Early Morning

This is what early morning in Pouch Cove looks like.

Click pics to enlarge

Off to College

Last week, Tyler learned he's been accepted into the program of his choice, so come the fall, he'll be heading off to college.

Way to go, Tyler! Congrats!!!

This means moving to another province (about 3000 kms away....not that I'm counting or anything).

A lot of mixed emotion at home, I must admit. Jake was quite upset at the thought of his big bother moving so far away. He expressed many thoughts about it as well, statements like:

"I like this family just the way it is and I don't want it to break apart."

and

"I'd rather be stupid and stay home than go away to college just so I can be smart."

After a lot of talks though, he's more accepting of the idea.

Tyler has worked hard to get to this point. Being a homeschooler, meant no "official high school transcript", which was a road block he had to work around.

The thing that goes against conventional thinking though, is his program of choice.

Animation.

That in itself is not unusual, but the fact he has ended up choosing this field, is. In our years of homeschooling, we covered the academic subjects: Math, English, Science, Chemistry, Physics, French, History/Geography/Social Studies and Music (through outside piano lessons). Phys. Ed. was covered through normal, everyday activities, like bike riding, walking, road hockey etc. We never, however, covered art. Never. Not one single class.

In the beginning, our work days started at 7:45 a.m. The deal was, when the day's book work is done, you're done for the day. This schedule usually translated into working until about 11:00, followed by lunch, practicing piano and then chores. That left the rest of the day "free" for them to explore something of their own interest. Some may think they would choose to spend this time watching tv or playing video games, but this was not an issue.

It was during this "free" time, Tyler developed an interest in cartooning. At first, he didn't tell us. He wasn't hiding it, he just didn't think it was a big deal. When I walked into his room one day though and saw all of them arranged over the bed....I was more than a bit surprised. There were several of them, all cartoon stories, all drawn, coloured and written by hand.

Here are some of his first cartoons... (click to enlarge)



From that point on, he'd use any spare time he had to work on his cartoons -- Holidays (he'd lug all of his materials from van to hotel room), while waiting for Brittney and Jake to complete their piano lessons, even some nights after lights were supposed to be out.

One time he showed his work to a professional artist and his comment was, "Wow, you're art teacher must be very impressed with your work." Wish I could take some credit, but I can't. Up until this point he's been all self-taught but that is about to change. He's looking forward to this next challenge and it's one we're certain he's up for.

Happy Birthday, Jake!

A little late...but some pictures from Jake's 13th birthday. He's usually a high-energy guy, so I was a bit surprised that he wanted a low-key day. He opted for having one friend over and they spent the day hanging out.

Family celebration at Montana's. He knew about this 'hat'....which is one reason he wanted to go there. He told me, "I want to wear the hat, I want you to take pictures and I want you to put them on Facebook." Oh my....






Opening Ben's present...












The cake...








That makes THREE teenagers in the house now...oh my!

Excellent explanation of M.E. (CFS)

The guy in these videos is doing a series on ME (CFS). All of them are excellent, but this first one posted below (it's #2 in the series) gives a great description/introduction/overview of the illness for those unfamiliar with it. He covers all the points of ME/CFS and, as you can see...it's sooo much more than just 'fatigue'. These are just the tip of the iceberg though and in the second video, he gets into more details. (Thanks, Dominique for pointing these out)

All things with this illness are frustrating....beginning with the name and the way it is diagnosed. One must experience the severe symptoms for a minimum of six months! Imagine with any other illness having the Dr. say,

"You have a lump? Oh well....come back in six months and if it's still there, we'll take a look at it."

or.....

"You're having pains in your chest? Well, give it six months and if they're still happening, we'll check it out."

or....

"Seizures? Are you sure? Maybe you need to get out more. Come back and six months and we'll take a look at it."

As with any illness, quicker diagnosis allows for better treatment and better chances of recovery. Why should this one be any different? Waiting six months is just nonsense. I certainly knew during my first six months that something was wrong. I now know, during those six months I did things which worsened my condition. At the end of six months, I felt worse (just as anyone with any illness left untreated for six months would).

At any rate...here's more info about ME (CFS).....




He goes into more detail in this one.




I'm looking forward to the rest of them, hopefully he'll reveal what worked so effectively for him and his treatment.