Mine reads Calvin & Hobbes, Garfield, Peanuts, & Bone. He's read them for hours a day for years. It makes for very interesting conversations when he uses phrases from the books in regular conversation. Like when we are at a friend's house playing outside and he climbs on top of their playhouse in the backyard and starts screaming "Curse you Red Baron!" Let me tell you, that reference is lost on most 4 & 5 year olds. LOL! The Bone books are a little dark toward the end, but they have a better storyline than some of the other ones. I'm going to go look up Asterix too. I also saw that Veritas Press makes Shakespeare into comic books, so those are on my wish list as well.

Red flags from my perspective. You should never have to pay for training. Especially not $300 for training for a job that *might* happen, only if there is work. I'd keep looking.

For me, the end-of-year assessment really helps. We do the Woodcock-Johnson normative test and because we take it early, I know my oldest has "passed" this grade as far as the state is concerned and I can take a deep breath a relax a little bit. Truly though, it is amazing to me to see how much progress he makes from year-to-year with an objective measuring stick. Even this year when I was positive that he had gone backwards, he's still gained a year in the test (and a year 6 grades above where he should have been at that!). Some might say that's a false sense of security, but I say it's a huge stress reliever!

When I get to that point I always have to cut something out of my schedule. When I'm working part-time, nursing, pregnant or any combination of the above I hire a housecleaner since I have to cut out the chores. When I am homeschooling and training for a specific event, I have to cut out working part-time. I think too, keeping in mind that everything is just for a season helps tremendously. So even if it's not the right time for something I really want to do now, that doesn't mean I won't ever get to do it, even though that's instantly what I think.

He did refer to boys in the original article. I don't have the exact quote in front of me but it was something to the affect of: Little Wayne is popular but I don't let my son wear his pants dragging on the ground. So, I think he was trying to bring boys dress in to the debate as well. I think the focus is more on the female gender because the studies have shown eating disorders, depression and body image problems directly related to the dressing sexy at a younger age. To my knowledge, wearing thug clothes does not have the same psychological effect on boys.

In a homeschool book I read recently (I forget the title) the author interviewed all the kids she could and asked them to tell her their favorite part of homeschooling and their least favorite part of homeschooling. While their favorites varied to some degree, the least favorite across the board was that they didn't have as many friends as they would have liked. I also know 2 men who were homeschooled all through their growing years and now chose to send their children to public school because they were isolated as well. So, is your husband's concern having more to do with isolation than the bubble? I know that as mom's, we can seek out the friendships and support we need through online forums or local co-ops. But I think sometimes we forget that while we are online getting all kinds of support, our kids are playing with their siblings in the next room or working on school work. While we are chatting with our favorite moms at a co-op, our kids are in a structured environment that might not necessarily be the best environment for getting to know the kids they are in class with. I think the same can be true with most structured classes. They might see kids on a daily/weekly basis but not feel like they get to be friends with those same kids. All that to say, your husband might be more receptive if you show him in your plans time for interacting with other kids their age outside of a class or co-op. From our perspective we might be running all over the place getting our kids to different social events but from our kids perspective they might feel they are being run to school all over the place but don't have time to forge relationships because everything has to be about learning. Just my 2 cents and something I try to be aware of.

It will get better! Do you have something in mind to replace the time she was spending on electronics?

oh, I can TOTALLY relate to you on this. We are in the exact same position, tears and all :( I don't have any answers for you yet, because I'm still trying to find them myself. I will say though, that we have tried the medicine route and it can create a whole new set of problems. With Strattera my son would pick at his skin until we was bleeding. He would also have aggression/rage that wasn't typically his personality. He was only on it for 5 months and we had to take him off because of the side effects. We then tried Adderall and that took away his ability to eat, sleep or be creative. We're weaning him off of that now and I am determined not to put him on anything else. Your child may react differently to the medicine, and I certainly wouldn't presume that what didn't work for my child wouldn't work for yours, but I know when I was deciding for the first time, I wish someone had told me that the medicine wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Other than that, I will be anxiously awaiting to hear what others have to say as this is my biggest struggle as well. :grouphug:

I am *really* OCD but how I organize is to keep a rubbermaid bin for each grade. As I finish books within the grade (or other materials) I put them in the bin to keep my bookshelves clear. Then I label the bin and store it in my basement. I chose rubbermaid instead of cardboard boxes because I store it in the basement and didn't want dampness to ruin my books! As for on the bookshelf, I have 2 shelves for each grade. Within the shelves I have the books arranged by subject, and in the order we will be using the books. It's kind of cool to see as the year progresses to see fewer and fewer books on the bookshelf, and a really big ego boost for me to see how much we've accomplished, then again I am very task-oriented so this is perfect for me. :) I store our library books on the 5th shelf. FYI, I have 2 kids who I am officially homeschooling. My oldest (7) is doing Veritas Press and my youngest (3 1/2) is doing Sonlight. My baby doesn't take up much bookshelf space since we store her books in her bedroom. I also got 2 bookshelves with doors on them that have the shelves broken up into little cubbies. This is where I store all my art supplies, paper and anything else that doesn't look "pretty" on the bookshelf.

IEW does allow for some creative writing. We used it with Veritas Press in 2nd grade and will continue to use it. One of my favorite papers by my son was a story he wrote about a bird & a garden hose. IEW gave him 3 pictures and then he composed the rest. We both loved it because it gave us a good starting point other than "Write about your favorite....". It is also highly dependent on how involved you want to be with it. It is flexible enough to be used with any curriculum or books that you are already reading. And the flexibility extends to the different genres of writing. But it is something you as the parent need to put together since it's not in a workbook format of an assignment each day. But I like it precisely because I don't have to have a separate subject of writing.

HLA is tax-deductible because they are more inclusive of who they will represent. HSLDA is not tax-deductible because they will not represent same sex couples who homeschool (as one example). As for politics, I don't see much difference. Since HLA is cheaper and tax-deductible I went with them.

Do you have access to a credit union? Ours has a credit card where you earn 2% back each year and certain months with double rewards. Then you get your reward back in a savings account that earns 10% interest. Sadly, the only way you can contribute to the account is through using your card, but that might be a good option.

I'm the same way with my GPS. I refuse to accept a machine can know more than me especially when I have my memory to rely on. It's never been wrong whereas I have been. :blush:

We bought this one for my 7 year old and he really likes it. Although I must admit we haven't hooked it up to the computer yet. It was certainly one of the less expensive models available and it seemed more durable than the more expensive ones.

Count me in! Two years ago I set up an inclusive meetup group in my area and would love to recreate that across the nation. I am also very much in favor of an inclusive convention.