We have known it was a possibility since... Well, for about 2 yrs now. Ever since the 8th grade he has had to take summer classes to make up for classes failed during the year. He is a bright child but willfully chooses to do as little as humanly possible and hopes to slide by. He has even gone so far as to do projects and assignments (so he can show them to us as being completed) and then not hand them in to the school. Flash forward to this year and the drama that has ensued Re: his mom and his behaviors and we knew graduation was touch-and-go. Well, I got the call from the school today saying he would not pass psychology and will not graduate this weekend. So here are our "choices." 1. Online class over the summer, passing means 2010 diploma, keeps $500 scholarship 2. High school class in the fall, passing means 2011 diploma, forfeits $500 2010 scholarship but can continue to receive Social Security benefits. He could take the Psychology class as well as some classes at the local tech and trade high school. 3. College class in Fall, 2011 diploma, no scholarship For me, #1 is the only ethical/responsible choice. He would still technically graduate on time, could work and take the class, and would keep his scholarship that he earned. However, DH and DSS see #2 as a viable option and seem to be leaning toward it. I think that it's playing the system and I don't like the idea of it. What do you think?

I think camp is a great way for the kids to have some independence and time away from me in a structured, supervised environment. DS8 has 3 days/2 nights at a Cub Scout camp followed by 5 days at VBS day camp every summer. This year, I enrolled DD8 AND DD4 in a week (5 half-days) of Science camp at the local childrens' museum and I CAN NOT WAIT!!!!! Three hours/day of doing just what I want for an entire week! It's going to be the best week ever! My kids seem to think so too!

Stop. Reading. It. Seriously. There are far to many fabulous books out there to waste your time on one you are not enjoying.

I'm new (just started in January). I researched. Chose curriculum. Stuck with what I chose for 2nd grade. Looked at how he tested. I'm an "if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it" kind of person so we are continuing with the same math, science, and history programs but will be changing our LA's and spelling as they are obviously not working for him. Once I find something that clicks, I'm sticking with it.

Waiting... tap tap tap....

If there is a Venture Crew in your area, it's a great way to meet other kids (co-ed) and try out different activites. My husband and I started a Crew for DSS and some of his scout friends who wanted to try activities like sea kayaking, canoeing, rock climbing, hiking, archery, horseback riding, and shooting sports.

We are definitely going to see this one in the theater. It will be DD4's first movie in a theater.

From a standpoint of quality of family life, I would say Air Force. The Air Force has better living conditions in general (nicer housing to be sure) as well as fewer/shorter deployments and field problems and less exposure to direct danger than say the Marines or Army. Navy tends to be safer for the sailor than say Army or Marines but there will be 6-month rotations where he is out to sea. I would say out of those 4, Air Force. I don't know much about the Coast Guard so I can't speak to that.

Twenty years since I graduated from high school and here I am, folding laundry, picking up dog crap off our brand new patio (because apparently that's why I paid several thousand dollars to have it poured), and cleaning up my 4yo's pigsty of a room. No where near where I thought I'd be. I dreamed of being single, childless, working in my career, loaded with extra cash, travelling the world... Why did DH have to be so cute? D*mn him and his irresistable charm!

We are not free range. I will speak only of DS8 as I feel he is our only child to whom this discussion relates. He is allowed to get the mail but the mailbox is basically in our yard. He is allowed to ride his bike to his friend's house or his grandparents' house but that is about 1/4 mile away in the same private community (not gated but private) but he has to call when he arrives and call when he leaves. There is a park directly across the street from our house and he can play there with a friend while I am in our front yard doing yardwork. All of these things give him a sense of growing independence but with safe limitations. He cannot ride to another friend's house (in our neighborhood) because not only is it a further ride but it passes directly by the entrance to our neighborhood which is busy street and intersection. He cannot ride to the park on the other side of the neighborhood because I cannot supervise AND because we have had cougar sitings in that park. He certainly is not allowed to leave the neighborhood alone, primarily because of the traffic but also because I feel he is too young. It saddens me to some extent because I grew up in the middle of nowhere on a 400 acre farm and could basically go anywhere on the property without a care. My siblings and I would spend hours and hours away from the house, climbing trees and playing in the woods. We also rode our bikes 6 miles on way to get to town to swim or play with friends. However, our kids are growing up in a much different place and time.

This is what I plan on doing next year. I used CLE last year (for the 6 mos we homeschooled) and was very happy with the outcome but I think we may use MM on Fridays as I hope to make that our "fun" day and around here anything different from the daily grind is considered "fun." I'm going wait and see where DS seems to have holes/issues and order the downloadable workbook for that piece.

We actually took him for a vision exam by an optometrist who does developmental exams earlier this month. No problems whatsoever. This is what we do as well. "You can read!" "Oh, that's right! It says...."

/kw/ here for both quart and quarter. WI native currently living in WA.

My kids are both fans of Roald Dahl. http://www.roalddahl.com/ These are some favorites: Matilda The Enormous Crocodile The Twits The Magic Finger George's Marvelous Medicine DS8 also likes Jack London: Call of the Wild, White Fang and Rudyard Kipling: The Jungle Book, Just So Stories

DS8 reads at a 5th grade level but he will still ask what something says when it's out of the context of a book. For instance, he will ask what a sign or flyer says when we are out and about rather than reading it for himself. It's almost as if he doesn't realize he can reading ANYTHING, not just those things that are in book form. Do your kids do this is does he just have some weird hangup about reading in "real life?"

Sometimes just going to the grocery store together and without the kids is a blessing!

We have 3 kiddos, aged 4, 8, and 18 yrs. We put the 4&8yo in bed by 8:30-9:00 and then the 18yo will wander out of his room and want to talk ... until midnight if we let him... Doesn't string two words together in a coherant phrase all day but put the youngers in bed and it's non-stop. We actually started making him go to bed at 10:00. The primary reason is that DS18 will miss the school bus at 7:15 a.m. if he stays up late, but more selfishly it is also because otherwise DH and I get NO alone time if we don't send him back to his room. I go to bed by 11:00 so I can get up early for they gym and DH stays up for another hour or so to have a little time to himself. I hear that! We run a business from the house. We have 3 technicians including my husband who wander in and out all day long. We have a workspace in the garage (for all of the techs) and our personal office set up in our bedroom but for some reason DH insists on using his laptop in the living/dining/kitchen area (we have an open floor plan so the common area is really just one big room separated by furniture). It drives me nuts. He wants to be involved in what's going on but we need him to be involved in making money. :tongue_smilie:

My husband is retired from the Army so have insurance through his retirement. It makes me mad that the government promised free healthcare as a reward/benefit for serving until retirement and then changed their minds in the 90's and started charging us a premium. Then again, government promises are made to be broken.

Congratulations!

We used CLE Math and LA's as well as some science and social studies for DS8 this Spring. The Math was great. Great. Great. Great. He tested at a 4th grade level on his standardized testing this month. He loves Math. We are using it again next year and supplementing with some Cuisenaire books to develop better visual/spatial understanding, but I don't think it's really necessary. He just likes it. He tested into the mid-100s for LA's so that's where we started. Much of the penmanship and spelling words were religious in nature. He still struggles. He reads and comprehends at a 5th grade level but spells at a 1st grade level and his handwriting is supposedly 2nd grade level but I find it painful. I don't know about the 300 level, but at the 100 level there is a large focus on phonics but not much on handwriting or spelling. I did supplement with AAS, FLL and CLE's penmanship books as well as copywork but apparently it wasn't enough or the right fit, at least for him. Next year I am switching LA's to Rod and Staff 3 with Spelling Workout 3 and even more handwriting. We did a few of the 200 level Science LU's that fit with our studies of plants and animals and he really enjoyed those. It worked well as reading comprehension as he found them interesting. He did them independently. There wasn't an overwhelming amount of religious content other than the occasional mention of how God created animals that could survive in different habitats and gave them special adaptations to survive. There wasn't much "hands on" though. I have a few of the 300 level Science as well and there is a bit more hands on and journaling involved but I think he will like those too. We also did the 200 level Social Studies and again, it was a good introduction to family/community/world view. He worked on these independently and I simply checked his answers to the review questions. This had much more of a religious overtone than the rest of the subjects we tried. There was a lot of mention of Church, prayer, and God as far as how it relates to functioning in a family, community and world. I'm not sure how helpful that was, but it's what I know.

This is my life. He actually got mad at me last weekend because after 2 wks of cleaning around the camping gear he had dropped in the middle of the living room floor I moved it to one of his many spaces and he couldn't find it. Apparently I was supposed to leave it in the center of our living space until he needed it next month. Silly me for trying to live here too.

The manufacturer's recommended age is 8-12 but I've seen many people with younger kids say they have used and enjoyed them. I would imagine that at 5 you will have to help your child more where at 8-12 they should be able to read the instructions and put them together rather independently.

We usually eat a healthy, proportioned dinner at 5-5:30 and I allow a snack that includes some protein at 8:00 before bed. The kids normally eat breakfast around 8:00 a.m. and 12 hrs is a long enough time for a little body to go without fuel. It can cause problems with blood sugar levels according to DSS's nutritionist.

Our oldest should graduate this year and has no plans to go elsewhere so we decided we need to come up with a list of "adult" responsibilities for him (beyond the tiny chore list he had as a minor). :bigear:

Ah, OK. That makes sense. Thanks!