I can really empathise with the mother, as I have two extremely social kids who I honestly doubt I could homeschool if we didn't have a fantastic social network. The thing is, kids, specially as they get older, really need peers, and some kids need them more than others. I have worked very hard to establish and maintain my kids' social networks because I think they would also resent me if they didn't have a lot of social time. When they first started homeschooling (I pulled them both out of school) they felt like freaks, and I knew the most important thing I could do was to get them homeschooled friends, to normalise what we were doing. It has turned out though that even though they have homeschooled friends, their main social activity is Scouts. Is there anything like that in your friend's area? It sounds to me like the boy is really hurting with his isolation, and I would take it seriously. I agree the mother should absolutely be the one to make the decision...and trust her gut feeling about it....but if it is going to destroy her relationship with her son, is it worth it? Boys can get very fiesty in their pre-teens/early teens, and I dont think I could homeschool if my kids werent at least ok with it- even though dh says we would anyway, and that its not up to the kids, he is not the one on the coal face every day. It's hard enough when they are mostly cooperative. Is there no way to increase the boy's social time? To find a compromise? I think being the only homeschooled kid around would be difficult on a kid.

I have "delicate" energy levels (or you could call it 'chronic fatigue" ) and I have learned that I absolutely have to pace myself during the week. Mondays are all at home this year so we get a good start to the week. Tuesdays and Wedesdays I am out for some of the afternoons, and on Wednesday I work- its hard to fit in a rest those days so I have to go to bed early instead. Thursday are completely home again and I can rest in the afternoons. So I am ok on Fridays, except we leave at 11.30 for classes and get home at 4.30, then the kids have Scouts in the evening so we are out again. I am pooped. Saturdays i work again and have band practice. Sundays are home again. Fortunately- well, for me- my dh is at home during teh day and works evenings, so there is not much expectation that I am available evenings. Its ok if I go to bed early or watch a movie with the kids. Sometimes I get ideas of all the other things I woudl like to be doing with my time, but I have to remind myself this is a season, and I just cant spread myself too thinly. Homeschooling really is a full time job.

We have outlined sporadically. Even my reluctant writer is ok with outlining so after learning how to do it over a few months, we sometimes leave it for a term or two and then come back to it. We just picked it up again and both kids seem to do it well but I think its a dry way to do history, so we will do it for a while then focus on something else.

I'm a CW drop out too but I still think its an excellent program. I just burned out on the amount it needed from me, especially with 2 kids on different levels. My older child got halfway through Homer B. I think it is unecessarily complicated, but still a good program. I have used various programs since the but the best thing for my more competent writer was using home2teach.com for her- an online writing program. She got excellent feedback and she needed to get feeback from someone other than me. I intend to use it more, and in the meanwhile she is doing a TAFE (I think thats the equivalent of community college) course which is more mainstream and asks different things from her. But I feel that exposure to different types of writing is good for her anyway. For my younger, age 13 but with LDs and writing being his weakest area, he is using IEW's Medieval Writing. The structure of IEW seems to be good for him, without the dress-ups, although I don't feel to invest in the whole program. I also use freewrites for him and outlining for both. I am thinking of using IEW's progym program for highschool for my older (she is almost 15) in the next year or so. I don't feel the time we spent with CW was wasted at all- it was a good couple of years and they both learned a lot, as did I- but it just became too tedious.

Here in Australia, it starts y7 in some states, and y8 in others. We dont have middle school. We call it primary and highschool.

With teh gym visit...I am careful that I don't impose punishments/consequences that are too far in the future, or that hurt me. It would hurt me if my child was stuck home for 2 weeks when they wanted to go get some exercise or whatever- the issue is not too major and the consequence is too distant from the misdemeanor, because within a few days the issue is long gone and forgotten. A closer, more appropriate consequence would be to ban it for a couple of days, or tell her she wont be able to go later if she cant have the decency to phone you. I have teenagers and I think its all about them learning they are not the centre of the universe, but they truly think they are and need to be trained. But its not mean or malicious, it's just thoughtless. As for girls in brothers' bedrooms with friends, I think its a great way for them to demystify the opposite sex and socialise while being under the watchful eye of a parent. Too much restriction makes it too big of a deal. Keep the door open, no big deal. I wouldn't worry about the illnesses myself, either.

I used to be, but I am happy to say that after 6 years of homeschooling, I no longer feel it is quite as extreme and I can go for months without thinking about curriculum nowadays. It is an interest, but my obsession with homeschooling is also diminished. It is interesting, and I still enjoy it, but its no longer what I think about all the time. It is a relief to have moved on from being a curriculum junkie, and easier on the pocket!

I think we have some partial immunity because all flu strains are related to the Spanish flu strain- its not like we have no immunity. Its just another variation, and variations come out each winter, and for most people, the immune system copes ok. Its not like when the English came to Australia originally and the common cold and other minor diseases would kill many aborigines because they had no immunity because they had no previous exposure to the viruses the English brought out with them. We have, generation after generation, been exposed to similar enough viruses to this swine flu, that our immune system can cope. Not sure if anyone else has posted the Mercola article on this yet. He raises some good points, even if you dont agree with everything he says (and I dont, usually). http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/04/29/Swine-Flu.aspx

Meditation time. Afternoon snooze. Reading in bed. Computer time. Walking along the foreshore near my home. Spa with Dh. Sometimes, shopping.

http://amblesideonline.org/FAQ.shtml#aboutcm This is the FAQs and it covers what you are asking. CM involves reading and narrating- orally when younger, then around age 10 or so, written narrations. Before that, writing is from copywork, then dictation. Spelling is learned through copwork/dictation. As the child gets comfortable with narrating, the narrations progress to learning to write essays and the various forms of writing that are normal to learn. CM is broad. What it doesn't include is lots of workbooks or textbooks. It is actually a very rigorous curriculum, and on the website are some exams and schedules from CM schools way back. Basically, after every reading, whether read independently or aloud by the parent, the child relates back what they have read. In CM schools, at the end of term there would be narrations about anything they had read during the term. The point is/was not to test the child on what they do not know. The point is to train the child to pay close attention so that they only hear or read something once, and they retain it well- so well that even months later they may be able to tell you what it was about- and so to encourage the child to share what they do know. Narration prompts and exam questions are open ended. As the child gets older I find that narrations can end up in a kind of socratic dialogue, although I have never heard any CM person say that. . Grammar is started later than WTM. Maths, foreign language, Science etc are with recommended programs but are fairly much standard although Science is based on Nature Study in the early years. Short lessons are a mainstay of CM, as are breaking books down into smaller daily or weekly readings so that many books are read at the same time over a period of time. I am not strict CM at all but I think we have about 6 books going at any one time. Sometimes the kids prefer to focus on one book for a while more than others and I allow that but it's not CM. The point is that by reading a chapter a week, for example, the child must recall what has been read before and this trains the memory. It also means if a book is challenging or boring, at least it is only one of many weekly readings and doesn't have to be trudged through. Also, the point is to train the child to focus on their work, by keeping lessons and readings short. I think its further from "normal " schooling than TWTM, but I think it is a method that works well for many kids. I like it- at least I use parts at times- because like TWTM it is a literary education, and any child who reads the Ambleside (or TWTM) books on the booklists will be extremely well read. And the CM methods are simple and uncomplicated, and can be done inexpensively.

I do everything I can not to put my kids in a position where they can get away with lying, or where they are too tempted to be dishonest. For example, we used to have loose coin jar in the living area- but after realising our then maybe 8yo son had taken some coins, we realised it as too tempting for him, when he really loves money, so we took it away so as not to put him in that position, especially when we couldnt tell whether he had taken a few coins or not. I think I wouldn't have asked your dd6 either, whether she took them, I would have just checked- or if I asked her I would have checked the bin straight away anyway. And then I would always watch her take the tablets. I have certinaly done that with my kids as both have at times dumped their vitamins instead of swallowing them. Lying gives children a sense of power over their environment, when they are so dominated by the big people. its a very natural thing and I tend to treat it as practically as possible rather than purely as a moral thing. I also feel that the smaller the child, the shorter needs to be the time between the crime and the completion of the punishment. No matter the consequence, the issue needs to be dealt with quickly and let go of. And meanwhile all normal life stops until the issue is dealt with. My son stole a $5 note he found on the ground in the house once, and we literally dropped everything for several hours until he confessed- it took quite a while because he was confident we couldn't prove it. He needed to feel that he would actually be forgiven when he confessed, and he was, and he was thanked for finally being honest, and then made to pay a fine on top of returning the money.

Lol, just so you know, "making tea" was a euphamism that came up on the boards with a very hilarious nad long thread a few months back, so its kind of an in joke on the boards that comes up every now and then. And, its a pretty good way to talk about it without having to worry about kids looking over your shoulder.

I am not sure but maybe bring some gentle humour into the situation? Every now and then my husband says something to our teenagers like, you know, I do find your mother attractive and even.....and about then they start going La La La with their fingers in their ears. But we do all have a good laugh. I would suggest not taking it too seriously- after all, it's just life, it's normal. Of course you need to be sensitive to his feelings, but not taking them too seriously might help him put it into perspective.

See, to me, that is about common sense. A baby who can't turn over can drown in an inch of water. Anyone who for some reason falls unconscious- drugs, alcohol, stroke, or slipping and hitting your head on a rock- can drown in an inch of water. So I am sure it has happened over the years to many people. That doesn't make it a high risk factor for a 2 year old (I would leave a 2yo to play in a shallow bath or play pool and check on them regularly) or anyone who is in a normal state of consciousness who can physically move their body.

Pretty free range but no where near as much as I was as a child. Not sure that that is my parenting though- I think it's more the culture nowadays. My dh purposefully has us live - rent- in low crime, middle class suburbs- so that we can feel fairly safe letting our kids roam free. It is more important to him than that we buy a home- we could only afford to buy in a poorer, higher crime area. I have often been surprised by the level of protectiveness of parents on these boards. I think the level of paranoia in the U.S. is very high, and it's probably the media to blame. Or rather, the fact that people watch so much of it. Australia is not so far behind- this generation of parents is certainly more "overprotective" than previous ones- but the level of violent crime is definitely lower here. But when the news is telling of a man in a white van trying to kidnap several kids in your area, you listen and you warn your kids about white vans and what to do if one stops while they are outside. As a child though I would go off riding around the neighbourhood, wander in the bush alone, go off to the local shops alone. My kids are not such loners as me! But they go off sailing, bike riding, and to the shops, together. Would I let an 8yo go two blocks to the mail box? Certainly. I think that many parents think that being extremely protective and sheltering their kids is a good thing, that it is a loving thing. I dont. I think parenting out of too much fear puts fear into a child, and fear is a limiting and terrible thing to have too much of, and it can have subtle and crippling effects on people. I have seen parents hover so closely to their young children in case they fall over or off something in the playground- but the child picks up on the fear and therefore falls over and falls off things. It is expected- kids are smart. I would rather "expect" them NOT to fall over, fall off things, or to the extreme- get kidnapped. I would rather let them know I trust them to handle themselves and provide them with confidence radiating from me that they are fine. And meanwhile, stay at an appropriate distance, looking nonchalant! That is more my style.

I am stocking up on echinacea, and am making my own tincture. I am also growing it. Other than that, we take fish oil, spirulina, lots of kefir (probiotics), and I have many half used bottles of various things in my cupboard that I would probably get into if I felt flu was imminent. One of my favourite herbs for immune system is astragalus- I have lot of that in powder form, its just a case of getting it down. We are not too worried here in Australia yet, though. The flu kills many people each year. I am not yet convinced this is the pandemic they have been waiting for- it is just a variation of the more common strains. I am sure the normal statistics for flu would be worse- in countries other than Mexico- than the swine flu. It's very sensationalistic to print statistics for swine flu without comparing them to the more common flus. Dh did buy masks yesterday, though. And we will stay indoors and isolate ourselves from public places if it comes close. But dh is already germ phobic so its just natural for him to go out and buy masks- its kind of a good excuse to get them when he would like to wear them in winter anyway :)

I think I was the one who started this K12 HO craze- I had no idea so many people were using it now! I am glad people like it. I bought it by accident but really like it. The way I have used it is to make up my own program just using it as a spine, and along with some AO books and ideas. Our year is divided into four 10 week terms so I divided our Ancient Year (with my then 12 and 13yos) into 4 sections.(1) Pre-history/Early civilizations, (2)Egypt/India/China and early religions (the book covers these well), (3)Greece, and (4)Rome/Early Christianity. We read books from AO Year 6/pre7, like Geurber's The Story of Greece, The Story of Rome. We didnt outline- we did that with other subjects. Usually, I would set the kids a weekly assignment- for example, tell me the story of the Buddha. Sort of narrations, although I had my older one do some more in depth essays. I had them do maps. We read relevant literature. It wasnt especially rigorous or structured- I just kept them reading, discussing, and writing. History is our favourite subject and we do a fair bit together (reading aloud/discussions). We are now doing the Medieval section of the book for our Medieval Year. They are just reading it along with other books, including SOTW2 a 2nd time. They are outlining Usborne (for ds13) and Kingfisher (dd14) encyclopedias- I have lined up the relevant pages. I am aligning it with IEW Medieval Writing lessons, adding mapwork (an enlarged map of Europe) and a major project. Dd14 is making a medieval book, with a story, calligraphy and artwork. Ds13 is building a castle and maybe a town for his Warhammer figures. This is along with HEO year 7 which is the medieval year.

I would consider some books on tape, and also reading aloud with him so as to share the experience of reading a more difficult classic than what he (and possibly you) are generally used to. I am reading Ivanhoe to my kids at the moment and although it took us a bit to get into it, we love it now and its our favourite part of the day. If you want to interest him, it might help to do some things with him so you can help him push through those difficult bits. My son loved the Ancients for all the battles and wars (though there are plenty later as well, the Iliad just appealed to his masculinity!). I would do an overview of history, adding in some easy and some more meaty literature- but you might have to do the more difficult literature with him. However, my own feeling is that if he has been unschooled and you are waiting for him to be inspired....most of us have found our kids need an external discipline, they need to be "forced" one way or another, to do more difficult work. I dont think even my compliant student would voluntarily choose to study most of what we do, and my boy certainly wouldn't. But given no choice- only some flexibility as to how it is carried out, schedules, sometimes a choice of books here and there etc- their lives are enriched and they are no longer intimidated by more difficult language and skills. A classical education, or any more rigorous one, is usually won by hard work, and inspiration is only a small part of the whole story. When you don't feel like it, you still do it.

I always find these things intriguing, but I don't like being dependent on any company for a product. There is a great composting system that interests me but it involves some sort of product that helps decompose the food scraps. There is a hydroponic product being advertised on TV that grows great vegies indoors- but you have to buy teh chemicals from the company. I am leery of anything with a catch, and I consider being dependent on a company for something, a catch. I dont know about the earth boxes though.

I am not aware of anything like what you are asking for, but if you look at AO Year 2 you will see a list of free books related to Medieval. An Island Story is wonderful. I am using Year 7 at the moment, but am tweaking it greatly as I always do. It is Medieval too. Between AO years 2, 7 (although 7 would be too old overall there might be some books in there), and TWTM/SOTW2, you will have easily a years worth of books. My problem is usually which books to leave out. I thought I would use the HEO 7 schdules but it didnt take me long to feel they were stifling. Its easy enough to put together your own program with a spine (SOTW2) and then add in extra books.

For the first several years of homeschooling I was a drill sergeant about starting school by 8.30 am in the morning. Since dd14 HAS to have a shower and she always takes ages, and both kids have chores, it means waking up whenever necessary in order to start school by 8.30. Generally, 7am is wake up time, and whether I wake them or they wake themselves, they had better be out of their rooms within 10 minutes or else tomorrow, I wake them at 6.45. For a while I was waking them at 6.30 because they were taking so long to get ready! Starting school by 8.30 was a priority for me because I am a morning person, even though dd isn't. Nowadays I cut her a little bit of slack as long as she is starting by 9 because she has been able to finish on her own before afternoon activities like her part time job. Also, I get up much earlier than them, so my chores are done well before theirs and my mornings are relaxation time with dh. We have a morning spa and often a walk together. I do our "together work"- work they need me for- in the mornings. I just prioritise it. I have chronic fatigue and by early afternoon I am whacked and I need to rest. So everything they need my help with, and our read alouds, has to happen before lunch. I DO yell and move them on, when necessary. Both have a schedule. If they are being immature and irresponsible, I might yell. I dont have a problem with it. My kids arent crushed by it. But it doenst happen so much nowadays. If I am yelling its usually a sign I am not backing up my threats with consequences. Sometimes it takes a day or two of drill camp to make them realise I mean it. But once the order and routine is again established, I become very sweet again :) If its hurting me, it's not working right. It has to work for me, first. It has to hurt THEM, not me. I need them to be ready by 8.30 so we can get most of our work done in the mornings. Its not negotiable and its a priority, so I make sure it happens. Confiscate pocket money, skip shower (for dd who loves her morning shower), bring dad in to back me up, yell, follow them around, ban electronics, take away ipods- whatever it takes to make it happen. My son however still really wants me to tell him what to do next. I have a schedule on his desk and one on mine. I dont actually mind too much that he wont look at his schedule because I know he wants the human contact. If I am feeling impatient though, I will just tell him to read his schedule. I am wondering if you are trying to do much else other than just be with the kids while they homeschool. I found long ago that it doesnt work for me to try and clean the house or do chores during school time. I need to be 100% present in the room, even if I am just hanging out here. I am available. I find if I am not present, the amount of work that gets done drops dramatically and suddenly the kids become needy and helpless again. Also, just getting ready in the morings- perhaps if you get up earlier and get ready yourself so you can be on their case for a few mornings without having to do your own thing.....it might help pull them into line. It takes whatever it takes, no matter how we might wish they would just behave themselves! Usually it takes us getting off our butt and making it happen.

Check out the herb gymnema. I put my mother on it recently- she is pre-diabetic with all the symptoms, including pain in her feet. She was getting quite uncomfortable with the symptoms. Within 3 days of taking gymnema the symptoms all vanished. Its not a cure all, you still have to take care of your diet, and exercise, but it can really make a difference to your blood sugar levels. it is available here in health food stores.

Yes, I am often surprised by how little people know about health issues, or take responsibility for their own health. However, I was terribly ignorant about where many countries of the world actually are until i started homeschooling my kids. I just had no inner visual picture of the world even though I loved and did Honours in Geography in highschool. Geography in Australia is more like Earth Science in the U.S. However, I did grow up with a dad who really felt it was important to instill a lot of "common knowledge" in his kids, and I did find I knew a lot of things others didn't. However, there were so many areas I was blank on. I had a boyfriend who was into art history- I didn't have a clue till he took me to bookshops to look through huge coffee table art books, what the different schools were, and suddenly a whole new world opened up. And there is so much I have learned through homeschooling. I love that feeling when I get an interest in a new subject and a whole new world opens up that was only ever on the periphery of my consciousness. It makes life rich.

I have had a frustrating time trying to get my kids to learn French. Mainly my dd14. She learned with a tutor online for a while- abysmal failure. We tried to do it together with French Prep. It was the first thing to drop off the list when things got busy, so without consistent work, it just felt like a waste of time. We also had a friend in real life teach us for a while, and that was probably best, but pretty slow, and eventually she stopped. So, I asked Dd how she would like to learn French and she said, Rosetta Stone- she had played with the demo CDRom from the library many times. I wasnt going to spend $500 Au for it, so I hunted 2nd hand and someone sold me one cheap, thankfully. Dd does it every day and it seems to work for her quite well. Recently I was wondering if she wanted to drop French- I allowed ds13 to drop it- and she said no, she would like to keep doing it. So, she does. She won't be doing exams, it's not something she needs for anything else.....she is just learning French because she wants to, and Rosetta Stone seems to work fairly well for a self motivated learner, up to a point. I dont think its ideal- I think a real life tutor or class would be better- but as far as computer programs go, its good.

I think I have tried everything :) I always seem to come back to just making up my own schedules and plans on the computer although I do have a real folder on my desk in which I store notes and plans I may have handwritten at some stage. It's also where I store things I print out that I may refer to. I also have a normal desk diary but it's not for planning. I don't have to keep records as such. I keep their work to show a moderator once a year- then throw most of it and keep the best. No attendance records. I have bought many planners, online and paper. None fit me well enough to use for long- I make my own using tables in Word. I probably got a bit of inspiration from most of them, though.