Well, that's good for her to know finally, but wow, what a lot of unnecessary angst the college could have prevented!

Don't take them. My oldest only did 3. OTOH, my youngest did 4 sciences but only 3 social studies credits.

I wonder if you could talk it through sometime when it's not happening in the moment? I also wonder if it's something a speech therapist or other type of therapist could improve through therapy. I was reading about the epiglottis briefly and saw some suggestions about that (and also other possible treatments--I actually think I might research this more for another member of my family who has a choking reflex in relation to certain smells.) Sometimes an issue with an epiglottis can also relate to GERD, and that could indirectly be part of the cause. We've had some success with the choking reflex issue by paying attention to that.

Annie G, creamed chipped beef on toast was one of my absolute favorite meals as a child! Haven't had it in years though... I think a third option is an unintentional gag reflex that can happen to people who are sensitive to certain flavors and textures. I had that happen a lot as a child, despite being made to eat anything & everything. It's one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of that approach (I'd rather see offering and modeling and not making a big deal of what little ones choose to eat instead of trying to force it.) I outgrew some of the texture and taste sensitivities, and some foods I can now tolerate even if I still don't like them. A few I just politely decline eating as an adult (not a choice I was given as a child). I'm not sure if they would still make me gag or if I could overcome that reflex now. I think the last time I gagged, I probably tried to choke it down and then didn't take any more bites, or I possibly used a napkin discretely. No barfing on plate, using neighbor's coffee cup, or dancing around needed! Ridiculous!

Yes! I always wanted to know more about that too!

One thing that helped me with regard to readers and read-alouds was estimating how quickly we'd move through them and creating two lists--one list of ones I didn't want to miss, and one list of "optional, if we have time" books. Then I was prepared but didn't feel badly if we didn't get to the optional books (some years we did, others not--more years not as I got better at estimating how long books would take us.) The "optional list" is also nice to have if you change your mind about a certain book mid-year--it's easy to swap something out when you have another book at the ready. Another thing that helped me was putting daily time limits on things that I required. (Kids are welcome to spend extra time on things they want to, but I mean as far as what I require). Seeing how long things took made it easy for me to say we were only going to do one math program (I didn't have kids who thrived on multiple methods, worked ahead, wanted to do extra math etc...) So, I would plan out how much time I was willing to spend on each subject daily, and that naturally made me have to choose what and how much to do. Enjoy!

However many you have time for, LOL! I'd start at the beginning with the first two books, move on to "Plum Creek"--and just see how far you get. I will say that I loved Farmer Boy--not as "part of the series" but as a different, stand-alone book. The descriptions of food are sumptuous, and some of the stories of the kids' antics are the ones that really stood out in my mind as a child. I actually wished for more of his childhood stories.

Good for him!

I went to a large university (about 28,000 at the time), and really didn't have that many classes that were the huge lecture style--just some of the most popular gen-ed classes. Many were the same as a typical highschool (20-30 range) and within my major (English) most were smaller classes of 10-20.

Was the refund going to your Credit Card? My CC company says that it can take 2-10 days for a refund to show up after the company I purchased from has processed it. Hopefully they did process it and there's just that lag on the CC's end. I hope you can find out soon!

It does seem a bit long in some places (for example, in upper elementary, we usually did about 30-45 minutes per subject for math, history, and science, and you have about an hour each planned for those.) You could see if you might be able to trim those times at all--maybe at least history? But times can really vary, especially when you have a student with learning struggles and learning disabilities. I see 5.5 hours of school on your M-W-F schedule, and about 4 on Thursdays--that doesn't seem too unreasonable for a 5th grader. The other thing I wondered is whether you need a full hour for morning time. You could take another look at that and see if it really is needed. Sometimes you don't know what will work until you dive in and try it out. I would plan on implementing gradually--start with just 1-2 hours of school or just a couple of subjects, and see how it goes. Then gradually add on on additional subjects to see how things work out. You may find that you don't need quite as much time (or that there is a bit more "wiggle room" in the schedule than you are thinking right now.) Or you may find that pairing certain subjects doesn't work--and a different pairing might work better (by "pairing" I mean what you have one child doing while you work with another--sometimes I needed to do some shifting and tweaking with that to get it to work.) Can your oldest do some of the sensory work she needs between subjects--and does she need you for that or can she do it on her own? I'm thinking if you do find that some of the subject times could be shortened a bit, there may be time in there depending on what she needs. Does your morning time include any kind of history? If so, maybe you don't need another independent history this year while you get used to schooling two? Sometimes it's the outside activities that make a school day feel really long--and you may have to weigh out whether they are really worthwhile to do. You're really trying to make 5-day weeks fit into 3-4 days (3 full days and 1 mostly full day)--which works out fine with little ones but gets harder as they get older. I found that I needed to make more choices and decisions about what was truly valuable as my kids got older (taking into consideration their desires and also my goals for our school). For example, is a co-op day more important than an art/music day (or could co-op day include art/music)? It may be--only you can decide if it's worth giving up some flexibility or breathing room in the schedule. Is it time to move more towards year-round schooling to fit in the activities they want and make the school days not as long? I remember the year that my kids were in 3rd and 5th was a tough year mentally for me. The previous year, I had moved lunch a bit later so that I could still say we were "done by lunch," but I just couldn't do that as they got older. (Both of mine also needed lots of one on one and scaffolding, so I know it can be tough to fit in what they need.) Time-wise, I found that our upper elementary days were usually 4-6 hours of academics, junior high was 5-7 hours, and high school 6-8 hours. Thankfully the changes happened gradually! But it could be you've hit one of those transition points that takes a mental adjustment, so that's why I bring that up. I hope you can find a way to make things work and maintain some of that relaxed feel too!

About time.

Do none of the guys in the apt. have a car? I'd think they'd ride/shop together, even if they keep food separate.

We just played lots of regular games that involve math, and also implemented a weekly allowance system which often required multiple ways of having to make change to enable me to pay them (because I often didn't have correct change). As "sweet2ndchance" said above, I would talk about easy ways to make 10's, to add or subtract, ways I thought about the math in my head etc... We also did a lot with base 10 blocks, cuisenaire rods, and other manipulatives to talk through and show different ways of solving problems. It will come in time!

I'd consider those gaps to be pretty minor and easily fixed. No where near the "fail" category. You're much too hard on yourself. When you come across a gap, simply teach them. And then keep doing just that. Some of those may even have been things you DID teach previously, and it just didn't "stick" yet. So, teach it again. That's part of what teaching is.

Here's a link to help you decide where to start. And here's an article about how to "fast track" if your child is already spelling some of the early words. Have fun!

It's pretty normal to still switch hands sometimes at this age.

I think if at all possible, I'd get him through Algebra 2. Doing a video course doesn't mean he can't have interaction with you, teaching and walking him through--and you can stop a video and talk through examples any time that you want (that's actually how I did MUS with my kids--I watched with them, we stopped and discussed when needed, we talked through problem sets and through the instruction in the manual--the video teaching just provided the baseline teaching, and I added/tweaked etc... as needed.) I think doing Alg. 2 makes things easier down the road because he will need math in college unless he plans on doing a trade instead (and some trades need that math base too). Even for an associate's degree, our local CC requires humanities majors to either take Statistics or College Algebra, or something of a similar level. I would also encourage a couple of things: 1, remedial math is not the end of the world. In fact, many students I've talked to have said the instructor made it fun or that math finally made sense to them. Not all--but sometimes it can be a very positive thing. 2, the brain keeps growing and developing. Sometimes kids who are not quite ready for math in high school find they can learn it in college--their brains are more ready for it then. My mom used to teach at an alternative high school, and they found that almost the same percentage of their kids went on to college as the main public school, but just at age 20 or 21 instead of right out of high school--again, some brain development and some maturity made a huge difference for them. Obviously no one knows the future and how it will go for your son--but it also might not be as bad as he envisions right now.

Posts like these make me wish for the gaping mouth emoticon! Good gravy that's just crazy!

Oh wow!

Good for her! I'm often skeptical about the accuracy of IQ tests--I don't think they are fool-proof.

Good for her!

I would find a way to get one on one time with your daughter before working with your 9yo each day. I always found that my youngest was much less likely to interrupt if I filled her love tank first. Then maybe she'll work with daddy while you spend time with your 9 yo. I did find that side-by-side learning also worked for us for some things, but that can really depend on the subject and the needs of your 9 yo. My oldest couldn't concentrate if my youngest was talking a lot--and my youngest's primary "learning language" is talking! So, I had to make some subjects "alone" time, and some were dependent on her being quiet if she was in the room. If she was talking, she needed to go to another room while we did that subject. Your dd really needs that one-on-one with mom early in the day though, so I would find a way to work that in. She needs to know that she's just as important as your son--which of course she is, but a little one can't understand that even if you spend time with her at night. Working and homeschooling is challenging!

My ds felt the same way! I do wonder if most profs end up grading more leniently in this kind of case (since the student can't "improve" without feedback). Hopefully her prof shows up soon and doesn't "check out" for the rest of the course! In my son's case, I wondered if it made him study harder since he didn't know if he was meeting expectations! He ended up with an A and did feel he learned a lot--it's just too bad the course went the way it did.

That seems odd! My son had an online class this past spring that went like that--instructor very visible at first, then nothing. He finally said he had some kind of family emergency come up, but it affected the rest of the class (which was already condensed into 8 weeks instead of the usual 16 weeks)--ds never got feedback on any writing, and the majority of the grade was on two essays. Thankfully he did well, but it was quite unnerving. Not sure what happened with the prof.