7-Quick Takes

 This content uses referral links. Read our disclosure policy for more info. This means if you make a purchase, I get a little change to keep up my Diet Coke habit. It’s a win/win. 

1. I had no intention of dropping off of the internet for so long, but school started as well as our homeschool co-op and cross country season and I just got very, very busy.

Our co-op was a lot of work to get off of the ground this year. We went to a new system from Homeschool Life.com, which made registration easier, but I had to get the site set up and add all of the classes and then monitor the registrations. In some ways it was easier and in others it was more challenging. I think now that I know the system better, I’ll be able to set it up quicker next year.

Because of the pandemic, our co-op lost a significant number of families, but we also gained a lot of new families. As with everything else in our society, some people are deathly afraid of catching this virus, and others are more afraid of missing out on their lives.

We did set up our COVID protocols. We mostly limited class sizes and require masks to be worn into the building and in the hallway. Individual teachers are doing what is best for their classes. We also take temperatures from everyone that enters the building and we sanitize everything. We’re coming up on week seven and so far everything has gone well.

2. It’s kind of amazing how well things are going considering one of our founding leaders quit abruptly just a few weeks before our start date. That was a shock, but things have found a new normal. Note to self: You are not irreplacable. People come and go, and time finds a way to fill a gap.

When I think about the people I have loved and lost throughout my life, that holds true as well. My mom has been gone 11 years. I miss her, but life looks much different than when she was with us and we had to create a new normal. But we still love and remember her.

So I guess the take away from all of that is, don’t be so naive as to think the world will collapse if you leave, or quit, or die. Time passes, and the ones left behind have to create a new life without you. So just strive to make the best memories and leave the best impression of yourself that you can.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg might be a good example of this. She couldn’t imagine that the court could manage without her and she hung on until the end. It was sad, but just a few weeks later that’s exactly what the court and the country is doing. And although Ginsberg will be remembered for her humor and her intelligence, maybe she’ll also be remembered for hanging on to a job that she really didn’t need for much too long, instead of filling her last days with the things and people she really loved.

3. I am not teaching a high school class at co-op this year. Instead I am going all the way to the other end of the age spectrum and teaching K-2 with the help of the Five in A Row Curriculum.

So instead of spending a lot of time relearning Logical fallacies and syllogisms, or refreshing my memory on Physical Science, I am making crafts and reading picture books with little kids.

It’s just as time consuming, but a little more fun I guess.

4. I haven’t posted any of Rosie’s running pictures this year. Last November when I took the camera to snap pictures during the Thanksgiving Day Run, the shutter just froze or something. I couldn’t get more than one shot per push of the button. So I thought, maybe I’d just get something newer with wifi access. I’ve been using a Pentax K2000, but I’ve been thinking of going to a Canon or Nikon.

That never happened though. For one thing, an office visit after Rosie twisted her ankle ended up costing me an whopping $500! When she twisted her ankle, the ligament pulled off a small bone fragment. that counted as a fracture. But other than diagnosing it with an x-ray, nothing else was really done for her, and the out of pocket expense just made getting a new camera seem extravagant for now.

5. A few years ago I wrote about women not listening to other women.

I am guilty of that as well. A few weeks ago, Rosie started telling me that her legs were just burning when she was running her 5K. I didn’t know what to think about that. I thought maybe she was just out of condition, although that seemed improbable since she was running 4 miles or more six days a week. Then she started telling me about her heart fluttering, and I passed that off as hormonal. The kid literally had to vomit blood at the end of one of her meets for it to register with me that this was something that needed medical evaluation.

I got her in the next day and long story short (although the long story will post in a couple of days), my girl is really anemic with a very low ferritin level.

Why didn’t I listen more closely? Why didn’t I get it checked out right away instead of trying to go the path of greatest denial? I don’t know. But I remembered my post and I vow to do better.

6. I have also tried very hard to NOT get too political this year. Maybe the most political I get is on Twitter, but that’s not even an everyday event. I have my Facebook page meticulously divided so that no one gets any posts from me that might offend them.

I’m doing this because the election of 2016 cost me a few relationships, one of which has never recovered and I’m not sure that it ever will. We never had a fight or anything, but there was a feeling that just because a person votes a certain way they must be evil, deluded, stupid or any combination of all three. So I’m not adding to that.

Other people of my vintage feel the same. We’re not advertising our votes. We’re not answering polls. We’re voting on November 3. I think the results will be surprising.

7. If you’re not following Dr. Frank on Facebook, you should be. He’s a data guy. Data doesn’t lie. The interpretations can be skewed, but data on a graph paints a picture.

Here’s one on his COVID stats.