Once when I was driving home from college, I saw a little traveling carnival. They had a big ferris wheel, and on impulse, I stopped to ride it. The sun was setting, there was a gentle breeze, and I rode the ferris wheel all by myself. It was so beautiful and peaceful! I could have ridden it for hours. Definitely a favorite experience. The other thing was that I moved to Albuquerque for my junior year of college. I was bored with Ohio and wanted to live someplace really different for awhile. I knew one person in Albuquerque, so I decided to go there. I enrolled at UNM, bought a plane ticket, and had a fantastic year experiencing the culture of the southwest. :D

We also started Typing Instructor for Kids this year with a 7 and 11 year old. I wish I would have started my 11 year old on this a few years ago. It is working well for both my kids.

:iagree: Ditch the stairs.

I love this convention and am blessed to only live about two hours away. I'm really excited to go this year because the vendor hall will be even larger (they moved to the downtown convention center), and I will get to hear SWB speak for the third time. :D

Aren't both Kingfisher encyclopedias now OOP? It might be hard to find one for a reasonable price.

We are using the Sonlight 2 regular readers, and that is working well for my 2nd grader.

Are you sure it is too late to enroll for this year? When we did K-12 virtually, we enrolled in January. It might not be too late for this school year.

Thank you for this encouraging post. :001_smile:

My 6th grader was recently diagnosed ADD. Dh and I are struggling with the decision to medicate or not. It is so helpful to hear your perspectives! Thank you for sharing your experiences.

You might ask if they waive fees for teachers and homeschoolers. Some libraries do. Until recently I was able to have withdrawn books for free as a homeschooler, while the general public had to pay 25 cents per book.

:iagree: Plus, a really tall bookcase. You will definitely fill it over time. And it is nice to have high shelves for the things you want to keep out of reach of the kids.

Years ago my aunt walked out on my uncle and their two adopted children. My uncle and his children were devastated. They never got over it. The kids are now in their forties and both are divorced. Both have been in jail. In hind sight, they all should have been in counseling. It's a very sad situation.

How about The Muppet Show? Three seasons are out on DVD, and my boys just laugh their heads off at these. :lol: My local Target store has them, and so does Amazon.

After we pay the property taxes, the rest will go into savings to off-set dh's pay cut. :(

Way to go Santonio!!!:party:

I already use Sonlight. If something happened - health or financial crisis - I would choose K12.

When I lived in Albuquerque, the sun shone every single day. But now I'm in Ohio and the winters are nothing but gray, gray, gray. :D

I'm no expert, but it sounds like he has ADD. Has he ever been evaluated for that?

Me, me me!!! I love Amy Knapp's Family Organizer. I have used it for 4 years. I too had a really hard time finding it this year and wound up ordering online.

:iagree:

Why do you think he is allergic? Was he diagnosed with a milk allergy by a doctor? If so, at what age? You can outgrow food allergies. Maybe he is no longer allergic. My ds7 has a life-threatening milk allergy. If he accidentally ingests something with even a trace of milk, his mouth gets itchy and he breaks out in hives.

First of all, :grouphug:. Secondly, I haven't walked in your shoes, so I don't have any "been there, done that" advice. But I was wondering, when your older children are adults, if they would be able to provide respite care for your youngest, so that you could have breaks from caring for him? If they could each watch him for two weeks, then you would have four weeks to travel, or have date nights, or do whatever you wanted.

Thanks so much to everyone who took the time to reply. It is very comforting to know others have had this same problem with their children at this age. I don't know anyone IRL who has had this problem, so I thought it was just something with my child, and maybe he had been traumatized in some way, and I hadn't realized it. So thank you all for letting me know this can be typical for his age, and for giving me hope that he will outgrow it. I had visions of sitting next to him in his college classes. :D And thank you, Parrothead, for the cell phone advice. This is just what we plan to do. Plus, he will have dh's number so he can reach him on his Blackberry if he is really upset and I can't be reached. My appointment is this afternoon. I'll let you all know how it goes.

I would recommend the Writing With Ease workbooks for copy work and gentle grammar instruction/reinforcement. It is working well for my ds7. :001_smile: