Here is something to consider, Nan: I've been writing a website for a new homeschool group. There is already one in the same town that "has the audience", so to speak. It isn't enough for this group's website to have the same content, you know? It has to be, I don't want to say "better", but it has to "step up" from what has been the norm for the community. The challenge in writing this website has been to find things to put on it that *aren't* perceived as lower/beneath/dumbed down/same old same old/the same content the children would get in the local cr@ppy schools... but at the same time are perceived as accessible, doable, not "out of reach" to people who may be hesitant (for whatever reason - their own fears, fears about their child's abilities - whatever), people who may only be exploring HSing as an option... you get my drift? There is a tremendous fear in many people (even those of us who have been doing this a long time - I think - if we were to stop a minute and reflect on our deepest feelings) that we are not "doing enough". And when we look around and see the equivalent of the "Big 3" Car Manufacturers (remember when?) constantly referred to as "well, THIS is what worked and what got Jr into X university"... it's HARD not to second guess. It's HARD to stand one's ground and say HEY! I've read that book and it's a piece of sh!t! It's tiring to constantly feel like the voice in the wilderness saying "look at this little curriculum over here made by a mom with a PhD in ______." Or, "look at this great program made by this self-made guy with 20 years of experience in ________. It works awesome for boys". So, yeah, whatever, maybe people don't like this or that verb (heh - had to have kid diagram that to make sure I had it right) - but that isn't the important thing. The important thing is meeting our children where they are, and helping them reach their goals. The argument can be had all day, but like my dad always said "what do they call the guy who is first in his class at medical school? Doctor. What do they call the guy who is last? Doctor." Just because people end up with the same credentials doesn't mean they have the same brain or the same smarts. The books we choose may influence that somewhat. Or at least show our children that there are choices out there in what kind of resources are available. Perhaps that is our best gift to them. Like always, this made sense in my head. a (who now needs to finish the website)

I'm sorry, but every time I see this topic come up, all I can think of is this exchange (and I probably already put it somewhere in the previous 14 pages): a

The Fire Cat by Esther Averill It's why my cat is named Pickles asta

Are you on straight up Prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisolone? Prednisone is well documented for inducing mania. (which it sounds like, looks like you are experiencing) It stops when the drug is weaned. The other two... not so much, though they will in susceptible individuals. asta

People do it all of the time. If it proves too difficult (which is often for many people), responsible docs prescribe a long acting benzo (such as Tranxene or Klonopin) to mute the effects. Klonopin has a "half life" of 30-40 hours, meaning it can stay in one's system for about 3 1/3 days, Tranxene has a "half life" of 40-50 hours, meaning it can stay in one's system for up to a wee bit over 4 days. That doesn't mean it feels like it is "working" all of that time, it just means the person doesn't feel the awful withdrawal symptoms immediately like they do from Xanax, which only stays in the body up to 22 hours. Additionally, both Klonopin and Tranxene work differently in the brain (different receptors) than Xanax does. Same essential result (lessening of anxiety in this case), but a different mechanism. That's probably way more than you wanted to know about benzos. Has anyone tried a prophylactic trial of one of the anti-depressants that is used for anxiety on you? They can be much more effective for anxiety in the long run. asta

My mom was great about that. All my inlaws wanted to do was spirit the baby away (I specifically told DH they couldn't come after seeing what they did with SIL). My mom showed up, made me high fat food, and told me everything would be fine (even though I had no milk). Then she gave me a beer, promised not to give the (screeching, dehydrated) baby a bottle, and put me to bed. I *know* that woman gave DS a bottle. She's not stupid. I slept forever, woke up to a clean house, a sleeping baby - and MILK! She did nothing but cook and let me nap. It was perfect. I hope to emulate her some day. (When my inlaws showed up 2 weeks later, it was awful...) a

I speak French and DS & DH speak German, but I don't think I ran into a single person in Geneva proper who didn't speak English. The outlying areas, yes, but Geneva has so many international firms... maybe it just *seemed* like everyone spoke English. I threw http://www.geneve.ch/dip/arriver.asp into Google translate so I could cut and paste those quotes. As everyone has said, ask Joan, but it appears that the precedent exists at least. And also recognize that cantons butt up next to one another. When I lived in Belgium, my commune's school was further away than the one in the neighboring commune. And it was also the "wrong" language. So kid went to the neighboring commune school instead. It may be that you live in commune A and hubby works in commune B. Is the job physically in Geneva commune? a

Paying $80 for my 6 items... Bwa Ha Ha Ha! And the guy is a hoot. a

This is why WE have the babies: we can do anything. Mama-props to Martha! a

BTW, Martha - I've been counting months, and I was starting to wonder if you'd gone off and had that baby in secret! Keep off your feet and order everyone around. a

My dad performed one of these in the 70s. The woman had a pathological fear of anesthesia. I don't know how much people know about fear on that level, but it can raise your heartrate and blood pressure (even in your sleep / under sedation) to such a degree that you can literally "mentally kill yourself" by undergoing the process - simply because you are so afraid of it. He found someone who was skilled in hypnosis (he was as well, come to think of it...) and had a perfect outcome for baby and mother. I'd never heard of it being done anywhere else! asta

It's just good to hear from you Kari. I've been thinking about you. :grouphug: a

Some days you just try not to kill one another. :auto: a (23 years - I think I'm allowed to say that now ;-) )

I take it you didn't buy AppleCare? d

{here come the tomatoes} There are a lot of "I"s and "Me"s in this thread. How about: "Thy will be done." ? If it (problem, situation, etc.) is beyond human hands, it is certainly beyond "I" and "Me". {more tomatoes} One could reasonably assume that an 8 year old kid, being told he was the son of God and that he was going to die a gruesome death in +/- 30 years did a lot of praying for it not to happen. And that not one of those prayers were answered in his favor. Think of the ever present bumper sticker: "WWJD". Well, he hung on a cross, praying to God not to die while the people around him mocked him, stripped him, stabbed him, watched him thirst, and left him to suffocate. Not everything is personal: some things just are. They hurt, they are damaging, destructive - devastating. But as people who believe that this life is just a stop en route to an eternal life - "from dust I made you, and to dust you shall return" - there weren't any guarantees of happiness or petition answering in that part. The only guarantee was for what would come afterwards. That is what faith is - making the decision to trust that the plan will work, but understanding that one must play one's own role. (with apologies to my priest whose homily I just co-opted in a mangled manner) a

Horse clippers. Worth every penny. They are nothing like people clippers. I use them to clip Asta the wonder Airedale and it is a breeze. Paid for themselves in 5 cuts. a

Once there was a girl, with a tiny little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very, very good. And when she was bad, she was horrible. I didn't know why I heard that my entire childhood until I was an adult. I had a curl in the middle of my forehead, after all... a

You know??!! All the way through Alg 2, go to take a pre-calc entrance test and find GLARING holes in BASIC things. Had a pity party and then a revelation: kid started maths education in Europe! So I got ahold of SM and went back to the basics. All of the sudden, I'm hearing "wow - I never really understood why that worked in that manner before - this makes complete sense. How come the Americans don't teach it like this?" AAAIIIIEEEE!!! I swear, we would have been done with Calculus by now if we'd started with SM. We've had to "back up" so many times due to "holes" that wouldn't have existed if I'd just... realized... brain patterning starts YOUNG! His math brain was patterned on SM (or SM-style). All of these years, he was trying to fit the other square pegs into his little round holes and nothing was fitting. Poor kid. Yes, a major DUH moment. That is, if you think about it, incredibly relevant to this thread. a

And the ABA of today is not the ABA of "yesteryear". My boss from the website where I work bears some SERIOUS psychological scars from the "helpful ABA" he was given for his extremely high functioning (genius level) autism. Oh, and he's got some nice physical scars, too. a

Faith, You just made me giggle: Emory Riddle. Emory Embry Riddle They're both hard as heck! a

Bill, If you were nice to him, trust me, that was enough. You weren't his demon; other things were. I say this from experience - both having lost the friends, and having been the taunted. I remember the faces of everyone who was nice, but I still seethe (and know the names of) the ones who taunted. It ain't something religion or therapy fixes. a

And may I add that Singapore Math is the bomb. a

Honestly? I don't think they've shot up at all. (this is a general rant, Alley, not directed specifically at you) I think the "me" generation (you can call them the "post-boomers" or whatever) put their kids under a helicopter parent microscope in every area of their lives and things that were chalked up to "quirks" or whatever for the past upteen years became the latest, greatest news story of an epidemic since AIDS hit the scene. Like has always found like. It's not "news" that people in silicon valley married one another and had babies. It's also not "news" that there are a bunch of spectrum people in the computer world. The combination does not equal an "explosion" of autism or an "autism pocket" in silicon valley or NCs research triangle or... wherever. It equals one gene set mixing with another gene set and people LOOKING for it. No one used to look. No one used to give a flying (insert chosen expletive here) about the geeks, smarty pants, weirdos, socially backward kids PERIOD. Stop for a second and think back to your elementary school days. You all had at least one of us in your school: the kid who always seemed to speak at the wrong time (at the wrong volume, but not necessarily the wrong subject, if you really listened). The kid who didn't seem to have grown into their body (PE just didn't work for them). The kid who just. didn't. fit. And you couldn't put your finger on WHY they didn't fit - you just knew that they didn't. I hate to say it guys, but how did you treat them? Be honest. Unless they had profoundly observant parents, the only "intervention" they received in their life was on the playground. And it was usually in the form of beatings. If their DID have incredible parents, they got what was available at the time: speech therapy, extremely basic behavioral therapy (no, it's NOT ok to fly into a rage and attempt too destroy things and people just because you're overwhelmed), special shoes, intellectual games. And they STILL got beat up at school. We talk about our HS kids having the skills to "go out into the world". Well, there is an entire generation of adults out there who learned the skills we are teaching our children, except in a very harsh manner, yet whom are very gentle people. And they are "faking" every last minute of it. PDalley and I have discussed this at length on this board. It IS possible to learn how to operate in a world that you don't understand, that has made clear you are not necessarily wanted because you are not the societal "norm". But it takes a lifetime of practice. Not coddling, practice. But if you are being told, day in and day out, that you just need to "hold on, a cure is coming". That "this next treatment will work". That "you'd be fine if those evil ______ hadn't done this to you". (and no, it doesn't have to be said out loud - the message will come through regardless - any kid going for chelation will know that their parent thinks something awful is wrong with them) -- guess what? That kid will NEVER "go out into the world" successfully. They'll spend their life a victim, not an advocate of their own life. And yes, I am obviously speaking of children who are healthy enough to ever leave home in the first place. As with any other genetic "disorder" (or, who knows, maybe ASD is a next step mutation that hasn't fully matured? No one knows), it resides along a spectrum. So, no. Not a rise. Just more people looking. asta

This is what I'm reading all over the press (in a word): despite what actuary wrote, it appears that colleges have "caught on" to the fact that schools aren't "finishing the books", that grade inflation is out of control, and that, well, a heck of a lot of students don't really know the subjects they are coming in with "As" on their transcripts for. <awkward sentence structure there, sorry> Heck - someone wrote a post here talking about college kids who couldn't add or subtract without a calculator! People are gaming SATs and SATIIs via intensive, years long "teach to the test programs" (yes, they exist - my nieces were both in them, in their public school, from 8th grade forward) - the very tests that were supposed to be the great decider / equalizer - and colleges simply don't know what the baseline is. It's easier to say "YOU! Want to enter our ______ program? Here are your courses. Start swimming." It's rather sad, I think. I remember kids at my high school who DID bust their buns in calc and finish their books. They went on to prestigious unis and did well. Of course that was, um... a REALLY long time ago... asta

He did. But it is nothing new - it was said in 1950 in Humani Generis. Additionally, there is no such thing as "young earth" in the Catholic Church. There is just "the universe". asta