Two weeks ago I was in so much pain that I could hardly walk. I had shooting pains down the insides of my legs and excruciating hip and pubic bone pain. I’ve had back pain before when pregnant but this was awful. I honestly felt like I was splitting in half. I talked with my midwife and she thought that I might be developing something called “Symphysis pubis dysfunction” (SPD) which is where the cartilage that holds your pubic bone together starts to separate. Horrible sounding, huh? She suggested I go see a chiropractor and wear a support belt. I got the support belt but was a bit wary about going to see a chiropractor. For some reason I always assumed they were a bit quacky. I mean how can someone popping your back make you feel that much better? Yet I was in such pain that I finally scheduled an appointment with a chiropractor who specializes in pregnancy. It was such a good decision; she has helped me so much. I’ve had to go back several times in the last couple of weeks but finally I am feeling normal again. I still have some occasional pelvis pain, and I’m not going to be able to run or dance this pregnancy, but at least I don’t feel like I’m splitting in half any more!
Oh, and if you (or someone you know) has back or joint pain during pregnancy I found this post about lecithin at Birth Faith and this one about cod liver oil at Mamas and Babies to be very helpful.
Baker is a lawyer and a scholar of ancient history and uses 12 ancient codes and legal documents to paint a picture of what rights women may have had in Old Testament times and to clarify parts of their stories that are confusing or contradictory to modern readers. For example, he explains things like why Sarah banished Hagar, the consequences of Laban tricking Jacob into “marrying” Leah, why Ruth laid at Boaz’s feet, Tamar’s sexual relations with her Father-in-law, and why Rahab is called a “prostitute” but is also one of the women in Christ’s ancestry. His insights really shed a lot of light on women’s stories in the Old Testament and if you are at all interested in increasing your understanding of these stories I’d recommend this book in a heart beat. You can also read it online here.
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My husband and I have officially decided that we are going to do home school pre-school for Asher this next fall. I don’t know yet if that means we will keep home schooling him for other years, or if we will do the same with our other kids, but for right now this really feels like the right thing for our family. Yet, I have to admit that I feel grossly inadequate and am worried about being able to pull this off. Part of me worries that after a few weeks I’ll give up and we’ll be watching movies every morning instead. I know that lots of you are homeschooling families and and I would love to hear any advice you have for a family just wading into this new territory– or any good curriculum suggestions or resources. I need all the help I can get!
I think I may have earned “The Worst Gardener Ever” award. I always start my garden off with such good intentions. When it is cool outside and the weeds are still dormant I love putting seeds in the ground and then watching them pop up. I have grand dreams of having a beautiful thriving garden. But then, about mid-summer it is hot outside, the weeds are multiplying like bacteria, and I am busy doing a thousand projects and going a thousand different places. My garden gets neglected, the weeds start to take over, and the last thing I want to do is pull them. Every year I end up with a garden that is more weeds than plants– which is what I have this year. It is sort of discouraging. You can hardly see my onions because the weeds around them are too tall! Yet, I know that really it is my fault. I just want to be able to plant things and have them grow perfectly without any work. But I guess that it doesn’t really work like that does it? I could probably glean some profound spiritual thought from that but I really should get off the computer now and go weed my garden… bummer.
I'm so glad you're in less pain now!
We have done a preschool co-op with both my girls. So we took turns teaching at our homes. It takes some of the pressure off and gives the kids some social interaction. You should see if you can find some other moms who want to do it with you!
Yay for homeschooling!!! First off, let me say DON'T be intimidated by it. It's much easier than you'd think. And SO rewarding. Don't stress too much over preschool; really these are the years to develop a sense that learning is fun and all around you. Read, read, read and do fun things together. As far as any specific curriculum goes, I HIGHLY recommend Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. We are using it for the second go 'round with huge success. We then follow it up with the Pathway Readers from Rod and Staff Publishers. Other than that, just start searching; there is SO MUCH out there. And almost every homeschool store/publisher is willing to send you a free catalog to let you see their products. I'm constantly signing up for more. One of the best catalogs is the Rainbow Resource Catalog. The thing is huge, (think of the old JC Penny Catalogs) and has detailed descriptions of many different options, organized by subject. Some of my favorite places to shop are http://www.timberdoodle.com, http://www.cbd.com and of course, Amazon. You can also join groups like Hip Homeschool Moms on facebook to ask questions and get ideas from other moms. Also check out blogs like http://www.latter-dayhomeschooling.com. Really, there is so much out there that it makes it quite easy to homeschool these days. You can find a lot for free too if you're willing to do the searching and put some work into building your own curriculum. GOOD LUCK. I hope you enjoy this as much as we do!! 🙂
Lol. Any success with the weeds yet? We did a co-op preschool too and it was a lot of fun. I wouldn't worry about teaching material for your son. All they teach in preschool is ABC's, 1-20, colors, shapes, etc. It's more of a social than learning environment. They are only 3, 4 and 5 year old after all. I'm trying to focus more on the spiritual teaching too. We act out a Jesus story everyday with little figurines. It's fun!
Glad you were able to visit the chiropractor and get some relief! I have that pain during every one of my pregnancies to one degree or another. The chiropractor is my only help. (Btw, my dad is a chiropractor. You'd be surprised how much they can do for you besides just "cracking your back".) Good luck with the homeschooling. It scares the bejeebers outta me! 🙂
I've been debating putting my nearly 4 year old in preschool, but because of her birthday (in September) she won't be entering Kindergarten until she's nearly 6. However, paying for 2 years of preschool seems so pricey. Anyway, I've been doing a lot of research about preschool, reading, and entrance into school and I came across this website: http://www.besthomeschooling.org/gateway/inted16.html It's interesting information.
I too am a terrible gardener. I had grand plans for a beautiful container garden on my balcony. And then when the weather got hot and each container needed to be watered 3 times a day and I had about ten of them it got to be too much and all my plants died from thirst. At least yours are still alive 🙂
Thanks for those two books-they sound very interesting I might have to check them out.
Thanks for the reading recommendation. I've almost finished Women's Rights in Old Testament Times, and I'm really enjoying it, especially because I just finished a class on the Ancient Near East and we talked about many of those law codes. Good Luck with your pregnancy!
I loved the reading lessons book, too. I am not a homeschooler, but we like to have a home that is learning-focused, and I'd agree w/ not stressing about this too much. Learning can be part of life, and especially at that age, I don't think you need a lot of structure. But the Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons was a great book to help me as a mom. I didn't follow it strictly, but just the notion of knowing how to teach phonetically was really cool in my mind.
While I dont have any real advice for you on homeschooling let me just assure you that if Heavenly Father wants you to do it, it will work out!! Last year my oldest started kindergarten and after a really long struggle with Heavenly Father I gave in and we did an online charter school with her, it went just wonderfully despite my reluctance to do it. Good luck and I cant wait to hear how it goes!
I had that pubic bone problem too, Heather. i feel for ya! And I do a preschool with Evy that's a lot of fun. We just trade off different weeks and do a letter each week. There's a lot of curriculum online if you just search. I like first-school.com, although usually i just search for preschool letter "A."
p.s.-you have so many people reading your blog nowadays its amazing.
Let me echo the thought that if you're feeling called to homeschool, then everything will work out! You will find what you need to make it work when you need it. We all have days when we feel inadequate, but I've absolutely loved our years of homeschooling…still do love it! We are right in the depths of it with 5th, 3rd, and 1st graders this year.
For preschool/kindergarten, I absolutely love the Five in a Row curriculum. http://www.fiarhq.com/ There's nothing like cuddling on the couch with a great book, learning together.
My favorite homeschooling book of all time is called The Well-Trained Mind. That was the first book I read after our decision to homeschool that made me feel like I could do it, showed me how to do it, and just completely opened up my mind to what was possible with homeschooling. Anyway, that's always my #1 reading recommendation for homeschooling.
We also do a home charter school – where the computer and materials are sent to us by the school, but we do all the learning and work at home. It is so great not to have to worry about if we are on par or leaving something out, and yet we can supplement as much as we want and have so much more freedom than a brick and mortar school. We use the k12 curruculum (www.k12.com), and though we have found a few flaws, the benefits have more than made up for them. We have used them in their Utah Virtual Academy school and also in their Agora Cyber School in PA, and it also made the transition so nice when we moved. Learning with your kids is awesome! (We also did our own informal preschool at home where we did a lot of reading from both parent and learner, and loved that too 🙂