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cheryl h

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  1. I would feel very good choosing Challenge B. It won't be too easy, trust me. If he has never studied Latin, he will be very busy with that, the logic is not at all easy, and the amount of writing they do is substantial. The only thing I felt was close to light was the reading selections for lit, but the papers they do and the discussions are not. The difficulty level, or how challenging it is will come down to the tutor. I can not emphasize more how key it is to having a good tutor, especially for the high school years. Visit the class several times. If you think it really won't meet his needs, look into tutoring Challenge 1. We did do some supplementing, and if you would like to hear more about that, pm me.
  2. This was our first year with CC, dd14 is in Challenge B, ds12 is in Challenge A, and ds/dd9 are in Essentials. We had never studied Latin. Dd is pulling a B based on her weekly quiz scores, and ds a C+. Having not studied Latin before, I am ok with that knowing they will improve a lot next year. Looking at your signature, your kids are still very young. They would have no problems jumping in now, definitely not too late.
  3. Wow! So many things you all have given me to research and pray over. It is comforting to know that there are so many dealing with similar issues, and sad at the same time that there are so many other families dealing with a problem that takes so many forms and still has so much mystery in its causes and care. Thank you all for sharing your experiences and successes.
  4. Googled it...it's for ADHD..kids with severe hyperactivity and uncontrolled impulsive behavior. This would not be for my ADD kid.
  5. I am not excited about traveling that far for treatment as I am going through my own health issues as well. I am currently going through auto-immune testing and will here back about my labs on the 18th. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to pursue natural remedies for the ADD first, is depending on what my outcome is, I may have my kids tested as well if it is something with possible genetic origins, like celiac, which could if undiagnosed, affect a kid in this way. Once I get my results back, if it isn't something that could be genetic, than we possibly start his meds then. I am not hearing a lot of success with supplements alone, though we would do those as well as the meds. The ped explained that he should only have to take the meds on days he needs it for school, and hopefully the supplements would help enough that his non-school life would be improved also. We do eat pretty clean here. I don't buy canned grocery items, either I can stuff from the garden or we eat fresh. We only eat game for red meat, lots of salmon caught in Alaska, though our chicken is not organic. We eat very little if any processed foods. As a general rule aspartame and red dye are not allowed, though they sneak in on occasion. The only thing I think we could do next that might have any benefits was eliminating what little refined sugar he does get or gluten. Ugh. Why does life have to be so complicated?! I think I need a nap.
  6. Yes, the ped did discuss with me the side effects, and he would be monitored in office every 2 weeks for some time until the dosage was right and to make sure his weight and blood pressure were acceptable. She also discuss the need to change his diet so that the appetite problem didn't get away from us.
  7. Yes, he can hyper focus on Legos, video games on the wii or Minecraft (which are both highly regulated here), and sports. He's very kinesthetic. I am reading ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life by Kolberg and Nadeau and they discuss this attribute of ADD a lot.
  8. I did NOT say mild, I said more than mild. In fact, I personally would categorize him as more than moderate. My more than mild comment was meant to distinguish him from those that are just suffering cabin fever, which I assure you what he is experiencing is not that, as we get out of the house a lot, he plays sports and is involved with extracurricular activities. I have another kid who I would categorize as mild, but I have not pursued treatment for her because I think she can learn habits that will help her with it. I have taken your advise from previous posts about environmental factors, and book recommendations, and I assure you I have done research on how to make accommodations and environmental changes to help him, and nothing has worked. He has always had this problem, always, but now that he is getting older and the work is getting harder, it is becoming very obvious that this is an attention issue, not a maturity issue. He has gone from being a B student, to a D student this year...not because he doesn't know the grammar of his subjects, but because he can't stay focused long enough to complete the multi-stepped tasks this level requires. He has had his hearing and sight checked, and gone through speech therapy testing twice, and not qualified. His brain is going quicker than he can "output", and he loses his way. He has no behavioral issues at all, it is simply lack of attention. It affects more than just his academics, it affects his ability to do multi step processes of any kind, which leads him to be in a position of having to be "babysat" while doing personal hygiene, making lunch for himself, whatever...he can get past step one, or even finish step one most times. He knows he's got an issue, and it is extremely discouraging to him that he isn't able to do what he should be able to at his age. I am not against him seeing the neuropsych, and i am sure our ped would have referred him if she felt it necessary. But I also don't see any reason to have to spend thousands on testing, for them to tell me what I know, and presribe the same Rx as the ped. I am looking for advise on natural treatments before we try the med. I have no desire to wait 6 months or more to get into the neuropsych if I can help him now.
  9. I took my ds9 to the pediatrician yesterday, and after reviewing my observations and discussing it extensively with ds, she agreed that he probably has more than mild ADD. At this point she isn't sending us off to a psych for evaluation, as she thinks it will only make it that much longer to start treatment and he will slide further behind. She is a well respected DO, and does not readily prescribe meds of it's not necessary. She did recommend he start a very low dose med for the ADD, and assured me that it was very safe, in fact the dose wears off by noon if taken at breakfast. She also recommended an Omega 3-6-9. My husband and I don't like the idea of meds, but if they will help him get back on track and feel successful, I would do it. We would rather use supplements, but if it only helps a little, than we would do both meds and supplements. If you have tried supplements and had great results, please share your experience. If you have used other homeopathic remedies, what did you use and how effective was it? Thanks so much for sharing your experience and wisdom.
  10. I have heard that if you write or email the manufacturer of your favorites and tell them how much you like their product, they will send you coupons.
  11. Amy, we have similar aged kids, so I will tell you what our experience has been so far. This is our first year of CC. I have one kid in challenge b, one in challenge a, and two in essentials. My two essentials students have both used Rod and Staff previously, and EEL is plenty challenging. The fact that your dc have previously worked with IEW would be a bonus, as essentials moves at a very fast pace and is still challenging for those who were in it previous years. We have been very happy with what the challenge program has to offer, and have only felt like we needed to supplement only a little beyond their CC curriculum. We haven't yet participated in foundations because it was already full, but are registered for next year. I do encourage you to not wait for an open house to visit a community. It will be very busy. Just contact the director and she will likely be more than willing to have you come anytime and then you can get all your questions answered without the distraction of other visitors. With your years of co-op leading experience you may consider tutoring, which helps immensely with tuition costs.
  12. These were exactly my thoughts last year as we contemplated the same thing...exactly. I really had a hard time choosing between challeng 1 and challenge b, but ended up deciding on challenge b and have not regretted it. We had not previously studied Latin either, and for that reason and logic, it has been a much better fit than challenge 1. The logic is hard. That is not to say that we didn't add a few things to my dd14s curriculum to make it more "9th gradish". The cc literature selections are easier than I would have preferred, but the discussions and papers were not, i was pleasantly surprised. I ordered Notgrass World History to continue with history study and she is required by me to read the recommended literature assignments that go with it. She isn't writing the papers because she doesn't have time, but we talk about the lit and she does the history quizzes and tests for comprehension. That has rounded out literature for us quite nicely. The science seminars are very good. The research papers have gone really well, but it has been hard to get past the "we need to be doing labs" mentality. Truthfuly, this is the type of research that should be incorporated in science learning, but there just isn't time to do it all, but they are learning it here, they are learning the concepts well as they learn more about the scientists. Again, since I can't leave well enough alone...she is slowly working her way through Apologia biology at home...with the labs ;) So by the time this year is over she will have learned great research skills, introductory chemistry, and half a year of biology. Next year in challenge 1 she will get further reinforcement of physical science(that she took in 8th) and finish biology, so that she will have a good foundation of science before we send her off to do dual enrollment. I do think she is the only kid in her class that has extra work at home, but all of them have been in CC for several years and are in it for the long haul. My motives for her to do CC were strictly for the group atmosphere, discussions, debate, and presentations. Stuff I simply can not replicate at home. I needed the support too. It is very non traditional and doesn't fit neatly into the transcript boxes, but it has worked out great so far. Another thing that would make a big, and I mean huge difference is the class dynamic and the tutor. Some tutors are more demanding than others, dd has an excellent tutor. I could see that had she had a more lax tutor, I would not be nearly as satisfied. Also the ages of the kids in the class can be a factor. Dd's class has mostly 9th grade aged students with a small handful of younger kids. If the class would have been all younger kids, again, I don't think I would have chose that. Visit the class and get to know the tutor, then visit the challenge a class to scope out what kids might be in challeng b next year.
  13. It was suggested to me from someone on these boards to read some of Dr. Mel Levine's books. I read his book "The Myth of Laziness" and it was very good. He goes through many examples of different people with different executive function issues, explaining how those issues have effected their lives and what their success in adulthood might look like if it is addressed, and then if it isn't. It discusses both kids and adults suffering these issues. I found it very insightful in understanding the executive function problem as a whole. He also has other books, I think "No Mind Left Behind" is one. I didn't find him to be one that would immediately default to meds, more advise was given on how to rearrange your life and habits to accomadate the issues, though he does talk about cases where he thought it truly necessary This morning I am diving into "ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life" by Judith Kolberg and Kathleen Nadeau.
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