It's been raining for days. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, because we normally have drought conditions by June and, maybe this year, we'll miss the bullet. But it's so dark and drab outside and everything's muddy. Add to that Daelyn's baseball try-outs, which have already been rescheduled from Monday night til tonight and Dane's baseball practices tomorrow night and Saturday, and I'm spending way too much time calling around to find out if things are canceled.
About ten days ago, we had rain one evening. I could have sworn that I saw the plants growing the next day. They had gotten so much bigger just from one good rain that I can't wait to see what Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday night, and Wednesday rain will do for them.
I don't have my garden in yet, which is a travesty, especially with all this great natural watering. But things are hectic around here, as usual, and on the days I've had time, it's been raining. I'll have to get my work done in the house this week so I can spend some concerted time and energy on the gardens on Saturday.
Daelyn's birthday is Friday, and there are lots of preparations to be made, mostly outside, which can't be done. But, if I survive, I should have Saturday afternoon to work on gardening.
Our dryer went out over a week ago. I honestly don't know what people did before modern conveniences. Don put a clothes line across the living room for me so I can dry clothes, but EVERYTHING has to be ironed. I mean everything. The elementary school boys uniform consists of khaki pants and white polo shirts. In 6 years of elementary school for Dane and 4 so far for Daelyn, I've never once ironed a polo shirt - until this week, and I've ironed every single one in the last several days.
I've just left the ironing board up in the den. I bought the second set of parts for the dryer yesterday in the hopes Don would put it back together last night, since I have to wash P.E. uniforms. As I was crawling into bed, I asked the "dreaded" question: "Can I use it?" The answer was not affirmative.
I didn't quite understand what he has yet to do, but he said something about having to move the washing machine back out (I keep pushing it back in place so I can use it) so he can get behind the dryer to put it back together. It looks put together; I guess that might just be the front.
So, I suppose I'll have to do one more load of Chinese laundry before we again have a dryer. I've tried very hard to not complain; I figure if Don is spending every evening working on it, taking up his precious time to try and repair the one we have, then it must be important to him that we not buy a new one. The least I can do is try and have a good attitude.
I'm going to put on my smile and go do a much-needed load of wash, then plug the iron back in. More school pants, underwear, T-shirts, etc. need to be touched up before marching out the door on children.
Fun, fun, fun. I just LOVE these rainy days.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Gratefulness for Our School
I haven't posted in a very long time (nearly a year), but something struck me so strongly this morning that I wanted to write about it.
In a nutshell, I'm thankful for our school.
Now, the long version.
Yesterday morning, when I went to check on the children, Dane was still in bed, sound asleep, despite the noise all over the house. He was just exhausted. He's dealing with that "coughing thing" again; the non-stop wheezing and coughing that happens to him when his asthma gets exacerbated by a respiratory thing. He's coughing so much, he's unable to sleep well and is just slap worn out.
I decided to let him sleep and take him into school late when he woke up naturally. By the time he woke up and went through his morning coughing spell, I decided he needed MORE sleep and that his coughing would likely be disruptive at school, so I kept him home. He took a nice nap, which is almost unheard-of for him, and spent most of the day laying around, resting and coughing, complaining of his chest hurting.
When I dropped the children off at school this morning, one of his teachers (that he has for 2 classes and is the Dean of Girls and the Mama of the Middle School) was in the parking lot, so I stopped to talk with her. I told her what he's dealing with and that you should feel free to call me to pick him up if his coughing got too bad. As I drove away, it HIT me like a ton of bricks.
If we didn't have our school, my son might be in Public school. Now, I'm not dis-ing Public school. My tax dollars help pay for them. But, in Georgia, you can't keep a child home from school without a doctor's excuse. Gone are the days of parental decision-making. The state has taken that right away. Now, only doctors can decide if a student needs to stay home from school. I understand that so many parents have abdicated that right and allowed their children to be truant without good reason, that the state felt it must step in. But I could not keep Dane home to sleep and cough without disrupting class without dragging him into a doctor's office, paying a co-pay, and hoping that the doctor agreed with me. That is, if he were in Public school.
Suddenly, I had an image in my mind of the Public school I went to for a couple of years. In the middle of the picture was my sweet Dane. It, quite literally, sent chills up and down my spine. My children have teachers that are a part of their daily lives. When the kids have questions, we can call their teachers at home for help. When the dog ate their Science Fair project this year, I e-mailed their Science teacher, who was in Utah at the time, and he promptly responded, explaining that his cell phone coverage was spotty but he could get his e-mail, and asking me to please e-mail him ALL the details so he could advise us. IN UTAH!! ON VACATION!! His response saved the day and the project.
And it's not just that the teachers are "available". They really care about the children. They talk with me about issues of concern, things they see that I might not. They discuss progress and how best to meet the needs of each child. They spoil when my kids need it, Aunt or Uncle when my children need that, discipline when that's needed, but, mostly, they love, love, love.
There's so much more I could say. When we keep the children home, all we really need to do is call the school office and let the secretary know we've kept them, so all the children are accounted for. I even forget that most of the time. The Middle School teachers have a system where they write up all the work missed for absent students, then give it to a neighbor or sibling. In Elementary, the teacher chooses another student to pull together the absent child's work. Dane sent a note via Deanna to one of his friends, listing the specific things he needed sent home from his locker and asking his friend to give it to Deanna. When it arrived home in a plastic bag, there was a theater-size box of candy in it, as well. We're not sure if it was from the teacher of the student that Dane sent the note to. In any case, he was missed and his absence was noticed.
All this might sound, I don't know, surfacy or something. But this is nothing but deep. I'm so deeply grateful. I remember when we started our school. I was very excited and ready to do what I could to help. But the picture really changes when your own children are school age. I can't even imagine what it would be like without our school and the love of the teachers and staff that interact daily with my precious babies.
I'm really glad I won't ever have to experience having children in Public school. I'm very thankful for the sacrifices that were made by so many to start our school and to continue to keep it going, despite huge challenges.
We're blessed in so many ways that we take many for granted. Today I realized one of those ways that I don't often ponder.
In a nutshell, I'm thankful for our school.
Now, the long version.
Yesterday morning, when I went to check on the children, Dane was still in bed, sound asleep, despite the noise all over the house. He was just exhausted. He's dealing with that "coughing thing" again; the non-stop wheezing and coughing that happens to him when his asthma gets exacerbated by a respiratory thing. He's coughing so much, he's unable to sleep well and is just slap worn out.
I decided to let him sleep and take him into school late when he woke up naturally. By the time he woke up and went through his morning coughing spell, I decided he needed MORE sleep and that his coughing would likely be disruptive at school, so I kept him home. He took a nice nap, which is almost unheard-of for him, and spent most of the day laying around, resting and coughing, complaining of his chest hurting.
When I dropped the children off at school this morning, one of his teachers (that he has for 2 classes and is the Dean of Girls and the Mama of the Middle School) was in the parking lot, so I stopped to talk with her. I told her what he's dealing with and that you should feel free to call me to pick him up if his coughing got too bad. As I drove away, it HIT me like a ton of bricks.
If we didn't have our school, my son might be in Public school. Now, I'm not dis-ing Public school. My tax dollars help pay for them. But, in Georgia, you can't keep a child home from school without a doctor's excuse. Gone are the days of parental decision-making. The state has taken that right away. Now, only doctors can decide if a student needs to stay home from school. I understand that so many parents have abdicated that right and allowed their children to be truant without good reason, that the state felt it must step in. But I could not keep Dane home to sleep and cough without disrupting class without dragging him into a doctor's office, paying a co-pay, and hoping that the doctor agreed with me. That is, if he were in Public school.
Suddenly, I had an image in my mind of the Public school I went to for a couple of years. In the middle of the picture was my sweet Dane. It, quite literally, sent chills up and down my spine. My children have teachers that are a part of their daily lives. When the kids have questions, we can call their teachers at home for help. When the dog ate their Science Fair project this year, I e-mailed their Science teacher, who was in Utah at the time, and he promptly responded, explaining that his cell phone coverage was spotty but he could get his e-mail, and asking me to please e-mail him ALL the details so he could advise us. IN UTAH!! ON VACATION!! His response saved the day and the project.
And it's not just that the teachers are "available". They really care about the children. They talk with me about issues of concern, things they see that I might not. They discuss progress and how best to meet the needs of each child. They spoil when my kids need it, Aunt or Uncle when my children need that, discipline when that's needed, but, mostly, they love, love, love.
There's so much more I could say. When we keep the children home, all we really need to do is call the school office and let the secretary know we've kept them, so all the children are accounted for. I even forget that most of the time. The Middle School teachers have a system where they write up all the work missed for absent students, then give it to a neighbor or sibling. In Elementary, the teacher chooses another student to pull together the absent child's work. Dane sent a note via Deanna to one of his friends, listing the specific things he needed sent home from his locker and asking his friend to give it to Deanna. When it arrived home in a plastic bag, there was a theater-size box of candy in it, as well. We're not sure if it was from the teacher of the student that Dane sent the note to. In any case, he was missed and his absence was noticed.
All this might sound, I don't know, surfacy or something. But this is nothing but deep. I'm so deeply grateful. I remember when we started our school. I was very excited and ready to do what I could to help. But the picture really changes when your own children are school age. I can't even imagine what it would be like without our school and the love of the teachers and staff that interact daily with my precious babies.
I'm really glad I won't ever have to experience having children in Public school. I'm very thankful for the sacrifices that were made by so many to start our school and to continue to keep it going, despite huge challenges.
We're blessed in so many ways that we take many for granted. Today I realized one of those ways that I don't often ponder.
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