I Need a Personal Assistant

My life has become so complicated that I am now taking resumes for a personal assistant. The pay is what you'd expect - nothing! I'm having a hard time figuring out what I have to drop in order to continue being a sane person. I did not start out the school year thinking that having Holland take two classes would put such a snag in everyday life. But now I have to add a weekly occupational therapy appointment for him and a weekly physical therapy appointment for Egypt. She will need another cortisone injection and she has trouble gripping a pencil because of her affected thumb. She needs some intervention so her joints don't freeze up. Luckily I can do these two appointments at the same time. But it means driving into Portland and that sucks time from the already limited schooling time.

Tuesdays Holland takes Fencing class and I drop Egypt at my sister's house and take her two oldest boys to the class. I got a call from the Speech Path and we are trying to figure out when she will do the 20 minutes of speech that's on his IEP. Sheesh. Really? Only 20 minutes? Why bother? I'm trying to decide if I want to drag Egypt with me to another school building and sit in the office while Holland has his speech. And this could happen when Romania has no school on Fridays. I am thinking about driving out to Springwater, letting Holland have his speech session and work in Romania's class. But in order to make it to Egypt's new handchimes class (did you see the video? She just LOVES it!), I would have to leave Springwater before school is out.

I'm running out of daylight hours to do everything. None of this scheduling dilemma takes into consideration all the trouble I'm having keeping Holland on task. He argues about absolutely everything. Keeping him focused is near impossible. You'd think I was asking him to walk on hot coals when I ask him to write something. All he wants to do is sit and listen to me read. We are reading "Mattimeo" out loud. It's the third book in the Redwall series. We read history out loud and he draws while I read. I read all his science out loud. Do you see a pattern? I'm exhausted and feel like I accomplish nada on a daily basis. How's that for feeling motivated? I'm beginning to think that someone else can do a better job. Romania complains almost daily that he doesn't like school and wants to come home. I ignore Egypt all day long. I do NOTHING with her. People are freaking out that I don't have her in preschool. That's just what I need. One more place to drive to. I just shoo her out of the school room and once in a while let her sit on the floor and try to attend to two kids. Holland gets so distracted and can't do anything on his own. If I try to help Egypt, he walks off or sits and complains that I'm not helping him.

If you want to feel real good about yourself, homeschool a kid with special needs. That'll put you in your place.