My older did two classes online so far. Both were with FLVS. One was a middle high class (keyboarding) and the other was a high school class. They took a lot more time than the classes would have if not in a virtual school. The pros are that she learned to type very well. Her younger sister didn't want to take the time. We found that the logistics of the class made the whole thing take more time than 5 hours a week. I will be looking at the older taking an online cc class simply because the local option is too expensive (over 300?credit).

One big reason I have for suggesting medical intervention and maybe counseling is that even if your child gets into a college without a SAT or ACT they do have to do tests once in college. FUrthermore, most colleges that allow no SAT or ACT test seem to require either such a test for homeschoolers or another test like SAT 2 or AP. I don't think that those tests would help any with the anxiety. Being anxious at a level where the child has some sleeping issues the night before and chews their fingernails off is one level . Throwing up and simply being unable to force oneself to do the test is a whole other level. Proper medication could make this whole problem go away.

I live in a county that used to have very strict residential regulations. I know since my mother, a widow, was trying to find an appartment for us to rent. There were four of us and she was looking for something like 2 bedroom plus den. No, not okay. It only became okay because my brother moved out and then we had three in a two bedroom plus den. This was a very large two bedroom plus den. I think it still may have such regulations though I suspect that many apartment managers look the other way. We have five in a four bedroom house and I think we could fit many more in here. Whether we would be allowed to is another matter.

I am so angry about this. Stalin imprisoned my parents (Allies) during WWII until he joined the Allied side.

I have three who are either teens or have been. None has been rebellious in any serious way= more like choices in eating or haircuts. But my two oldest have had medical problems in their teens/ya that made things hard. Oldest has a lifelong medical condition that arose in his teens and is likely to reappear every few years unless medication is found that helps him and he actually takes it. Older dd had a medical condition that made life with her almost completely unbearable but since we found a medication that helps a year ago, there has been an amazing change. No more problems with her. I think my son's issues have aged my husband and me a lot. We are in the midst of this and his medical issues very negatively affect the rest of the family, bringing incredible amounts of stress. I worry about the stress effects on my dh who has a strong heart history in his family.

My oldest and my youngest were fine. My middle was not. She got the leash or the stroller but usually the leash since she was also an escape artist. You would use a leash too if you were visiting canyon areas with shear cliffs and had a runner.

Both my dd and I have Medic Alert bracelets. Hers mentions her allergy, her epi-pen and her asthma. Mine mentions asthma, my disease, that I take steroids (though I don't now but do take another drug they need to know about), and have multiple drug allergies.

Is the union insane? Can't the company just hire new workers? With this economy, striking seems completely nuts to me.

Have you considered taking him in to get medication for anxiety? My dd has been diagnosed with GAD and she has all sorts of things she is anxious about though not testing. She is on Lexapro and that has definitely helped her a great deal. Her psychologist is also helping her by giving her exercises that do help. She has actually stopped screaming about spiders and now can ask for help calmly or with smaller ones, pick up a shoe and kill it. This is the difference from a child who was considering which colleges to attend based on spider populations.

Yes, and it explains why the EFC is absolutely not affordable for people like us and many others. We live in a high cost part of the country. We can't afford to buy a house in the area we live in. While we have a little savings, it is less than they expect with our income but our income was tens of thousands less just a few years ago. Then we have the fact that I am a disabled person not depending on government aid or any other disability program. I don't have future earnings. I was at my garden club lunch where almost all of the other members have kids my age. Their experiences of going all the time to the doctors mirror mine. They have retired because of health issues but I am supposed to take out loans???? If our last child doesn't get merit aid, we will be looking at colleges overseas that are less expensive. And yes, they aren't cheap but currently our EFC is 44K. I can't think of what it will be when dh gets a 1.4 % raise for a few years. Realize too that we aren't guaranteed any such income after 2011 when he might be downsized. Then what? He may get a good job and we can afford to pay or he might not get a job and we are left with an income less than half what it is now.

I will pray.

Where I got this figure of 101 K was for parents of entering college students. It was a very big study of who gets financial aid and how much each quintile pays for college on average. It was a national study. I figure that the average age of a parent of a college student is probably in the mid 40's or early 50's, especially for parents who have a bachelor's degree as a minimum. It made me see that there is a very good reason why I don't feel like we are rich. We aren't. I didn't equate good income with living wage. I equate living age to be a minimum sort of income and good income to give you the ability to go out to dinner sometimes, go on vacations, go to a show, etc.

WE had homeschool graduation last night. One student was also graduating from a local cc. He is entering an out of state fairly prestigious college in Fall most likely as a freshman plus candidate. That is the same as my daughter;s debate partner who didn't graduate from the CC but took classes at it and is going to a local state U. for her undergraduate. Then there is another girl who is working on completing a BA in English from College Plus. Her plans are to apply and get accepted into an Ivy League school to do another bachelor's. I don't quite understand that.

In Jr. High, I think we mostly read some short stories. I am not even sure we read them because I remember the movies I saw from them: The Lady or The Tiger, The Incident At Owl Creek, Bartleby the Scrivener, and something that occured on a moor in England. We even did this in 9th grade which was still in jr. high school. In 10th grade, I think I read The Old Man and the Sea and I am sure I read some other thigs but we were mostly writing. In 11th grade, I think we read some sci fi and I think I read MacBeth but that might have been in drama. In 12th I had AP English. We read portions of the Bible, Paradise Lost, A Seperate Peace, The Odyssey, Hamlet, and some others I don't remember. I also get confused on which I read in college, which in high school and which on my own.

I haven't lived everywhere but in my view in the US, a good income is probably somewhere between 75K-150K, depending on location. It may even be higher in some places. This is for a family, not a single person. It seems to be somewhere around average too for a person with a bachelor's degree in middle age. (I think that figure was 101K).

My dd who thinks she didn't learn geometry well did LOF and Aleks. Then she did the ACT. Even though her overall math score wasn't stellar, her geometry and trig portion was at a 95% level. I have gone back and decided to review ALg 1 LOF with her and then we will continue reviewing ALg 2 LOF with her. Obviously, that was something that worked for her and ALEKS probably helped some too but not as much I think. IF she can do equally well on all the portions, she will end up with a 30 score in math instead of a 25.

LOF has only been around a few years. I don't think anyone who starting in Fractions is done.

We have told the kids college education only. That is our promise but with my middle, we will see what we can do. If she continues in the path she has laid out, she will need a professional degree. If we can help her, and she has remained as good a child as she is now, we probably will help her some. Our youngest will get college but only if she chooses to go with her talents. Currently she is rebelling and not wanting to go that way on some days. Mostly it is a matter of her being a social girl who thinks engineering is for geeky nerds. We will fund her for a science, math or engineering career but not for something like :I want to work with animals" when she hates biology.

Yes, I would have a problem with it since I think it is a confusing statement. I also don't think that children should be signing statements of faith without parents knowledge. For our particular family, the pint we would have a problem with is statement 2 which is very vague. Which behaviors in the Bible? I have seen conduct statements where certain things were stated like we will not lie and then a scripture verse that confirms the behavior. That way you have your guidelines and everyone knows what they are. In the way it is written, I would have a great deal of trouble figuring out which behaviors they were referring to since AG church goers don't do head coverings for women and some other behaviors mentioned in the Bible so obviously they don't mean all behavior.

I haven't had my hearing testing for at least 9 years. I did have a small hearing loss then but nothing that required treatment or hearing aids. Anyway, while I almost always understand people in person even with thick accents, I can't understand much on the phone, particularly the cell phone, and just forget leaving me a message on a cell phone. Nothing racist about it. I understand my own family better but my daughters who have high voices and my son who mumbles aren't clear that often. I can usually understand dh. I have also gotten very frustrated with computer help lines that are outsourced to India or Philippines. SOmetimes the person is clear speaking, and other times they are not. Particularly difficult for me to understand them if they are female. I am sorry that my hearing loss makes me a sexist in my phone preferences but there it is. Lower toned voices are easier to hear. I don't know that I can do anything about it since it is only a problem with phones.

I am so sorry. Prayers and :grouphug:

I would just like to warn about mental health issues, particularly with older teens, young adults. It is so important to have good insurance to help with that. Insurance is now required to help with mental health in the same way that non mental health is covered. DIseases like major depression, bi-polar, and schizophrenia often first appear in late teens/early adulthood. These are very serious conditions and depression has a rather high mortality rate. While some can be treated with doctor visits and medications (which can be very expensive), others need hospitalization. In the two states I am familiar with, there aren't enough hospital beds for them. One reason the death rate is so high. It isn't something you expect to have when you have young kids, but unfortunately, it is something that can happen with older ones.

We are, after 23 years, in the second top quartile in income. We don't spend that much a month on any single activity. Music lessons normally cost between 100 and 120 a month. I don't really count it up since the money goes here and there but I think all money we spend on all extracurriculars, including a summer program for my upcoming senior, is less than 3600 a year

If I have a reason to tell someone, I do. Like I have met moms who haven't heard of Teaching Company and have children who need an alternative to textbooks. I always tell them about the tapes/dvds. I have them later come back and thank me too so I know some have been helped. IF anyone asks about things, I tell them. On the other hand, I don't bring it up as a topic of conversation unless someone says they are looking for something different or mentions a child having a problem of some kind (including boredom). I am always meeting homeschoolers who use all BJU or all ABEKA or something like that and I never comment. If it works for them, great.

With my son, it was a counselor who first suggested ADHD. My son was not even 3. We moved and he got diagnosed at almost 4. He started taking medication. THe diagnosis was confirmed a few years later by a development pediatrician. My dd was diagnosed by a development pediatrician. She was 3.5 and also started on medication. None of her later doctors including pediatricians and psychologists ever doubted the ADHD diagnosis. She herself knows how much the medications help her.