Home-school happenings

Before I jump in -- can anyone tell me how to spell "homeschool" or "home-school" or "home school"? There are too many options and depending on the spell-checker they all seem wrong. It's been buggin' me for awhile -- it's the English teacher in me -- and I'm too lazy (read too busy raising 5 children under 6) to look it up myself.

Thursday marks the end of the first month of our home-schooling adventure (for this post I'm going with the hyphenated version...just trying things on to see how they fit). What a month it has been! I can honestly say that I had NO stinkin' idea my days would look like they do. The easiest way to catch you up quickly is a comparison between what I thought and what is reality.

What I thought I would be doing: I set up a nice schedule, complete with wake times, chore times, break times and subject changes. It was...nice. I envisioned getting all our school work done in a matter of 2 hours (including time for recess) and having the remainder of the day for the rest of life. We were going to be a well-oiled machine of efficiency and accomplishment.

and then I remembered I have 5 kids...under 6...3 of whom are under 2. And that plan flew out the window...

What went wrong? Let's see -- day 1 Grace spent the entire time crying because I wouldn't let her destroy our morning board or color on the walls or sit in my lap and play with my face or jump off the bookshelf or play in the toilet or, or, or. Day 2 was Sam's turn to rebel; he didn't want to lace his shapes, he didn't want to sort anything by color, he didn't want to play "hidden pictures", didn't want, didn't want, didn't want. He did want to cry...which he did plenty of that day. Day 3 was Jack's turn; he sat down in the morning with a heaping helping of "I don't care" and there was no shaking it. Days after that were the babies' turn as we worked on crying it out and getting them on a schedule. Grace continued to wreak havoc on things as well.

After two weeks of awesome I realized that the wall I was beating my head against was simply NOT going to budge. If things were going to get better, I was going to have to be the one doing the moving. Have I mentioned I don't do change well? Home-schooling if fixing that issue quickly...

What we are doing now: We have a routine, not a schedule. And a loose routine at that. Kids wake when they are ready and then we start our day. We start each morning with morning board "day of the week, book of the Bible, weather, Bible verse, letter/color/shape/trait/state of the day." We all sing together the songs that go with each section (Jack skips days of the week and months of the year when Sam isn't here). Then we all do Bible together. We learn our verses together, sing our hymns and choruses together (soooo much singing...good thing little kids think their mama's sing like angels...) and listen to story together. Then I start Jack on his Bible application (think devo...but shorter) while I get Sam started on whatever he'd like. Sam gets to choose at-will what he'd like to do and this includes choosing to play instead of school. He's only 3 (almost 4) after all. After Bible we move onto math because it was obvious Jack needed success right away in his day and math is by far his best subject. After math it's snack and recess for all (this gives me a chance to feed/change babies and to get the rest of my lessons in order). After recess it's back for science or latin (or both if the mood strikes me) and ELA. By that point it's usually lunch and our day proceeds as usual (lunch, nap/rest, mommy time). I have a history curriculum but we've been skipping it because it's teaching creation for the first two lessons (which is what we've been doing in Bible for 4 weeks).

What I've learned: my day can't look like anyone else's...because it's mine. One of the reasons we chose home-school was because the schedule was wearing out Jack. So now he gets to sleep when he'd like. And no I don't care that I'm not teaching him to get up with the sun. He's 6, there's plenty of time for him to learn that little jewel. Because of the amount of kids I have and their ages AND the fact that two are foster babies means we are at the doctor A LOT...which means I have to be flexible about when and where we school. The schedule didn't work for us but the routine does. We've had some of our best days of school sitting in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Along with that I've learned that lessons plans don't really matter. I mapped out my entire first semester before school started. It was pretty and I was oh so happy. And now? Now I'm a week ahead in math, two weeks behind in ELA, ahead in science, on target in Latin...you get the idea. (Just so people don't think I'm not teaching my son to read, we are behind in ELA because I had several days where ELA was reading...just plain ol' reading...and it was FUN!). We do what works for us when it works. And I'm happy. And Jack is happy.

What do I still need to learn? I'm still working on organization. I'm changing schemes so I feel a little behind in that area. I'm still working on balancing so many at one time. And I'm still working on managing school time and my daily work...chores get pushed back too often.

Overall this has been a WONDERFUL experience...one that has blessed me, changed me and stretched me more than I could have ever imagined. I'll post soon with specifics on my curriculum too.

A bit rusty...

I sat down in the quiet still of this morning fully intent on completing one of my "to-do" posts I mentioned before. But the words won't come. I'm not certain where I lost them but the words I can find are small and boring and bland. I don't want to use them, not here. So I'm going to do what I used to tell students to do -- write until the words appear. Just keep writing...today's post may be a bit more daily drudgery than I'd like but I need to start somewhere...

Today I'm heading back to the Med Center for another doctor's appointment for one of the babies. It's the second 9am appointment this week. I've taken these babies to the doctor at least once a week every week I've had them. It's starting to wear on me. They aren't sick -- no worries there. Well at least not life-or-death sick, maybe not even there's-a-pill-for-that sick. The doctors are just trying to piece together their health picture which requires specialists and test ad nauseum. Jack is coming with me to the appointment; we have school work to do. Our schooling is looking less and less like I thought it would but thankfully we are settling into a routine that works for us. From the baby sounds I hear it appears Grace is up and not so ready to meet the dawn.

I'll be back to work on this a little later tonight...maybe my words will come with me next time.

In the weeds

I'm really behind in blogging aren't I?! It's a little ridiculous. Just a teaser...to keep you hanging on...here are some posts in the works.

-- Jack is 6!

-- Homeschool Curriculum

-- The first day of school at the Pearson Academy for Higher Learning

-- A-Team Update

I'll post them soon...soon-ish anyway!

Sam is twitterpated

My Sammy's got it bad. Love that is. A little girl from his pre-school class and his church class named M has my boy in quite the tizzy. I watched him plant a full-on-mouth kiss on her at the Mother's Day tea at school this spring. And I listened the entire semester as he spoke of nothing but M. I, stupidly apparently, assumed the infatuation would end when school was over and he wasn't seeing her as often. I was wrong, so very very wrong. Things are only ramping up in that department.

Recently he's started telling me he's in love. Yes those are his exact words. He is in love and M is in love and so they are going to get married because that's what you do when you are in love. Sam has started picking out wedding details (the church and the flowers -- just like mommy and daddy's wedding) and there is talk of the 5 sons and 2 dogs they will have when he is daddy and M is the mommy. Luke and I told him he should probably consult with M on the 5 sons part! We've also mentioned that perhaps he should wait to talk to M's daddy before he starts planning to get married to her.

Yesterday, while driving in the car, the topic of conversation suddenly turned to family reunions. After I explained why Daddy's cousins weren't at the reunion for Grammy's (my mom) cousins, Sam declared that M was his family. I asked how that was possible and he non-nonchalantly replied, "because we're in love."

We're working on directing Sam to think they are just good friends but this is a battle we are losing. As he says, she is not his girlfriend. They are in love -- there's a difference.

The groanings of a family

It's happening again, that groaning accompanying the stretch of adding new family members. With the addition of two new to our flock I'm surprised the groaning isn't audible elsewhere. Both the babies are home now and have been for about 2 weeks. As a whole they are doing wonderfully. They've acclimated to the extra noise and general commotion that comes with living with other little kids. They are beginning to get used to seeing our faces and hearing our voices. Unfortunately both have been a bit under the weather each battling a different bug. And these bugs have meant little to no sleep for us...more on that in a bit.

The big kids are adjusting. We are dealing with expected behavioral outbursts from all of them -- extra noise, extra tears, extra pushes against our boundaries. They are also a bit needy for affection -- each vying for more time in our laps and more attention of our eyes and ears. This has all happened before and it will fade as quickly as it began; it just wears on mom and dad while in the middle of it.

As I alluded to earlier, sleep is a priceless commodity around our house and one that is rarely found. Luke and I are tired and so the groaning is a little louder and perhaps more woeful. One of the babies refuses to sleep without being held so it's often true that the parent of the night only gets about 1-2 hours of sleep total. That wears on the body, mind and soul and so we are bone-weary.

Personally I'm struggling with spiritual issues because of my exhaustion. I've allowed myself, foolishly, to forego any quiet time and serious Bible study and I'm paying the price. My lack of attention has allowed cracks in my armor and those are being used against me. Any little seed of evil -- doubts from people unsupportive of our decision to adopt, criticisms posed as questions -- these are growing into full-blown ugliness inside me. I've had to spend a lot of time today praying and reading, trying to fill up and fix what I've allowed to empty and break.

This afternoon has been better and I've no doubt things will continue to improve. They have to sleep eventually, right? ;)

The A-Team: An Update

It's been two weeks since we were placed with our newest little ones. I've been meaning to update this but I've been lost in a fog that is VBS. Fortunately for all my readers, Andrew doesn't believe in sleep and I've got so many VBS thoughts zooming around in my head that sleep alludes me. So here it is -- a 4am A-Team update!

Andrew is doing well. He's gained almost 2 pounds since we've had him and he's really starting to chunk up. This a really good thing -- the less fragile you are in this zoo, the better! He's not sleeping -- except during the middle of the day and then he's dead to the world. We're working on that. We're battling some eating issues because his mouth is just so stinkin' small. It's difficult to find a bottle that little that also lets milk out as fast as he'd like. We're on brand number 5 now. Other than that he's a happy little guy -- and boy do I mean little!

Andre is still in the NICU. He's having difficulty maintaining his oxygen saturation while eating. Luke visited Tuesday and reported there wasn't much change. Andre was still only allowed 4 bottle feeds/day and he was requiring oxygen during/after the feeds to boost his oxygen levels. This is a typical preemie thing and one we'll just have to wait out. Unfortunately there isn't a pill or a drug or anything that can remind a baby to breathe while he eats. We did this with Jack except Jack didn't have breathing issues -- he just couldn't remember to make his heart beat while he ate. Details, right?! I'm set to visit tonight so I'm hopeful that at least some progress has been made. Given the slow progress we've seen so far, though, Luke and I are inclined to guess Andre will be a due-dater. We don't expect him home before the end of June unless something dramatic happens.

I won't know anything about the case or the likelihood of permanency until our court date in early July.

That's about it! We're working on feeding and growing Andrew and wrapping our minds around taking care of two newborns!

20 new toes

There is still a huge, massive, gargantuan part of me that can't believe I'm actually writing this post. At 9:15 Wednesday morning we made the decision to open our foster home to new placements. And at 3:53pm that same day Luke called to tell me that we'd been placed. With a sibling set. Actually a set of twin little boys. That's right -- twins!

Born May 19th, the boys were a little early but are healthy as can be expected for such little guys (each barely weighs in at 4.5 lbs as of now). Andrew came home to us this afternoon and is so incredibly tiny. Baby Andre is still working on his breathing and eating in the NICU and will probably stay there another 2 weeks or so.

As always I can't say much else due to privacy issues. I don't know much to be honest. We don't even know if the boys are identical as we haven't seen Andre yet. Once I get them both home I'll post a picture.

Like before, we are hoping to adopt these little guys. The case looks promising but it's so early that really anything could happen. The reality of adoption is hitting us in waves as we go; raising two little boys the same age is going to be a new kind of interesting for us.

And so our little family has grown by 20 toes and 20 fingers and a whole bunch more!