Teachers' Lounge

I always thought the name "Teachers' Lounge" was a misnomer. "Teachers' Lounge" implies that teachers sit around, eat, drink & shoot the breeze....when they're probably trying to come up for air and just make it through the rest of their day (teaching) and night (planning / grading assignments). Teachers' Lounge??  Hardly! Maybe "Teachers' Bunker" or "Faculty Decompression Chamber"!

I still have a lot of respect for teachers, especially in today's society. In addition to teaching their students, they have a lot of other concerns to keep in mind. School and classroom safety, managing unruly behaviors, keeping up with standardized testing, budget cuts...you get the idea. Even though I'm a homeschool mom, my appreciation and gratitude still goes out to teachers.

Homeschool moms (and dads) juggle being teachers for a good part of the day on top of  their other household duties. 24/7. Math, reading, spelling AND vacuuming, dinner and laundry. (Dang! I forgot to take our laundry out of the dryer again!). No break. You're the teacher, cafeteria cook, janitor, nurse, librarian and principal....all rolled up into one person.

So, when do you plan it all? When do you take a breather? You do take breathers, don't you? As for me, "planning time" or "me time" doesn't make it high on my priority list.

I did something today that I don't like to do....I woke up early (Hey! I'm a homeschool mom of an adolescent boy, remember?). God Bless my wonderful husband for waking up so early every day to support our family! My commute from the bedroom to the living room is a lot shorter. I woke up early to help my husband out with something before he left for work and I actually stayed awake. I had about 2 hours of time for myself! I ate breakfast sitting down. I had extra time to read my Bible in peace and quiet. I got caught up on some emails. I lesson planned for a couple of extra weeks and did some prep work for new units. In other words, I didn't cram hours of work into a few minutes.

Maybe this "Teachers Lounge" concept is a little unrealistic for homeschoolers. However, I do hope the idea of "Teacher Time" or "Mom Time" will start to be a regular occurrence in my Google Calendar and in my overloaded Homeschool Planner.

Now, if you'll excuse me...its 10:15 pm and I still need to unload my dryer!

"Mom! Look on the bright side..."

Oy! It has been a rough, couple of weeks! About three weeks ago, our son was started to develop a partial blockage related to his GI condition.  It was causing him some pain and frustration. A couple of x-rays, doctor visits and an ER trip later, we got a handle on things and it cleared up. It was God's timing, as it cleared up the day before we took a long weekend to FL to visit my husband's parents.Whew! He was fine for our trip. We had a nice time visiting my in-laws and spending some quality time with them. We even snuck a couple of beach trips and I was able to spend an afternoon with my best friend since junior high.

The day after we came back from Florida, our son started developing an asthma flare. Our boy has been fighting chronic asthma since he was a baby and illness/allergies are his biggest triggers. So, where did he pick up this recent cough? Allergies? Waiting room at the GI doctor? Picking up a cold from the ER visit? A cold from flying on the airplane? Who knows where the cough and congestion came from? This cough was here to stay!

Our timeline for the past couple of weeks went something like this: bad cough, doctor call, begin OTC cold and allergy medicines, activate asthma action plan, more coughing, another doctor call, switch from inhalers to nebulizers, cough progresses, another doctor call, oral steroids, more coughing, another doctor call (BTW- we have an AWESOME pulmonologist who was able to help us manage this entire asthma flare without our son needing to come in for a visit), antibiotics, another doctor call. We also prayed without ceasing, threw in daily, pulse ox finger checks for good measure. Pushed liquids. Slept with one eye open in case he needed a nebulizer treatment at 12 am...and 4 am...and so on...

I think our fighter is finally getting over the worst of this asthma flare and it only took two whole weeks. Needless to say, it put a big damper on extra-curricular activities and outings. Thankfully as a homeschool family, we schooled when he was up for it and rested when he wasn't up for school. Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the flexibility of our homeschool schedule?!?!!!

A couple of years ago, our son had a pretty bad asthma flare similar to this one. At the time, he was in regular school and he missed about two weeks of school. I sometimes forget how bad these asthma flare ups get until another one sneaks up on our boy.

Today, as I was giving my sweet kid his umpteenth nebulizer treatment, I told him "I'm sorry, honey, that I have to give you another breathing treatment! I know you're slowly getting better, but these are a drag, aren't they?". His reply? "Mom! Look on the bright side, I didn't have to go to the hospital or miss any school since we schooled in the summer!".

Those were his words. It has been a loooong time since he has said "Look on the bright side!". He used to be a "look on the bright side" kind of kid since he was a little guy. Then he got older and that stopped, for a long time. No more bright side.

This must mean that our wonderful son...the fighter... sees the bright side again! This is especially tough when you're an almost-teenage boy going through some health issues. He sees the bright side again, despite everything our poor kid has been through during these past few weeks. Sometimes, the most important things we can learn are the things we used to know from a long time ago.

THANK YOU, GOD!!!!!!

"Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved, for You are my praise."
- Jeremiah 17:14