ds12-something with video games and no math or writing, reading is good though. dd8-a professional baseball player and a rockstar ds6-a rock star, a race car driver, or an Elvis imitator ds2-Eat?

My first born is an "Eeyore". He will always find the small thing that went wrong in an otherwise gorgeous day and declare the day ruined. He says the world is out to get him. He's 12, BTW. I will usually send him to his room to complain without dragging the rest of the house down or get really exaggerated in coming up with ways to ensure the day gets worse. For ex.: complains of getting small drop of drink on his pants, Oh no, the soda is actually an alien acid that will eat your pants off and into your skin and then the nanobot sized aliens will enter your bloodstream and take over your brain... it gets really silly from there, but he's usually laughing by then. Then when dad gets home and asks how the day was, my ds replies, horrible. LOL, no winning,

Yes, I did it with ds1, dd3, and ds6. Already had my AA before kids, went back and got my BA. About half and half with online classes and face to face. What really helped was having my mom near enough and able and willing to take the kids whenever my classes conflicted with dh's work schedule. I pretty much treated school as my free time, there was no extra time for hobby type things. I was either doing kid-school (1st grade,not a lot), kid care, house care, or studying. ETA: my then youngest decided he was done with diapers right at the beginning of finals week my last semester of school when dh was out of state with my oldest to a funeral.

My dh is building shelves on the dining room walls. I had him put in a desktop that folds flat against the shelves when not in use (also covering the kids workspace which isn't always neat) and also keeps the toddler out of their pencils and books. There will be one for each when we're done.

We're using them next year for 7th grade to supplement SOTW3/4. I got the middle school syllabus and tests from Hewitt. It gives writing suggestions, study aids, and tests and was only $9.00. But we haven't used it yet, so I don't know if it works well.

The only thing it did for my ds that I couldn't have easily done is give him a book to work in just like older siblings. Looking back now, I would have worked more on mastering the + facts so that Alpha is easier and done more hands on. He developed some bad habits like finger counting cause I was paying more attention to the older 2.

Mine spends the entire morning R:juice,mom M:No juice, you just had some. R: Bapple, mom M:No apples, you don't eat them. R: Gum,mom M: no gum for babies R: No baby, no gum mom (no gum for mom) etc. through the entire pantry til I finally give in and give him something and this starts as soon as breakfast is over and is a ploy to get attention when I'm trying to start school.

With my just turned 12ds, He usually ends up with reading time in his room while I work with the others and we try again later when we're both calmer. There is usually a period of stomping and yelling beforehand though, on both sides regretfully. We are working on that.

I got her in on Thurs. morning and they put a sealer on it and gave her antibiotics for the week. She's goes back next Thurs. so they can "build it up" He said it would be the same as the other one. My oldest ds chipped his when he was about 7-8, but it was near the edge and the nerve wasn't exposed, so we never did anything about it. He was more concerned with his skinned knee and hates dentists, so we didn't push it. I figured he could always get it fixed later if he feels the need.

I give them list of words on Mon. adn on Mon and thurs, the copy the words 2x, tues they do a wordsearch and wed alphabetize the words. 1st grader gets 6 words a week, 2nd grader (doing 3rd grade spelling) gets 10-12 words and 6th grader gets 16 words. I don't really follow the book, just use the lists, I guess.

For my oldest: it is the butt in chair and pencil to paper skill he lacks. LOL, at 12, he was assigned a 100 word paragraph about an animal and given a week to do it. He was done by Wed. with complete sentences, properly spelled (thanks to spell check) and punctuated and minimal whining. I fell over in shock. Formy 1st and 2nd grader, I am not making the mistake of yielding to the whining. They will write.

My dd8 broke a tooth at baseball practice tonight. It was a top front permanent tooth. The ball bounced of her glove and hit the tooth at the right angle and it snapped off. Now I have to call the dentist in the morning and get her seen. Couldn't reach them tonight, it happened after closing hours of course. Poor baby girl. This is the 4th time she's gotten hit by the ball this season. Dh is teasing her about being a ball magnet.

Around here we have Upwards, the YMCA, and the PAL(Police Athletic League) for the younger kids and both the Y and PAL get more competitive as they get older.

It depends on the child. My oldest was 8 or 9 before he could complete more than 2 problems of any subject without me nearby and now at 12 does nearly all independently. My ds6 and dd8 work off a list doing some independent (like writing spelling words) and calling me when they get to others (like math). My dd8 can even read and FOLLOW directions (most of the time) independently. But when my oldest was their age it was "write the next letter, the next letter is 'C', write it!" constantly all day. But then he flipped a switch and there is was, independence.

I hate it and now they are making it earlier and for more months.

Most of our family vacations involve going to visit family in IL or TX(just once). The kids and I and sometimes Grandma go camping in various parks within a 5 hr drive from here. We also have cub scout camping 3-4 times a year that Dad can even go to. We often plan stops along the way with vacations to visit family such seeing the Alamo when we went to TX and Ruby Falls on the way home from IL.

34.5 here. I could see the videos from half of them but couldn't remember the words, and others I misspelled.

Remembering not to give in when the kids are whining to stop school when stopping school is what I want to do too.

ONe thing I have noticed around here that makes the neighborhood less safe is that it is more deserted. Parents work until dinnertime, the kids that are home have homework. There is no one out on schooldays. They exist cause I see them on holidays and weekends but they are not around on schoolnights. Most of the kids around here also play in the little leagues and other organized sports that occupy a lot of time.

Myalmost 12yo ds was like that when he was 8 and 9. I finally told him that he was not the only one in the house and I had his siblings to teach also and couldn't sit by him all day. I also made the rule of no tv before 3pm and Mom is only on hand for help until 3pm. After 3pm it becomes homework and the child's responsibility. 2-3 days of younger sibs watching tv while he sat at the table helped kick him into gear, but mostly just getting older did it. He can now look at his week and say "I want free time here, I must get this done today and not wait until tomorrow when it is scheduled" That works for any of his independent work. We do still do read alouds as a group and he has to wait on those (until he starts reading ahead). My dd is showing some dawdly tendencies at 8, but it is only noticable if you know her. At 7 she would get up and have all independent work done before breakfast, now she plays through breakfast and works when her brothers do.

No real help, just want to say that you have company, although my two are don't have as frequent as your dd. I have a 8yo dd that started seizing just before she turned 5. She goes on a pattern of 2-3 months free, a few staring episodes that get more frequent and culminate in a grand mal. She has been on Trileptal since she was 5. She has finally reached a point of being almost 20 mos. free. I also have a 6yo ds that started seizing about 3 yo, approximately 6 mos. after his sister started. He has only had 5-6 seizures total. He was put on Tegretol right away and has been on it since. He has what they call break-through seizures whenever he hits a growth spurt and they have to increase his meds. He made it to 22 mos. seizure free and we thought he was done and then he had one. I really hate this med for him cause it knocks him out and interferes with schooling. It would be impossible if we weren't homeschoolers. My dd has bad behavior, especially disrespect and talking back. I just figured it was pre-puberty kicking in. Especially since her older brother got real bad around that age. Just wanted to let you know you are not alone.

I told my son that the b is the bat hitting the ball and the d comes after c so it is a c with a stick. I'm not sure how much it helped; it was only a cople days ago.

I do this for all 3 of mine. I give them a weekly list on Monday that is split into daily work. 12ds and 8dd work mostly off their lists on their own time knowing that the days work has to be checked off for any after school free time. My 6ds's usually brings his list to me before starting each subject, but in 1st he is mostly working with me anyway. They all like their lists and knowing what to look forward to each week. They also like being able to work ahead if they know they will want extra free time on Fri.

I got the whole pack for my oldest to use next year, since if it works well, I have 3 others to use it on. I have noticed that at least one of the books has faulty binding and a loose page.

Thank you both.