Thanks, Heather and Jean. That gives me some good places to start research. I like the idea of taping, since it is hard to explain the symptoms to a doctor when the symptoms are not present. I have learned so much on this board and am thankful for all of you... Emily

My third son was adopted as a baby from Ethiopia. He is bright and often delightful. However, he has some issues with anger. Although I am open to any therapies people would like to suggest for anger management, I really want to hear any feedback with an unusual situation I have noticed. Last year, about this time, I had an educational therapist and an occupational therapist both tell me he is ADHD. At the time when he was being evaluated, he very much seemed to be. He was going through a time of very outsized and jerky movements and facial expressions. That calmed down for awhile and has flared up again. On days when he is angry and/or his ADHD behavior seems present, he has terrible trouble writing numbers. Math that should be simple (he does fine in math most of the time) becomes painful because he writes the numbers backwards and in really jerky handwriting. Today was a day like that and I asked him if the numbers were jumbled in his head. He said yes. I am usually able to help the process by pulling out number cards and having him form the number that is the answer and then copy that. It just seems to me that on those days he can't translate the number in his head to the paper. Has anyone experienced something similar. I would appreciate any ideas! Thanks! Emily

With my oldest, I probably spent 2-3 hours a day homeschooling. For my youngest (of 4) it is less than an hour of formal schooling, but we live a real learning lifestyle. So he might get 20 minutes of math, 20 minutes of language arts (phonics and handwriting) and 15 minutes of his Bible. Then we read books and he listens to books that the older boys are doing. He watches movies and documentaries with the older kids and watches some of their learning computer games. He goes on all of our field trips and enjoys most of them. We listen to tons of audio books in the car... I think it depends on the kid and the family, but no need to stress on kindergarten. Make it fun and interesting! Emily

We have used it for two school years now. We usually do one weeks of reading over two weeks, so we are still in the 40s for questions. My kids and I have all learned a lot and the kids have retained a lot of the questions (they are 11 and 8 now -- I haven't used with my 6 and 5 year olds yet.) I like the way that she writes and have found it to be accessible to the kids (it is not childish) while still being theologically sound and accurate. One note -- it uses the Westminster Catechism. I have seen several complaints on these boards and others that don't like the content and theological bent of the book. If you don't like Reformed theology, this is probably not the book for you. If you are Reformed Baptist, know that there is a question with an answer supporting child baptism. Those issues are functions of the Catechism, and not the book itself. Blessings, Emily

Wow! It looks like our family will be relocating to Palm Coast, FL in November, from Southern California. I would love to hear from anyone in the area. I would also like to hear opinions on homeschooling through registering with the school district vs. umbrella schools. My first inclination is umbrella school, but I would appreciate comments on the pros and cons of either. Anyone have local homeschool support groups in the area that you love? I have 4 boys in grades 6, 3, 1 and K. We are Christians and skew classically/living books in our educational style. Life is an adventure! Emily

My kids were drawn to this booth at the Great Homeschool Convention in Long Beach. We ended up buying all six games -- three concentration and three go fish/card games. I would highly recommend the games. My two little ones want to play them all the time. (The littles are 5 and 6.) The pictures are lovely and the kids are making connections. My six year old recently mentioned that the statue of Zeus that we read about in "The Hour of the Olympics" Magic Tree House book was the same as in the game. I flipped through the curriculum at the convention, but as my oldest is only 11 I wasn't considering seriously yet. I attended his talk at the convention and was impressed. Emily

We did a whole Peter Pan "unit" about two years ago. My older two boys were in 4th and 1st grade at the time. There was a big theatre production in a tent coming to Orange County, and I wanted the boys to know the source material before I took them to the play. We listened to the original, unabridged on the Blackstone Audio recording that was available from our library. The narrator was good and we all enjoyed it. I tend to go a bit crazy, so we also watched a number of other film adaptations. Once the kids understand the source material, I like adaptations because the boys can understand/discuss choices that directors make in adapting the material. We watched the following: Hook with Robin Williams -- everyone enjoyed this one, although it is a bit dated. Not so much an adaptation as a jumping off point... The Disney version -- we all love this one. The Mary Martin Broadway version -- I ordered this on VHS from a reseller on Amazon. I remember it fondly from my youth. The kids hated it. It is very stagey and they just thought that Mary Martin was clearly a middle aged lady and didn't much resemble their idea of Peter Pan. I made them watch the whole thing and told them that we were watching one of America's great stage actresses of the 20th century. They weren't impressed. The Cathy Rigby touring production. Same content as the previous, but updated. The kids loved it! The flying is cooler and the dancing much more modern. I know this one is available from Netflix. Have fun. We enjoyed our Peter Pan time.... Emily