A Fly On My Homeschool Wall

For Nature Angel and Belle, this week was AWESOME!  They spent the week at FSY, and had the absolute best experiences of their lives. This is Nature Angel's "company."  Basically her small group that had a few counselors watching over them.  They met for devotionals and were teams for games and other activities. Nature Angel with her best buddy and roommate for the week! She got to meet and chat with Sister Bonnie Cordon--The YW General President! Belle's experience was just as joyful. A bunch of friends The girls in their "company"--it was a really boy-heavy group! Waiting for a class or devotional to start They came home with stars in their eyes and brought the light home with them.  It was so fun to listen to their stories of the week. Life on the homefront was much, much harder . . . more about surviving than thriving. Brother had a number of episodes that led to the complete and abrupt end of his ABA therapy.  He was given an assessment--the results of ...

Rats!  Rats!  Rats! Both Brother and Beowulf are having behavioral flare-ups at the same time.  And Ladybug is extra sassy-mouthed and argumentative.     It's tough around here. Stuff is getting broken.  People are getting hurt.  Most of us are experiencing PTSD symptoms.  We're generally exhausted, unfocused, and wary. The good news is that our babies bring out the best in all of the kids, so the babies have been completely safe and a blessing to us all.  (I'm extra-intensely aware of the babies and watching for any sign that we need to stop providing care to them.  I question it every day.)   Other good news is that all I have to do is take Beowulf off his stimulant, and his dangerous behaviors will stop.  We'll just be left with his usual hard-to-manage behaviors until we can talk to his psychiatrist and start a new med. Ladybug's bad attitude could be a PTSD reaction, and when the boys settle down, she might settle down....

 The biggest event of the week was this: That's Nature Angel's foot in a boot.  Fractured a bone in her foot when she missed the bottom stair step on her way to dinner on Tuesday night. Then our babies were sick with mild colds that caused for lots and lots of snot and cuddles. A sweet church friend stopped by with a flower and a DVD case of Jane Austen movies to loan to Nature Angel while she had to rest.  We all curled up on the couches together and watched a few of them--Nature Angel with her foot propped up and many of us with babies of various ages sleeping/sneezing/fussing in our laps. We have a new 17 month-old--Li'l K--who comes to our house to play for half days, 4 days a week.  He is extraordinarily bright and extraordinarily sweet-natured.  He is pure joy to have around.   And we had a spring snow storm! This was at 7 am.  The snow continued to fall in enormous wet flakes until 9 am.  Then it melted magically away.   Though we...

 We had a wonderful Easter Sunday complete with baskets, egg hunts, General Conference , and kite flying.   (The youngest 6 got kites in their baskets.)     Brother really caught on to how to get the kite up and stay up.  He was able even to lie down on his back in the grass and just twitch the string a little bit to keep his kite soaring.  We had a few mishaps--broken strings and tangled tails--but nothing that was too extreme. We're definitely having spring; some days the temperatures soar to a sunny 80 degrees, and other days drop into the 30s with rain.  We get out when we can and cozy up indoors when we need to.   The kids love the creek when it is rushing madly with rainwater runoff.  At least 4 days this week have included sopping wet, muddy, happy children coming indoors for warm baths before dinner. We did a lot of school, including finishing The House of Sixty Fathers .    It has a happy ending. Thank goodness! We've start...