Will she practice or "role play" with you? Many people practice for interviews. Coming up with answers to those kinds of questions can be quite difficult! My kids tend to answer questions as succinctly as possible. It just does not occur to them to add in a lot of extra info. They are slowly getting better, but it has taken time. My quiet kids also contribute a lot in the classes they have taken, so I don't think one can really measure how engaged she will be within the class by these kinds of interviews. I am hoping to see a society shift in our perceptions of introverts!

We watched some of the Math U see videos online and she didn't like them. I think she has issues with male teachers in general. :( Thanks for the suggestion though. I will take another looke.

I am looking for suggestions for an algebra program like saxon, but slower paced. This is for my niece in grade 10. I really do not know where she was in math before she came to live with us last year. She has mostly been schooled in Germany and had been in the college track high school program but she pretty much shut down over the past two years while experiencing traumatic life events. She says she covered the quadratic formula and yet she still struggles with dealing with positives, negatives and roots. We started with ALEKS, covering many pre-algebra skills where she had gaps. Then we moved onto Saxon algebra about 4 weeks ago (but we had one week of spring break). She prefers using a text book over the online ALEKS program. She does not like Khan Academy, which was a great resource for my kids. The spiral review approach in Saxon has been good for her. Some of the first problems she struggled, but now she does much better after having the same types of problems assigned day after day. We both like that the text book is free of side bars and various special sections. BUT, when new concepts are introduced, she needs more practice with the basics before moving onto the kinds of problems in the book. The other day we covered combining like terms. She understands the basics, but I had to write up more simplified practice problems before she could successfully work on the ones in the text book. Today we covered exponents and sq roots and she gets mixed up easily with the practice problems in the book. I again wrote out some easier problems for her to work through and then will have her tackle the harder problems in the book on Monday. I am wondering though if she wouldn't be better served finding a slower paced algebra program, or even going back to a pre-algebra program. I can get a hold of the saxon pre-alg book so I will look into that. Any suggestions for a slower paced algebra program? I used parts of a Lial book with my son, but the pages were visually quite cluttered and I am not sure that would be a good fit for her either.

My niece is in grade 10 and we are doing the WWS 1 on the shortened schedule as outlined in the WTM Academy class mentioned above. http://www.wtmacademy.com/courses/spring-2014/rhetoric-prep/ She started in December and is almost done with WWS 1. She did not skip much at first at all; I only found the condensed schedule recently. I think it could have been accelerated even more to cover just the basics to prepare a student for WWS 2 and then 3. I haven't decided if we will continue with WWS 2-3 next year. She has made a lot of progress and might be ready for a change. I have been thinking of asking for other suggestions here was well. :) Anyways, just wanted to say that I think you could condense WWS 1-3, perhaps even through a summer session.

My son has his first one when he was 14 or 15 and he still had a hard time at first. The nurse started to get kind of annoyed at him. For him anxiety is the culprit. Anyways, just chiming in that the first time can be hard for all kinds of age groups. Best wishes to your son!

My kids are not big tv watchers, but around age 13-14 I did talk to them about being mindful of books and audio books from the library as they were venturing out of the young adult section. We talked about different content one might want to avoid and how you cannot "unread" or "unsee" some things. I did not restrict their reading though. Oldest is heading off to college this year and my other son will be going next year. They have free access to the internet on their phones and I have no concerns about their choices. If they consistently wanted to watch raunchy material, I am sure I would feel differently, but this just has never been an issue.

We might need needle nose pliers to retrieve the earbud from your ear canal.

I would let my child take AP or DE Chemistry if Chem was of special interest to them and they had previous chemistry exposure (such as reading a text book, going through Khan Academy, doing a lot of independent reading on the subject). My kids took AP Physics without previously taking any physics classes, but they are both interested in the subject. One son opted for AP Physics over AP Chem (even though he actually has taken honors Chemistry) because he thought he'd enjoy the physics class more. If they do go straight to AP CHem, I would try to allow for some flexibility in the other classes in case the AP Chem takes up a lot of time. GL!

No regrets here about 15 years after DH's vasectomy. BUT, he did have painful complications after his procedure. I hope everything goes smoothly for your husband! Still, I cannot imagine how our lives would have been if we had been dealing with BC for the past 15 years.

Also, a book I found very helpful is "Quirky, Yes! Hopeless, No!" This goes through many quirky traits aspies tend to have. It helped me understand my son so much better.

My son was dx'd with nonverbal LD at age 7. The evaluator also told us he was also dyslexic and Aspie. Really there is some confusion over all these terms and I don't really know the best diagnosis for him. He is an older teen now so this was ten years ago. I suspect his dx would now be ASD with the changes. He did have a speech delay but did not get speech therapy until he was 5, almost 6, for a variety of reasons. He had therapy for one year and his articulation issues resolved. My son is very literal. We had many misunderstandings and miscommunications because he interprets things so incredibly literally. For example, when he was younger we frequently checked out audio books on CD or cassette tapes from the library. Even though they were on CD, I tended to call them all "books on tape". One time I asked him to collect the library books on tape. He told me he didn't have any. I knew he had some though! Well, turns out they were all on CD. To him he answered my question perfectly appropriately. It was very hard for him to extrapolate beyond the literal meaning of what I said. He is now much better, just from our own study of human communication. He even is very good at literary analysis, which kind of surprised me. From the way you describe his interactions, I can see why you think asd. But, I wouldn't latch onto the speech therapy too much. Are there any social clubs for aspies there? This is one thing I wish I had pursued for my kids when they were younger.

Sounds as though she has actually asked for help. In that case I would try to help out if I had the time. Perhaps the older child is dyslexic. Purely speculation of course. Homeschooling didn't turn out to be the picturesque endeavor with the kiddos happily complying with the work and mom disengaged or didn't know what to do next. When my kids were younger we could have seemed terribly lax to many people. We did do a lot and my kids absorbed massive amounts of info and developed strong analytical skills, but their output was exceedingly low. Writing in particular was a struggle until they hit the teen years. I don't think the older child's difficulties with writing necessarily mean that his educational needs are not being net. I actually wish we (educators in general) had a much broader acceptance of when it is appropriate for kids to develop writing skills.

I use the larger plastic clips Garga linked or a heavy duty metal alligator type clip. I bought my metal clip from Nordstroms over ten years ago for about $30, which at the time seemed like an insane amount of money for a clip. It can handle a lot of hair though and is so easy. I almost never wear my hair down. I used to braid my hair but I got tired of dealing with it. I have been thinking of getting a super short cut just for the ease.

I am sorry; I know this is a vent. But honestly I envy you having in laws who care enough to bother sending any kind of gift.

I have an older, single acquaintance who sounds a bit like your neighbor . I realized many of the little things I do on my own or figure out are a real challenge for her. She didn't know how a mechanical pencil worked for example. She has a really hard time with any kind of home electronics too. Simple things that you think anyone can do overwhelm and frustrate her. She works and is self sufficient and not developmentally delayed in any way, but she just, idk, she just seems to get paralyzed by trying new tasks. I can understand it could be frustrating to live by someone who makes so many demands. Sounds as though your neighbor lacks an awareness of certain boundaries.

My kids still do this sometimes. Of course, I don't think my teenage sons can even tell the difference between shampoo and conditioner. WE had to have a little talk about his recently bc son's hair was greasy after taking a shower. I tend to stock up on these kinds of items when they go on sale and keep them in our hall closet. Everyone knows where they are, but they usually still ask me when they run out. They are slowing getting better, but as my kids are on the brink of college, so it took some time. :D

I think you have gotten a lot of great advice already and it does sound as though you may need some household reorganization/restructuring to get yourself in a better place. I definitely agree with getting the kids to do more chores. I also tell my kids that I expect them to start thinking of ways they can contribute to the household. What kinds of actions can they do that help the household run more smoothly? At first my kids had very few ideas and the idea was quite novel to them! Over time though, they started spontaneously unloading the dishwasher or picking up, etc. I can share one simple thing I did to help my brain shut off. I started a night time priority for household cleaning. After that was accomplished, I was DONE with cleaning for the day. Anything else that crossed my mind that needed to be done was written down on a notepad next to my bed. For me the night time cleaning routine was simple--quick sweep of kitchen, counter wiped down and dishwasher loaded and hit run. This was my way of shutting down the household. Turning on the dishwasher became my off switch. Your kids are old enough to help with a night time routine like this. I would emphasize to them that you need to be able to turn off and get a good night's sleep as well. Best wishes for a good night's sleep!

Aww :sad:

My son was homeschooled up until high school when he choose to attend the public high school for math and science classes. That was when his anxiety grew unmanageable and frightening. He enjoys many aspects of the high school and wanted to stay enrolled. After much discussion, he ended up taking anxiety meds (lexapro). His life is so much better now. It was definitely not an easy decision though. We tried all kind of relaxation approaches, fish oil, stress relievers, but they could only scratch the surface of his struggles. His psychiatrist said sometimes in teens the medication can help re-train the brain so he may be able to taper off the use. But either way, it has been a massive improvement. Wishing you all the best and more cyber hugs!!

:grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug: I have a gifted kid with anxiety issues. Does your son take anxiety medication? We tried all kinds of approaches with son. I know how frustrating and down right scary it can be. Wishing you all the best.

Spirited? Boundary tester? Limit pusher?

This is a bit of a spin off from the Minimal High School thread. Can we brainstorm/discuss options for the non-college bound? Let us assume this is for a bright teen with mental health issues. Does not want to do child care or health care. Shuts down in stressful situations. Good with direct instructions. Has had an interest in photography and editing photos but currently not doing anything to delve into this. With homeschooling, asks a lot of questions about history but does not pursue anything independently. In this case, the student has had traumatic past experiences. We hope she will heal and then be more capable of taking on challenges. But, a big part of her seems to have just given up. We want to help her explore options and have a realistic vision for her future though. Retail work? I worked some retail jobs in high school--ages ago! Some were actually quite stressful though because we were constantly being badgered by managers to sell more stuff. What does one need to do to become an administrative assistant these days? Any interesting paths people care to discuss?

I was thinking about this today for my son, a high school senior. He had to create many online accounts throughout the college application process. I was musing how at his age I had to remember a few phone numbers, and that was all! Then slowly a PIN was added in and then my SS#. Now we have an explosion of passwords! yikes!

We used to play the game "Don't Crack the Ice". The ice is household harmony. Whacking at it with a hammer is their whining. It erodes away at the household stability. Yes, cracking it and breaking it all up is exhilarating! Let's do it some more! Whack whack whack! But in reality we can't function with a broken base. We really need to work on ways to actually make the base stronger. With a stronger base we are all more likely to achieve our goals. We can make it stronger by cooperation, kindness, thoughtfulness, etc. But, yea I am goofy like that!

When my kids were young they did take pride in their self directed accomplishments and projects, but not necessarily assigned work. My son used to love to dig big holes in the yard. Wow, he was really proud of those holes! HE also liked building pulleys and making arrows. Yes, he showed pride in that too. But, in a book centric assignment? I cannot recall any early pride from that for him. Younger son did have different sense of pride and it could center around more academic work. He loved those project based history books and took pride is executing the instructions just perfectly. But he also took pride in seeing how well he could create beeswax candles from a set. He is a person who actually likes to follow directions! But, pride in writing a paragraph or doing math problems? That didn't come until much later. Around grades 8 and 9, I saw them really start to buckle down and demonstrate a willingness to work through tougher material especially in math and science. For LA, where the answers are more interpretive, they usually did not put in as much effort, honestly, until they took dual enrollment classes. My kids help out around the house, do chores, etc, but no, they do not demonstrate "pride" in doing them. Heck, I don't think I do either! IT is just something that has to be done. Maybe you are wrestling with the ideal of homeschooling versus the reality? As homeschoolers our opportunities can be virtually unlimited, but sometimes it seems as though we are just barely scrapping by. It is easy to feel as though we aren't doing enough because there aren't well defined parameters for what will work for our particular child. This is the blessing and curse of homeschooling. About math competitions--my older son is quite strong in math (he is gifted w/LDs btw). He used a variety of math programs also. Saxon and then AOPS were the best, most productive programs for him. He ended up taking AP Calc BC at the high school (you can DE here) and his math teacher could not understand why DS wasn't interested in math competitions. They just were not a good fit for him. So, even though son went on to take calc 3 and linear alg his senior year, he has never participated in a math competition. He did one science competition which happened to grant him a scholarship at a local university. He has, however reached out to physics professors and obtained volunteer spot in a lab, but that was not until he was 16 years old. If the child isn't interested in competitions, I see no need to pressure them into doing them. I think if you avoid squelching your child's love of learning, you are doing just fine!