We Have the Cooties.

Today's activities: none. Yesterday's activities: nada. Monday's activities: zip. It seems like I'm writing more about skipping school these days than about actually homeschooling my child. And we're less than a month in! Blurgh. Oh well, smooth sailing doesn't make for interesting reading. It's the rough patches that provide intrigue. So, for the sake of this blog, my son and I got sick. Did you really want to read more about rice pouring? I jest! I jest! There are no whys or wherefores when it comes to illness. My son and I quite simply caught a cold. The infirmity fairy visits us all from time to time, no matter how much hand sanitizer we use. I know people are always saying this, but I really don't get sick all that often; and when I do, I almost always bounce back quickly. (Don't get me wrong, I used to get sick a lot, but several years ago I discovered the awesome power of actually taking care of myself, physically and mentally. Truly revolutionary: treat yourself well, and your body will treat you well right back! Why it took me nearly thirty years to discover this is another story. And another blog.) This accursed affliction of ours refuses to retreat, and I'm at my wits' end. Precisely because I so rarely get sick, I am horrible at actually being sick. As my grandpa used to say of my grandma, I'm an impatient patient. I want to get back at it, back into the swing of things, back in the saddle. You know, I want to feel better already. And I miss our school.

I very nearly tried to do school today, but if there's one thing necessary for a successful school session, it's patience. And, as I already said, that's the exact trait I'm lacking right now. To add insult to injury (stress to sickness?), I've found myself sort of subconsciously panicking about skipping school (day after day after day!). I know I'm neurotic, but this panicky feeling made me ponder. What's the big deal? My son and I stop school for a few days so that we can give our bodies time to heal. Then I realized what it was: I was reverting back to Student Teacher Megan mode, when the slightest pause in my painstakingly planned out curriculum caused me major anxiety. I was teaching high schoolers U.S. History, and the California state standards for that course (well, for most all courses) are detailed and extensive. (State standards are like lists of lessons you, as a public school teacher, are required to cover during the course of the, well, course.) At the beginning of the school year, I sat down with the seemingly endless outline that enumerated each and every standard and thought to myself, "Aha! Now I know why Devo [my own U.S. History teacher] talked like an auctioneer during class!" Then I took a deep breath and got to work creating a curriculum that crammed all those standards into a single school year, taking into account of course the government holidays and pep rallies and other silly things of that sort. When the school year began, I felt pretty good, on top of it all and in control. Then we had a fire drill, then a quarter of my students simultaneously got sick, then I got sick, then (and again and again) we simply needed to spend more time on a particular lesson plan. Every time something happened, my whole calendar got out of whack and I totally stressed out, scrambling to rearrange all those stupid standards (and their respective lesson plans) so they'd fit in the time allotted again. By the end of the year, June was approaching too fast and I had to choose between teaching the kids about Nixon's resignation and teaching them about the women's lib movement.

This is (one of) the miracles of homeschooling: no unyielding school calendar around which to plan the lessons! Naturally, I have standards I aim to meet and, if we keep going with homeschooling, eventually we'll even have state standards to meet, too. But I won't have to panic if (when) illness descends. We can be flexible, slowing down when we're not feeling well and then speeding up when we're feeling groovy again. Life is nothing if not unpredictable. The moment you think you've got all your ducks in a row, something happens that leaves you scrambling. I definitely hadn't planned on my son and I getting so sick that we'd have to skip a week's worth of school. The again, I also definitely hadn't ever planned on living (not to mention raising a kid) in the Caribbean. The twists and turns can be frustrating, but how boring would life be without them?

Postscript: In case you were wondering, it really sucks being sick when it's hot out. And in the Caribbean, it's always hot out. Ergo, it really sucks being sick in the Caribbean, beautiful sunsets aside.