Did you check the Rainbow Resource booth? They have a large selection of just about everything. (I'm so jealous! I won't be there until tomorrow!)

My 16 year old has a cellphone. He has high functioning autism and he feels safer with a phone, if that makes sense. He keeps it in his bedroom and I don't think he's used 2 hours of total air time since we bought it for him a year and a half ago! He doesn't text at all and we've programmed all the phone numbers into it that he would need (mine, my husband's, big sister's, next door neighbor, grandma, etc). He is afraid of thunderstorms and power outages and, when our power goes out, our house phone doesn't work, so this is an added security for him. I'm glad he has one!

Thought I've seen a thread discussing this.... http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/17943/emergency+rescue+effort+is+launched+for+teen+sailor+abby+sunderland/ Hope everything works out for her. :(

Must be heading to the HEAV!!! :thumbup: I'll be there tomorrow! Would head over tonight, but my youngest daughter's IEP meeting is tomorrow morning, so I'm just going to head down to Richmond after it's over. "See" you there!! And have a great time!!!

My oldest son had the same problem and he learned to read around the age of 8 with Alpha Phonics. I think the difference is that Alpha Phonics uses word ladders (call, hall, tall, wall, etc.) vs straight phonics (ba, be, bi, bo, bu). My son is on the autism spectrum and he couldn't "hear" the difference between some of the short vowel sounds. Alpha Phonics really helped! He used that and the Sonlight readers from Core 1 and then Core 2 (which you can buy separately...or you can find most of them at your local library). By the age of 9 or 10, he was reading chapter books (easy ones, mind you .. like you find in Core 3 and Core 4, also from Sonlight). Hope this helps!

You could look at Math-U-See. Perhaps the manipulatives would help her to "see" and understand the fraction and decimals? Here's their website: http://www.mathusee.com Another option could be the Key to series of math books. I'll send a link to those, too. http://www.rainbowresource.com/search.php?sid=1276174990-1777131 These inexpensive books cover one skill at a time. So you could buy a book for just fractions and just decimals. Another option to consider (and run this by the math tutor as well) is Teaching Textbooks Prealgebra. If you look at the table of contents, the first 67 lessons are a review of all basic math concepts -- adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, fractions, decimals, etc. http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/v/vspfiles/tt/PreAlgebra.htm Hope this gives you a starting point...and welcome to the boards!

LOL! Mine, too!! :lol: And I have one wall painted in chalkboard paint. *snicker*

My 8 year old loves Singapore Math! She also has autism, and she attends public school. They use Singapore Math for her instead of whatever math the school uses for everyone else. We just put it into her IEP.

We've never been, but we have a trip scheduled for February 5-12. We're staying in a resort (off-site) with a heated pool, so we'll be able to swim no matter what. And I've heard the crowds are light, as long as you avoid the holiday breaks (and that includes minor holidays like President's Day, etc.) Happy Planning!

My Asperger's son has done very well with Teaching Textbooks. I know there are pros and cons to the curriculum, but it's been wonderful for him. There's a lot of review in each lesson, so he doesn't lose skills, and he's headed for the community college after graduation, so getting him through TT Precalc, which he's taking next year, will be just fine for him. I'm not sure if they have a demo CD or anything, but I know they have placement tests on their website. Their Prealgebra text has a very good 'basic math review' at the beginning of the course, so he should be able to go straight into the Prealgebra course. (It also has a very good resale value, at least in my area). Hope this helps! Wanted to add.....Take a look at the TT Prealgebra table of contents on their website. They cover adding and subtracting, multiplying and dividing, fractions and decimals, and percents and measurement...all before starting any algebra topics, so the first 67 lessons are a review of basic math.

Spelling Power ... I have three natural spellers and one who struggles with spelling. All of them have been able to use Spelling Power.

This happened to my oldest! We live in Virginia, too, and she fell in love with James Madison University. It was the only school she applied to. They received over 20,000 applications... for 3500 spots. She was waitlisted. She went to the community college ... and loved it! She's made a ton of friends, she's had some cool classes, and some really neat professors. AND she's been able to stay home for a few more years. She has 2 semesters left until graduation. Once she has her AA degree, she has guaranteed admission at most Virginia colleges (assuming she meets their GPA requirement, etc.). And she's now decided to go to Radford instead of James Madison, because they have a forensics minor and she hopes to get into that field. She would have majored in something completely different, had she gone straight to college last year. Taking all those 'gen ed' classes really helped her to narrow down her career path. Have him go to the community college and check it out. The one my daughter attends has clubs galore, sports teams, and a student lounge where the kids hang out in between classes. Hope this helps!

We school year round here, too. We begin our school year in May. June, July, and August, we do school every other week. We also take a week off in November for Thanksgiving and 2-3 weeks in December for Christmas. There's also at least a week worked in somewhere for our family vacation (when we take this varies). And then we take most of the month of April off (that's when I'm buying the curriculum for the upcoming new school year and completing our standardized tests -- required for our state.) I love it. The kids enjoy it, too.

I would definitely go with #1! Just based on our own experience...when we lived in Maryland, we bought a foreclosure in a very nice neighborhood. Huge house....private playground ... swimming pool....manicured lawns. Many of our neighbors were doctors, lawyers, etc. Our children were the only ones home during the day -- even during the summer. They were very bored for the 5 years we lived there! Just something to think about!

Nope...my 8 year old doesn't have a cellphone. Neither does my 10 year old. My oldest two children have cellphones, but my 19 year old is in college and my 16 year old is on 3 different sports teams. It's a necessity! ;)

My oldest daughter is doing this! We're in Virginia and most colleges in the state have a transfer agreement with her community college. As long as she has the required GPA for that particular college, and has fulfilled the requirements, she's guaranteed to be accepted. She has the required GPA for her college of choice (3.0+) and she's only 9 classes away from graduation!! So she'll be off to college in a year (Fall of 2011) and she'll be granted Junior status at that university. It's saved us a bundle of $$$ and she's been able to stay at home a little while longer. I'm glad we've had these extra years with her! :)

We went to see it today (it was my oldest son's 16th birthday!) and saw the regular 2-D version. I thought it was really cute and very funny. Worth the regular $7 ticket price. Not worth the $11 ticket price for the 3-D version.

The actor who played Michael speculated on Jimmy Kimmell that his character is stuck on the island...whispering.

............. SPOILER ALERT ........... It reminded me wayyyy too much of Titanic! Rose went on to live her life and then, after she died at the age of 102, she was whisked back to the Titanic and everyone was there. Same thing here with Lost...as Jack's father said, some of them died on the island and some died many, many years later, but they've all returned to each other. They were gathered there to greet Jack after he died. It was 'his turn' so to speak. But everything on the island...the 6 years and all that...really happened. Some aren't dead yet -- like Ben (that's why he didn't go into the church). Ehhh...still doesn't answer all the questions I've had over the years, but not a bad episode. Just...not what I had expected.

We do our seat work (English, Math, etc.) before lunch, so that after lunch, it's history / read aloud books, if any, followed by science and art. It's easier to get them back to the table for "fun subjects" like history, science, and art.

I'm so sorry for your loss! :(

I can tell you what has worked for my oldest son over the years, who has high functioning autism. Math -- Math-U-See K through 7th / Teaching Textbooks 8th and up English -- Alpha Phonics (for learning to read) and Sonlight readers from K through high school. IEW for writing and Spelling Power for Spelling. Easy Grammar from 3rd through 7th. Handwriting Without Tears from K through 5th. History -- Sonlight K through high school. We also used the SOTW books with activity guides in the elementary years. He loved the map work and the coloring pages. Science -- We're pretty hands-on for science. We've used various things through the years and he loves to read science and nature books, so we sort of went with his interests in the younger years. Have used various textbooks from middle school and up. Art -- Lots of drawing and painting books.

We're using Saxon Grammar and Writing 5 this year and I love the grammar portion!! It's fantastic and he's learning so much! (Language Arts is NOT his favorite subject, but he likes this better than anything else we've used for grammar). We're using IEW for writing and Spelling Power for spelling.

We're also using Chalkdust. My 6th grader is using the Prealgebra text this year and should be ready for Chalkdust Algebra 1 in 7th grade. I watch the DVDs with him and he works every 4th problem in the regular lessons (and completes all problems in the reviews and tests). So far so good!

I have a 6th Grader this year... English - IEW -- Saxon Grammar & Writing 5 (just the grammar portion) -- Spelling Power Math - Chalkdust Prealgebra History - Sonlight Core 100 (US History) Science - Real Science 4 Kids Level 1 (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics) Art - Various drawing books picked up at a local craft store PE - Swimming, Tae Kwon Do, Baseball