I think this is a great idea. I used to work at a Humane Society, and it was routine to stop adoptions around Christmas. It prevented impulse adoptions. Also, the height of the holiday season isn't the best time to bring a new member of the family home. Visitors, decorations, unusual schedules. All these things can make the holidays an extra hard time for a new pet to settle in. I also really like the idea of making the expedition for the dog a family event. It's how we adopted out last dog from the Humane Society and our most recent cat from the pound.

We make lots of things from scratch for Thanksgiving, but we use Stove Top so we have some stuffing on hand for the people who like stuffing. It's not my cousin's famous oyster stuffing, but it's good, reliable, and easy.

I think I was 11 or very close to it when I read Anne Frank. I did find it incredibly sad. As others have said, it depends on the child. I think my 12 yo DS wouldn't be too disturbed by the content, but he would hate the slow pace. My 10th grader is currently reading Night. He's pretty mature and well read for a 15 year old. I wouldn't have wanted him reading it before this year.

I started my 12 yo on MUS this fall. We started at Alpha, the first grade level. We're finishing up Beta right now. My son is 2E, so his needs are going to be different. (His LD in math is his most severe LD, however.) I am finding MUS to be a very good choice to fill in the many gaps in his knowledge. I'm not a math person at all, and I haven't needed to be in order to use MUS. I've had limited exposure to Semple Math, which is designed to be a remedial math program for people of all ages. That might be something else you want to look at.

The studio my older son attends requires a minimum of two classes per week. They feel that children can't learn the skills well enough with just one class. That is likely true since most young children aren't going to be practicing outside of class. My DS has been going there for five years and has learned a great deal, so it worked well for us.

I was the one who was accelerated; I did 7th and 8th grade in one year. I was in a small, private military school. Academically it was great. I was challenged instead of being bored. The social bit was a bit iffy, but I was a shy kid with family problems. So it's hard to say how much the acceleration impacted that. I do think it made boys less interested in me, especially since I never tried to "play dumb" the way some girls do. (My age alone was proof to my classmates that I was at least as smart as they were, if not smarter.) Overall, I'm really glad I did it. It meant I got to college faster, which was a better environment. We're trying to accelerate our older son as much as possible. He's in ps, in 10th grade. He's been bored a lot of the time. I'd love it if we could get him off to college a year early, but I'd take even a semester that he could spend at our top notice community college. He's generally mature for his age, and I don't think he's likely to suffer socially if we succeed in speeding him up.

We track it in Quicken, though thanks to the FSA we haven't been able to deduct for the past few years. But with Quicken, we can check every year to be sure. If we didn't have Quicken, I'd definitely use a spreadsheet and track it by the same categories that you'll use on the tax return. I get an accordion folder for each year's taxes. That way I can keep all the paper back up for medical expenses. But it's also because my husband is sometimes self-employed. It lets us keep all the paper proof, along with the actual tax returns. Oh for the days when my tax return copy went into a skinny file.

:iagree:I started homeschooling in the middle of 6th grade, when my DS was being terrorized by bullies. I didn't know anyone who homeschooled and started out looking for books on Amazon and checking them out from the library. (I like Lori's recommendations.) We survived, despite horrifying discoveries of what my DS hadn't learned in ps. (It didn't help that he's a 2E child - gifted with LDs.) I wish I'd done it sooner, but I'm very glad I didn't wait any longer. Your friend should be reading, joining this forum, checking out yahoo groups for local homeschooling groups, and generally educating herself on her options. I think she'll be amazed just how much help is out there.

It was very hard for me and my husband to accept that ADD kids can hyper focus on some things. Examples of this have been used in efforts to disprove the existence of ADD. But a psychologist should know better; I don't think this is a recent discovery. Furthermore, Aspies can seriously hyper focus on special interests, even the ones who also have ADD.

My older son is in ps right now partially because his younger brother takes up so much time. It doesn't help that I'm disabled either. When I couldn't find the high level Spanish instruction my older son needed in our area, I gave up and let him continue in ps. Then he decided to join JROTC this year, so we agreed he'd stay in ps. Sadly, he is bored sometimes. So it's not a perfect solution, but it's the best one we can manage. As you learn more about your child's SNs, you'll be in a better place to make decisions for both of your children. I'm supposed to be reading up on my younger DS's special needs, my illnesses, and starting very soon, colleges for my older boy. I have to rotate all that heavy duty nonfiction with light weight fiction from time to time. So please give your brain a break. Plus you'll - hopefully - be better able to target your research after the December evaluation.

Maybe some do, but I haven't met them. I never averaged out, and neither have either of my sons, ages 12 and 15. The older boy was so totally bored in first grade. He was in ps and our district mandated a one-size-fits-all reading program. He hated it and used to tear up the little books they made and brought home at the end of each week. He was supposed to show off his "new" reading skill and read it to me; he refused. Despite his school's best efforts, he remained an interested reader and successfully tackled The Lord of the Rings trilogy the following year, in second grade. In my never humble opinion, I believe this theory may be based on two things. One, too many people wanting their children to be gifted. (While I'm not humble, I'm not pointing a finger at any of you.) Two, schools do not want to meet the needs of gifted students. It doesn't help satisfy requirements of laws such as No Child Left Behind, yet it requires resources and money.

My older DS took it in 6th grade without any problems. He did it through the Duke TIPS program. He didn't do particularly well on the math portion because he hadn't yet studied most of what was on the test. Fortunately he's a mature kid and understood that the score wasn't a personal failing. If that's a possibility for your child, it's important to know how he'll react before you decide about taking the test. He was fine with the older kids, but he's very outgoing and tends to relate better with people at least a few years older than he is. (That situation would have probably been very stressful for me.)

If you want to make a more general reference notebook to cover all the various pieces of household information, I suggest that you check out FlyLady's Control Journal. Then it's just a matter of adding a section to address the SN issues. To your list, if you have a picky eater, I'd add information on food. And all kids should have information on any allergies, particularly to medications and food.

They seem to have had lots of problem keeping things in stock this fall. We were waiting on Beta when they had a problem with a shipment (perhaps a printing problem?). They immediately offered the first few lessons online. They were able to ship the books not too long afterwards. I'm glad you got your order in. They've been really great to work with as they've been trying to get their orders caught up.

We use mechanical pencils. You can find many designs, along with varying leads, in the standard 0.5 mm size. I've always liked the 0.7, and I have managed to find some good choices of pencils, along with darker leads. My DS is very fond of a larger grip plastic mechanical pencil by Papermate. (Rhis pencil also helped him with his grip.) You can always try http://www.Jetpens.com if you have trouble finding a good choice of pencils or leads in your area.

My DS is on Strattera. The ritalin family of drugs aggravates his anxiety, and we had a bad experience when we tried one of them. (He told his 3rd grade class he was going to kill himself.) The Strattera helps him focus and doesn't aggravate the anxiety. His focusing problems are so bad that I've kept him on it even after we began homeschooling last year. We've also had success with encouraging daily exercise and limiting his sugar intake but those haven't helped enough that we can discontinue the medication.

:iagree: I agree with many of the great suggestions here. Bored is always an invitation to problems. I added a checklist this year, and it's been very helpful. (While my DS is older, he has serious problems with organization.) We also have consequences for failure to complete assignments. The only thing I can think to add is an idea that I picked up from another homeschooling mom. She keeps a special list of chores, things that need to be done but rarely get done. My son's attitude has been better than last year, so I haven't had to use my attitude chore list yet. I do have one ready, featuring items like scrubbing the baseboards and cleaning out the giant rolling trash cans that go to the curb. Of course, the chores need to be age appropriate.

I've read a great deal on the benefits of exercise for kids with ADHD. My experiences with my DS bare that out. He's 12 1/2 and his need for exercise has suddenly soared. I have to insist he go outside and exercise or he can't focus on his work.

Aspies as a group tend to do poorly with true team sports, e.g., soccer, baseball, etc. Team sports that allow people to exercise more independently tend to be more successful. That would include golf, swimming, and martial arts. My DS really enjoyed martial arts until he bloodied a kid's nose in a tournament. It was an accident, but he was too worried about hurting another kid and eventually stopped classes. At age 12 1/2, he finally learned how to ride a bike. His best exercise is to go on bike rides by himself. And since he's suddenly overflowing with energy, I'm making him do that daily.

I haven't used BJU, but I would recommend continuing to use it. Aleks isn't always good at explaining theories beneath the math. When I used Aleks, I had a friend who did weekly video conferences and daily IMs to help my son. My DS was prone to guessing when he wasn't sure of the answer. When we did his year end testing, his math scores were much lower than his performance on Aleks. IMO, Aleks can be a great way for kids to practice math. And some kids do better answering a computer than a parent (less pressure). I don't recommend it as a stand alone program anymore.

I had a similar accident, and a back doctor totally blew me off when I saw him a few years later. He said I wasn't really in pain and needed to lose weight and exercise. So the pain got worse for a couple of decades until my husband forced me to see a chiropractor. It was the first time I'd ever had a back x-ray and my neck was horribly messed up. I improved greatly with chiropractic care. I've since had another injury to my lower back and hip that did better with physical therapy. Massage can also be very helpful with tight back muscles, though it will not do anything for the spine itself. I've known lots of people who've had back surgery. Only one of them was happy with the results. My neighbor is now totally disabled from the back surgery she had last year. I've known more people with experiences like hers instead of the person who was happy. So please try some other options before resorting to surgery. In my experience, it really should be the absolute last resort. Good luck. And always be picky with any medical professional you choose, be it an M.D., chiropractor, or physical therapist.

Thanks. Poetry isn't one of my stronger areas, so this is a great resource.

I agree. After I pulled my Aspie out of ps last year because of bullying problems, I kept uncovering learning deficits. He's 2E and the teachers had evidently been letting him slide by because he was smart enough to cope well enough for their purposes. That had been falling apart in sixth grade before I pulled him out. My older boy is gifted without the LDs, and I force myself not to compare because they are so different. For math, grammar, and spelling, I'm working with him at his level. After trying some different things last year, we're using MUS Alpha to try to finally get solid in math. I was using second grade grammar texts on him last year. We're about to start up grammar again, and we'll just have to see how he does. I think for these basic subjects that steadily build on skills, you can't skip over stuff, even if you're working well below the level other kids his age are at.

The discussion on the SN board has been locked. Apparently, we are not pursuing this the way we should be. Rather than interpret and possibly pass the message on poorly, here's the thread. The moderator's response is at the end: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=302061

After reading the concerns about posting on the LD board (valid concerns, I think), I've changed my mind. I think the Accelerated board would be better. I'm reading that supposedly we can't have a sub-forum for 2E, which is a great pity because of the forum's search limitation. I even have trouble finding things using Google. At any rate, is this definite? I can't find anyone in authority specifically saying no to this idea, just references to "supposedly we can't.":confused: