And life goes on...

It's funny how we're getting into routines around here. Still Allen is progressing and still he has short term memory loss.

This morning, like lots of mornings, he woke up not knowing what happened to him or remember much of the day before.

This morning, however, on this beautiful Good Friday morning, he woke up and (with walker) went to the kitchen to let the dogs out of the garage. They sleep there on their little dog bed and whine at the door each morning when they've decided we've had enough sleep. This is the first time he's done that since the injury, but he used to do it each morning when he got up to get ready for work. IMPROVEMENT! He was also heading to the closet to get his uniform to get ready for work. I reminded him that he was retired now and didn't have to go and he was dumbfounded, like usual, about that. He decided to go back to bed and we lay there and talked quite a while about his past, more recently the last 10 or 15 years which are sketchy. He was amazed at it and said he felt a little lost. Believe it or not, IMPROVEMENT. It all means that roads are starting to form to and from information in his head and that that Executive Function is trying to wake up.

As I may or may not have posted, we had been in a quandary over how to school Erin for next year. She has been homeschooled the last 7 years and I never thought about putting her in a traditional school, but for next year it seemed like that might be the answer. With helping Allen and now working from home as 'dispatcher' for True Solutions, my time would be limited, I was thinking. And Jamie has done so much to help with homeschooling this year and can next year, but she will begin a more intensive online program to finish her degree next year.

So... we checked into a charter school here which was pretty much the only one I would choose to put Erin in because of reputation, discipline and mostly the Lord's peace with it. But... they haven't had an 8th grade opening for next year, so ... we now have lots of peace that the Lord will continue to give us what we need to continue home schooling next year. I thought about our regular government schools available, but not with much confidence. Then Jamie, who teaches with the AVID tutoring program that does college prep at a local public middle school, came home saying... "NO, NEVER." She loves teaching there, but doesn't want her sister there. Says something because she was homeschooled through graduation and there was a time when she was going into middle school that she really, really wanted to go to public school.

You know, I have to realize that I cared for Mom and Dad when they were aging and ill, as well as working from home in a similar job and still homeschooled. God is sufficient.

Now, I'm kind of excited about next year already. We have ordered one of the best science programs for homeschooling. It's Apologia Science. I've always felt lacking in the science area and had been interested in this program, but it was more pricey than some and I 'made do' with other programs. Well, they clearanced out 1st version for the 2nd version and YEA!!!! I got it.

Jamie has opted to continue her English for next year and there's nobody better to teach her. She'll focus on writing and literature and I'm getting "Daily Grams" to keep her brushed up on grammar skills.

We have Allen's college math that he never got to do and it's the college remedial program with online work and study helps. We went over it and it's perfect to keep her going forward and be ready for college algebra.

Erin will continue reading and doing papers and projects for history and begins the post-civil war period. PE will continue to be our Kinect exercise program, though I'd love to find another outlet for her, as well. Typing will be a priority next year and she will become proficient in it. There are a few other things we'll be adding in and I am focusing on more outside activities, such as 4H. So... that's it in a nutshell.

I am happy for clarity and the Lord's leading. I believe the Lord allowed us to stick our toes in the water of public/charter education choices and gave us peace to continue the path we've been on for a long time now. Do I think homeschooling is perfect? No, no educational choice we have is perfect, but it's perfect for us for the time being and my goal has always been to teach my children to love learning and how to learn, how to find the information they need as they need it.