A Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Mom

So we are slowly adjusting to life with oxygen. The baby fought having the canula on last night, but today he seems resigned to it and only pulled it off once during a nap. Last night we had to put socks on his hands for gloves. The doctor's office called today to check on him. Nice, since it's Saturday. I was very comforted by that. The baby was a lot more sleepy today than I expected with the oxygen. I thought he would be perky today, but maybe the antibiotic is making him tired too. I'm having a hard time getting my Angel Care monitor set to just the right sensitivity so that it doesn't pick up the oxygen machine that vibrates pretty bad, but still picks up the baby not moving. It's a fine line of adjustment.

I can't say enough about the importance of having the Angel Care monitor, though. Without it, we never would have known he was having problems, and might not have discovered the pneumonia until it was much more serious. I bought two of them for the daycare last summer after another care provider had a death in her facility due to SIDS. It rattled all of us, and was especially sad, since the baby was her own grandson. I don't have any other little infants in my care at the moment, and don't plan to take on any until mine is a little older, so I took the other one to my sister to use with her new baby. It's so worth it to have the peace of mind. Every parent of a newborn ought to have one of these.

So on with our day. Our homeschooling is a family event. Everyone gets involved - both parents and all the kids. In this next series of photos, you will see what I mean. No pictures of my daughter - she was behind the camera, but still involved. And she did pin one, and she helped throughout the summer to compile this collection. You'll see what I'm talking about in a minute, and you'll see why the baby was so "bug eyed" too.

Yesterday, I was so scattered, I forgot to mention what a sweet husband I have. He surprised me by getting off work early and rushing up to the doctor's office to be with me when we learned what was wrong with the baby. No small feat. It's an hour and a half drive. He also thought to pack an overnight bag for us just in case. (Thankfully we didn't need it.) I had to smile just thinking of all he thought to bring. He even brought me a jacket. He is always so prepared for things like that. He never lets us leave the house without everyone having a coat - no matter what time of year. I on the other hand, was so scattered that I managed to leave without even grabbing a blanket for the baby, or my debit card. OOPS. Good thing I know the number. I called another bank, which I did have a card for, and transferred some money so I would have it available. Too bad I forgot I was using a different card when I went to purchase a prescription, and ended up locked out of using that card too because I put my other pin in a few times before I realized my mistake. UGH. Thankfully I had plenty of cash along to pay for the prescription, groceries, and fuel. Even so, I was so glad my sweet husband was there. I was a bit of a basket case (obviously).

Now back to the homeschooling. You may want to think twice before you scroll down any further. The rest of the pictures might be a bit alarming to some of you ;)

Here's a little hint...

Don't say I didn't warn you. Today we put together my 7 year old's bug collection. It was pretty impressive by the time we got it finished. (By they way, the 2 year old's creepy crawly shirt was a total coincidence, but oh, so fitting!) Don't let his expression fool you. We had to keep a close eye on him because he kept trying to touch the bugs.

Anyway, the 7 year old (and everyone else in the house) has been collecting bugs all summer. One of the most frequent things I've heard is, "Someone get me a jar!" And in a pinch, a ziplock bag works really well too... so long as you can zip it shut... which the 7 year old really struggled with. Enough said. This particular "bug" is a centipede. Not sure that actually counts as an insect because insects have six legs and three body segments.

The process tonight was pretty simple. I stuck most of the pins in the bugs - or at least started them in so the 7 year old could do it without breaking them, then he pinned them on the display board, and wrote numbers by each pin.

Tomorrow he is going to write out the names of each bug on a list. He has science camp up at the Bible camp Monday and Tuesday, and the theme is entomology, so he is going to take his collection up to camp.

Homeschooling is not for the faint-of-heart :) I figured out the easiest way to get the pins in the bugs was to hold them in my hand. Insects tend to only want to lay on their backs when they are dead. They don't bother me when they're dead, and I have must more tolerance for them after a summer of intentionally trying to catch them. Still hate spiders, and am not thrilled with living bugs, but now I tend to think they are interesting rather than scary.

He has some pretty good specimens. Most have problems - broken legs, wings, etc, and this display certainly wouldn't win any awards, but come on. The kid is 7. And it truly was HIS project. He is pretty proud of it, and we are proud of him.

Pretty good collection, don't you think? He has a total of 33 insects, including a huge "giant water bug" in the center, three dragonflies, and four grasshoppers (remember he told me he was "collecting them" - he would have had one more, but the jar it was in must have had some moisture in it, because it turned to goo. Did you know dead insects stink? Yeah. Even the teacher learns something in homeschool! He actually caught several others but some were too small to pin, some rotted or broke before we got to pinning them, and we learned that spiders are not a good thing to try to pin - either they turn to goo, or become rock hard, so none of his spiders made it onto the board. I wasn't real thrilled collecting those either :-/

I'll leave you with one parting shot. My daughter is really into photography and comes up with some really interesting angles. I think this is a great picture, don't you?

I love homeschool - even when it means filling my house with bug carcasses. We sure had some interesting experiences. Like the time we found a butterfly, then added a moth to the same jar. The both layed eggs on the dead butterfly. Then the eggs hatched. We are now raising about 100 caterpillars. In the past we've dissected a frog, and as part of the study, ordered frog legs from a cajun restaurant we had in town at the time. Somehow I see a lot more dissecting in my future, especially with 3 boys coming up. Believe it or not, I'm actually looking forward to that ;) Love my boys!