HS but delayed...need HELP with LA and Science!

[fourcatmom]

Hi, It's been a long time since i have been on, not sure if anyone would remember me. I have a 16 yo daughter who has had multiple brain injuries. We are going into her 11th year of High School but she has actually had 2 additional years of high school added so I have no idea what level that places her at but she is struggling. I need something for LA that has some writing and spelling. I don't need grammar. She really can't read books due to head pain but could possibly do audio books but she misses a large amount of school so I need something short and simple to just work on consistency and go over things. I also need an Earth Science and I am leaning towards that being video based with some small amount of work to follow up on video. We are in and out of the hospital for procedures, I don't really have the emotional energy to plan a curriculum so if there was something already written down that I could follow that would be helpful. We are on the verge of doing Home/Hospital but I want to give things a try before I move in that direction, the last few years of school have been almost non-existent due to treatments and pain. 

Any suggestions? I appreciate the help! 

M

[Pen]

Ds will have earth science in bm school—I’ll let you know if any great resources come from that. I strongly recommend Iain Stewart’s  bbc series “Earth: The Biography. “

For Language Arts, maybe  Ruth Culham’s Traits Of Writing for Middle School would be easier to cope with on top of pain than a high school text—even from POV of the print size in the book. And work on spelling as it comes up in her own writing. 

[Pen]

Also if she doesn’t have it yet try to get her Bookshare, Learning Ally, NLS for audio. Culham book may be on Bookshare.  

[Pen]

Also, I am sorry about your dd.  I think I recall your username but not detail. Was this a sports injury?  

[fourcatmom]

Originally yes, whiplash while riding a horse in 2013, 2nd degree TBI when she was thrown from a horse head first into a corral rail in 2014, that lead to a diagnosis of Chiari Malformation (where the back part of her brain descended into her spinal cord), then a CSF leak (multiple), and now pseudotumor cerebri (which is high brain pressure) but we think she still might have a CSF leak. Along with a slew of cognitive diagnosis. But, she also had double vision start out of the blue in 2012 even before the injuries so we have been struggling in one way or another for about 6 years now. 

[fourcatmom]

I just looked at the LA program and that seems like a lot of teaching, I am looking for more review I guess at this point, some kind of small workbook she can work from, not sure that exists for writing. Going to do Easy Grammar Plus for grammar. Just something that keeps her learning and engaged each day is my goal, not new material right now. We are so hit and miss and doing school that I want her to feel confident again and more towards new material. I am not sure if that makes sense. 

 

 

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, fourcatmom said:

I need something for LA that has some writing and spelling. I don't need grammar. She really can't read books due to head pain but could possibly do audio books but she misses a large amount of school so I need something short and simple to just work on consistency and go over things. I also need an Earth Science and I am leaning towards that being video based with some small amount of work to follow up on video.

 

Spelling--if you don't need it to be context-based, I recommend Sequential Spelling. Super easy. Do it every day and correct mistakes on the spot. 

Wordsmith series--I have used only the first level (which does contain some grammar), and we found it pretty cut and dry. By age, your daughter would be ready for this one, but there is an intermediate book as well (total of 3 in the series): https://www.commonsensepress.com/store/p17/Wordsmith_Craftsman_3rd_Edition_-_9th_through_12th_Grade_Skills.html

Writing Strands might also be an option, and there are multiple levels too: https://www.amazon.com/Writing-Strands-Level-Dave-Marks/dp/1888344091/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=ZMF14SFEC3ZNC6XBK1ME&dpID=51zZs4rkD1L&preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail

The series has an updated edition that is not secular as well (I can't remember if you are a secular homeschooler or not). 

A totally different option is to maybe integrate some writing and lit with short stories (less reading). I'm Lovin' Lit on Teachers Pay Teachers has some really good interactive/reference notebooking activities as well as story of the month resources for middle and early high school. We love her stuff! 

11 minutes ago, fourcatmom said:

I just looked at the LA program and that seems like a lot of teaching, I am looking for more review I guess at this point, some kind of small workbook she can work from, not sure that exists for writing. Going to do Easy Grammar Plus for grammar. Just something that keeps her learning and engaged each day is my goal, not new material right now. We are so hit and miss and doing school that I want her to feel confident again and more towards new material. I am not sure if that makes sense. 

 

Easy Grammar Plus should be a good fit!

I think of your daughter from time to time, and I am glad to hear from you again. I am sorry things aren't significantly better at this point. I had a relative undergo successful (at least safety-wise) chiari surgery early this year (I don't know a lot about his situation, just that he came through it all okay and it was a risky surgery), and it definitely made me think about you guys. 

[Heathermomster]

53 minutes ago, fourcatmom said:

Originally yes, whiplash while riding a horse in 2013, 2nd degree TBI when she was thrown from a horse head first into a corral rail in 2014, that lead to a diagnosis of Chiari Malformation (where the back part of her brain descended into her spinal cord), then a CSF leak (multiple), and now pseudotumor cerebri (which is high brain pressure) but we think she still might have a CSF leak. Along with a slew of cognitive diagnosis. But, she also had double vision start out of the blue in 2012 even before the injuries so we have been struggling in one way or another for about 6 years now. 

Bless you, both.  I am so sorry.  (((hugs)))

[Pen]

1 hour ago, fourcatmom said:

I just looked at the LA program and that seems like a lot of teaching, I am looking for more review I guess at this point, some kind of small workbook she can work from, not sure that exists for writing. Going to do Easy Grammar Plus for grammar. Just something that keeps her learning and engaged each day is my goal, not new material right now. We are so hit and miss and doing school that I want her to feel confident again and more towards new material. I am not sure if that makes sense. 

 

 

 

Review of what level and/or what skills?

[fourcatmom]

Thank you. I will take a look at all those suggestions tonight. Review of...not sure...she hasn't consistently done school in two years so I am shooting in the dark here a bit. Review of maybe things she might have learned in middle school then we progress or go back depending on what she remembers or what she needs. I don't want to overwhelm her, I just want her thinking about school, feeling confident and trying to do something each day along with the therapy and appointments that still need to happen. Most of the time she is lying down in bed but due to seizures that started recently I want to focus more on workbooks then computer stuff. 

[Pen]

Take a look at Spectrum Writing Grade 8 as a possible review in workbook form. 

[Pen]

Zaner Bloser has good books on composition too. 

[Storygirl]

I remember you, too.

I don't know all of Pen's suggestions, but they sound promising.

I thought I'd add Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills series. Book 1 is meant for grades 7/8, but the suggested grade level is not on the cover, so it's not obvious that it is for a younger level. We used it (as well as the lower levels) and liked it. The reviews on Amazon say that it includes grammar instruction, but I don't remember that; we did a different program for grammar. I think the grammar that is mentioned is more how to use the grammar skills in the writing.

Also, have you looked at Walch Power Basics? I have not used it, but I have seen it recommended as an accessible high school text for struggling learners and you can select various subjects. I don't know how much teaching it would involve from you, but you could get an idea of that by reading reviews, I imagine.

[PeterPan]

3 hours ago, fourcatmom said:

she hasn't consistently done school in two years so I am shooting in the dark here a bit.

How old is she now? If I could make a suggestion, it doesn't sound like a traditional school approach is suiting her at all right now. What you might do is something more that enriches her and broadens her as a person. For instance, read the news together every day (like one of the emails you can subscribe to from the NYT or other sources), pick 3-4 things to rabbit trail, and just read and talk about those things. So like there's a hurricane about to hit Hawaii. Review geography, talk about hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, etc. (hello, earth science), look at the political ramifications, talk about who should do what (politics, gov't), talk about preparedness (health). Or maybe there's a news story about shrimp in the Gulf after x number of years after the oil spills. Just read and talk together.

If she's informed, enriched, and had a chance to think about issues, that goes a long way toward maturing her. She may or may not ever want to read a text, but she'll probably want to be able to have conversations, be informed, care about causes and charities, etc. 

If you want a more typical progression, what you might consider is taking the topics from the high school text and getting them as thin picture books from the juvenile non-fiction section. The content will be good, the size workable in bed, and it will be connected to pictures to improve comprehension. Even adults learn a lot when they read juvenile non-fiction books, so it's a great way to study topics.

[Storygirl]

DS14 is in an intervention level language arts class for 8th grade this year. The teacher uses a variety of resources, including two thin biweekly classroom news magazines. They read those regularly for the nonfiction component of their LA instruction. She said the kids usually love them.

I think they are a school subscription kind of thing, but you can order the same type of teen news magazine as a homeschooler. There is a discount rate available on God's World News (if you are okay with a Christian viewpoint) now through the end of the month https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/gods-world-news/

[Pen]

14 hours ago, PeterPan said:

How old is she now? If I could make a suggestion, it doesn't sound like a traditional school approach is suiting her at all right now. What you might do is something more that enriches her and broadens her as a person. For instance, read the news together every day (like one of the emails you can subscribe to from the NYT or other sources), pick 3-4 things to rabbit trail, and just read and talk about those things. So like there's a hurricane about to hit Hawaii. Review geography, talk about hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes, etc. (hello, earth science), look at the political ramifications, talk about who should do what (politics, gov't), talk about preparedness (health). Or maybe there's a news story about shrimp in the Gulf after x number of years after the oil spills. Just read and talk together.

If she's informed, enriched, and had a chance to think about issues, that goes a long way toward maturing her. She may or may not ever want to read a text, but she'll probably want to be able to have conversations, be informed, care about causes and charities, etc. 

If you want a more typical progression, what you might consider is taking the topics from the high school text and getting them as thin picture books from the juvenile non-fiction section. The content will be good, the size workable in bed, and it will be connected to pictures to improve comprehension. Even adults learn a lot when they read juvenile non-fiction books, so it's a great way to study topics.

 

This sounds like it could be a great approach. 

with news as a focus, if you could get a subscription to the “Junior Scholastic” News magazines, they have a lot of short writing assignments and other language arts aspects included. 

Sentence Composing for Middle School might also be accessible. 

If you were to use Zaner-Bloser btw all you probably need is main student book, and maybe for grade 6 or 7 .  Iirc they were fairly advanced. However, it is hardcover and may be too big / heavy for use in bed. 

 

Edited August 23, 2018 by Pen

[Storygirl]

I know you said you were looking for materials that wouldn't require you to teach them, but I really like PeterPan's idea for using current events as a jumping off point. You could easily have her practice some language arts skills by doing such activities as outlining an article, picking one topic of interest and researching some additional details online from another source and writing a paragraph, or just writing a kind of reader's review paragraph in which she explains which was her favorite article in that issue and why.

If you have several writing ideas that you could apply to any of the issues, you could easily have her do one writing assignment each week based on an article. Have it due by Thursday and spend Friday editing it with her to fix grammar, spelling, etc., and you can work reading, writing, grammar, and spelling all into the assignment.

Then you would only need to add in a few fiction things over the course of the year. My son's class is reading only three novels over the school year, and one is a story in verse, and another is an easy graphic novel of The Lightning Thief. They will discuss the traditional Greek myths that tie into the novel as they read that one. They do most of the reading as readalouds.

So my point is the literature part of language arts does not need to be intense or take up the whole year for someone who struggles with reading. Just do what is realistic for her abilities.

[Pen]

1 hour ago, Storygirl said:

f you have several writing ideas that you could apply to any of the issues, you could easily have her do one writing assignment each week based on an article. Have it due by Thursday and spend Friday editing it with her to fix grammar, spelling, etc., and you can work reading, writing, grammar, an

 

I think that may be too much  

My Ds is going to bm school where they only have one significant writing assignment per quarter. (4 total during school year—and just one gets chosen for revision and making it even better).

Though they get assignments and tests requiring full sentence or perhaps paragraph answers more often. 

Also, btw, Ds does the main work on his quarterly writing assignment by dictation to his cellphone. Which often can understand and spell what he has said. 

[Guest]

Fourcatmom, I remember you but did not know your girl's story about how she sustained the brain injuries. I'm so sorry!

I have no personal experience but was trying to do some searches for you, hoping to find something helpful, and stumbled across Blair Lee's story with her son. Blair is the author of R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey, and since we have not used her science programs I had never heard her son's story before either. Her son sustained his first injury in 2011 and in the video she mentions he is graduating this year. She talks about their journey and gives some tips that helped homeschool her son during that period. She also encourages contacting her with questions, near the end, and gives her contact information. I'm linking the website page with the video. I hope it turns out to be useful in some way.

- Academics after a Traumatic Brain Injury & with Post-Concussive Syndrome Talk Description:

https://seahomeschoolers.com/academics-post-concussive-syndrome/

You and your girl will be in my thoughts and prayers,

M

Edited August 23, 2018 by Guest

[ElizabethB]

I'm sorry!  I hope you find something that works, that is a lot going on.

For science, maybe real science 4 kids, one book with short chapters for all the sciences, nice pictures, but scientific language.  I would get book 5 or 6 or maybe, look at samples, here is book 6 at Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/Building-Student-Textbook-Exploring-Science/dp/1941181139/ref=sr_1_23?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1535061978&sr=1-23

More sample pages on her website:

https://gravitaspublications.com/product/building-blocks-student-text/

The speechify app might help, then you could use anything you want and load the text into it and it would read it to her.  I don't know anyone who has used it, I've started a post about it to ask: 

 

[Storygirl]

7 hours ago, Pen said:

 

I think that may be too much  

My Ds is going to bm school where they only have one significant writing assignment per quarter. (4 total during school year—and just one gets chosen for revision and making it even better).

Though they get assignments and tests requiring full sentence or perhaps paragraph answers more often. 

Also, btw, Ds does the main work on his quarterly writing assignment by dictation to his cellphone. Which often can understand and spell what he has said. 

You may be right!

I was thinking more about writing a paragraph per week and then editing the paragraph at the end of the week, not a major assignment each week. I probably wasn't clear!

[fourcatmom]

Wow....thank you everyone for all the suggestions. It has been a bad day and I need to try and catch up and read the suggestions. Quickly though I saw someone ask how old she is now, she is 16. We are currently still trying to work with our charter school which places some restrictions on what i can and can't do. I did take her out a few years ago and try to just go the route by myself but I found I was very overwhelmed and it was too easy to just not do work depending on what was going on. I find that she needs the accountability (to someone else) and also needs to know she has a purpose in life. I like the idea of the current events just not sure I can put that all together to make it work for the charter. I have not read all the comments but I will come back and read them. Thank you again, I truly appreciate all the help! And, thank you for the science link I will check that out. 

M

[fourcatmom]

Well I still don't have this all figured out and we got more bad news, or maybe it's good news if it will help her. But she has to have another surgery. She is a complicated case and they now know that despite her high brain pressure she still has a CSF spinal leak, typically you don't have both. But, she does. 

I have math figured out and I ordered the grammar.. I would really like a video based program for Science and I still need LA. All the of the suggestions were denied by the school as they are not age appropriate for her which I don't get because she is so far behind. Depending on this surgery we may just have to go the home/hospital route. 

[Guest]

Hoping all goes well with the surgery, Fourcatmom!

Keeping you and your girl in my thoughts and prayers,

M

[Storygirl]

I'm sorry about the surgery news, but it's positive that the doctors are working through her issues.

I'm not clear on what school is approving or not approving materials. Is it the public school or some kind of charter? What are the benefits of staying enrolled and following their guidelines, versus doing straight homeschooling?

Did you suggest Writing Skills by Diana Hanbury King? If so, and they rejected it, can you suggest it again at level 3, which is designated as for high school students? The samples online (I found some at cbd.com ) still look pretty basic and easy to follow, and I don't see that you would need to do the lower levels before starting level 3.

If you have grammar PLUS writing PLUS a list of books that she will read, would that be enough? In other words, can you make a book list and get it approved, or do you have to buy an actual literature curriculum?

[PeterPan]

Remind us, but she's had an IEP in the past? She has one now? If the charter is taking money from the state to provide an education and not creating a plan for her that works, then they're sorta dropping the ball. So then they're making money off you and not providing the service. It might be easier to work with your ps (unless you've had a run-in with them in the past) and create some kind of homebound program. Or get the IEP done and then when you see it make your choice about actually enrolling her or not. But at least the ps would have some legal oopmh behind their butts to make an actual plan.

Can your insurance pay for some counseling for you? Honestly, this is such a hard situation, I would get some counseling. I don't think your biggest problem is academics, but dealing with some really terrible realities here and grappling with what that looks like, where this is going, what she needs. That's when you need outside perspective. So if the ps IEP team will work with you and give that perspective, that could be good, but also I would seek a professional counselor, someone your dd's doctor recommends, something your insurance maybe would cover for. It's a normal thing to need in situations like this. Any time you have significant challenges, it's NORMAL to go see a counselor. I've done it, and I'll bet if you polled a significant number of other people here have done it. We just don't necessarily talk about it. 

[Storygirl]

I'm also wondering about whether there is an IEP. Here, the IEP has to include transition planning, which is how the school will help prepare the student for life after graduation.

I think academics are important, but, given your daughter's TBI and other issues, I think the question of how she prepares for LIFE is as important -- or more important -- than the academic questions. In our area, the school is charged with helping to figure that out. Is there anyone working through those questions with you?

I think expecting her to do do grade-level materials is absurd, by the way, given the circumstances. I would be frustrated with that as well. Is there a way you can challenge that stipulation? Has she had psych testing to show what kind of impact the injuries have had on her ability to learn along with peers? (If she has an IEP, that testing should have been done). If the IEP shows she needs a modified curriculum, the school should approve modified curriculum choices.

 

[Pen]

23 hours ago, fourcatmom said:

Well I still don't have this all figured out and we got more bad news, or maybe it's good news if it will help her. But she has to have another surgery. She is a complicated case and they now know that despite her high brain pressure she still has a CSF spinal leak, typically you don't have both. But, she does. 

 

 

I hope the the surgery will end up helping her. 

23 hours ago, fourcatmom said:

I have math figured out and I ordered the grammar.. I would really like a video based program for Science

 

Aside from what your school will allow, did you try the Iaian Stewart videos? They are very good. 

 

Ds ‘s class is using 

 

Glencoe Earth Science: Geology, the Environment, and the Universe, Student Edition (HS EARTH SCI GEO, ENV, UNIV)

there maybe less expensive editions available. And there are apparently National Geographic videos that go wit it. 

23 hours ago, fourcatmom said:

 

and I still need LA. All the of the suggestions were denied by the school as they are not age appropriate for her which I don't get because she is so far behind. Depending on this surgery we may just have to go the home/hospital route. 

 

If you are dealing with a home school cover type school, maybe you would be better off with a local public school which can set up viable IEP and other programs for her.

This would give her till 22 to get high school done, I think. If that’s federal not a state rule. 

[fourcatmom]

Sorry for the delay in getting back on, so much going on right now. I will try to answer a few questions that were asked

She is with a charter school through the school district. We have been with them since we started homeschooling. I did leave at one point a few years ago , or actually they pretty much kicked her out and I tried to homeschool her by my self but I found it was quite challenging in dealing with the school side of things and the medical and I felt she did better with the charter then with me. She does have an IEP. I am not sure it does any good. She has had neuropsych testing twice, once through the district and once with a brain trauma specialist through the medical center. On the medical one she was diagnosed with a mild neurocognitive disorder. There are only two degrees of a neurocognitive disorder, mild and major. Major is dementia. She also had a speech evaluation and was dxed with a cognitive communication deficit. Her scores in varies categories in testing were quite low. 

I don't honestly she get the whole LA thing, she is not at grade level math and that is not an issue so not clear on why LA is. She missed almost the whole school year last year and they added 2 more years to her high school plan to make up the credits. I am on the verge of pulling her and just doing home and hospital but I guess I still like the idea of more flexibility in choosing materials over the public school doing it. 

There is a program through her medical center that helps with schools but they have told me to go the home hospital route that the charter doesn't meet her needs. I am waiting for the charter to write into the IEP that she needs a laptop and I was hoping to do neuropsych testing again this year before I switched as we wanted to compare her results from last year before surgery to see if things have improved at all. I am still on the fence about switching but if they can't work with me then I will have to. I feel like that's what the school wants. One of her IEP goals is to do 60% of her work for 10 days straight. She hasn't met that goal yet and this is her third year on that goal. It's kind of ridiculous. If we stay with the charter I will ask the school advocate through medical to at least be on the phone during the IEP meeting this time. 

I have thought about counseling, she goes to a pan counselor but they talk about everything and I do have time with her as well but it's more limited and not focused on me per se. I do think the surgery will help, it's been in discussion for over a year but I am not quite ready to take that on just yet. I do suspect it will be in either Oct or Nov. though. 

I will look at the writing book again. 

[kbutton]

How frustrating! I am sorry you are getting more complications from the "help" than solutions.

[Pen]

19 hours ago, fourcatmom said:

There is a program through her medical center that helps with schools but they have told me to go the home hospital route that the charter doesn't meet her needs. I

 

It sounds like they are correct about that. Is there a reason you don’t want to do what they are suggesting?

 

[fourcatmom]

On 9/13/2018 at 2:25 PM, Pen said:

 

It sounds like they are correct about that. Is there a reason you don’t want to do what they are suggesting?

 

Because I will have even less say in what she is learning and what materials are used. We sometimes are not  home and sometimes we do school at all different hours which is dependent on her health so I feel like having someone come to the house might just be harder but we may end up going that direction if I can't get things together to have a successful year. 

[ElizabethB]

Hugs!

Maybe some things on your own and some things with something like Acellus?  That way, you wouldn't be doing everything but would have more control.  It is video instruction but at your own pace, a friend whose son has severe dyslexia uses it and says it is flexible and a good fit for him.

https://www.acellusacademy.com/browse-courses/#hs-courses

 

[katilac]

Storygirl mentioned Power Basics by Walch, give those a look. They are, well, basic, but used in high schools for high school credit. That would give you a base and you can always add video or audio materials when she is able to handle it.

From their site: The Power Basics curriculum provides content in language arts, mathematics, science, social studies, and school-to-career.

Each Power Basics book is organized into manageable instructional units that build mastery in the core curriculum areas, and can be used sequentially and class-wide, or on an “as needed” supplemental basis. Each student text is accompanied by a consumable student workbook for reinforcement, extension, and activities for the multiple intelligences. A consumable practice pack provides additional opportunities to practice each concept taught in the student text—a key to mastery.

The teacher’s guide offers unit overviews, additional activity and project suggestions, graphic organizers, multiple intelligence activities, and tips for reaching all students in a differentiated classroom. The accompanying test pack includes a pretest, a comprehensive test for each unit, and a post-test for final assessment. Each test pack also contains teacher support, and offers specific strategies for standardized test-taking.

 

[fourcatmom]

Hey there! 

I just wanted to come back and say we are having some success with school now! I hired a turor that comes to the house twice a week and that has been the best thing for both of us! She is doing modified school but multiple subjects and we are working on consistency and moving forward. She did just have her shunt placed last month and so far we have had a few issues, including an infection and the headaches are still there but they were reduced for the first week so I will remain hopeful. She is also doing an extended year so we will continue just plugging along, especially since she missed for her recent surgery. 

[Pen]

I’m glad to hear she’s coming along!

Do you have a parrot? Or what is the avatar pic?

Edited May 23, 2019 by Pen

[Storygirl]

Thanks for updating! I'm glad to see that she is making progress!

[fourcatmom]

On 5/23/2019 at 10:29 AM, Pen said:

I’m glad to hear she’s coming along!

Do you have a parrot? Or what is the avatar pic?

 Yes, I have an 20 year old African Grey parrot, but that is a general pic not her 

[fourcatmom]

On 5/25/2019 at 7:51 PM, kand said:

 I am so glad to read a positive update. I think about your daughter from time to time (particularly when I’m worried about something one of my daughters is doing on a horse, to be perfectly honest).  Thank you for coming back with an update! 

I totally understand that feeling. Yes, we have definately had some steps forward and still a lot of steps backward but we just keep trying to put one foot in front of the other. But, the tutor has really helped because it helps her to be accountable to someone else and takes a bit of the pressure off of me. She actually was doing fractions last week! We spent so much time in division I didn't think she would move forward. She is also doing more therapy now, including speech therapy for cognitive rehab and they do work on memory which has been great and then also CBTi which is cognitive behavioral therapy, insomnia. Plus pain psychology working through living with chronic pain. We still have some medical things to overcome and more procedures in her future but we will get there. We also had a cat diagnosed with diabeties (because you know we needed more medical stuff in our life) but it has been the best thing for her. Don't know if I posted this or not but as soon as the vet said he needed injections, my daughter took the initiative and learned how to do it. She also checks his blood levels. She now talks about being  vet tech, first time in a long time she has thought about her future. Day by day, sometimes hour by hour but this year my focus is on hope. 

Edited May 27, 2019 by fourcatmom