Monthly Archives: March 2008

I May End Up a Homeschooling Mom Yet

I’ve never really been into the idea of homeschooling. I don’t doubt that I could do a competent enough job, but it’s not what I’ve wanted to do with my days.

homeschooling

And my daughter so loves going to school.

But I have to admit, life may well be pushing me in that direction. I’ve already decided that if my husband doesn’t get some work soon, and we have to leave this house to move in with my inlaws, I will homeschool my daughter for the rest of kindergarten. Just makes sense to me with only a few months left in the school year. You don’t have to register kids for school until first grade in my area, so no worries about making it formal.

But California schools may well take a big downward turn if the current budget goes through. We’re currently around #46 in terms of state spending per student on education, which is pathetic! And they’re talking about a 10% cut for next year because the state budget is in so much trouble.

I am, of course, keeping an eye on the situation and seeing how things go. In some ways it could be a good thing for me to need to homeschool the last bit of kindergarten, just so that I have a feel for it if I should choose to go for it later. Not that I want to live with my inlaws… the very thought almost makes me run screaming, in fact. But we do what we have to.

Something about living with someone who prefers the term enviro-Nazi to environmentalist to describe people who care for the environment just makes it sound difficult. Although I will admit that having more people in one house can be counted as greener. Maybe I’ll be able to get my father-in-law to understand how deeply offensive it is to use the word “Nazi” as a suffix for just about anything. And that environmentalists really aren’t bad people, aren’t going to take away his preferred lifestyle, etc.

I know my inlaws will have some trouble with the idea of me homeschooling my daughter even for a short time in their home. They really have no faith in it. Maybe it will be another thing where I show them that it’s really not so bad. Did that before with breastfeeding, which they had also been entirely against and now firmly support.

And don’t get me wrong about them. In most ways they really are wonderful people. They’ve invited us to live with them rent-free until my husband gets a job. They do recycle and garden. They are in many ways supportive of my husband, and my daughter has a relationship with her grandfather that is outstanding.

It’s pretty much political and lifestyle choices that make up the challenges.

A Quick Desert Visit

Took the family out this weekend for a quick visit to the desert. We’d been hearing that it is just amazingly in bloom.

desert flowers

The part we went to though, not that much in bloom. We found some very lovely blooms, but not near what the news had been talking about. I told my husband they probably go to a different part of the desert than the one he prefers, especially since the same thing happened 3 years ago when we’d also heard about the bloom.

That’s not to say it wasn’t pretty, of course. The kids had a blast, and would have cheerfully taken home about half of the quartz rocks they saw lying around. We had a nice talk about why you don’t take lots of stuff away like that.

Not a lot of animals around; the day was nice and I assume they were pretty much sleeping or staying in the shade. We got hit by some pretty good winds, though, and that kept it from being hot out. I did see some deer in the mountains on the way back, though.
My daughter was a bit disappointed. Her notion of desert comes from television, so she assumed it would all just be sand. Maybe another time we’ll head all the way out to the sand dunes… trying to stay away from all the people who have their “toys” to drive around in. I find the dunes plenty impressive just walking on them, personally. And jumping off them is lots of fun.

But the kids were plenty impressed by this part of the desert, and by our explanation that much of our area would be like that without water. More precise comparisons happen in local canyons, of course, but seeing so much dry all around explains a lot at a child’s level.

Still, the desert was lovely, and we could see how many plants were getting ready to bloom. Give the area we went to a bit more time, and it probably will be stunning.

desert sky

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Still Doing Nasal Irrigation

I haven’t been to a doctor or anything, but given that the pain I had the other day from my sinuses, that I cleared up with nasal irrigation, I suspect I’m beating back an actual sinus infection. I’ve only had one before, so not much to compare it with, but I can’t explain in any other way where such intense pain would come from. And I’m not going to the doctor to confirm it, so it remains a guess, not a diagnosis.

It’s not a one-treatment solution, of course. Even antibiotics can’t do that. But I’m irrigating at least twice a day, often 3-4 times, and while I’m still dealing with astounding quantities of nasal mucus, it’s decreasing and the pain is under control with no medications.

Since I’m allergic to amoxicillin, I’m glad to not need antibiotics. Don’t want to mess with them unnecessarily.

I did have to smile the other day at the store reading the labels for the premade mixes for Neti pots. The label announced that it had a patented combination of sodium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. For those who don’t recall high school chemistry, that’s table salt and baking soda… basically what I’ve been mixing up at home. Nothing fancy about it.

I think I just about have this bug beat. I’ve been getting lots of extra sleep (hate losing so much work time, but I need to get well) and that seems to be helping as well. I’ll be keeping that up until I quit getting so darn tired so early in the day. It’s not even 11 in the morning in my area, and I’m already debating a nap.

I hate being sick!

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