Soror, you are superwoman! I'm back at it today, finishing books and starting on another area. I think it will be art supplies and old school papers.

You're right. I was surprised they waited until the day before to start asking for help when it is a time commitment of several hours. They are kind of last-minute people. Hopefully it works out for them.

I did say no. I felt bad that they didn't find anyone else to help, the last I heard.

I can be flexible too, but this was almost the whole day, and we have evening activities on Wednesday and Thursday. Besides, ds said he wasn't really interested. One of our daughters used to babysit a toddler boy during the day sometimes. He was a tornado. It was pretty disruptive and I would have put a stop to it but thankfully, it was a short-lived job.

Yesterday a friend texted me asking if they could hire one of my sons. They had bought equipment for their business and her dh needed help loading it in one town, driving to another town and unloading it. My son in college has a full day, BUT...so does my homeschooling 10th grader. If it had been an hour of helping someone, I probably would have let him. No problem, said my friend. They were going to call some friends from work. Then later she let me know they had no one to help. I called one friend who has teenaged sons but she never got back to me. I feel kind of bad that they ended up with no help. I didn't want to let my son have the whole day off, but I still don't like disappointing my friends.

Yesterday I took eight boxes of books to the thrift store! Still have more to donate. I dread the thought of going through papers. I don't love them the way I love books, but there is so. much. paper. If I can do hundreds of books I guess I can do paper. Not sure if that's what I'll do next.

So sorry you have to deal with her. I'd just back off and tell her only the minimum she needs to know. Refuse to engage with "Marney". I hope the party goes well!

I'm definitely in the give-it-away camp. I will sell a few curriculum items but it is a small fraction of my donations. Once I read the statement, "Keep the river of giving flowing." I like that, and sometimes I am the recipient. I like to picture someone else happily finding my donated items at the thrift store.

I'm so very sorry for your loss.

Awww! He is very cute. Love his name, too. Congrats on the new addition!

{{{HUGS}}} My kids don't have the exact same issues as your son, but our oldest butted heads with me and went to ps for high school. She was quiet but very intense and very smart. She graduated with honors from high school and college and is now a sister in a religious order and very happy. One of our sons was intelligent but had a lot of trouble reading. We were misdirected into vision therapy which helped some but wasn't the complete answer. Fast forward, he got very frustrated which caused him to have a bad attitude about school. He kind of gave up. He took classes at the cc and then ttransferred to a four year university. He will graduate next spring with an engineering degree and a high GPA. Your son's life is not over and you have NOT failed him. You have put your heart and soul into finding answers for him. It is obvious that you care very deeply about him. If I were in your shoes I would want to disengage from all the drama, whether that means public school, Catholic school, online school, etc. I would want him to have to be accountable to someone else for school. I would help him if he asks AND if he has a good attitude.

Someone very close to me has this. She does not take meds at this time but does have a good counselor. I would be happy to talk to you about it via PM.

We love Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run! They are on Amazon.

That's outrageous. My 20yo college sophomore doesn't have a smart phone, nor does my 10th grader. Lots of adults don't have them. I got my first one two years ago.

Oh my. I wonder if the school has some kind of incentive to get all the parents to participate. If there is a business involved, does the school get a prize of some kind? It's crazy and very intrusive. I wouldn't do it either.

I sometimes miss the baby snuggles but not the lack of sleep.

Those are some great ideas. Thanks, whitehawk!

I'm anxiously surveying my stacks of books, not wanting them to end up in the landfill! They are in good to very good condition. Anything that is tattered I don't donate. Will anyone want these? I've never had good luck selling books at a garage sale. I thought of putting an ad on Craigslist...homeschooler giving away hundreds of books...but I don't know if I want a bunch of strangers coming over to my house. Sigh. It pains me thinking someone may throw these away. I see books in thrift stores all the time that are much more twaddly and in worse condition. What to do?

Congratulations to the whole family, and welcome to the world, Victoria!

Annie G, that is awesome! So happy for you.

Wow, you are really on a roll! That is why I love reading this thread. I'm happy for what others have accomplished, and it inspires me to keep at it. My son just meant that the narrator's voice sounded so smooth and soothing, that maybe she was trying to brainwash me. Lol. I agree it could become a sort of religion. I don't get all the animism, treating your possessions as though they are alive and have feelings, etc., but I am gleaning good things from the book. I like the idea of having a vision and focusing on what you REALLY want to keep rather than just focusing on what you're purging.

I voted yesterday on both my phone and my iPad, and just now it let me vote again on my iPad..so I'm thinking you can vote once per day from each device? I'll try to vote again on my phone.

I was curious how many books I'd end up Konmari-ing out of our house so I put them in piles of ten. Easy to count. Good job on all the rest you've done, on top of homeschooling! I'm only homeschooling the youngest who is a 10th grader. He does quite a bit of independent work and he's also a big help with household chores and yard work. He will gladly do extra if he sees that I'm busy decluttering. A funny side note: I've been listening to the audio book. The narrator has a calm, soothing voice. I was listening while I worked, and ds asked, "Is that some kind of brainwashing book?" :-)

So far I have sorted out 160 books to donate or sell. I am far from done. We have an extensive library from 20+ years of homeschooling. I love books but will feel lighter letting so many go. Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk

Voted!