A Bowl Full Of Jello

Just to be clear, this post has nothing to do with jello! My brain just feels like jello… yesterday was a day full of nothing, didn’t do much of anything. Today and tomorrow will probably be about the same. I’m having a procedure done tomorrow, so…two lazy days are in my immediate future.

I was going through all my photos and found the picture above and figured I’d write a little about homeschooling my son.

FLAME PROOF BALLOON – A science experiment we did. All you need is a balloon, a little bit of water and a lit candle. Fill the balloon to the top with water and then blow it up with air, tie it off. Hold the balloon at the top while slowly lowering it over the candle. Why doesn’t it pop? Water is a heat conductor!

When my son was in 9th grade I decided to home school my son. It wasn’t an easy decision – first and foremost being where we live. We don’t have a lot of neighbors, none of which have kids his age. He’s an only child, I’m a single parent. How is this really going to work?

When he started high school, all of his friends went to one school, he went to another. I was literally dragging him to school every day and more times than not, he came home early. He absolutely did not like school…by the end of October, he had missed 11 1/2 days ( since the end of August), was failing or close to failing all of his classes. So, on Halloween (it was a Monday) he woke up and asked if he really had to go to school. My answer? No! I called the school, told them my son wasn’t coming to school – today or ever! I sent a note to his teacher and told her I had decided to home school, and got a letter off to the home school dept of the county department of education. She – his teacher – told me she thought it was the best decision I could make. It was…he flourished!

I got my son back! But how did I do it being a single parent? With God and my dad. I know God carried us through.

The first year, we went through the county – but doing it that way is very tough! For the most part, they want you to home school with the intention that you will eventually go back to public school. THey suggested I look at an internet K-12 program, I did, and found that they literally want you tied to the computer, and I have to be by his side the whole time! I didn’t start homeschooling to be tied to the computer and stuck inside all day.

I stumbled across Many Paths of Natural Learning – the learning is child based. There are requirements, but there is freedom! This is what I was looking for!

We went on many field trips, some through MPNL (Many Paths of Natural Learning), some on our own. We went to the library and got supplies, most of his material came off the internet…youtube included! Homeschooling can be expensive – but only as expensive as you make it. Most of the money I spent was to enroll him in the program.

Their philosophy – besides being child centered, is the whole world is your school! Excercise? Go hiking, do yard work, climb stairs instead of using the elevator. Music? youtube! church! the radio or cd’s while on your way to the grocery store. Math? History of math counts…so does finances, check writing. There is no such thing as one size fits all with this group!

We had a good time! He flourished! In 2016, the director of the group got in touch with me and told me I didn’t need to homeschool the following year! He was 18 and he had enough credits (more than enough)! We could keep home schooling, but we didn’t need to enroll the next year. We talked about it and decided that he would continue learning…on his own.

This actually turned out to be a blessing…in April of that year (2016), my dad started having trouble with his blood count. His liver counts were elevated, but they couldn’t figure out why…until I took him to have a bone marrow biopsy. The doctor pulled his shirt up, looked at me with shock and said, “He’s jaundiced!” I had no idea. You couldn’t see it until his shirt was lifted up.

After that, my dad started having fevers and would end up in the E.R. He’d be taken to the local hospital, then transported to George Washington University Hospital. He had three fevers before we enrolled in hospice care. He was in Hospice Care from Dec 2016 to March 2017 when he passed away.

During this time, my son helped me through. God did too! If my son had been in public school I would have never survived! My son would stay up at night so I could sleep. At first, it was to ensure nothing happened to dad…he didn’t get a fever in the middle of the night, didn’t get lost (happened more than once!). During the last couple of days, dad was in a comma, I had to give him medicine every hour from nine am to midnight. From midnight to nine am I could give it to him every two hours. My son, at night, made sure that I got up every two hours. Of course, I didn’t sleep much.

I would have never made it through if not for God and my son.

Anyway,, I’m going to end this on a lighter note. No quotes today – just some of my sons artwork…

Sometimes, I’d just be walking through the room and find something my son put together.

Having an artist for a mom has its benefits!

One day (2014 is the date on this photo) he asked me to fix him some chicken nuggets with something on the side!

Does God know what we need before we do? I think so…if I hadn’t been homeschooling my son I probably would have really struggled going through what we went through. (My sister didn’t help, but that’s another post.)

Sorry this isn’t about landscaping, gardening, or like any of my other posts. I think I needed to write this though!!