I’m still waiting to hear from the local school bus company whether or not my kids will be able to ride the bus for free. My neighbor and I carpooled last year but she now has her kids on the bus. Therefore, I either put mine on the bus or drive all the time myself. Our house is the first one in the subdivision. Rules state that you have to live 2.5 miles from the school to receive free busing. Apparently, we are 2.43. Every other house in our 14-lot neighborhood qualifies for free busing except us. The bus picks up the kids next door and stops between our two homes.

If... more

In my previous post, I was discussing the advance arrangements I am trying to put in place prior to bringing home another child. A reader inquired how I was able to get the school on board with a half-day schedule. Perhaps I should clarify that the teacher is on board and the principal has agreed to something along those lines, but it isn’t written in granite yet.

You folks have no idea what kind of baggage I have with this... more

I just returned from a field trip with Beth all day today. We visited the Lanesfield School, a one-room Kansas schoolhouse circa 1904. Beth and her class did 4th grade work and the adults—teacher and parents—were the “older students” in 8th grade. We did math on slate boards with dinky little pieces of slate, wrote with pens dipped into inkwells and practiced our penmanship, had a spelling bee (where the “8th graders” went down on “belligerent” and “inaugural”), learned geography... more

In Part Four of this series, I ended with Kim, the mother of an emotionally disturbed child, predicting that her daughter’s new teacher, initially all sunshine and smiles and optimism, would soon realize how truly disturbed Kim's charming 7-year-old daughter really was. Kim predicted the teacher's epiphany would take a week, but first Kim had to tolerate this all-too familiar scenario:

With (the teacher) on the floor, Holly is happy.... more

Part One Part Two Part Three

Marcus’s therapist is 25 years old. She worked with Romanian orphans while in college, and was so affected by the experience she subsequently liquidated most of... more

I know that everyone who has responded that I should give ALL the Units of Concern for school back to my daughter is right. That is classic Love and Logic, and I am a huge fan of Love and Logic. So why is this so danged hard for me to do?

But I did… This morning as Beth and I climbed into the car to head off to school, she said, “Oh, wait, I forgot my tape recorder!” We were just pulling out the driveway so it would have been easy to get it. I didn’t stop, but said, “I have been doing some thinking about that…”

I... more

This morning my editorial ran in our local newspaper. You can see it right here…

I hope it generates some response. I will be curious to see who responds, if anyone. Will adoptive parents respond? Adult adoptees? What do you folks think of this? How would you respond if you read this in your local paper?

I just noticed a request to join one of ADN’s listserves and it came from a local cable provider email address. I wonder if that person... more

One of the many incredible tidbits of information I received from Jane Brown was her statement that the adoptees she spoke to across the country became angrier and more cynical as they moved through their childhood. The reason for this was the fact that the kids repeatedly told the adults in their lives about the adoption and race-related comments they were receiving, only to have the adults do nothing about it. Ouch. That really, really bothered me.

As Beth and I settled into the chair the night before last, I started... more

Cross posted from Adopting a Sibling Blog

Here it is, the middle of the afternoon, and I am just now sitting down to write. I did manage to walk the dogs once, but the rain today wrecked the horseback riding plans. I took 60+ photographs for my Creative Photography class on Saturday morning, and I think I have two I can use. I am actually preparing dinner for my family for a change; I have been to the house/barn twice to do horse chores, and I am doing laundry as well. So I guess I haven’t been watching soap operas and eating... more

I am way behind on posting these past few days, but I simply haven’t been able to keep ahead of my life. I have been completely overwhelmed. I have much to report and I had intended to start spinning the tale tonight, but I am too tired to put much of anything into words. So I’ll simply give you a preview tonight and spin the yarn tomorrow…

On the speak-about-adoption-at-the-school front, I received an email from district office on Tuesday afternoon stating they hadn’t received my faxed handout last Friday, although I... more