FWIW, it is clear from your posts that you are a great, committed homeschool mom, whose kids are so lucky to have her! Marriage is nothing compared to the navigating you are doing with your many kids of different ages. If I may offer one thing: velcro is your friend. (up high, on the wall, and on markers)

Now that I am going through Singapore math with yet another kid, I am again reminded of how much I love the focus on understanding the math picture enough to manipulate numbers. Its great that your kid knows so many math facts! That makes everything easier moving forward. This is a good time to work on concepts, distributive and commutative laws, move the numbers around a lot. I never used CLE, so I can't speak to how it teaches concepts.

Hi Skimomma- Hummingbird in NM is not close, but is in the more affordable range. If your kid has a suzuki instructor then look at the Institutes. https://suzukiassociation.org/events/institutes/We offer housing (free) for people doing the specialty camps near us, which saves about $400, but the camps are already around that much or more for a week and in WA state. It is worth asking if locals volunteer to house participants and/or their families wherever you look. This is not generally advertised. Also search nearby Universities and music schools for chamber music camps. I don't know what is in your area (other than Interlochen).

I hear you. I never learned to cook. In fact, my mom was such an awful cook that we ate out at least 3x/week, though it seems like it was almost every night. I have two cooking bibles; The New York Times cookbook and the Joy of Cooking cookbook. I use online recipes frequently. There are videos and tips all over the place. Your dd is old enough that you can give her quality cookbooks, let her pick some recipes, get the ingredients for her and let her loose, but it sounds like thats not something she'd like. What about basing your meal on learning a new technique? The two of you could decide to learn how to do something specific, pick the food to try it on, and come away feeling a concrete sense of accomplishment. Locally the PCC has cooking classes, the community colleges and city have cooking classes. Maybe the two of you could find some in your area and take classes together? I put my kids into YMCA and school cooking classes in the past. [At this point I do have some basics down btw. ;)]

Until recently, nothing. I cut everyone's hair, including dh. I tried salons over the years, but was never satisfied with how the kids were done. Last month I found a stylist who does a great job! Two of the boys are picky about looks and want specific styles. New budget will be ~$270/year, with extra for more frequent visits for the kid who is growing his hair long (it's at that awkward stage now).

Suzuki method does not require sight reading. Kids start young. It's full of social opportunities as well. You're lucky she wants to play violin!

On the bright side, my two tween previously mostly homeschool boys are in public middle school and having a great time. My oldest is dyslexic, but does not need services because even though he still sometimes leaves out letters (in his own name even!) or repeats words halfway through and will never get 100% on a math test where he knows the material inside-out. He has a host of compensations he developed as a homeschooler. Our district does not recognize dyslexia as a learning disability. FWIW this ds has writing that is embarrassing. 6 yo scribble sounds about right. I'm so grateful that his brother with the beautiful, elegant cursive is at the same school. The teachers do not seem to care about his handwriting quality at all. I get the impression they see plenty of scribble. The teachers he has have all focused on content. So that is good. On the downside, you may have to be assertive, aggressive and persistent in getting an IEP and then in getting it followed. Bring in proof of diagnosis and people listen. We are pulling our LD kid due to bullying problems, and haven't even had the team meeting to address the learning issues yet, but in truth the school as we experienced it was a placeholder. If it is for your sake then its absolutely worth trying. One thing- ps has been far more expensive and time consuming than I imagined. Look into the schedules if you have more than one kid going to school. You might find you spend all of your time driving.

Yes. I thought it might be a sensory issue, but the more I watch groups of kids the more I see that especially picking up is pretty normal friend play. Mine is also a leaner.

Actually using the brain, as opposed to passive work, burns a lot of calories. I used to get super hungry after doing tasks requiring intense brainwork. If the basics of food, sleep, stress etc, have been covered then it could just be a sign of brain workout. That's a good thing. I would still be watching closely for any medical issues though. I have one child who gets exhausted easily a few days before he gets sick.

Hearing what others have gone through has given me strength and conviction in this process to insist that this is wrong. I am relieved that I didn't go in more aggressively though. I know more of the background on the other child now. It is so tragic and heart wrenching. I obviously cannot share the information, but I completely see why he is being protected. He needs the school and the adults more than we do. Much more. I don't see the situation changing for ds unless I get deeply involved at school and help the other child at the same time. A couple of years ago I would have done that. I don't have it in me at this time. Ds wouldn't understand either. I don't know, maybe he would. Throughout all of this the teacher and principal have not said much. I still don't have much of a rapport with either or sense of either of their roles. With what I know now I'm guessing they do work daily with the family. I imagine they're both in a tough spot. The bully is probably still going to be hurting other kids, but only because he needs so, so much. Monday will be our first day homeschooling again! Yesterday - the day after the weird cupcakes for the birthday that wasn't his birthday- the other child was absent. Ds was so relaxed and happy that the contrast to his demeanor of the rest of the days was stark. With time and support the other boy may get the help he needs and the problems could go away. Ds may return to school next semester if that happens. For now he said he is happy to homeschool because "I get to learn something and be safe." In truth, the school isn't really set up for 2e kids. He's completely bored at school, not learning much that is new, but also not able to stay on task to finish work or score above proficient on his homework. Dh is on board and supportive. He can be old skool at times, but despite his initial objections, talking revealed that his true concerns were for my health and welfare. Ds is high energy all the time! I will have to work hard to make sure he has activities and stimulation. After a decade on WTM forums, I thought this was my going away year. But I'm back. :001_cool: (not that anyone would notice a 300something post count old timer-mostly lurker gone) I have no idea what to use or how I will teach this guy. I decided to be an outspoken advocate for having leaving school as an option. I can't believe how many people, psychologists included, are trapped in a mindset of sticking it out. Our psychologist worked with ds on problem solving, but she kept trying to lead to a solution of avoidance. She finally asked ds point blank if he would rather just give the bully his way and be safe, which was her solution to the problem, or get hit. Ds said quietly that he'd rather get hit. The psychologist was taken aback, but I stepped in and backed up ds. If his personal integrity is why he was hit then I'd rather he keeps his integrity than stay at school. She even tried to get us to promise to stay at school for a month and have ds find other places to play, avoiding the kid (not exactly easy due to the particular group dynamics). I agreed to 2 weeks under pressure. Maybe we'll drop the psychologist and have the money to spend on school materials instead. :001_tt2:

Quark, Your support means a lot to me. You know some of the road we have been down.

I'm not sure if it's awesome, but there's typing.com

The good news of the day is both a mom brag and some homeschool righteousness. Shortly after dh and I agreed that we will pull ds to homeschool in a week if the meeting doesn't produce results, my middle schoolers came home with some school scores. One ds rocked his first AP Calculus test and the other showed dh that he only scored 12.9+ (out of 13) on his star reading test. I shrugged and dh told me I did a pretty good job homeschooling. The other boys are doing great and the school district, teachers, everyone has been flexible and fantastic where they are concerned. It gives me some hope that if we need to go to a higher level in the district, we will be listened to. I do want to assume good will on the part of the principal and teacher. Ds getting hit again is just utterly, absolutely unacceptable.

I keep coming back to your post, Katie. It is bothering me so much that your boy went through what he did and the school took things to such extremes in their defense of their own mistakes. How on earth could they call CPS on YOU after losing your child without notifying you? How could they threaten your child for a single incident after a year of your own being a victim? That is so disturbing. I'm really glad he's doing well now.

Thanks for responding, but we have spent months working on measured responses with ds. This situation is unfortunate and has really set us back, as well as lost us some credibility. In the past ds would have struck back without hesitation despite the enormous size difference of the kids. We were so proud of him for the way he handled things and did not look at this as a bullying situation until it became painfully obvious and ds was truly hurt.