Thank you all for your input. His choices are purely behavioral. We have been having ongoing issues. I think because of his disability, he is used to not having to work hard because others (including me) have often just done things for him. He is very good at math, and will work on it when he 'feels' like it and do just fine. This last few days it's just been a battle of the wills. He has already lost all of his toys, game systems, etc. and is trying to earn things back. He did great for 3 days, then yesterday just dug his feet into the ground and won't budge. He has been in his room for 2 hours now, after staring at his page for an hour. I have found him playing with his sister's barbie (now THAT is boredom), then I found him drawing a map. I told him he could come down for dinner when he finished. He has not done one problem and it's almost bedtime. He will likely go to bed without supper (a first for him). I really feel like I need to follow my husband's lead (as a friend of mine said today to me) and go with the public school route. I just worry because we have used MUS for math and he didn't finish Delta this year. So going into 5th grade he will have never seen decimals and very little of fractions. I know I need to let my worries about the school's opinion go, but I still can't shake this feeling of failure. We already put our Kindergartner in school in Jan. because she was a constant distraction to her siblings once winter set in. My oldest DD 10 still wants to homeschool and does a wonderful job at it. But 1/3 of my kids homeschooling successfully feels very much like a fail to me. :-(

I feel like I am the ONLY homeschool mom who has a child who just won't do his work. He has a physical disability that does not affect his mental abilities in any way. It has been a constant battle this year to get him to finish anything. We've tried positive, negative, etc. reinforcement. I feel like no one else deals with this. With every HS family we know, the kids just do their work. When I taught public school the kids just did their work. His sis does all her work no problem. Sadly his littlest sis was disruptive last year so we had to put her in kindergarten. I just can't figure out why this child has no drive whatsoever. Folks always say my kids are so kind and well behaved. Why am I not seeing this at home??? Frustration!!! I can not for the life of me figure out what I have done wrong here?? We are at the point where we have no other option than to put him back in public school for fear that he is falling too far behind. It grieves me for many reasons. One, I feel defeated and like such a failure because again I feel this is just us, two, I worry that he will be so far behind we will be thought of as one of those homeschool family failures the public school loves to use as examples, and three, I really, really love homeschooling and wish things would improve, but I am just not seeing it. UGH!! It's difficult because it truly feels as if I am the only one dealing with this. I would love to hear from anyone who has a similar situation!! Thanks.

Oh my, our mother's must be related!! lol Mine hasn't talked to me since my wedding day when she realized that she would no longer have control over me. Sad. My family thought I would grow up to be a rich lawyer, a powerful businesswoman, or a movie star. Instead I became a homeschooling mom who was an elementary school teacher in her pre-kid days, and a Christian. Threw them all for a loop.

Thanks everyone for your input. I am not a 'math' person, which is why we chose MUS to begin with (still using it). I chose MM to supplement, since I was worried about gaps. I guess I was thinking that more instruction was needed because I needed it. lol They have been doing fine with it, but there are times I felt the intro was a bit too vague or needed more instruction or they were frustrated because they didn't understand what it was teaching. We will continue with both this coming year, but I will look into the videos someone on here mentioned. Thank you all again!

I guess what I mean is there more for the teacher? I know the instructions are there, but sometimes I feel they are not very thorough. I was just wondering if maybe there was something more for teacher instruction.

Am I missing something? I purchased the light blue cd rom series of MM to supplement our MUS, and I usually print out the pages as we go. I read all the raves about the MM program, but really feel there is little to no instruction. I often pull from my own math knowledge to teach, but wonder how this will work as they progress. I am wondering, am I missing a component to this program??

Dannah Gresh has some. I have one (out of print found on Amazon). Some are mom/daughter devos, some are 'date' ideas for mom/daughter, some on purity, modesty, etc.

We tried scouts this year for my DS 10. He doesn't like it. Our troop basically meets 2x a month at the leader's house. The boys (all 4th grade) are obnoxious, yell/talk over the leader (he is a pretty meek guy) and I don't know if my son has got anything from the meetings. He says he wants to quit, but I told him he needs to finish out the year. Sadly, since my son has a disability, the fun stuff like camping is not possible. :-( But to be honest, I'd hate to see this group out in 'the wild'. lol So we will finish out the year and then hang up his uniform. $130 down the drain. At least we tried. He has made NO friends because they meet so few and far between and they are just so rowdy there is no 'talking' going on.

http://www.vrbo.com/40959 This home is the exact one we rented with our extended fam. over Christmas 2011. They were FABULOUS. We had a baby in tow as well. They have high chair, 2 strollers, fab. house, pool, etc. It was so great sharing a home, away from the parks, restful! They are wonderful folks and we opted for this instead of being cramped into hotel rooms at SOG. Overall we paid less to split the cost of the house than to each pay for hotel rooms.

I actually like to do the windows because I have those sort that fold into the house. I only use windex and don't usually do the upstairs upper half outside. I look forward to purging this spring and decluttering. I don't look forward to having to do the 'daily' cleaning while I am wanting to do the deeper cleaning. Does that make sense??

It has been wonderful going through your responses. I loved seeing the flexibility as well as the structure in your days. Such a broad range!! I feel a lot better about how I have been trying to plan things. Before it was quite frustrating because there were a lot of skipping/get to later moments when littler really delayed or got in the way of things, etc. Now I plan to go back to my original schedule (which I know now is not TOO much) and to be a bit more intentional about getting our days finished. Looking over what I have been doing, on average we had been completing 3-6 subjects a day depending on other activities/distractions. I think with them being able to do more independent work without distraction, my expectations are realistic. Yay! Thanks again!! I've said it before and will continue to say it....this board is invaluable!!

Do you do all of them each day?

Hi everyone, this is something I have been wondering about. Now that my littlest is in public Kinder, I have been able to really focus on my 2 fourth graders intently....BUT I am afraid of burning them out. Over all we have about 10 subjects to cover..Math, Science, History (and Geography), Vocab, Grammar, Spelling, Typing, Cursive, Bible and Reading. How many subjects do you cover on an average day? Today we did a new lesson in math and practice pages, read a library book for history, did an oral writing lesson and they are now both doing quiet reading. Both will also do a typing lesson today then it's off to ballet for my DD. Thurs. are our 'short' day. I don't expect to do ALL subjects every day, but was wondering what you all average on an average day...not the sports/lessons/sick kids sort of days. Remember these are 4th graders. Thanks!

All 3 of mine attended outside preschool and loved it.

This is the recipe I use as well. Just made 3 dozen yesterday morning for DH's workplace. I replace the shortening with butter and do NOT knead it as stated. Just roll it out from the bowl onto a floured surface and moved/knead minimally til it's not sticky anymore. I use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter to small pea sized pieces, but a reviewer posted the put the dry ingredients into a food processor and then pulse then add the butter and pulse til it's broken up. EASY recipe.

My son's friend's family back in Indy said they were going to ask me about it (hs'ing their child) but found out we were moving. A friend of mine hs's 2 of her friend's children. But they are in the same grades as her own children so it's like a little school. I don't know how she does it as besides those 4 she has two preschoolers. ACK!

A friend of mine posted a picture today on FB of her adorable black lab, looking so sweetly into the camera, with spit up all over his nose. lol Her baby had spit up on her shoulder, over shot it and it landed on the dog who happened to be standing behind her. He had it much easier than the kitten.

Just know that I have (and am pretty sure others have too) been praying for you and your family since reading your original post!!

:grouphug: SO sorry for all that you are dealing with. Understandably overwhelming. God bless.

This is definitely where I would start. Then I would talk to a pastor / priest as well. We are Christians and I always tell my kids there are no such things as ghosts, but I do believe in evil spirits for sure! Keep praying!! I will shoot some up for you RIGHT NOW as well.

My 5yo was bit Wed. evening by our next door neighbor's dog. We called the base police who checked that the vaccinations were up to date. All dogs on base have to be registered with the base vet and up to date on shots. We were advised to go to the ER since the clinic was closed. Her bite sounded very similar to your son's. You can see where the canine teeth broke through the skin and the smaller front teeth left a red mark that later bruised a tiny bit. She was tender that day and the next and Advil helped. Today she isn't bothered by it at all. It was on her abdomen off to the side btw. The doc said that a dog who is up to date on shots has very little chance of a rabies concern. If the dog had possibly come into contact with a wild animal, etc. then more concerning. Our biter had not of course, inside dog, always on leash outside. Anyhow, the release paperwork said to watch said dog for 10 days for signs of illness, if none then not to worry. As for wound, they only cleaned it because I asked them to. They only gave me an antibiotic cream for it because I asked them too (never ended up using it). Didn't seem very worried. As for the dog, we find out tomorrow if they will still keep it here on base or if they have to get rid of it. Did your husband get the owners name and number? The discharge papers said all animal bites are to be reported to the authorities. Then at least there would be a record of it and you can ask for proof of shots being up to date.

You can visit Lexington ( start of day for 'Battle Road' of Amer. Rev.), Concord and the shot heard round the world/Old North Bridge, also home to the Louisa May Alcott home, Walden Pond, so much more. You can whale watch from out of Boston, walk the Freedom Trail, visit the USS Constitution (oldest active naval ship), and so much more. Plimoth Plantation is not too far either. We have lived in the Boston area for a year and a half and have only scratched the surface of all I want to do before hubby (Air Force) gets moved to next duty station.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/tech/social-media/take-this-lollipop/index.html It SAYS it deletes your info as soon as you are done. BUT it still seems pretty scary how it all works. I am too chicken to try it out.

We had 3 high risk pregnancies and a child with a disability. We were at a greater risk of having a second child with the same disability. Overall, I had always wanted 4 but after the last pregnancy roller coaster we decided to call it quits. I have times when I wish we'd had another, but it passes.