When mom's sick...

All those sayings have come to mind lately. You know, the ones like, "When mom ain't happy... ain't nobody happy" and "A mother is the heartbeat of a household"... I might have made that last one up in a conceited effort to define my (and other mother's) roles in the field of domestic servitude to their family ;-) But all that to say... I have been extraordinarily ill this whole past week.

It started on Tuesday with a cough and then I proceeded on a roller coaster through the rest of the week with temps spiking around 103 a few times. You know the ailment.... "I feel like I am dieing" and "kids? What kids? I just want my pillow and sleeeeeep". Yes, that was me. I haven't been that sick in about 12 years or more. I am finally getting my strength back.... a week later. But it is slow going.

My youngest shared my sickbed. It was nice for the company but at times hard to get the full amount of rest. Even now, when I could probably, finally, sleep through a night without waking to my own hacking and coughing.... Bk is the one waking with hacking and coughing and mommy, her ever loyal attendant, pops up to give the necessary elixirs, prop pillows, and coax remedies that Bk would rather resist. Running on 4 hours of sleep while still in get-well mode isn't fun. But a mother's work is never done.... and I am blessed to have children to dote on whether sick or well.

So, through all of this, I wondered.... if public schools have subs for sick teachers, what do homeschools have? Well, ours had a marathon of Carmon San Diego one day (I forgot how invaluable that show was on geographical and historical info!). We also got a snow storm in the midst of my mindlessness and the well children logged extra hours of P.E. adventures! I do believe many hours in the legos laboratory were logged as well. Have I mentioned how much I love those little bricks for my little builders?

Still, I felt bad that they had missed so much of their usual: reading to me, me reading to them, doing math, etc, etc. Some peace of mind was presented last night though. My darling high schooler divulged some interesting info from the public school front: "Mom, did you know the only class I ever do anything new in is science?" (and that has only been since the new semester started and they switched from Earth science to actual Biology).

"Really?" says I
"Yes, all the other classes we really don't do anything in. It is such a waist of time. I don't understand why they make us go to school for [9 months] out of a year!"
"So, you mean, with me being down this whole last week and feeling guilty about it, the kids are probably fine?"
"Trust me mom, they are probably even ahead of the other kids their age!"

Hmmmm.... and I worry I don't do enough for them why? Oh how nice it feels to be vindicated!! Now if I could just get some sleep and shake this cough!