We also have to stay indoors for most of our active time. My boys like the scooter boards. Some other things we've done: I set up obstacle courses for them and time them with a stopwatch. We play "volleyball" with balloons. I bought some stilt like things from Rainbow resource. They look like animal feet with claws. The kids put their feet on the stilt part and hang onto a cord that is attached and try to walk around. I also bought some little books from RR called "Beyond the Gym." We have fun doing the challenges in these once in a while. These books focus on motor skills, etc. We have a mini-trampoline that is good for getting their heart rates up. We dance. There are other things, but I'm drawing a blank right now.

Oooooo! That looks awesome! Thanks for sharing!

((((hugs)))) I'm so sorry to hear you are experiencing this. I don't have any great advice. But perhaps I can give you encouragement? If your son is like mine, public school is not the answer. Because of his giftedness, he would be miserable. Homeschooling is hard. Homeschooling a gifted child can feel nearly impossible at times. It is so difficult to find a balance between keeping them challenged without killing their natural curiousity. I was told by a psychologist who works with gifted children that I have to be flexible. I have to be willing to chuck a curriculum when it isn't working. I have to accept that he might burn through a curriculum in months or weeks, so I need to be ready to accelerate him often. How long have you been homeschooling? Have you maybe not figured out yet what makes him tick? Or if you have been homeschooling since the beginning, could it be time for a change? Sometimes I just back way off on all formal schooling. Well I continue with math, but ease off on the rest of our schedule to allow him some time to just be a kid and explore things that might interest him. It seems to recharge his batteries. If my ds is objecting a lot to school, I try very hard to evaluate if the objection is from laziness or boredom. More often than not, it's boredom. Hang in there! I feel your frustration, and I hope you can find a solution that works for the whole family!

but it happened to me! My doctor did the first sono at 20 weeks, and another doctor in the practice did one closer to delivery. Both said we were having a girl. Subconciously I had a hard time accepting that news. I didn't care which we had, but my brain just couldn't seem to buy into the pink and girlie stuff. I decorated the nursery in green, yellow and blue, and I had a horrible time agreeing on a girl's name. When our SON was born we were shocked! It took us over a day to name him because we were so surpised. But if this helps calm your nerves, I've never met anyone else this happened to, and none of my friends have met anyone with this experience either. Obviously it happens, but it must not happen all that often these days!

We're full-timers! I wouldn't trade it for the world...in spite of the extra "stress" it brings to a mother's life!

Hi! Do you have Microsoft Word? I've never checked it for accuracy, but there is a reading level "report" you can get after typing something in a word document and doing a spell check. From the Help menu here are the directions: Display readability statistics On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Spelling & Grammar tab. Select the Check grammar with spelling check box. Select the Show readability statistics check box, and then click OK. Click Spelling and Grammar on the Standard toolbar. When Word finishes checking spelling and grammar, it displays information about the reading level of the document.

We just finished reading Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher. It had a slow start, but we ended up really enjoying it. Since I'm scrambling to find a new read-a-loud, I'm so grateful for this thread!

Hi! I'm Michelle. I just discovered these forums this week, so I'm brand-spankin' new here! I'm homeschooling my ds7. We are using a combo of Sonlight and elements from WTM. I also have a ds4 who likes to tag along during school time. I've been married to dh for 14 years, and we are living in Illinois. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you on these forums!

I cover my hardbacks with the clear dust jacket protectors and then get the stick-on protecting film for my paperback school books. I've ordered all of my supplies from this place: http://www.vernonlibrarysupplies.com/cgi-bin/vernlib.cgi