These Two

"Handwriting without tears" is our handwriting curriculum of choice. They lied. Kate struggles with copy work, handwriting and writing in general. She loves exploration and creative projects. We read advanced novels together but she doesn't read independently at grade level. We suspect she has a mild case of Dyslexia and are seeking the appropriate next move for her. There are endless options and opinions available. It's too bad the funds for such therapies are not also endless. I am putting this out there in hopes someone will share personal success stories, especially from a homeschooling standpoint. I have read countless books and they tend to contradict one another. We invested in testing for Lauren when she was Kate's age and over $1000 later, we still had no concrete idea what she needed or a diagnosis.

Ty's curiosity about volcanoes stemmed from the neighbor boy insisting we could be destroyed by an eruption so we started our own research. Kate needed maps to determine our threat level. We're in the clear.

"One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries" A.A. Milne

 His latest word is "important" and he uses it all the time. It's adorable.

 Ty was hit with a sudden fever and sore throat yesterday. Given the lack of other symptoms I was pretty certain he had strep throat and took him to the new walk-in clinic in town for verification. He didn't feel well and refused to open his mouth. We had a little talk about doing hard things when we don't want to. The nurse practitioner started making notes as I talked with my son about how I knew he could be a big boy and cooperate with her. I let him know he had a choice. He could either open his mouth and hold my hand or I would hold his mouth open for him. In response, the nurse handed me a script for an antibiotic and a sleep aid decongestant he didn't need. I was dumbfounded and speechless. We were the only ones in the clinic so there shouldn't have been a rush to get us out of there. I left frustrated with myself for allowing her to get away with prescribing medication without an examination. I am slow to medicate and don't appreciate walking out of the clinic with no idea if he really needed to be on the antibiotic. We didn't fill the other script despite her insistence it would help him sleep. This situation falling on the heels of the dental appointment he didn't cooperate with left me even more frustrated. In both cases, I was insisting we were going to accomplish what we set out to do only to have the medical personnel override me. What message does this send my son? Since when do four year old children get to have the final say on medical necessity?

However, once the shock wore off, I medicated Ty and put him into his bed. I went to check on him just before midnight and discovered he was burning with fever and his heart was racing. I got him up and showered to cool him down. He had ibuprofen and shivered for the next hour, chatting the entire time. I don't know if it was fever or exhaustion but he rambled endlessly. He does this often; however, his endless dialogs usually make sense. He started with announcing his fingers were going to fall off if his heart didn't stop beating fast. He wasn't afraid, just stating facts as he understood them. From there he let me know it was rude to scribble on people. He seamlessly wandered into a discussion about how long it is taking his four to turn into a five. It was priceless. He finally fell asleep in bed with me mid-sentence and woke fever free this morning. Praise God for antibiotics, even if they get to us in uncertain methods.