Reading comprehension is not my strong suit- I just noticed she is 4, and I was thinking 7, your sons age. That is more typical for a first notice with Tourettes.

My oldest has Tourettes. It does always present with a facial tic first (ours was eye scrunching too, at age 2, I ran her to the eye doctor, LOL). But the other symptoms- the sudden onset, the headaches, would worry me. It could be small seizures or something in her head.(Don't even want to type it out its so scary!) I am a total hypochondriac where my kids are concerned, I feel like I should tell you that, but I would want a scan of her head to be sure. In the great list of potential childhood problems, Tourette's is No Big Deal. But I would want a closer look at her head before being written off with just vague tics or maybe Tourettes. It also seems late, to me, to have noticed tics like Tourettes- my DD had them from toddler age on, not all of a sudden. And she felt/feels fine. The headaches would bother me, personally, and I'd find another dr to get a more firm diagnosis and rule out anything really scary.

What a moron! At the risk of being quite uncharitible, I'd say the world needs a lot more of your children than the ones who turn like said blog posting coward. :grouphug:

My DD has 1 or 2 assigned books going every day- its pages to read, not time, though. 1 is a SL reader, 1 is the read aloud for that time. (I am doing Core 2 with my youngest, and read those books aloud, but older DD is reading the Core 7 read alouds to herself.) Its probably 30 minutes or so of reading? I don't really know. She takes her grammar,math facts, Wordly Wise, whatever LA assignment she has, etc to her room to work on after we go over it together, and does her assigned reading in that time. She also reads extensively on her own, so time spent reading is not a concern. As long as she reads the assigned pages/chapters in the 2 books, I'm happy, but normally there is a lot more reading her day than just that. If she *didn't* read on her own, I'd assign a timed reading amount I guess, at least an hour a day.

I'd say yes, too, probably. Luckily, we just don't seem to ever get sick. Well, DH does, LOL, in fact he's down with a cold and strep throat right now. But no one else. I like to think my cavalier attitude toward germ exposure has built our immune system. :tongue_smilie:But more likely, the girls get it from me- I'm never sick! I would think outside (not in the pukey house) would be fine.

I totally haven't noticed, especially since I"ve not been here all day, but hey- we all have those days! Especially me. Snarky is just pretty much me, LOL. :grouphug:

The "fake" ones (with the same names) are making me giggle. Who knew your kids were construction workers and fire dancers!! I guess the good thing about having kids with non-traditional first names and hyphenated, and unusual, last names means: I know that the results really are my kids. So far, everything that comes up in searches with their names really is *them*. Which is sort of cool, excepting the page from Russia, which I cannot figure out. I can't see how a 7 year old Level 4 rhythmic gymnast from a backwater in a non-competitive country (the US) would come to the attention of anyone interested in RG in Russia! The possibility that its a Russian page of meet results from a Russian gym owner/meet director (of a US meet DD was at) has occurred to me though, and I'll bet thats it. I'm not concerned, just curious.:001_huh:

I just can't think of what to say to the thought of I,Claudius and Leonardo Caprio. :confused:

I just did, I never had before. ElastiGirl has lots of "regular" stuff- our blog comes up, some results from gymnastics meets, a blurb on USAG, a church bulletin from years ago. And one weird one- its a Russian website with her name. Its all in Cyrillic, so I have no idea what it is really, except that it has to do with rhythmic gymnastics judging by the pictures. I will have to ask a mom at gymnastics to read it for me. Strange though! PiedPiper has what I expected, no wierdness- swim meet results, old church bulletin like her sister, our family blog, violin recitals. Go Google your kids! I want to know what other people find.

You have to report scores in VA, and must score over the 4th stanine, which I have no idea what that means, but have never had a problem, LOL.(I am pretty sure run on sentences are also covered- too bad I went to school in Washington, eh?) A Virginia-specific study would be interesting, purely on test scores; I wish someone would do one. We have a "portfolio" option though, so I imagine anyone whose kids may not do well on the standardized tests already chooses this option, thus making a study once again self-selecting. Rats. Are there any states with mandatory, everyone, standardized testing for hs'ers? SOmeone (unbiased, which would be...who? Not the HSLDA or NEA!) should do a study. I'd love to see the results of it, myself. All that said, even our less-than-the-most rigorous hs'ing is matching up very well against one of the best school districts in the country, as far as I can see. We watch a girl who is a year ahead of my oldest DD, and she brings her homework. She's at a gifted magnet school, in this high-performing county, and I am just not that impressed. Lots of busy-work, and she is not exposed to nearly the depth of our history, science or LA. Math looks ok- my oldest is accelerated, so its tough to gauge math. Our primary reason for hs'ing is not necessarily academics though! Its a lifestyle choice that works best for us. Its a nice way to grow up. Its the freedom to take vacations in September and do math in JUly if we want. Those things can't be measured in tests or college acceptance rates.

Well shoot, poor DD the contortionist is just totally hosed. I, on the other hand, have *always* known excercise/stretching/healthy eating was of the devil, and have dutifully avoided it as much as possible. :glare:

I would have enjoyed me some yummy cupcakes!

Congratulations! Thats a great name!!

You've gotten lots of good advice already, on finding a new gym. But I wanted to throw out rhythmic gymnastics as an alternative- being tall is a *plus*. In fact, my DD is too short, not that we're aiming for the elite levels or anything, LOL. She has the perfect artistic gymnast body, but she didn't (and we didn't) care for AG that much. Rhythmic gymnastics involves hand apparatus- most people know the ribbon, but there is also ball, hoop, clubs and rope. It involves a great deal of flexibility and eye-hand coordination, and dance skills. If you pm me your location, I can try to find you a gym with an RG program. If you are on the coasts, you will find it, but not so much in the mid section of the country. And yes, 6 is the "magic age" we found in gymnastics. Thats when they can start competing. For us, DD got moved to the level 4 team at almost-6, and told she had to quit her recreational rhythmic class. Well, we were mostly just marking time in AG, her real love was rhythmic, so she quit. She would still like to tumble, but it is hard to find advanced recreational gymnastics- the classes here stop at back handsprings, which she already has. Its be on the team, or low level classes, it seems. NO happy medium as far as commitment time or money-wise!

We read it aloud last year doing SL Core 3 & 4. My oldest got it all, my youngest just liked the story, lOL. The Puritans treatment of the Quakers was especially poignant for my DD's, which was what I liked best about the book- it offered a different viewpoint than just "Pilgrims/Puritans were early American settlers and good" you get from history. I thought it was a good gentle introduction in story format to the nuances of America's religious history. I'd do it as a read aloud, so you can discuss it as you go.

We go out. I think Thanksgiving food the traditional way is gross, and the rest of the family finds my dislike of green Bean Casserole tantamount to treason.:D If we go out, I can order a salad, and they get their casserole and turkey, so we all win. While living here in northern Virginia, we've gone to Old Ebbitt grill on T Day for 3 years in a row now. Before that, a New Orleans restaurant while in MS. I like it, its a fun tradition. We'll hit some museums, eat, and go see a movie later in the evening.

I just finished them- took the photos today. I saw a super cute family photo of the parents tied up with the kids behind, and spun off that idea.

Medical stuff is very stressful for a lot of people- don't feel bad! I cry at the dentist, every time. Its stress crying, totally. Hope you are feeling better now.:grouphug:

I agree, growth hormone is not something to be taken lightly. But, there are real bonafide reasons to use it. My cousin is a type 1 diabetic, and he stopped growing at around 8. He was given HGH and grew a more, but is still only around 5'3". Without it, he would be under 5' tall, as an adult. I also have a friend whose DD is on it. They have been to every Dr under the sun, and the kid just doesn't make enough of it on her own. X rays showed her limbs were too short, so it wasn't just overall height being affected. The window is small for this usually- puberty can start as early as 8 and then (for girls at least) growth can stop after puberty. These are people who made well researched, informed decisions. Its *not* just to "make your kid taller". I can't imagine any ethical Dr prescribing it for that, frankly. It is worth it to research it well, and then decide, not just dismiss it out of hand.

Trashy? I would put mini skirts or possibly Disney character clothing in that category (:D) but sneakers as trashy footwear...not so much. Fem dom boots on a kid? Trashy. But sneakers? Really? :confused: My oldest DD wanted a pair and got some when she was 8ish. She is totally uncoordinated. She wore them around the house and on the sidewalk like rollerskates, for about 2 days. They sat. Last year my youngest pulled them out and has been zooming around on them- she's the coordinated one. We use them like roller skates here, ie outside on the sidewalk or parking lot. They haven't ever worn them "out" as shoes. I''m not convinced they are terribly dangerous, just pretty darn expensive for what are essentially difficult to use roller skates.

If you live in Virginia, my DD would love to be her friend! The clothes shopping is horrid at this age whether a child is overweight or not, IMO. My DD is not overweight, but is quite curvy. She's an 8 in pants for length and waist, a 12 for her bum! Its impossible to find jeans-! She wears 10s which are skin tight on her rear and gap still at the waist, but thats the closest we can get. There are no "curvy kid" cuts in kids sizes, I guess. Shirts are a nightmare too- everything is cut so low in the armpits or chest, and it shows her bra. All summer she just wore t shirts. Winter has helped with that, at least. So please let her know clothes shopping just *stinks*, once a girl is out of little kid sizes, its allll downhill. I include adult clothes in there too! Poor kid, give her hug from me. :grouphug:

If he's little, it may take him a bit to figure it out. Kittens automatically will go in a box, even if they have never used one, but the mechanics may take a bit! We have a covered box, too, with a lower front and a high back. If he's super small though, he may not be able to get into a regular box- we used a copy paper box lid for the first 3 weeks when we found a tiny kitten.Yes, it was messy- litter out of the box, kitten not always hitting the box and overshooting, etc, but it only lasts a short while. They grow super fast!

I usually root for the animals, too. The people who go off and "live with the bears" or "bond with the wolves" or "have tigers in their family" and come to nasty ends get very little sympathy here. I mean, its a WILD animal. That's what they *do*. A little too much of whatever the word is for attributing human emotions to animals ( I forgot it!) going on, and it ends badly, usually for the poor animal, too.

Have fun!

Yes, I see this too! The first year we lived here, I joined a hs group. Made some friends, but got super busy and saw some not so "great" things in the group, and didn't join our second year here. I decided to join again this year, and got the first newsletter. It had an article about how me time was a "myth", and for the selfish, basically. So this blog linked is not the first time I've seen this- the idea is making the rounds of hs groups. (lucky us). That "time away is selfish", coupled with the trend to do college online, keep daughters home until marraige, and home church, is a leeetle too much for me. I'm also in the "it's unhealthy" camp.