I do both. Obviously its easier to have it done in the salon, but now that my grey roots come thru quickly, I also color at home. I like Natural Instincts since there is no ammonia so the at home coloring actually feels much better than in the salon. Also, to the person that posted that you can always tell if someone colors from a box, I have to disagree. My family (or friends) can never tell the difference. If it wasn't such a hassle, I would color all the time at home.

I have had similar problems with one of my children. I won't go into all of her issues, but one of them was that change was always difficult and knowing her schedule was important. Now, since April is a long way off, perhaps you can do an overnight at a grandparents house (or close relative) or an "almost sleepover". With an "almost sleepover" you can have her get her in her pajamas and pick her up around 11 or 12 at night so that she doesn't actually sleep over the whole night. This might prepare her for the actual overnight visit. Also, when my daughter had a lot of stress going on, it just made every situation worse. Example, maybe there was something that she normally wasn't nervous over. But, if it was a stressful week with her being nervous over everything, suddenly she would become nervous over something insignificant. To remedy this, you might make sure that the week before the April getaway is completely stress free for her so she can handle it better.

I would never ask my child to contribute to the household income; however, my father had to at a very young age. He had to distribute flyers and also had a paper route; all this money went to the family. Perhaps the woman knows that they are in financial need and this is her way of helping the family out. I would never judge what another family deemed necessary for their well being. If the family was struggling to put food on the table, then maybe they could use a (portion) of that money for the family expense.

My daughter also has scoliosis. She started puberty a bit late so didn't get her growth spurt (she's still small) until maybe 13. Her pediatrician noticed it right away and sent her to an ortho. At that time her curve was around 22 degrees. Since he is a strong believer in physical therapy, he ordered it right away. I found a good therapist and she went in twice a week for 2 months. I believe that it did help her back pain and the physical therapist thought that her curve was improving. However, after returning to the ortho 4 months later we learned it had progressed to the point where she would need bracing. Now my daughter thinks the pt was a complete waste of time since the curve progressed. She has her brace but it is no walk in the park. Also, I just enrolled her in public school (high school). So far she is only wearing it 4-5 hrs a day when she's supposed to wear it 23! I understand the ramifications of not wearing the brace but its a delicate balance with my daughter who used to have school anxiety. I promised her she wouldn't have to wear it at school right now but I'm trying to work up to her wearing it all night. Also, with homework, etc. I'm having a hard time fitting in her exercises. I still believe in physical therapy, or any exercise and have recently purchased a book on the Schroth Method. Good luck!

When I decided to homeschool my daughter last year, the only homeschool parents I knew were from this forum. Thus, I assumed that everyone had pretty high standards for their kids. My daughter took just one class through a co op and was shocked at the total lack of initiative with her classmates. Most never did their homework - even though it was minimal. Also, the teacher would have to go over topics three or four times and then the kids would still forget what they just learned. She discovered that one girl studied for maybe an hour or two a day (she was probably in 6th or 7th grade). This same girl wondered why my daughter wasn't allowed to text all day.:glare:

I think the OP just wanted to vent and there's nothing wrong with that. It doesn't mean that she has unreasonable expectations. All of us need to vent at one time or another. My daughter has (minor) food intolerances and that alone can be tiresome, but to have to deal with severe food allergies, probably makes one feel lonely - as another person already mentioned. MTV aired a show recently where they followed two teenagers with severe allergies and the viewer got to see what these kids have to deal with on a daily basis. The boy only had a handful of foods he could eat so had to supplement his diet with a specific formula. Every week or so he would wait to see if he could introduce a new food in his diet.

I think that you have received some excellent advice already but I'll share my story. When I was about 12 years old I started to lose some hair at the top of my scalp. It happened to be a very stressful school year with a teacher that was miserable in class. I don't remember my mom making much of a fuss about it (to me) but the underlying cause was stress. I remember seeing a dermatologist and having to shampoo with awful smelling tar like shampoo. (i'm not sure how that would help stress but the hair grew back. I don't recall how long it took to grow back fully but I've always had thick hair.

He is doing better now. Thanks. It was just a really bad situation. My mom ended up going to his house to clean up since there was blood everywhere. But, what is worse is that the doc wasn't even going to see him in the hospital! I think he just wanted him to come to his office. He suggested a procedure that could be done by an interventional radiologist but this is all without seeing my bro. The other doc refused to do it unless an ENT evaluated him first. Finally, that evening, the surgeon came in and at my brother's request performed a less invasive surgery for the broken blood vessel. So, I guess he is sort of back to square one again.

My brother's ENT had him take it out himself. Not sure if it was on Tues or Wed. Well, last night he started bleeding profusely and had to be rushed to the hospital. I thought things would go smoother for him......It's good that your doc did it for you!

I also used Chalkdust Algebra 1 with my daughter this year. I must admit that I changed my way of doing things as we went along. Generally we would watch the video together since my daughter often found him too long winded and would sometime zone out. I, on the other hand, loved his lectures and think that he would be a great teacher for (older) kids. It would be difficult to assign all the problems since there are so many to choose from so usually I would assign the evens, odds or every 4th problem as the book suggests. If the lesson was particularly difficult, she would take maybe two days (or even three) to complete all the problems. Obviously, if she needed a little extra practice then we would spend more time on the lesson. At first I thought that it would take too long to complete the book by spending too many days on a lesson but that really didn't happen. I was also confident that my daughter learned so much more than her friends did at the school she used to go to since the book they used didn't go into as much depth as this textbook. Also, since the lessons are long, she generally spent (at the minimum) 1 1/2 hrs a day on algebra.

My daughter had her ears pierced a couple of years ago. In retrospect, there are many things I would do differently. First, I didn't go to Claire's because I had heard some stories of things that had happened (maybe few and far between) so I opted for the pediatrician's office. I figured if there was a problem at least we were in the right place. I guess the positioning could have been better (maybe he doesn't do enough). However, my daughter still had several infections which prompted the dr. to think she would only be able to wear expensive earrings in the future. I had followed all the procedures as far as cleaning them but I think the biggest mistake was not using a quality earring for the initial one. Now that her ears are completely healed, she can wear whatever she wants. I also agree with taking her to a professional piercer. My daughter thought I was joking when I said I wish I had taken her to one. She wants to now have doubles but if I allow it, it will have to be done at a professional shop.

I agree with Mejane to have her checked by her pediatrician. Last year when my daughter was 13 she was constantly complaining of back pain. The doc thought, at that time, she just had strained her back (heavy back pack since she wasn't homeschooled last year). I even bought her a new mattress. She went thru a growth spurt and then this year scoliosis was diagnosed. They say that most kids don't have back pain when curve is not too bad but I sometimes wonder now if the back pain was due to changes going on in spine.

It sounds like many of your children are similar to mine. It's odd because she can be perfectly fine in most social settings but something organized like school can set her off. When she was young, anything that deviated from her normal routine in the morning would set her in a spin. I have read countless books - but I will look into the one mentioned. Also, she saw different therapists and they all said they practiced CBT but, like I mentioned, it didn't help immensely and was quite expensive. Just like one of the posters mentioned, she WANts to go to school but in 7th grade as soon as she entered the parking lot her heart would start racing and take control. I'm not opposed to meds but I don't want her to be overly tired, or other side effects to occur.

Thanks for all the comments. I think I will first try to supplement with vitamins, etc. and then explore the meds if need be. Every time i think she is fine, something comes up to remind me that she isn't.

My daughter has suffered from anxiety - but mostly school related anxiety. Outside of school she is usually just a normal teen, very social with her friends. However, when the stress was bad at school, sometimes the anxiety would carry home with her. She had seen therapists before but honestly, it didn't help. She would chat with them, and then be nervous at school the next day. Most therapists just pushed meds. Finally, due to panic attacks in 7th grade, i homeschooled this year. Things have been great and she is usually stress free and no anxiety. However, under certain situations the anxiety returns. For example, she just made her Confirmation a few weeks ago. She was fine going to the classes, etc. but on the day of the Mass she started pacing in her room and said she was too scared to go. She still paced at the back of Church but then got thru it ok. Then, just today, I had to take her to a physical therapy appt. and at the office she started getting upset and said her stomach hurt and that she wanted to leave. I explained that there were no shots involved and she was just going to stretch but the fear of the unknown took control. Finally, she calmed down during the appt. and I know she will be fine the next time she goes since she knows what to expect. The reason I'm asking about meds is that next year is high school and I really wanted her to try and go. I know she really WANTS to go but isn't sure if she will be overwhelmed. I'm scared to give her meds because I don't want her on them long term and i don't know about side effects. Obviously if she couldn't handle it I would find a way to teach her at home, but I'd rather it not be because of anxiety. So, has anyone used meds successfully or found something else that worked for their anxious child?

That was the first thing I noticed! As you said, it might have been the first time he played the game but geez it certainly looked bad! What if he's left to play it all day long? There are so many variables that we as viewers are not privy to so it is difficult to make a judgment. I just thought it extremely odd that she was going to the media. Did she want sympathy? I understand that they felt there was no other way to control him at that moment. If its a medical issue then it appears that she needs outside help. But if its a case of a child ruling the roost, then she needs some parenting classes.

Thanks for sharing the Shakespeare link!

I'm sure your daughter will be fine. I can't speak for Chalkdust pre algebra, but my daughter is using chalkdust algebra 1 right now. I think that if your daughter re takes pre algebra in PS, what she learned with CD will still help her. Even if she fully doesn't understand everything now, at least it will seem familiar to her and maybe even easy if she re takes it in school.

It's true that a lot depends on the size of the parents... my 14 year old just wants to make it to 5'0. She just went thru a bit of a growth spurt and is now 4'10" and 82 lbs. The doc said my kids might just have a constitutional growth delay. Or, they'll just be smaller than the norm..

My son's Trig was covered at the beginning of PreCalc.

First, you're not alone and I think you're doing a great job! In retrospect, I wish I would have made my youngest do more for herself when she was your child's age. It was much easier, at times, to just give in and tie her shoelaces for her or do other things that she could/should have done herself. My daughter is a sensitive child and now I realize that this could have played in to her neediness. Last year, in 7th grade, she was extremely negative, and i did all I could to try and change it around. Finally, I took her out of school to homeschool her and the negativeness disappeared. I don't believe she's said one negative thing about herself since I brought her home. Since your child is already home, maybe if he has a tight schedule, perhaps try lightening it up a bit. Or, instead of always making him do everything himself, sometimes do for him to relieve the stress. Good luck. Its hard as parents to listen to a child's negative thoughts.

My daughter is using Chalkdust Algebra I this year. To be honest, she often finds the lectures boring, however, I really enjoy them! I used to have her watch them alone but realized she was either not fully paying attention, or just needed me to explain the concept in easier terms. So when I'm watching it with her, if there is an explanation that she really needs to listen to, I'll pause the tape and reiterate it to her.

We have gone through the same thing! My daughter recently got braces and a bracket popped on the bottom which we went in immediately to have fixed. Then after she had the top braces put on, she came home and then said she thought a bracket was broken. I called right away but since she wasn't feeling well waited until the next day to go in. When the tech. started to take the wire off, several others just fell off with the original one. The doc asked if we wanted to wait another week but I said no, as I didn't think my daughter wanted to come back another day. He said that there could have been some contamination - perhaps as others suggested, too much saliva? Personally, I think the first tech didn't use the heated wand long enough (sorry don't know the medical term) to let the glue adhere to the tooth. No one ever accused my daughter of doing anything wrong. (She barely ate anything that day and since was running a fever laid around all day). This is a well respected ortho that treats many kids in the area. However, when my daughter saw a friend she used to go to school with, she discovered that that girl also had several broken brackets. I have been keeping track of our visits in case it become problematic.

The most time is usually spent on algebra - 1.5 hours. She spends at least 5 hours a day on schoolwork but this doesn't include her reading for Lit. Even though it is getting toward the end of the year I think I'm going to change up our scheduling since it always seems like certain subjects are rushed. We may end up keeping math every day but rotating the other subjects so that she spends more time on them but only three times a week.

I really wouldn't worry about science. My son went to a private elementary school but I have to say that what he learned in science there really didn't prepare him for high school science. The ability to read well, think, and process information is what your child will need to be successful in hs science. My son did well in advanced bio, chem, etc. even though he just learned the basics in grade school.