I have long suspected one of my little guys is dyslexic. It's super hard to get an evaluation around here because everything is booked up for months on end, so I don't know for sure, but from what I see, it's likely. (I'd discussed that with him, and he listened to some of his favorite kid-appropriate YouTubers talking about it apparently, and came to me and said, "What they're describing -- that's how words look for me.") Anyway, official diagnosis or not, it hasn't really impacted his education to this point because we've been able to accommodate easily; I've required minimal copying, for instance, and not from a board. I do have him continue practicing reading print, but I've also allowed and encouraged audiobooks so that he's been able to understand and enjoy books at a level higher than his reading abilities. I've also combined him with his close in age brother for lots of things, so that I can read aloud to both of them. His listening comprehension, reasoning, and vocabulary are *excellent,* thanks to vast hours of audiobooks, and he's the kind of kid who can't get enough of learning new facts and things. In fact, before I read anything, I have learned to ask if he has any fun facts to add about the subject, or he continually raises his hand so he can share a tidbit he heard somewhere. So, I want to make sure that he keeps that interest and love and that he's able to get the *more* that he seeks. (I may pursue diagnosis in the next few years mainly so that he can ask for test accommodations if he wants them.) Buuuuut. He moves into seventh grade next year. I'm thinking that he probably needs to move into some more independent work for things like science and history where instead of me reading to him, he reads on his own and reports back to me in some way. But I am not sure his reading speed will allow him to keep up with the volume required for upper level work at his comprehension levels. Allowing more time for tests is one thing, but allowing more time for reading history, science, etc. seems trickier, because it seems like it would feel like a punishment to him. Not everything for upper levels comes in audio or video form. Thankfully there are some options, and we can utilize those as much as possible, but I also don't want to assume those will always be options. I feel like I want to start making some transitions over the next couple of years so that we are solid on what is feasible and can be expected before high school. So, I would love to hear from those of you who have been through dyslexia or similar issues with your kids, especially if they were the kind who seemed like the type who would want to go on to college.

Didn't read all the replies. Are there classic books you personally love? If so, maybe try one of those. That has the potential to backfire, but it also has potential to give them warm fuzzy feelings too because it's a part of you, someone they love. (For instance, my ILs have a little cottage where my kids love boating and spending time with their grandparents. There's a print with a quote from Wind in the Willows that I've pointed out to the kids a few times. So I recently started reading WitW to them. Because they associate it with their grandparents, they're sort of pre-set-up to expect they'll like it. And they do.) I also suggest audio books that the kids can enjoy on their own, at their leisure, no analysis, just discovering what they like, completely on their terms. My 9 and 11yo don't have as much access to screens as the older kids do, so they spend a ton of time listening to audio books. Vary the time you read -- try during or after lunch if bedtime isn't good and vice versa -- and read just a few pages if that's all you're up for. Especially with older books, they can be a lot to follow, so maybe a full chapter at once isn't always feasible. Fidgets or drawing or the like might help too. Try the more modern classics. Try ones with a movie. (Normally I am pro "book first then movie," but my 11-year-old had seen the Lord of the Rings movies several times and loved them, as the rest of the family does, so he decided he'd listen to the entire trilogy this summer. He didn't get all of it, but he liked it, and he could follow the basic plot points.) Try a shorter version; again, normally, I prefer just to wait until they're ready for the full book, but sometimes a shorter version can help make something accessible and interesting. I love the idea of interaction! Try food from the book or YouTube videos that talk about some aspects. And you know what? Kids are their own people. Some are not going to like to read for fun. Some don't like fiction. A d that's okay too. It's good to encourage and to have some expectations as far as school goes, but don't sweat about it too much.

Did we go to the same school? Because that sounds exactly like what happened to me over and over. I was tiny, not especially athletic, but also very good at school and a very polite, nice kid. So I often got to be the teacher's helper, or the kid who was asked to help the new kid or pair up with the weird kid that nobody else wanted. Kids only wanted to pick me first or have me on their teams for academic projects. But gym? Heck no. Last or second last every single time. And I get it, because I like to win too, but I have the biggest beef with how they did things. It was fine for them to send me the message that I wasn't good at sports, verbally and non-verbally, throwing everyone in one gym class together -- but had I ever picked on a kid for not being able to spell, I'd have been in deep trouble (not that I would have anyway, because my parents raised me better). And academics were tracked by ability, so that even kids who weren't academically minded were given the opportunity to succeed at their level. Why couldn't gym have been at least sort of like that? I realize they couldn't have four gym levels, but two, maybe? In college, we had so many choices, so athletic kids could take sports classes, and the rest of us could take fitness for life, where we had to find activities that worked for us. So I could get credit for going for a walk, or going hiking in the woods with friends. I feel like gym class could have been so much better if it focused on that sort of thing -- lifelong fitness and finding ways to be active that don't involve competition -- for so many kids. (We don't do team sports as a family. We walk and hike and kayak and swim for fun, and when the kids do anything organized, it's martial arts, where their only competition is themselves.) End rant! I think choosing teams, kids or adults, is terrible, whether you do it by height or by ability. Counting off doesn't work either because kids are sneaky buggers. ABC order and alternating wouldn't really work either because it has the potential to be the same kids on each team every time, and everyone likes to win sometimes. Pulling something out of a bag is a better idea IMO. We also had one co-op teacher who would split kids into teams by asking silly questions like "who had cereal for breakfast?" I think that was more for a specific game where she deliberately wanted a majority and a handful, but the premise could work otherwise too.

I love it. Now, is it always easy, sunshine and roses? No. Are there days when I don't like it? Yes. But loving it is deeper than whether I like it on any given day or not. Loving it means it feels right overall for me/us, that it's something I have a general positive, warm fuzzy feeling about, and that I feel strongly enough to keep persevering when the days are rough and enjoying it when the days are easy. There's so much I love about the homeschooling lifestyle, and there are so many reasons I have chosen and keep choosing to do it, but the main reason I love it is because I love being with my kids and sharing adventures with them, learning new things, watching them get excited as things click, all of it. It's really special to be a part of their learning. I also will admit that I did not give anything up to homeschool, nor to be a SAH mom. Even in college, I never hoped for a career and was thrilled when I had our oldest and stopped working (which was always part time and bonus anyway). I don't have anything I wish I could do or that I miss doing. Of course it is a financial concern to have a single income, but since we've always planned it that way, we don't feel a loss the same way as someone who left a career to homeschool.

Ah, see, you said all of yours were induced for blood pressure concerns. If you had gestational hypertension (or what used to be called pregnancy induced hypertension), that is in the same family as preeclampsia (in fact, a lot of the major researchers think it is just preeclampsia that has not yet progressed to affect other organs and systems like kidneys, liver, lungs, brain, platelets, or red blood cells). So it would carry the same repeat concerns.

You can ask to see an MFM for a preconception consult, because they are the true experts in high risk pregnancies and can work alongside your OB. Since you have had preeclampsia multiple times, that does put you at higher risk for it again. Those of us who have had it more than once are more likely to have an underlying condition that triggers it, even if we don't know what that condition is yet. (Sometimes autoimmune issues can be in our DNA but not expressing themselves for a while.) But you can still have a great pregnancy even if they believe you have chronic hypertension -- and there are pregnancy-safe BP meds that many women have taken, myself included. I get the worries. Our sixth child was our preeclampsia baby and was born at 26 weeks when I was almost 40. At almost 42, I had a full-term baby but got postpartum preeclampsia. I do have chronic hypertension and have been mostly on meds since our micropreemie. We aren't very likely to have another baby because I am 45 now, but I know that if we did, I'd be watched super closely by MFM again. Sometimes it is not always a logical decision. We have a ton of info at facebook.com/preeclampsia too, all about the current science and recommendations for managing BP and preeclampsia and everything related.

3-20 here. Most of us enjoy board and card gaming. Obviously not all the same games, but we can make a pretty good family game night most of the time. We might play a few games that the little guy or middles can play, then let them watch a movie or "play on a team" so we can play some older-person-oriented games. Also, they have a bunch of video games most or all of the older kids play. Most of us enjoy going to an amusement park. Again, not everyone rides the same rides, but we can have a good day and be mostly together, or at least back and forth. I might take a couple of littler guys on a kid ride, while my husband takes the olders on a coaster, or the other day, 20 yo and 11yo were riding one set of water slides while I had the 3yo in the baby pool area while DH took the middle boys on a different water ride, and we also swapped things around throughout the day. Most everyone is up for a viewing of Lord of the Rings, and there are a fair number of other movies that several of the family will watch together. Flexbility is the key. It doesn't have to be all eight of us doing the exact same thing at the same time; it can be a bit of back and forth.

We are planning to use Trail Guide to World Geography for our 8th grader next year (it has different levels), plus Seterra games for practice.

I would look at something like Screen Time (screentimelabs.com). This lets me set what things the kids can do any time of day (read books with the Kindle app, listen to audio books, text family [these are tweens/young teens so it hasn't been a problem], use educational apps, whatever I choose -- I can set each app separately rather than by category), and what they can do during their free play time. It's been really nice for us. (And we like e-books in a lot of cases because our little library doesn't always have the books we want, but I can buy them from Amazon or get them from Free Library of Philadelphia since I live in PA, and because they can set font size, etc. how they like. So if you like e-books, find a way to make that feasible.)

Could use Study.com for some courses. You can pick whatever level works for her, and they have the option to listen to/watch videos or to read a transcript. Self-paced, but easy to assign a certain amount.

Cooking for two is expensive! They sound smart to me, LOL! I naturally have to spend more to feed eight people, but the price per person is less than it was when it was two or three or four of us. And I can justify better unit pricing now too because food doesn't get wasted. We will eat that extra large package of eggs or the big container of cream before they go bad, but when it was just two of us, we might not have. But also, food is expensive now. Even at Aldi, even cheap stuff.

I know this is an old thread, but I do not like being asked what's for dinner because it's usually someone who wants to pre-decide if they don't like the meal. I love trying new dishes, so you aren't really going to know most of the time if you'll like it or not until you actually try it that day. There are some exceptions; I have one kiddo who doesn't eat pork, and one who isn't always a big fan of mushrooms or tomatoes, so if they ask, I'll tell them. But one of my little men likes to ask and then declare that he doesn't like it and won't even try it, whereas if he doesn't know ahead of time and is served an item, then he's more likely to try it (and like it). So I just prefer that they not ask. Also, if it's my husband asking as he's leaving work, that can feel kind of pressure-y. I know he's hungry, but he also gets home at like 4:30 or 5 most days, and depending on how my day has gone, I might be finishing something up and not be ready to make dinner yet. I know he doesn't mean to put pressure on me -- mostly, he likes what I cook and just wants to have the anticipation of something delicious (and he'll happily eat a snack or some leftovers if dinner's not ready), but it can feel that way to me.

We use a family doctor who sees all the children and me, rather than a specific pediatrician, and she is great for all of us. She only works three days a week, so we do have to book checkups with her several months in advance, and I also know that if we email her, we may not get a reply for a couple of days, so I plan accordingly. However, I have never had a problem with reaching her with non-urgent questions. She is part of a group practice of about eight doctors and nurse practitioners, so if we have a sick need or something else (like needing a physical for a driver's license), or if I call after hours, I have always been able to get one of her partners or a nurse. Never been an issue at all.

No idea about accreditation, but we were super pleased with Homeschool Spanish Academy and their blend of prescribed curriculum and self pacing (my daughter picked up concepts quickly so they let her move through them faster), and they do have flexible hours.

My allergist and dermatologist were both pleased to see me using Cerave. I like the thick cream for longer use, like at night, and the lighter lotion for quick use during the day because I wash my hands a gazillion times a day, the hydrocortisone stuff when my eczema is really itchy or blistering.

Family pass to somewhere, game console, trampoline, keyboard. . . Given that my kiddos are 3-20, I could also spend the money on some really nice games. Some of the cool ones that adults and older kids like are pretty expensive. I would add things like a big puzzle/game board, card holders for young ones, etc. One year when we were kids (four of us in a nine year span), my grandparents sent my parents some money for us, and they bought a whole bunch of games, which we then played a lot.

I have to say: a lot of the info on that page is just plain wrong, according to current ACOG guidelines. Crisis level in pregnancy is 160/110, and eating healthily, exercising, etc. will not prevent preeclampsia. I'm quite appalled that the MOD can't get their info from ACOG.

Okay, I want to clarify a few things here. One, Pregnancy Induced Hypertension is an outdated term. The current term is Gestational Hypertension (new onset of high BP after 20 weeks), and I'd be cautious about any provider using PIH as a term, because it may mean they are not up on the current guidelines and standards of care. Preeclampsia is GH plus one additional criterion such as proteinuria, labwork, certain visual disturbances, pulmonary edema, and so on. Both are serious because they are on the same spectrum of placenta-mediated illness. American guidelines call for meds to be started at or around 160/110, whether for GH or for preeclampsia. Meds will not mask PE; if you do have PE, then you'll likely see BP continuing to go up even with meds. If you're hitting 160/110, either number, regularly, meds really should be given to keep your BP in a safe range. If you're unsure, you can ask to see a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist. They don't like to start meds until you're getting close to that upper point because they don't want to reduce blood flow to the baby, but too high is no good for you or baby either. In addition, BP meds will not slow the process down -- they can sometimes manage the one symptom of blood pressure IF that's the only thing going on, but they won't stop GH from turning into PE, and they won't stop PE. (Case in point, I was put on BP meds, but four days later, things went catastrophically badly -- my BPs hit 200/130, despite additional meds, and then my son's placenta completely crashed, necessitating a crash delivery at 26 weeks.) American guidelines call for delivery for both GH and PE at 37 weeks. Some doctors like to push that if it's GH, but guidelines from ACOG do say 37 weeks for either. For severe features (protein is not a severe feature, but labs can be), delivery at 34 weeks is recommended. I know that sounds scary, but 34 weekers mostly do tend to do very well. BPs at 160/110 can count as preeclampsia all on their own, even without that second criterion, and 34 weeks may well be indicated. I would be asking why they don't feel you have severe features, and if they feel you do, why they don't want to deliver at 34 weeks per guidelines. If you're on Facebook, I moderate a huge Preeclampsia support group there (30,000 people and 50+ posts a day all about preeclampsia and related topics) and would love to have you join us, so we can give you additional help, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/preeclampsia

For books, Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site and Tap the Magic Tree (and others in those series) have been favorites of my most recent toddlers.

If it's socially acceptable to have one, get it for him, and use something like ScreenTime to set what he can and can't do on it and when.

My first three arrived, spontaneously, at 40 and 6, 41 and 1, and 40 and 5. So we expected our fourth to be late as well. He made his appearance, spontaneously, at 38 and 3. Yes, I was very sure of dates with all the kids. Number four was also smaller than his older siblings; he was right in line with them for gestational age, so I am sure he would have been their size if he'd waited another week or two. Number five, again spontaneously, made his appearance at 40 and 4, again, perfectly in line for size. (And just to round things out -- number six was a micropreemie at 26 weeks, and number seven was induced at 39 and 0. Should I have any more babies, MFM will not want us going past 39 weeks. Part of that is because I had a precipitous labor that lasted barely an hour and a quarter with number five and because I had a c-section for number six, and nobody wants to take the very real risk of me having a VBAC on the side of the road since I'm almost an hour from the hospital. I also have health conditions that mean the placenta is more likely to give out if we go too long. There is no difference other than size between my fourth and seventh babies and their older siblings.)

I've had flat top glass electric for the entire time we've been here, and I use cast iron almost exclusively. You know me -- do I seem like someone who would be super careful, me of the "everything needs to be Tonka tuff because boys" family? I mean, we don't slam the cast iron onto the stovetop, but we easily use cast iron anywhere from 1 to 4 times a day every day, and we've had no problems. As for my stoneware and pyrex that can't go on a hot stove, I just keep a pretty trivet next to the stove and will set them on that right out of the oven. Or on the stove if the stove isn't hot. I can't remember the brand off the top of my head now. It's not super super fancy, but it had to have a Very Large burner option for my 15" cast iron skillet, and I also wanted it to have the dual burners on the side for using an oblong cast iron griddle.

Does trading memes from various fandoms with my teen count? Lol. Ok, I enjoy knitting, sewing occasionally, trying new recipes sometimes, reading sometimes, and volunteering for a nonprofit that is related to a health interest of mine. I'd love to be a NICU cuddler, but those roles have lengthy waiting lists. If you don't like to read, maybe audio books? I have not always been a big audio books person, but sometimes listening to something slows it down enough so I don't gloss over the dialogue. I'd love to garden, but that requires more time spent in the sun than I want.

Rizzoli & Isles White Collar Mindy Project Parks and Rec I like 911 and 911 LoneStar too. Nurses was pretty good. For comedy, Home Economics and Call Your Mother were both okay, and I liked the short-lived The Kids are Alright too and wish it had been renewed. I liked Schooled and Single Parents okay too. If you can handle the gore, and if you liked the book, the miniseries of Catch-22 is really good and well-done. There's one scene where I just lost it, like completely lost it, and my husband had to stop the show until I got it together, so be warned.

Only my 19yo can drive on her own yet, so I have to take the others. I make appointments for all but the 19yo because I can't legally make hers anymore since the portals kicked her over to her own. For the most part, she makes her appointments online, same as I do, or the office calls us to make appointments. The boys are all on my portal, so it's super easy. I scheduled the 12 and 16yo boys together last time. We use a family doctor who sees all six kids plus me; she's female, so I've told the boys that at whatever point they feel uncomfortable seeing her, we will ask to switch to the male in the practice (or to the male at a different practice that DH sees). So far they haven't cared, and they haven't wanted me (or their brother) to leave the room either (but also the doc doesn't do a private area check on them at this stage). It was completely NBD last time at all. Actually, I think my 16yo is relieved to have me (and his outgoing younger brother) in there because otherwise he'd have to talk more, LOL. My 19yo has been to the GYN herself (I did go with her the first time because she was a minor and because I'd met the GYN and liked her, which is why I had DD see her -- but that wasn't an especially sensitive topic, no private area exam needed), but I've also, at her request, been to certain doctors with her. She's been trying to get some answers about some things (non-GYN/personal related), so I offered to go with her to the specialists as a second set of ears, and she definitely wants me to do that. I've basically said, "I'm not allowed to make the appointments, but I'm very happy to come along any time you want, but I of course won't be upset if you don't want me there."