Knowing When to Embrace Change

It's not everyone who can say their child is good at math. Even fewer people can say their child likes and understands math without much effort. Yet our daughter is one of those kids who breezes through math like it is no big thing. At least she was before dysautonomia. 

Even with a chronic illness, Amber still comprehends math concepts easily and actually finds the lessons interesting. But with dysautonomia came a new level of anxiety and math suddenly pushed Amber over her daily stress threshold, by a mile. It didn't seem to matter what I did to help, math assignments triggered anxiety which then led to dysautonomia flares. I even quit grading Amber's math exercises and eventually her math tests allowing her to check her own answers with the agreement she would ask for help when it was needed.

Through it all the one thing I was unwilling to compromise on was our choice in math curriculum. Even when Amber had been in parochial school she used Saxon Math. It was all she knew. It was all I planned for her to know as I own the entire set through Calculus. Amber did well in Saxon and I was pleased with the rigorous lessons. I had no need to explore other math options. 

Clinging to the idea of using Saxon Math all the way through high school, despite the obvious problems, seems ridiculous in hindsight. Math disrupted our entire school day. Amber dreaded math to the point she worried all day the next subject would be math. It wasn't that she didn't understand, but the work drained her mentally and physically. We could choose to have a math lesson or three other subjects. Given the options, we often skipped math. However, this caused Amber to worry she wasn't learning enough math either. 

My husband and I both went into science fields that required advanced mathematics, actually, it doesn't get much more advanced than what we took. We were both the product of public schools and have no clue what math curriculum either school used, except it wasn't Saxon. So, a pretty solid argument could be made that Amber doesn't need Saxon Math for a future in science, if she chooses. Still, it wasn't until Amber announced her intention to emphasize language that I felt even remotely safe leaving Saxon Math. 

Thankfully I did come to my senses. If the difficulty had been in any other subject, we would long ago have researched another curriculum. I immediately stopped all math lessons to Amber's immediate and obvious relief. I then let her sample various options and provide input. We made a list of features to avoid and a list we wanted included in a math curriculum. 

For now we are using Life of Fred with some other supplements as necessary. It wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was Amber's. She willingly completes her math assignments and doesn't have any adverse reactions to the subject. Amber is actually enjoying math again and can demonstrate an acceptable level of understanding. I'm satisfied. After all, isn't the point to encourage a love of learning and facilitate comprehension?

I was almost afraid to admit we had abandoned Saxon Math after being such huge proponents of the curriculum. I'm still a believer in its methods although I've always agreed it wasn't a perfect fit for everyone. It just took a while to acknowledge it no longer suited my child. Perhaps next time a change is needed it won't take me quite so long to embrace it. 

Winding Down 7th Grade

We're getting close to the official end of our school year - we only have until the end of May to go!  We actually can accumulate hours on the current school year through June 30th, and then the summer hours all flip to the next school year.  I waffle each year as to if I put those June hours on the new grade even though they are technically part of the previous school year.  In the end, I always decide to tack them to the previous grade and don't officially promote Amber until July 1st.  It's just simpler to record it that way.

Amber is definitely petering out and feels diminished each day.  Thankfully her required school hours are complete and we can be officially finished for the school year if it's needed.  The rest of it is all icing.  We actually took off Wednesday of this week because I had a dentist appointment.  My mom played Pay Day with Amber while I had the last of the old fillings on top replaced before we all went to lunch.  That was a somewhat humorous affair considering half of my mouth was still mostly numb.

I guess the weaning of Amber's medication is going well considering she hasn't had any withdrawal reactions to lowering the dosage and frequency.  However, we will never again doubt the positive effects of fludrocortisone. The massive blood pooling in Amber's legs and feet that result in dark blue / purplely / blackish and swollen toes has returned.  It's ever so pretty.  She's been feeling fairly sickly all week, but Tuesday was the worst by far.  She woke up nauseous and pale.  Eventually she recovered to her new baseline over the span of the day, but it was pretty scary in the morning.

Mother's Day!  Amber's blood pressure was so low that morning that we didn't make church. She was actually sickly all day, but we still had a nice time together. And I didn't have to cook!

In actual school work this week, we had our very first nature study! I suppose most of us do nature studies without even realizing it when we look at plants, work in the yard, etc.  But this was our very first purposeful nature study even though we've always meant to do them.  Even more pathetic is the location we chose: it is literally across the street from our house on the other side of the swale where we snow sled.  There happens to be a walking path in our subdivision that crosses a small creek and leads to the subdivision next to us.  The entrance to the path is across the street from our house.  We've never taken this path and generally know only about it's direction and the creek from our neighbors who's yard the creek adjoins.

Tuesday, after Amber recovered, we walked the path around the swale to the bridge and over into the next subdivision.  There is a ton of natural vegetation and trees back there along with animal life.  Who knew? We should have since we've only lived in this house 9 years. We are officially the laziest and most unobservant people around.  Amber selected a location to follow over the coming seasons and then began to document her spot.  I got bored watching and walked up the edge of the swale (we were on the back side) just to realize we were *directly* across the street from our house.  As in probably close enough that my puny girl arms could through a ball into my own yard.  Again, pathetic.

In History Amber has finished all her reading on Tudor and Stuart England along with the the timeline.  She's really only got her writing assignments left and then history is finished! We do have plans to work on New World Explorers from Home School in the Woods over the summer.  Instead of going in detail on the explorers during history this year, we saved them all for a summer study. 

She definitely could use her medication, but still persevered with school.  And our three kitties in one place at the same time - birds were involved.

Amber did also complete Geology this week, which makes 7th grade science officially complete as well.  She asked earlier in the semester to be able to study chemistry too, so we have those books and will work on them over the summer before 8th grade physical science.

Even though we do continue school over the summer it's pretty relaxed. We don't have full days of school during June or July, but we do try to complete one to two subjects per day. Some days we chose to just take off entirely and play video games all day long.  It's not a hard rule that lessons must be completed every day over the summer. While Math is always one of the summer subjects, the others vary.

This summer Amber will be working on a combination of math, chemistry, explorers, the last few morphemes lessons (if she doesn't finish by the end of May), and creative writing.  Because of the review crew there may pop up a couple of unplanned summer studies, which are perfectly fine too.  Since we limit each day to no more than two subjects, we can still review without feeling overloaded.  Amber also completed enough of her lessons this school year to not be considered behind in any subject.  That means nothing is required for summer in order to start 8th grade on schedule.

Crash course at the allergist and Nature study day.  (Right) Amber was taking a picture of her chosen area from up on the outside hill of the swale.  Above Amber is a house peak - that's our house.  Nature so close to us. Sigh.

Switching to Life of Fred math has made Amber such a happy student again.  I really didn't get how Saxon was affecting our whole school day. She dreaded math until it happened each day or until I told her she could skip math that day.  Now she actually chooses to complete more lessons in math than I ask.  She's averaging two lessons per day, with the occasional third lesson that balances with days when she's really only mentally up for one lesson.  We've been working through an online math product too (CTC Math) that has been a good fit with LOF.  Watch for a review of CTC Math in June.

This week on the blog I talked about our favorite homeschooling resources for middle school. It was definitely time to update that list!  Check out what we couldn't live without these days.




This weekend we have nothing on the calendar and it feels great to know we can relax or work around the house as we please.  I'm a little tired of the go-go-go from earlier this month.

Happy Weekend!

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Feeling Accomplished

This has been a productive week in several aspects. Amber started out still feeling great and accomplished many lessons and even all of her assigned chores on the correct day.  She did wear down over the week and is now back to feeling pretty puny. We aren't sure if it's the storms that rolled in and are here sporadically for the next week, or if it's the slow weaning her from all medications in preparation for Mayo. I personally think it's the storms; she did the same thing with the last round of bad weather. 

Despite feeling less chipper yesterday and not being able to get out of bed yet today, Amber will probably finish up the last of her required school hours today. However, she's not finished with all of her assignments for the school year yet, but the final core hours needed will hopefully be recorded today. Every year we give a little sigh of relief when all the hours are officially completed. 

You can really see the difference between Tuesday and Thursday above.  But she was still diligent in her school work.

Amber also started her private confirmation lessons at church on Monday. Evening lessons with her class were too rough on Amber. She was exhausted before the class began, had trouble understanding and focusing, and felt awful the next day. She didn't make half the classes of the last module and had to make those up individually. This time we arranged for her to take the module individually during her good part of the day. It went as well as expected.  I'm not sure if we will continue this way for 8th grade or not. Amber still goes to Sunday school with her class and some of the social activities. She just can't handle the evening lessons, or the evening sports related social activities. 

Math went splendidly again this week. Life of Fred is really working for Amber. She also supplemented it a little with two items we are reviewing: one is online and one is a physical book. I think we like the online supplelement with LOF best. Amazingly, Amber willingly did more math than assigned every day this week. She might yet finish algebra 1 before the summer is over.

Amber continues with a huge emphasis on language arts and history and is nearly finished with her research report, I think. That alone is a huge accomplishment.  I checked her log for this year and she has something like 190 hours of language arts, and nearly equal hours of history.  Science and math are pathetic and under 100 hours each.  But honestly, if I told that child her entire school work was reading and writing she'd be happy.  She pushes each day just a littler farther if the next subject is language related. 

We saw the Avengers: Age of Ultron on Sunday.  We really liked it, but Captain America: Winter Soldier still might have been better.  I'm bummed that Thor 3 is a 2017 release though. At least the next Captain America is 2016.

Sadly, yesterday I put our Rush concert tickets up on Stub Hub. These were supposed to be my birthday present and are awesome seats, however I'm not sure about taking Amber anymore. Fred says I still have a Pollyanne-ish attitude toward Amber's condition.  She went to the last Rush concert in 2012 and I thought she could do it this time, but she wasn't sick then either. It's Rush's last large scale tour, and I've been to a concert on every one of their tours since the early 1990's. I guess if the tickets don't sell we will try to go anyway.  I'm very very concerned about the after affects on Amber and honestly she won't last the entire concert. I suppose we could go and just leave early. The tour starts today, which means there is not even a set list published yet. 

Yesterday, I finished a rough plan for Amber's high school years and am definitely glad I started on that early. She will need a couple credits in eighth grade to provide a buffer year for math and science. Technically on the plan she isn't scheduled for either subject in 12th grade, but given the problems we've had the last two years with brain fog and those subjects, I expect she will be pushing it to finish 4 credits of each even with a buffer year.

New foods this week:  We made "cheez-its" from thin slices of cheddar cheese.  They really do taste like the crackers. But we store them in the fridge since the only ingredient is cheese.  And... Amber and I tried First Watch on Thursday.  We used to love it there.  Apparently, that entire plate of food is safe for us both.  Who knew.  Lastly, the silverware wrapper from First Watch.  It cracked Amber up because I say that almost every single day.

Amber has officially, for the moment, decided on pursuing an English degree with an emphasis in writing. With two parents in science and math, Amber is definitely proving to be her own person and choosing her own path.  She excels in understanding math and science concepts, however they don't make her happy. I'm proud Amber had the courage to step away from our choices and select what makes her happy.  The current high school plan reflects her interest and the requirements local universities have for such a degree. 

Thankfully, Amber started German in seventh grade, as pretty much all the local and viable English programs also require the equivalent of a foreign language minor.  Perhaps we can have the majority of that work completed prior to graduating high school.

She even did school work in the car between clothes shopping locations.  Also a trip to the eye doctor (no sign of vascular problems, yay!).  And Amber climbed that entire flight of stairs on Tuesday without a problem.  By Friday she couldn't walk from one room to the next.  I hate dysautonomia.

On the blog this week I talked about our favorite gluten free and fructose friendly products.  These aren't recipes, but products that save my sanity.  Check it out if you are interested in a gluten free diet.

This weekend is pretty low key for us, I think.  We will see my mom one day.  Fred's mom now lives out of town, so we will just talk to her.  It's supposed to rain here all weekend and it might be nice to simply relax and not worry about "doing" things for a few days. 

Happy Weekend and Happy Mother's Day!

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A Nearly Ideal Week (at least during the day)

The drama class play this past weekend was fantastic! The cast was all prepared and their very best performance was the one for the audience. Amber was exhausted after a rehearsal day and performance day, still we managed to prevent a crash on Sunday by keeping her hydrated all weekend and letting her sleep as much as she wanted on Sunday morning. She actually has had a fantastic week during the afternoon hours too. It's been glorious to not worry constantly about her blood pressure.  Too bad we started a slow weaning her from medications today in preparation for the June Mayo Clinic trip.

Math has been going spectacularly since we switched to Life of Fred! Amber says its a lot more fun with almost no stress. My goal is not to necessarily make math fun, but to relieve as much stress as possible. While it all sounds so rosy now, even completing 2-4 lessons a day, she is still reviewing material already covered in Saxon Algebra 1.  I'm waiting for when it becomes new material to see how happy LOF math makes her then. 

Amber as Queen Susan of Narnia and English school girl Susan.

Saturday, before the play, in the pouring rain our mailman delivered a much awaited package containing our IEW level B writing curriculum. We were lucky enough to be selected to review such a great product. It's already been a huge hit with both Amber and me this week. Look for a review coming in June!

Much of history this week focused on the Reformation, which being Lutheran, Amber had already studied several times. To mix it up a bit, we also did a few fun middle ages projects.  Amber used an online Coat of Arms creator to design her own coat of arms that included a kitty cat, dragon, unicorn and cross.  Only my child.

Despite our new daily focus on language, Amber did go over two more geology lessons, without experiments, and tons of Life of Fred algebra. Amber finally had time to watch the Crash Course episode on the parasympathetic nervous system, which completes the set on the autonomic nervous system. It definitely helped her to understand the problems in her body and some of the treatments.  I also had her watch the episodes on Connective Tissue as it is becoming more and more likely she will also be diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (in addition to the dysautonomia already diagnosed) while up at Mayo.

(left) I was busy and told Amber to make her own dessert. So, she did.  This was after (bottom, right) she had an entertaining IEW lesson.  Plus a kitty selfie... okay, so he didn't take it, but he was actually trying.

Amber tested in German and started her next chapter. It feels so strange to still be going over these topics with her when my co-op class has finished their year in the same curriculum. A bit like deja vu.  Teaching Amber individually is such a different experience from teaching a class. We go much faster at home than in class and Amber isn't getting as many hours of practice or assignment work as the class. I'm not sure if she just works faster or if it's the nature of at home lessons. In a couple of weeks it will be time to order the books for German 2.  Amber will continue German over the summer and I might use our time at Mayo to begin prepping for next co-op year. 

Today Amber and I had our last symphony performance of the subscription season. We are both sad and relieved to have it finished. These have been special mom and daughter times for us, but they make for early mornings, a lot of driving, a lot of walking with stairs, and exhaustion for the remainder of the day. I think in the future we will purchase individual tickets for particularly interesting performances instead of keeping subscription seats. Amber does still believe they were a fabulous birthday present. It really is true that the best gift you can give your child is time together. 

Science: Crash Course on connective tissue and geology with our tiny cat.  Plus errands: a much needed wash and inside cleaning of my car. Amber still likes to spray the elephant as my car goes by.

Amber's standardized testing results arrived over the weekend with results similar to all the other years.  Of course we are pleased with the results, but are very much contemplating the actual reasons or need to test.  I talked through our concerns in a post on standardized testing earlier this week

For the first weekend in what seems like forever we have nothing planned except Amber is scheduled to acolyte at church.  That we can handle. It's time to just rest and rest before the busy part of May comes up (Mother's day, multiple birthdays, teen outing, and a RUSH concert). I may actually deal with our landscaping this weekend, since it has dawned on me that I have no idea what plants are thriving and which aren't.  I'm sure there are tons of weeds in the rock and many plants need trimming.  I just haven't cared to even look for the past month.  Perhaps I can even get Amber outside in the sun to help a little.

Happy Weekend!

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