A table or the floor where I work, his bed, the couch, the desk in the office, the back porch, the roof (I'm not kidding). Really, he works wherever the mood strikes.

We use Simply Phonics from Shoelace Books plus BOB Books and McGuffy Readers. I have no intention of ever having more children, but I can't get rid of that Simply Phonics book. It was fantastic. The thing that REALLY pushed him into reading though was a little game we played. I put a white board in his room and we made up an imaginary friend who came to visit every night and write him notes. His name was Jack the Gnome, which explained why he could only come at night (gnomes only come alive at night... duh. ;) ). DS would get up SO excited every morning to read what Jack wrote on his board the night before. It was weird but so much fun. Once Jack moved on to another child, we visited a place nearby called The Enchanted Woods to see where Jack lives.

DS is using it for about 15-20 min a day as a way to refresh on previously learned skills, particularly geometry. Personally, it practically gives me hives that there is no laid out track to follow. I feel exactly the same way as your son.

So far today I've managed to watch and take notes for 5 of the 7 videos for Epidemics and finish reading Spillover. I am utterly fascinated by this subject right now. Reading Hot Zone a few months ago was interesting in a Hollywood movie kind of way, but Spillover was more of a story meets scientific journal. I've also finished a lesson of Algebra 1, done the mail shredding, done McKenzie neck exercises, cleaned the house, and figured out what to do with 1 of the 2 new boards in the office/school room. I need something new to read, but I think I need something a little lighter for the time being. My brain feels like its at capacity right now. I think I'll do a couple of short stories.

Do you have a school for the deaf nearby? We have a special needs school for the deaf, blind, and/or autistic. They offer classes free to those who are directly affected by deafness (child, parent etc.) or $100/level to the general public.

Self-Ed Goals for this week Complete Week 1 of Epidemics from Coursera including the additional and advanced readings sections Complete 5 Algebra 1 lessons - 3/5 DONE Finish reading Spillover - DONE Finally watch 12 Years a Slave and return it to Netflix Morning meditation Daily McKenzie neck exercises Other Goals Shred the pile of mail on top of the shredder - DONE Determine exactly how I want to use the 2 new white and cork boards I just put up in the office/school room Figure out how I want to structure Spanish 2 now that DS has decided just to audit the co-op class. There was WAY too much busy work and, despite the fact that DS has the same teacher as in Spanish 1, last year in no way prepared him for this year's class. Switching from a lame workbook in year 1 to a hardcore curriculum in year 2 was not exactly the best idea on the teacher's part. - DONE

I'm looking for a printed news source online that includes audio of the news. I assumed that BBC Mundo did it because they used to do it for BBC Swahili, but it seems that they don't do it for either anymore. Does anyone have a good resource like this?

OMG I would kill for a Bellicon! But there is no way in the universe I would let a kid touch a $900+ rebounder. It would be mine only and death to anyone who breathed near it. :) I got my Needak for about $50 though and it has been worth every penny. I tried a cheapie Wal-Mart one for 5 min. after my first Needak died and I couldn't walk without severe pain for 3 weeks. It was awful.

I have a Needak and love it. I'm on my second one (both purchased used) in 10 yrs.

DS struggled with AG last year. We would go back through the material and then I either retyped the ones that he got wrong and had him redo them or had him do them on the white board. We also took significantly longer to complete each lesson than is suggested.

I have nothing to offer except :grouphug:. I am in the same boat with DS15 and it can be so frustrating.

I've never done it, but I would kill for the opportunity. Complete sensory deprivation sounds amazing for a little while.

DH and DS15 went to Clearwater Marine Aquarium last summer and loved it. On a 5 day trip, primarily to go to spring training, they ended up going to CMA twice. That would be my first choice before Sea World.

So far, this year feels very VERY packed. I don't think I've over-scheduled, but my word it just feels like we are working from sun up until sun down every day with no time for anything else and STILL getting behind. English has been a pretty big hit so far this year. DS15 likes his Comp. 2 class at Write at Home. It's not the most rigorous, but it uses fun prompts to teach skills and he's neither bored nor overwhelmed. Using Anki SRS and a list of vocabulary has been both a time-saver and helpful with memorization. Analytical Grammar is finally sinking in this year and he feels like he's really succeeding with it. Last year it was a struggle, so this is a real relief. DS15 is REALLY loving Teaching the Classics using the DVDs and Jill Pike's syllabus. He even asked if Adam Andrews taught anything else because he would take any course that he offered. Because we're doing this right now, we haven't even started with actual literature yet. Saxon Algebra 1 has been tough and LONG, but he's understanding things that he didn't when he did Teaching Textbooks in 8th grade. It eats up a HUGE portion of the day though and that is frustrating. Continually reviewing Khan Academy for geometry has been beneficial. He even started taking notes while watching the videos. Funda Funda U.S. History has been a favorite subject, but it is incredibly time-consuming; particularly with my very slow-working child. Connect the Thoughts Current Events has been a favorite as well. Lots of great discussion points. We are definitely planning to continue this every year. Karelskint's Marine Biology has been hard and maybe a bit overwhelming. He originally wanted to do it in one semester, but we've decided that it just wasn't going to happen. Though DS has the same teacher for Spanish 2 this year that he had for Spanish 1 last year, she changed the curriculum. We are finding that last year's curriculum in absolutely no way prepared him for that change. Even the teacher is fumbling around with lots of work but little direction. He's getting the work done, but we're both frustrated at the way it is beginning to pan out. Extreme emphasis on little things for studying that are graded are crowding out ACTUAL time that could be spent on other study methods more suited to the student. I appreciate her ideas, but she is spending more energy on forced studying than on actual content. Bible is a required subject and I hate both the curriculum and the teacher. DS isn't thrilled either, though at least it's pretty easy and not terribly time-consuming. He says the class is a joke and not worth his time. Extracurriculars like driver's ed and karate on top of a full day at co-op are killing me. We are gone everyday for something necessary and it's only going to get worse. We're trying to drop karate at least, so hopefully that will help.

If you throw a snake in a fire it will sprout legs. My grandfather was famous for that one.

Yes, we're doing WttW, too. DS is doing a separate online writing class this year in addition to TtC and WttW. I'm not familiar with LToW though so I'm not sure if it would be too much or not. You definitely can do the JP syllabus with just the TtC part. They aren't really integrated at all as far as I can tell. TtC is its own section for the first 5 weeks and then you move on to WttW. We haven't gotten to WttW yet, so it remains to be seen at this point whether I've bitten off more than we can chew. The way it appears to me is that TtC teaches you how to teach literary analysis (and teaches the student the hows and whys) while WttW teaches the student the bones of it. It then helps you put it into practice with actual literature while still holding your hand as a teacher.

Yes, I'm using the Jill Pike syllabus and we are watching the videos together. We stop and discuss during the video and there are little activities in the syllabus to do during the class period, too. Then, we each do the homework as assigned in the syllabus. We meet once a week to watch the video and then again later in the week to review the homework. DS has said that he's glad that he is getting to watch the videos with me because he gets to see how the program is structured and, more importantly, WHY. When we went over the lesson with the list of socratic questions he looked at me and said, "this will be GREAT for helping me figuring out what to write about in my essays this year." :hurray:

To be honest, I would try to borrow or rent Teaching the Classics from someone if you can't afford to buy it. I've read a plethora of other books on the subject, including ALL of the ones listed in the previous posts, and none of them ever solidified the ideas until doing TTC along with DS15. Oddly enough, this is DS15s favorite class so far this year. He said just yesterday, "this is SO much fun. Does he teach any other classes? I would take every class he offered." He has looked forward to every lesson so far this year and he's making more connections than he ever has with any of our previous haphazard discussions.

:grouphug: I'm so sorry.

I agree with this and have found it helpful for DS15 in Spanish. He has Spiderman comics and Scooby Doo books in Spanish, but also Harry Potter. He already knows the plot, which is helpful to get the gist of some of the words that he may otherwise not know. An added bonus is to listen to the audio while following along in the book. Again, DS does this for Harry Potter and it has been very helpful. As you get further in, another practice called shadowing is also great. I used it a long time ago when learning a different language and it comes very highly recommended by polyglots. Simply listen to the audio while following along in the book AND reading aloud in time with the audio. Bonus points (and extra retention) if you are walking or otherwise active while doing so. Otherwise, it looks like if you just add in an auditory component you would be covering all the bases of language learning.

I have been doing the Coursera Human Trafficking class on my own. With DS15 I am doing IEW literary analysis. I'm also thinking about learning ASL.

1. Move ds and I into a huge camper, hire a driver, and travel the US, Canada, and South America. 2. Learn Swahili and ASL 3. Get a degree in... something. 4. Travel overseas with DS. Include a personal language and math tutor. 5. Settle eventually somewhere with a ton of land, a smallish home, and some kind of wild animal sanctuary.

My in-laws live 1.5 hrs. away. When DS was little they visited almost every weekend. Gradually it expanded to once a month. Now they visit maybe once a month or every two months at most. DS Skypes and texts with them a lot though. We go down there at Thanksgiving and DH and DS go down for a local festival, too. DS visits them and stays for a week at a time over Thanksgiving, Christmas, sometimes easter, and in the summer. It's a good thing I like my in-laws. :tongue_smilie:

Oh this drives me crazy. I am currently waiting for word on a certain required class that is supposed to start on Tuesday but might not or maybe we'll wait until next week, OR we might just have to wait until second semester. Yeah, I'm about to tear out my hair and light it on fire.

I don't know, but much like FaithManor I have an abnormally high pain tolerance. In my thread about head and neck pain yesterday I said that I am typically at a 6-8 on the pain scale every day. A 6-8 for me would be non-functional for most people given my observations over the years. My husband was at a full 10 last year when he crushed his finger and ripped the nail off while cutting down a tree. I do not begrudge him that; it LOOKED like it really hurt. Several years ago I was ice skating and did very nearly the same thing though and I didn't even notice it until someone looked at me and said, "OH MY GOSH YOU'RE BLEEDING ALL OVER THE ICE!!!" Yup, from mid-nail all the way down it was just gone with nothing but nail bed showing. The whole thing was just crushed. Even once I looked at it I still had no indication that it hurt at all. I just thought, "huh... that looks like it should hurt but I don't feel anything." The doctor thought I was crazy on that one. That isn't the first or last time I've had similar things happen. Last week at the chiropractor the Dr. made a comment that I should mention if he's working me too hard because it's not a contest to be able to handle the most pain. I had to explain to him that I really wasn't trying to avoid telling him out of some sort of misplaced desire to look strong, but I honestly don't register the pain. Someone upthread mentioned that they know when they're really in pain because of other indicators like nausea and I am TOTALLY like that, too. I know when my neck pain is at a critical level when I feel like I'm going to vomit.