So good to have Brad home...

I have to give a kudos to everyone out there who is a single parent.  I do not know how you do it it, and God Bless and provide you the support and help you need. 

Brad was gone for a total of about 11 weeks this year so far 3 of them in 2 or more week increments.  this last one was 3 weeks and I am so glad to have him home!  He really is my partner in this life we share everything, including household work and childcare and raising, doing it alone was rough, even for 3 weeks.  So nice to have my other half back with us and as a couple we decided no more long absences.  One week apart is our maximum unless an emergency occurs and we are both happy with that. 

Things school wise have fallen into the familiar pattern of the kids self-guiding the teaching and me overseeing their work and correcting where i need to.  I do still need to spend most of my time in the classroom with them (which means I get little or nothing done during the school day).  I can be in the kitchen for a few minutes at a time without too much disaster befalling us...  The kids are doing well, both are running close to 100% proficiency in their math books and they are easily doing one lesson a day.  I went back to some of the Christian Liberty Academy books for bible studies and pennmanship.  It has helped keep me and them focused.  Willows Spelling is improving by leaps and bounds, I think the fact of pointing out the errors everytime she writes coupled by her doing some copywork has made her familiar with the mistakes she was making.  I think the biggest failing of her teachers in the public school was praising her writing without correcting her spelling so she never really even saw she was making mistakes and she wrote the same words wrong over and over.  She spells hard words and spelling words very well - it is the simple ones she gets wrong.  I am happy with homeschooling again, it feels right and the kids are learning fast and for the most part well behaved.

On a health note I go see my doc next week and get my referral to the rhumatologist.  All the normal autoimmune tests were negative again, so I do not have RA, Lupus or Lyme.   I have been doing research on systemic non-rheumatoid arthritis so when the new doc talks to me I will be able to understand what he is saying.  Plus it is a possibility that I have one of them, so more information is always good.  At this point I just want a treatment that will return me to some semblance of a normal life.