Emma's First Day of School!

Emma started school last Monday!

She was very excited to be in the classroom, eat her bag lunch and to ride the bus!

I have many "mixed feelings"...

This was not part of the original dream.

I had hoped to be able to keep everyone home and educate them at home.

But there were a few snags in the dream

and

reality has lead us to utilize some of the services outside of our home.

In case you are wondering what "snags" we incurred.

 I will share them with you.

1. More children have joined our family than originally planned- I love that part! BUT it has made it very challenging for this novice homeschooling Momma.

2. We have many medical needs and many appointments. Of course I always hope that will change in the future but who knows?

3. All of our homeschooling children are relatively "new"  and they all need ME and MY ATTENTION and my help.

I did try to have Sarah be more independent and recently realized that she had been completely skipping the writing, grammar and partial reading in the curriculum she was working on.

I was NOT happy...

(BUT, I blame myself...) 

 Although she is 13 yrs old, she has only been home for 4.4 years and when she has questions she needs me to be available. She also needs me to hold her accountable.

4. A few of our children have moderate to severe learning disabilities. We have had 3 tested so far and realized what we suspected is actually correct. They need someone with them full time so they can learn too. They need someone who is trained in teaching a child with that special need.

As one woman stated... I cannot be too proud to ask for help when I need it.

Since some of the children's needs are greater than expected we need more than just one teacher, more than just me.

 I will be honest in saying the burden to meet every ones needs academically, medically and emotionally was a little too much.

There is just not enough of me to go around.

So we had to make some prayerful decisions.

We are happy with the decisions we have made and feel that by utilizing services available to us we can better meet all of our children's needs.

We wanted to give it a try this spring and since the timing with the IEP worked out, Emma was able to go to a couple weeks of school before summer break!

A few of our children need one on one help. Some need repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition... while others need more challenges and supervision.

We feel so very blessed to have our children home from China. 

Sometimes I find myself wearing so many different hats that I don't get a chance to just be 

"Loving MOM".

I don't want to be robbed of that title and that opportunity!

I don't want to be frustrated with myself and with my child.

I want a neutral person to do some of the daily grind (as they so eloquently put it at the neuro psych evaluation).

We have worked really hard to get them were they are at right now.

We are so thankful to God and we are very proud of each child.

For some of our children learning is a big challenge.

If we did not like our local schools we would not have sent Emma.

We happen to live in an excellent school district with many resources!

She only has 4 more days left and then she will be home for summer break!

Emma is currently in 6th grade, 7th grade next year!