Thank you so much! That is very helpful. Did you do the recorded or online class? We've never done recorded classes before, only live, and I'm a little anxious about how it will work. My older son has a major surgery coming up and we need something super flexible.

We are looking into using Homeschool Connections and would love to have some recommendations of teachers and classes for their high school level courses. We will be using the unlimited recorded classes. We are specifically looking for History, Lit, Theology, Science and Logic course recommendations. Any info would be helpful! Thank you!

My 9th grade son is really enjoying English IV with Big River Academy. The literature picks have been great and have been great discussion for all of us around the kitchen table. We really like Mrs. Bontrager and love the online interaction with other students.

We tried to stay in a church that we disagreed with for way too long for many of the same reasons you stated. I justified why it was just better to stay even when we completely disagreed with a few key points of their theology. Eventually we started studying what different denominations believed/taught and we found a Church that we could get on board with. My own faith was being seriously hurt by staying somewhere I disagreed with so strongly. Since our children were older at the time we gave them the choice to stay or go with us. Our younger two children came with us and our older two (they were 17 and 15 at the time) stayed. It was incredibly difficult at the time but now, four years later, it was the best decision we could have ever made. Having peace every Sunday has been worth all the trouble and heartache.

My heart breaks for you. You are in my prayers. :grouphug:

If you're nursing it's fine not to fast but you could abstain from meat. I like the idea of fasting from something else. I have a son who has serious epilepsy and I encourage him not to be scrupulous. It's the heart that counts.

The bolded part of your reply is very helpful! Thank you!

Yes, I live in NC and have heard about this awful situation. I pray and hope justice comes to their families.

Thank you! Once we have a surgery date my plan is to schedule our "summer" around it. I'm hoping that gives us enough time but I'm trying to plan around challenging scenarios. Thank you so much for your input!

When I was young I LOVED the TV show LIttle House on the Prairie. I remember my mom telling me that it was a true story. In my mind that meant that every single person in the world was being video taped in the event that when they grew up they would have a television show to produce. So I made sure that I was very dramatic and tried to look for the cameras. I was a tad disappointed when I realized that's not how that happened. :huh:

Hello Hive, I'm really hoping those of you who have BTDT will chime in. Our ds who is currently in 10th grade will likely have brain surgery sometime in 2017. He has intractable epilepsy and we are currently in a pre-surgery phase of testing. We do not know for sure yet but so far the data is pointing in that direction. All of this has me quite anxious and thoughts of school year 2017-2018 give me heart palpitations. Currently I only have two kids homeschooling (the older two are in college away from home). My boys are doing all of their classes together. They are both in live online classes for every subject. They enjoy having all of their classes together and is great for discussions and projects. My plan was to continue with the live online classes for the rest of high school but in light of what the future might hold I need to rethink that. My first concern is that if he does have brain surgery the recovery will most likely be at least a couple of months and that's probably best case scenario. What I've heard is that typically during recovery they are very very tired and need a lot of rest. So it won't be similar to a recovery for surgery on another part of the body. Once he's even off of pain meds and home from the hospital the likelihood of having serious exhaustion is high. Also, the brain needs time to heal. The other issue is that currently we are staying local for surgery but that could change and we would be going out town a few hours away, even out of state, or across the country. We just don't know yet. He will likely need a lot of OT/PT afterwards to gain his strength back. There is also the potential for complications that could impede a normal recovery. So my thought is that we need a super flexible plan for next year. Our current Spanish teacher will be offering Spanish 2 next year in a live online class and she is willing to work with us through this situation. I'm thinking we will just do Geometry with Teaching Textbooks. For everything else I've been looking into the Unlimited Access with Homeschool Connections. It's pretty cheap and will give us the flexibility we may need. The classes won't be live but prerecorded. We can watch them when we can and work at our own pace. Using Homeschool Connections could also enable me to keep my younger son working on other classes while my older son recovers. They have a lot of neat history options that would appeal to him. That way I'm keeping him busy but also not leaving his brother behind. When he's recovered they can pick up where we left off and finish. What do you all think of that? What have you done during serious illnesses or other stressful times regarding high school? If you made it this far, thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading!

Yoga!

I'm so sorry for what you are going through. Sounds like you are doing the best that you can given such difficult circumstances. Thank you for sharing!

Thankfully I do have a few things I am interested in and am able to pursue a bit. Right now the testing for surgery is a very involved process that requires not just doctor visits and diagnostic tests but hospitalizations as well. It severely limits what I can or even want to do. He ended up having two very serious seizures right after Christmas that shook me to the core. I haven't been able to get those images out of my head. He hasn't been alone for a second since then. Thanks for the suggestions!

Yes! It really is the most random times! Our youngest is getting ready to start drivers ed and while on the one hand I'm so happy for him on the other my heart breaks because his brother will never do that. It helps to know we aren't alone.

Hello Hive, I am normally the kind of person that can find the positive in just about any situation. I'm not a "Pollyanna" but I tend to like to find what's good and focus on that instead of what isn't perfect. Lately I've had a really hard time finding joy and happiness. I'm not finding any kind of delight in little things that used to make me happy. Our third child, and older son, has cerebral palsy. He had a stroke at birth and was diagnosed at 6 months old. He is now 17 and such a blessing to our family. The right side of his body is affected and he has little to no use of his right hand. Amazingly, he has figured out a way to do almost everything. He is not intellectually disabled but he definitely has some social awkwardness. Unfortunately he also has epilepsy. In the past six months it has hit a new level of severity and we are in the process of testing to see if he's a candidate for brain surgery. He is heavily medicated right now and still has small seizures daily. I have always been one to see all that he can do, all of his potential. But lately I feel so sad. My heart breaks for him. At our last neurologist appointment the doc explained to us that our son's left frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes are all dead tissue. I guess I've always known there was brain damage but the detail hit me in the gut in a way it hasn't since he was diagnosed. Recently a friend shared a photo on Facebook of her son's college acceptances and I realized in that moment that my son is the same age as hers. I felt so very sad. My son is happy and he is not sad at all! He has lots of things he's passionate about. He loves his life and his family. It's all me. I'm the one struggling. Anyone with advice? Anyone BTDT? Will I ever stop feeling sad?

Been there, done that, got the T-shirt. More times than I care to admit. :svengo: This is one of the reasons I enrolled my last two kids in online classes. We have the freedom of a homeschool family but the structure of a private school, without the big $$.

I have always had heavy bleeding as well. I had no idea. I thought every woman had periods like mine. About two years ago I started bleeding and after 30 days I went to my GYN. She prescribed Provera. I took it and it literally did nothing. She then increased the dosage and it did absolutely nothing again. I had an ultrasound and blood work. The ultrasound was normal and my blood work showed early perimenopause. Finally after 60 days of bleeding non-stop she prescribed the BCP. It worked and I stopped bleeding. I had terrible mood swings though and only took it for two months. I had absolutely no side effects on the Provera though but it didn't work at all for me. I hope your biopsy comes back normal and they are able to get your bleeding under control! Good luck!

I so understand the heartbreak when a child doesn't reach milestones. My advice is to celebrate every accomplishment she does make! It is also ok to have a pity party and feel really really sad but then you must (for her sake and yours) to wipe your tears and put on a smile. That is SO much harder to do than to say. My older son has Cerebral palsy and intractable epilepsy. He is 17 and such a joy! He brings so much happiness to our lives. But the other day a friend of mine posted her son's college acceptances on Facebook. He is the same age as my son. For some reason that particular post hit me in the gut. I haven't felt this way since my son was a baby and newly diagnosed. (((Hugs))) to you.

You sound like me but I don't consider myself a pessimist at all but a realist. I think I'm a positive person but I don't expect everything to go well. My mother is like that I consider her a dreamer.

I used to be much more pessimistic but now I am much more positive and happy. I think age has helped that. Even though my life currently is stressful (son with serious health problems) I know it could be so much worse. Plenty of sleep, exercise, and healthy food make it easier to be positive as well. I am also living a very authentic life right now. About 4 years ago I stopped trying to be someone else and embraced who I was and it has made a huge difference as well. I know that social media and the news impact my happiness and occasionally I limit those influences when I feel it affecting my outlook on life. I hope some of that helps!

So, if you sell your current house and buy a house in town with a mortgage will you be able to start saving for retirement? The fact that you currently have no mortgage would be huge to me. Why go into that kind of bondage? It sounds like you have more control where you are. You don't owe the bank money so you can update as you can AND save for retirement. Sounds like the area you live in could potentially skyrocket in the next decade. My mom and dad had property and a home out in the boonies in the early 90s. It was on a lake and it was beautiful. Fast forward 20 + years and mansions are everywhere and my mom sold last year for a serious profit. Are you just tired of the renovations and are looking for an easy out? Or do you really want out of the area. My $0.02 is to NOT get a loan to renovate or get a mortgage. As Dave Ramsey always says, "Borrowers are slave to the lender." Good luck!

We got our current dog from the Humane Society. He was 5 1/2 years old when we adopted him and have had him a year. Fortunately we requested a recommendation from a local dog trainer who had worked with the dogs as a service to the shelter. He is wonderful! I will admit that he had a hard time warming up to us the first several months. For a while I didn't think he really liked us. He had been bounced around with two different families and also had spent half of his life in a shelter. He is a total mutt and not much to look at. But once we made the commitment to adopt him we were willing to work through pretty much all issues. The only problem we would have brought him back for was extreme aggression. Now after a year he is a different dog than the one we brought home. He is very bonded to all of us. He is a cuddle bug and there's no doubt he loves us. We spend a lot of time with him and take him for lots of walks, which he loves. Don't overlook a mutt from the shelter. I understand wanting a younger dog for small children but I believe getting stuck on a breed limits the potential to find the perfect fit for your family! Good luck!

We got our current dog from the Humane Society. He was 5 1/2 years old when we adopted him and have had him a year. Fortunately we requested a recommendation from a local dog trainer who had worked with the dogs as a service to the shelter. He is wonderful! I will admit that he had a hard time warming up to us the first several months. For a while I didn't think he really liked us. He had been bounced around with two different families and also had spent half of his life in a shelter. He is a total mutt and not much to look at. But once we made the commitment to adopt him we were willing to work through pretty much all issues. The only problem we would have brought him back for was extreme aggression. Now after a year he is a different dog than the one we brought home. He is very bonded to all of us. He is a cuddle bug and there's no doubt he loves us. We spend a lot of time with him and take him for lots of walks, which he loves. Don't overlook a mutt from the shelter. I understand wanting a younger dog for small children but I believe getting stuck on a breed limits the potential to find the perfect fit for your family! Good luck!

Our rescue pup is 6 years old and we just celebrated our one year anniversary with him. I've only had dogs from puppy age so this has been a new experience. The dog we brought home a year ago is a different dog than he is now and all for the better. It took him a good six months to finally warm up completely to us. He is finally getting better around strangers particularly men. We have been consistent with him and praised him immediately when he does things we want him to do. We always give visitors treats to give him and gush and gush. I would bet that a year from now a lot of those issues will be gone if you're consistent and predictable. Good luck!!