in honor of our veterans....thank you.
This poem was written by my daughter, Rachel, during her senior year of high school




Dear Soldier
What could someone of my stature
possibly say?
Saying "thank you" is
simply not enough.
The courage it takes to stride with
American pride,
Is truely divine!
Your mother gave you life,
and in return you
are defending hers.
sand gritting between your teeth,
you trudge on with
thoughts of home.
You've put yourself in harms way,
and pray to God
to live each day.
Your rifle at your side,
Your knife in its sheath,
You fight the battles to right
what you know is wrong.
With a fist in the air,
you exclaim
"BinLadin and Saddam are monsters,
We must all go there!"
Dear Soldier
What made you make this decision?
Hold your head up high,
stride with American pride!
Wave the flag of
Red, White and Blue.
Now please let me review...
You're the thought that starts each morning,
the prayer of every child.
They say a pictures worth a thousand words..
But how many words can you tell an American Soldier?
Thank you is simply not enough,
but it's all that we citizens know.
Your not only a hero to me..
But to everyone,
This I guarantee!
You're not just another American...
You're an American SOLDIER!






Eulogy for a Veteran



Do not stand at my grave and weep.
I am not there, I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the Gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the mornings hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight,
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,
I am not there, I did not die.

Author Unknown

what in the world is polymyositis anyways?

Okay. So my appointment with my Rhuemy is getting closer. I still feel as though it is forever away. MY family physician has sent me to a specialist to clear up the mystery as to whether or not all this annoying and very frustrating muscle weakness is due to polymyositis. So I thought i would clear up what exactly that may be. This is the best summary I could find.
Polymyositis is an inflammatory muscle disease causing weakness and pain. This is what the doc feels it is an accurate disgnosis for me...but because the condition is rare, it often times proves to be difficult to diagnose, often being mistaken for other muscle disorders. And the other joy of it being rare, is that there is no protocol for treatment which means most deal with a battle with insurance company (I have my warrior face on so am mentally prepared for that). MOst often it is treated with immunosuppresive drugs (Methotrexate being drug of choice) combined with IvIg therapy and prednisone (which is a heck of alot for a person's system to bear!). In researching around, this is what the doctors have told me and what I have found that matches up with what I read from other people's blogs that have experience with this disorder (there is a ton out there that often is contradicting).

Description:

Polymyositis is an inflammatory disorder in which muscle tissue becomes inflamed and deteriorates, causing weakness and pain. It is one of several types of inflammatory muscle disease, or myopathy. This is a progressive disorder which usually begins in adulthood.

Causes:

The cause is unknown. Polymyositis is an autoimmune disease, caused by the immune system’s attack on the body’s own tissue. The reason for this attack is unknown, although some believe that a combination of immune system susceptibility and an environmental trigger may explain at least some cases. There may be a genetic predisposition for it, it may be triggered by Lyme's disease, usually however, the cause is unknown.

Symptoms:

The early symptoms of polymyositis are slowly progressing muscle weakness, usually symmetrical between the two sides of the body. Polymyositis affects primarily the muscles of the trunk and those closest to the trunk, while the hands, feet, and face usually are not involved. Weakness may cause difficulty walking, standing, and lifting objects. Muscles of breathing may also be affected. Weakness of the muscles used for swallowing can cause difficulty with swallowing. Joint pain and swelling also may be present. Later in the course of the disease, muscle wasting or shortening may develop in the arms or legs. If you have polymyositis you have a 30% chance of having heart abnormalities, including electrocardiogram changes and arrhythmias.

Usually they do a muscle biopsy to determine the diagnosis. Along with blood test to test your CPK levels (they will be unusually high with polymyositis).

a day in my son's Rod and Staff

pictures are samples of his work done today in spelling and Wisdom with the Millers Proverb study.

I thought it may be nice to show what my son does on a typical "Tuesday" school day. He uses the Rod and Staff program...at first I was unsure about the curriculum so I strayed this year. After trying a few other things, I ended up returning. It is very easy to teach and is nicely layed out. Our days rotate as to what subjects are covered each day...so not all days are the same. Today, which was on a Tuesay, we do Reading (Bible based), spelling. math, history, English and another subject called "Wisdom with the Millers" which is basically Bible and is a study of Proverbs (which we enjoy very much). We do the first three subject before lunch and the last two after. Math always takes us a minimum of an hour (most of the time longer and I do not even do everything they suggest) and English is as lengthy as well (more often than not it will take us an hour and a half). We have been trying out a new schedule...when we truly follow it and have nothing else thrown at us....we do school from about 8:00am to about 2:00 pm. I really like this schedule and find if we sleep in...we end up doing school still at 8:00 at night (no fun!). Thursdays are much shorter and often Fridays are as well. Other subjects get woven in during the week such as health, science, art, etc. which is why I say this is a typical Tuesday. what he is doing in each subject is as follows:
In math, he is studying fractions..adding, subtracting,multiplying and dividing them. Finding equivalent of fractions, etc. with constant review of roman numerals, and units of measure (how many gallons equals a quart, etc.). He hates the mental drills on fractions (such as what is 5/7 of 84 but he does them willing anyway). The particular pages we did today have lots of explanations printed on them which was nice (not as much time copying out problems as he is not allowed to write in the text and this company does not have workbooks other than the speed drills which he also does on even lesson days), many of the lessons are lengthy in drill which i find very nice...the more practice he does, the easier the problems become. The kids often complain of this however which is a battle. When it becomes too much of a battle... is when I start questioning whether or not I am using the correct program. I beleive in my heart I am though.
We use the Simply Charlotte Mason program for spelling. A little different because it studies spelling as a thought vs. a list of words. How this is working for them I am unsure of. They struggle in spelling. I added many games throughout the week that focuses on spelling and I do see some improvement.
The Rod and Staff English is the same as math...lots and lots of drill. He is usually pretty good in English and seems to understand everything nicely. We are studyinjg verbs right now. I can not wait to get to our Lewis and Clark study for HIstory. I am trying to be patient and introduce it by following the Rod and Staff program (we just got introduced to the Europeans and finished up his study of individual tribes of indians and where they lived. We have about 80 more pages to go!) I bought an extra unit study on Lewis and Clark published by Mark Twain Media,Inc. but it is hard to wait. I also plan to read him a novel of Sacajawea by Diane Glancy titled "Stone Heart". I am way more excited about it then he is however.
Wisdom with the Millers was bought on the website I use for Rod and Staff but was not published by their company. It is very nice however and I do reccommend it. We read a story together and then he has workbook pages to do. The pages usually cover more than just the story (such as editing a paragragh, alphabetizing words, crossword puzzels, etc.. My children really like the stories and it holds their attention well. I really enjoy the study as well..it helps me i guess to have the Bible broken down to a fifth grade level. LOL! Terrible but I understand it way better from this study then any other study. All of the Rod and Staff uses the Old King James version of the Bible as well. I should point that out. At first I was not comfortable with it...now I am very comfy and it seems very odd to use anything else. I love the language, it took awhile but we have all gotten much better. Sometimes we pull a different version (often The Living but I really have found a new love for the King James). That's our Tuesday. I am very comfortable with text teaching. I do not know what the homeschool world calls it. I find it difficult to stray...when I do, i feel my kids are lacking. But my kids do not really know differently...they like looking at maps, they do not need texts filled with colorful pictures and they even enjoy sitting and listening to me read to them (even books with absolutely no pictures...I try to use the living books which we all enjoy. They are my books of choice for our read alouds). So! That's our Tuesday!