A Week, Briefly (8/26/19)

Little Princess did a water color painting project about color value.

It has been a challenging first two weeks of school.

I've felt it.

The kids have felt it, and those who are capable have voiced their opinions about the challenges.

We're doing our best, and I'm trusting that we'll find our way . . .

Monday
A pretty good day for a Monday.  We did almost all of the things on my homeschool to-do list, including attending a joint therapy session with Ladybug and reading aloud to the teens.

We finished our first themed study of trees by examining tree shapes and drawing a triangle-shaped tree instead of a tree with a straight trunk and a fluffy top.  Our plan was to go on a nature walk looking for tree shapes, but it was storming violently, so we contented ourselves with studying a state tree book.

We also colored pictures of Bur Oak trees.

I did forget to do recitation with Mister Man and Ladybug.

Mister Man understands his planner better than he did the week before, so he didn't try to do a week's work in a single day.  I reviewed the planner with him 3 times over the course of the day, and I organized his work a little bit more clearly for him.

No breakdowns!

Ladybug got to start her first lesson in Rod and Staff Arithmetic Grade 2; we'd spent the first week just playing with numbers and stories about numbers in preparation for the actual work.  She was really glad to buckle down and do it!

Pixie made some calls to the financial aid office at BYU-I.  We got some clarification about how and when funds will be disbursed, and she linked her bank account to the school, so that funds can be direct-deposited.

We're about to spend most of her summer earnings on first-year-of-college needs, so it's a relief to know that her account will be refilled in a timely manner.

Tuesday
A pretty good day for a Tuesday.  We worked our way through school mostly pleasantly--the only challenges coming from Super Star about a medium-heavy reading and writing assignment that I wanted completed by Friday.

Then I told Brother that he wasn't allowed to ride a tricycle in the mud, and he must put the trike away in the garage.

He ran away.

Again.

It was bad.

Like 8 cars swerving out of the way to keep from hitting him, a neighbor following him on his four-wheeler, my van blocking traffic, bystanders asking questions and offering to help kind of bad.

One 911 call, 3 police officers, 4 paramedics (for control of his aggressiveness--he was not hit by a car), and 1 ambulance ride later, the ER staff put Brother and me in a lock-down room, and we gained another dozen witnesses to the violence with which we have been living for the past many months.

Long, horrible story short (or at least shorter), he was admitted to an in-patient pediatric psych hospital.

Wednesday
The staff psychiatrist confirmed the diagnoses Brother already has, added DMDD to the diagnosis list, and said that his treatment plan is exactly right.

But we are left helpless for how to keep him safe while we wait for the meds he's on to start working.

An invitation to play at the park helped me decide between sticking to routine or letting everyone blow off the steam of our hard Tuesday.

We went to the park.

I pushed the due date for the teens' reading/writing assignment out a day and adjusted everyone's planners accordingly.

We made cards for Brother because siblings aren't allowed to visit at this facility.

Our visit with Brother was sweet;  he loves the hospital--it's kind of like an indoor summer camp.

The funniest part of the day was this texting exchange with Rose Red (who hasn't been home since Sunday):

RR:  "What happened to [Brother]?  He said you and Dad left him somewhere."

Me:  "He's at . . . the psych hospital.  Just saw him.  He's doing well."

RR:  "Why did I get a call from a place that sounds like a  mental institution?"

(I think our texts were crossing.)

Me:  "He called you?  How cute!  It is a mental institution."

RR:  "What happened?  Is he ok?"

Me:  "Same old, same old.  He has a list of people he can call or get calls from.  You're the only sibling over 18, so you're the only one I could put on his list.  Were you nice?"

RR:  "Duh"

RR:  "He sounded fine, but kinda lost."

Me:  "You should be really honored.  He was really happy when we saw him, but he might be lonely at bedtime.  He'll probably be home by Friday."

RR:  "Wow."

It still makes me laugh to think how confused Rose Red must have been to get a call like that from Brother!

Thursday
We followed our modified morning school schedule--mostly.  We also had a fun phone call with Brother during which we got permission to have all of his siblings talk with him.  The pure joy in his voice as he greeted each sibling was a light for all of us (we had him on speaker).

The Academy crew got to use watercolors to make apple still-lifes.

Then we danced.

Hard!

Everyone was exhausted when we got home, and Grandma and Grandpa were coming over to babysit while the teens headed to various locations, and Sir Walter Scott and I headed to visit Brother.

He was happy, and he hugged Sir Walter Scott an extra long time when it was time for us to go.

Friday
We were scheduled to have a "Family" therapy session by phone--really just Sir Walter Scott and me with the staff therapist and Brother--right when Symposium was to start.

Instead the phone rang early.  It was the therapist informing me that Brother was to be discharged that evening, and our therapy session would not go as planned.  I asked for a safety planning session, and I was denied.  The therapist said, "If he elopes again, when you call 911, ask for a CIT officer.  CITs are specially trained in psych issues."

I think my jaw hit the floor.

At least I feel bruised.

How could they not address the very reason he was admitted?

I got demanding, and I started to get a bit more information, but I'm still left trying to keep Brother from running until--and after--we get him into an Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP).

I am sincerely considering enrolling him at a local Autism school so that he can have more supervision than we can give him.

Until we know what we're doing, Sir Walter Scott is taking FMLA from work.

We've got 200 work hours to get our ducks in a row (at which time we run out of paid work hours).

And speaking of ducks . . . that's the current theme for Lola and Baymax's Jr. Kindergarten week.  We're reading 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle.  We got to do a sink-or-float prediction/observation science activity.

It was fun while it lasted.

But then they emptied the bin of items and whisked/stirred the water with kitchen tools that aren't usually allowed outside!

During Academy we went to the grocery store to see how many apple varieties we could find.  When Nature Angel and Little Princess found out, they wanted to get in on the action.   I let them because it gave us two more types of apples to test.  Each child picked two of an apple variety, and we came home for a taste test.  We made a chart categorizing the apples by flavor and another chart of our favorite apple.

Fuji apples won the day--super juicy and sweet, without being too sweet.

We managed a full day of peaceful school.  The teens and I had a particularly interesting reading session about the challenges in the quest to correlate Biblical history with archaeological finds. 

Their paper (due Monday) is about how the 10 plagues particularly targeted false Egyptian religious ideologies. 

I know it's a good topic when Super Star is interested, and she was so interested that she cranked out that paper quickly and enthusiastically.

We've finished the basics of cellular biology for Colloquium, and the girls set up their "Personal Bodies"--the little figures they'll used to layer body systems as they study them.

In summary, we handled a lot of hard stuff, we did a lot of good stuff.

And Brother is home.