150 problems???? AAAAAAAAAA!!!!! I have a ds in 8th as well, and although he doesn't have Aspergers, he is quirky, spd, and has motor skills issues. We would be overloading as well. I second a packaged program. Or third. or whatever.

I'm in an umbrella school in CA, and when we do school pictures, we always get student id's, and a teacher id with the package. If you are with HSLDA, your card doubles as a teacher id. If you want to make one, I think donnayoung.org has a way to do it. Possibly homeschool buyers discount as well. This is just off the top of my head.

ugh...I'm so thankful I am friends with people I can be honest with!! We commiserate and encourage each other regularly. No glossing in my circles :o). My kids are sinful. So are my friend's kids. They all do stupid stuff and humiliate themselves occasionally. We love them all to death anyway. The end.

sigh.....I love my kindle :o))).

well, when I think strong, I think of nyquil. Thats what hubby takes when he really needs to sleep. It has alcohol :o). I remember I took it once in college. I took it a bit too late in the evening, and had to get up at 6am to work in the kitchen. I felt like I was floating 2 feet off the ground for about 3 hours... anyway, hope you find stuff. Kayleen

Oh yeah....when my dd took Eng. 101 last year, she was totally appalled LOL! It was just laughable. You wonder what these kids are thinking??? mush, thats what. For the record, she had a 10yo genius type kid in her class who was headed for a major in theoretical physics or some such thing, and I'm telling you......his writing was the *best* of anyone in the class. wow. he was in her calc class as well.

yeah, it would probably bother me. One reason I love my church is that we have a really mixed group that all support each other. Our pastor has both homeschooled his kids, had different ones in private school at times, and even in public school. Nobody looks down on anyone's choices. I appreciate that.

yup, btdt. what Aggie and Starr said :o). Plenty of lovin, lower expectations, go out, low key. If nothing else works, toss him back in bed.

so much fun...it is sticking now. It's been snowing and sleeting for about 3 hours now, so the kids are having a great time. So pretty. It will be gone 24 hrs from now no doubt, but we'll enjoy it :o). It's been about 20 years since this happened. It really isn't very much snow, but we'll take what we can get. If I *really* wanted snow, I'd only have to drive an hour in most directions anyway. It's still coming down out there and the temp has gone down almost 10 deg in the last few hrs. It was around 45 when it started, and it is 37 now, and dropping.

It's actually snowing in my lower elevation of So Cal right now (about 1500 ft). It isn't really sticking at my house, but everyone who live on the hills around us (lots of them) are probably accumulating some. & the local mts are getting tons I imagine :o). I think the last time it did this was back in 1989 or some such year. I know....ho hum for all you Eastern folk :o). We have neighbors that are here from Australia for a few years, and they are ecstatic to see even a little. I told the it rarely/never snows. Ha!

Lots of music around the house. Classical kids cd's, Beetoven's Wig, and the like Let him mess around with music. Have a keyboard around for him to fiddle with. Recorder, xylophone, stuff like that. Kindermusic is wonderful. My ds was very similar to yours, but NOT ready for lessons at age 6 so he loved KM. Now, my son loved pushing buttons, so keyboards were a love at first sight thing. He would play actual songs on the little tykes piano in his 3yo class at church. Freaked out the workers a little to hear him plunking out Amazing Grace with perfect notes and rhythm LOL. Try to find a way for him to test out different instruments. Even just the listening stuff/cds might give you a clue as to what sounds he really likes. My ds didn't start lessons till he was almost 8 and it about killed me to wait, because I *knew* he was very musical, and all us parents want deep down to hurry up LOL! My son just wasn't very mature. Still isn't particularly, but it's ok. He's 14 now, has perfect pitch, plays beautiful piano, loves to mess around on his keyboard, sing in choir at church, and do musical theater. He doesn't like to practice, but I make him anyway. I wish he could learn a second instrument for fun, but don't have the money. Oh well. Anyway, at this point, focus on fun and atmosphere. He may be old enough for lessons, or may not be. 8 is always a good age, and from experience I can say that an 8yo can easily catch up (on piano anyway) to the early beginners. Good luck and have fun! Kayleen

mmmmm burritos & quesadillas!!! you can put beans, cheese, chicken, sour cream, whatever kiddos like! yum.

I have 10 million books in my house lol! I think I'll do "One from the shelf, one on the Kindle" and alternate that way :o). I can plan some, though...... even though my reading moods are very eclectic. I have to go with the moment a little.

OK, I'm in this year. My Kindle is coming in the mail on Monday, so it will give me a reason to use it :o).

Totally totally worth it!!! My kids have reread so many books, and read many of the books we never got to. No question it has been worth it. Also, I've been able to bless many friends by loaning boxes of books of different time periods for a year at a time. I love being able to do that. We did lots of Sonlight, so have collected LOTS of books over the years. My girls have each dibsed parts of the library when they have kids of their own :o).

well, I'm continuing, if that counts. I lost 20 lbs last year, gained about 5 back in the last few months, with holidays and whatnot, but I've definitely learned to eat better, and my new goal is to bet back jogging with the Couch to 5k. I downloaded the podcast, to take the first steps toward cementing the commitment :o). I have to lose weight the slow steady way, or I will get wiggy and give up. I was a nutcase before my oldest was born about 20 years ago, and ran & exercised like a crazy woman & was skinny & in good shape. And I knew how to eat per WW. By the time my youngest came around, I was still exercising, but had gained some. Once he was born, it all went to hooey, and I gradually inched up the scale. Once our twice I would diet & lose some, but was too "all or nothing" about it. Being older and wiser now (I hope), I'm being REALISTIC about weight loss & exercise. I'm using Sparkpeople, which is easier than WW (for me), and have been walking sporadically. I love running & would like to do it again, but need to lose a lot more to do it well. I'm happy with my 15 lb loss. It is all about habits, and moderation, NOT deprivation! I will not deprive myself. Period. can't live like that. I can make good choices, but an occasional cookie will not derail me anymore. Things I do: eat oatmeal/cocoa/ww toast/fruit smoothies for breakfasts make sure I have steamer bags on hand for easy veggie steaming keep a few Lean Cuisines in the freezer for "those moments" keep lowfat popcorn around lots of the same things you are doing

my son was exactly the same, only we didn't do any stints in PS. He is not very mature, and not very big physically. We did K when he was 4 turning 5, but even though he was obviously beyond K material, he was tiny, and not very mature. always hung out with the younger kids. So we did Super K the next year (which academically was easily gr1/2 or more). Purely for social and reporting reasons, and also I knew I wasn't going to be putting him in ps anyway. I haven't regretted that decision. He still isn't incredibly mature even now in 8th grade LOL! And he is just now getting some height. Holding him back was a good decision. I figured if he suddenly became a different person (ha), I could skip him a grade later.

another thing you can do is to set up soda cans and try to knock them over....or whatever similar equivilent type knock em over target. That's pretty fun.

Oh Jean....my family is one big quirk, so we always have a blast being quirky together on holidays :o). We are at my sister's house with my mom and dad. Get this - sis's big old sweet lab has a bleeding sore on his hiney (poor Strider) that they haven't been able to get into the vet about yet, but this morning he was chewing at it & it *really* started bleeding......so there was bil getting out the potty pads and duck tape making a diaper for the doggie so he wouldn't drip blood all over or chew on himself. Then last night when we were watching ELF with my mom and dad, it got to the part in the movie when Buddy was looking at the se*y lingerie wondering what it was, and my dad says ......"what are those....earmuffs??" O. M. Goodness....we all laughed till we cried for 3 minutes straight. He'll never live that one down. We're just a hang spoons on the nose for fun sorta family. Anything goes. Don't get giggling at the table because everybody will end up giggling.

then can someone please tell my 14yo ds to get with the program please? sigh. I still have to kick his butt up to the shower.

sorry, no complaints here. dd 17.5 got sweet with a guy in her co-op class, and they sort of went from friends, to good friends, to really good friends. He is in choir, and theater with her as well. I should probably call him her boyfriend....there's just so much baggage associated with that word that I hope she avoids..sigh. Anyway, they are both totally fine with family only, or group only activities (no single dating). They both are looking to finish college before marriage (no they aren't even thinking of that). He is such a sweetie. Very polite, respectful, serious christian, committed to purity, funny, 3rd deg. black belt, collects knives ;o), in the sheriff's explorer program and doing very well, etc. My dd has been my romantic one from way back, so frankly I'm not surprised she has a boyfriend, but I'm thrilled that he is such a great kid. I'm friends with his mom as well, so we are totally on the same page. I can caution her till I'm blue in the face about the dangers of getting emotionally attached at 17, but there's only so much I can do. If it works out, it works out. If not, she'll learn something from the experience I imagine.

Well, lets just say I pray a lot..... :o). With Kendra, by about age 13/14 I was pretty confident she could handle herself in just about any situation (keep her cool, act appropriately, not pick her nose....etc.). I'm just not there with Ben yet. I remember, with her, that at some point I just felt this huge weight lift from me....like "Ok, I don't have to worry about her any more"..not that I don't *really* worry anymore, but just from a behavioral standpoint. It was a huge relief when she got to that point. With Ben, I'm hoping he *ever* gets to that point LOL! He's much better than he used to be, but it's definitely a process that takes lots of work, discipline, vigilance, creativity, and just plain WORK from me. Which can be very tiring some days. I'm so thankful I've been able to homeschool him, though. Someone would have wanted to medicate him long ago :o). I love my sweet boy so much. He still hugs and kisses me in public....if he were your average "cool" kid, this would never happen. He's up down and all around, but he has a tender heart, and I'm so thankful for that.

you might like this book, then :o). http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=241513

Interesting....my oldest dd (19.5) is remarkably like this. Very strong willed, and very principled. She is my Spock-child LOL! Meaning she is *extremely* black and white, logical, analytical. I mean extremely. And intense. She grew herself out of many of her SPD traits. And hyperactive (or was anyway). By about age 14, she had pretty much channeled all of that into being very focused, and a real go getter. Very comfortable in her own skin, and very ready to do things that were hard for her, because she knew it would be good for her. She followed her brother and sister into the wonderful world of theater, not because she is "theater material", but because she knew it would help her get over her fear of performing. And she's hooked now, of course, although she has NO desire for leads of any sort (completely unlike my other 2 children, btw). Peter Pan will be her last play...sniff...but she'll be the first to say how much confidence it has given her, and how much she has learned from doing it. She is at com. college right now, and hopefully will be able to transfer to a state school as an engineering major next year (lets just say she's *extremely* suited for engineering, although she loves working with kids also...go figure). I love the attitude she has about tackling challenges. Wish my youngest had some of it....sigh....but maybe he'll get there, too. You just never know :o). I thought I was gonna kill myself or her from birth to age 12, I'll tell ya.

I had to do this as well. My poor middle dd got sandwiched between 2 incredibly intense, hyper, what-you-see-is-what-you-get, fidgety, "out there" siblings. She's just totally different. Much less hyper, good with her hands, socially adept, terrible at math (both the others are math whizzes, but struggle with fine motor). Poor kid. When she was little it just took SO much energy to deal with her sister, I'm sure she got the shaft a bit. Fortunately they do get along pretty well. Then Ben came along, and he was very high maintenance also. Not to mention very obviously musically gifted from early on. I tried to get her to learn piano, but she wanted nothing to do with it because Ben was good at that. She actually would be very good at it if she wanted to pursue it. She's finally come into her own in the last 3 years, confident of who she is and what she is good at. She is incredibly musical in her own right. Started violin at age 13 and plays phenomenally well for only having taken for 4 years (she placed into the highest level youth symphony this year, but stayed in intermediate because she'd have to give up theater). She paints, makes jewelry, and sings beautifully (not as well as Charlotte, though ;). She got sucked into theater after Ben started doing it, and now loves it & is getting leads. I'm so proud of her...she's a senior this year. For awhile, though, she definitely struggled, feeling like she couldn't compete academically with her sister, or musically, with her younger brother.