Collage Friday - Chicken Pox!
Friday, September 7, 2012 at 5:00AM 
Sometimes things do NOT go as planned.
This week definitely did not turn out the way I thought it would. It all started Sunday evening with my son having a fever of 104. He was miserable and I was worried.
By Tuesday morning I took him to the doctor and the diagnosis was tonsilitis. He was put on antibiotics and I thought all would be well. That, however, was not the end.
When we got home from the doctor (yes, when we got HOME, not while we were there) I noticed a couple of strange bumps on his face. By the next morning his face was broken out in Chicken Pox. {sigh}
Looking at the first collage, I see a silly boy after the doctor's visit... his sister had put the sticker on his forehead and then taken his picture to make him laugh. I can see the first chicken pox spot on his nose...
A very small percentage of children who are vaccinated (as Grant was last week) actually develop Chicken Pox, just a much more mild case. Thankfully Grant's case is mild and he spent most of the week tired and crabby. (It could have been much worse.)
This meant missing two baseball practices and, more importantly, his first day of co-op. I am teaching a LEGO class this semester. Grant has been my chief planner and tester. He had to miss the first day, but my sweet 11 year old teaching assistant made sure to send him home a present (a LEGO set!) to cheer him up!
I'm thankful he is starting to feel better, and I am also thankful my dear husband could work from home on co-op day to take care of Grant so I could take Anna and also teach the class.
We have over 200 children in our co-op this year!! Grant is taking an art class and my LEGO class. Anna is taking Georgia History and assisting with a 2 year old class. It's going to be a great 10 weeks!
Since we spent a lot of the week at home because of sickness, we played a lot of games. The games that always seem to get pulled out are:
- Pick and Draw - This card game teaches you how to draw cartoon faces step by step. It is SO MUCH FUN! I played several rounds with the kids this week, and then I would notice them playing it by themselves whenever they had extra time. We named our characters this time around - the one in the top left of the collage is "Jean Claude Spaghetti".
- UNO - an oldie but goodie
- Say Anything - such fun! I reviewed this last year for The Old Schoolhouse and we've loved it ever since.
There was a lot of time spent putting the finishing touches on the LEGO class I'm teaching at co-op. The laminator was put to good use making a LEGO Bingo game. The kids had SO MUCH FUN with this game -- best thing is that it was a free printable! Hands down this wins our Favorite Resource This Week! I picked up some prizes from the Dollar Spot at Target and this will be the way we spend the last 15 minutes of each class.
All of the LEGO ideas I've found are on my LEGO pinboard if you want to follow! Did you happen to see all of the Lego Landmarks my son created at the end of last week?
A lot of time was also spent with hands on math - telling math stories with stuffed animals and learning with tangrams.
And, before I forget:
I created a free Gershwin unit study for you - did you download it yet?
Other goings-on this week:
- Lots of reading aloud. We are finishing the Martin Luther: The Great Reformer by Christian Liberty Press. This is top-notch! My husband started reading Who Was Leonardo da Vinci? aloud in the evenings, and we are also enjoying Bud, Not Buddy. We also finished In The Heart of The Rockies - an audio book by Henty.
- Anna has been speeding through the Lady Grace Mysteries, which are set in the Renaissance, so perfect for our current history studies.
- I'm preparing to launch into our science for the year - a study of Galileo and other scientists of this time period - I'm using Galileo for Kids to help plan our activities.
- Anna began reading and completing the activity sheets in Grammar Land - she told me this made reviewing grammar fun!
- Please stop by the blog on Monday as I'll have a wonderful giveaway for you (hint: it has something to do with history and books!)
I feel as though this Collage Friday's post is a bit disjointed, and that is probably because the week has been completely disjointed, too! Some weeks are just like that, and I'd like to think we're teaching our children how to live and learn in the most discombobulated of circumstances! Sometimes there are sick children, laundry piled everywhere, and cereal for dinner.
As I wrap up this post, could I ask you to please pray for a family in our co op? They have lost their father, just 41 years old, to his battle with cancer. A mother and two young children are left behind.
Each day we have is a precious gift from above - so it's really not about the academic accomplishments or the clean house, is it?
How was your week? Please grab a button or text link back to this post, sign the linky, and then visit someone else on the list. The goal is to document our homeschool weeks with collages of photos, and then to encourage and gain ideas from others who participate. I am so blessed by each and every one of you who link.
Reader Comments (28)
Yes I wish they'd told me they could still get chicken pox after the vaccine, because we would have skipped it! Our 4 older kids had chicken pox years and years ago, and our youngest (#6) was the only one who had the vaccine. Then child #4 got SHINGLES and gave CHICKEN POX to two boys (#5 &6). Even though he'd had the vaccine, he still got it. Yes, I guess you could say it was "milder" but I don't know how to rate that. He was covered from head to foot with chicken pox, just not that MANY of them. He still had the fever like his brother. The only difference I really noticed is that his didn't itch like the others'. If we were to have more kids we would skip the chicken pox vaccine, I think.
Poor Grant. It's funny because Keilee got her 2nd chicken pox shot week before last and she hasn't felt good all week. I hope he is all better now! Our Coop starts tomorrow and Kei is BEYOND excited. This is our first year w/ Coop. Pick and Draw and Say Anything are 2 games on our list when we get some money. Both look awesome.
Have a great week Mary and thank you so much for hosting this link up. It is always my favorite blog post. :)
Even with chicken pox, you managed to have a wonderful week with so much fun and learning!
Adding Bud, Not Buddy to our must read list right now:)