I'm not trying to start anything, however Wahls fails to mention that she also had a chemo treatment done (as well as a change in diet). Just wanting to be sure all have all the info. My recommendations: find an *MS specialist* neuro to see in your area. In general, regular neuros just don't seem to be well-informed on MS. Treatments update rapidly and having someone who is on the up-and-up on research and medication developments, hospital and steroid treatments, etc. is so helpful. Ask his doctor about getting him on (a whole lot of) Vitamin D. Gently, please be patient with him as he processes this diagnosis. It is not an easy pill to swallow. In the early days, it was very challenging for me to have everyone expect me to be 100% emotionally OK just weeks after leaving the hospital, while still re-learning how to walk and eventually drive again. He may take his anger at the situation out on you. He may feel as though he's lost some control over his life and his health, at least right now. I could go on, but yea...these are the most important things to keep in mind, I think.

Yes, unless the restaurant was really unsafe but I imagine I wouldn't be eating there anyway. I think I started letting them sit on their own and/or wander in a store around 7 or 8 yrs for oldest..youngest must have been 5 or 6?

7th grade is overwhelming me a bit. :/ LA: R&S7 Grammar, Mosdos Press, Wordly Wise old version, WWS2 Math: Jacob's Algebra Science: ?? Not sure yet. Maybe RSO Bio 2. She wanted Botany too so maybe MP Trees or Ellen J. McHenry's Botany w/ Quark Chronicles. Maybe the Jr. Naturalist books at our local nature center. Maybe some Environ. Science... History: HO3; then American History for the rest of the year Also, some Japanese, typing practice, writing across curriculum, some art/music whenever she wants it, a ton of volunteering and Girl Scouts.

We're using the Mensa for Excellence in Reading 7th-8th grade list for some more classic ideas with Mighty Girl recommendations to round it out with some more modern picks.

My daughter's celiac blood-work took 3 weeks to get results back. I was told 3-4 weeks was pretty typical for it. I'm sorry. :( I know how difficult it is to continue to eat the wheat while waiting but it was so worth it when we knew what was going on. We didn't do the endoscopy b/c the blood-work was pretty definitive in dd's case. Yes, the endoscopy can have false negatives. They're taking pieces from your small intestine but they may grab a piece to test that doesn't have damage. Some of the blood-work can detect substances that would be present if there was small intestine damage.

My oldest is working on gaining ~20 lbs after a medical issue. Add Boost Plus shakes...Pediasure is only 120 calories whereas Boost Plus is 360 calories per bottle. Walgreens has a deal now (near me) of Buy 1, Get 1 50% off with their customer loyalty card for the big boxed 12 packs so check there first. My Dd has had 2/day for about a month and a half and has gained almost 12 lbs. (yes, she still has ~20 to go...) Also, pecans, walnuts, and cashews are all very high calorie for a small amount of food. I've found combining higher fats and carbs in a meal has helped significantly. I give her lots of rice, dairy products and avocado. She's also free to have a manageable amount of sweets/ice cream after dinner but she hasn't taken us up on this too much. I also have added in soda and juice occasionally.

Dd1 is 6th this year. We've had a crazy-busy year (again. *sigh*) but overall what's worked: Mosdos Press Lit, K12 HO, Ellen J. McHenry, WWS 1, R&S Grammar 7 Haven't been all that thrilled with our other things. I think I need to go back to things that worked that I took a break from for whatever reason, like old version of Wordly Wise and I'm thinking a better Japanese curriculum is in order. Or maybe it was a consistency issue this year. I was also happy enough with Dolciani but Dd found it a bit dry. Holt Science is also starting to bore. This might also be me ready for something new or the pre-Feb doldrums.

With hand- foot- mouth, we found the mouth occurred first...but it was like the worst canker sores you've ever seen and very painful to eat. They were white and nickel sized. The blisters showed a few days later on the hands and feet.

It's a standard twin size mattress, I believe. If you look on the IKEA website, it gives the dimensions in cms (mine keeps pulling up in Japanese..sigh). I believe there are 3(??) different types of mattresses for their bed frames but they just differ in thickness. We've gotten the cheapest ones and my kids are fine with it but they are used to Japanese futon mattresses on the floor so ymmv. Also, I was looking in my IKEA catalogue and they have a SVARTA series with a bunk bed frame that allows for another pull out bed frame under the lower bed so you get three beds in a bunk footprint. Something to consider.

IKEA and Konmari are the only things that have helped my friends with large families. They (and we although our family is small) really love the IKEA loft/bunk beds and the Hemnes trundled daybed with huge deep drawers. We use the drawers for toy/sheets storage. My two kids each get half of a medium size dresser..one kid doesn't need their own huge dresser IMO. We can fit all their undergarments (socks, tights, knee highs, leotards, undies, camis), PJs, tops and pants/skirts/shorts/dresses in half a dresser with room to spare. I don't put away their seasonal stuff either so this is a year round situation. I'd also hang a ton of stuff and use wall space wherever possible. Getting tips and ideas from the tiny/small house movement has helped as well.

Haven't read all replies but... This. My oldest and I have had a lot of adults all up in our business about her significant growth issues in the past year. She's since been diagnosed and we're working on resolving/treating but seeing a noticeable difference in her physically is going to take a solid 6-9 months at least. I'm sure we have a ton of people in our circle who think we're doing 'nothing' b/c the effects of our intervention aren't immediately apparent yet. The family is probably very stressed and concerned while ironing out this issue with their child. You don't know what you don't know. Please leave it well enough alone. You are way overstepping to even consider such a move, imho.

My oldest had a bone age scan done to determine potential growth issues. The endocrinologist mentioned that kids who have growth hormone deficiencies will often look like "little cherubs." Basically, their arms are shorter, their faces and bodies are a bit pudgy, and they'll be shorter. She said this was due to their bodies gaining weight normally but not growing taller. My daughter doesn't fit that description in any way (bean pole comes to mind for her) so while the endo ordered bloodwork for growth hormone issues if we wanted to do them, we chose not to go there until we exhausted other things. That said, she also doesn't have the same symptoms that your daughter has so the endo you're seeing might look elsewhere for explanations. We're trying to figure out why Dd isn't growing much in height but also not gaining weight.

Please reconsider the scary element. My youngest got whacked in the head with a metal gate to someone's outdoor patio a couple years ago when a dude in a fake bloody mask (couldn't see well in it) flung it open without warning to scare the kids. She sobbed for hours and was extremely traumatized. Her head had a nice lump on it for weeks too. *sigh* She insisted on going home and is still apprehensive about ToT.

My Dd started it in 5th b/c I just couldn't find anything else to keep her busy for a year and meet our writing goals. I took it slowly and it was an adjustment for a couple weeks but she's done well with it overall. I've assigned some writing in our science and history on whatever we've been working on in WWS and that's been helpful. As long as you're willing to go slowly at first and scaffold as needed, you should be fine IMO.

Holt Science and Tech Physical with some Ellen J. McHenry Chem is planned for this year. I'm not in love with Holt but it does get done. She also volunteers teaching a class to preschoolers 2x a month at our local Nature Center and takes their homeschool bio science class 2x a week. This sounds like a lot but I'm feeling like I need to add on a lot more to this to feed her science love. I'm not very confident teaching science so I might outsource it next year.