Hi! I just wanted to come back and say thank you to everyone who responded. I spent a lot of time digesting this and the tests. We are still shooting somewhat in the dark - he last official tests were over a year ago. So I scheduled some retesting to get a more clear game plan. In the meantime, we got the magnetalk products and they are great. He is learning so much with them. And it is forcing him to focus! He just had a bday and we are getting him the pickles game as one of the gifts.

My favorite- the movers evidently stayed in our flat and borrowed some pots and plates to make dinner for themselves. They packed them without washing them. This was for an overseas move too so we got them months later - all gross and rotten and ewwwwwww

Do they not interact with this person a lot? I know that fb has weird algorhythms and will only show you certain people's posts-even if you are friends and following them. They try to guess what will make your feed better. Perhaps that is what's going on?

If they are both in a group together and have notifications setup so that they receive group notifications then it shouldn't matter if they are friends or following each other. I'm in groups with lots of nonfriends (state wide homeschool group for example). When I had the notifications set up to get notified whenever anyone posted I woudl see everything regardless of if I was fb friends with the person.

Can you switch out one of your strength days for an intense core/body weight day? You can do a thousand different types of planks that work core, glutes, adductors, abductors, arms, chest and shoulders- basically everything. Lol! Then add different lunges. I like to use sliders for both plank and lunges. You can get a lot of variety really easily. If you don't have sliders, you can start with just paper plates to get the same effect and see if you like them. Half hour of those and you get a great workout.

Where did you find the private therapist you are using? (I'm asking publicly rather than in a pm just in case there are others out there in this same situation. I apologize for the hijack) Our biggest problem has been finding private options. I live in a decent sized city with a big university and several small colleges but have struggled to find a private therapist for him. The few there are usually are booked solid and not taking any new patients. I've been working through the university and asked the department head why there aren't more private therapists. She said her students almost universally want to go into the school system- better benefits and less hassle dealing with insurance. Having seen the paperwork fiasco that is involved with public school. Didn't think that anything could be worse. If dealing with insurance is worse than that then I can't even imagine the horror.

As I said, I am not anti-technology. But why spend all that money if there are needs that aren't being met and if our teachers don't want them? I completely agree with you- train them or don't dont install the technology. But it's something that our school district decided to spend big bucks on. Again I wonder who in our govt is friends with the smart board company owner. But I'm jaded. Yes, my son is being denied services. For two years I fought for them. At one point I was told that I had refused them. At no point had I. I asked them to provide me the evidence that I had refused them and I showed them copies of emails and letters I had sent during that time trying to get the services. I could go on and on but I won't bore you. I finally looked at hiring an attorney to try to get him the services. But it was going to be really expensive and time consuming. I just pulled him from school and am homeschooling. We are paying for private services cause we want him to get the help he needs now. I feel for the parents who don't have the ability to make that decision. Being stuck at the mercy of the local public school and the powers that be there sucks.

Our local elementary school has smart boards in every classroom and at least three brand new computers per classroom. Are those necessary? No. My son's kindergarten teacher said she and the other teachers rarely use the smart boards. They just become a station for the kids to use during free time. Pretty expensive station. I think she said it cost $10k-$15k per classroom for the smart board. So that's a quarter of a million for just my school- that doesn't include all of elementary schools in my district. I'm not against technology. But if the teachers don't want it and don't use it, then it is a waste. Id much rather see that money go towards more special education (selfish there since my son qualifies for services but can't get them because there isn't money to fund enough qualified personnel) or help for ESL students or raises for teachers...Really something useful rather than stuff that was probably part of some contract where some politician got a kick back.

And that is why I said public schools as a whole. There are public schools that do a fine job and private schools that don't. Also I was referring to k-12, not university level. That is a whole different story. There are public and private top tier colleges here too.

Do you have some data? Id like to look at it and understand exactly where the increases are coming from.

In inflation adjusted dollars we are spending three times as much per pupil as we did in the 1970s. Are we educating three times as many people?

I do not homeschool. I give my child a bespoke education! In my bespoke yoga pants.

And yet that isn't what I see happening. Our public schools as a whole which are not treated as business do a poorer job than our private schools which are treated as businesses. There are many factors that go into that. But if we just look historically we are now spending much more per pupil and yet not seeing any significant increases in achievement. This link shows how spending has skyrocketed while test scores have stayed flat. It includes a response by the author to criticisms about the chart he created from data. http://www.cato.org/blog/addressing-critics-purportedly-no-good-very-bad-chart

So the proposal is that all taxpayers should fund college for people who choose to go. Though it sounds like it will help the poor, it's actually incredibly regressive. Even if college were govt funded, some lower class young people still couldn't go because they have to get jobs to help their families. They can't take four years off of working to go to college. Or they are ill equipped to get admitted into college because they went to failing schools. Either way, the entire idea of taxpayer funded college seems horribly skewed against low income families. They will be paying taxes just like everyone else but fewer of them will be able to take advantage of the actual schooling. Seems better to rein in tuition which is skyrocketing, improve K-12 education and offer need based scholarships. This link has a chart that shows college enrollment sorted by income level. http://higheredtoday.org/2015/11/25/where-have-all-the-low-income-students-gone/

I think there are two areas that really show how the powerful and connected can use their clout and cash to tip the scales: subsidies and regulation. I support getting rid of govt subsidies that pick winners and losers. We don't need govt making sugar subsidies or solar subsidies. Reducing regulations that make entry into certain industries expensive would also help. A NYC cab medallion can cost $1million just to be a cab driver there! Ridiculous. Certainly some regulations are useful but we have so many with so many associated fees and costs that it's out of control.

Wow. The wealthy caused poverty? Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and the others all plotted to cause poverty? I assume you have data to back this up. Systemic problems- I agree there are many though I'm sure we would disagree on what those are.

In my area blue collar jobs are hard to fill. There are lots of opening for trained workers and not enough workers to fill them. And most of these jobs can't be outsourced-plumbing, hvac, electrical, welding, etc. Happily there is also talk of bringing back some vo-tech in our high schools.

This shows a different view. http://www.cnbc.com/2014/10/05/how-much-do-the-ultra-rich-give-to-charity.html

I once read- and it could have been here- the suggestion to keep a time journal. Basically for a couple of days set a timer and every 15 minutes write down what you did. So annoying right? But I did it and found some of my time wasters. I also was able to see that a lot of chores that I think will take a long time, really don't. In 15 minutes my kids and I can get the house looking pretty good. Now I do two 15 minute house cleanings a day and it makes a huge difference.

Definitely get checked. I live in the south too and am outside as much as possible- most of the time without sunscreen cause I forget. I also eat foods high in vit d. I figured I was super high in vit d. Turns out I was ridiculously low and now have to supplement.

Such cute leggings and skirts. Only two drawbacks - 1 their leggings are a little thinner material than I'm used to. I'm clumsy and fear tearing them like a friend did when she bumped into the corner of a piece of furniture. 2 no refunds. They only allow exchanges, not refunds. So if you buy, start with a smaller purchase and make sure you really like it before you buy more.

For those using this year's campaign as a way to teach the American political system, I thought we could share articles and resources that our kids found useful/interesting. This article was a huge conversation starter. I know my sons and I had a very good time researching super delegates and discussing the pros and cons of using them. This also led to research into primaries vs caucuses, open vs closed, etc. http://www.npr.org/2016/02/10/466283748/how-hillary-clinton-is-actually-winning-in-n-h-even-though-she-lost-big

Love it. I think you look great. I have curly hair and keep it long so I can pull it back in a pony tail for the numerous bad hair days. But I get it dyed very dark brown with violet. Mine is a bit more purple than yours. It's fun without being a pain to keep up.

I agree with you. Well said.

So you don't believe that schools made any changes to help girls do better in school? Btw- I certainly agree that we should be working to move the bar to educated everyone better. And most improvements would help all kids.