I am glad you visited!! My site is about, classical homeschooling, special needs and medically fragile children. Please sign the Guest Book
... about me
My name is Lene Mahler Jaqua. I am a
naturalized American citizen, as of July
1995 AND very proud of it.
My native country is Denmark. I was born
and raised in the city of Odense on the island of Funen. During
my "higher" education years,at theTechnical University of Denmark , I happened to
run across a Rotary scholarship which brought me
to the University of Arizona, where I met, fell in love with and
married Mike. Somehow, I "forgot" to go
back to Denmark, and I have been in the United States
ever since.
... my family
Mike and I have 4 wonderful (and sometimes exhausting) children. We homeschool all of them (in one way or another). Our youngest, Benjamin (see Meet Benjamin!) , has Down Syndrome and a fairly lengthy medical resume. It is because of him that our family found itself thrust into the arena of SPECIAL NEEDS. It has been and continues to be a tremendous blessing, of the sort that you would not wish upon anyone else. We are continuously inspired by the many wonderful special needs parents and professionals we have run across in search for answers and therapies for Benjamin
... my work
Somehow, I managed to squeak by and get a Ph.D. in theoretical nuclear
physics. Those years were the BEST. I miss the challenge, even the
tests and long hours of that endeavor. Right now I homeschool our children,
particularly the oldest, Nikolas, who is 8 and doing 3rd/4th grade work. We
use mostly for the 3 R's and KONOS-type unit studies for the
social studies. My new "hobby horse" is Classical Christian Education(Look for more of that under Our Home School home page). It is a joy to work with Nikolas and watch him
learn and grow.
Some day, I hope to get into physics, or at least into computer programming
again.
Benjamin requires much work, both to keep him alive and also in terms of
therapy. He is entirely Gastrostomy Tube fed and I work with him primarily in the areas
of OT/oral stimulation as well as speech therapy. There a re lots more links on his web page in all the areas where he has special needs.
... my interests
As a by-product of a theoretical nuclear physics education, I have had the
privilege of doing quite a bit of computer programming for big time
number crunching many-body problems. (My dissertation was on the isotope, Oxygen 17, and the nature of the nucleon-nucleon interaction i.e. the strong force). This has come in handy in
manipulating *.html files for web page creation and improvement, which are
my big love and obsession these days.
... my likes
The web has served us well in terms of researching Benjamin's medical
conditions and guidelines for treatment for the different issues. It is both
challenging and necessary and we feel fortunate to have Ben born in an era
where so much information is available to just anybody. Click on the link to
Benjamin's web page which will lead you to many of my favorite medical
sites. Lene's Links page, likewise, carries many links which are related to Benjamin's health issues.
... whatever else
I recently started a new email listserv for homeschooling parents of special needs
children with medical issues. It has its separate
web page at the Mining Co.
since 7-28-98.
Last Update: 07/27/98