Yes, the Hive knows how to sell products! My DH has chronic lower leg pain. I haven't really found how to use the mat for lower leg pain, but somehow there is a Shakti mat sitting in my front room, just waiting for me to tell DH that his final Christmas present, an actual bed of nails, has arrived. Should I just have him put his lower legs on the mat? Please help... I'm feeling a bit silly for having purchased this all of the sudden.

I have one from the Sun Box Company (sunbox.com), and I love it. It is the reason I get out of bed in the morning this time of year. I sit by it for about 30 minutes in the morning, and it really helps.

We are over 1,000 miles apart, but cellphones make that distance sometimes not far enough...

If it is a U.S. based site, the FTC requires a disclosure statement as to whether any compensation was provided to the reviewer for his or her opinion.

So we did the evals through our insurance, and they indicated the first time that DS needed to be two standard deviations below the norm, and he was 1 3/4 standard deviations below. To them, he wasn't "eligible" for covered OT. When we did the OT eval the second time, he was more than two standard deviations below the norm, but they said that nothing they offered would help. We were paying for VT out of pocket at the time, and just didn't have the money to pay for both. We were also doing the neuropsych eval and wanted to figure out what was coming out of that. After all the evals, we just didn't go back for another OT one. It's obvious something is amiss, and yet we don't seem to be finding the right person to help with the issues. STNR seems very, very likely, after looking through the list of symptoms. I think we'll also look into yoga and Bal-a-vis-Ex. Both seem like something fun that can't hurt. Oh that's terrifying on the long timeframe to fix. I hope your MIL is doing well, though.

Elizabeth, that's super interesting on retained reflexes. We've actually had two OT evals, but they weren't helpful. The first eval found DS below normal in writing skills. The second was a year later and he had the same time and raw scores, but lower percentiles (because a "normal" kid would have improved the times/raw scores). The OT suspected dysgraphia. DS was being tested through a neuropsych at the time, and he was diagnosed with a SLD in Written Expression. Perhaps it's time to get a third (private pay this time) eval. Goodness, I feel as though we've wasted a lot of time and effort...

DS did over seven months of weekly appointments. We also did 3x daily homework, 7 days per week. It was not a quick process...

DS10 is having increasing troubles with reading aloud and the more complicated math demands of fourth grade. I scheduled a regular eye exam today, and the optometrist mentioned that he thought that we needed to have a re-check with a COVD. As I was watching the optometrist check DS10's vision and doing a tracking check, I could see his eyes jumping... there was no smooth tracking again. If you've done vision therapy multiple times, what were your experiences (for the subsequent rounds)? We had such a difficult go with our first round, I'm just filled with dread. We have a different provider, so that's something. Does it tend to take as long? Is there any new software or programs that have come along in the past two years I should look into?

I started such a project today, but my house is so wonky that I'm just starting in one corner of the house and working out toward the garage (where all the purged stuff will get loaded into the van and taken to various donation points)... Good luck with your clean and purge! :)

Thanks, OneStep. I think it's time for me to learn some new ways to approach this. Thank you!

For the most part, we have been bumping along rather well this school year. DS10 has been thriving on CLE Math, and for the most part he has caught up to grade level. (Yay!) Unfortunately, we've been hitting a wall on multi-digit multiplication and four-step division. It's a combination of the poor processing speed, poor visual processing, and dysgraphia. He gets confused mid-problem as to where he's at, whether to add or multiply, where to write down numbers ... well, it's a bit of a mess. He has a multiplication chart. We chant the steps. It may be that we ultimately give him a calculator, but I was hoping to see if anyone had some BTDT suggestions we can try? Thanks so much!

Thanks everyone. I went ahead and made an appointment with my primary care physician for Wednesday. It may be silly, but I'd at least like to check it out. It is happening frequently enough that I'm ready for a chat with someone in real life (although I dearly appreciate you all!). Sleep -- Yes B-vitamins -- No, I will start taking my supplements that are sitting neglected in the cupboard Perimenopausal -- I don't know what that really means (how embarrassing!). I think I need to read up on what it actually looks like. Sunlight Exposure -- Usually, no. I live in the Pacific Northwest and it's winter. But for the past few days, it has been somewhat sunny. I do yardwork when it's the slightest bit sunny. 1. Check up is Wednesday. Hopefully it isn't an urgent thing I don't know about... 2. I'll explore things that feel or seem undone. 3. Your statement is probably spot on. My mother is having some huge life issues and I'm not able figure out a solution to the issues. There's not really a solution that works for both her and I (she wants to live with me; she's not safe to be with my kids). She is living in a homeless shelter, which is breaking my heart, but is a result of so many truly bad decisions. We've given money to help with housing, but it's just never enough. Your mention of breathing issues intrigues me. I have OSA (sleep apnea), which means I stop breathing in my sleep. I wonder if it could be something like that. Wow, you've all given me a ton to think about. I'm going to go take a B vitamin and take it from there... Thank you.

So my life is actually really good. Solid marriage, healthy kids, happy life. I work very-part-time, and it's great. My mom is a little crazy, but I've built walls (and it's basically fine). I'm healthy, but overweight. I have some anxiety in general, but it's genetic and managed. Overall, I feel super lucky, positive, and mostly just fine. I'm 43. I don't know if that makes a difference. Lately I've been having these 10-15 minute periods of intense sadness and almost a feeling like I'm going to die soon. Like I'm already mourning my upcoming death. ??? It's hard to put into words, but that's as close as I can get. This is really weird. I have no reason to believe that I will die soon. No reason to be this intensely sad. The most dangerous thing I do is drive to the market or take the kids to class. And yet, I'm getting a bit unnerved about all this. Any ideas as to what is going on? I feel silly even mentioning it, but as I said, I'm sorta freaking myself out...

Progressive Phonics has been wonderful for DS6!

DS 10- wildlife conservation, focusing in African painted dogs DS 6 - wildlife conservation, focusing in African elephants (consistent since age 2)

Books! Books from the boys, and the nieces and nephews. DH is miserable to buy for. He generally sends me a list from Amazon and I get it. I gave learned to not deviate from the list. :-)

Kara, Does the work book have a section on putting letters together? I couldn't tell from the table of contents... Thank you!

I've been sharing cool archaeological articles with my kiddos this year, and this one seemed particularly cool... I thought others might find it of interest as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/27/science/a-warriors-grave-at-pylos-greece-could-be-a-gateway-to-civilizations.html?_r=0

DS10 is doing CLE LA 3 and is loving the cursive practice!!! We just finished the second LightUnit, and he has learned all the upper and lower case letters. (Yay!) Unfortunately, the next LightUnit goes right into copying paragraphs. It is WAY too soon for him to start that. He needs some interim practice on connecting cursive letters together. Does anyone know if there are any resources (preferably worksheets) that I could print off or make to get him from individual letters to two or three letters in a row? I looked on CLE's website and found the I Can Write book, but it appears that it is more of copying sentences (at least from their sample). Please advise! Thank you!

We love making these (ok, I love making these! DH thinks I'm nutters, but that's nothing new)! I just leave an egg carton on the dryer and stuff the lint in it as I pull it out of the dryer filter.

I claim to be a vegetarian, but I've swallowed so many of those little buggers that I think I might have my "vegetarian card" revoked.... Gah!

I dearly love Usborne. We have been Usborne addicts for the past seven years (DS10 received an encyclopedia when he was 3 and he still loves that book!). I will admit that I am a representative (as of earlier this month), mostly because I love the books and want the discount. Usborne has a super series of books for dyslexics that I very much love (my niece is severely dyslexic). My kids are a huge fan of the encyclopedias, the "This is Not a Math Book," and then the illustrated mythology/classic books. I think it just comes down to personal preference.

Sun: Meatballs, pasta, sauce, garlic bread, butternut squash (DS's 10th birthday!) Mon: Chicken on a stick, lentils and rice, baba ganoush, hummus, pita Tues: Spaghetti squash all tricked out, meatloaf (also referred to as Gram-burgers) Wed: Guy's Night Out; I have to go to a class. Thurs: Turkey burgers, fries, and salad Fri: Pizza on the grill Sat: Lasagna

Sun: Meatballs, pasta, sauce, garlic bread, butternut squash (DS's 10th birthday!) Mon: Chicken on a stick, lentils and rice, baba ganoush, hummus, pita Tues: Spaghetti squash all tricked out, meatloaf (also referred to as Gram-burgers) Wed: Guy's Night Out; I have to go to a class. Thurs: Turkey burgers, fries, and salad Fri: Pizza on the grill Sat: Lasagna

Thanks so much, everyone, for the ideas! I think we're going to go with a "Mini-Siege" Theme. All the kiddos will be on the same team, and they will be working to "attack" a fortified city. They can make aluminum foil boats, mini-weapons, and maybe vehicles/carts to try to attack a medieval city. I think the dads will be responsible for the "defenses" -- all the dads are engineers, so it might be fun. Starr: Cheeto Head sounds **hilarious**! We're doing that so I can take photos, if for no other reason. Kerileanne99 Can you attach a link or photo of the materials they had? By any chance did you take photos? I'd love to do something like that, but I think I will need more guidance... Thanks again for the awesome ideas!