:grouphug: I will be praying for your son. Just cuddle up tonight, get some rest and figure it all out in the morning. If he gets worse take him in but if he is sleeping fine and is stable, I would wait until tomorrow.

Voted. Hope she gets it. Anything to help a fellow mommy stay home with the kiddos and still be able to pay the bills!

My son is 5 years old and he has always been my stubborn, hard to handle child. We butt heads so often and it always seems like a losing battle. Eventually I started looking into programs that would be more positive and less of my negative attitude when he would not listen. With my son he flat out does not want to do anything I say b/c he wants to be in control of everything. I purchased the Voucher System for home and homeschool. It is a reward based system and they earn points to get certain treats based on their performance during non school hours and also during school. It also makes him more accountable for his behavior. It is actually a really easy system and IMO I probably could have figured it out without buying it but it does work if your child responds to positive reinforcement. Basically, when he does great things he gets points from 50 to 200 pts. If he does badly then he gets deductions (from 50-200, or your chosen system based on the severity) and we add up the points at the end of the week. I let him know ahead of time what the rewards are (it comes with vouchers that they get). The paper I use has two different sections so he can visually see how many points he earned and how many were deducted side by side. The school one is a little harder to figure out so I mainly go with this all day. So far, it has worked like a charm and he actually goes above and beyond b/c he knows that the most points are to be earned when he does those great unexpected things like pitching in and helping or doing something that he normally would have never in a million years done.

I have to agree with you here. It is not that I have a problem with service animals, it is just that some people like my 5 year old son who has his own disabilities to deal with is VERY terrified of dogs. No matter how well behaved it is, if he had to step on that plane he would have had a panic attack (a lot of this stems from his own disability) and more than likely I would have had to cancel our flight. Usually in public we could just detour somewhere else in the place so he would not have to be around the animal but I think that others should be notified if an animal is going to be on the plane. Noisy kids are usually expected (although not pleasant), animals are usually not expected when you book a flight. Also, with what I read on the above listed site, I am even more bothered. I just read the guidelines and am very bothered that it says you should not have to have proof or have to certify your dog nor should you show proof to an establishment as they are not allowed to ask you?? Are they just supposed to assume that someone who looks perfectly healthy should have a dog in a restaurant? However, if you choose you just click a few buttons and make a payment (they never have to actually prove your dog is used for service or meets the behavior requirements, you just click agree) and then it is a service dog? That is a little too easy being that you do not have to prove disability and can get a little uniform for ANY dog you want!! So basically if the owner lies and is not disabled or if the dog is not safe, it does not matter?!?:001_huh: That just does NOT seem right! Anyone who adores their dog and wants to go everywhere with him, now has that option. That is where I think the standards should come in.

:iagree:Faithful conservative Christian here - Love Halloween, Christmas Trees, Birthday cakes and lots of other secular but fun cultural traditions that make our life interesting and fun. We stay away from anything evil looking, but other then that...Trick or Treat! Oops somehow messed up that quote! :001_huh: :iagree:We are also conservative Christians but do celebrate Halloween. Like others have said we do it for the fun tradition. Our church does a Trunk or Treat where members gather in the parking lot and hand out candy from their trunks. There are also games, candy, food, etc. and a few days before there is The Great Red Pumpkin Hunt where we get clues and go all over the city (carpooling, of course) trying to be the first to get the pumpkin. IMO it is nicer since we can celebrate with our church and let our children know it is all about fun. We typically watch what the children are around though at this time of year. If it does not correlate well with our beliefs than we just try to limit exposure to it. I think since we have younger children, we try to protect the beliefs we are trying so hard to instill and it is our job to monitor what they are allowed and not allowed to be around at this time of the year (and others) so that it does not inhibit those beliefs such as the evil-type aspects that Halloween can sometimes represent. I also think it depends on how the tradition is handled at home. As of now, my children only see Halloween as a fun tradition where people dress up and go trick or treating and that is how I like to keep it at this point.

Could you try some of the spray in hair colors that Walmart carries? I saw some the other night in basically every color possible, pink included, and they are quite inexpensive. I have got to learn how to do army face paint tonight. I bought a little kit that walmart has but it does not quite explain how to put it on easily. Thank goodness my middle son is being a Transformer that has a mask and the toddler is a cow. I may try to paint his face a little too. That is about the most you can do with boy costumes...face paint and props.:D

Yes my mother was very verbally and physically abusive and still is to this day. I cannot even have my children around her because she has her good times but frequently has these strange mental outbursts. I remember being called names like sl*t, wh*r*, b*tch from the time I was maybe 4 or 5 years old all the way until now. She would also fist fight my sister and I to the point we had to learn to defend ourselves from her or she would literally beat us up. It is hard being a young girl and having to literally fight your mother who you want to love so bad. I do not think it is that she is a bad person but she does have severe mental problems that she has always refused to get help for. She tried to be a good mom but her bad side made me really resent her. She has even called my children names and has told me recently she has always hated me because I was born. I do not have a doubt in my mind that she does. My dad was never really abusive in any way, he stayed with her for 20 years so that we wouldnt be left with her alone. Finally, when I was 15 he couldnt take anymore. I love my dad too death for the sacrifices he made to help us to have as normal of a life as possible. Unfortunately, my mother ruined a lot of that. In our home, we were the perfect family to the outside world (we had a gorgeous home, my dad made great money, my mom even volunteered at my school a lot, etc.) but behind closed doors we were as dysfunctional as could be. My dad occasionally gave us a belt swat but nothing that I did not deserve. He made me write sentences (like 800, which took a few days!) and took things away most of the time. I had always just wished that I had a normal mother who helped her daughter learn about makeup and went shopping but I have just had to realize, thats not my mom and never will be. I am lucky to have a really great stepmom though!

I am even more convinced I definately need the Homeschool Tracker Plus. I guess I am just going to have to sell some items that we are not using. Until I can get things sold though I may just try the homeschool skedtrack. The only thing I worry about is if a server goes down or some technical issues come up, I do not want to be without my planning tools. It is worth giving a try though. Thank you so much for all your help! What is the yahoo group that has the lesson plans you can input? I know with EduTrack you can do that but I just really do not like the bland look to it. Homeschool Tracker Plus just looks better visually to me. I guess it is over to the for sale boards so I can get it!! Thanks ladies!!

Okay ladies, I have been using Homeschool Tracker Basic for quite some time and although it's nice, it just doesn't have everything we need. I have looked over the plus and it looks to have everything I could want and desperately need at this time. With our umbrella school, they require immaculate records and things that most don't. However, that's the one reason I chose to use them. I know they are really keeping track of my child's progress. I'm starting to worry though because on paper, I'm not very organized right now. With everything that's going on in my life, and trust me, it's more than the average woman should ever have to deal with, I just can't seem to get it together. I have looked into selling things to get the Plus version and there just doesn't seem to be a way for me to purchase it at this time. With that being said, is there any other way I can get everything together? I am a more computer tech person than sitting down and trying to draw up tables and charts, etc. I have looked everywhere but it looks like HST+ is my only option that fits our needs. I really like the way I can just type things in and then print them, file them, and I'm done. Are there any planners (cost is a BIG issue right now) that I could use or what have you used that's worked? I have found numerous sheets you can print off but then I can't seem to get it set up correctly and easy to use once everything is printed. I'm starting to worry we may not be able to continue homeschooling if I don't start getting everything on track. I have to turn in a lot of records come January and I'm worried it's not going to happen. Please help!

I have bought and subsequently sold many boxed programs. I thought it would be easier in our first year but ended up researching different curriculum on the WTM boards and put together something that fit both me and my sons' better. It just seemed impossible to get the math we wanted, as well as reading, etc. since my son learns different subjects in different ways. These are the ones we have tried and our opinions: *Covenant- No offense to Covenant users but I could NOT stand this curriculum. I started by purchasing their preschool curriculum and I cannot stand their day by day books. Sonlight has way better teachers guides than this "booklet" they sent me. Also, their customer service was horrible! By far, the worst company I have ever bought from. Again, no offense to covenant users, this was just my experience. *Sonlight- GREAT FUN, however, it wasn't academically rigorous enough for us. We have talked about buying their read aloud and readers programs though because we LOVED the sonlight books. I don't care for the K program and their language arts is missing...badly. I also had language arts for 1st grade and it IMO was more for a K student. *BJU- LOVE LOVE LOVE BJU. Their Math is very great and my middle son has actually paired this with MUS and loves it! Maybe it's the fact that I was a teaching major and love the way their guides are set up. They are FULL of information but I don't like the K program too much. I think some of it has to be that my son is gifted in certain areas so I usually have to mix and match grade levels. I do have some K items from them that I will be selling or giving away soon as I have no use for them. I actually have the series on VHS as well which is pretty cool but I think for my middle son next year we are going to try Abeka. *Hewitt- Bought Preschool Plus and this was by far my FAVORITE preschool program in the world. I know they also had Training Wheels (which is really cheap and it's their older version of the K program) and the newer K program. They have so many fun ideas and my children really loved it! *Abeka-I have bought items here and there from them. I have my likes and dislikes about them. They do a great in depth job of the teaching but for some reason most of their items just don't "click" with me. Those are about it but my suggestion would be to look around the boards. It may seem easiest to purchase a boxed curriculum but you really have to take a look as to what your child's learning needs are. It may be hard at first but you can find tons of programs with really great teachers guides and if you use a planning software such as EduTrack (you can purchase the already planned lessons that are input into your computer so no typing for about 1.50 a piece) it's a little easier to track. It may be overwhelming in the beginning but my best advice is to read, read, read about homeschooling. I was lost in the beginning and these boards really helped me know what I needed to know to succeed this year. Good Luck!!:)

I was looking just now for some free science video resources and looked up the Ed Online that another user had mentioned. When searching I found something called thirteen.org/edonline (don't know if it's the same) but if you sign up as a teacher it will take you to a website called teachersdomain.org and you can view all sorts of educational videos for FREE! They have TONS and it's very well organized. http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/edvideo/index.html You can go to this link, click on teacher and sign up for free! Hope this helps someone out! BTW it should take you to teachersdomain.org which is where the video collections and sign up are.

I learned phonics on my own growing up and was reading on a 6th grade level in 2nd grade without instruction, usually reading a 15 chapter book in just two days. It was not sight reading bc I did sound the words out, I just somehow learned on my own without the help of my parents or teachers and went on to be in a gifted program 2 years later. My son is the same way but I thought it would be better to start him in a phonics program so he knows the why of reading. Since he already has solid reading skills he is moving rather fast through Ordinary Parent's Guide To Teaching Reading (sometimes up to 4 lessons a day) but I've seen a dramatic improvement in his spelling (although he's only 5) and am happy I chose to teach it to him. I think that if you don't want to use a long extensive, full on program you could always use ORGTTR (we passed the initial letter sounds lessons). It is a great program, very affordable and will actually probably bring his level of reading even higher. It also only takes about 5 minutes for us to complete one lesson (which is probably because of his already good reading ability) but it makes me feel great because then he is armed with the knowledge. Even if it doesn't change how he would have spelled in the long run (as we never know what their future holds as far as ability), I'd rather be safe than sorry and have to back track later on when formal spelling is taught.

Yes, sensory integration disorder and sensory processing disorder are the same. SPD is most commonly used. I was lucky to be receiving speech therapy for him when the therapist caught on to his behaviors or honestly I may not have known to this day. In my experience (getting bachelors in special education and also having a son with SPD), more often than not peds and other specialists tend to think the child has ADHD or behavior problems and since most people are not aware of SPD at first, it's not the first thing we think is wrong. So please do not think you "should have known" because sometimes there is just no way of knowing. My son's SPD experience includes numerous daily tantrums but what I now just call "sensory overloads". He is severely sensitive to visual (bright colors, lights, etc.; all schoolwork MUST be black and white) and auditory (tons of crying and covering ears with things like toilets flushing, dogs barking, etc.). He craves movement ALL THE TIME such as jumping, standing on high things and dive-bombing off them, rolling around on the floor, etc. With tactile it's a little of both...he cannot stand tags on his shirts and other weird feelings but he loves pressure such as wrapping up in a cocoon of blankets, etc. Routine is HUGE with him. The littlest thing goes different than he planned during home school and our day is shot. I started the use of a timer today and it's worked wonders on his schooling. With him being hyperactive so much he loves to "race the clock" but he also does better work for some reason, it may be because I am giving him more space though. I realized that although he needs my help I need to stop talking and getting in his face trying to help when he's doing his workbook pages, etc. because my talking mixed with everything else just becomes too much. I looked up SPD classroom strategies and found a lot of really great ideas that I hope to incorporate as well. The best thing we did with our homeschooling was create a separate classroom away from all the noise, etc. where he can really concentrate on his studies. Another thing I learned was that with his overprocessing sound and visual stimuli, I shouldn't require him to listen AND watch my every move that sometimes he may need to look away to understand what I am saying. One thing I have noticed though that really gets to me is other people's reactions. I know it shouldn't bother me but even some of our family members who do not know much about SPD (although I have tried to explain) think that he is just a "bad kid". It really hurts because climbing and jumping around are things that he can't help sometimes. Although I now frequent dollar stores and find other cheap alternatives for fidget toys to help him cope. Stress and squish balls are great as well as numerous other things people overlook. We actually have a Dollar Tree that carries handheld sensory balls of ALL sorts and when he does really good on his schooling he begs me to get one as a treat. I've known for 3 years about his SPD but I am still adjusting and trying to understand it myself so it's definately a learning process! I hope this helps and if you have any other questions, pm me!

I've been stressing over our curriculum next year as well. I'm a bit of a curriculum junkie so I spend out quite a bit of money on items that I have to subsequently end up selling. A lot of moms sell their old curriculum to pay some of the cost for new but with us it's cheaper in the long run to just keep what we have since we will have more sons going through it later on. I also have to pay out for sensory equipment to help my oldest ds with his sensory issues since we have to make our "classroom" bearable. One option for timelines that I love and save tons of money by is using the Hold That Thought cds. The timeline figure cds have hundreds of figures and they are of very nice quality so for about $20 a cd you can have it through ALL of homeschooling and it covers (if I remember correctly) all time periods on one. Also, they have some very cute timeline notebooks for $15 that I think are not only beneficial for space saving but nice for keeping and referring back to later. I have quite a few of their cd's and am very pleased with them and their customer service is GREAT! Just thought that may be a cheap route for timelines since you can use throughout the years and reprint the figures at any time needed. Oh and seeing that you are also doing American history they have notebooking cd's that we also have and they are wonderful. It saves me the time and effort of planning the notebooking, dictation, etc. out.

I know it may seem like you've hit a block but you just hit a MAJOR plus for yourself and him. I went to college for special education (all I lack is student teaching but right now do not plan to pursue being a teacher at this time due to homeschooling) so although I am not facing what you are facing, I have some experience. I would say to start moving into vocational training. In the school system that is exactly what we would be doing. Now is the time he could be learning all those life skills he is going to need. He may not do well on book work but maybe will respond to actual hands on learning. I'm not sure what special needs he is facing or I would probably give more specific advice but I will say that most every special needs situation does respond to life skills training. There are a few methods to teach these skills. When I worked with older students on the high school level I found it easiest for most to work on one skill at a time and when it was mastered I would go to the next step. So for instance if I was teaching a child to ride the bus, I would write down every step that needed to be taught (down to the little things that most overlook) and I would teach whatever I could at the school and take him/her to the bus station for those things which I couldn't such as getting on the bus and riding. If I were you I would work on vocational skills in the computer area (maybe there are some hands on modules or something you could get) and life skills such as cooking, washing clothes, all those things he will need to learn in the long run. You can get forms online that show you how to evaluate those skills and keep a log of how well they are getting by in learning those skills. In my service learning we taught something different for each area that would be a subject to other kids so instead of a history class maybe the child would learn how to wash dishes and instead of math they would learn to count money and pay for a meal at a restaurant (again they were taught different restaurant situations, depending on their functioning level). I hope this has helped in some way and if you need any further help or have any questions, feel free to pm me!! I hope everything works out for you. Just look at it as not the end of general education but the opening of a door to his future!