oh. my. lantus.

First of all, I want to express a HUGE 'thank you' to all the wonderful comments and supportive sentiments regarding our homeschooling curriculum.  You all are so encouraging and such a positive influence in my life.

And boy do I need love and encouragement today, because

Oh. My. Lantus. 

(Another great phrase from my friend, Ceesa.  It replaced OMG in just about every situation.  Do YOU have a 'Ceesa' in your life?  If you don't, I recommend finding one and hanging on tight)

I will begin at the end of this tale because the beginning is too long ago to correctly recall.

Ellie is officially 'live with insulin' with an Omnipod pump . . . TODAY!!!!!  Or, 5 hours at this point.

Notice I didn't say "OUR" Omnipod pump?  Yeah.  About that.

Our insurance gave the green light verbally after we submitted our paperwork 30 (thirty!) days ago.

We have done our part.  Ellie completed the week-long saline trial and our Endocrinologist's office was on top of the requested documentation.

Omnipod was on top of things and did what they could in response to our insurance company's many requests.

Yet, here we are today, pumping with insulin on the Dr.'s office loaner Omnipod pump.  The same one we took home for the saline trial.

Why?

Because the insurance company is a piece of ($*%&^#*( work.  A business who doesn't care who my daughter is or why she wants a better T1D management system.

So we have to prove it by flooding them with doctor certifications, proof of training calenders, blood sugar logs, carb counts, plans of actions and payment plans.  Really?

Okey-Dokey then.  I will play along nicely until I just can't anymore, or they approve and send out OUR pump . . . . whichever comes first. 

I really don't have time to be mad, anyway.  The learning curve on pumping and the zig/zag nature of T1D will have me busy enough. 

Oh yeah, and our first day of homeschool is t-o-m-o-r-r-o-w. 

I'd say this is a pretty good representation on my inner self today.  Anyone else feeling this way, too?

our homeschool 101

Today Yesterday was the first day of public school in our city.  I felt a little out of sorts not getting my kids up early, packing lunches and taking our traditional 'first day of school' photos.  I  even half expected a truant officer to come knocking on my door asking where my children were and why they were not in school . . . even though I turned in all the necessary paperwork for competent private instruction.  I might have even experienced a moment of panic after I signed on to facebook and saw the photos and read the stories of all the kids in their new clothes and backpacks heading back to school.

Then I looked in on my sleeping children all nestled into their beds, enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee and bowed my head in thankful prayer for His plans for our family to be 'different.'  Or, as my friend Ceesa says "to go off the grid."

We spent our day at a church friend's backyard pool with our second family (Ceesa's) who are also choosing to school at home this year.  What a great start to our new adventure!

So . . . when DO we begin our homeschool? 

Thursday.  Nice and slow and easy.

Method

We are going to be educating in a Charlotte Mason'ish manner, with some classical nods and traditional fares thrown in for good measure.  I think most people would call it eclectic; we call it 'us.' 

Math

~ Maddi will be using Teaching Textbooks, pre-algebra level.

~ Ellie and Ben will use Math Mammoth, levels 4 and 2 respectively.






Science

~ Maddi will work her way through Apologia's Creation through Physical Science

~ Ellie and Ben will be introduced to the subject by participating in Maddi's labwork and using a couple of fun unit studies here and there.

History/Geography/Bible

~ All three kiddos will participate in learning about history, geography and the bible by utilizing Simply Charlotte Mason's module 1; Genesis - Dueteronomy and Ancient Egypt.  We will use the sugested curriculum guide and move through the unit using living books, suggested readings and activites.

Spelling/Grammer/Vocabulary

~ Maddi will use Wordly Wise 3000 level 8 and a daily online grammer prompt.

~ Ellie and Ben will each work through their own levels of Spelling Wisdom, complete daily copywork and utilize daily online writing prompts.

Art/PE/Music

~ Maddi will continue with weekly guitar lessons, self taught art through Drawspace and PE through family activities and a membership to our local YMCA.

~ Ellie will resume piano lessons, her third year, with Pam Gaulke.  PE through family activites and games and Art through online prompts and local mini-classes.

~ Ben will follow suit with Ellie with our PE and Art ideas, and is interested in beginning percussion lessons.  Oh. My. 

Daily Together Time (water cooler talk)

~ We plan to begin our day looking through and discussing several 'for this day' online one stop shops such as:

24 hours in pictures

Astronomy picture of the day

Botany picture of the day

Daily global prayer prompts

This day in history

A word a day

National Geographic photo of the day  (we will change our computer desktop photo to this picture and discuss or use as a writing prompt - when appropriate)

~ All of these daily prompts are intended to develop and strengthen family discussions, narration practice (for dinnertime discussion when the hubs gets home) and writing prompts. 

Literature and Writing

~ I believe we based our curriculum decisions and homeschooling style with these two subjects in the forefront of our minds.  We want our children to develop a deep love and respect for classic literature and feel it is very important to expose them to a large variety of literature. 

The kids will all receive reading 'lists' and books chosen from this resource, based on Charlottle Mason's literature philosophy.

In order to foster a solid foundation of comprehension, narration and writing, we will rotate having the children complete 1 of 3 options when they have completed a book. 

1.  An oral narration of the summary and prompted question / answer session covering key points, character development and story time lines.

2.  A written report either prompted in 'book report' form or free-style writing in a comparison side-by-side writing style.

3.  A Power Point or other multi-media presentation covering the main parts of the book.

Downtime/Play/End of day

~ Yes, a plan for this too.  Lots of lots of this.

School begins on Thursday . . . . and the story will continue.

good fridays

It's Friday!!!!  What a fun name for a day of the week.  Don't you think it just sounds happy?  And happy I am today . . . . so let's get this started.  Three moments for which I am grateful (no type 1 diabetes talk allowed) this week.

 

Hi Ben!

1.  I am amazed and astounded at the relative 'smallness' of this great big world in which we live.  The photo above is of Ben, our Red Dolphin whale watching tour guide.  I wrote about our fabulous jet boat tour here, and told about what a great time we had in Juneau, Alaska.  Just this last week I log on to Blogger to find this message staring back at me:

What you need to know to understand the complete awschumness of this message is that I have NO IDEA how Ben found my blog!  I never mentioned blogging, did not link directly to the Red Dolphin website nor did I exchange any contact info with Ben, so seeing this comment caused my brain to explode with wonder.  I LOVE connections like these! 

Thanks, Ben, for stopping by and saying hi.  And yes, the rest of our Alaskan vacation was very memorable!


2.  While gearing up and organizing for our first homeschool year to begin, I had an idea about a central 'school supply center' to house many of the items we would be using on a daily basis.  I wanted it to be mobile (so I could put it away) and user friendly.  Well, this week was the time to see my vision come to fruition. 

All our schooling needs (sans paper and books) right at our fingertips.

~ lazy Susan from IKEA = $7

~ 3 sizes of Bell/Kerr canning jars = already had

~ supplies to fill the jars = mix of what we had at home and about $10 spent at the store

~glue gun to adhere the jars to the lazy Susan = already had

~ Total spent = $17!!

And the best part?

It spins and nothing flies off!  Whhheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

3.  All of our cats/kittens are getting along smashingly.  It was a little tense at first bringing in 2 kittens to our household of 2 adult cats, but after some nose-touching, butt-sniffing and circling around trying to establish dominance they all decided to get along amicably. 

Here is Alice and Piper (old and new) snuggling and bathing each other in a too-small-for-them cat bed.

And in other good Friday news, our kitten Rosy was finally released to come back home after having to go back to the ARL (animal rescue league) for a nasty kitten cold.  Our cRaZy cAt family is complete!!!

 

What good things happened to YOU this week?

on belay

Amazing how a "couple of days" away from the blog (since I posted everyday in July) quickly turn into e-l-e-v-e-n days.  Even I cannot stretch the definition of a 'couple' to include eleven.   

I will, however, provide a definition to my title phrase; on belay. 

      Belaying is one of the most important climbing skills you will learn and 

     master in the indoor climbing gym. Belaying is the basis of climbing

     safety, of ensuring both your and your partner’s safety. Belaying, simply

     put, is a simple process of holding the rope and the climber in the event of

     a fall. The rope links both the climber and the belayer together in a safety

     partnership, allowing the climber to fall without fear of hitting the ground

     and suffering injury or worse.  (source)

"F-E-A-R" 

False

Evidence

Appearing

Real.

So real that my mind is 'on delay' as a safety measure to prevent catastrophic anxiety attacks.

What do I fear?

~ hitting the ground and not getting back up

~ failure to educate my children to standards

~ my father requiring more help than I feel I can give

~ type one diabetes winning (2 young girls dies this week from t1d)

~ retreating inside my head and missing what is real

What is False?  My perceptions and interpretations of these situations.  I am looking at one piece to the entire puzzle and attempting to see the big picture.

What is Evidence?  My ears and eyes catching bits and pieces of the whole conversation, sending those tiny pieces to my brain for processing - then spit out jumbled with personal emotions. 

What is Appearing?  When I allow my mind to go 'on delay', appearances are deceiving.  They are self-serving.  They are skewed to reflect what I can mentally process.

What is Real?  My sin of fearing ANYTHING but the Lord. 


~ He knows when I fall (He probably pushed me down to teach me a lesson!) and will reach down to pull me up.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33


~ He placed in my heart a desire to educate my children at home and He will provide all I need in His perfect timing; not mine.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."  Proverbs 22:6


~ He is waiting for my father to acknowledge Him. 

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father"  Romans 8:14-15


~ He made my daughter perfectly, WITH type one diabetes.  A disease doesn't 'win' and He has promised a purpose for Ellie

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" Jeremiah 29:11


~ He tells me what is real, and it is NOT the voices inside my head.

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths"  Proverbs 3:5-6

Being 'on belay' is trusting God with all your heart and all your mind . . . . even when (especially when!) your mind is 'on delay'.

reflection

This photo is to represent my reflective mood.  And I like bubbles.  The firetruck means nothing to me.

I have to admit sitting down to write the last NaBloPoMo post for July is a little tough.  While I am happy the personal challenge is over, I will miss the discipline it took to come here and share my thoughts e-v-e-r-y-d-a-y.  Maybe I should up the ante and commit to blogging everyday for 1 entire year . . . . eh, I'm not THAT disciplined.

I did go back in the dusty archives of Three Thirty Three to take a peek at what was happening this time last year.  I figured reflecting on a post from last July would be fun way to see just how different, or the same, our lives have been.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

7/29/10

feel the love

So, eating better is supposed to make your immune system stronger, right? 

 

Five antibiotics for five people with strep throat.  We must all love each other LOTS and LOTS to share germs like we do.

Yep; a clean sweep in our household.  Dave didn't actually test positive at the doctors office with the rest of us, but was prescribed antibiotics anyway and was informed to take it if he felt any symptoms.  "Hhhhmmmm, maybe this is why I have been so wiped out the last couple of days and have had a headache and scratchy throat!"  says the hubby when I tell him about the appointment.  Um, yeah.  Open the hatch and down the gullet with the antibiotic bullet!

Now empowered with our prescriptions, I must stock up on some probiotic rich yogurt and kefir for some major gut healing at the end of the next 10 days.  This should all fit in so nicely with the real food challenge our family will embark upon on August 5th for 10 days. 

Huh.  10 days of antibiotics and 10 days for the challenge.  I wonder what the significance of a 10 day cycle is?  I suppose I could 'Google' it, but I would much rather have someone respond in the comments with the answer.

thankyouverymuch.

Off to heal.

 

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Well.

 

We took the 10 day course of antibiotics and killed the strep bacteria.  As I recall, this was the 2nd round of meds to treat strep throat; the 1st being a month earlier.

 

As far as the 10 day real food challenge?  Not so much.  I blew off the challenge and decided to focus on the challenge(s) of a new school year schedule instead of trying to implement a rigid eating plan.  What we did instead was to s-l-o-w-l-y phase out hydrogenated oils and trans fats and food that my grandmother would not have recognized as foods, over the course of a couple of months.  This process, however, was thrown off kilter when Ellie was diagnosed in late September with Type 1 Diabetes.  Suddenly I did not care WHAT kinds of foods she ate, but instead focused on CAN I FIGURE THE CARB COUNTS of what she ate.  Now that we are 10 months into T1D we are back on track with healthy foods and I now know how to find a 'carb' in a 'haystack'.

 

Reflection

 

What is the biggest thing about last year's post that just jumps off the computer screen at me?

 

I think this was the beginning of the end for Ellie's insulin producing islet cells in her pancreas.

 

You see, the common theory as to why the islet cells are suddenly attacked by it's own body (T1D is an autoimmune disease) is that an environmental or genetic trigger 'woke' up the autoimmune cells to go attack the insulin producing cells.  

 

Triggers such as an illness.  Or rapid succession of illnesses . . . . wearing down the immune system.

 

Something maybe like strep throat back-to-back.  Possibly.  We may never know.

 

But looking back at this post and the line up of antibiotics I can not help but wonder if the end of July, 2010 was also the end of Ellie's disease-free life.

 

 

*I do want to say, for the record, we are living and thriving and loving life in July of 2011.  Ellie's T1D has not held this family back nor has it given us a 'downer' view forward.  This just happened to be the post from last year and my reflections on that post.  Thank you ALL for sticking with me and supporting me through this loooooooong month of everyday posts!

because

Because a date morning with my husband is never boring . . . .

Because PMS makes me weepy and needy . . . .

Because Ellie's numbers have been high and excitement brings her down . . .

Because I needed a really good post for the 30th day of NaBloPoMo . . . .

Because we are THAT family . . . .

Because 4 cats are so much more fun than 2; we would like to introduce Piper (L) and Rosie (R)

Yes, you may call the people with the pretty white coat to come and get me.

good fridays

I will trust the calendar on my computer and on my fridge to be truthful about today being Friday.  This week has been a complete blur and today could be a Wednesday in February for all I  . . .  feel?  Know?  Think?  Whatever.  Since all resources point to Friday I will play along and write 3 moments I am grateful for this past week . . . month?  Year?  Millennium? 

1.  I am grateful to have been a part of the celebration of life service of a dear church member, Becca, who was received into the Kingdom in Heaven last Saturday.  Her three year battle of a painful cancer ended, leaving behind an adoring husband and 2 precious little girls.  Her family and friends honored her life yesterday with a funeral service I was humbled and honored to be part of.  A reminder to live a life walking with and glorifying Jesus.

2.  My cluttered house means we had a good week of playing.  As long as nothing is growing fuzzy I can live with it for a couple of more days.

3.  Lots of reading going on it our house.  I will never tire of walking into a room to see a someone curled up in a chair or on the floor lost in a story.

What are 3 of your moments of gratitude this week?