Archive for 2008:
Two in less than six months
That’s two children —two of my children— diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in less than 6 months. Why?? God only knows.
Our 4yr. old Matthew has just been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes —just like his 8yr. old sister Maggie not five months ago. Thankfully we saw the signs and caught it early but he is still sick. We took him to the hospital Sat. night and because his blood glucose numbers continue to go very high (over 600) he is still there. He’ll be “OK” but of course, as long as he has this blasted disease he won’t be completely OK.
Life is so very unfair sometimes. I’m sorry if I sound like I’m whining, I suppose I am. I’m operating on very little sleep and my emotions are rather raw at the moment. How anyone manages to actually sleep in a hospital I will never know. I feel like a total zombie. Tim has insisted that he will stay with Matthew tonight so that I can sleep in my own bed and I do not have the energy to argue otherwise. Matthew seems fine with the idea since he is quite the Daddy’s boy and by now is feeling much more comfortable with the whole hospital situation. The nurses are great and he is enjoying the attention (and too much TV!). He’s getting used to all the shots and finger pokes but still has a really hard time with the blood draws (3 - 4 x daily until we are sure he is completely out of ketosis and those blood glucose numbers come down. Because we caught it early he didn’t go into diabtetic ketoacidosis as Maggie did, so his condition is much less critical than hers was).
It’s been a rough couple of days to say the least. I know it does no good to ask why and yet two children getting diabetes in less than 6 months just begs the question. I know God has a plan, I just can’t see any inkling of it at the moment. I am perplexed and even somewhat angry.
Of course in many ways I do see things differently this time but then again because I know more that’s not necessarily a good thing. I know what it means to deal with this disease and admittedly in my current state of exhaustion knowing that I will be managing TWO children with it is a bit overwhelming. I know God will give us the strength and courage we need but I also know He’s willing to push us to the outer limits some days. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that scares me a little bit.
To those who have been praying —thank you. I do not doubt your prayers have been a blessing. Do please continue to pray for Matthew and all of us as we adjust to another “new normal” and if you will, please pray with me for my other children who will unfortunately be under my constant scrutiny. I’m already wont to test someone’s blood sugar if they aren’t feeling well and given the events of the last few days I am sure that will only increase. In fact the pediatrician suggested I keep a very close eye on the other little ones. I will be indeed.
Subscribe to the comments for this postAutumn Harvest
It’s the first day of Fall (or the last day of Summer depending on which calendar you consult).
We still have roses and tomatoes
hmmm. . . she seems to be contemplating what a tasty treat this will be with dinner.
Have a beautiful day!
Simple Woman’s Daybook for September 22nd, 2008
Don’t forget to stop by Peggy’s for all the links entered in this week’s Simple Woman’s Daybook.
Outside my window. . .65 degrees. What a difference a week makes. It’s officially fall and right on cue it looks and feels like a lovely early Autumn day. Thank you Lord! Last night as Peter was getting ready for bed he told me how excited he was that tomorrow fall began. When I asked him why he said because of the leaves that would be changed. I think he actually thought they would all change overnight —how sweet!
I am thinking. . . about the week ahead. It’s busy but not terribly full. I need to do some shopping to fill in the wardrobe gaps for the little boys. They need pants . . . without holes, and long sleeved tops.
From the schoolroom. . . I’m adding this in since we’re back to school. For some reason “learning room” doesn’t sound right to my ears. I don’t why, but it just doesn’t. I don’t mind the term “school” like some do because all of life is learning but we do have specific times when we do lessons and we call that school. No offense to anyone please —it’s just what works for us. Anyway, right now I’m overseeing Peter’s math lesson and cheering Matthew on as he traces numbers in his Pooh workbook.
I am thankful for. . . trash pick-up. Really. I can hear the trash trucks rumbling by and I am so thankful that they come and take away our trash every week.
From the kitchen. . . english muffins and oatmeal for breakfast. Tea but I haven’t had coffee yet. Maria’s having a bowl of Rice Krispies and an english muffin along with her tea. We’ve found she loves tea (that’s my girl!) so she has it every morning. Dinner? I have no idea. It’s Monday I haven’t gotten that far yet. For Pete’s sake I haven’t even had coffee yet, you can’t possibly expect me to know what’s for dinner! Truthfully I do like it when meals are planned ahead of time —I just haven’t back to doing that yet.
I am creating. . . an atmosphere of love, acceptance, joy and peace. At least that’s what we’re shooting for.
I am going. . . no place. Well I might walk down to get a coffee when we go for our morning stroll.
I am wearing. . . a navy blue knit skirt, a flower print and navy blue trimmed surplice top, navy blue trouser socks and my brown Crocs. My hair is pulled back on either side in tiny clips and my face has been moisturized and powdered.
I am reading. . . Boys Should Be Boys by Meg Meeker. I ran across the title while looking for an article (on something totally unrelated) last week. Everyone who has a boy needs to read this book! It’s excellent.
From the Inside Flap:
Boyhood used to be a time of freedom and fun–of catching bullfrogs, playing tackle football, and roaming the woods–but not anymore. Rambunctious, high-spirited boys–healthy boys–nowadays face an increasingly hostile world that doesn’t value the unique gifts of boys, that discounts their masculine virtues, and that undermines what boys need to become mature, confident, and thoughtful men. In Boys Should Be Boys, Meg Meeker, pediatrician and author of the critically acclaimed Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, unlocks the secrets of what parents can do to restore some of the magic of boyhood and help their son become the man they want him to be. In Boys Should Be Boys, Dr. Meeker reveals:
* Why the most important factor in shaping your son’s behavior isn’t “peer pressure” (it’s you)
* How to preserve your son’s innocence (and why it’s essential to help him grow up)
* Why boys need less, not more–whether it’s computer games, organized sports, or lessons
* How to talk to your son–the pitfalls that moms and dads face
* Why it’s not normal for teenage boys to be moody and rebellious
* Why teaching your son about virtue isn’t an option, it’s a necessity
I am hoping. . . to be able to shake off this haze I feel and WAKE UP.
I am hearing. . . Matthew and Maria carrying on despite my repeated reminders to clam down. It’s so cute to see them play together but they are NOT a quiet pair!
Around the house. . . still purging clothes and toys and taking note of what’s needed. I’m sewing too. I got a few tops made for Mary over the weekend and will be starting on her skirts now.
One of my favorite things. . .that warm cozy feeling you get from soft sweaters, warm socks and steaming mugs of apple cider. I love fall!
A few plans for the rest of the week. . . lessons, cleaning, reorganizing, same as last week. Still no finished desk (he promises it will be in the next few days). As usual RCIA is Tuesday.
Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you. . .
A girl and her horse.
She loves this thing and rides it with gusto daily —pigtails flying and everything!
CM Book Study
Some of us local moms are doing a book study. It’s pretty informal, as in come when you can, but we had a really good time tonight. The group is wonderful and I’m so glad to a part of it. I love these women. Some of them have been my friends for many years and they are all beautiful sisters in Christ who bless me greatly.
We’re reading For the Children’s Sake, which is the first “homeschool” book I ever read. I’m really glad we started with this book because it’s really lovely and it’s both fun and interesting to me to read it now some 14 years later with different eyes (literally since I now have bifocals —which is another story. . .). So much of what I know and understand about the Charlotte Mason method has changed and developed over the years. Truthfully I don’t even like using the term “Charlotte Mason method” because I somehow think Miss Mason herself would not lay claim to it. Discovering it yes, but inventing it, no.
No matter, it’s just always where we seem to end up. We’ve gone all over the place from school in a box to cyber school to unschooling and yet it’s here that we find the best fit for our family, the way that seems to work the best and bear the most fruit. It’s not easy (so many of the best things aren’t) and I know well the temptation to see workbook pages and finished lessons as tangible proof that children are learning. These things aren’t bad but they aren’t proof of an education either.
Susan Schaeffer Macaulay speaks so accurately when she says
“Our generation is prone to amuse ourselves with fragmentary information and resources. We flip on the TV for brief programs, and then we think we know about the subjects they dealt with. A few paragraphs in a magazine, and we think we’ve formed an opinion. What is happening so often is that we are merely forming a habit of amusing our interest, and then forgetting the fragments. This is not education.”
I know I am guilty of this myself and I wonder too if it can even be said for those voracious readers who devour book after book. I did that as a child and I have to admit it was mostly, if not completely, for entertainment. Sure I could read well, but my choices weren’t always the best and at the speed I read some books (especially in my early twenties) it really was about entertainment.
A Charlotte Mason education is primarily book oriented but it’s different in that the readings are slow and varied. Over the course of a term (12 weeks) children educated this way would read 1000 to 3000 pages (according to their age and what level [form] they were at) in a large number of books. Because there were so many subjects time constraints meant each lesson could allow only one reading (that was to be “tested” by narration).
But let me back up a minute and share a few salient points that Charlotte Mason herself put forth. Points which differ from general theory and practice —at least in her day.
(a) The children, not the teachers, are the responsible persons; they do the work by self-effort.
This means the onus of learning is on the student and not the teacher. You can a lead a horse to water. . .
No grand lesson plans, no jumping through hoops —just good materials, a good atmosphere and the habit of discipline.
(b) The teachers give sympathy and occasionally elucidate, sum up or enlarge, but the actual work is done by the scholars.
Encourage, help and explain as needed but let them do it. Trust that they can.
(c) These read in a term one, or two, or three thousand pages, according to their age, school and Form, in a large number of set books. The quantity set for each lesson allows of only a single reading; but the reading is tested by narration, or by writing on a test passage. When the terminal examination is at hand so much ground has been covered that revision is out of the question; what the children have read they know, and write on any part of it with ease and fluency, in vigorous English; they usually spell well.
I mentioned this above. Yes it’s a lot of material but because of the pace it’s totally doable in small chunks.
(d) There is no selection of studies, or of passages or of episodes, on the ground of interest. The best available book is chosen and is read through perhaps in the course of two or three years.
It’s not delight directed. The very best books available are used (and let me just point out here that CM always looked to what was new and used it if it was good) and read through consecutively, sometimes over the course of two or three years. (FWIW, I’m not saying delight directed learning is wrong, I am just saying it’s not CM or rather she said it.)
(e) The children study many books on many subjects, but exhibit no confusion of thought, and ‘howlers’ are almost unknown.
By “howlers” she means big mistakes. Most children will make small mistakes but large mistakes —those most specifically dealing with comprehension— just aren’t there.
(f) They find that, in Bacon’s phrase, “Studies serve for delight”; this delight being not in the lessons or the personality of the teacher, but purely in their ‘lovely books,’ ‘glorious books.’
It’s not about how interesting or entertaining the teacher is. How nice she might be or how fun she makes the lesson, the delight is in the material.
(g) The books used are, whenever possible, literary in style.
The best books in the best style whenever possible. We live in an age when this is more possible than ever.
(h) Marks, prizes, places, rewards, punishments, praise, blame, or other inducements are not necessary to secure attention, which is voluntary, immediate and surprisingly perfect.
No grades as a means of motivation or punishment. Does that mean never any grades? No, there’s correction where needed and appropriate praise for a job well done but it’s not about getting through the material to get a good grade. It’s about really knowing the material. This is where the habit of attention is crucial.
(i) The success of the scholars in what may be called disciplinary subjects, such as Mathematics and Grammar, depends largely on the power of the teacher, though the pupils’ habit of attention is of use in these too.
Math and grammar need teaching. The better the teacher the better they will learn. Some children have a natural aptitude for these subjects but still need a teacher in order to progress beyond where they cannot go further alone. There are lots of good teaching materials out there. If this isn’t your strength find a friend or tutor to help.
(j) No stray lessons are given on interesting subjects; the knowledge the children get is consecutive.
Rabbit trails are not followed so as to capitalize on the child’s interest. A child can certainly pursue them on his own but they don’t become the lesson. (And again, I’m not saying rabbit trails learning is wrong, just not CM.)
Whew! OK that’s enough for now as it’s quite late. These are the things I am thinking about and studying right now. Let me know if you find it interesting and I’ll continue.
Or join us over at the Family-Centered Living forum and chat with us there!
Something is very wrong!
It’s been a busy morning between reading lessons and math lessons and cleaning the bathroom (you know how that is, you stoop to pick up something and suddenly you are grabbing the disinfectant spray from under the sink and cleaning the whole place –odd how that happens huh?). Thanks for all the nice comments and commiserating yesterday. The morning got off to a slow start but all in all in turned into a pretty good day.
But today, after a nice hot lunch of steamed chicken and rice (because a quick scan of the cupboards indicated there wasn’t much else) I sat down to check e-mail and read a few blogs with a nice cup of tea and couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. Then it hit me, the craving that starts out as a small whisper until it’s a clearly discernible yell:
I NEED CHOCOLATE.
But. . .and this is the truly sad part. . .there simply is none to be found in my house! How can that be?? This is very wrong! Yes, there’s a market a few blocks away. . . but still, how did I let things get to this point? I need to do some serious re-evealuation of my priorities. Pray for me. . . or send chocolate. 
New family photo
For our parish directory and the first one ever taken without our oldest son being in it.
please excuse the quality —it was scanned in.
