A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

Whew!  I have officially closed our school "year" by completing E15's 9th grade course descriptions and transcript.  Out of all of the options out there, I decided to use HSLDA's fillable form .  So easy. But the course descriptions, grades, grading standards, etc., were hard and long. They're done now, and we are free to look ahead as soon as I finish this final assessment of our year. I3 counts accurately to 20, knows the alphabet in both upper-case and lower-case, sounds out C-V-C words, cuts on straight and simple curved lines, knows shapes and colors, climbs, builds, imagines, plays and is a happy, delightful 3 year old.  We never did finish the alphabet quilt we started last fall, but after a break at "J" we picked it back up and worked our way to "Q."  He's taking another break at the moment, but we can happily pick back up during the coming school year. H5 finished her Sonlight K language arts program, worked her way th...

It was with heavy hearts that we informed the Children's Division that we can not adopt little Jaybird.  I wrote a formal letter describing his behaviors and needs in detail--both the good and the bad.  The Children's Division thanked us for our efforts and agreed that for Jaybird to be thrive he'd need another placement. The miracle is that after the initial sadness, we feel complete peace. This is not the end of our relationship with him. This is all part of a greater plan orchestrated by a loving Father in Heaven.   The court order for the younger 4 children that was supposed to come through no later than Monday is still not here as of Friday.  Dad and I are off to meet them tonight at their foster home.  After we meet them we have to make a decision on their behalf--to either move them to our house cold turkey or to organize a series of progressively longer visits until they just stay with us. Both systems are terribly traumatic for the children. ...

Complete for the school year and transferred from the side bar: Mandy by Julie Andrews Edwards Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume The Tempest for Kids by Lois Burdett The Littles Go Exploring by John Peterson Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling The 101 Dalmations by Dodie Smith The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart James Herriot's Treasury of Inspirational Stories for Children Mary on Horseback by Rosemary Wells Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder Tales from the Brothers Grimm compiled by Cooper Edens The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson The Other Wise Man by Henry Van Dyke Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary Princess Stories compiled by Cooper Edens The Family Under the Bridge by Natalie Savage Carlson The Story of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting The Landmark History of the American People by Daniel J Boorstin Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren Tues...

The homeschool lessons of the past week have been about love, acceptance, and forgiveness. They are hard lessons to learn. The hardest. They are worthwhile lessons. But, oh, they are so hard! We've had "Jaybird" visiting us.  He's 6 years old.  His needs are huge.  He's to go back to his foster home today.  He's so ready.  It's been his home for half of his life, and he's homesick after spending 5 days with a bunch of strangers who are utterly different from him. We are ready to breathe deeply after holding our breath first in anticipation then in fear. We've spent 5 days in fear. His needs are severe enough that our children have been hurt. We've had to look our children in the eyes and say, "We choose you.  We will not sacrifice you in order to save him." It is quite likely that he needs another family. He's such a little boy.  He sucks his thumb. He plays with cars. He dresses dollies. He collects to...

I knew it would be hard. I didn't know it would be THIS HARD. Neither did the kids. I have the perspective to know that progress is possible. The kids don't. We are praying, reciting scriptures (for encouragement), hugging, crying, putting out fires (figuratively), and squaring our shoulders. And only one is here for the time being. No time or energy to write more details here. It's really, really, really HARD.

image credit Last March I alluded to a possible change for our family.  Then I never mentioned it again. That's because the possibility came and went, ebbed and flowed over and over again. But it always came back. And now it is official. We have been selected to adopt a sibling set of 5 children out of our local foster care system. The CASA attorney filed a motion for the younger 4 children to be moved to our house immediately (which means 10 days or less) because their current foster placement isn't good for them.  The oldest will join us more gently as his needs preclude sudden change. We are diving into the deep end of the special needs pool with emotional trauma, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Reactive Attachment Disorder, speech delays, and some as-yet-not-understood cognitive delays. I'm not sure how to identify the children here--all of the boys are J, and the girls are both L . . . :)  That means we have J6, J3, and J2 joining us along with L4 and ...

Technically it's time for me to end this school year and begin anew--at least according to our state's start-stop dates for school years. But as we began school in August, and we have a full 365 days to complete our school year, I'm going to keep going until we get done with our math books;  our math books being my arbitrary guide to a complete school year. J11 finished her math book this week!  Hurrah for J11! S12 has hit a learning wall.  I'm actually NOT going to make her finish her math book.  Instead we've gone back to daily multiplication drills.  These important facts keep falling out of her head, so she's really struggling . . . struggling emotionally most of all.  I've packed the books away and have assigned her 30 minutes in front of the computer each day working her times tables.  She's happier; I'm happier; we're all happier.  M13 is working like a demon each day on her math book.  She got halfway through it before Baby L ...

As I nursed Baby L in the blue rocking chair in the corner, I picked up a library book to re-read.  It's a very sweet book that I think I might purchase because it gently feeds my spirit. This morning it opened a door to inspiration. Gratitude.  I so want to nurture a spirit of gratitude in our family. Baby L fell asleep and I knew I needed to take action immediately.  I put him in bed with a flannel blanket (it is oddly cool today) tucked around his sweet fat legs before I turned to the paper drawer. I made this: It is simple--not beautiful at all to look at.  Printer paper, scotch tape, yarn, a ball point pen, some stickers.  It is not a work of art, not Pinterest-worthy. But if I waited to make a beautiful work of art, it would probably never be done . . . or I would worry about it being ruined. I hope the beauty comes in the thoughts that are written there.  I hope that as I set the example of jotting down my thankful thoughts as they c...