I was very excited to see this offered via Lulu, as I had been waiting rather impatiently for months (and months ;)) for it to be printed. I received my copy in the mail today and am very impressed by what I have read so far. I cannot wait to curl up on the couch tonight and really dig into the book. Looks like a winner! Thank you very much, Drew! :iagree:

My 7-year-old DS has sensory processing issues. He was diagnosed around age 2.5. He has a long list of foods he can't stand. But I have found that for every food he won't touch, there is an 'equally healthy' food that he loves. Example: He won't touch carrots, but loves sweet potatoes and winter squash. He won't eat peas, green beans or broccoli but loves raw spinach and edamame. For veggies, I just try to have one on the table that I know he will eat. Sometimes he may eat that and nothing else, but I figure overall he is still probably eating more variety than most kids. My DS doesn't care for many of the traditional child-friendly foods and appears 'picky' to people that are not familiar with him. Ex: He won't eat chicken nuggets because he doesn't like the texture of the meat. He hates pizza and spaghetti. (Any and all sauce is 'too hot.') So if you see that side of him, you think 'picky eater.' But he will eat sushi and clam chowder, which my DH won't even try. :tongue_smilie:

I started my DS with FLL in January, shortly after he turned 6. He has done great with all the work, except penmanship. My plans are to continue on, just limit the amount of writing that I require.

Re: P.E. I counted three, right? Recess games, T-ball and jumping rope? I know many have said that is too much but I would think it depends very much on the activity level of the child. For mine, that wouldn't be enough. He does at least two hours a day of physical activities, broken up through the day. He's very high energy, though. He could keep up with your schedule; I couldn't. :tongue_smilie:

I read "The trouble with boys" last month and loved the book! Does it apply to our homeschooling? Not directly, but it really reaffirmed my belief in homeschooling and that my son would not be a good 'fit' for public school. I would also say - I don't know how your homeschool environment is structured. I have already ditched a lot of handwriting, worksheets and rotate 'seat work' with 'hands on learning.' We also school outside a lot, where DS is free to move around. If you have a 'school at home' mentality, this book may be very useful to you. The title of the book sounds negative, but it really isn't. I found the book to be very positive. I have read many books on education and raising boys. This is probably one of my favorites. It contains, in one book, many of the ideas and studies that I have read in numerous other places. I liked having that info contained in one book and read together. It really cemented things I have read here and there, if that makes sense. Also, I don't know about your life, but I have many friends and neighbors coming to me for advice. They know that we homeschool. They have boys that are struggling with public school and the moms are not sure what to do or where to go for help. The subtitle of this book is something like 'how parents can work with the schools.' I have recommended this book to three mothers of boys now and all have come back and said how much they enjoyed it and how much it helped them. I think this is a good book to recommend to people w/children in the system. That all said - I skimmed the last few chapters, which were more geared toward older children and children in urban schools. Thank you for the suggestion of "The war against boys." I have not read that book.

I don't remember seeing one here but there was a thread going on the LCC Yahoo group in early August regarding those books. Are you on the LCC group and maybe saw the books mentioned there?

I, too, did not know there was one this weekend. Where did you get the info? There is one next weekend in the Houston area and one the following weekend in Plano. http://www.homeschoolbookfair.org/more-Info/other-fairs.html There is also an "unschooling" conference the first weekend in September in Dallas. http://www.rethinkingeducation.com/

I am in the North Texas area - in the middle of FW and Dallas. I am an avid gardener. We have two big garden seasons down here - Fall through winter, then early Spring. I garden 9-10 months out of the year - roughly September through June. I take the summer off from gardening. If I have veggies planted, all I do is harvest and keep them watered. I plant lettuce in October and it will go through the winter. Here is an organic nursery in Arlington. If you click on 'Notes from the garden,' they have lots of articles on-line that you can read - including a vegetable planting guide. http://www.redentas.com/shops-about.php I am in two homeschool support groups, including Horizons, which is for homeschoolers 'between' the FW and Dallas area. I joined it last year, mainly for their field trips. They are a Christian-based group, but you do not have to sign any statement of faith. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HorizonHS/ Homeschooling is very easy in Texas. Plus, most businesses are 'homeschool friendly' - re: many have special programs for homeschoolers. It is easy to get overwhelmed with all the possibilities... Art classes, P.E. classes, etc. Lots of enrichment opportunities out there!

I grew up in SW Iowa, about 10 miles from the Missouri River. If you look at a map of the US, you see that the center part of America is a giant basin, bordered with the Rocky Mountains on the West and the Appalachia Mountains to the East. The area between is the 'heartland' of America, America's breadbasket, the Midwest. Whatever you chose to call it, all the rain that falls in that region empty to one central spot - the Mississippi River. There are many large rivers that feed into the Mighty Mississippi - including the Ohio, the Missouri - plus many smaller rivers (such as the Raccoon River in Des Moines) and countless creeks. In 'normal' years, the creeks and rivers can hold it, though they will occasionally overflow into the fields. (Think about the ancient Egyptians living along the Nile and welcoming the annual floods for their crops.) However, this year they have had record rainfall and all that water has really no where to go. The Corp has tried to control the river for years by a system of levees, which prove ineffective at holding back a flood of epic proportion, like this year. As proof that man can't control the flow of water, study Carter Lake, Iowa, which is now "technically" in Nebraska since the Missouri River shifted course in the late 1800's. Yes, people do live along the rivers. However, most of the earlier settlers and early towns are built high, like Council "Bluffs," which is built on - yes - a bluff over looking the river. But many of the areas that flooded this time have never experienced flooding before. Example: Cedar Rapids has never flooded, not even in 1993. (The last 'infamous' flood year.) And some of the houses are miles from a creek or river. The Midwest has had so much rain this year that they are seeing a lot of 'surface' flooding, or saturation flooding. They have simply had so much water that the ground cannot hold anymore. There is no where for the water to run so it sits. And sits. They have had several days of 8-10 inches of rain in just an hour or two. When your ground is already saturation and you receive that much water that fast, there is no where for it to go. Even the tiniest, mildest creek 5 miles from your home is then subject to flash flooding, which is what they are seeing a lot of this year. It is amazing to think that when the ground is already soaked, just a few inches of rain can make a creek or river rise 4 feet in just minutes! Remember, too, that early settlers always lived along waterways. This was true in Ancient times, just as it was true in early America. People needed waterways for transportation just as they needed it for watering their animals or fields, for the grain mills, etc. Some people moved on, away from the water. However a good number of people stayed along the rivers, which is why you see large cities with rivers running through them. Again, glance at a map and you see that the Midwest is a criss-cross pattern creeks and rivers. I doubt you really could live 'away' from a river in that region if you even wanted to. Hope that helps.

http://www.heartoftex.org/sports/sports.html http://www.flowermoundstriders.com/drupal/ (Above would probably allow teens) Also, you might want to contact some of the local running stores, such as Luke's or Run On! They should know of any local teams and put you in contact. I have a boy that loves to run, but is still too young for any distance. I need to start looking and filing away info myself. Best wishes.

We run our school year Jan-Dec. We planned on homeschooling year-round from the start, but at first I ran our 'year' from August to July. We are not using grade levels, instead just working at DS's level of ability and interest. DS has a late December birthday, so I decided it made more sense to run our years from Jan to Dec and just note his age in our records, instead of trying to remember what grade he would be. The downside - the majority of people in this area strictly follow grades and follow the traditional school schedule, plus they LIVE for summer breaks. It has been stressful (to me) at times when everyone else is rambling on about finishing their year and we are just 'starting' ours. It can be hard enough going against mainstream by homeschooling but throwing in an unconventional school year is downright crazy. (Today was our 54th day of school this year, where most people who record school days would be around 180 or so.) But I do like running our years this way, so far at least. DS is young still, but he has always gone through a major developmental 'leap' around his birthday so it just made sense, for me, to up his work around that same time. I also like starting 'new' in the new year. :D We school year-round with a week break every 5-6 weeks. Depending on the weather, we may take 2-3 weeks off in the late fall and early spring for gardening or outdoor field trips.

I have been lurking since March and finally decided to join. :D We live in the D/FW area (Texas) and are homeschooling our 6.5 year old son. DS, at age 4, attended preschool for a few months before we decided to 'take a different educational path.' We are using Galloping the Globe, Story of the World, First Language Lessons, Critical Thinking Company math and whatever else strikes our fancy. Thank you for letting me join!