English and walking with the dogs

Evan and the girls have been having daily battles about doing their English homework and studying. When he asks them to study they have minor freakouts and fight him. Leidy snaps out of it pretty quick and then at least tries to do her homework and learn. Talia gets mad and then won't talk to Evan for a long period of time and says "I don't know" to everything he asks about her homework. I know that not wanting to do homework is a normal part of being a kid but it gets taken to such an extreme on a daily basis. We have tried to talk to them about how important it is they learn English, Martha has talked to them on several occasions as well but it just doesn't seem to sink in with them. I think part of it is they are in Colombia and it is 95% Spanish only speakers so maybe they don't feel the urgency but we worry that when they get here they are going to have culture shock in so many ways. We are really trying to keep that to a minimum but you can only do so much without their part being met as well. The person who watched them when they were here in December, Ana, has a great relationship with them so today we asked her if she could Skype with the girls and give them a dose of reality about how it is going to be when they get here in LA. It started out by her asking them how English was going and them responding that it was great and there are no issues....screech....say what? So do they not remember the daily epic battles; do they not want to fess up; do they think they are behaving properly and that their battling is normal behavior? In any case, she talked with them about life and school and we really hope that it sunk into their brains. I think we should have them Skype with her more often because they definitely respond to her and have a bond with her.

They all went on the 6:30 dog pack walk and had a good time. The girls are still sketchy around dogs but are at least getting better at being less standoffish when they are around them. They love puppies and tiny dogs because they are clearly less intimidating.