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Quarter Note

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Posts posted by Quarter Note

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    On 3/6/2022 at 7:13 PM, Arcadia said:

    DS17 was in public school from K-4th. For 5th grade he just did:

    Sadlier Vocabulary Workshop https://www.sadlier.com/school/vw1-12

    Reading Detective https://www.criticalthinking.com/reading-detective.html

    Singapore Primary Maths https://www.singaporemath.com/collections/primary-mathematics-standards-edition

    DS16 also did the same thing for 5th grade.

    When I went thru chemotherapy, surgery and radiation, my teens were already in 8th and 9th and could study quite independently.

    DS17 accompanied me to radiation treatment and did his readings at the guests waiting area. My radiation treatment was at the cancer center and there was free coffee, hot chocolate and WiFi so he could finish his assignments there. 

    Free hot chocolate would really sweeten the deal for my kids! 

    • Like 1

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    On 3/5/2022 at 8:33 AM, lmrich said:

    So sorry you are dealing with this. 

    Having your kids read to you is a great idea. You can also listen to audio books together and just chat about them or have your kids keep a log. Simple. 
    Teaching Textbooks perfect for this situation, too. 

    My friends who are both going through  this right now are doing much better than they thought. I hope you have the same speedy recovery as they do. Both have said the worry before was worse than the recovery. (neither had chemo)

    Thank you, lmrich, for the example of your friends.  I think the same thing will be true for me that was true for them:  the worry will be worse than the recovery.  

    Uplifting (but not cheesy) books for 12 year old

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    @Earthmerlin, I thought of this thread today when I remembered another book that your daughter may like:

    Tisha, by Robert Specht

    It's a true story of a young woman who goes to teach in a native Alaskan village.  It realistically addresses racism in the village, but overall it's a wonderfully sweet story.  It was a favorite of mine for a number of years.  Unless my memory fails, it should be suitable for a 12-year-old, as long as she doesn't mind a little bit of romance (kissing).

    I hope your daughter has found some new favorite books!

    Breast cancer diagnosis - please help with all the emotions - update 4/16

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    @Jenny in Florida and @ddcrook, I don't want to quote either of you since you both shared so much of your personal stories, but I want to give you both big thanks for your last couple of posts.  Sharing so much of your thoughts and recounting your journeys has given me peace that I can get through this, too.  

    Everyone, how amazing you all are with your kind words and encouragement!  I can't tell you all how much better I feel tonight than I did yesterday.  There are still far more questions than answers, but you have all given me new hope.  

    And for those of you who are survivors, thank you for being so open with your experiences.  I admire you all!

    • Like 4

    Breast cancer diagnosis - please help with all the emotions - update 4/16

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    Everyone, thank you so much for your understanding and encouragement.  ❤️  Your words and the hope you give me are priceless.  I wish I could have a long, in-depth conversation with every one of you.  (I may PM some of you later - right now it's just too much.)

    It really is the emotions that are the hardest.  I'm not sure exactly how to say this, but I feel so loyal to my body.  I'm one of the least vain people in the world, so it's not about losing any kind of looks (I wear an A-cup anyway), but my body and I have been together for over half a century now.  I have no thoughts of "My breasts are trying to kill me - get rid of them!"  No, my thoughts are more along the lines of, "Cancer is trying to kill my body.  I want to protect every cell that's mine."  And the other thing is, I really want to save the sensations.  (Blush - Blush - Blush)  I can't imagine not having any feeling there when I hug my husband, or when we do more than hug.  (Blushing too much to continue.)  

    I'm crying.  Be back later when I can, but special thanks to @Arcadia, @Tiberia, @ddcrook, @Pawz4me, and @Jenny in Florida for sharing so much of your personal stories.  You are all brave women (and Pawz' spouse is brave).  Thank you!

    • Like 6

    Breast cancer diagnosis - please help with all the emotions - update 4/16

    in The Chat Board

    Posted

    10 minutes ago, Ausmumof3 said:

    I am so sorry to hear this 😞 

    do you know if your have the BRCA1 gene?  If you can get the testing to find out I think it helps make the decision a bit clearer.

    I had the test done, but don't know the results yet.  I know that that might impact my decision.  I have two relatives on the maternal side who each had cancer, so I'm scared about that, too.

    • Sad 1

    Breast cancer diagnosis - please help with all the emotions - update 4/16

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Quarter Note

    (Please don't quote – I'm not comfortable putting this much personal info out on the forum, but I'm desperate.)

    Friends, would you please help me work through some of the emotions of getting a breast cancer diagnosis?

    Three weeks ago, I was grumbling that I had another pro forma mammogram call back. Within a week, there were two biopsies and then the diagnosis (DCIS, stage 0, grade 2-3). At first, my attitude was that I would just get that “little excisional” and then be done and go on with my life. I was joking that maybe I'd get some good schwag from the hospital and that I'd have to start wearing one of those rhinestone-studded pink ribbon pins. But the more I look into things (and I'm scouring breastcancer.org for hours every day), the more this is not just “a little excisional”. Lumpectomy vs. mastectomy, radiation, genetics, chemo, reconstruction…. Instead of joking, now I'm a sobbing mess. 

    Right now I'm scheduled for a lumpectomy, and it's really what I'd prefer (this study seems to indicate that lumpectomies can have long-term outcomes at least as good as mastectomies). But then, many people seem to think that a lumpectomy is just delaying the inevitable mastectomy and giving cancer more time to come back harder. I honestly know no one in real life who has gotten anything less than bilateral mastectomy.  Of course I want to be around to watch my kids grow up. But, I'd also really like to keep my breasts, if possible. I can't imagine losing that sensation there. It's not like a mastectomy is something you can change your mind on.

    My husband, who is absolutely wonderful, will support whatever decision I make, so I can count on his support. He doesn't care what body parts I lose if it means that we get to grow old together. But I still can't figure out how to decide what to do. 

    Any thoughts? I'd appreciate hearing from those of you who have made this decision. Thank you!

    • Sad 24

    seeking recommendations for cheerful, relaxing classical music

    in The Chat Board

    Posted · Edited by Quarter Note

    On 2/23/2022 at 10:39 AM, Alte Veste Academy said:

    The longer the list, the better!

    You asked for it! I tried to focus on lesser-known pieces.  Two Vaughan Williams recommendations are at the top.  The first is a gorgeous setting of a George Herbert poem.  (No particular order after that.)  Some of the pieces are cheerier, some are more on the side of heart-achingly beautiful, but I hope all will be relaxing to you.  

    Wishing everyone the beauty and peace that music brings.

     

    Vaughan Williams, "The Call"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAxc7zuqFyU

    Vaughan Williams, Serenade to Music (Orchestral version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9aTMRCb5zc

    Borodin, Prince Igor Overture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6IDIcYajV4

    Borodin, In the Steppes of Central Asia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ8quMO4srk

    Saint-Saëns Romance in C Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLvFmku-eTw

    Beethoven, Pathétique Mvmt 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGq3-Fi_zQY

    Chopin Nocturne Opus 9, No.2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QS8p5TNzFI

    Chopin Waltz, Opus 69, No. 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krL-IW7Vk1M

    Rachmaninoff, Symphony #2 Adagio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNRxHyZDU-Q

    Bach, “Now Thank We All Our God” chorale setting (organ) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzX42Z0McFU

    Haydn Trumpet Concerto Mvmt 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5drYSu_xORw

    Bach Gigue French Suite #5, Gigue https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcXH_PopobA

    Rimsky-Korsakov Song of India from Sadko (orchestral version) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyLScfpwfzQ

    Schubert Impromptu Opus 90, No. 3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hf_7Pms7cto

    Tchaikovsky, Nutcracker Pas de Deux https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy6dlGpC3Ns

    Dvořák, Serenade in E Major  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRcbDMg56yg

    Tchaikovsky Serenade for Strings Mvmt. 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_udv5o47f8

    Morten Lauridsen: Lux Æterna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4wFjxGHcBU

    • Like 1
    • Thanks 2

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    16 hours ago, freesia said:

    I am so sorry you have to deal with this. What I would do would depend a bit on my child, but I will give it a go. This is for your fifth grader:
    My plan would be to get to math and reading every day. I would just have him read and once a week or so I would ask him to tell me about the book. For writing, I would buy Evan Moors Daily 6 trait writing. This is portable and gives him something to do. I would put everything else on a loop. A loop might look like:science, social studies, spelling, etc. then you work through the list, get as far as you can and then pick up where you left off when you can. However, I actually would probably drop all of that and read aloud if I had the time and energy. 
     

    Consider a series like Liberty’s Kids which my kid’s loved and is perfect for Fifth grade. Our library has it or it’s usually cheap on Amazon. 

    Freesia, the Daily 6 Trait Writing looks wonderful!  I think that will be great for delegating writing to my kids without me being so involved.  (Writing has always been the hardest part of homeschooling for me.)  Simply asking him to read to me is sounding better and better.  Thank you!

    • Like 1

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    16 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

    We've done this a few times, unfortunately. Cancer sucks, immensely, and I'm sorry you're having to go through that sh!t. 

    I do have a few thoughts, actually.  I bent over backwards making homeschooling still work through dd's terminal cancer experience, a long hospitalization for me followed by a NICU baby, and a few other things.  These last couple of go arounds, I homeschooled only the kids that could be mostly independent and put the younger ones in school.  Having lived in both ways, I will say that putting them in school was so.much.easier, and I think it was better for my kids' mental health. They got a chance to go off to school and have pretty dang normal days around other kids and forget some of the heaviness that was going on at home.  It was also so much easier to go to appointments without having to arrange childcare.  I had a kid who really needed and needs consistency, and honestly, school was the consistency that he needed. Things played out so much smoother than I thought they would. My anxiety about him going to school was the problem, iykwim. 

    Imma step off my soapbox now, and give you the practical advice you asked for:

    1. Streamline whatever you can.  We did SOTW audiobooks for history. For my kids younger than 5th grade, we watched documentaries for science and did a couple of field trips later in the year to round that out. No matter what, we did math every day. Handwriting and phonics instruction happened consistently for the younger set, anyone 5th grade or older got consistent writing and grammar instruction (grammar up through 8th). 

    2. When I was hospitalized for a long period of time, I had to have family step in. Everything got reduced to workbooks, with page numbers assigned. Each kid had a backpack, and their books and supply pouch and planner were kept in their own backpacks. Everything was self contained so as they moved between houses everything was there. Sometimes things didn't get done, and that was ok, but it generally was.  Dh brought the backpacks to me at the end of the week and I went through the material with grading and making notes for followup.  My oldest was beyond what my mom and other family (not dh) could tutor in math, so he and I had daily FaceTime calls.  We used video based math those years as well, so he was getting instruction from the videos.  (Now, I would assign Khan Academy, fwiw, for those 2nd-8th grade).

    3. Radiation is just likely to make you sleepy. At the end you'll have some burns that will be not nice, but it's not as challenging to deal with as chemo in terms of trying to teach while puking, etc. The surgery recovery is likely to be the harder thing to deal with for you.  I would cancel school for a few weeks around that, and just bump the school year into summer. 

    4. People will offer sympathy and make vague offers of help. Try to pin some of those down---"let me know if I can ever do something for you"--should get turned into, "Honestly, we could use some help with meals" or "I'm worried about how I'm going to keep up with keeping the bathrooms clean" with people who are your true, good friends.  Give specifics, and you're more likely to get the support you're going to need.

    5. You will probably get a standard slot for radiation, like "3 pm" or "10:20 am".  Be blunt with the scheduler and share that you have kids at home. Most of the people there are going to be over 70 and have all day to show up to get nuked. Ask for a time like 2pm when you can come home and nap, and keep your mornings productive for homeschooling.  It's also likewise ok to negotiate for good times with oncology.  Keep a notebook listing your appointment dates to make it easier to line up insurance statements. Dealing with billing and insurance is a huge time suck that is no fun.

    Hugs, and best wishes.

    Prairiewindmomma, I'm so sorry that your advice was bought so dearly with your own experience.  Thank you for writing out such specific advice.  I will especially try to be firm with the scheduler about getting a time slot that works for us.  All the treatments will need to happen in the city about an hour away from us, so getting a good time will be really important.  (I don't want to be driving down the mountain during rush hour traffic, anyway!)

    Thank you for the hugs and wishes!

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted · Edited by Quarter Note

    17 hours ago, 2_girls_mommy said:

    Yes, we have had a year like this this year too.  My ydd got a diagnosis in Nov and then had a major surgery 3 weeks later, had a recovery set back in January and was hospitalized again for a few days then, and has had doctor appointments and recovery issues non stop since.  This is just our life right now.  

    In our case we had a strong first semester in everything before her diagnosis in Nov. She had had most of her appointments before that in the summer and not during school thankfully.  We had a short week between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but productive- she won a science fair and did a talent show performance which is bittersweet because she has had to drop all sports and physical activity since surgery.  I am so glad she got to do the performance that week.    Of course, the week in the hospital after surgery we did no school.  Then the next week at home in bed I did what I could. She was in bed, but she did crafts daily, I read a chapter book and a history chapter to her that week.  She got a series of science themed chapter books as a gift that she read that week, and we did history/Bible stuff.  For math, we just played gamed and she did activities of her choice in different activity books that people gifted her, and she practiced flashcards a little.  AFter that, we continued things like the previous week, but that was the week before Christmas when we were on break officially anyway.  I counted her surgery week as school days and excused absences.  We just picked back up what we could after Christmas.  There are days when we don't get to everything because of dr. appointments or because of pain management.  But like PP said, we have kept up reading, LA, and math.  We only really took a couple weeks off from reading SOTW.  But we maybe did less projects or bookwork with that than we would have for a couple of those weeks.  Because mine is little, her academics don't take that much time in a day, so we have been able to keep up.  What I can't keep up with are my volunteer positions that I had committed to for the year.  I am struggling with one, but doing the best I can and had to let one go that I had committed to for the year.  

    I have it probably easier than you OP because I am not the one sick.  I have had extreme stress and lack of sleep over some of the things we have encountered.  On those days, I just do the best we can.  There is even one day in her school log that says "no school today. In shock after her dr. appt." 

    Thank you so much, 2_girls_mommy.  My heart hurts for what you and your young daughter have gone through so recently.  I'd love to be spending lots of snuggly time in bed with my kids - maybe they could read to me and I'll count it as school!  (It's not likely - they're too old now for snuggles, but I'll still hope.)  

    I'm going to hope that there are more talent show performances in your daughter's future!  Give her my congratulations on her science fair win!

     

    ETA:  And what a wonderful church you have!  I'm so glad they were there for you.  

    • Like 1

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    On 2/28/2022 at 9:34 AM, Zoo Keeper said:

    Especially for your average K-8 student, I would prioritize keeping consistent in math & LA skills, and let history/science and other extras happen as you are able.  Documentary watching is great for getting content in a way that requires not much from you or other involved adults.  Or library books on history/science topics.  Or read alouds (done by you as you are able, or some other involved adult, or librivox or...) 

    When one of my elementary aged kids had a chronic illness (and all the labs, testing, scans, dr visits involved with it), he spent the better part of a year "treading water" academically with lots of read alouds and a big ol' pile of Spectrum workbooks. He did well with the consistent format and easy to haul to the doctor's office format of the workbooks.  His end of year testing was fine the next school year.  No great gains, but no great losses either.  Which was wonderful considering all he had been through. 

     

    Hugs and prayers for you as you go through all this.

    Zoo Keeper, thank you for your advice.  Your post made me realize something that I had overlooked:  travel time and waiting time can still be used for learning.  I'm no sure why I hadn't thought about that!  

    I hope that your son is doing much better since his year of illness!

    • Like 2

    Homeschooling through medical interruptions

    in General Education Discussion Board

    Posted

    Well, friends, when I planned out this academic year I did not plan for a cancer diagnosis! Do any of you have advice about how to keep teaching as consistent as possible when your schedule is suddenly dictated by doctor's appointments?

    Of course, one of the benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility. We could drop everything right now and be fine academically, but my kids would not do well with that. My fifth grader, in particular, needs consistency. Putting him in public school may be a good long-term goal (one we have been discussing), but it would not be good to drop on him suddenly. I would need to be at my best to help him deal with that transition.

    We have a little less than a month before I'll need surgery, so I'm hoping that we can spend those days getting through as much as we have going on right now, and then take a couple of days off, and then maybe finishing out the rest of the year with whatever I can fit in around radiation treatment, and a lot of documentaries to fill in the time.

    Any thoughts? I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks!

    • Like 4
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