The only thing I've found is that if you can find a homeschool group to sign up with, the price is much more reasonable. A local co-op charged $20 per kid for a year-long subscription. I'm not sure if the co-op was registering as a school, or if Dreambox has a special deal for homeschool groups.

I wouldn't necessarily rule out other causes. Mouth sores can indicate nutritional deficiencies. They might be triggered, though not caused, by the physical act of eating. I'd start with making sure you're getting enough vitamin C. Though this may come as a surprise, some low carbers do have trouble getting enough vitamin C. What do you eat now? Since a low carb eater has already excluded or limited many things, you might want to design a "rare foods" diet for yourself instead of a total elimination diet. This can still be low carb. You just need to switch your protein, veggie, and fat sources to ones you don't eat frequently, that are not often allergenic, and which are minimally processed. For myself, I might go with turkey, lamb, wild game, summer squash, asparagus, avocado, and sunflower seeds. For you, depending on your normal diet, it might look quite different. Good luck figuring it out and/or finding some relief!

I went to Bing thirty-five years ago. :) It was a wonderful place to be a kid. The marshmallow experiments amused me, because even at age 4 I was aware of the one-way mirror.:lol:

The red extremity accompanied by tingling and pain sounds like the last phase of Raynaud's. If it was Raynaud's, her foot/toes would first have turned pale and then blue. But the pale and blue stages might not have been noticed unless she happened to be looking at her feet. The first two stages aren't usually painful, though the extremity generally feels cold.

If your insurance company paid for these x-rays, I'd ask to have them transferred to your regular dentist, so they won't have to be re-done (for regular dental care). If they refuse that request, I'd call my insurance company and ask for their opinion on whether you are entitled to them. Your insurance company probably won't want to pay for duplicate x-rays, and they may require the orthodontist to agree to transfer them as a condition of reimbursement.

Small doses of alcohol relax inhibitions. A small amount of alcohol makes me bouncy. If I'm at home, I enthusiastically clean and declutter. DH thinks it is hilarious. Larger amounts of alcohol DO make me sleepy...but they also make me have strange dreams, and I feel awful the next morning. So I can't recommend alcohol. My vote is for the Epsom salts bath. Also, no screen time after dinner, including WTM.

Agreeing with the crowd. Get a second opinion. Good luck!

My husband has struggled with this in the past, and has always solved the problem with a new pillow, though sometimes it takes a few tries before he gets it right. Most recently, switching to a rather thick memory foam pillow did the trick.

Oh, no! I'm particular about my olive oils. I've got a few different "tiers": one for making mayo (cheap extra light), one for regular cooking (a decent but inexpensive extra virgin), and a very expensive EVOO for salad dressings and drizzling in tiny amounts on finished dishes. I would freak out if someone used my expensive olive oil for regular cooking. Same goes for my vinegars. I have an aged balsamic that DH knows not to touch, ever. :D I'm imagining the OP and jujsky hiding the K-cups and good olive oil in their attics. :lol:

Nope, you don't have to be skinny to have celiac disease. You might want to read a few chapters of Gluten Free Girl for one person's celiac saga. Shauna was sick for a very long time, and was not skinny when she was finally correctly diagnosed. (I suspect it is true that most kids ARE skinny when diagnosed, but the clinical picture is different for many adults.)

Gluten free doesn't have to be expensive, but going gluten-free on the cheap requires a paradigm shift. Here's the secret: do not buy GF subs except as a special treat. Choose to eat only naturally gluten free foods. It really is that simple. So what can you eat? Eat meats, beans, veggies, fruits, eggs, nuts, and dairy. Get your carbs from potatoes, rice, and other gluten-free grains. Rice and Corn Chex are now gluten free. Herbs and spices are usually fine, though you have to be careful with spice mixes, as some have hidden gluten. Many condiments are fine too, though you have to check labels. This is how DH and I eat, and it isn't any more expensive than before we went GF. For my kids I do buy some GF subs. We buy GF bread and GF rice tortillas at Trader Joe's. To keep the ongoing cost down, we limit them to 2 slices of bread or one large tortilla a day. For birthday parties we buy Cherrybrook Kitchen cake mix and make it into chocolate cupcakes. Once in a blue moon I buy them a box of Kinnikinnick frozen donuts. I'll tell you what IS hard about being gluten-free. Eating out is next to impossible. Socializing requires a lot of planning. If your family and friends aren't supportive, you'll need a lot of gumption. If your whole kitchen isn't GF, that poses additional challenges. You have to assume that many things are already cross-contaminated by a knife that had crumbs on it, so you'll need your own separate labeled containers, which no one else is allowed to touch. Those are the real challenges of being gluten free. Despite the challenges, for me it is 100% worth it. :)

Could be a garden-variety viral rash. But given the rash on his foot, I might suspect hand, foot, and mouth disease. HFM is caused by a coxsackievirus, and is an extremely common childhood illness. However, I don't think that usually presents with cold symptoms.... When my kids had HFM, their only obvious symptom was a rather high fever for several days. I took them in and within 10 seconds the nurse had diagnosed them, because they had sores on the back of their throats. There was no treatment necessary, though she did suggest giving them tylenol or ibuprofen for the throat sores. Link to CDC's page on HFM: here. Can you post pictures of the bumps on his foot? You should be able to call your ped's office and talk to the doctor on call. I'd probably do that first.

Why would a doctor prescribe antibiotics for those symptoms? So irresponsible. :glare: Strep throat is not something you diagnose on the basis of symptoms, because viruses can cause the same symptoms. To diagnose strep you do a strep test and/or culture. And now you know it's extremely unlikely it was strep, because it didn't respond to antibiotics. And as for why everything is going right through you? That's most likely antibiotic-associated diarrhea. If the amoxicillin didn't kill your normal gut flora, the augmentin did. Your intestines will probably be out of sorts for a while. This is one of the myriad reasons it is a really bad idea to take antibiotics unless you truly need them. I strongly doubt it is bacterial at all. Probably just a nasty virus. In your shoes I'd tag-team ibuprofen and tylenol around the clock to help with the discomfort and inflammation. I'd push liquids, get rest, and only call doc if I worsened dramatically or developed a high fever that couldn't be controlled with the tylenol/ibuprofen. A probiotic might help your GI tract. I like Culturelle because it has been effective for my family, and because it is available at most regular drugstores (CVS, Walgreens, etc.) I hope you feel better soon!

I'm about to place a seed order (herbs, veggies) with Botanical Interests. I chose them because my kids want to grow mimosa plants, and I couldn't find seeds locally. (If you touch the leaves they curl up.) Based on reviews, it sounds like a great company.

If his mouth and tongue look normal (moist!), then I wouldn't worry about it at all. But I'd probably try to tempt him with popsicles. :) If his mouth/tongue look dry, I'd call the ped's office and ask for their thoughts.

I love Sutcliff's version. It makes a great read-aloud. The Wanderings of Odysseus

:lol: Our normally developing infants/toddlers participated in periodic developmental assessments, because our county wanted to collect stats. At age 2, DD had no idea what a "teddy" was. The therapist started to get worried until I suggested that she say bear instead of teddy. Teddy bear I'm familiar with, but now people call 'em teddies? Weird. As far as I'm concerned, teddies are lingerie. :D

Yeah, sounds like even if it started out as just a spider bite, she's now got a secondary bacterial infection. Is it totally inappropriate that I'd kinda like to see a picture? :D :grouphug: to your daughter and you too!

Is he on vitamin D supplementation? For a kid with symptoms/tendencies like his, getting his vitamin D up won't be a cure-all, but it may be very helpful. However, it'll take more than fortified milk and a little sunshine. Supplementation guidelines based on weight can be found here: link. If your friend pokes around there, she should be able to find some of the research papers that discuss vitamin D for kids with asthma/reactive airways.

Doctor asap. Unless you saw the spider bite her, you have no way of knowing that this isn't a staph infection masquerading as a spider bite. (And even if you did, a spider bite can develop a secondary bacterial infection.) Antibacterial-resistant staph infections can be life-threatening and difficult to treat, so any suspected infection must be taken seriously. The fact that she already has a fever worries me. She needs to be seen today, this morning if possible. And FTR, I'm not one to go running to the doctor for every little thing. But a 'spider bite' plus a fever would have me there first thing in the morning. If they couldn't squeeze her in, I'd head to urgent care instead.

A parent I admire recommended this book to me . . . but I've yet to open it. :blush: Raising Self-Reliant Children in a Self-Indulgent World: Seven Building Blocks for Developing Capable Young People

Get her a bottle of coconut aminos at a natural grocery store. It isn't quite the same, but it's a decent substitute.

Thanks! I just put myself on the hold list at my library. :D

:iagree: (Adding: it sounds like the unschoolers in your group have a Waldorfy bent as well, which might explain the hostility around "early" reading.) I don't know if it'll make you feel better, but among local homeschoolers I felt very much out of place 3 years ago. All of the homeschoolers I was friendly with were unschoolers. The structured homeschoolers all seemed to be Christian, and I definitely didn't fit in with them. Fortunately all of the unschoolers were respectful of other approaches, but I did need to come here for support and discussion of the nuts and bolts of homeschooling. Lo and behold, each and every one of them is now drifting closer and closer to structured homeschooling. We still only rarely talk about schooly stuff, which is just fine with me. I'd rather save that for here. :D Of course that doesn't help you now. I'd cultivate relationships with the ones who are friendly and open-minded, and plan to spend less time with the Mean Girls. :grouphug:

:iagree: I'm going to have to wait until the schedule is posted to decide. I'm interested in a few of the speakers, but if they're all on different days I probably won't bother.