Hunter, that's a great idea. I suspect that even this line up that I have right now may be too much on some days, so a back up plan is a good idea. I think audiobooks will be the way to go. I have some old biographies that I could read aloud, but when DS is sick he prefers audiobooks. I will check audible, and put some things on my wish list.

Has anyone tried this? It is being recommended by DS's dev. optometrist, as part of his vision therapy. Just curious about the results, what it's comprised of, how it works. Did your kids enjoy it? And if no one's tried it, then we'll volunteer to be the guinea pigs. :)

In the midst of planning for 4th grade, we found out that DS has vision issues that will require weekly therapy and daily "homework." Apparently the therapy and homework can leave him feeling a bit tired, irritable or headachy, though it's possible he'll have no problems. We'll see. But for now, I'm planning for some difficulties, and hoping to be pleasantly surprised. In light of that, I'm changing our plans for 4th grade to simplify. Can you look at this and tell me if I've simplified too much? Have I cut out something essential? Or .. if I can simplify more, if needed? Even alternate suggestions would be welcome. Thanks! The modified plan is: BW Arrow for copywork and discussion BW style poetry and tea, etc (he enjoys this, wouldn't want to drop it) Continue cursive practice MCT - continuing Island level. Had planned on all components, but could drop some as needed. Spelling - AAS Reading - various books, and software recommended by eye doc Math - TT4 and Life of Fred Science - RSO SOTW Atelier Art I'm looking at science, history, and art as gravy, if we get the other stuff done. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks for your thoughts on this, Ruth.

Much of the above, plus the ever necessary: Coffee :D

Yesterday I hit a brick wall and took a break. Today I am back at it, but struggling. Have cleaned out my desk (yay!), then moved on to DS's outgrown curriculum. I keep getting stuck on what to save for DD, who will be ready for school stuff soon. I don't want to save too much, but it sure is hard to toss the stuff that didn't work for DS, not knowing if it might work for DD. My compromise is that if *I* didn't like it, it's going bye bye. The homeschoolers on our local freecycle are going to love us! I think I will go look at some pictures of homeschool organization to inspire me!

:lol: So true!

Yes. I completely agree.

Sixpence, thanks, that does help. If the homework is more difficult to endure we can live with that. Bribery will be helpful. I'm hoping the in office sessions will stay somewhat fun to keep him going strong. It's helpful to hear that this may make him tired or irritable. It's good to have some warning. And if it doesn't it will be a pleasant surprise.

Those are awesome sets! What a great gift! Yes, the minifigs get lots of play here. Actually, they are the most prized. If I were you, and had time, I'd check ebay for some appropriate minifigs. If that doesn't work, pick up some current minifigs and call it good. If you have a local Brick Fair at any point... It's like a Lego Festival... Definitely go. You may find replacements for the ones you've lost. Here's one: http://www.brickfair.com/ But there are other dates and locations. :)

It must be hard. The US is not terribly reliable with regard to allergy warnings, for that matter. It is a company by company decision. They, at least, must reinforce in bold any top 8 ingredients, but there is no requirement to label for shared equipment or facilities. It's a company choice, and I am so grateful for the ones that choose to label. They save us a lot of calling and emailing. The ones that label for sesame too really win my heart. :) For now, can you email or call the companies that manufacture the foods you use? As for eating out, my allergist says we are putting all of our trust in the cooks and servers. All of it. It is our child's life at stake. We are very cautious, and when in doubt - we leave. Or we bring DS's food. It's a pain, but... It's life. Allergies can get worse over time. And previous reactions don't predict future reactions, in fact the reactions often get worse. If you want to pm me, I can send you a link to my favorite food allergy board - a bit like WTM for food allergy mamas.

:lol: Chocolate doesn't sound too bad, though I don't particularly want the weight gain part! Oh, and can I just mention that the price tag of all this made me reach for the chocolate, right after this :svengo: . Thanks, it helps tremendously to hear from someone who's been there. I'm glad to know that we're not terribly late in getting this sorted out. I actually feel lucky in that we didn't bounce from doc to doc looking for answers, like some do. Thanks to this board, and our local homeschooling group - we got our psych eval, then waited, then went the developmental optometrist route. It helped that DS could articulate that the words were "running" on the page, too. Still, he's 9, and I wish we'd caught it earlier. But you made my, "I'm a bad mommy for not catching this sooner!" reflex a bit better. Thank you. Headachy? Oh no. Did your DD feel headachy during her therapy session or only afterward? I am worried about DS rebelling if it's too hard. The office staff seems very good with kids though, so maybe I should stop that worry in its tracks and just trust that they know what they are doing. I'll plan for bribery, too. :) Thanks for mentioning flexibility this year, too. It's July, and of course I'm in the midst of planning for the upcoming year, so knowing that we may need flexibility is good. I will plan that in. And hope for the best! It hadn't occurred to me that this might impact our day to day re: schoolwork. But it should have. It is such a relief to hear from someone who's done this. Thanks again!

So glad you got some answers and some hope! Yes, treating the allergies is key here, too. We use Nasonex (nasal spray) as Singulair was a disaster. DS also uses Advair and QVar daily. We've had the best spring/summer ever on this combo!

Hi, DS (8) has just been diagnosed with bipolar fusion disorder, diplopia, and an eye movement disorder. He's going to be starting VT in Aug. Therapy has been recommended weekly, for a year. We have a meeting to discuss this with the doc in Aug, but in the meantime - what can we expect, generally? When might we see improvements? (I know everyone is different, but some hope would be nice.) He's been prescribed a pair of glasses to wear only indoors, for several hours a day, and for school. Also, at what age does one generally catch these types of disorders? Are we late catching this? DS has been tested by a psych, just after 1st grade, and psych testing came back that he is PG (they did the WISC-IV, and the Woodcock Johnson, among others). But I was concerned about his reading, obviously, and the reading issues have only become more apparent with age. I hate thinking that we didn't catch this earlier. I suspected an issue, but friends and family just kept reassuring me that he's a late bloomer wrt reading, and that it would all click. Are we late catching this? Thanks for sharing any experience, advice, thoughts.

We used the CDs almost exclusively for Ancients. But for SOTW2 & 3, I tend to read aloud more. We use the CDs, but DS prefers me to read. The content is about the same, though there may be the occasional symbol or picture that isn't going to be in the CD. There are maps at the beginning of chapters, but you could use the ones in the AG, if you only have the CD.

Subscribe and Save items for weird, hard to find purchases. Or things you don't want to lug from the store. Or things that are cheaper on Amazon. Or if your 2 year old has an addiction to Blue's Clues, which is no longer on Netflix but is on Amazon Prime. Ok, I admit to using it like Halcyon, too.

X Files. :001_wub: I wrote my honors thesis for my second degree on the X Files. All that time we'd spend speculating, and waiting for the next mythology episode... Totally agree about the inbreeding episode! Has anyone watched Gillian Anderson as Miss Havisham? The BBC's Great Expectations? I thought she did a great job!

Me, too. :(

We love ours. We use it for the purposes listed above - Netflix, Airplay, etc.

The one year we tried a homeschool room it was a colossal failure. It was fun setting it all up, and it looked great - but we didn't use it. The location was all wrong, in our house, and it simply wasn't a good fit. We have "stations" around the house also, and that's worked well for us for several years. We have a small home, and almost all of our furniture has storage. Most of our books for the year are on the large bookshelf in our living room, below that is a small closed cabinet for toddler toys to take out during school time. We have 2 desks in our living room also - but they don't look like desks unless they are in use. :) One is a secretary, for me, and it holds my supplies. The top drawer holds paper type supplies, the laminator, and other organizational stuff; second drawer is science manipulatives and anything needed for the year's science (I order the kits so we have most things on hand); and the third drawer is for math manipulatives and extras - at one time it was mostly dedicated to Right Start, but now it's a mix. DS has a roll top in the living room also. When he's done for the day, he rolls the top down, and it's hidden away. We also have an armoire for the printer, and other electronics. Most of our work is done at the kitchen table or on the couch though. Art supplies and science supplies that are used daily live in the kitchen, at a built in desk area. It's a sore spot for me, as I think it was a poorly planned little area, but we try to make it work. We have one large bulletin board in the kitchen that I love - it has a wonderful, thick teal frame that makes me smile. I try to swap out any posters on it, but it isn't utilized well. Other than that, we don't do educational posters. I found that they fade into the background and DS doesn't see them. So we stopped. We do have a whiteboard for AAS hanging in the kitchen as well. I used to slide it behind a bookcase, but got tired of the tiles falling off, so it is mounted now. That may be temporary, though, as it seems we used to more when it was portable. Oh, and I do have a small collection of posters that, in theory, I clip to a board as needed for review. The board slides behind a bookcase when we're not using it. But, I'm finding that we tend to print things smaller, laminate (or not) and put into binders for reference. That seems to work better here. Books that are not in use at the moment are on built in bookshelves in other parts of the house. They are everywhere. :D

Great minds think alike! Or google alike!!!

I just found this site: http://www.nourishinteractive.com/ There's a link for free printables. It looks interesting, but I'm on my phone and can't navigate it comfortably to check it out thoroughly. Might be a lead though. There may be some nice Montessori inspired printables out there, too, but I haven't found them yet.

Doing our pantry today, and then tackling the kitchen junk drawer - where is the screeching, terrified smiley???

Rose, you've probably thought of this, but when he called you by name . . . he was dealing with loyalty issues in front of birthfamily, and he's new to navigating that. I bet it stung, but I wouldn't give it too much weight. He is probably receiving subtle signals from birthfamily about all kinds of issues - it can be as simple as a smile or a frown when he uses "mom" or your name - and he is so young, so new to all of this. I'm sure his birthfamily is only referring to you by name, and that is adding to his feelings of confusion. When my DS was 3 or 4, we were visiting birthfamily, and he had never heard me called by name. He asked a question while I was in the kitchen, and his birthmother answered, "You will have to ask Spryte." So when I walked in, he asked, "Spryte, can I ___?" Birthfamily thought it was the funniest thing ever, and DS was confused. He'd never called me anything but, "Mom," till then, but he was going along with what he heard. He's never done it again, but if that happened to him at 3 or 4, I can only imagine what's going on with your DS, and the confusion he's feeling navigating all of this as a teen, for the first time. :grouphug: I cannot imagine what you are going through. Please know that you are in our thoughts.

I love this idea, too! Will be watching this thread. This isn't what you're looking for, but we have a DVD set that is a big hit with DS. I think it's called Cooking from A - Z, but will have to double check. It was $5 on Amazon. She covers a lot of info, and seems to inspire him. Off to search for something more concrete...