So my stepson was diagnosed with adhd around 5 years ago, but I wasn't there for his little kid days. We're starting to think our 5 year old might be in the same tribe. Reading about it though, the symptom lists seem so vague. Can anyone give me some examples of neurotypical vs adhd behavior expectations? Ex. Most 5 year olds are energetic - when does it become "extra"?

You could check out The Mighty. It's an online support group for mental health and chronic and rare diseases.

Absolute History on youtube has some living history series about everyday life that I really enjoyed.

Thanks. I think I'll give diy a whirl to see if it suits him before trying one of these.

What spelling programs do you like and why? The pretest models don't seem like a good fit for us. Is formal curriculum even really a necessity? Does anyone have experience with diy-ing it?

I definitely believe it's for real, but yes, some dogs are smarter than others. Dog breeds that tend to exihibit more independent intelligence (vs just being really trainable) are going to do better at it. Bunny is the best example. She has come up with novel statements to solve problems. She has asked existential-type questions. My dogs on the other hand showed no interest lol.

Doggy puzzles. Word buttons. Training extra commands.

I sat down with little man to talk about it. He confirmed he doesn't like it because it's hard. I said it's ok that it's hard - everybody struggles with learning something new sometimes. I asked if he would want to try doing it a different way - yes. So we've moved away from our usual school spot and he's working through 1 word at a time while I write a short sentence like, "The dog sat on mom." The last couple of days have been much, much better for both of us.

He likes doing math and looking at/watching science stuff. He's not enthusiastic about handwriting, but that's not a high priority. It's really just the phonics. It doesn't come as easy for him as math does. That's probably the real issue - teaching him to stick with something that isn't so easy. I'll try changing the scenery/scaling back.

My little guy is doing kindergarten. He has known his letters/sounds for ages, and has has shown that he is capable of working out CVC words. (We're using Explode the Code.) He's driving me up the wall with his resistance to phonics lessons though. I aim to keep it brief - sometimes just half a page at a time. I walk him through each word. But it's like pulling teeth to get him to look at the 3 letters on the page instead of the wall. (Vision is fine and doesn't show signs of ADHD this far.) Advice appreciated.

There's The School Garden Curriculum on the farming topic. An older student could read Restoration Agriculture.

This one is less on puberty and more on sex ed - Consent by Jennifer Lang, MD. We got it for out 14/15 year olds because the public school (They primarily live with their mother.) sex ed here is very poor. It's not from a religious perspective, but it is medically accurate.

I wanted to use OPG, but my little perfectionist HATED it. I put that away and switched to Explode the Code. He seems to like that better.

We have boys 13 & 14 who I'm excited to get vaxxed. That will be everyone except the 4yo. Now I just wish I could convince my mother and brothers to take it all seriously...

On shortages topic - I started looking for a swingset for ds last April; we just got one this month. The type we wanted was constantly out of stock. I built a raised garden bed out of cinder blocks cheaper than lumber. As a bonus though, it'll last a lot longer. We definitely see more random empty spots at walmart too.

Stink bugs are totally different from lady bugs. Stinkbugs can hurt your plants, on top of being super annoying inside. The Brown Marmorated variety are an invasive species, so no natural predators to keep them in check. You might try Diamataceous Earth. Most insecticides will only kill them with direct contact; the residue does nothing.

It works just as well for any ground meat. I use mine regularly.

We have a similar manufacturing situation here. Here at least, it's less about the drug test/showing up everyday than it is about the chronic pain and excessive overtime that usually comes with it. It's also difficult to find childcare for such long hours, and most people actually want to see their kids once in a while.

Crash Course (youtube) has just launched a series on black history in America. It will cover from the beginning of the slave trade through the civil right movement and present. It should make a good supplement.

I've called him a lot of things, but never it. Bowie, Bobo, Brat, Dumb-dumb, Your Majesty, Sir Barks-a-lot.... but not it.

Chacos are good, and they last for years.

We were able to buy a house. It's actually big enough for us and everything. It's an amazing blessing amid all the challenges.

Mine likes to go in circles. However, it does something with my anxiety, so I have to tell him to do something else.

The best thing is to get your doctor's input on doses. Personally, if I don't take magnesium supplements (800mg), I get cramps in my feet. It seems to run in my family. It got progressively worse for my grandpa, but I don't think he was taking magnesium.

I'm with DawnM. Technically, I do fall under the definition of evangelical, but it's got so mixed up with fundementalism that it's hard to use the word. My introduction to the church was SBC, but after a series of other churches & several years of no church at all, we now attend an Episcopalian church.