Reasons to Believe may be an interesting resource for you. They have online classes starting at the high school level but also books, videos, etc. Unfortunately, no 7th grade science curriculum though. www.reasons.org

Most of my blood relatives on my mother's side have hypothyroidism, but it doesn't have the usual presentation. It is not hashimotos (no antibodies so it's not auto-immune). TSH is high but T3 and T4 are borderline to normal. Armour thyroid improves symptoms and blood tests for my relatives. 3 of them have tried Synthroid, and none of those 3 could get their blood tests in the normal range even on HUGE doses of Synthroid yet Armour was able to regulate their TSH. Because of this, they only take Armour, and I never tried anything else. (This seems to be a very unusual response as everyone's dr has never seen it before, but it is a very consistent reaction within our family.) I do not really have symptoms or notice any change when I take Armour (though my blood work is "normal" when I do). My other relatives on it (and I probably have 8 or so relatives taking it) report that it makes a big difference in how they feel/function.

We have both AAR and AAS. I would recommend doing AAS one or two levels behind AAR. Otherwise you'll find that AAS is introducing some phonetic concepts before AAR, and I think it works better to have them de-code using the phonetic rules before they have to produce words from scratch while applying the rules. Doing AAS a little behind also provides a beautiful review.

I would ask both directors about the ages/gender of the children involved. (I would guess there are a lot with the larger campus.) For the last 2 years, our smaller campus had LOTS of girls ds's age but only one other boy. It would have been nice if there were more boys his age. (Ironically, the age group a few years ahead of ds was all boys with just one lone girl, but the age gap was a bit much--especially when they weren't in the same class.)

Kids of Integrity might be a nice supplement for you. It's absolutely amazing for being free, and it works beautifully with that age group. I don't think it would work for your spine because lessons are categorized by character trait rather than going systematically through the Bible. It's definitely worth taking a look though.

One major difference is how much structure you want. Is it easier for you to have everything already scheduled and planned for you? Or do you like more flexibility? Have you found the 3 week samples of Biblioplan? They really helped with my decision-making.

I use half green tea and half black tea. I love all things ginger, so I use some fresh or candied ginger in the bottle after the initial ferment. Just started some and added a little fruit juice to the bottles, but I haven't tasted it yet.

White vinegar brought immediate pain relief for my son's swimmers ear.

Thank you all! I'm so glad to see there are a lot of options! I'm off now to see which books our public library has . . . :)

My 5y.o. recently picked up a Draw Write Now book and has spent hours trying to draw the pictures. He has beautiful fine motor skills for his age, and this is the first time he's ever been interested in drawing. But the pictures in DWN are a little too challenging for him. He gets frustrated and ends up asking me to do about half the drawing because "it's too hard." Is there a book or website you could recommend? Something with very simple step-by-step line drawing instructions?

My favorite resources are Kids of Integrity (FREE!), We Choose Virtues, and Treasure Hunters (link in my siggy). We focus on one character trait at a time and bring it up constantly throughout the day. We've had some real turn-arounds by doing this.

Honestly, I think it depends on how much self-directed learning she's doing. BFSU touches on concepts well above the grade levels listed which why it's such a wonderful program for accelerated kids. The depths of the scientific concepts and the way BFSU facilitates scientific thinking processes is just beautiful. However, it may be a waste of your time if your dd is devouring hundreds of pages of science encyclopedias in her free time.

We did ACS's free middle school chemistry class, The Elements by Ellen McHenry, and a unit study at homeschoolshare.com. It was a fabulous year. If I had to choose just one, it would be The Elements--hands down. It does introduce indepth science concepts, but in a very kid-friendly way. Lots of analogies, games, songs, etc. It is accessible to younger ages.

Wow! Amazing! Thank you!!!

Trumpet of the Swan The Boxcar Children Little House on the Prairie series

Betsy Maestro Jean Fritz Little House series picture biographies by David Adler

I've been incredibly impressed with this series.

Very exciting! Nothing would kill his natural spark for learning and experimenting with numbers faster than trying to fit in with his same-age peers in math. Sounds like it will be an interesting journey teaching this little guy! :)

I think that many people view one (if not THE) major objective of kindergarten as acclimation to the school setting, learning classroom norms, and fitting in socially with a group of 5 year olds. They tend to view the main objective of later grades as academic. From that standpoint, I can see where a person would wonder how you can acclimate a child to the classroom without being in school. Many people just don't think outside the box they were brought up in. (Obviously, my values of what is important at age 5 differ from what is stated above since we are homeschooling K.)

I've posted a question before and mentioned that ds is an "asynchronous learner," inquiring whether anyone else experiences similar challenges, and inviting them to private message me. Those who haven't read up on giftedness won't think much of it. A parent who has a highly gifted child will be likely to send you a message because they understand. Support is so important. Online support is great, but IRL support is even better if you can find it. You may also want to search for local groups of gifted homeschoolers through Yahoo or even Google.

A few things that have made a difference for us: -Gathering all materials at the beginning of the day -Creating an interactive checklist (we use workbox tags as a checklist, but I don't actually use the workbox system). They love moving their little picture cards from one place to another as they complete items. -Allowing breaks but making them an intentional decision by having the child set a timer for the length of time they decide. (There are consequences for playing without a timer running--writing sentences about setting a timer for breaks seems to work for us.) These few simple changes made a big difference in the distractability factor around here.

Thank you! It looks like a flexible program. Some of it would require typing (which will be great for the future) and others don't (which is great for now). The price is amazing! I'm so glad you mentioned it!!

Mamaraby, it worked!! THANK YOU so much! Safari works---AND the other apps that had quit previously. I am THRILLED!! (Sorry for the caps, but I am just so excited!!) I had to restore it to factory settings (4 times actually because I'm so dense with these things that I had to start all over again a few times), then I added back the apps that were most important. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

I am trying to find software that will allow me to input our Bible memory verses so the kids can play games with them. I need something that doesn't require typing skills. Something like Verse Hero seems to be exactly what I'm looking for, but the subscriptions are priced for a church rather than a family. What else is out there that's similar? TIA!

If public school is your only option, I would request a whole grade acceleration. While skipping a year won't meet your son's academic needs, the process will enlighten the school that his needs are exceptional. We did a whole grade acceleration with my oldest at age 4. The school was very resistant to even considering it, but they had to because of their own policies. Instead of going through the gifted testing at 3rd grade, they realized the need at 4. Seeing those test scores made a huge difference. The school principal was involved as well as teacher, gifted coordinator, and school psychologist. They were tracking him throughout the year, talking about subject and another whole grade acceleration as well as other possibilities without me having to mention any special accommodations. They invited me to contact them any time it wasn't working well so we could problem-solve together. If we didn't request whole grade acceleration, none of this would have happened for another 4 years. (And requesting the acceleration doesn't mean that he *has* to be accelerated even if it is approved.)