Those are checked more regularly and, so far, I'm fine in those areas.

interesting. I forgot to add that I am vegetarian (with some fish - is that a pescatarian??? ) about 1/2 the year due to religious fasting. I wonder if protein from nuts is better than meat protein? off to watch the video now.

My mom lost a kidney to stones back in the 70s and in the early 90s her remaining kidney malfunction for no known reason. She was a long-term transplant recipient (yay) but kidney problems have always been in the back of my mind. I had a check up (sono, blood work) done about 15+yrs ago and the only thing that came out was that one kidney is smaller than the other. The dr. didn't seem to freaked out about it, so I figured that might be normal. Obviously, it's been a long time and, now that I'm in my 50s, I'd like to take more preventative steps. She was about my age when she had the transplant. I've also developed some mild symptoms that could be anything, but could also be kidney related so it's on my mind. In looking around the internet there's a lot of information available, but not all is trustworthy. I've known for years that nettle tea is good for stones, but that's not a problem I've ever had before. What, if anything, are some positive things I could be doing now to help with kidney function? I drink a lot of water already. I rarely drink alcohol. I have decaf tea 1-2x per day. I stopped using artificial sweeteners last fall, otherwise I follow a lower carb diet.

I must be the odd man out because I think I'd feel a little sad for the house. Like it needs some happiness in its space to make up for all the sadness.

This is what I have been assuming as well.

I don't know. I suspect the information/thought/idea must come at just the right time when someone is already beginning to question their long-held belief or idea. I'm sure it almost always has to do with personal experience rather than some well put argument in favor of the new idea/thought. I think it would be interesting to study how men/women differ in changing their minds about a long-held belief or idea. In my own circle of friends it seems like as women age they become more open to different ideas. Men seem to become more stuck in their ways. But, that is just my own small circle of friends.

oh my goodness! so glad they finally dx you correctly. prayers for a full recovery.

Sounds so painful and awful. I hope your health starts to turn for the better now that these issues are being addressed. :grouphug:

yes, prayers are always a good thing. praying for you. Do you have an appt. for the MRI yet?

I disagree. Public shamming is not okay - esp now with social media and people's lives being completely ruined by such things. I don't like what she did, but I wouldn't want to see her publicly humiliated. I'll hope for the best and assume she's embarrassed enough by the media blitz on her stupidity and has learned from her mistake.

I hate those "See Something Say Something" signs. They make me very sad for my country. And they make me think way too much about Soviet era Russia. And, the whole thing makes me angry. What if the guy is just an introvert? I guess we can't have any introverts of ME descent or look Middle Eastern Yes, disturbing on many levels.

how awful. Prayers for them in this time of unspeakable grief.

I'm sorry your long-time dream didn't come to fruitition. My issues are different but I completely understand that trapped feeling that nothing is going to change. :grouphug: I hope you find some positive direction.

That's what I was thinking. I think it's less you and more whatever weirdness is going on in the marriage. Of course, HE may have forbid her to be friends with you too. At least it wasn't someone in your greater sphere of friends.

First off, this is not the original reason for looking for a new school. I originally started looking because we wanted a school that was larger (current school's graduating class is 10). But, I specifically looked for a school that wasn't a college preparatory styled school. I knew that level of academic expectations at a prep school would not work for my son at this time. I looked for alternative styled schools that weren't your typical textbook heavy schools. But, I wanted him to be challenged and I wanted something that had a good science/tech program as we see him geared towards science & math - specifically mechanical engineering type stuff. He loves to build things... always has since he was very young. He likes to think outside the box and build stuff. We felt that his current school wouldn't be able to meet that need, as well as being an issue of size, and his close friends all moving on to other, traditional schools. Those were the reasons we started looking. When we first put him in the school we felt that we would give him the 2years there to learn the skills to be able to move on to a more traditional school for high school. So, it's been a background goal since he started there. But, through the process we've discovered that he appears to be lacking in some important academic areas as well that put him behind, even at these alternative schools. So my concern with his current school grew. I do not believe he is on grade with writing specifically. I feel that because they are a school for LD kids - specifically language based LD - that they don't require the students to do the same level of work that other same-grade kids would be doing. For instance, most middle schools have kids writing multiple-page reports (such as a 3 page report on a topic). My son has not done that yet. Perhaps I should say that this school shouldn't require that since it is meeting the needs of kids with LD, but I think my son is ready to step up and do that. I worry that the current school, because it's meeting the needs of multiple LD kids, won't do that. The Friends school does give accommodations, just not all on the LD school's list. They will allow more time for tests, for him to test in a separate room, use of computer for writing assignments, calculators, and audio books. We have not been back to the neuro specialists since he was tested, but at the time they told us outright that they were going to ask for everything they could, knowing that most public/private schools cannot give kids all those listed. They figured we might get 50%. That has turned out to be a hindrance for every school but the LD school he attends. The others look at the list and freak out. We had one school that wouldn't even discuss with us our expectations for accommodations. They just rejected him outright after going over the list.

I wanted to update. I have not had any time since last week to go to the local public school and discuss the possibility of putting my son in. We're going to talk with him tonight about it and see what he thinks too. However, I put a call into the the private school we're hoping to get our son into (it's a Friends school). I wanted to talk with them about my son's commitment to working on his academics through the summer to get him up to speed on some of the academics that may be a problem. I talked to him about my son's motivation because he wants to go to that school. They decide admittance by committee but I didn't know when they would meet to decide. Anyway the conversation went much better. He said one of their concerns was the accommodations, which I explained - again- that we were not expecting them to cover all his accommodations. He said that they wanted to set up an appt. with us and the Head of School to discuss our son. I'm hopeful that this is a positive sign. I've also put a call into one of the mom's who has a child in both schools. We've talked before about transferring to this school but there's another kid at the Friends school who transferred from our current school to there for 9th grade last year. I want to talk with his parents about their experience. I also talked for a long time to my sister because she put her daughter into 9th grade at her local public school (same county) 4yrs ago. She has discalcula and had either been homeschooled or in private school previously. Her experience was mixed, but she worried that, since my son's issues are language based, almost all his core classes would be with "the problem kids". Her daughter's experience was that the Honors and AP classes had the best and most motivated to learn kids, but the lower classes and/or classes for kids with kids with LD had the worst, most disruptive and belligerent kids. She said her daughter still hates math because of the negative experience in math class at her school. She said my son probably get more time for tests and a few other accommodations but that they will not go out of their way to actually *teach* my son the skills he needs. So its sounds like the private LD school and the public school will be polar opposites. One over compensating and the other doing almost nothing. Either way, I think I'd have to do work, not just through the summer, but also during the school year.

please don't bring your dog. Some people are allergic... some are deathly afraid of animals, and others of us just don't seen the need for such silliness. I think it's gross to have Fifi at the store. And yes, I have seen non-service dogs at the grocery store too.

what an awful way to find out... I'm glad they dx it and you're getting the care you need.

no... it's like everyone gets a trophy in Little League only or women.

praying for her.

That would be a great idea except that he was already kept back a grade when he was younger. :(

He does not have an IEP but did have a psyc-ed testing done 3yrs ago. My friend (whose dd goes to public) strongly recommend I get the ball rolling on that too..even if we don't go the public school route. as for hybrid schools, I will look into it, but I don't hold much out. When I was homeschooling it was not an option. The closest thing was some good high school classes at a church's private school, along with co-op, and doing their big production play with their private school. But you had to be a member of that church in order to utilize it... that is not an option. Most really active co-ops were attached to very active churches and you had to be a member to join. I'll ask my friend who is finishing up homeschooling with her son, she's still got her hand in so she may know. As to homeschooling - it's an option, but honestly I'd rather send him to the private LD school and supplement. He's our youngest by 5yrs and home alone a lot already. He's really craving some friendships and he's sad about his friends at school all moving off to various schools. As to his workload or doing high-level work. Sadly, I don't think he's there, right now. I think he's ready to step up and work harder and learn to do on-level work. I fear the current school is not challenging him. It's a complaint I've heard from other parents too. He will definitely need some tutoring or summer school work from me in order to be prepared. We've talked about it with him and he's okay with it because he really wants to get into that school.

I am not sure.. Most of the stuff for high school is more class based and they fill up in the early spring. I haven't homeschooled in 5yrs though, so things could have changed. However, his best homeschooling friend is going to a private school this coming fall, so we wouldn't have that connection either.

My youngest son is currently in a school specifically for kids with language based LD. Next year he goes into high school and we looked to transfer into a more traditional private high school for next year. However, that is not panning out. The most recent school we applied to (yes, I know it's late - I'm already beating myself up about that) is looking like they will not accept him. I talked with the admissions guy yesterday after the SSAT test scores came in and he made noises like "it's not your son, it's us... we want what's best for him." etc. etc. I took it to mean that they will most likely deny because his scores were not good (he's terrible at test taking). Also, because he goes to a special school I've talked over and over with the admissions officer about our expectations. We don't expect a more traditional school to provide all those accommodations nor do we think our son needs them. My son will be devastated if/when this happens. He really liked this school and it looked like such a good fit for him. So after going through this emotional process this spring with 2 different schools I'm emotionally worn out, but I'm also concerned that the current LD school is ham-stringing my son. They offer a lot of provisions and they have helped my son tremendously, but sometimes I feel like they hold him back due to the nature of the school. I really feel that my son can step it up a notch. He makes all A's in school and rarely stresses about homework (unlike last year)... but the schools we applied to don't look at potential, they look at data from the school and the SSAT test scores. They see what kind of school he goes to and his writing samples (which were horrible) and I think they are rightfully concerned. I don't know how to show them that my son can step up to the task and that we're willing to work with him to help make it happen (tutors, etc.). My dh wants me to continue looking at another couple private schools, but I am done. I can't bring it to the table anymore. I feel like a hamster running in the wheel.. we're clearly not getting anywhere with this route. Besides my son is emotionally tired of the rejection. I do not want to put him through the hoop jumping roller-coaster only to be rejected AGAIN. It's not fair to him either. However, ds doesn't' want to go back to the original school because most/all his friends are leaving. The school is very small and he's lonely at home too. Besides, those two schools were really the best options considering my son's learning style (he's not Prep-school material). There's a lot of prep-schools (or prep-school wanna-bees) in my county. In talking with one of the moms in the carpool she has an older daughter with some similar issues who goes to the local public school. She was just transferred in after years of being in private schools too. Anyway, this particular public school has a good reputation for helping kids with accommodations and LD. So my thought is to work with the public school and get my son into it for the fall. Talk with my son about his goal of getting into the 1st choice private school and working towards that goal with tutoring (if necessary) for 10th grade. It's a risk because I know that public schools can be a quagmire. But, I worry that keeping him at the current LD school is another risk because will only hold him back even more. Another piece of the puzzle is that my son has lots of anxiety associated with school and test taking. The current school is a very gentle environment and they don't do standardized-styled testing. Of course, the public school seems to be all about testing. So, for the sake of his emotional health, I could keep him in the LD school but they won't necessarily push him and he may wind up having to stay all 4 years.

The 2 schools we applied to were not a-typical schools. One is Montessori based but goes through 12th. The other is somewhat non-traditional.. .lots of hands-on and project based learning... very little textbook learning. This is why we saw these two as good options for my son. They also have a international population so I had hoped they were accustomed to working with kids from a variety of backgrounds. okay.. now i'll go over the LC board :)