It depends on the spouse's ability to tolerate fatigue, the time of day, and the length of the drive, but my short answer is no, I would not be okay with this, especially if it involves freeway driving.

I would get an evaluation, if only to give you some peace of mind and hopefully, some appropriate techniques for working with her should you desire them. Ask around for referrals and make an initial call to each practitioner to screen for hs friendliness before you go in. If they even hesitate, don't bother with them. A lot of psychologists who do evaluations get their referrals by writing evals designed to help parents get supports from ps. Since you are not going to send her to ps, this kind of mindset is not necessary for you.

We medicate and I recently asked my ds's psychiatric nurse about this topic. She said that her top two recommendations for helping ADHD without medicating were to eliminate food dyes and to supplement with fish oils. The only other things I've found to help somewhat are consistency, routine, structure, exercise, and high protein meals.

The Hero and the Crown A Visit to William Blake's Inn The Westing Game The Grey King (I agree this series is phenomenal.) Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh The High King (last in a wonderful series) Up a Road Slowly I, Juan de Pareja Adam of the Road A Wrinkle in Time The Bronze Bow Carry On, Mr. Bowditch A Single Shard King of the Wind Caddie Woodlawn Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Rabbit Hill The Graveyard Book When You Reach Me Eta: adding more titles!

R&S Spelling Calvert Spelling WWE R&S Math, Grades 2-3, 4th, not so much. Currently switching to CLE R&S English VocabJourney

I don't know about that. Gifted children are often early readers, but not always. That's why districts usually test and place kids in a gifted program when they are a few years older.

Our bunny's name is Buttercup, but we mostly call her Bunny. If we had gotten her after reading the Origami Yoda series, I think I would have pushed for Empress Rabbski.

If it helps, my youngest son has ADHD and he has the eight year old equivalent of almost everything you listed. Have you tried medication? When we put ds on Concerta, many of his issues became much more manageable, to his and my great relief.

I just purchased this to use for idioms. http://www.superduperinc.com/products/view.aspx?pid=BK333&stid=#.VSl0nuT8zPc (I still haven't figured out how to rename links, but the book is called Read Between the Lines by Super Duper Publications.) We haven't started it yet but the format and exercises are very hs friendly. For general reading comprehension, SRA worked really, really well but it is expensive. The Memoria Lit. guides also seemed to work. It was very helpful to be able to preteach vocabulary and they had the right mix of comprehension questions--many concrete ones, and a few abstract "stumpers" he really had to think about. I think any structured lit. guide could be useful, especially one that actively teaches comprehension strategies. For summarizing I recently started DS1 on WWE, Level 1. We are only doing the narration portions. I'm hoping this will help him with both summarizing and verbal comprehension. R&S's approach to teaching summarizing also worked well, but I wanted something more targeted & quick for afterschooling.

The Enola Holmes series by Nancy Springer. The protagonist is the younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. Through the series, she is forced to learn how to live on her own, on her own terms, while evading her older brothers, who in spite of their own genius, are unable to envision her in any role other than that of a conventional young lady.

He sounds very smart. Honestly, at 8, a lot of CBT techniques won't work because kids often aren't mature enough to use them. The techniques require a level of self awareness that just isn't there at that age. You will likely have more luck with CBT in a couple of years, but in the meantime, structure, positive reinforcement, and consequences may be the way to go. In the meantime, if he's figured out at 8 that he'll be able to get away with doing very little in ps, and that is a motivation for him to go, I'd say, keep him out, unless you're prepared for that tradeoff and think that the benefits of ps (structure, routine) would be worth it otherwise.

Watership Down by Richard Adams Anything Susan Cooper has written. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Tolkien's translation of course. King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table Beowulf The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander The Mabinogion The Iliad The Odyssey

Putting him in school may help or it may not. It depends on your child. I put my younger ds back in for part of kindy and first grade. This is what I think you can reasonably expect. Will learn how to function in a group of kids. Not the same as making friends, but being able to function in a group is a useful life skill. Will learn how to take direction from different adults. Will experience direct consequences for actions. (Not saying he doesn't get that at home, but the dynamic is different at school.) Will be able to observe, for better or for worse, a wide variety of personalities and behaviors. Will experience a great deal of structure and daily routine. HTH!

I've been very happy with Homeschool Planet. I haven't tried the other ones to compare, sorry.

:grouphug: :grouphug:

I would go with "trying to fix something that ain't broke". Unit studies are harder for teachers to teach effectively. It can also be more difficult to monitor student progress.

Huh. You would think there would be some equivalent provision for hsers. You know, something like, "has met hsing goals such and such". Something like that. Also, It seems like it wouldn't be legal to make hsing requirements higher than ps requirements. Maybe, (if you're still in PA of course, but sounds like not) if you were able to explain your situation to the right person, they'd be able to make an exception for you.

1. You may need to speak with the school districts to find out what they do. Plenty of kids with disabilities don't qualify for diplomas. Local agencies and support groups for parents with disabled children can be a good source of information and support as well. Local high schools and community colleges often pair with local businesses to offer internships so that kids can get job experience. Your state may also have a dept. of vocational rehabilitation that offers training in resume writing and so on, though this may possibly be for kids who are past high school age. Here is a link to a college that offers an associates degree for adults with developmental delays. This may give you some ideas for what to emphasize. http://www.bellevuecollege.edu/programs/degrees/nontransfer/ 2. There are often social groups for teens with intellectual disabilities. My advice is to start networking like crazy. People are out there who will be able to tell you in depth exactly what they did. Tracking them down will be one of the best things you'll ever do. (Sorry that's not me! But, seriously, I've learned the most from other moms with kids who are a few years older than mine.) 3. Often, the shift in focus to life/job skills is started when the student enters high school. You're at the right age now, or will be very soon. Btw, don't forget to sign your child up at the state office for services for developmental disabilities. The process is a pita, but the benefits could come in handy. Don't forget to start looking into guardianships & the legal aspects of long-term care. Good luck! It takes time to find local resources, I know. Eta: to delete my extra number 3.

I hear you. That's a good point. I suppose, like everything, it depends on the situation. :D

You could be one of the best things that ever happened to him. Good luck to you.

First of all, :grouphug: . I can't talk right now but will be back later to share what I know. Eta to add: You are awesome for being proactive about this. Many parents aren't.

I think it's important to remember even online, the tone and phrasing a person uses is at least as important as the content they are communicating. IRL, so much of this is communicated through body language. I think so many of these issues would vanish if we were able watch someone's face and listen to their tone of voice when they spoke. In face to face communication, the spoken word is inextricable from the person speaking. Online, the tendency can be to treat the words as though they were written in a vaccum. Of course they aren't. People still feel the same investment in what they write, but we never get the full picture. We never see their body language. So, no matter how carefully people choose their words, the possibility of being misunderstood, and feeling disrespected, will always be dramatically higher when we have to rely on written communication to express deeply held beliefs, arguments, etc. I guess it does come down to civility. Give people the benefit of the doubt. Take the high road. Treat others as you'd like to be treated. If you offend someone, apologize sincerely. If someone says you are offending them, but you don't agree, apologize anyway.

I have the money, and I'll never say never, but likely, I will never choose to spend it on Botox. I suspect it will never be that much of a priority.

That's an interesting article. Thanks for posting.

Sounds good. I value civility. It can be something of an art online.