated to remove Spell to Write and Read as a separate program. No need, we can use the techniques to spell words from our Classical Writing assignments. Also updated to rearrange the sequence to start CW Poetry later, so that Aidan can join in as well. 3rd grade will be a bit young to start this, apparently.
Second update: I'm an idiot, Connor needs the spelling. Aidan does not - Aidan frequently tells Connor how to spell words. Connor has zipped through Aesop B. After the start of the year, I'm going to try starting him in Homer, and Aidan in Aesop B, using the same models.
Literature Studies - Connor: Narnia, Shakespeare Stories, The Children's Homer
Aidan: Narnia, Tanglewood Tales/A Wonder Book. Aidan may perhaps do Shakespeare Stories with us.
At midyear, we've finished the Narnia series. Aidan's read Charlotte's Web and Black Ships Before Troy, and Connor's read The Hobbit. We've read some of Bruce Coville's Shakespeare. And Star Trek. They've both read lots and lots of Star Trek. Connor has read Timothy Zahn's Thrawn series (Star Wars).
Classical Studies - Caesar's Gallic War, Famous Men of Greece or Herodotus for Children
Mmmm ... we're still trying to finish D'Aulaire's Greek Myths and Famous Men of Rome. After those, we're going to move into Famous Men of Greece and D'Aulaire's Norse Myths. Connor might read Caesar's Gallic War on his own. Or not.
History - Ancient History (History Odyssey) (The Children's Homer is scheduled in the history readings)
However, Connor hates History Odyssey. I'm reading Story of the World to the younger ones, and Connor is reading through the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia - his choice. Along with that he wants to study World War II, so that's what he's doing.
End-of-Year Assessment: We ditched our Latin plans. At year's end, Connor's doing Unit 1 of Henle, Aidan has completed Latina Christiana I, and both are working through Lingua Latina (in Cap. IV).
Connor has completed Singapore 6A, and says math is his favorite subject. Aidan is 3/4 through Right Start D, and is bored, so is also working through Singapore 3.
Connor has finished through Week 5 of Classical Writing Homer; Aidan is about a quarter of the way into Aesop B. Classical Writing is Aidan's favorite subject.
We've pretty much read what we set out to read. I also read "Archimedes and the Door of Science" to them. Aidan is currently reading "Theras and His Town," and Connor is reading "Caesar's Gallic Wars." We didn't finish "Famous Men of Greece," but, eh, we will.
We worked through Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry.
Connor is still working on his independent study of World War II. Both boys ended up in an American history class this semester, quite by accident. It was a good class, though. Aidan and Griffin did SOTW 1.
And there you are.
6th Grade
Math - Singapore 5B/6A, Right Start E Singapore 6B/Dolciani Pre-Algebra. 4th Grade Aidan will be doing Right Start D and E, along with Singapore's Challenging Word Problems. 2nd Grade-ish Griffin and K-ish Lachlan will be doing Right Start B. Everyone will be doing living math lessons.
8/26/07 Well, right off the bat we've ditched Right Start, the math program I love so dearly. I still love it. However, Aidan wanted a break from it. I ran into an odd problem with Griffin; Right Start, with its manipulatives and brilliant concrete teaching, could not help Griffin understand place value. He simply doesn't get it. I was not able to teach it to him (a first). We cannot move forward with RS until he gets it. So we've all moved back to the (comparatively) more conventional Singapore.
Latin - Latin Book One continued, or Two, depending on our pace Henle I Units 2-5, with readings from Using Latin Book One Lingua Latina. 4th Grade Aidan will continue with Latin for Children and/or Latina Christiana is currently using Using Latin Book One and Lingua Latina. Frankly, I imagine we'll hop from program to program until he starts Henle in 5th. whenever he's ready for it.
Writing - Progym Narrative (Classical Writing, Homer A) Classical Writing Elementary Poetry 4th Grade Aidan will do Classical Writing Aesop B and Poetry. It's entirely possible that Aidan will move into Homer A. Lachlan and Griffin will do copywork.
Greek - Elementary Greek I (Aidan might start this too.) Haven't even bought this yet, don't know if I will. I'm considering waiting for Galore Park to finish their Greek program.
Literature Studies - Horatius at the Bridge, The Hobbit, King Arthur, Robin Hood, Beowulf.
Classical Studies - Famous Men of the Middle Ages, Horatius at the Bridge
History - Medieval History for everyone but Connor. Connor will do whatever he wants to.
7th Grade
Math - Singapore 6B, Right Start Geometry NEM and Dolciani Algebra, taking it very slowly, and probably with some of the algebra before starting NEM. 5th Grade Aidan will finish Right Start and go into Singapore 5A. Griffin will do Right Start C.
Latin - Henle I, Units 6-10, readings from Using Latin Book Two. Aidan will move into Henle 1, Units 1-2. If he's ready, Griffin (3rd) will begin Latina Christiana. Lively Latin.
Greek - Elementary Greek II
Logic - Traditional Logic I
Writing - Classical Writing Homer B. Aidan will be doing CW Homer A/B. If he's ready, Griffin will begin Classical Writing Aesop. Shoot me now. On second thought, we could always push this off to next year.
Literature Studies - Iliad and Odyssey
Classical Studies - Readings from Cambridge History of Mankind series
History - Early Modern. Griffin and Lachlan will use SOTW, which will likely be over Lachlan's head, so ...
8th Grade
Math - NEM, more Dolciani's Algebra, play around with ideas from Gelfand's Algebra and Introduction to Number Theory. Aidan - Singapore 6. Griffin should be in Right Start E, which means Lachlan would be somewhere around B or C.
Latin - Henle I, Units 11-14. For Aidan, Henle I, Units 3-5. For Griffin, more Latina Christiana.
Greek - Elementary Greek III
Logic - Traditional Logic II
Writing - Progym - Maxim (CW Diogenes), Intermediate Poetry. Aidan will work on Homer B. (This year should also see us beginning Fable/CW Aesop with the two younger children)
Literature Studies - Lord of the Rings (Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings)
Classical Studies - The Aeneid
History - Modern History (History Odyssey)
9th Grade
Math - Euclid. Aidan - Dolciani pre-algebra. Griffin - Singapore 5. Lachlan - Right Start C.
Latin - Henle I I. For Aidan - Henle I, Units 6-10. For Griffin, Henle I Units 1-2. Theoretically time for Lachlan to begin LC I.
Greek - First Greek Book or switch to Spanish or other modern language. Possibly start Griffin in Elementary Greek.
Logic - Material Logic I
Writing - Progym CW Chreia and Shakespeare
Younger children will finish CW Aesop and begin Homer. Or something.
Literature Studies - Gilgamesh and undecided
Classical Studies - Sophocles, Euripides
History - er ... two younger children will do History Odyssey ancients this year. Aidan may do so as well.
10th Grade
Latin - Henle II (Caesar). Aidan - 11-14 of Henle I. Griffin - 3-5 of Henle I. I will be so sick of Henle that I will want to scream. Lachlan - Latina Christiana.
Math - NEM and Algebra II, Dolciani. Griffin - Singapore 6. Lachlan - RS E.
Greek - First Greek Book or modern foreign language
Logic - Material Logic II
Writing - Progym CW Herodotus and Shakespeare
Younger children will finish Homer and begin Diogenes
Literature Studies - Macbeth, Henry IV, Henry V, Hamlet
Classical Studies - Thucydides (Peloponnesian War), Tacitus or Cicero or Aristophanes
History - Churchill's History of the English-Speaking Peoples. The three younger children will do History Odyssey Level 2 medieval.
11th Grade
Latin - Henle III (Cicero)
Math - ??
Greek - Anabasis or modern foreign language
Logic/Rhetoric - Rhetoric with Aristotle
Writing - CW Plutarch, Poetry
Literature Studies - The Divine Comedy
Classical Studies - Aristotle - Nichomachean Ethics, Marcus Aurelius - Meditations
History - An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Common Sense, The Rights of Man, Federalist/Antifederalist Papers, Churchill
12th Grade
The same question marks as before. The goal for Latin is to read a little Cicero and Virgil in the original, or possibly to study for the AP Catullus exam. If we're still going strong in Greek, we'll attempt a little Homer this year.
Latin - Henle IV (Virgil)
Modern foreign language
Writing - CW Demosthenes, Poetry
Literature Studies - I suppose we need some American authors in here somewhere, for the transcript
Classical Studies - Plato's Republic, Gibbon (abridged, for the love of God).
History - The Communist Manifesto, Churchill
Are you scared? I am. Some of you are laughing. Some of you are overwhelmed. Some of you think I'm insane. Some of you think I'm being too highbrow. Some of you are impressed. And SOME of you have planned twice as much. I know who you are.
I encourage the impressed and inspired ones to leave the most comments :)
I had some trouble with the more advanced classical studies, because ... I haven't read most of these things. I had to look the authors up to see what in heck we'd be reading, because people tend to list "Thucydides" with the understanding that everyone knows that means the history of the Peloponnesian War. And now so do you. I'd like a good mix, and I hope I've done that.
Updated 5/28/06 to add Euclid in 9th grade, and to fill out the high school Latin plan.
Updated 3/07 for progress, to change our math plans, and to flesh out some plans for the other kids.
Posted by lynx at 10:23 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
May 18, 2006
I Like Workbooks
Working intensively with the kids leaves me drained. And so, of course I choose every teacher-intensive curriculum known to man.
We did three things today. Three. We did Right Start Math, Classical Writing and Spell to Write and Read (that's math, writing and spelling for those who don't know the lingo). I understand that many normal families can cover these three things in, say, an hour and a half at most. Us? Hours. And hours.
We have to doodle. We have to draw pictures that are not relevant to the task at hand. We have to throw things at our brothers across the table. We have to entertain smaller children who sit on our laps, or make lightsaber attacks at the brothers who are supposed to be doing lessons. We have to ask for snacks. We have to pretend to write the spelling words in an alien alphabet. We have to run upstairs to make sure the cats are not stalking the parakeet. We have to draw spaceships. And more spaceships. And space battles. We have to pretend to be rabid kitty cats, or psychotic alarm clocks.
I am perfecting the art of giving a command in a calm, clear voice, eight times over, until I finally wear the child down with my stubborn refusal to be swayed.
Gone is any desire I ever had to be in a room with 30 of these enchanting creatures, attempting to teach them anything. "Does homeschooling really work?" is not the right question. The right question is "Why, how, does a classroom situation ever work?" And "Does the per-pupil expenditure in public schools involve Valium prescriptions for the teachers? Or does alcohol do the trick?"
Three subjects. Did you see Latin in there? No, you did not. I don't want to hear about it, either. Shut up.
Posted by lynx at 10:35 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
May 16, 2006
Latin at the Core
I have an article posted at The Latin-Centered Curriculum site. Read me there!
Posted by lynx at 10:47 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 13, 2006
I've been given the bird!
I hesitate to say this, but ... we got a replacement budgie.
As of a couple of hours ago, it has survived slightly longer in our house than birdie #1 did. Hopefully this is a positive sign. It may help that half the boys are at Scout camp this weekend. Yes, they brought home a new bird and left it here. With me. Me, the one who found the last bird dead in its cage. No anxiety here, nosiree.
Birdie #1 was active and curious. It would sit on anyone's finger and climb all over them. It wanted to explore. It was downright gregarious.
The new birdie wants nothing to do with us. It does not want anything to do with anyone's finger. It has, at times, turned its back to us on its little perch. It's still alive, though. (Maybe I should go upstairs and check?) It sits on one particular place on one perch and that is it. I can tell that it's been elsewhere in its cage, but it has never let us see it off its perch. Except that earlier today, when I was talking to it in what I hope was a soothing way, it suddenly climbed off its perch and walked all around its cage. Then it leapt onto the cage walls and clawed its way around the bars. It chirped several times.
Then it got back on its perch.
I'm hoping the sudden trek around the cage is a good sign?
The boys are having a blast at camp. Tonight they made marshmallow blow guns out of PVC pipe. You have never seen happier boys.
Posted by lynx at 11:30 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Have I mentioned that ...
it's good to learn Latin?
Posted by lynx at 11:25 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Which Wife?
Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?
this quiz was made by Lori Fury
I always did admire her ability to take a terrible deal and make a happy life out of it. I'll take this as a compliment to my stunning ability to roll with the punches, and try to ignore the fact I was just called sensible and practical, and they've seen my shoes.
HT: Out of Lascaux
Posted by lynx at 1:21 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 12, 2006
Poetry Friday, you say?
It's only fitting ....
The Fat Budgie
by John Lennon, from the book "A Spaniard in the Works"
(I still have most of this memorized from my childhood. I'm not sure what that tells you about my childhood.)
I have a little budgie
He is my very pal
I take him walks in Britain
I hope I always shall.
I call my budgie Jeffrey
My grandads name's the same
I call him after grandad
Who had a feathered brain.
Some people don't like budgies
The little yellow brats
They eat them up for breakfast
Or give them to their cats.
My uncle ate a budgie
It was so fat and fair.
I cried and called him Ronnie
He didn't seem to care
Although his name was Arthur
It didn't mean a thing.
He went into a petshop
And ate up everything.
The doctors looked inside him,
To see what they could do,
But he had been too greedy
And died just like a zoo.
My Jeffrey chirps and twitters
When I walk into the room,
I make him scrambled egg on toast
And feed him with a spoon.
He sings like other budgies
But only when in trim
But most of all on Sunday
Thats when I plug him in.
He flies about the room sometimes
And sits upon my bed
And if he's really happy
He does it on my head.
He's on a diet now you know
From eating far too much
They say if he gets fatter
He'll have to wear a crutch.
It would be funny wouldn't it
A budgie on a stick
Imagine all the people
Laughing till they're sick.
So that's my budgie Jeffrey
Fat and yellow too
I love him more than daddie
And I'm only thirty two.
Posted by lynx at 10:55 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
May 11, 2006
All right, now I'm really pissed.
We figured that just in case this bird had an undiagnosed illness, we'd better take it to a vet and see if we can determine whyit died. If it had an undiagnosed illness, then the birds back at the store may be ill.
I made the appointment with the vet first. Then I called the store to let them know we'd lost the bird. Since the bird died within 48 hours of leaving their care, I thought they'd like to know.
The owner answered the phone. She was all about her liability. She assured me the bird almost certainly died of stress, and that if we want to she'll give us half off another. And we need to tell her our decision by tomorrow, because she can't hold the offer open past then.
Screw that, I don't want to give her any more of my money.
I want my son to feel better. I want to know why the bird died. If it did die of stress, I want to know how we can do better next time. I was actually worried about disease spreading to the rest of their stock. Yes, it would be nice to be offered a refund, or something, but that is not why I called.
How far it goes to be kind and sympathetic to people. It doesn't take much. Instead, I get told that it was likely our fault and receive a grudging offer off another bird? Bite me.
Posted by lynx at 10:50 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
May 10, 2006
Damn, damn, damn!
The bird is dead.
Lachlan came to get me this evening. "Mom, you gotta come upstairs and see what the parakeet is doing!"
So I went. When I walked into the room and didn't see the parakeet in its cage right away, I didn't want to look more closely. It's my constant fear as a mother, that when I look in the cage/bed/tank/jar, whatever it is will be dead.
The poor thing was lying on its side on the bottom of the cage.
Connor is devastated, but he's handling it far better than I thought he would. I am so sad for him. Griffin is taking it very hard too. Griffin's feelings run deep, and he thinks a great deal about death, anyway. He doesn't understand it, and he doesn't like it.
We'll take it to the vet tomorrow. Since it had a 72-hour health guarantee from the store, we have to get it a birdie autopsy. I hope it had some kind of illness, and that it wasn't anything we did.
Sigh.
Posted by lynx at 9:59 PM | Comments (9) | TrackBack
Yawn
There's a park day today. We got up, did chores, did our minimum of schoolwork, ate lunch ...
And then realized that we're tired.
When you're too tired to go to the park, you're tired. We should go to the park. Odds are that it will be rainy tomorrow, and we won't have the option. Just can't do it, though.
I'm either going to take a nap, or make more coffee and work on an article for Drew's site. Right now the nap idea is winning, but we'll see.
My four-year-old is watching a documentary on the Forbidden City. When the narrator asks rhetorical questions, Lachlan answers him:
Towering Narrator voice: Was China doomed because it could not adapt to the demands of the changing modern world?Lachlan: Yes!
Who knew that Dora taught him to listen and respond?
Theoretically the doctor will call today to tell me in what ways Aidan's blood is different this week from last week. I'm beginning to think he just likes to look at my kid's blood. He also doesn't yet understand who he's dealing with. He likes to have nurses call me to say something generic like "everything looks fine" or, "the doctor wants to start him on antibiotics." Silly man. I expect to see each lab report. I want to see all the numbers. I want to know what he's looking at, and exactly why we're taking the meds. Details.
This doc is a nice guy, but I need to have a doctor who will tell me everything, and treat me as a partner.
I hope he calls before I fall alseep.
Posted by lynx at 12:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
May 9, 2006
You do What?
Think I get funny looks from people when I say that we homeschool? I get far funnier ones when they ask me about howwe homeschool. We do a form of classical education that we call Latin-centered education.
Now, Drew Campbell has a new book, and a new website, dedicated to this strange thing we do.
We also have a nifty mailing list with over 500 members. Gosh, maybe there's something to this Latin stuff after all.
So instead of looking at me as if I've grown an extra head, you can see for yourself what it is we do, and what we strive for. Plus, Drew gets bonus points for using the word "renascence" on his site.
Posted by lynx at 9:46 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
May 8, 2006
Bird Brain
I may have lost my mind.
A few weeks ago our oldest son began lobbying for a parakeet. He's wanted one before, but this time the boy was serious. And he had the allowance money to prove it.
I told him he'd better read up on parakeet care first. So he did. He read every book on parakeets he could find at the library. And he begged. And begged. And begged.
Out of the blue one day, and email landed in my inbox that mentioned the existence of a bird store which sells hand-raised parakeets, just a couple of blocks away from the doctor's office. Aidan had another appointment today, so I thought we'd just see what they had ...
Meet our new parakeet. He doesn't have a name yet. Actually, we don't know if it's a he or a she, yet. I know nothing about birds, except what cats do to them.
It seems like a sweet little birdie. Please tell me these are very easy pets and we'll have no trouble keeping it alive. Please?
Connor, on the other hand, we might have to beat. He won't allow us to make any loud noises, in fear of startling the parakeet. I was not allowed to take the picture with a flash. We're not to turn on any lights in his room after dark, for fear of waking the bird. He has a strict cleaning, socialization, and training regimen planned out. Me, I have cats, and "benign neglect" is one of my favorite phrases.
Next year, Aidan is determined to get a hamster. We convinced him that it's best to wait until we move again. Then we're doomed. The cats will either be irritated and frustrated that we're housing birds and rodents, or they'll see it as a challenge ...
Posted by lynx at 8:07 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
May 4, 2006
More Songs of the Four-Year-Old
"P-I-J-O-O
P-I-J-O-O
P-I-J-O-O and Plasmo was his name-o."
Don't ask me. I have no idea.
Posted by lynx at 10:07 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Interactive Global Lost
This is the most fun TV show ever.
I didn't see it, but apparently during last night's episode of "Lost" they aired a commercial for the Hanso Foundation. And the manuscript Sawyer was reading is available for purchase.
And then, check out the post on Lost ... and gone forever. Follow the links.
Most fun TV show. Ever.
Posted by lynx at 9:55 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
Better News
Aidan's sonogram was fine. They found no problems with his kidneys. Which is great! On the other hand, it means that I don't think they have any idea why he's suddenly running fevers and vomiting consistently every evening. Just in the evenings. And he complains of back pain. He's fine during the daytime. When I had those symptoms, I had a kidney infection.
Hopefully we'll know more on Monday. But at least his kidneys are fine.
Posted by lynx at 9:16 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
May 1, 2006
Ill
I never realized, when I was younger, just how little my Mother could actually do for me when I was sick.
Aidan's purpura is flaring up again, and evey evening he is sick. He hobbles around, because his feet hurt and are swollen. He's nauseous. Sometimes he vomits. Sometimes he has a fever.
And all I can really do is to tell him that I'm sorry, and get him some ice water, and help him to lie down comfortably.
It's the most frustrating thing in the world, knowing that there is really nothing I can do.
We're taking him for a sonogram of his kidneys on Thursday, because the doc was not quite happy with what he found at our follow-up appointment today. Think happy kidney thoughts for us.
Posted by lynx at 9:36 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
Decluttering Education
KathyJo says everything I would say about my philosophy of education, if I were saying anything about my philosophy of education. Okay, not everything, because I can go on quite a bit. But yeah, what she said. She's right. All of it.
Posted by lynx at 9:17 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack