Oh baby...I'm right there with you. DS (13.5) is not aspie, but spd, so we get the meltdowns. Yesterday he melted down because I when I handed him his dress pants and shirt to get dressed for his piano recital, he took them to his room, promptly "checked out", put down the pants, put on his shirt, picked up a different pair of pants (also dress pants, but these were crumpled & not ironed) and came downstairs, where I told him to go put on the pants I gave him. He swore up and down he had on the right pants.......TOTALLY got out of control/irrational....grrr. That kid was dead meat. I finally just said "we are leaving, here are the correct pants, please make sure you have them on when you go in the room for the recital". I figured if he was desperate to die on this hill, I'd accomodate him. Trust me, I don't go looking for hills to die on. Fortunately he had calmed down by the time we got there, changed his pants in the van, and played beautifully (he came to me for hugs/apologies/prayer before). Sheesh. Getting this kid through his work everyday is exhausting, so I knows how you feels :o). Hang in there. Kayleen

Actually, I'm sort of ticked because Firefox is linked into google somehow on my (and many other's, judging from comments I've seen online today) computers such that when we get on Firefox, we hear the pacman bleeping NO MATTER WHAT we do. I don't even have to have google open in my browser. It's highly annoying, and I've muted for the day. Grrr. Never even put a stupid coin in the thing.

Oh...I just thought of another one....my mil calls those little sausage thingies in a can "Vie-eena Sausages" .......AAAAAARGGGGG.....makes me want to rip my hair out and shout "VEE-ENNA!!! VEE-ENNA!!! YOU KNOW.......SWITZERLAND?????" But I don't :o). I'm a nice dil. Drives me crazy when she calls the little ocean critters "srimp" instead of "shrimp" also. Shudder. I just breathe deeply and try to remember that she's from old "Okie" background (think Grapes of Wrath) and really thinks this is how such things are pronounced. I know. Really minor stuff. But we *are* discussing anal, after all LOL :o).

Bad spelling, or usage. Grammar in general. I get it from my mother, the linguist. For example.... "reek havoc" instead of "wreak havoc" .....gives me chills up and down the spine. Keeping my clothes folded neatly in my drawer: this is very strange to even me....I'm a classic "messy" in general (absentminded professor type), and my house frequently gets ...well.... untidy. But my drawers? neat. I'm also anal about having to have a soda when we go out to eat. My dh is very frugal, and frequently only orders water with all the burgers (I know, I know....pink slime...not going there), but he knows that I must have my soda :o). I know there are other quirky things, but I can't think of them.

growing up.....great example from my parents; lost a cousin/playmate when I was about 8 yrs old & that made a huge impression on me that life is short and I need to enjoy each moment; lived in a 3rd world country for many years growing up & that gives wonderful perspective; my mother has struggled at different times with depression, so I've become very empathetic to those who deal with mental illness; I have a couple of fairly difficult (spd/hyper/gifted) children that have made me super empathetic to others who have not so well behaved kids. Parenting in general is a very humbling experience :o).

At which point I would be off my butt following her to the bathroom, getting down at eye level with her and saying "You do NOT talk to mommy that way, when I say NO, I mean NO, and YOU are done with TV...go to the bathroom, then you can spend 4 minutes sitting on the stairs quietly thinking about being respectful to mommy"

Sounds to me like she needs to be with you at all times, if she is going to take advantage of when you aren't paying attention. She is very little. She should have very little control. VERY little. I would worry less about breaking her spirit, and more about her learning submission and humility. I don't mean be unkind, but if you can't trust her to not be unsafe (picking up a hot pot of coffee would fall into this catagory), maybe a few days on a wrist leash with mom would be in order? Crying over a movie, promised or not, should automatically nix the movie. Don't get sucked into that game. Trust me, it is a game. Basically, you need to make serious unpleasantness for her when she pulls this kind of stuff. If you are disciplining calmly and lovingly, then stop worrying so much about breaking her spirit. She might need a little (tiny) bit of broken spirit to get the message through to her that she is NOT in control (and at age 4, she should not be). Why do you give her things she has "pushed and pushed" for?? Pushing should automatically mean she doesn't get whatever it is. Make a clear list (post it on a wall) of what she is allowed to do (like go to the bathroom by herself), make sure she knows that she must ask permission to do EVERYTHING else, then have a clear consequence if she doesn't ask. Then it doesn't matter what she did...if she didn't ask permission (give her words...."Mom may I ______, Mom is it ok if I have _______", she gets an appropriate consequence. And a bigger one if what she didn't ask to do was dangerous. The "can do" list should start out short, and get longer as they get older. Role play lots and lots. Play "yes mom" games. Tomato stake. PLAN to leave fun places if she tries any tantrums....of course tell her in advance that this will happen. Be creative. Embrace natural consequences. Have a supernanny marathon to give yourself some backbone :o). Enjoy and celebrate the successes.

OK, the most rigorous you will find (I know...some will beg to differ) will be Rod and Staff, or Christian Light Edudation (CLE). They are pretty comparable in rigor. R&S is not very independent for the ages you mentioned. CLE is probably a lot more so. It is workbook based, and meant to be very independently done. Both of these will make sure your kids learn diagramming. I would say there is less comp in CLE than in R&S, but I'm not sure at the lower levels. FWIW, I've looked at scads of grammar programs, and I have personally used R&S, CLE, Shurley grammar (doesn't do traditional diagramming), and some others for variety over the years with 3 kids.

could you just list all the reading assignments on ....say....Monday, numbered, and then your kids could do them whenever they want during the week, writing down the numbers in the square of the day they want to do them...or something like that? That way, you can list the assignments, they can do the planning part. Just a thought.

One word: Aleks. You will be totally out of the equation. I know....I know...another "math program". But it will force him to have to do all those things you want him to do, without you being in the equation. Honest. Scouts honor. You can do a month free trial even :o). My dd was/is like this. She is in 11th grade and finally finishing Alg 1 (she's done some geometry as well). But aleks was the ticket. No more nagging. If she "learned" it in the lessons and earned part of her "pie piece" for that topic, but missed it in the assessment, she lost that part of the pie and had to redo it. The program does it all for you. Continually assesses what they are ready to learn. Gives them a choice of what topics they can do next. Constantly reviews. I'm telling you....for kids like this it is awesome. Anyway, check it out.....heck, it's free for a month...what do you have to lose?

ditto the others....you are certainly still under warranty. My dh (smart man) got an extra year extended warranty when we got our imac 2+ years ago, so when my hard drive took a dive this spring I took it to the mac store and they were great. Because I hadn't backed up my hard drive, I had to pay $150 for data retrieval, but everything else was free. Take it in.

I cut both my son's and my husband's hair. I sort of learned it by doing it....I had a little idea from watching my sister cut hair when I was in high school. Actually, I cut my dd's hair also. Here are some books that might be good. http://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Your-Familys-Gloria-Handel/dp/1402726546

I think I agree with the others that early exposure is really crucial, and beyond that, talent, inclination and maturity level play into it heavily. My kids are all totally different. We listened to TONS of music when they were littles. Lots of classical music. We played around with it. When my girls were elementary they learned recorder in a coop class and had a great time. At this point we lived in an apartment, and didn't have room for a piano, or $ for lessons, but we had stray little musicy things around along with lots of listening. My ds came along in the middle of all this, and it was really clear from age 1 that he was musically gifted (certainly not prodigy, but gifted nonetheless). But....he was also very immature & had some sensory issues to boot. Not a great combo for early lessons AT ALL. We acquired a keyboard when he was around age 4, and he loved it. I decided to wait on lessons, and put him in Kindermusik at age 5/6/7. That was fabulous...just what he needed. Very low key and fun, lots of gross motor stuff. Meanwhile at home he would play all sorts of stuff by ear, and learned some from a primer book. I made sure to look for a VERY GOOD teacher for him, and I got one. He started piano at almost age 8, and even though he was still wiggly and immature, he was ready, and had a teacher that understood little wiggly musical boys, and was highly qualified. He is 13 now, is a great pianist, hates practicing, but loves playing. Does numerous competitions every year etc. My oldest has never wanted lessons. She decided a couple years ago to teach herself piano, which she has done with fairly good success. My middle dd begged me around age 12 for violin lessons. I let her beg for a year, then started her on violin at age 13. She is very musical as well, loves singing, and has a very good ear, so she has really taken off and is doing really well. At age 16 now, I'm hoping she'll join the youth orchestra this fall. She also sings in choir, and does musical theater (as do the rest of my kids). I don't know that there is one "best" formula for all kids when it comes to deciding early vs late. Look at your kid's personality, and the options you have and make your best decision. If trying early doesn't work out, you can always back off and try again later. There are pros and cons to both approaches.

go to sparkpeople, get a sensible calorie range for losing, log your food, don't eat more calories than you need. You will lose weight. There is no magic solution, vegetarian or not :o). Exercise is good for getting in shape, but don't count on it to help you lose weight.

Do yourself a favor and download K9 for your computer. You can control anything you want with this. Types of sites, individual sites, blocks of time when internet is off (like at night, for example). It's a wonderful invention :o). And it's free :o).

Well, fwiw, the best quality grammar out there is also the least expensive. Which would be CLE...if you really want consumable, or R&S if you don't. In either case, the teacher components aren't incredibly expensive no matter what you decide to do, and they are probably the least likely programs to change much in the next 10 years. And yes, I've looked at everything out there. Searching in vain for something as good, because we did CLE this year, and I love it and ds hates it (not too hard, he just doesn't like to work). I've told him he may have to live with it, because I can't find anything better :o).

Now...my kids rooms do have bookshelves, just not where they could fall on anyone in bed :).

Theoretically, yes (I loooove books), but practically speaking, no. Live in S. CA, and unless those babies were seriously bolted the wall, and all the bookshelves had good wire across them, I wouldn't even consider it. I went through the Northridge earthquake, and yes, people do get buried by books. We had furniture thrown over that you wouldn't think would move anywhere. I think my somewhat reasonable fear of what could happen would overshadow the coolness factor :o).

If you buy just the online version, you will now have a link to download the print version. I don't see a huge benefit in having the printed textbook. Before I saw what it actually was, I thought it might be a good idea, but all it is a printed replica of exactly what is on the screens online. You really don't need to buy the text. You can print out the test pages from the download easily enough, then just have them fill in the bubbles on paper for you to send in. It is a very interactive program, so I think the paper version is a step down imo.

Money Possessions and Eternity, Randy Alcorn

I would be so tempted to use the BJU online program, except for the one hurdle I can't get over....you can't do payments unless you are buying 2 full year programs. I just can't afford to shell out $1000 up front out of the budget. I wish wish wish they would consider payment plans for single grade users.... :o(. I can afford to do 1 class, but getting a whole year would be so much more economical per class...sigh.

The problem I see with consumer cellular is that yes it may be $10 per month, but that is just to keep the phone active, it doesn't include any minutes whatsoever. And the minutes are 25c each. It is waaaay cheaper to get a $100 prepaid from t-mobile, which keeps the phone active all year, and includes 1000 minutes. At consumer cellular this would cost $370 ($120 for 12 months, $250 for 1000 minutes). How is this a good deal??

GooGone http://www.amazon.com/MAGIC-AMERICA-GG12-Goo-Gone/dp/B00006IBNJ ....wd40 probably would work as well.

OH MY GOODNESS!! I think we have the same (but exactly opposite-se*ed) children. How funny :o). My oldest was Extremely difficult (hyper/intense/impulsive/mild spd) till about age 13/14, then became a dream (responsible/self controlled/uber logical now 18), second dd isn't hyper like the others, but is a very typical teen & definitely more touchy now (age 16). Youngest ds is 13....musician, VERY emotional, very sensitive/touchy, easily flies off the handle, hates being told what to do, mildly spd as well.....but has a very sweet heart. He loves animals, deeply desires to do what is right (even when he knows he's gonna lose it again...sigh).....he is just a quirky guy. As hard as dd1, but a little different. To answer the OP's question....I don't think one sex is any more difficult than any other. Totally depends on the personality of the child.

Ugh...my son is such a mixed bag!! Think gifted but *very*penmanship challenged, and mildly SPD. Here are some *thoughts* (that may change) about our 8th grade English: Outside writing class, paragraphs (once a week, teacher uses IEW/writeshop style) - in stone..we're doin it. Grammar - CLE 8 (my choice, we've done 7 this year, I love it, son hates it), *maybe* switch to BJU, or analytical grammar? Lit - waffling between BJU, LL8, or CLE. Love the lit analysis of BJU and CLE, like the real books of LL History: At this point, I think a mix of BJU 8 American matched up with NROC US History I & II (very audio/visual....he loves having things on the computer). Grade level "output" mixed with the higher level "input". Got the BJU free, and the NROC is free also....yay! Greek: keep plugging through Elementary Greek (we need to finish green level this year, have gone through Hey Andrew level 4 previously, so it is lots of review so far) Math: Geometry (maybe all the geo chapters in NEM) along with Kinetic Books Alg 2 Science: "Earth Science" on the record...either BJUP Earth & Space, OR Apologia Physical with the dvd lecture guy that is pretty lively. Might be able to coop together with a friend. Misc: finish up Fallacy Detective and Art of Argument (will be our "Informal Logic" elective on the transcript), Piano lessons (hard core....Certificate of Merit level 7 this year), Theater, PE with homeschool coop, Boy Scouts yeah right :o)....like we'll get all that done...but I'm unfailingly optimistic! For the record, I'd love to put the kid in a Art of Problem Solving class this summer, but I'm scared he'll totally freak out at writing out loads of problems.....which might be a good thing....but might also drive me up a tree and cost me money for headaches....oy.