I put one of my children in school last week. It just happens that this child is the one with food allergy issues. Specifically, he is allergic to soy and has oral allergy syndrome. He is pretty good about avoiding the foods that cause him symptoms, but every now and then he eats something that he shouldn't. OAS is generally mild, and symptoms usually go away on their own fairly quickly. DS has a range of symptoms depending on what he ate. Avocado and bananas, for example, are mild and cause some tingling and itching in his mouth and throat. Blackberries, on the other hand, are more severe and cause some mild swelling in the throat. It feels like he has something stuck in his throat, but has never caused problems with breathing. OAS is rarely anaphylatic. In three years, we've never needed an epipen. Typically, we give him Benedryl for the more severe reactions as a precaution. So the allergist's nurse just called (the school needs an allergy order on file), and explained to me that the current school protocol is to avoid Benedryl because it is sedating and to give an epipen for any reaction no matter how mild. What?! I'm trying to convince the doctor, through his nurse, to write up his allergy order as an exception to the standard protocol. I totally understand that schools need to respond to life threatening reactions appropriately. By treating every reaction as life threatening when it clearly isn't, is not the answer either.

I would see if you can get an inspector out there to find the lead source in your home. They have a tool that can detect lead in paint, and they shoot literally every wall inside and outside. Some places to look for lead: Windows Doors Door frames Door thresholds Porch Dirt outside In your water (old pipes often have lead) In your dishes I'm sorry you are dealing with this. We left our home to foreclosure because of elevated lead levels in your youngest. (It was one of the main reasons but not the only reason.) ETA: Just saw your DD's lead levels. Yes, that is high. They'll probably be recommending chelation therapy. Please do some of your own research on how to support your daughter's body during that. Chelation therapy can be hard on the body, particularly the bones.

Fruits and veggies. I make a smoothie about five days a week for breakfast made with berries and spinach. I also eat about half a plate of cooked and/or fresh veggies with dinner most nights. This is completely gotten rid of chronic knee pain that partially disabled me for six years. Gone, I tell you. It starts to come back if I cut back on fruits and veggies too much. 5-HTP. Someone hear mentioned it helping ADD. I haven't been diagnosed but... Anyway, the effect is subtle, but I'm able to stay focused, get more done, and be calmer when I'm taking it. Vitamin D. Between the 5-HTP and Vitamin D, my seasonal depression is mostly gone.

For health issues, you might find Dr. Terry Wahl's TED talk interesting. She reversed the progression of her MS through diet.

I need to reorganize the littles' bedroom. It looked beautiful when I first did it, but they can't maintain it. Now you cannot walk in half of the room...literally. I'm planning on organizing their toys into four bins that we have and their stuffed animals into four fabric boxes. Then I'm removing three of the bins and three of the boxes from their room, letting them have only one each at a time. DS's Play Mobile and DD's princess castle and princesses will stay in the room full time (for the time being). Once that is done, I'll be able to put laundry away. And do school.

I would probably assume they wanted to be paid, especially if they were on the younger side. If they were being nice, they would have just done it. After big, windy storms, my neighbor and I would work together and do everyone's driveways (& houses, including our own) and the entire street. We never asked if they wanted it done first; we just did it.

Praying. I hope they figure out what is going on quickly.

I was looking for information about homeschooling gifted children and found the gifted board.

He has his blue card for both Astronomy and Space Exploration. His merit badge counselor for both is a leader at the astronomy club that we attend once a month. He's met with her, and she told him to come up with a plan for how he is going to complete the badges and email it to her. His plan included finishing them by last November; he has yet to start on them. I've emailed his counselor about math olympiad, science olympiad, and math clubs. I'll try to get him into whatever club they have, if any. He'll be 8th grade next year at the middle school if he attends next year or 8th grade at home if he returns to homeschooling. We are working together on coming up with ideas for how homeschooling could work next year. Last night, we talked about what has been working. Next up is discussing how we could schedule the day in a way that makes him happy and meets everyone else's needs at the same time. Then I'll get him involved in researching curricula for those subjects we'll need to change. Outsourcing is unlikely to be an option. Online classes tend to cost at least half of my budget for four kids.

He started in May of this year. The only badge that he has completed is the first aid badge, and that is because it was earned over a weekend campout. He loves astronomy, so I got him the badge books for astronomy and space exploration. He has a merit badge counselor. But he has done nothing on them despite my bugging him to do something about them. I think the only way he's going to get them is if they are taught at the meetings or campouts, or I go through the badge books and start assigning him specific tasks that are required. He is aware of the college entrance requirements. He just wants the areas of non-interest to be easy. He wants to be able to check those boxes without being challenged in those subjects. Just get them done. Talking to him about what was working, he said that if we decide he's homeschooling next year he'll continue with AoPS, MCT, and IEW (we don't use MCT for writing). So we have to figure out the rest. Normally, he and his older sister do the same work. She'll be doing biology. She'll also be doing Destinos, which was really hard for him. So, I have to decide if he'll work with her (easier for me and my budget) or do something different.

I've always wanted him to do some math competitions (science sounded cool too), but I tend to not feel competition enough to lead it. I haven't heard of anyone else doing it in the community either. We do have the option to participate in public school part time and extracurriculars in this state. Nerdybird...I'm going to go through your whole post can check all of your links when I have a brain again. It's been a very hard day. Thank you for taking the time to write all that. His math is good. At home, he was going through AoPS. We plan on continuing it while he is in school in case he comes back to homeschooling next year. If he stays in school, he'll go into geometry next year and do just what they offer at school.

I know that memorizing and absorbing lots of information is something she isn't used to. She has never had to stuff before. But even when she does have the information and can tell it back to me, she doesn't understand what it means. For example, she can tell me that an endergonic reaction requires energy, usually in the form of heat, to start. She can tell me that the amount of heat required would kill the cell or organism. She can tell me that enzymes lower the activation energy of endergonic reactions so that they can occur without killing the organism. But it is just regurgitated information; she has no idea what it means. She correctly answered all of my questions about this information and then started crying because she's so confused and lost.

I've tried helping my daughter with biology, but she is just not understanding it. No matter how much we talk it over with me rewording it, she's just not getting it despite being a really smart kid. We're using Science Shepherd. Looking at it, I do not remember the biology and AP biology I took in high school going into this kind of detail. I don't remember doing anything that remotely looked like chemistry and physics, but this book does. I chose Science Shepherd because it presents a majority of the material without a bias. Neither YEC nor evolution muddies the material. I don't know if any other curriculum does that, but it would be great if I could find something easier and without a bias.

That might work. Part of the problem is that he doesn't know how to entertain himself, so he wants us to direct his free time. The only problem is that he is also prone to argue with us. The understanding is that if he chooses to come back home next year, he needs to work on cooperating with us more. I think he would like something like Lego Mindstorms or robotics. The challenge there is both time and money. We would be very challenged to find the money for a set, and I wouldn't know how to help him with them. A robotics club comes with the primary challenge of time. He already gets most of our resources as he goes to astronomy club, boy scouts, and youth group. DD14 only has youth group. The littles don't have any set activities, but I try to get them to activities with our homeschool group. This group only schedules things during the school day...which comes to another challenge: How do I get them to regular social outings when he wants me to be available to do more direct instruction and maintain structure to the day? I have felt like four kids have given me too many balls to juggle and I sometimes regret having more than two....not that I would ever not want my littles. They are awesome kids. It's just that I can't meet everyone's needs adequately anymore.

I'm working on coming up with possibilities for next year. He is the one that thought those experiments were dumb. He doesn't want a program like RS4K. We tried doing their level 1 three years ago but he hated it. He thought it was too simplistic/childish. (Yeah, at the age of 9, he was describing things as too childish.) Level 2, which they say is middle school, looks to be very similar with just a little more explanation. So, we wouldn't be looking for a program like that. I think he's looking for something that feels mature and advanced. I think he would like something that explains the concepts and equations used in physics and then gives assignments where those equations are used. So basically physics based math. (Honestly, I don't think he even has a complete understanding of what physics is at this level. He just wants to do it because he wants to study astronomy and was told that he needs a lot of physics for that. A college professor just told us that an astronomy degree is basically a physics degree with some astronomy thrown in.) I never took physics so I no background at all. DH did take some physics, though I don't know how advanced that was.

After ongoing problems, we put our 12 year old into public school this week. I don't want him in public school, but we needed to do something different. Our plan is to reevaluate in June. We'll leave him in school if he does well and really wants to stay. However, there are some things that the school simply cannot provide him. The good news is that we're already having some good, productive conversations. He was able to articulate what he likes about school and may want if he came back home. I just don't know how to make that happen. So, I'm asking for suggestions. He wants to continue with Art of Problem Solving. He was doing Introduction of Algebra at home, and he average an hour and a half per section. . He wants to study physics. But he doesn't want to do "dumb" labs like swinging a ball tied to a string and rolling a marble down a slope. I would guess that he wants to spend time applying math to physics. He wants the rest of his subjects to be easy, but he wants his school day to be longer. In the past when his subjects were easy, school took no more than three hours to complete, so I'm at a loss of how to meet his request. So the easy subjects would be English (he can do MCT Magic Lens 1 and it doesn't seem very difficult for him), History, and electives. He's not artistic and doesn't like art. He doesn't play any instruments. He tends to like math, science, and STEM stuff. I'm not sure what electives to add. He wants a long school day because he doesn't know how to entertain himself and doesn't like to be bored. During his free time, he typically reads the same series over and over and over. He's been given reading suggestions by multiple people but declines to try them. We bought him a Saturn V rocket model (he loves astronomy), but he won't work on it. We bought him Snap Circuits because we thought it would appeal to his STEM interests; they get pulled out about once a month. We bought him a remote control plane, but it currently is out of service until repairs can be made. He has Legos; they don't get touched. He wants more direction from me than I've been giving him. Basically, a lesson of some sort and then an assignment that he can then go work on. I also have another older student and two younger students to teach as well. We are limited by funds available. How would you accomplish all of this?

My kids run in circles looking for towels in every place but where they are found. Then they'll bring a single sheet of paper towel for a 16 oz spill. And speaking of things like puke... DH usually wakes up and sometimes leaves before I wake up. When he finds cat or dog puke on the carpet, he places a folded up paper towel on top of it and leaves it there to dry into the carpet.

The counselor made a point of saying that most kids have a friend group by the end of the first day, and if they didn't then they would be the end of the first week. We are a military town, and he said that the kids are used to seeing new kids starting all throughout the year and enjoy meeting new kids. It wasn't just a comment made in passing.

He's finally home. The school day is from 9:20am to 3:50pm. Here's his report: They did something about careers in advisory. This is some sort of hybrid between home room and what the counselors used to do. The US History teacher had difficulty keeping the class under control and had to keep telling the students to be quiet. He thinks science is going to be his favorite class. They are learning about muscles and were given a labeled diagram to paste into their composition books so they could memorize the information on it. (Anatomy is one thing we haven't covered.) For lunch, he had a cheeseburger, salad, apple juice, and chocolate milk. He said the burger wasn't as good as the ones I make at home. The salad turned out to be lettuce with very little watered down dressing. He didn't talk to anyone during lunch, nor did anyone talk to him. In PE, he had to run a course around the campus and was given something for me to sign and an explanation of how to earn an A in the class. Everyone starts with a 70% and goes up or down from there. He was not allowed to participate in his applied technology class because he has to learn some safety material first. The math teacher brought in Seahawks stats that can somehow be related back to the number 12. He was given a very simple worksheet to complete covering material he learned when he was 9/10. His English class is writing a movie plot in class. I already know that they do not give out textbooks for history or science unless the student requests one from the library. Instead they use class sets. He didn't get the impression that he would need a textbook at home to do well in the classes. None of his other classes issued textbooks either. Memorizing the types of muscles, the one worksheet in math, and finishing a career inventory/quiz was his homework. The counselor told him Friday that most students have a friend group by the end of the first day; that did not happen for him. He said he thinks school will be ok. He seemed subdued when I picked him up. ETA: Today is going to be especially long because he has a presentation to give at the astronomical society tonight. It's about 40 minutes away from home.

He is already grade skipped and was placed in the highest classes available to his grade level. My biggest concern is math. He completed MUS algebra with ease, then completed AoPS pre algebra, and is almost done with chapter 8 of AoPS Into to algebra. He'll be in algebra at school because he can't come into geometry having missed all of the foundation in the first semester. I would love it if the teacher would allow him to use class time to continue with AoPS.

But I am a helicopter parent. :D He think he'll be ok at school. He tends to be respectful with other adults. He has been ok in other social situations (youth group and boy scouts). He already knows three kids at the school because they attend our church and youth group. I think he'll be ok socially once he finds his "people." His advisory teacher is the one that probably most benefit from this knowledge because it is their job to monitor the student's progress overall, I think. With his regular classes, I expect all but one of them to be boring for him. He's either well above or has recently covered the topics in his four core classes. I guess I'll hold off and see what happens.

We have had difficult with my eldest son for quite a while. He is generally a good kid, but he is prone to arguing with my husband and I do to a lack of respect on his part. Basically, he finds it difficult to respect us because we are not intelligent in his mind. He can also be quite mean (including hitting) his siblings when he is frustrated or angry. He blames all of his moods and frustrations on others. His challenges are worse when he spends too much time in front of a screen, thus his screen time is limited and closely monitored. We have talked, taken away consequences, etc. After yet another argument Friday and being told he hates me, the decision was made that it is time for him to try public school. He may thrive there because of the structure and lack of free time. He may struggle due to his inability to read body language and other social cues. It is our hope that he either thrives there or comes to appreciate what homeschooling offers him. We'll reevaluate in June (unless things go really badly.) My question today is...do I email his teachers to touch base? If I do email them, what do I include? I'm thinking an overview of his home life, favorite subjects, hobbies and interests, and the challenges I think he may face in school for the advisor. For the other teachers, I'm thinking of being more specific with information about his education to date in the subject that they teach. Finally, I would end the email with an invitation to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'll be looking into them. My librarian suggested Orchards by Holly Thompson. It is written in verse with almost no punctuation at all. It reads like a train of thoughts and is teen level. It deals with suicide. After a classmate commits suicide, one of the bullies gets sent to her mother's family in Japan for the summer. She grapples with her feelings about the girl's suicide while learning Japanese culture and her family's business growing a particular kind of oranges. I'm currently reading Flying the Dragon by Natalie Dias Lorenzi. It is set in the US, but with a main character who is half Japanese. When her extended family comes to the US for medical care, she finds her self feeling too Japanese for school and not Japanese enough at home. I have Young Samarai: the Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford on hold, but I think it might be too long. Unfortunately, my library doesn't have The Big Wave by Pearl Buck. I'll check with the library to see what they have of the suggestions you all made.

I'm hoping to find a read aloud that is set in Japan...any time period but modern/recent history preferred. My kids range in age from 4 to 14, so I need it to be reasonably appropriate for the younger kids but they don't have to understand it all. At the same time, I don't want something so young that bores the older kids to tears. Ideas? I could also use some independent reading for the older kids on the same topic. They can read any reading level as long as "adult" isn't too adult, if you know what I mean.

I've been rehydrated twice by IV. While it doesn't get rid of whatever is making you sick, you do feel tons better almost immediately. Both times, I drove myself home within a couple of hours of arriving at the doctor's office/ER. Just saw that you were admitted. I hope you are feeling better soon!