The following is an excerpt from my journal.
August 28, 2010
Saturday
I am crammed in the backseat of Rachel's Denali with her and Abby, hence my worse than usual chicken scratch writing. Abby was up and down last night and both girls were up by 6:10. We did last minute packing, loaded the car, and hit the road at 8:00.
It looks like we are refugees fleeing some war-torn province. Well-fed refugees, to be sure, considering the four coolers and various-sized totes of food we loaded in the trailer.
It is considerably more cramped this year, even though Abby is our only addition. Her rear-faced carseat makes climbing into the third row seat quite a feat of acrobatics, but we have managed it twice so far: this morning when we loaded up and again when we stopped for lunch.
I brought a pillow in hopes of a catching-up nap but can't get comfortable. I haven't fully extended my legs in so long I'm starting to worry about blood clots at this point. The snack size Twix bars in my bag are helping me soldier on.
Ashy and Bella are in the middle seats, refusing to nap and prompting us to ask ourselves if we really had to bring the children. Abby at least is being good, she fussed a while and then went to sleep.
I do envy the men. Someone else packs up the rest of the family, leaving you responsible for only yourself and some of the heavy lifting. And even so you forget your swim trunks.
So here we are, Hilton Head bound with no elbow room to speak of, two nap-less preschoolers, and the remains of an undrunk slushy from lunch just asking to be spilled on someone...
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Remote Area Medical Clinic 2010
Today I volunteered at the Remote Area Medical (RAM) Clinic in Unicoi County, along with some co-workers from my dental practice. I had volunteered at one a couple of years ago. To be honest, at first I didn't plan on working at this one. But the closer it got, the more my conscience ate at me. So I signed up!
I know volunteering is supposed to give you a warm fuzzy feeling, but to be honest I wasn't feeling it at 5a.m. Especially since Abbigail woke up for a bottle at 4:15, and I just had time to feed her and get back to sleep when my alarm went off.
I got to the high school at 6a.m. and we started seeing patients about 7:15. I saw patients from 7:15 till 5:30, with about a 25 minute break for lunch and two trips to the bathroom. I was actually ready to throw in the towel about three o'clock, but I just couldn't do it. Because I kept looking at the people waiting in line to have their teeth cleaned, and I hated to have to turn anyone away. Without exception, all the patients I saw today had been in line all night.
I was so tired by the time I got my last patient in my chair, I could have cried. I know cleaning teeth doesn't sound like manual labor. But imagine sitting for hours with your neck bent, and your back straight (siting on a backless stool!) , using your hands to scale tartar off people's teeth- and sometimes it's very hard to get off, like little pieces of cement. In addition, when working in a regular dental practice you have down time even on a busy day, while waiting on a doctor, or waiting for a patient to arrive, etc. At a RAM clinic you see a patient, clean your area, and get another one right in your chair. And for the most part these are people who haven't had dental care in years. So you can imagine.
But I was so glad I did see my last patient, a very nice Hispanic lady named Rosa. When we were finished she said, "Thank you so much! " and hugged me. And you can't imagine how humbling it is to think that someone has spent the night in a parking lot and then waiting in line all morning for you to clean their teeth. It makes you want to do a really good job!
RAM is a nonprofit organization that provides free medical, dental, and vision care all over the United States and internationally. For information regarding volunteering with RAM, donations, or a schedule of upcoming clinics visit http://www.ramusa.org .
I know volunteering is supposed to give you a warm fuzzy feeling, but to be honest I wasn't feeling it at 5a.m. Especially since Abbigail woke up for a bottle at 4:15, and I just had time to feed her and get back to sleep when my alarm went off.
I got to the high school at 6a.m. and we started seeing patients about 7:15. I saw patients from 7:15 till 5:30, with about a 25 minute break for lunch and two trips to the bathroom. I was actually ready to throw in the towel about three o'clock, but I just couldn't do it. Because I kept looking at the people waiting in line to have their teeth cleaned, and I hated to have to turn anyone away. Without exception, all the patients I saw today had been in line all night.
I was so tired by the time I got my last patient in my chair, I could have cried. I know cleaning teeth doesn't sound like manual labor. But imagine sitting for hours with your neck bent, and your back straight (siting on a backless stool!) , using your hands to scale tartar off people's teeth- and sometimes it's very hard to get off, like little pieces of cement. In addition, when working in a regular dental practice you have down time even on a busy day, while waiting on a doctor, or waiting for a patient to arrive, etc. At a RAM clinic you see a patient, clean your area, and get another one right in your chair. And for the most part these are people who haven't had dental care in years. So you can imagine.
But I was so glad I did see my last patient, a very nice Hispanic lady named Rosa. When we were finished she said, "Thank you so much! " and hugged me. And you can't imagine how humbling it is to think that someone has spent the night in a parking lot and then waiting in line all morning for you to clean their teeth. It makes you want to do a really good job!
RAM is a nonprofit organization that provides free medical, dental, and vision care all over the United States and internationally. For information regarding volunteering with RAM, donations, or a schedule of upcoming clinics visit http://www.ramusa.org .
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Learning as we go
Now that fall has arrived, Bella and I are baby-stepping our way into preschool lessons. I have a big container that I have filled up with artsy-craftsy stuff: pipe cleaners, cotton balls, popsicle sticks, googlie eyes, empty baby food jars, etc. These are supplies for our "projects" and she gets really excited when she sees that box!
This is going to be a learning experience for me as much as here. My experience with learning education in college consisted of teaching people oral hygiene. You want to know the proper technique for flossing, I'm your girl. Teaching preschool, not so much. Till now. So even though I know absolutely nothing about the theory of education, I do know a lot about Bella. And I am learning how to teach her. So far the biggest thing I'm realizing about homeschooling is to seize opportunity. Almost anything you do can be made into some sort of a lesson.
So, for now here's pretty much what I do. I go through my resource file and decide what "unit" we'd like to study and choose a few ideas. I read through them and make a list of supplies I'll need for the lesson. For example, for today's lesson we needed glue, cotton balls, construction paper, and I had to put together a little booklet for her to "read" with me. Then if one is not already provided, I get out my Bible dictionary and find a Bible verse that goes along with our lesson.
Todays lesson was based on "Mary Had a Little Lamb". We had a little picture booklet to look at as we recited the poem. We answered questions about the pictures, what Mary was doing, what color is her dress, is the lamb happy or sad, etc. For our art project, I cut out a lamb and Bella glued white cotton balls all over for the "fleece as white as snow". Then we put in on a piece of construction paper and wrote Psalm 23:1 ("The Lord is my Shepherd") under it, and we talked about what a shepherd is, and how the Lord takes care of us like a shepherd cares for his sheep.
Next we got out our math manipulatives. I kept seeing that term, "math manipulatives" in the homeschooling catalogs when I was first looking at them. I was kind of intimidated by that. My friends all know that math and I do NOT get along. But I am trying to keep a positive attitude for Bella's sake. Anyway, I figured out that math manipulatives are pretty much just something you use to demonstrate a number, or adding, etc. Like a counter. We are pretty plain jane around here: I used dry macaroni noodles.
We practiced our counting. I gave her an empty baby food jar and told her to put x number of noodles in it. Then we did some "who has more?", for example I would give her 3 and myself 1 and ask "Who has more, you or mommy?" She had a little trouble with that at first but caught on really quickly.
Last I got out her number flashcards. (1-10). She does really well recognizing her numbers, she only has trouble with 7 and 9. I don't expect that will last long, as she learns fast! So I would hold up a 4 and have her tell me what it was, then count out that many noodles.
So it may not seem like much, but I am just tiptoeing into this. If I sit back and think, "I have to teach this child to read," it is overwhelming. But if I think, "Tomorrow we'll work on recognizing A through E and learning their sounds," I'm much less intimidated.
I spoke with a patient of mine this week who homeschools her three children. She said, "Homeschooling is great and I love it, but there are days when I want to shove my kids out in front of the school bus and say 'Here! Take 'em!" That made me feel better!
This is going to be a learning experience for me as much as here. My experience with learning education in college consisted of teaching people oral hygiene. You want to know the proper technique for flossing, I'm your girl. Teaching preschool, not so much. Till now. So even though I know absolutely nothing about the theory of education, I do know a lot about Bella. And I am learning how to teach her. So far the biggest thing I'm realizing about homeschooling is to seize opportunity. Almost anything you do can be made into some sort of a lesson.
So, for now here's pretty much what I do. I go through my resource file and decide what "unit" we'd like to study and choose a few ideas. I read through them and make a list of supplies I'll need for the lesson. For example, for today's lesson we needed glue, cotton balls, construction paper, and I had to put together a little booklet for her to "read" with me. Then if one is not already provided, I get out my Bible dictionary and find a Bible verse that goes along with our lesson.
Todays lesson was based on "Mary Had a Little Lamb". We had a little picture booklet to look at as we recited the poem. We answered questions about the pictures, what Mary was doing, what color is her dress, is the lamb happy or sad, etc. For our art project, I cut out a lamb and Bella glued white cotton balls all over for the "fleece as white as snow". Then we put in on a piece of construction paper and wrote Psalm 23:1 ("The Lord is my Shepherd") under it, and we talked about what a shepherd is, and how the Lord takes care of us like a shepherd cares for his sheep.
Next we got out our math manipulatives. I kept seeing that term, "math manipulatives" in the homeschooling catalogs when I was first looking at them. I was kind of intimidated by that. My friends all know that math and I do NOT get along. But I am trying to keep a positive attitude for Bella's sake. Anyway, I figured out that math manipulatives are pretty much just something you use to demonstrate a number, or adding, etc. Like a counter. We are pretty plain jane around here: I used dry macaroni noodles.
We practiced our counting. I gave her an empty baby food jar and told her to put x number of noodles in it. Then we did some "who has more?", for example I would give her 3 and myself 1 and ask "Who has more, you or mommy?" She had a little trouble with that at first but caught on really quickly.
Last I got out her number flashcards. (1-10). She does really well recognizing her numbers, she only has trouble with 7 and 9. I don't expect that will last long, as she learns fast! So I would hold up a 4 and have her tell me what it was, then count out that many noodles.
So it may not seem like much, but I am just tiptoeing into this. If I sit back and think, "I have to teach this child to read," it is overwhelming. But if I think, "Tomorrow we'll work on recognizing A through E and learning their sounds," I'm much less intimidated.
I spoke with a patient of mine this week who homeschools her three children. She said, "Homeschooling is great and I love it, but there are days when I want to shove my kids out in front of the school bus and say 'Here! Take 'em!" That made me feel better!
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