5 kids sitting still for a second

Well sort-of sitting still. After a long summer of not enough time, we got them together for a photo. When Leah, Given & Ian came back after 2 years of school in Chicago, we didn't know how they would adjust to the culture shock. They had time here last year when Given was Alan's second hand man and Leah often visited the neighbors -Dawn & Sal & their 8 kids. Ian did not spend much time last year and came complaining of the lack of TV from day one. The twins are lucky in a way. They pretty much know of no other home than the farm. We lived in town for less than a year of their lives and they have grown as the farm has grown. They know that sun rise means chore time and that fresh foods come from the plants and animals locally as much as possible. They know how to feed and water chickens and collect eggs. They know that the pigs go to the butcher and come back as bacon. They know that the red tomatoes taste best right before daddy sees you take a bite out of it in the garden...

At first I thought Leah was going to lock herself in her room and pine for the city the whole summer. That lasted less than a week. Leah missed her friends from Orozco Fine Arts & Sciences Elementary School in Chicago were she got straight "A"s (except for the B in gym). In 2008-9: 663 students enrolled at Orozco. 99.1% were low income Students. 8.0% were Special Education Students. 28.4% were Limited English Learners. 98.2% Hispanic.

Leah enjoys cooking and was frustrated with the selection we offered. She maintained her vegetarian principles, yet she came around to cooking more variety than I thought she could. The local markets have limited processed meat- substitute items. So eggs and cheese and nuts were staples. By last week she cooked burritos including the ground beef even though she knew she wouldn't eat it.

She got to know the farm and the people and animals on it pretty well. I even had to ask her where to find things in the barn today when I tried to let Alan sleep and milk the cow. She's really blossomed out here. She started out tagging along with me to the office and after camp wanted to tag along to the barn with Alan and Trevor ... "LEAH, HOW DO YOU FEEL" after camp was followed by her booming voice "I FEEL GOOD, OH- I FEEL SO GOOD, UUGGHH" as she showed her muscles... that is unless a boy might have been in ear-shot.

Given had a great time getting into trouble with his buddy Brayden and horsing around with his little sisters. He didn't get to ride Mike as much as he would have liked... but he is getting a little big for a pony. He also didn't enjoy caring for the birds and pigs as much as last summer with all the competition ... but he says he's already looking forward to coming back soon and staying longer. Every morning he could he would wake up before his sisters and ask if I had to run to work or if I had time to play Robo Rally or Starship Catan with him. He's such a loving kid!

Ian came with the understanding that he wanted a vacation- but needed help with his Algebra summer school. After a few weeks decided he wanted to stay. He got a B in "out-of-district" summer school in Polo. After 2 years of trying to get the whole farm (including the farm house) shifted to the Polo district, we were informed that the paperwork would not go through in time. The fact that the tree house is in Polo schools does not help. Neither does the fact that we pay taxes on two properties in town that cannot be sold in today's market and cannot be rented for the cost of keeping them. But that is all politics and just requires more work to get corrected. The out-of-district tuition for the regular school year would be more than the cost of his braces and medical bills combined. So he has met a few very nice faculty members at the Sterling High School. Any new school would be a challenge. It's not Polo, population 2,500. But it's not the 3 million of Chicago either. After homeschooling in Virginia with his mother, he came to live with his father and attend a Catholic school in Chicago for 8th grade. Last year he went to Lincoln Park, a school that received 3760 applications to the Magnet Programs and accepted 380 students. As a freshmen student, he was in the building just for freshman... "on a large campus located next to Oz Park". As good as they may be with their magnet programs, he really struggled and felt they weren't meeting his special needs. After tutoring him in Algebra, I do understand his need for testing and special education. If Sterling isn't as good as we hope, I offered to home school him... an offer he was quick to decline. He had enough catch-up to deal with after the year his mother tried to do that. I'm actually a little afraid that he will so Love the Sterling Schools that he will resist transfer back to Polo (where he was for 5th grade and his siblings were for elementary and where I still work and have connections), should the opportunity return. Time will tell.

The twins do have the benefit of Wallace Preschool. The preschool and daycare that our kids attended in Polo and that we were board members of folded soon after we left town.

Politics again played a role. We were told by our DCFS worker that every director that we tried to hire was not "qualified" and as board members we were instructed not to assist in the day-to-day business needs that could keep the business a float... we even got stuck paying back taxes out of our own pockets when it was all said and done. Wallace offers Head Start. Head Start is a program that usually is limited to low income and special needs children, Given qualified due to the social situation of being in a single parent family at the time. Hana and Nora were not screened due to the understanding that they would not qualify. According to the high school counselors, Wallace has openings for the twins even though their only qualification is living in the Sterling school district. 5 days a week from 12:30 - 4pm, no worry of finding them caught under a tractor during those hours... now if I can just keep Alan from forgetting to pick them up while I'm at work in Polo...