Wednesday 1/14/09

After Jessica turned her alarm off this morning and I turned it back on and tried to wake her again, then Steve went up for his turn to try to get her up and found her sitting up on the side of the bed. Success! She made it up at 6:30a.m. or so, and to her 8:00 standardized Algebra 2 test.

As it turned out, they put all four or five of the 504 Plan students in a room together. The test was a 3 hour test lasting until 11:00, but when she came out at 11:20, she said she still had 8 problems and they were all told to come back after lunch to finish. That is one of her provisions in the 504 Plan - that she's allowed double time on tests if needed. I was glad they remembered and allowed the extra time.

She then went to her other two classes, and made it through the day. A full school day! The first one since last spring. Her last class of the day, History, did have a substitute that said they weren't going to do anything, so Jessica finished her other homework and took a nap in class. I'm sure that little nap helped her make it through her big day too. Thanks to the subsitute!

So, that horseback ride that was put off on Monday became her victory ride today. In celebration of finishing Algebra 2 and the standardized End of Course test, I took her to the stables. She was still feeling good enough. Unfortunately that victory ride turned into a tumble, as Mia (our horse) bucked Jessica off and flat on her back. I don't know enough about horses, but the stable owner suggested that it's because she doesn't get enough playtime with us or worked enough. So, Jessica and Mia ended up getting about a 45 minute lesson out of the deal, which ended in a calm ride around the arena.

It was a full day, and we were so thankful that Jessica was feeling well enough to handle it all. It's a relief to have it behind her.

Wednesday 1/7/09

Jessica is still working on her online Algebra 2 course in the mornings with my dad. Since she sleeps in later, my dad gets there at 9:30 or 10:00, so that doesn't give them long to work. They're on the last chapter, but being the online course that it is, it takes longer to get through it. Without pushing too hard, it could probably take them another week and a half to finish. But we came across a stumbling block today (or 2 or 3). While talking with Jessica's school counselor, she said Jessica had to finish her class before she can take the national standardized End of Course (EOC) test next week on the 15th. If she hasn't finished, she'll have to take the next one in May. We, of course, would prefer it now while it's fresher on her mind. So, morning-evening-Saturday-Sunday-every chance there is, she'll be doing Algebra 2. And, she will finish it and take the EOC next Thursday.

The EOC test is during first and second block next Thursday, which means it starts at 8:00a.m. and lasts during 2 90 minute sessions. That's going to be tough! Jessica usually cannot be woken up at all that early in the morning. And also, that's going to be a long day.

I got an email from Jessica's English teacher today. Steve and I made the decision earlier in the school year to take Jessica out of pre-ap (advanced placement) classes to lighten her workload and help her get through this. Her English teacher emailed saying she understood that decision, but was afraid Jessica will be bored in her class. I contacted her school counselor who advised to leave it as is this semester, and couldn't find a pre-ap class open in the afternoon anyway. These decisions are so hard!

Jessica was somewhat tired today, but worked on Algebra 2 in the morning and then again in the evening (via phone call) with my dad, getting through 2 more quizzes.

Tuesday 11/25/08

I asked Jessica today if she thinks she's better. And I'm not the only one that's asked her that. It's seemed like she's had some improvement over the last week or so. She's seemed more normal - at least her normal. No real crashes. She agrees that she's some better; at least her throat's not hurting like it was, but she's not as improved as she'd like.

She took her Algebra "semester exam" today, and made an 89%. And that's with the computer online class counting 2 questions wrong that weren't. This was an online timed test (50 minutes) for 57 questions. My dad says she was a little slow thinking through it sometimes and getting to the answer, but he just watched as she worked through it. She should still finish this one class mid-January.

Jessica and I went to a couple of stores this afternoon to do a little Christmas shopping. And she seemed to do ok. Actually, as tall as she's gotten and as long of legs as she has, when we were walking through the store, I found myself doing doubletime to keep up with her!

Now it's time for brownies and tv from the couch.

Thursday 11/13/08

We met with the 504 Plan Coordinators today. The online history class just wasn't working. The main problem is that there wasn't much meat in the text (including the use of cartoons) but the test questions were so detailed that the answers could not be found. So, no more history. We'll start over next semester. In the meantime, she'll finish Algebra II. We talked about next semester and what to take, how many classes to try, and whether in the classroom or as a homebound student. As the Coordinator said, at this rate, it'll take her at least an additional 2 years to graduate high school. It's a tough decision, as we don't know what she'll be able to do. And Jessica was "wondering if school could get any worse" (because she's getting so far behind)! And she is sick of Algebra II. (Though, she's got a 94% in there!) I know she is frustrated with it, and so are we. We're struggling with the decisions of what to do. Do we homeschool now? Are we qualified enough?

Jessica had to take another interim assessment test in Algebra while we were at the school, and she did pretty good considering she hasn't gotten to that material yet.

Jessica was happy that she "got to have some fun tonight" by going to art class. Thanks Nana!

Friday 11/7/08

It's seemed like a fairly good day - Jessica's doing pretty good. It hasn't been a bad week. Jessica's mainly been just hanging around the house or doing schoolwork. We have gotten up with her though every single night in the middle of the night after getting a text message from her because she can't sleep (a standard CFS symtom).

The online classes aren't working as well as we'd hoped. Of course, it will take Jessica past the semester to finish since she started the online from the beginning at mid-semester. She's doing ok in Algebra, with my dad's (daily) help, even though there's a few glitches in the program itself. The History course is a different story (not set up well), and we have asked for Jessica to be transitioned back into the normal classwork (still homebound). With 5 weeks left in the semester, we'll have to see how it goes.

Monday 11/3/08

Jessica worked on schoolwork a lot of the day today - Algebra with my dad and then History. I'm not sure about these online classes. Jessica doesn't like them saying that she doesn't learn anything from them and "The history stuff is so stupid! All it is is little cartoons, over and over and over." Steve and I are wondering when she'll be able to finish anyway, since she started over from the beginning about a month ago, but took off two weeks for her tonsillectomy, and there's only 6 weeks left in the semester. She can go into the next semester, but then what will that do to her spring schedule? We'll just keep pushing on and see how it goes...

She's somewhat tired and dragging tonight.

Thursday 10/9/08

The week has been ok. Jessica went to Wal-Mart with me Monday - shuffling her feet from a lack of energy - but she went. That's the way the week went - mostly staying around the house with maybe one small outing a day.

This morning Jessica was not feeling well - really tired - and stayed in bed until 1:00 with meals being brought up to her. She's actually had several pretty good days lately before this though. As the afternoon went on, she seemed better, and needed to be, as we had an appointment at the school.

The school administrator wanted to meet Jessica and show her how to get around in the Apex online program. We finally got a user i.d. for the online classes. So, school's back in session! Jessica needs to work double time this next week because her tonsillectomy is scheduled for the next - on October 20th.

I don't know if it was that she wasn't feeling her best or that the online class isn't teaching well, but she didn't do well on the first quiz. And we found that there were some things on the quiz or study guide that isn't in the text. So, we'll have to watch this and see how it goes. She got a 100% on the second quiz though!

Friday 10/3/08

It's been a quiet week just hanging around the house. We're still waiting on the school to give her a user i.d. for the new online classes, so in the meantime, she's getting farther behind.

Jessica was in bed past noon today. She got ready later and planned to go see her horse tonight, but then decided that she wasn't up to it - and that's hard for her to do when it comes to her horse! So, we stayed in and watched movies instead.

Monday 9/29/08

Jessica had a sore throat today and a little bit of a headache, but she was up and made it to school for yearbook pictures, but that was all.

Steve and I met with the 504 Plan coordinators to amend her plan. Since she just can't make it through a full school week and has missed 14 days so far, she is going to do the rest of the semester as a homebound student. They've got a new program where she can do classes online, so she will be their first online student. Hopefully doing the online classes homebound will take some of the pressure off and let her rest and recuperate better. It was a hard decision, but she was ready. She's tired and doesn't like missing classes, getting behind, and missing out on the instruction. One of the 504 Plan coordinators was one of her teachers a year ago in the fall 2007 semester, and she saw her this morning at school when Jessica went to get her picture taken. This teacher said she looked frail - in that she didn't have the bounce in her step like she used to. We want that, and so much more, back for her!