Naomi is officially a 5th grader!

I handed out syllabi and checklists on Monday and the kids anxiously jumped into lessons. This year we have six homeschoolers: Micayah 11th, Malakye 9th, Lauryn 8th with some AP 9th, Naomi 5th, Niamh 2nd and Caitríona Kindergarten. That means Sinéad is the resident foodie. She loves doing puzzles and coloring and asking for more food. She does so by saying, “I am wanting dinner.” She eats “dinner” 5-6 times a day!

I have already graded science papers, taught for 2 days and am amazed at how smoothly things are going so far. The children are all happy with their schedules and activity plans. We are rather busy this year with Irish dance for 5 kids, Little Flowers for 4 girls, Little Women Charm School for 2 girls and choir/schola/altar serving for 4.

Naomi has really struggled with optimism. Since coming home, she has not been able to find her niche. Being a gymnast at heart, but too weak to do that, she is needing to find her way in this world apart from the one activity that was her escape and is her true love. I saw a ray of hope today. She is excited to begin Irish dance. Best of all, she is finding satisfaction in her school work and is excited each day to accomplish what she has to do. It is nice to see her moving through her school days with optimism and a good attitude. It was heartbreaking to see her struggle for so many months.

During her weekly hematology appointment today, the doctor said she will no longer be running all the viral tests each week. She will do them every other week and if Naomi has cold/virus symptoms. The doctor also cleared Naomi to begin Irish dance class tonight since it is mostly her feet doing the moving and it will actually help her build bone density.

Her labs today were fantastic. ANC 2500; platelets 328; hemoglobin 12.8. Her white blood cell count showed a higher than average number because her bone is healing. Tomorrow will be xrays to see how it is looking. Her vitamin D level was right on the line at 29. So we will supplement for a few months. The hot summers here are like winter for us because we do not get outside much.

Naomi and Caitriona both really enjoyed dance class tonight.