Back-to-school time is a great time to get control of the chaos and help your family stay focused on the things that matter. Accountable Kids has six simple tips to help your family stay organized and have more fun together.

In 1998 we adopted two siblings that are special needs children with post traumatic stress disorder, severe attachment disorder, learning disabilities, and one of them is bipolar. In 2000 and 2001 we took on two more children that are siblings. The older is a boy with shaken baby syndrome with severe developmental delays. The younger is a girl with obsessive compulsive disorder, attachment disorder, and is struggling with school but has no diagnosed learning disability.

This gave us a family with 9 children. The older 4 are in college and are doing well. The 9th is our nephew that we have guardianship over and he is a senior in high school.

We have tried many programs to help the 4 adopted children feel that they are important and capable of the same qualities that the others possess. This has been a long hard process. We came across Accountable Kids online and ordered the kits. The program appealed to us because it has more intensive visual aspects in the program. Each card has a picture and words on it so each of the developmental levels in our home have been able to succeed with this program. In the month that we have utilized Accountable Kids, we have seen . . .

Fanny's Dream by Caralyn Buehner
This book is truly a wonderful mix of storytelling and art. Having a familiar fairy tale at its heart, this homespun yarn tells the whimsical story of a small- town girl who has big dreams. Fanny Agnes is convinced that if Cinderella could go to the ball and meet a handsome prince "once upon a time, it could happen again. After all, what were fairy godmothers for?" But when farmer Heber Jensen shows up instead of a fairy godmother, Fanny takes it in stride. After an hour of serious thought ("even with all that moonlight"), she gives up her dreams and accepts his marriage proposal. It's a total surprise when, years later, the fairy godmother, all glittery in pink and blue and yellow, finally shows up to take Fanny away. Fanny Agnes has a wry sense of humor and balances her dreams with common sense and a loving heart. This story is a wonderful example of the dream that was never far away.

Any task in life is easier if we approach it with the one at a time attitude. ... To cite a whimsical saying; 'If you chase two rabbits, both of them will escape." No one is adequate to do everything all at once. We have to select what is important, what is possible, and begin where we are, with what we have. If we begin and keep going the weight, the worry, the doubt will begin to lift. We can't do everything always, but we can do something now, and doing something will help to lift the weight and lessen the worry, 'The beginning,' said Plato, 'is the most important part.'"
Richard L. Evans