Homeschooling with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Just before New Years I received a diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome to explain the symptoms I have experienced for the last 3 years. After so much time of doctor visits and lab tests and being told I'm perfectly healthy, FINALLY I get an answer that tells me I'm not crazy. I'm not suddenly lazy, it's not all in my head, and I have lab tests to prove it. Yes, I actually need the evidence to remind myself. There is so much confusion around CFS and similar chronic illnesses, it's important that I have evidence to hold onto to defend myself against the unbelieving. I don't want this to be an illness blog, but it does change the way we manage our lives and our homeschool. So I just want to include it. Maybe it will help someone else who faces the same challenges and wants to know there are others out there who understand. I'm not devastated or disabled, but the way I live my life has changed. Significantly.

How do I homeschool with chronic fatigue?
1) Our homeschool MUST be a top priority, or it won't get done. That means that the whole family must help out with the other responsibilities. I can't do it all, and now I can finally stop trying to do it all.

2) I must take good care of myself. Nutrition, rest, and whatever exercise will benefit me. This is a good lesson for the whole family. We are focused on living healthier lives once again. Balance in life is critical.

3) Good friends and family who support you. It is vital to be surrounded by people who support, not doubt or harass you, about your limitations and choices.

4) Choices. We all have choices, but with CFS my choices make all the difference. I can accomplish a limited number of tasks or activities each day (sometimes each week), so I must choose. Once I have used them up, there are no more. It doesn't matter that there is more to be done or enjoyed, I'm out of options. If I waste my choices on things that don't matter, I can't get them back. And I can't add extras. So I must be focused on what is really important to me and my family, and let the rest go.

I am grateful that CFS has brought me to a place of evaluating what is important and what is not, of focusing on a balanced, healthy life, and of being determined more than ever to choose what is truly important. It's so easy to make excuses. But I have received the gift of clarity (when the brain fog has not taken over, that is). Whatever my future holds, I know I am in my Heavenly Father's hands, and never out of His grace. He knows exactly where I am.

Ahhh..... the cold wind of December. The tunes of Christmas dancing in my head. The joy of reflecting on the greatest gift ever given. And to top it off, a break from book work and schooling pressures. This month we are enjoying a more lighthearted approach to learning, which really means playing, creating, relaxing. Thanks to a great sale on a particular curriculum we use, we are awaiting the arrival on some new materials and will begin again in January. With a new plan. Hopefully a better plan. We haven't really remained as consistent with our schooling as I intended. But after reading "Are We Making Progress?" in The Homeschool Minute last week (a weekly e-newsletter from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine), I learned that it is normal to hit a slump about this time of year. Whew! What a relief to realize that it's not just us! So we are taking a break, and putting together a plan to start again in January.

Here's an interesting video link that landed in my inbox this morning:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRGZLSVph3A

Blessings of joy and hope to you!

God's Plan

In addition to feeling completely lost and defeated about homeschooling, I got sick this week. I just gave up on everything, wrapped myself in blankets, and got comfortable on the couch. After catching up on some rest, I pulled out a few copies of The Old Schoolhouse and started reviewing the articles. I was inspired (partially out of desperation) to give up struggling to appease the voices screaming inside my head. It is time to pray and actually trust my Lord, not just say I do. I read over and over that man put children in schools, but God put them in families. He will equip us to teach and guide our own children!

I am convinced that more committed prayer and Bible study will guide me on this journey. And one of the awesome resources that I was guided to tonight is a very simple guide for how to make your own lapbooks. Check it out:
http://www.squidoo.com/lapbook-planning

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you." Psalm 32:8

"But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint." Isaiah 40:31

Where to go from here?

After getting off track with our schooling, it's been such a struggle to get back on track. I'm so tired every day. I don't know how to motivate my kids to dive into their schoolwork and finish it without having to threaten some type of punishment. And follow through with it. The threats are not working. They ARE learning. They just don't seem interested in following the pattern set forth in "the books". And I'm exhausted trying to figure it all out and put it into practice. I'm tempted to just let go and see what happens.
Here's an interesting blog about someone who did just that:
http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/11/04/the-best-reading-curriculum-ever/#comment-19463

Thoughts on Halloween

It's the season of scariness once again. Yes, Halloween is almost here. I came across a very interesting article that expresses my view of it here: http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/10/23/halloween-for-christians/#comment-19247

I wish more people would take a serious look into the experiences they choose to spend their life on. It's easy to follow the crowd, the accepted routine. But I prefer to know what I am choosing.

"Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:14-15

Persistence

Excellent article about homeschooling and why some oppose it.
http://heartofthematteronline.com/2008/10/breaking-mirror.html

After 2 weeks of having each person in our house come down with some form of sickness, we are all healthy again. We've kept up with our school work, mostly. The part we are struggling with is getting the routine to be "routine" again. Here's what I've realized: rather than striving to get where we want to be, staying the course will get us there. Flexibility and persistence are key. So what it comes down to is this: DON'T GIVE UP!

Oh, and also, pray. But that's a given. :-)

A New School Year

I haven't been very faithful on this blog, but now that we've "officially" started our school I will try to update about once a week. We started school the day after Labor Day. I went by the way we did it when I was young, not starting mid-summer like public schools do now. Anyway...

I thought I had to have our schedule, our lesson plan, and everything else in place before we could start. What a lot of pressure! I asked several people to pray for us as we prepared to begin. And now that it is Friday of our first week (WOO HOO!) I see things a little bit differently. Yes, it helped to have the plans mapped out, it gave me a reference point. But as we were playing a math "game" that I made up on the spur of the moment to teach a concept my children were not grasping, I realized something. I don't want to be so focused on keeping to our preplanned lesson schedule that I forget to make sure they are actually LEARNING.

The whole reason I am homeschooling is so that my children learn and grow and become fulfilled adults who can be generous with their gifts. They are lovingly placed into my hands by God who created them to be individuals. To set up a year-long school plan without room for deviation is useless. Our school plan is our compass, not our ship.

I also see that I have truly been "schooling" them since the day they were born. I didn't have a lesson plan that told me what to do each day, they didn't take tests. They didn't progress from one milestone to the next because someone said, "this is required today."

I'm exhausted, and I love this, and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else.