Just remember to stay calm while trying to break her of the habit, we have a coondhound and a lab/heeler mix (we think) and when the get going at something, my first reaction is to yell and clap my hands and it NEVER works. At that point I have just joined the party :lol: Having them wear a backpack during walks and slowly increasing the amount of weight is a great way to wear them out faster. It also seems to give some dogs a feeling that they are doing a job and can mellow them out IMO. If it makes you feel any better Edy, our lab mix, has started trying to shove ahead of us in the hallway and going through doors. She was abused so we try to avoid stern verbal corrections or threatening body language as much as possible. She will cower and slink and sometimes pee and it is just awful. So I have been walking down the hallway and through doorways like a drunken sailor for the last week. I try to use my spidey senses and block her on each side from being able to squeeze through and shove me out of the way. According to my DH and DS it is funny to watch :glare:

There is a book called Click to Calm that was very helpful in re training our dog who became anxious noisy and aggressive after being attacked by our other dog (whom we no longer have) The Thundershirt also works wonders for anxious clingy barky days around here. We have weather rolling in and he was pacing, following me around and making a bunch of noise. The Thundershirt calms him right down, he is sleeping now! I always try to react in a calm way to barking and over excitement, otherwise I, as the pack leader, am just joining in the noisefest. Dogs respond incredibly well to our body language. When both of mine are barking at something out the window and acting like fools I insert myself between them and the window, causing them to back up a couple of feet, give the sit hand signal and then treat once they have been quiet for about 3 seconds, saying good hush, in a quiet voice. If they pop back up and start at the window again, I say Uh uh! and repeat the whole procedure. About the following you around mine do that too, I am always in their line of sight if they can manage, and there is a party in the bathroom every morning when I wake up and stumble in there....at least until I kick them out! :glare: :lol: I just don't let them in the kitchen, it is too dangerous to have them on the floor in there, so they lay in each doorway and watch me.

I just got an air popcorn popper, it was between that and the crank kind, and I wanted DS to be able to use it himself so went with the air kind. I love that it will be a super easy semi healthy snack that he loves and can make himself. I would love to be able to do kettle corn, but I think that needs sugar with the oil? Any ideas besides butter and salt? I sprinkled a little bit of ranch seasoning on mine tonight and it is yummy, but I would love other ideas so I can add variety and replace some more of the packaged crap we eat.

HiD's is 11, but has some reading issues so he is just now really getting confident and truly fluent. I still have him read things to me, not entire books, since they are too long at his level. But during read alouds I have him read the first page or two of each chapter out loud to me, then I finish it. I also have him read things like directions to a recipe, while I do the steps, or today he read the feeding guide to the new dog food so we could calculate how many lbs we would need for a week. (Sneaky math!) I also have him read everything he writes back to me. It helps him see his mistakes better than anything else I've tried.

It all started at a time when his stress was off the charts, he had just lost both parents within 4 months, and the doctor over medicated him after a single panic attack (dh thought it was his heart never having had one) rather than send him for good grief counseling. My theory is that the blows to the head, the super stress, then a mix of psychoactive meds finally pushed his poor brain over the edge. It started with occular migraine like visuals, and weird auditory stuff. hen progressed to feeling confused, just being pretty out of it, and some really out of character stuff like zero interest in TeA time with me, and finding extra meaning in random stuff. Also lots of physical pain with no known cause. I felt at the time he was overly medicated, but I also couldn't fathom how much he must have been grieving so I was kind of floundering as to what to do. Finally he had a full blown seizure at work, his co worker found him passed out on the floor of the office. Thankfully this company had cameras in their Loss Prevention office so we were able to figure out what happened. It was a long week recovery after that first worst seizure. He had another less intense one about 2 weeks later. Of course he hit his head both times! It took 2 er visits, me yelling at our GP, and finally a really good neuro to get someone to come to their senses about his meds. At that point he really couldn't make any decisions so I went into bulldog mode. Finally after one scary episode with keppra and and Ambien, we got him on the low maintenance dose of Dilantin only. My normal sane husband came back and he was able to process and heal. Through the last 4 years his symptoms have been really pretty mild, mostly weird leg twitch in, that is not restless legs. Trouble with dizziness and a loopy feeling from time to time, and migraine type symptoms with headache and occular stuff. But he is totally conscious enough to know its a migraine, doesn't feel he is "seeing things" I asked him just now for a better description of his "weird head days" He said it was like watching a movie, like everything was really happening but he was separated from it. Almost disassociative but he was totally aware of how weird he felt and just wanted to sleep it off. It has been 5 years since this all started, he had one bad seizure in my parents front yard, where my mom found him and called an ambulance, which took several days to recover from. Otherwise it is all minor, and when the leg twitching and migraine symptoms get worse he can increase his meds for a week or so until his brain calms back down. It really felt like I was loosing him at first, but honestly it is a totally minor issue day to day now. Meds have helped tremendously! ETA: he also said sometimes his eyes twitch, not the lid, but his actual eyeball, he used to get lightening flashes in his vision, and stumble over words, not being able to recall the right word. Also executive function stuff. All of that has been improving over time since getting hit by the car. Also I'm not anti medication....the doctor just had him on way too much that all affected seratonin levels and I firmly he was likely on the edge of full blown seratonin syndrome. The doctor blew off all my concerns, saying he was just depressed.

This sounds very similar to the non epileptic seizure activity my DH has. He has had several bad blows to the head, the worst of which was getting hit by a car and landing on his head many feet away. Combined with lots of small blows from working a job where he tends to get punched. We have had him tested by several neurologists, and had tests and scans in the ER a couple of times. There is no epileptic activity and no visible lesions on the brain. He takes a low maintenance dose of Dilantin, lots of fish oil, and tries to get plenty of sleep and eat well. He has very very few actual full blown seizures, it is mainly the crazy making visual distortions, auditory stuff, and what he calls weird head days. Those are greatly lessened with the low dose meds though. I know that is really all that helpful, but it just sounded so similar I wanted to share. :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Keep the grass mowed as short as you possibly can, so that sunlight can penetrate and then at night give it a good thorough soaking to help drown them. We use the granules from the hardware store and a spreader in the yard this year and it really worked. Also flea meds available at the vet cost more, but are much much safer and save you money in the long run. You can also bathe your pup just using Dawn dish soap, it works great and is much more gentle. This is especially important when you have to do repeated baths during an infestation! I see you used advantage multi, I'd talk to your vet about adding program for the larval stage, or comfort is as an adult flea nuclear bomb. Seriously the stuff is amazing.

Thanks ladies! I just ordered NOEO and once again I give silent thanks to my grandparents for buying me a very expensive microscope when I was about 12, it still works perfectly and has all the features I want in one for DS :) I still really like something about ES better, but I really don't want to have to find all the supplies, and spend time running around town. I would much rather read ahead and type up a quiz or discussion questions which can be done while DS works on something else!

I guess we are going to go with NOEO and keep my fingers crossed I don't have to do too much legwork for discussions. I'd much rather do research than run around looking for supplies!! One more question....does it include a good frog dissection lab? He really wants to do that! :glare::tongue_smilie:

The Elemental science kit is unavailable right now, I assume maybe it is sold out? Or am I missing something?

This place is HUGE, bigger than a large Barnes and Noble by half, with the shelves twice as tight in a maze pattern and books in every nook and cranny. I LOVE it. I could spend days wandering their stacks. Oddly enough it is still easier to find stuff there than at Books a Million! They also have a Giant green Hulk in the entrance, and lots of comics and music. And a ladies night, and other fun nerdy social things. I heard the checkout girl tell them they had 3 warehouses full of books while I was there...I almost swooned! All of the kid's books are buy one get one, and generally half the price actually marked, plus you get the price minus .75 in trade value for children's books. So they really support young readers! https://www.facebook.com/GardnersUsedBooks

For the record.... that is all I bought too! I totally avoided the 25 cent Mercedes Lackey novels, the entire wall of Stephen King and Dean Koontz, no art instuction books, or random pretty sciencey coffee table type books!! We are out of book room. The linen closet barely has room for linens :glare: Until I either get shelves for my birthday, or find a good craigslist buy I'm trying to be extra good :lol:

Can you handle more questions from me? I am finding this move into higher levels to be quite challenging. Balancing his output ability with his understanding ability might just do me in! Our original science plan has not been working, I just haven't had the time to properly pull it together, and we haven't had any lab type activities. Science is his main interest so I really want it to be the painless bridge from grammar to logic. We have been discussing it this week trying to find a solution. He originally asked for chemistry, but after talking he decided biology would be good, any chemistry at his level is going to have math he isn't ready for, and he really loves animals so life science/biology makes the most sense. I just want science that gets done! Open and go without me having to tweak it all over the place, and painless and not overwhelming with notebooking type sheets for DS to fill out. I am fine with worksheets if they are meaningful. I was going to get NOEO, I like the living books aspect, and the fact that I can order the entire program in one click. But then I realized it is all blank notebooking pages, and I do not want it to be that vague. It is still in the running though if people tell me its best! I think I like elemental Science the best from what I can see of the sample pages, but I don't like having to cobble together the supplies and books. Does the teachers guide come with discussion ideas, or any extra information? Classiquest is written totally to the student, correct? Does it come with any worksheets or reviews or quizzes or ways for me to evaluate without having to do the entire program right alongside him? Actually I just found some of the answers I had been searching for in a related thread at the bottom! I see that Classiquest doesn't have any extra information or discussion for me as the teacher. But it does still seem like a good program. Especially weighing the ability to buy the lab supplies all in one click. Seriously someone just tell me what to buy that will be easiest :) and if it is Elemental Science where do I find the supplies?

for 13 dollars total!!! I swung by the giant used book store today on my way home to do a quick look through before placing an Amazon order this weekend. These were actually books from my list. http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/jennifer_chad/scibookssmall_zpsea96a759.jpg http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/jennifer_chad/20121005_124437.jpg http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/jennifer_chad/20121005_124633.jpg Two Usborne science encyclopedias A new version of the Websters Dictionary Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth Roger Lancelyn Green's Tales of Troy A little Greek Myth book The Raven and other poems (perfect for October!) And a first edition Well Trained mind for .25 cents They are all in great shape too!!! :hurray: :001_tt2:

I feel like discussions regarding learning styles, teaching strategies, and the like easily fall into a completely separate category, either under general, or a sub forum like the writing workshop. I don't post in the special needs forum often, or the gifted, and frankly lately I am torn whether I should be in Logic or k-8. But when I do post something in the special needs area, I really prefer it be with the full understanding that that is the place I am coming from. I feel like my DS issues are fairly mild, until they aren't, and that is when I really am glad to have a clear cut place to talk them through. I don't know if that even makes sense or not. :confused:

I was asked this today, normally I say oh we play it by ear, but ahem, not so much this time. My answer was that I would let him go back when I decided panic attacks and bullying were a good choice for him. She then asked me when he got to be with friends and other kids. Well, he has art classes Saturdays for 2 hours, we have almost 3 hours of kid stuff at the UU church every other Sunday, he has 2 hours of kid stuff at his dads church the other Sundays along with spending the entire weekend with a 13 and 15 year old aunts when he is there. An almost every Wednesday playdate with another homeschooler and he plays with the neighbor kids at least 3 times a week after they get home from school. He is also spending time as a mother's helper for his toddler age cousin's several times a month. And once a week he visits with his great grandfather, who suffers from dementia, speaking to him about the war, (and who knows what) so that I can sit and have coffee with my grandmother and let her relax and vent. I don't know many other 11 year old boys able to do that, he's kind of special!! :lol::lol:

Front line no longer works in our neck of the woods, my vet doesn't even sell it anymore. He recommends interceptor or program, plus capstar for emergencies. I did some Googling, Comfortis is now approved for cats, I know many people have used it off label with good results, but I hadn't wanted to go off label for my kitties! Our girl dog hates the taste, so while the other dogs scarf it, for her I have to break it into tiny pieces and hide it in bites of hot dog. For a cat you would probably have to break it and "pill" them. I always give it with a full tummy. My vet also lets us buy it buy the single pill, which helps the budget, I buy 2 and split them between the 3 dogs! If you can use it, it is by far the single most amazing flea product, I almost cried the first time I saw how quickly it killed the little buggers on my horribly allergic dog!

Capstar will kill all adult fleas on your kitty within 15 minutes, and keep working for 24 hours. There is a pill called Comfortis that does the same thing for dogs and lasts a month. It is a MIRACLE, I had heard they were making one for cats but I don't know if it is out or not. Capstar is also very very safe and can be used on tiny kittens. I would also spray your house with an insect growth regulator with residual action vs. a typical bug bomb, it is more effective and safer for everyone! I buy Precor concentrate off Amazon, you mix it in a gallon sprayer. My favorite trick is a shallow dish full of dish soapy water with a candle in the middle of it. Place it in a dark empty room and the fleas will jump to their death in the soap water. Vacuuming daily also helps, make sure to get couches, pet beds and anywhere else kitty frequents, and either put a cut up flea collar in the bag, or dump the canister into a sealed bag/put the vacuum bag in a xlarge ziploc in the freezer. Otherwise they will just hatch and escape the vacuum!

Our wedding was a similar set-up only I decided to do the food mostly myself with only my best friend as help! We did it at my parents house, for about 35 people. We had various spreads, Hummus, an amazing hot artichoke dip, homemade bruschetta, with toasted bread, pita triangles and an assortment of crackers as well as sliced bell peppers, celery, carrots, and probably more. Then I did a huge mixed baby green salad with a homemade vinagrette, a giant cheese platter, and fruit salad, and oven roasted had asparagus and beans, with olive oil and garlic sprinkled over them before roasting, then truffle infused butter just before serving. We had originally planned for my Dad to cook Beef and Pork tenderloin on the grill, but because it had been drizzling, and set up ended up being more complicated then planned we ordered sliced smoked chicken and a huge Brisket from a local restaurant. Everything but the meat was homemade from scratch, the guests of all tastes and demographics seemed pleased and happy and full. It was a good thing too, since my poor dad ended up bringing huge fans from his shop and obsessively drying the grass all that afternoon. :001_smile: Here is a picture of the table, but with caveats.......The bread in the middle of the table was pulled off sliced diagonally and toasted, for bruschetta. The squares of dinner rolls were also re arranged to look less slab like, and the table was filled in with flowers, more fruit and just in general looked a lot better than this picture! (for some reason that is one good picture we didn't get) http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/jennifer_chad/marks%20pictures/IMG_1309.jpg And just for fun, these are two of my favorite pictures from all of them that day. Sitting around my mom's kitchen table with the women I love preparing food for such a special night was just...........awesome. http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/jennifer_chad/wedding/pre%20wedding/IMG_1206.jpg http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww286/jennifer_chad/wedding/pre%20wedding/IMG_1202.jpg

I don't know about it being used during pregnancy, but what about topical Phenergen? When DS and I had some sort of mutant stomach virus that had been going on for well over a week. The poor kid was so dehydrated he looked shriveled and was just dry heaving almost constantly for days. We also had it coming out the bottom end so a suppository wasn't an option. The doc was willing to call in the topical phenergen to a compounding pharmacy and it was a godsend. It came in little ML size needle free syringes and you rub it behind your ear or on your wrists.

Oooooh that totally convinced me! I have DS's Memoria Press Ancient Men of Greece workbook and text sitting right next to me. The urge to rip the bindings and spiral them is nearly overpowering :lol: I see you are using the P50 model, I wonder how that varies from the C55 http://www.mybinding.com/.sc/ms/dd/ee/44369/GBC-CombBind-C55-Comb-Binding-Machine-7708900 And one more ridiculous question..... Is it possible to both bind them using the Proclick, and then 3 hole punch them so I could keep them in a binder?

I am looking at Mybinding.com in their GBC binding machines...those are the Proclick right?? I am not sure I understand the pricing on these machines, why is the small manual 5 paper capacity one, only like 10 dollars less than an electric one that will punch up to 15 pages at a time. I feel like it is worth it to spend a little more to get one that punches more at one time, I tend to confuse myself using a regular 3 hole punch and end up with weird or wrong sided punches as it is. :D Also, anyone recommend a good cutter for workbooks and such; I tend to make a mess of the edges of the page when I rip the glue or bindings apart. (Maybe I am just doing it wrong)

DS is a lefty, with some writing delays, dysgraphia, and downright fussiness issues when it comes to his workbooks and materials. I know many people have discussed these tools before, but I've got lefty specific questions :) I am generally happy to oblige being a lefty myself and understanding the difficulty when a book won't lay flat, or has weird too tight binding and is hard to use. I even ended up cutting is CLE math books in half, hole punching them and putting them in a binder :) My problem is that I keep breaking the standard 10 dollar hole punches, and papers have to be pulled out of the binders to be written on, which means they can easily become totally lost, or add to the ever growing piles of papers in our school area. I am trying to decide between a heavy duty 50 + dollar range hole punch, or something like the proclick? Or maybe just a better paper cutter and trying to be organized enough with my printing and ordering to take everything to staples to have it bound? What do you guys use as covers for the spirals you create? Surely not just paper :confused: What are the combs like? Are they sturdy enough to stand up to 11 year old careless boy abuse? What about being pokey for someone who will be laying their hands across them? I personally hate the ones that are thick plastic with the overlay thing, those feel bad when you have to lay your hand/arm across them :D Do the books lay flat when folded out, what about when folded back in half ? Thanks for getting this far! I am really trying to watch my spending, so I want to make sure I get what will work best for us!!!

Will this be served as a sit down, or as a buffet? What are your options for cooking, keeping warm, display etc? I catered for a long time....let me mull it over!

We are using the Beginning by Peter Ackroyd, it is cheap on Amazon, but might be a little text heavy for a 7 year old, our library has it, but I felt bad continually checking it out! The pictures are WONDERFUL :D I also ended up buying Evolving Planet by Erica Kelley, and the timeline and cards from Charlies playhouse. All of the Walking with documentaries are cool, if a little bit loose with their science.