a new addition to our family

As if life isn't already busy enough with 5 kids, 3 going to school and one homeschooling with a baby in the mix, we added to the busy and chaos.  Meet Tinkerbell, our new pup.

She is a 10 month old Yorkie-Poo that we found at the county animal shelter yesterday.  Her previous owner was a sweet old woman who was no longer able to care for her, and her grandson brought her in to the shelter.  They told him that if he was surrendering her that he needed to either take her next door to the humane society or fill out paperwork and pay a surrender fee.  He didn't want to do either one, so he walked out the door, set her in the grass in front of the shelter, and drove off.  She is still on hold for owner retrieval, but on Monday (that is tomorrow) she is released from the hold and we can pick her up at 1pm.  I signed a hold contract and paid a deposit to ensure that we get her, and will pay the rest of the $100 adoption fee tomorrow (that includes shots, deworming, spay, and license for this year).  Jojo is super excited to be able to go get her tomorrow afternoon, and her sisters are also thrilled that when they get home from school she'll be here as a part of our family.  I just have to detangle her poor fur, it is all matted and she needs a good bath.  She is so sweet though, we could tell when we were there that she was just terrified at being in a little cage there in the cat room and she just kept shaking.  Scott was the one she warmed up to, she snuggled  him happily and rubbed his legs when he set her down for the girls to see her.

I hope she adjusts quickly and happily to her new home with us.  The girls are beyond ecstatic to have her coming to join our family.

The Little Things

There are so many things that we tend to take for granted.  Electricity, garbage pick up, indoor plumbing, and stuff like that.  Little things that we don't know how to live without.  Well, for 3 months my family lived without one of those small things in life when our washing machine died.

I spent 3 months hand washing all our laundry in the bathtub while we saved up to repair our machine.  However, sometimes it costs less to just buy a new one and get it over with.  This turned out to be the case with our washer.  So, Scott took the money we had saved up for the repair and he purchased a new one for me last weekend.  It arrived this morning, and I already have it running with a load of laundry.

I never realized how much I depended on that machine until I had to do without it for an extended period of time.  Now I have a new appreciation for the washing machine, and I plan to be easier on it than I was in the past.

Phonics with active kids

Jojo is one of my active kids.  By active, I mean totally ADHD and unable to focus or sit still for more than a minute at the most, constantly getting into stuff, curious about everything, chattering nonstop, playing until she passes out asleep at night kind of active.  I knew that teaching her myself would be a challenge when we decided to keep her home and do OHVA with her instead of sending her to the charter school with her sisters this year.

Now don't get me wrong.  I love teaching her, and I do have a lot of experience with this kind of learner thanks to having Missa first and myself also being this kind of learner.  It keeps life interesting, to say the least.  I never know what she is going to do next in some situations.  She is my child who, at the sweet innocent age of 2, made a beach in my kitchen with flour, salt, and sugar for the sand and then climbed on the counter to use the kitchen sprayer to make the water.  She is the one that I had to call 911 a couple times in one summer because she got into chemicals that I had put in (I thought!) a safe place.  She is my handful, that's for sure.  So I knew I was in for it teaching her myself.

Anyway, she balks at phonics because it has her sitting and working with me quietly.  So what am I supposed to do when the curriculum is the wrong style?  I tweak it, of course!  I tossed aside the letter tiles and workbook for now, and we are using my driveway and sidewalk chalk to practice and learn letter sounds, digraphs, and sight words.  I write them on the driveway, and then I call out a sound or sight word and she jumps on it.  When weather doesn't allow us to do this out in the yard, I have a LOT of printer paper that I can use inside for this.

Yes, sidewalk chalk is a necessary school supply in my home, precisely for the active learners I have.

getting adjusted to the school year

Getting adjusted to any big change in our lives is hard for me and a couple kids.  I like routine and predictability in my days, and having a change causes me anxiety and makes me grumpy.  So obviously, this school year with the oldest 3 girls going to school, a new baby, and Jojo starting homeschooling we had our share of temper tantrums.

Jordan's big adjustment is still happening here, as she's not used to sitting down daily and doing lessons with me that aren't mostly fun stuff.  She's not that into reading times and certain types of activities, but she's learning quickly how to tolerate it and do what she needs to do.  A big bag of tootsie rolls is helping with this one, I've been giving her one after each lesson we complete.  I plan to keep that up for a while and then slowly drop the reward.

The older girls have a completely different adjustment.  Lydia and Kimmy are NOT morning people, and they have to get on the bus at 6:45am since they are the first stop on the route.  Missa is adjusting to having to bring home homework and having to focus and sit still.  This is a hard one for her because of her ADHD.  All 3 girls obviously are adjusting to the structure of the school schedule, some of the rules at school, and not being able to just get up and go to the bathroom or grab a snack whenever they want.  It is happening though, and the girls are liking the school they are going to this year (this is always a good thing!)

As for me, I am a morning person but I personally don't like to get up early.  I snap right up when it is time, and have little problem with being tired or grouchy under normal circumstances.  The only time that I am grumpy when I get up is if I have to listen to a screeching tantrum from one of my kids who don't do mornings too well.

And now for the totally honest moment that I don't want to admit.  I am finding with the older kids at school that I'm a better mom to all my children.  I butt heads with one child because we are both very stubborn and have major independent streaks, and with another because she has a tendency to scream, whine, and can cause me one heck of a migraine in under 10 seconds flat when things aren't going her way or she's not the center of the universe.  Then there is my devious child, who is so quiet and sweet while she plots her takeover of the universe.  The three of them together is not a good thing for my sanity sometimes.  Being able to put them on the bus to go to school on weekday mornings helps me to be able to do the things that I need to do without losing my mind in the process, and gives me the opportunity to be in that place I need to be mentally for handling them after school and on weekends/holidays.  I spent 4 years teaching my children at home, and I knew that it wasn't something I can easily do long-term.  With them going to school, I find that I am almost never yelling, I have more patience to diffuse explosive tantrums from my drama queen, and my house is getting cleaned up because I don't have them undoing my work as fast as I get it cleaned up.

Yes, we are adjusting nicely to the school year and all the changes that happened this year/

September- new month, new goals

Yup, it is that time again.  At the start of every month, I take a look at where I am and set a goal for each child I am working with.  So here is what my goals are looking like.

JOJO:

finish testing out of math+ K
test to the right place in phonics K
keep plugging away at all subjects

PJ:

keep baby-proofing the house
try not to lose or drop him (hey he's heavy and FAST now that he's figured out crawling)

the other girls:

continue keeping up with homework
30min every day of reading for them
sewing lessons may be good here too

As you can see, not much really is planned for the kids.  Jojo has her first testing session online with her teacher tomorrow morning, and if I can get her to do it I know she'll do just fine.  She already meets the benchmarks to pass K and go into 1st grade academically (hence her not going to the charter school with her sisters) so I am not too worried about it.

And just for fun, here is a picture of her cute Kindergarten self.

And all 5 kids together.  Poor PJ is totally outnumbered!