This is going stunningly well and fast!
Maggie was up and alert, pretty much from 3 until just a few minutes ago. Doctors are extremely pleased with the looks of last night's echocardiogram; the homograft is working very well. She is not even on any medicine at this point that helps her heart to work. They pulled her foley catheter so that she can get up and go potty now herself, instead of having the bother of the tubes.
At morning rounds, the doctors said she was doing so well that they plan to move her out of ICU and onto the floor this afternoon. So several more lines were pulled: her arterial line and her central line. A bunch of monitors were taken off too. The only thing she's got left at this point are the peripheral lines (IV into her left hand, and hep-lock into her right hand) and her chest drainage tubes. The doctors seemed a bit apologetic about leaving even those in, but there's still enough bloody drainage that they're staying for a while longer. Even those, though, may be taken out this afternoon. Dr Fedderly (our cardiologist) says Maggie is "on the fast track." :-)
So many things have been unplugged and pulled that the nurse has cleared a WHOLE lot of equipment out of the room. I think the only things Mag is on, at this point, are the IV drip and the antibiotics (which is for prevention's sake because of being intubated yesterday). She got tylenol once for a bit of high temp, and once for a bit of pain.
Pr Koch was here to visit and pray with us this morning. He said he'd bring his daughter (one of Mag's bestest friends) next time he comes. Gary's with Maggie for another couple of hours. So I have a chance to update blog and grab a shower and maybe a few calories. Ronald McDonald House has sandwiches available for us for lunch, and will have a hot supper tonight too.
Maggie does not remember at all seeing Katie and Nathan and Matt last night. Kinda funny, since she was so happy to see Matt when we first came into ICU.
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Hospital Update - 11
The night has gone pretty well. They now allow a parent to sleep/doze in ICU. For Mag's last surgery, that was strictly prohibited. So Gary stayed at RMH, and I stayed in ICU. I got about 4 hours of sleep before Maggie woke up enough to desire a little attention. Prior to 3:00am she was pretty zoned out. She'd nod or shake her head in answer to questions, but rarely spoke. (Oh, by the way, that reminds me. They extubated her before bringing her out of OR. Last open-heart, it was more than 5 days on the breathing tube.) When we asked last evening if we could put on a book-on-tape or a movie or even just a Kantorei CD, the answer was NO. She was tired, and really needed for us to hush. (For some reason, she feels compelled to listen in and pay attention when conversation is going on. So our talking was disturbing her ability to rest. I can't imagine where she would get that trait of wanting to Not Miss Anything around her.)
I am now briefly kicked out of the room for x-rays.
Maggie needed some whole blood last night. Her hematocrit was down to 28. Earlier they'd given plasma because her blood pressure was pretty low, and they assumed that was due simply to volume; the plasma solved that problem.
Chest tubes are not draining too much anymore, and that's looking quite good. She has SO few tubes compared to what I expected!
For the last couple of hours, she has appreciated my sitting on the bed with her while we listen to a Ramona book read by Stockard Channing. Mag is feeling more chatty now, opens her eyes a lot more, and has questions about the tubes and the monitors and when will she get to have a drink.
Well, x-rays are probably done, so I should get back there.
Many thanks to you all for your prayers and your encouragement!
I am now briefly kicked out of the room for x-rays.
Maggie needed some whole blood last night. Her hematocrit was down to 28. Earlier they'd given plasma because her blood pressure was pretty low, and they assumed that was due simply to volume; the plasma solved that problem.
Chest tubes are not draining too much anymore, and that's looking quite good. She has SO few tubes compared to what I expected!
For the last couple of hours, she has appreciated my sitting on the bed with her while we listen to a Ramona book read by Stockard Channing. Mag is feeling more chatty now, opens her eyes a lot more, and has questions about the tubes and the monitors and when will she get to have a drink.
Well, x-rays are probably done, so I should get back there.
Many thanks to you all for your prayers and your encouragement!
Tuesday, November 28, 2006
Hospital Update - 10
Laura, Mom, Kathy, and a few others:
Cell phones aren't allowed in ICU. If you need to get a hold of us, we're in PICU 24. The phone that goes direct to the room is 607-5374.
Cell phones aren't allowed in ICU. If you need to get a hold of us, we're in PICU 24. The phone that goes direct to the room is 607-5374.
Katie's Kitty
Check it out -- a different title!!
:-)
Rachel, Matt, Nathan, and Katie are with Magser right now. There're only supposed to be four at a time in ICU, so Gary and I are fixing some supper. Well, Gary's cooking, and I'm blogging. How's that for a spoiled woman?
The cat Katie got for her 13th birthday cannot, of course, go live with Katie and Nathan, locked indoors in an apartment. We got her from Pastor's family because their original cat was a really good hunter. When Athena was just a wee ball of fluff, just a little beyond being an attractive and tempting snack herself for the red-tail hawks that temporarily took up residence on our patio swing, she was already beginning to catch her own meat. When her whole body still fit into our hands, she dragged home an opossum and ate it up. Not all in one sitting: we found the tail, which she later went back and finished off when she had done some digesting and found a spare nook in her tummy.
She is now 6 1/2 yrs old, and slowing down. She's getting to be middle-aged, and I can empathize with her slower and quieter ways. But sometimes she just gets too darn lazy. I caught two mice last week. Granted, I think that's all there were; we hear no more scuffling in the basement ceiling and find no other evidence of mice anymore. But, c'mon, she's only got one job to do, and she ain't been pulling her weight.
Last week, we had a rabbit in the yard. A rabbit! Now, personally, I kinda like watching cute little rabbits, so long as there is nothing gardenish for them to be destroying. So it was okay with me that there was a rabbit -- although my approval of having a rabbit in the yard would have changed tremendously by March. But what must the cat be thinking? Leaving mice in the house? Letting a rabbit take up residence in our yard? Good grief. Almost makes me consider indulging Andrew's repeated requests for his own kitten.
Then something odd happened. On Thanksgiving, Athena was not underfoot. She loves turkey. She adores turkey. If she hears "here kitty kitty" from a quarter mile away when there's been turkey smell wafting through the kitchen, she'll be there momentarily! And she wasn't hanging around Thursday. Surely something was amiss.
Well, I think it is possible that she was full. Maybe she didn't want to mess with the indoor mice (who have so many nice little hiding spots that she can't access) because of the plethora of outdoor mice.
Sunday night, she was sitting on the porch ledge, giving herself a bath. Maggie was concerned about the blood on her nose. As we were checking it out, Maggie caught sight of the rabbit. A big rabbit. A big rabbit with about half its head missing. Right next to the front stoop. Eeeeuuuuwww -- lovely!
She wouldn't come in. She had dragged that rabbit up to the house to protect it. She has lost critters before. Sometimes we rude humans take the prey and toss it in the field, away from the house, to avoid the flies and smell and other contamination of her hunting. I really don't want to step barefooted on a half-eaten critter as I'm taking the trash out. So we sometimes rid the yard of her snacks. But I suspect that she has also lost her prey to coyotes, neighbor cats, skunks, weasels, and other wildlife. Once she dragged a woodchuck into the garage and left it at the kitchen door; it was safe there. (Blech!) This time she stashed her rabbit by the house, under the porch light, near the door where we big humans come and go frequently, AND she stood guard all night.
She kept eating. Who needs dry cat food when you have nice bunny brains? The kids were getting a bit of a lesson in mammal anatomy, as every time they passed through the front door, new portions of innards were exposed. Thing is, it is a FAT rabbit. She is going to be good and stuffed by the time she spends several days working her way through that thing. I hope she does a good job of clearing it up before we get home from the hospital.
Well, Gary says hamburgers are ready. Gotta go so we can get back to ICU.
:-)
Rachel, Matt, Nathan, and Katie are with Magser right now. There're only supposed to be four at a time in ICU, so Gary and I are fixing some supper. Well, Gary's cooking, and I'm blogging. How's that for a spoiled woman?
The cat Katie got for her 13th birthday cannot, of course, go live with Katie and Nathan, locked indoors in an apartment. We got her from Pastor's family because their original cat was a really good hunter. When Athena was just a wee ball of fluff, just a little beyond being an attractive and tempting snack herself for the red-tail hawks that temporarily took up residence on our patio swing, she was already beginning to catch her own meat. When her whole body still fit into our hands, she dragged home an opossum and ate it up. Not all in one sitting: we found the tail, which she later went back and finished off when she had done some digesting and found a spare nook in her tummy.
She is now 6 1/2 yrs old, and slowing down. She's getting to be middle-aged, and I can empathize with her slower and quieter ways. But sometimes she just gets too darn lazy. I caught two mice last week. Granted, I think that's all there were; we hear no more scuffling in the basement ceiling and find no other evidence of mice anymore. But, c'mon, she's only got one job to do, and she ain't been pulling her weight.
Last week, we had a rabbit in the yard. A rabbit! Now, personally, I kinda like watching cute little rabbits, so long as there is nothing gardenish for them to be destroying. So it was okay with me that there was a rabbit -- although my approval of having a rabbit in the yard would have changed tremendously by March. But what must the cat be thinking? Leaving mice in the house? Letting a rabbit take up residence in our yard? Good grief. Almost makes me consider indulging Andrew's repeated requests for his own kitten.
Then something odd happened. On Thanksgiving, Athena was not underfoot. She loves turkey. She adores turkey. If she hears "here kitty kitty" from a quarter mile away when there's been turkey smell wafting through the kitchen, she'll be there momentarily! And she wasn't hanging around Thursday. Surely something was amiss.
Well, I think it is possible that she was full. Maybe she didn't want to mess with the indoor mice (who have so many nice little hiding spots that she can't access) because of the plethora of outdoor mice.
Sunday night, she was sitting on the porch ledge, giving herself a bath. Maggie was concerned about the blood on her nose. As we were checking it out, Maggie caught sight of the rabbit. A big rabbit. A big rabbit with about half its head missing. Right next to the front stoop. Eeeeuuuuwww -- lovely!
She wouldn't come in. She had dragged that rabbit up to the house to protect it. She has lost critters before. Sometimes we rude humans take the prey and toss it in the field, away from the house, to avoid the flies and smell and other contamination of her hunting. I really don't want to step barefooted on a half-eaten critter as I'm taking the trash out. So we sometimes rid the yard of her snacks. But I suspect that she has also lost her prey to coyotes, neighbor cats, skunks, weasels, and other wildlife. Once she dragged a woodchuck into the garage and left it at the kitchen door; it was safe there. (Blech!) This time she stashed her rabbit by the house, under the porch light, near the door where we big humans come and go frequently, AND she stood guard all night.
She kept eating. Who needs dry cat food when you have nice bunny brains? The kids were getting a bit of a lesson in mammal anatomy, as every time they passed through the front door, new portions of innards were exposed. Thing is, it is a FAT rabbit. She is going to be good and stuffed by the time she spends several days working her way through that thing. I hope she does a good job of clearing it up before we get home from the hospital.
Well, Gary says hamburgers are ready. Gotta go so we can get back to ICU.
Hospital Update - 9
Surgeon just came in to meet with us. He's done. He said everything went very well except for the trouble getting through the sternum, and that was resolved by getting Mag on the heart-lung machine right away. He said her heart started up perfectly when they took her off bypass, and it's beating great. They're starting to wake her up now.
Matt asked the doctor about how the heart-lung machine worked. Rather than answering, the surgeon just invited him to come by "anytime" and see it and have it explained with the machine right there. Matt's got the phone number and is looking forward to the demonstration.
Erin, just wanted to let you know the boys said the "brussels sprouts with peanut butter and mayo sauce" was awesome! For those of you who are tossing your cookies at the very thought of this dish, be assured that it was interestingly labeled due to a birthday-dinner joke, and was actually delicious stuffed pasta-shells.
Don't think we're going to make dinner at the Ronald McDonald House tonight. It starts in 15 minutes, and that's just when Maggie is due out to see us. But on the other hand, maybe we'll see her, run over and grab supper, and come back just in time to get into ICU. Boy, oh boy, that RMH sure is a humongous blessing to families who are busy taking care of sick kids!
Anybody want to sing the LCMS theme song with me? "It's a small world, after all. It's a small, small world." Just after I left for Didache last night, a couple sat down at the RMH dining room table that Gary and Maggie were at. They said the table prayer that is common to northern-Wisc Lutherans. So Gary asked about where they were from. A few moments of conversation, and the mom says, "So you're Pastor G!" Oy! There's a surprise for ya! Turns out that she was a junior councilor at Camp LuWiSoMo when Gary was Pastor of the Week once. She is also a friend of one of our friends. This family's baby was born the same day as Gerhardt Stuckwisch, but he had to be medi-flighted to a big city hospital. Her friend mentioned that we'd be here this week for Mag's surgery. So that's how she put all the pieces together. They're just around the corner from us at the RMH, and their son is in ICU with Mag. They could use prayers too, with munchkins staying with grandparents, and baby recuperating from heart surgery.
Maggie got mail here today from David Daniel and the APT company. Wow! Thanks, Maria and David!
...
...
...
Just took a break to go see Mag as they wheeled her down the hall. They told us she was waking up. Their version of "awake" is a little different than mine. But the anethesiologist is happy. And when we started talking to her and holding her hand and giving a kiss or two (and when Rachel mentioned mail from APT -- LOL), Maggie started trying to sit up. No no... too much too fast. She had to relax. So, she's doing well. :-)
Matt asked the doctor about how the heart-lung machine worked. Rather than answering, the surgeon just invited him to come by "anytime" and see it and have it explained with the machine right there. Matt's got the phone number and is looking forward to the demonstration.
Erin, just wanted to let you know the boys said the "brussels sprouts with peanut butter and mayo sauce" was awesome! For those of you who are tossing your cookies at the very thought of this dish, be assured that it was interestingly labeled due to a birthday-dinner joke, and was actually delicious stuffed pasta-shells.
Don't think we're going to make dinner at the Ronald McDonald House tonight. It starts in 15 minutes, and that's just when Maggie is due out to see us. But on the other hand, maybe we'll see her, run over and grab supper, and come back just in time to get into ICU. Boy, oh boy, that RMH sure is a humongous blessing to families who are busy taking care of sick kids!
Anybody want to sing the LCMS theme song with me? "It's a small world, after all. It's a small, small world." Just after I left for Didache last night, a couple sat down at the RMH dining room table that Gary and Maggie were at. They said the table prayer that is common to northern-Wisc Lutherans. So Gary asked about where they were from. A few moments of conversation, and the mom says, "So you're Pastor G!" Oy! There's a surprise for ya! Turns out that she was a junior councilor at Camp LuWiSoMo when Gary was Pastor of the Week once. She is also a friend of one of our friends. This family's baby was born the same day as Gerhardt Stuckwisch, but he had to be medi-flighted to a big city hospital. Her friend mentioned that we'd be here this week for Mag's surgery. So that's how she put all the pieces together. They're just around the corner from us at the RMH, and their son is in ICU with Mag. They could use prayers too, with munchkins staying with grandparents, and baby recuperating from heart surgery.
Maggie got mail here today from David Daniel and the APT company. Wow! Thanks, Maria and David!
...
...
...
Just took a break to go see Mag as they wheeled her down the hall. They told us she was waking up. Their version of "awake" is a little different than mine. But the anethesiologist is happy. And when we started talking to her and holding her hand and giving a kiss or two (and when Rachel mentioned mail from APT -- LOL), Maggie started trying to sit up. No no... too much too fast. She had to relax. So, she's doing well. :-)
Hospital Update - 8
They're closing. The surgeon will come meet with us in about a half-hour. When the rest of the crew is done with the dressings and getting Mags cleaned up, they will be wheeling her to ICU. We'll get to see her on the way there (in about 45-60 minutes). When she's settled in ICU with her nurses there, then we'll be able to join her.
Hospital Update - 7
Echo is done. Everything looks good. Maggie's off the heart-lung machine and her heart is beating on its own.
Because there tends to be more bleeding in second surgeries, they want to be especially sure that bleeding has stopped before they close up the chest. So it will still be a while before they start sewing closed. Nurse just reported that it should be another hour and a half or two before they finish in the OR.
Because there tends to be more bleeding in second surgeries, they want to be especially sure that bleeding has stopped before they close up the chest. So it will still be a while before they start sewing closed. Nurse just reported that it should be another hour and a half or two before they finish in the OR.
Hospital Update - 6
The new artery is sewn in. They're starting to warm up the room and bring Maggie back up to temperature. When she's ready, they'll do an echocardiogram to check and make sure that everything is hooked up correctly, blood is flowing where it's supposed to be, and not where it's not supposed to be. When the echo assures them that the job has been done well, they'll begin get ready to take her off the heart-lung machine. They hope to begin that by 4:00.
Pastor was here this afternoon, with preaching and the Supper. Ah, it is a good thing to have Jesus come with His word!
Pastor was here this afternoon, with preaching and the Supper. Ah, it is a good thing to have Jesus come with His word!
Hospital Update - 5
They've gotten a homograft out of the freezer and begun thawing it to sew into Maggie. They're using a human artery, probably from an adult. Doctor said he'd get one that's a little too big, to give her room to "grow into." They have also begun cooling down Maggie's body. The doctor is nearly done cutting through to the heart. By 2:00 they should be attaching the new artery.
Hospital Update - 4
There was quite a bit of bleeding before the doctor even managed to cut through the sternum. Apparently her heart is placed very shallowly in her chest. So they hooked Maggie up to the bypass right away, through the groin. They got her on the machine right away when the problem started; all her vital signs stayed stable. Surgeon is still working on getting through the scar tissue to the heart.
Hospital Update - 3
The nurse just came in and told us that the surgeon began cutting a few minutes before 11:00. There is a LOT of scar tissue to work through. She said that, with 10 years to build it up, that's to be expected. We were surprised; we didn't know that scar tissue continuned to build up in the chest cavity. The nurse said, "Oh, yeah." So the doctor has a lot to cut through, and will have to go slower as he gets closer to the heart. They told us yesterday that this is the part that will be a "few" hours. Nurse will report back at noon. All the vital signs are good and Maggie is stable.
Hospital Update - 2
We checked in this morning. The nurse went to get the "happy juice" at 7:30. While she was doing so, a call came from OR: "Hold up! Don't drug that kid yet!"
Ten minutes later, a call came that said the surgeon was doing an emergency surgery. They didn't know how long it would be, but Maggie was bumped.
Are you laughing??? :-)
I went to jog and shower while Gary sat with Maggie and watched Star Wars. I got some breakfast and was on my way to the computer room to update the blog when Gary called. The emergency has been dealt with. They're getting ready to give Mags her first dose of drugs and her amnesiac. So we're nearly two hours behind schedule, but we're still good to go. Scooting back to the hospital now.
Ten minutes later, a call came that said the surgeon was doing an emergency surgery. They didn't know how long it would be, but Maggie was bumped.
Are you laughing??? :-)
I went to jog and shower while Gary sat with Maggie and watched Star Wars. I got some breakfast and was on my way to the computer room to update the blog when Gary called. The emergency has been dealt with. They're getting ready to give Mags her first dose of drugs and her amnesiac. So we're nearly two hours behind schedule, but we're still good to go. Scooting back to the hospital now.
Monday, November 27, 2006
Hospital Update - 1
Well, we're still in the city. They didn't send us home from pre-op. About an hour ago, the nurse called and said, "I need to let you know you've been bumped ..." and my heart sank! But the sentence continued, "... back half an hour. Check in at 7:00 tomorrow morning instead of 6:30." Whew!
Pre-op today was only about 3 hours. We were settled in at the Ronald McDonald House by 3:00. I can't say enough about how fantastic this place is for out-of-towners visiting the hospital for Big Stuff.
The layout for the day is about an hour of paper work and vital signs and drinking the "happy juice" and other surgery prep. Then at 8:00 we head down to meet up with the anesthesiologist. They're planning not to give an epidural, but just a caudal (sp?) in hopes of a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications. (I know some of you don't care about this stuff, but my mom the RN will want to know.) Putting Maggie to sleep and hooking up a bunch of the tubes will take about an hour. Then the surgeon gets to start.
They will remove the scar tissue from her previous surgery. The estimate is a whole hour just to cut through the sternum, due to the scarring. Then it will be "a few hours" to get ready to hook Maggie up to the bypass machine. The nurse explained that the scarring from the previous surgery is like unto throwing a whole bunch of glue into the chest cavity and letting it connect up organs and bones in odd and bizarre places. And they have to get all those parts straightened out and "unglued" before they can start work.
Around noon or 1:00, they should be ready to hook her up to the heart-lung machine. This may have to be done earlier, if what's inside is too much of a mess. But hopefully they'll have her on bypass for only about 40 minutes. That's how long it will take to actually sew in the new pulmonary artery. After the artery is connected, they'll begin the finishing-up part (another hour). The estimate for surgery is about six hours.
They hope to have the breathing tube out while she's still in OR. If she doesn't wake up well (which would be no surprise) they're still hoping to have it out by bedtime Tuesday. They anticipate that she should need no blood transfusions, but it will be available just in case.
Wednesday morning, they'll start pulling chest tubes and serving popsicles. They explained to her that she will have to get up and move on Wednesday, and cough, and do some other things that will hurt. They were honest that it would hurt, and told her that there would be pain medication to help but not eliminate the pain, and told her why she'd have to do these things to get better and avoid pneumonia.
The nurse told us that the anticipated hospital stay is 5-7 days, but there have been kids who go home as early as three days.
The blood draw was the worst part of the day. But we got her to relax a little and breath [breathing is GOOD], and then it hurt less. I hope the amnesiac drugs work as well this time as they did during her previous surgeries, because this time she's got fears and awareness that she didn't have before.
Boring information that only Mom will care about: BUN and creatinin were 14 and 0.6. I hope that makes you happy, Mom.
Pre-op today was only about 3 hours. We were settled in at the Ronald McDonald House by 3:00. I can't say enough about how fantastic this place is for out-of-towners visiting the hospital for Big Stuff.
The layout for the day is about an hour of paper work and vital signs and drinking the "happy juice" and other surgery prep. Then at 8:00 we head down to meet up with the anesthesiologist. They're planning not to give an epidural, but just a caudal (sp?) in hopes of a shorter hospital stay and fewer complications. (I know some of you don't care about this stuff, but my mom the RN will want to know.) Putting Maggie to sleep and hooking up a bunch of the tubes will take about an hour. Then the surgeon gets to start.
They will remove the scar tissue from her previous surgery. The estimate is a whole hour just to cut through the sternum, due to the scarring. Then it will be "a few hours" to get ready to hook Maggie up to the bypass machine. The nurse explained that the scarring from the previous surgery is like unto throwing a whole bunch of glue into the chest cavity and letting it connect up organs and bones in odd and bizarre places. And they have to get all those parts straightened out and "unglued" before they can start work.
Around noon or 1:00, they should be ready to hook her up to the heart-lung machine. This may have to be done earlier, if what's inside is too much of a mess. But hopefully they'll have her on bypass for only about 40 minutes. That's how long it will take to actually sew in the new pulmonary artery. After the artery is connected, they'll begin the finishing-up part (another hour). The estimate for surgery is about six hours.
They hope to have the breathing tube out while she's still in OR. If she doesn't wake up well (which would be no surprise) they're still hoping to have it out by bedtime Tuesday. They anticipate that she should need no blood transfusions, but it will be available just in case.
Wednesday morning, they'll start pulling chest tubes and serving popsicles. They explained to her that she will have to get up and move on Wednesday, and cough, and do some other things that will hurt. They were honest that it would hurt, and told her that there would be pain medication to help but not eliminate the pain, and told her why she'd have to do these things to get better and avoid pneumonia.
The nurse told us that the anticipated hospital stay is 5-7 days, but there have been kids who go home as early as three days.
The blood draw was the worst part of the day. But we got her to relax a little and breath [breathing is GOOD], and then it hurt less. I hope the amnesiac drugs work as well this time as they did during her previous surgeries, because this time she's got fears and awareness that she didn't have before.
Boring information that only Mom will care about: BUN and creatinin were 14 and 0.6. I hope that makes you happy, Mom.
Is It Selfish to Fight for Homeschooling Freedoms? (Part 4)
An article in the New York Times discusses unschooling. Reading that article, you'd think unschoolers are kooks who have no control of their children, and you'd think the children are brain-wastes. There are people flipping out because they don't understand how unschooling works and they have no ability to control it, monitor it, STOP it.
Most of the articles about unschooling cover families who have kids in the grade-school years. Seldom are there articles that tell about grown-up kids. What about MY kids? They were unschooled. The oldest is a prize employee who has helped train the people who train her counterparts in other stores. The second graduated with a BA in three years and is now employed. The third graduated with an AA in one year and is now happily married and working. We were the people who are "cause for growing concern" (in the words of the article) among educrats. My grown-up kids turned out just fine, thankyouverymuch. And they wouldn't be the people they are if, in our homeschool, we had conformed to conventional school methods.
Apparently this article is making the rounds of many major newspapers. The cardiology nurse today was asking us questions about "real homeschoolers" and "these unschoolers," based on what she read in yesterday's Milwaukee paper. We talked. She was getting it. She was understanding. She saw the need for there to be alternatives to the government-run schools. But she too had one question.
"But you're one of the good ones. What about the others out there?"
Hey, I know a whole bunch of the "others out there." Not only do I know hundreds of homeschoolers, but I know gobs and gobs of unschoolers. I am NOT "one of the good ones." I'm one of the run-of-the-mill average ones. I might even be in the lower half, simply because my attention has been divided amongst more kids. (I think it's easier to be a reeeally good unschooler if you don't have a whole bunch of kids.)
The uproar about people "not doing anything" with their kids isn't a big problem. I'm not saying that every single homeschooler on the face of the earth is pristine and pure; that'd just be a stupid thing to say. But the desire to monitor and regulate homeschoolers becaue of "those unschoolers who don't do anything" is nothing more than people who have certain ideas about what education should be and who are unwilling to allow for different methods and different timetables.
Most of the articles about unschooling cover families who have kids in the grade-school years. Seldom are there articles that tell about grown-up kids. What about MY kids? They were unschooled. The oldest is a prize employee who has helped train the people who train her counterparts in other stores. The second graduated with a BA in three years and is now employed. The third graduated with an AA in one year and is now happily married and working. We were the people who are "cause for growing concern" (in the words of the article) among educrats. My grown-up kids turned out just fine, thankyouverymuch. And they wouldn't be the people they are if, in our homeschool, we had conformed to conventional school methods.
Apparently this article is making the rounds of many major newspapers. The cardiology nurse today was asking us questions about "real homeschoolers" and "these unschoolers," based on what she read in yesterday's Milwaukee paper. We talked. She was getting it. She was understanding. She saw the need for there to be alternatives to the government-run schools. But she too had one question.
"But you're one of the good ones. What about the others out there?"
Hey, I know a whole bunch of the "others out there." Not only do I know hundreds of homeschoolers, but I know gobs and gobs of unschoolers. I am NOT "one of the good ones." I'm one of the run-of-the-mill average ones. I might even be in the lower half, simply because my attention has been divided amongst more kids. (I think it's easier to be a reeeally good unschooler if you don't have a whole bunch of kids.)
The uproar about people "not doing anything" with their kids isn't a big problem. I'm not saying that every single homeschooler on the face of the earth is pristine and pure; that'd just be a stupid thing to say. But the desire to monitor and regulate homeschoolers becaue of "those unschoolers who don't do anything" is nothing more than people who have certain ideas about what education should be and who are unwilling to allow for different methods and different timetables.
Sunday, November 26, 2006
Denomination Selector
My friend Anthea had something on her blog that proved to be a fun waste of a few minutes. :-)
The quiz pegged me as
first choice -- LCMS
second choice -- Eastern Orthodox
third choice -- ELCA
fourth choice -- Roman Catholic
Uh, yeah, that's about it. Not sure about its placing ELCA higher than Rome, though.
The quiz pegged me as
first choice -- LCMS
second choice -- Eastern Orthodox
third choice -- ELCA
fourth choice -- Roman Catholic
Uh, yeah, that's about it. Not sure about its placing ELCA higher than Rome, though.
Hospital Update
Y'know, after having the surgery canceled last time, it's tremendously hard to get motivated to pack and to get ready to be gone for a week. I just don't believe that the surgery is actually gonna happen. For example, I detest shopping, but I have to do the weekly errands today (still in the post-Thanksgiving shopping frenzy); my gut rebels, saying that I could just as well wait until Tuesday morning because, after all, we're just going to be sent home Monday anyhow. One of the kids mentioned something earlier this week, suggesting that I might be stressed out about the upcoming surgery. But I'm not. Can't get all stressed out about something that I don't believe is gonna happen anyway.
It's all very surreal this time.
It's all very surreal this time.
Psalm 103:6 in NKJV
"The LORD executes righteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed."
I know what that verse is supposed to mean. ESV translates it "works righteousness" and NASB translates it "performs righteous deeds."
But I just love the double entendre in the New King James.
Next week we start singing from Jeremiah 23 at vespers, "This is the name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness."
In NKJV, we get another accompanying image from Ps 103's word executes: the death sentence is carried out against the One whose name is Righteousness. And that execution/slaying is precisely how God "performs righteous deeds."
and justice for all who are oppressed."
I know what that verse is supposed to mean. ESV translates it "works righteousness" and NASB translates it "performs righteous deeds."
But I just love the double entendre in the New King James.
Next week we start singing from Jeremiah 23 at vespers, "This is the name by which He will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness."
In NKJV, we get another accompanying image from Ps 103's word executes: the death sentence is carried out against the One whose name is Righteousness. And that execution/slaying is precisely how God "performs righteous deeds."
Is It Selfish to Fight for Homeschooling Freedoms? (Part 3)
"But you're different. You really do care about your kids. You really do care about education. What about the people that don't?"
Very few of them homeschool.
Some have been forced into it by the public schools. They didn't want to homeschool. They didn't understand that the public school cannot legally force them to become homeschoolers. And thus, they accepted what the public school decreed and became unwilling homeschoolers. Some of them step up to the plate and make a hearty effort to give their kids what the school wouldn't or couldn't. I hear rumors that there are those who just don't care and don't try. (Never met one.) For parents who became homeschoolers against their will and just don't care, will it help them or their kids if homeschooling regulations are increased?
Also, it seems kinda convoluted for the State to claim that "homeschoolers need regulation because some of them don't do a good job" when their "proof" and "evidence" are the families that the State coerced into being homeschoolers.
Some troubled kids struggle in school. They don't learn in school. Their parents may withdraw them from conventional school (either willingly or because the school tells them they must begin homeschooling). If those parents do a better job than the school was doing, hooray! But if they don't do any better, then can we recognize that nothing's been lost? It's not exactly like the schools have a stellar record on educating kids these days.
There's an old legal maxim: "hard cases make bad law." When laws are written to cover all the "hard cases," the laws get unwieldy. The laws then interfere with good people doing good things, without sufficiently eliminating the problems the laws were meant to solve.
The original question asked about whether we Christians should be willing to forego some of our homeschooling freedoms so that we might be of service to the hypothetical neighbor who is a homeschooled student whose parents are educationally neglecting him. I think the answer is no. I think the cost to society and to individual families would be a greater burden than we realize. If this burden were really a way to end educational neglect, then society would have to weigh the pros and cons of burdening so many families for the benefit of a few. (Maybe I should mention here a recent post about the failures of running a society on the premise of extorting self-sacrifice.)
We need to recognize that most laws develop out of a desire for somebody to do something, whether or not that something will accomplish what it aims to accomplish. We also need to recognize that there are bureaucrats who just can't stand it that there are people who aren't under their control, and they want to get control. If they can use the excuse of "helping those who are educationally neglected" as a way to control the other 99.999% of homeschoolers, then everyone loses. Except the power-hungry bureaucrats. Not even the hypothetical "educationally neglected homeschooler" would come out any better.
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
When homeschoolers are regulated, those who "don't care about education" will find ways to avoid the regulations. Then alllll the others will have lost their right to obtain an education uniquely suited to their own children, while accomplishing nothing to help the few who were supposed to be rescued by the regulations.
Very few of them homeschool.
Some have been forced into it by the public schools. They didn't want to homeschool. They didn't understand that the public school cannot legally force them to become homeschoolers. And thus, they accepted what the public school decreed and became unwilling homeschoolers. Some of them step up to the plate and make a hearty effort to give their kids what the school wouldn't or couldn't. I hear rumors that there are those who just don't care and don't try. (Never met one.) For parents who became homeschoolers against their will and just don't care, will it help them or their kids if homeschooling regulations are increased?
Also, it seems kinda convoluted for the State to claim that "homeschoolers need regulation because some of them don't do a good job" when their "proof" and "evidence" are the families that the State coerced into being homeschoolers.
Some troubled kids struggle in school. They don't learn in school. Their parents may withdraw them from conventional school (either willingly or because the school tells them they must begin homeschooling). If those parents do a better job than the school was doing, hooray! But if they don't do any better, then can we recognize that nothing's been lost? It's not exactly like the schools have a stellar record on educating kids these days.
There's an old legal maxim: "hard cases make bad law." When laws are written to cover all the "hard cases," the laws get unwieldy. The laws then interfere with good people doing good things, without sufficiently eliminating the problems the laws were meant to solve.
The original question asked about whether we Christians should be willing to forego some of our homeschooling freedoms so that we might be of service to the hypothetical neighbor who is a homeschooled student whose parents are educationally neglecting him. I think the answer is no. I think the cost to society and to individual families would be a greater burden than we realize. If this burden were really a way to end educational neglect, then society would have to weigh the pros and cons of burdening so many families for the benefit of a few. (Maybe I should mention here a recent post about the failures of running a society on the premise of extorting self-sacrifice.)
We need to recognize that most laws develop out of a desire for somebody to do something, whether or not that something will accomplish what it aims to accomplish. We also need to recognize that there are bureaucrats who just can't stand it that there are people who aren't under their control, and they want to get control. If they can use the excuse of "helping those who are educationally neglected" as a way to control the other 99.999% of homeschoolers, then everyone loses. Except the power-hungry bureaucrats. Not even the hypothetical "educationally neglected homeschooler" would come out any better.
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns.
When homeschoolers are regulated, those who "don't care about education" will find ways to avoid the regulations. Then alllll the others will have lost their right to obtain an education uniquely suited to their own children, while accomplishing nothing to help the few who were supposed to be rescued by the regulations.
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Is It Selfish to Fight for Homeschooling Freedoms? (Part 2)
Sometimes we hear that there need to be more controls on homeschoolers because of the people who might abuse the homeschooling law. Beth wondered about the people she's seen who take advantage of homeschooling freedoms.
I tend to be skeptical of this argument for two reasons. First, I'm not so sure that those who appear to be doing "nothing" for their children's education actually are doing nothing. Second, if there actually are a few cases of educational neglect, the question is how to handle it.
I would be one of those homeschoolers that make some other homeschoolers squirm. Some think I'm the type of homeschooler who gives us all a bad reputation. I'm the kind of homeschooler who "unschools" math and grammar for years and years, and then teaches it formally to the kids when they get ooooooold. (Did you know that it takes only about 120 hours to teach a 12- or 14-yr-old all the K-8th arithmetic? That's about an hour a day for four months, instead of the school's hour a day for eight years. Or did you know that it takes only a couple of months to teach all the K-12th grammar, if you wait until the kids are old enough?) I'm the kind of homeschooler who lets children learn to spell naturally (except for the one who just couldn't!) even though they don't start spelling until they're around 11-14.
When your children are the type who'd be labeled in school as ADD or ADHD, you bother to find a different way to "do school." To many homeschoolers -- and certainly to people who believe in the conventional schools and the conventional textbooks -- these different methods may look like educational neglect.
When you have a child who's retarded or slow (or whatever we're supposed to call it in this PC age), you finagle a way to teach, no matter how "wrong" it is according to the experts, no matter how silly or lax or "neglectful" it may appear to those who don't know and love the child.
When families homeschool, the children learn umpteen gazillion things that aren't part of the conventional-school's curriculum. They may learn about marine biology and mountain-climbing when they're 7. They may learn how to cook or milk goats. They may learn to sew or knit or build cabinets. They usually learn (much better than their schooled peers) to get along with their siblings, as well as how to socialize with adults and wee munchkins. They may spend more time practicing their musical instruments or refining sports skills or other special interests. A kid who has a rich background in science experiments and/or oodles of history, a kid who knows his catechism backward and forward, a kid who gardens well, a kid who is friendly with adults and peers, a kid who is a creative problem-solver, will nevertheless be seen as a failure if he gets plunked into school in 5th grade and can't spell any better than a 2nd grader. People will talk about how homeschoolers need more regulation because sommmme people are really just "hiding behind the homeschool laws" and committing "educational neglect."
But it's seldom true.
What sometimes looks outwardly to be educational neglect may, in fact, be the most effective way to educate a right-brained person or a genius or a person with learning disabilities.
I tend to be skeptical of this argument for two reasons. First, I'm not so sure that those who appear to be doing "nothing" for their children's education actually are doing nothing. Second, if there actually are a few cases of educational neglect, the question is how to handle it.
I would be one of those homeschoolers that make some other homeschoolers squirm. Some think I'm the type of homeschooler who gives us all a bad reputation. I'm the kind of homeschooler who "unschools" math and grammar for years and years, and then teaches it formally to the kids when they get ooooooold. (Did you know that it takes only about 120 hours to teach a 12- or 14-yr-old all the K-8th arithmetic? That's about an hour a day for four months, instead of the school's hour a day for eight years. Or did you know that it takes only a couple of months to teach all the K-12th grammar, if you wait until the kids are old enough?) I'm the kind of homeschooler who lets children learn to spell naturally (except for the one who just couldn't!) even though they don't start spelling until they're around 11-14.
When your children are the type who'd be labeled in school as ADD or ADHD, you bother to find a different way to "do school." To many homeschoolers -- and certainly to people who believe in the conventional schools and the conventional textbooks -- these different methods may look like educational neglect.
When you have a child who's retarded or slow (or whatever we're supposed to call it in this PC age), you finagle a way to teach, no matter how "wrong" it is according to the experts, no matter how silly or lax or "neglectful" it may appear to those who don't know and love the child.
When families homeschool, the children learn umpteen gazillion things that aren't part of the conventional-school's curriculum. They may learn about marine biology and mountain-climbing when they're 7. They may learn how to cook or milk goats. They may learn to sew or knit or build cabinets. They usually learn (much better than their schooled peers) to get along with their siblings, as well as how to socialize with adults and wee munchkins. They may spend more time practicing their musical instruments or refining sports skills or other special interests. A kid who has a rich background in science experiments and/or oodles of history, a kid who knows his catechism backward and forward, a kid who gardens well, a kid who is friendly with adults and peers, a kid who is a creative problem-solver, will nevertheless be seen as a failure if he gets plunked into school in 5th grade and can't spell any better than a 2nd grader. People will talk about how homeschoolers need more regulation because sommmme people are really just "hiding behind the homeschool laws" and committing "educational neglect."
But it's seldom true.
What sometimes looks outwardly to be educational neglect may, in fact, be the most effective way to educate a right-brained person or a genius or a person with learning disabilities.
Is It Selfish to Fight for Homeschooling Freedoms? (Part 1)
The other day I blogged about a quote which said freedom works only for a virtuous people, whereas a corrupt nation has more need of harsh masters. In the comments, Beth asked about people abusing their homeschooling freedoms and whether we ought to be willing to give up some of our freedoms for the sake of protecting kids who may become victims of educational neglect.
Short answer? No. I don't think greater govt oversight of homeschoolers would solve the problem of educational neglect. Any good it might accomplish would be more than offset by the harm such regulation would cause.
To begin with, we need to consider the purpose of government. Is the govt established to instruct us on all the good and right things we should do, and then monitor our behavior, and punish us if we fail? Or is govt established to punish the evil-doers and do things we cannot do individually (protect us from terrorists, build roads, coin money, etc)?
Personally, I think the govt does the second, but ought not do the first. But if the majority of society thinks govt should micro-manage people's lives, the discussion then becomes "How far do they go?"
Our state governments have seen fit to mandate that children attend some sort of an educational program. The wisdom and effectiveness of that could be debated (not unlike the debates on Prohibition in the 1920s), but either way, mandatory attendance is a given, and it's not going to be changed in the foreseeable future.
However, there is an important distinction to be made between mandatory attendance and mandatory education. A lot of conservatives find this to be a disgusting distinction. But given our society, there is some safety here. WHO says what an "educated person" is any more? There's quite a battle in our society over what is right and what is wrong, what is appropriate for children and what is not, what is necessary and what is extraneous, what is harmful and what is beneficial. Are we willing to have the State dictate the curriculum our children must follow? If the State chooses the tests our children must take, or if the State has the authority to approve our curriculum, or if the State okays which people are appropriate homeschool teachers, then parents are no longer free to choose the curriculum that best serves our individual children.
What happens when the State dictates education that goes against our religious beliefs? Or what happens when the State has one way of seeing education, and some children don't fit that mold? Is it not beneficial to the individual child, and his family, and society too, to have options available?
I think it is important to consider the ramifications to all of society when government is willing to usurp parental authority. Because governmental authority flows from the Fourth Commandment's demand that children honor their parents, the only way that government can maintain order in society is by ensuring that the parental office is honored by all. Think about this for a moment. When the govt itself usurps parental authority, the govt is, in essence, "shooting itself in the foot." When govt tells society that parents are not to be trusted and must be monitored, the govt undermines the very authority by which it governs.
So, I want the freedom to choose and adjust the educational program I'm providing to my kids. I want the freedom to do so without having to conform to the State's educational goals (which conformity certainly becomes necessary, in varying degrees, whenever the State regulates private-schoolers and homeschoolers), goals which sometimes contradict our faith and/or our educational philosophy. But besides what I want and what is convenient for me and other homeschoolers, there are issues here about what the govt can and should be doing, as well as whether the govt honors the office of father and mother.
Short answer? No. I don't think greater govt oversight of homeschoolers would solve the problem of educational neglect. Any good it might accomplish would be more than offset by the harm such regulation would cause.
To begin with, we need to consider the purpose of government. Is the govt established to instruct us on all the good and right things we should do, and then monitor our behavior, and punish us if we fail? Or is govt established to punish the evil-doers and do things we cannot do individually (protect us from terrorists, build roads, coin money, etc)?
Personally, I think the govt does the second, but ought not do the first. But if the majority of society thinks govt should micro-manage people's lives, the discussion then becomes "How far do they go?"
Our state governments have seen fit to mandate that children attend some sort of an educational program. The wisdom and effectiveness of that could be debated (not unlike the debates on Prohibition in the 1920s), but either way, mandatory attendance is a given, and it's not going to be changed in the foreseeable future.
However, there is an important distinction to be made between mandatory attendance and mandatory education. A lot of conservatives find this to be a disgusting distinction. But given our society, there is some safety here. WHO says what an "educated person" is any more? There's quite a battle in our society over what is right and what is wrong, what is appropriate for children and what is not, what is necessary and what is extraneous, what is harmful and what is beneficial. Are we willing to have the State dictate the curriculum our children must follow? If the State chooses the tests our children must take, or if the State has the authority to approve our curriculum, or if the State okays which people are appropriate homeschool teachers, then parents are no longer free to choose the curriculum that best serves our individual children.
What happens when the State dictates education that goes against our religious beliefs? Or what happens when the State has one way of seeing education, and some children don't fit that mold? Is it not beneficial to the individual child, and his family, and society too, to have options available?
I think it is important to consider the ramifications to all of society when government is willing to usurp parental authority. Because governmental authority flows from the Fourth Commandment's demand that children honor their parents, the only way that government can maintain order in society is by ensuring that the parental office is honored by all. Think about this for a moment. When the govt itself usurps parental authority, the govt is, in essence, "shooting itself in the foot." When govt tells society that parents are not to be trusted and must be monitored, the govt undermines the very authority by which it governs.
So, I want the freedom to choose and adjust the educational program I'm providing to my kids. I want the freedom to do so without having to conform to the State's educational goals (which conformity certainly becomes necessary, in varying degrees, whenever the State regulates private-schoolers and homeschoolers), goals which sometimes contradict our faith and/or our educational philosophy. But besides what I want and what is convenient for me and other homeschoolers, there are issues here about what the govt can and should be doing, as well as whether the govt honors the office of father and mother.
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