Update on the Funny Farm

I haven't written in a year. So much happens in a year, right? Where do I even begin?! My hubby's job brought us to the Houston area 14 months ago. I had sworn I would NEVER live in Houston. And God laughs. Now I laugh. I've always thought of Dallas as my ideal home, and maybe we will return there some day, but I know am where I am supposed to be. Right here. Hubby's company moved to downtown Houston this year, and actually, its been great for us! He drives to a park/ride, then rides a bus to downtown, walks a few blocks and wah-la! Not having tolls and the expense of fuel has been awesome! Plus his benefits cover public transport. AWESOME. What isn't awesome is that he saw someone jump from the 14th floor across from his building a few months ago. And this week right outside his window a light rail train hit a college aged girl riding her bike. It is not an image he wants burned in his memory. We insulate ourselves from the tragedy of the world. Working downtown he is not able to do that. My 17 year old Sunshine has finished another year of online charter school (K12.com). She did really well this year and decided on the college she wants to go to. It is unfathomable that a year from now, she will be driving herself to college up near Dallas. She took some summer school courses at the local high school, and has decided to enroll in public school for her senior year, just to be in a different learning environment to be sure she is ready for college. She's trying to find a job to save up for a car. This whole college preparedness thing snuck up on me, and I'm proud of her for thinking ahead about adulthood, securing tools she will need to be equipped, etc. As always, she is a big help and lots of fun. She's a natural with children. So being a children's pastor will be right up her alley! My 15 year old Princess has finished her 8th grade year in online school. She made straight As and also completed 2 high school courses with As. She has participated in the local police department Boy Scouts of America Explorers program for a year now, although she wasn't old enough to be an official member. This year she can be a member and train for competitions. She's very excited. She wants to be a police detective and LOVES to go target shooting with her papaw. She and Sunshine went with Papaw Saturday to the gun range and now all they can think about is saving for more ammo to go shooting again! Princess has decided to attend public high school from now on, starting this year, so she can participate in ROTC, hopefully securing a scholarship for college. It occurred to me the other day that since Tara already has some high school credits, she could conceivably take 2-3 summer school courses each summer and graduate a year earlier. She likes this idea! She wants to be a crimes-against-persons detective, meaning working in investigations such as robbery, sexual assault, homicide, stalking, etc. She's gotten her permit and insists on driving, and were she a sworn officer today, she would be giving out 10 tickets just between here and Walmart. She's rather annoyed by inadequate drivers. She's make a perfect Po Po. My four "little ones" are not so little anymore! C is 6, I is 6, G is 5, and E is 5. Holy smokes! How did that happen to my babies??? I had all four of them in public school this year. C & I were in separate kindergarten classes. G was in a morning PPCD (Special Ed PreK) program at a different school. E was in the afternoon PreK at C & I's school. After school (or sometimes during school), we had 12 therapy sessions per week. Seems as if all I did was drive children somewhere. We managed to do fairly well until January. G's Special Ed Pre K went from 3 children to 10-12 after the holidays, and he did not take well to that at all. Suddenly I was getting behavior notes and calls often. Mr. C decided he did not like school and having to deal with so many children. The solution for his misbehavior was to remove him from the classroom and put him in isolation in a room near the office. Oh, he LOVED it. He drew tally marks on the wall and sat there happy as could be. His psychologist called this "school refusal." I roll my eyes. I call this obstinance and I became very frustrated to be called to the school repeatedly to force him to comply with the school. Mr. I was excelling in school work but very emotionally needy. He didn't like me dropping him off. Many, many days I had to walk him into school, have employees hold him while I ran out of the building. And Ms. E was not to be over done. She started having psychotic breaks at school as well as home. She was completely emotionally unstable. I was called by the schools for one child or another every single day for months, usually multiple times a day. I would often find C & E in the office being combative toward the principal. I would come in, make them listen, tell them to apologize, and then all would be well. I started asking myself why the kids listen to me and not the school staff? By February, I was D*U*N. I loved the school, I adored the staff, and became quite friendly with them. However, I could not see taking my children to school to sit in solitary confinement and learn nothing. So I withdrew C & I from kindergarten. I couldn't stand how C was behaving to the staff and he was miserable!!!!! Being in a room with 24 other kids was breaking him down. Since I withdrew C, I had to withdraw I. I should have -- in retrospect -- withdrawn G & E, but since they only went half days and thins were going better, I left them in. Meanwhile, I started homeschooling I & C in kindergarten. We went through an entire K program in 3 months...yes, a year's worth of curriculum. They whizzed through it. I was already reading since he was 4 and so was G. E started reading, and so did C! Oh what a miraculous thing it was for to see all of them aching for more knowledge, and to see C especially learning! C has the most difficulty intellectually, and it took us 2 1/2 years to teach him his colors. But he got them! I can tell you we worked on the same 5 sight words from August to March but he got them! Once the school year ended for G & E, I did a big fat happy dance. I was so worn out from the calls and the pleas from the staff to get me to help my kids listen at school. They listen for me just fine!!!!! So now the four of them are homeschooled by me. We started another kindergarten curriculum, which we are 1/3 of the way through in 2 months. All four children are reading quite well. They like to write and add and measure. They *BEG* me to have school with them. It amazes me every single time Mr. C reads to me, considering it took me 9 months to teach him the word "the". That's how faithful God is! He has surpassed all of the IEP goals the school had for him for this past year, before the school year actually ended. He has continued to have speech therapy at the school weekly. He and G were discharged from speech and occupational therapy, too, because they simply blew their goals out of the water. HOLLA! E is still having speech 2x a week at home, and her speech impediments are pretty severe, but improving. Her speech teacher remarked to me the other day that she is so impressed by E's reading...technically she doesn't even start kindergarten (per the school) until August, and yet she reads 1st grade books easily. That's my girl! I went to an ARD meeting in May for Mr. G, just in case we decide home schooling is not working out and he needs to go to public kinder in the fall. That won't happen, but I wanted them to have his IEP and behavior goals in place for the new school should the unthinkable happen. I was surprised to learn that he had zero..I mean zero...academic goals. They said he tests like a first grader in many areas though only in a Prek class. This boy with DiGeorge Syndrome who we were told had twice the likelihood of mental retardation. Well, he showed the experts, eh? I'm glad to have those goals in place in case we need them, and I think he can have speech at the school this year, too, if I want it (why not, I say). I'm very proud of him. He's on the highest dose of Ritalin a boy of 5 can take, and takes another med for hyperactivity as well. He's still crazy wild and a dare devil. But I've learned that he's listening even if he is rolling around on the floor while I read. He had a little trouble adjusting to Mommy School last month when school ended. I expect him to sit in his seat and do his writing work whether he likes it or not. A few times missing break/recess put the drive back in him to write. Amazing how well he can work those fine motor skills when he is motivated by *SNACK* or *PLAY*! I astounds me pretty regularly. I knew when he was an infant that he was highly intelligent. I just can't keep up with the boy! He reads EVERYTHING. I have started having him read chapter books and he just turned 6. I had him read a 4th grade book to me the other day on weather and was shocked he stumbled on only a couple of words. He has a drive to lead (and boss!) others, so I have given him the greatest gift in the world. I have him lead reading groups sometimes. Its so funny because the kids will all decide to have random reading sessions, say if I am in the bath. Tonight I came out of the bath to find them all curled up together with I reading to them "In His Steps." Another day this week I found him reading to them from my Bible. He was reading the Amplified version and wanted to know what all the brackets were about. He is still a perfectionist...his handwriting is like a school teacher's from the 1950s. He still has perfect coloring, but he doesn't lament now if one line goes outside the line. He is adjusting to accepting his little imperfections. He & G LOVE to make others laugh. A few weeks ago hubby showed the kids an episode of American Ninja Warrior, which if you don't know (I didn't) its a competition sort of like Wipeout but for well tuned atheletes. Oh my goodness. That did it. Now my four little ones are doing Parkour all over the place. Last week at the doctor's office G was running along the chairs, jumping completely over end tables, etc. He had the whole waiting room cheering for him, as I am saying, "STop. Stop. You have to stop." Once the cheering stopped I reminded him we can run on mommy's furniture and jump all over everything at home, but not in other places. "Oh mom," the receptionist said. "he's just a boy with lots of energy." Yes, I know, and I'm not over protective. I just think he needs to know when its appropriate and when its not. I'm not afraid of him injuring himself. He popped his elbow out of place just the other night and popped it right back in himself! My kids don't live in a bubble. I'm all about getting their energy out! It is very cute when I am working out that they cheer for me and tell me I'm training to be a Ninja Warrior. I'm training to stop being *FAT* that's what I'm doing! Tomorrow we are going as a family to the beach. How brave are we!?!?!!