What should I do? My son is bright and a good student. Assume that via scholarships, grants and Grandma, that either option will work financially. Homeschool enough to graduate my son, and then have them commute to our local university which is comparable to a community college and state university rolled into one. He will have enough academics under his belt to take college-level classes there by age 15 or so. He's 12 now. OR Go above and beyond the minimum high school requirements, by homeschooling or outsoucing AP level classes, plus do great community service and extra curricular activities so that he can go away to a top university. He wouldn't be ready for that until age 18-19.

Typer Island and Dance Mat is what we use here.

Ha, I agree. But I do see Tsuga's point, too. My husband also wouldn't respond well to a dramatic speech about saving our child right now. He would be more persuaded by asking him to imagine getting punched in the stomach by some big guy every day at work.

I'd bill it as an enrichment class. The parents can't blame you if the labs weren't rigorous enough or didn't match their curriculum. Less pressure on you that way. The class costs a fee. Not, "We are all part owners of all the equipment." Put leftover equipment in your homeschool library, or save it for future classes. Each class needs four students per microscope and dead frog. Parents want their child to DO labs, not watch them. I'm sure kids can watch labs on youtube for free. ETA: Backgound info and lab write up should be done then and there. The teacher needn't collect or grade the write ups.

I cherish it and wish it would never end.

If my child was washing his hands all day I would want him to stop. I wouldn't hold him back from the sink all day to do so. I would put limits on it. For instance, I might say that after dinner, he may wash his hands only one time. If that didn't work, and my child still washed his hands obsessively, then we would need outside help. Similarly, when my son's dragon interest got out of hand, I put limits on dragon stuff -No videos, toys or talking to me about it. He was allowed to talk to others about it, play dragons, draw them, etc. I think he was relieved that I made some boundaries for him. He was able to enjoy dragons in moderation. If it hadn't have worked, and his obsession grew, and he was still crying over dragon hallucinations, I would have had to do something more drastic. Eventually, I would have had to get outside help. I can only imagine that he would be diagnosed with a mental illness. The diagnosis wouldn't mean that he needs to be allowed to immerse himself in dragons. It wouldn't mean his dragon obsession was not a bad thing.

That's like saying obsessively washing your hands all day long isn't bad. It's obsessive compulsive disorder that's bad. Manifestations of mental illness aren't bad, just the mental illness is bad? I don't get those kind of semantics. I advocate not catering to a child's unhealthy obsession, but I don't think that is the beginning and end of what that mentally ill teen needs. Regardless of what else he needs, he does need to get off the computer. The institution he lives in doesn't allow him to languish in front of the screen all night, and rightly so. What I am saying is: Children's interests can get weird, isolating, scary, and/or obsessive. If anyone is concerned that their child is in too deep, pull the child out.

The point is that a child's obsession can be a bad thing. There is such as a thing as too much. The child needed intervention. If a mom thinks her child's interest is becoming a weird, isolating, bad thing, I would be inclined to believe her. I wouldn't respond by telling her he sounds fine and he'll grow out of it. It's just not hard for me to believe a kid has a weird isolating bad fixation on something.

I should have put post 27 and my first post together in one post, I guess.

It wasn't about me not sharing his interest in dragons. It was about me not feeding an obsession. MEmama, did you see that I said he was crying in fright over dragon hallucinations? It's in post #27.

You misunderstood what I said. I don't think an interest in dragons is bad. Obsession over dragons is bad. Obsession over anything is bad. Now that my son can use some moderation and common sense about dragons, I let him get 2 dragon toys and a dragon book from Grandma.

Is that what you think I did?

I'm surprised by how many people think a child's interest couldn't possibly be weird and isolating and bad. I have a friend whose son was gifted, mentally ill, and truly obsessed with computers and TV from toddlerhood. The mom poo-pooed his mental illness and told me with pride about his awesome computer programming skills. He never got off the computer and into doctor's care until this year when he was indefinitely mentally institutionalized. He is now fifteen years old. Lest you think I overreacted to my son's budding obsession with dragons because of my friend's son, I will say that I had the policy of not catering to obsessions from day one and I didn't know of the mentally ill teen until this year.

Not at all. When he was overly interested in dragons (not just interested, OVERLY interested) he thought he saw them flying in the sky almost every day. He came in the house crying over a scary one twice. It was getting nuts! I did him a favor by not catering to it. I didn't forbid dragons, lest I make it too big of a deal, and create forbidden fruit. He could play dragons outside, draw them or whatever. I just wasn't going to get involved in it.

It sounds like we are supposed to replace, "You're so smart," with "You're brain is growing."

Interests and passions are good. Obsessions are bad by definition, no? I have noticed that some middle class moms go overboard in catering to their children's interests. They *must* buy them any and all the merchandise for it, plus feign interest in their children's droning on the subject. Even if things get weird and isolating, mom continues on, proud of how smart her little Johnny is to have so much Star Trek trivia memorized. I think the opposite. Once you see things going overboard, don't feed the beast. So, my son was interested in dragons, via youtube, and saw the movie How To Train Your Dragon in a movie theatre. Then he started being overly interested. I told him to stop telling me about dragons. Period. Indefinitely. Social Skill 101: Some people don't want to hear about your thing you like. Stop telling them about it. That's a life lesson. I stopped the internet dragon stuff. And I wouldn't allow anyone to buy him any dragon thing. It is not a right of childhood to watch Youtube videos and get movie merchandise. With nothing to feed the obsession, it died.

Not odd, at all. I wouldn't complain. I'd chalk it up to a life lesson. Everybody doesn't include you.

I'm homeschooling with little funds. Here are a few things that worked, or didn't. Public library- FAIL. They have mostly junky books with a few classics and no school books. It's too hard to get there. Free e-books for kids - FAIL. They can't track the lines they are supposed to read on a computer. They keep touching the screen of the tablet and having things pop up, and they need help to get back to normal. They play games on the tablet instead if reading. The tablet's out of power and can't turn on when I need it. I have no wifi to download anything. It breaks. Free e-books for me- WIN. I like this one for tips for using the McGuffey readers https://archive.org/details/eclecticmanualof00cincrich I like Word Mastery for thinking of words to spell with refrigerator magnets. When I have technical difficulties, I can remember enough of the book to carry on. PaperBackSwap- WIN. I wished for everything I wanted for the next 10 years. My mom gives me credits. Eventually, many things come through. I have gotten lots of literature and school books. Lots. It costs a little money to get each book, now, even if you have credits. It used to be easier. It's still cheap, though. Thrift Store books- WIN. Normally, there is nothing good there, but occasionally, I get a good one. Gifts- WIN. People give me stuff. Sometimes it's a box of old junk which goes to the dump. Sometimes it has something worth keeping. My mom often asks what she might get us for gifts. Sales- WIN. I got a steal of a deal on some older Hooked on Phonics. I guess if you don't have a bank account, you could buy a VISA card at Office Max, right? Back-to-school sales have great deals on paper, pencils and stuff. Free educational websites for kids- FAIL. With the exception of Starfall, they are lame. I'm not wasting my time any more. Free lesson plans online- FAIL. Not worth my time, either

I have to stay home with the baby anyway.

No. None of the above. I guess I'm not as progressive as all you.

Maybe lower the time requirement.

Desert Strawberry, I don't read Stephanie's post that way. She said some people can homeschool well on a showstring, but she wouldn't do as good of a job as she does now, if she had a tight budget.

It must be spread very thin, broken into at least two pieces, and pre-baked before adding toppings. I learned this the hard way.

Are we thinking the Colfax's homeschooled for free or didn't use schoolbooks? "Cash is a necessary first ingredient. For example, we spend approximately one hundred dollars a year on textbooks, and about another two hundred dollars on other books and materials per child. Our library represents an outlay of several thousand dollars, and we have invested over a thousand dollars in laboratory equipment." David and Micki Colfax Homeschooling For Excellence 1988

The RV option sounds exciting...for about 5 days. Why not just rent a house or large apartment? Are you thinking you can't rent a house which is already in liveable condition because you would damage it and have to answer to the landlord? If so, couldn't you fix it up before you left? That would be easier than fixing up a destroyed foreclosure, right?