:grouphug: I'm so sorry you're going through this. Your experiences sound similar to what I went through with my DS and it was a truly intense and difficult time in my life. Even though DS is 11 years old now I can make myself cry just by talking about his early years. You've received lots of good advice here but one thing I wanted to mention is the possibility of adding a liquid omega-3 supplement to your son's diet. I think DS was five years old when a practitioner recommend Metagenics OmegaGenics EPA-DHA 2325 liquid as a possible way to alleviate DS's tantrums. Since I was desperate I bought the liquid and, with daily dosing, within three day DS started to act more calm and within a week the tantrums completely disappeared - unless I forgot to give him his omega-3s for two or three days that is :001_rolleyes: (Since then I've tried another brand of omega-3 and didn't notice a difference in effectiveness.) DS still takes an omega-3 supplement, although he now can miss a day here and there without having a melt down. Going to church classes with other children never worked well - and it still doesn't. DS becomes overwhelmed by groups of high energy children that don't pay attention, so for years we had our own mini Bible class in the hall but, now that he is older, he mainly goes to the adult Sunday School class with me. This was what I felt was right for us. In my opinion, religion wasn't something I felt I should force on DS because, if he was miserable (not just an "I don't feel like going" but a deep-down-emotionally-distraught-miserable) then I assumed he would develop long lasting aversion to church settings. Oh, and organic minimally processed food was / is important here too. DS had some minor clothing issues. Being worn in a woven wrap baby carrier (until age six even!) was helpful when DS was overwhelmed by being in large groups in an enclosed setting (like church). Not leaving the house too often. Buying a trampoline. And trusting my instincts even when DH told me that DS was just trying to manipulate me. And that's all I have to add to all the supportive suggestions you've received so far. Except more :grouphug:

In Who Am I? the section about Mormons, Worldviews in Focus: Meet Ellie, is fairly inaccurate. The first time I leafed through the book I was at a homeschool conference and had the opportunity to talk to Larry Blythe, any Apologia representative, about the content. I won't go into the details of the conversation but the end result was that Mr Blythe was unable to provide me with any references to substantiate the blatant inaccuracies, although at one point he did state that the selection was "a work of fiction" and didn't represent an actual Mormon girl. Following the conference I called Apologia and was given the email address for the author of the book. I emailed him twice requesting citations for the Meet Ellie section but never received a response. This, of course, may not have any bearing on whether you use the "Who is God" series, but for me personally it made me ... well, really uncomfortable about all the Worldviews in Focus sections. If Meet Ellie is a "work of fiction" then what about the other sections?

DS (11) received a heated bed for Christmas. No, he isn't getting too cold at night (which is what his cousins thought), however his 3D prints curl on the bottom so he needed a heated bed for his Printrbot Simple. Oh, and more filament. Apparently it's not possible to have too much filament. :huh:

Have you looked at Little Bits? DS hooked his Little Bits up to the Lego castle so he could use a switch to make the gate go up and down. And I keep thinking about Arduino, but DS doesn't seem very interested - yet. I keep thinking it's only a matter of time before his love of programming and circuits comes together and he starts insisting he needs some Arduino components. You could get a subscription to Make magazine. Or check out the Maker Shed shop for lots of cool STEM gift ideas.

(Edited: TMI) Ruth, I empathized with your statement that you were "bumbling through this" because that's how I've been feeling as I've been going through something similar with my DS. Over and over I've wondered if I should have contacted a different person first, or not contacted someone and just signed DS up for classes - although that wouldn't have worked either because, while I can provide a community college transcript, I can't give them a high school transcript - or .... Oh, I don't know. And I hate the run around and the rules being different each time I talk to a different person. It's horribly frustrating.

Computer programming, 3D graphics and animation, gears, motors, electronics and quadcopters. Although I do try to help, plus find him mentors that understand his language. Most of the time DS speaks some kind of technology-math dialect so it's a bit difficult to understand what he's talking about. I'm frequently in the smile-and-nod phase. Today DS spent five minutes explaining the exact difficulty he was having with Solid Works (it's a modeling software thing), and then asked if I understood. I just told him, "No." My old mama neurons just can't keep up sometimes.

My DS went through an online electronics course and he tells me you have to be very careful with capacitors. Capacitors can store electricity for years, enough to give a person a harmful shock even if the appliance isn't plugged into an outlet. With that in mind I would be very hesitant to give a small child a junk appliance to take apart. Although maybe you could Google which appliances would be more likely to have capacitors - I'm fairly certain TVs and other other entertainment appliances with remote controls would be dangerous. Also, with Snap Circuits it is possible to short circuit the pieces if they are not aligned correctly. When that happens the circuits start to smell like something is burning :ohmy: Part of the reason I decided an electronics class might be a good idea. When DS was small it was very, very difficult to find challenging but not dangerous tinkering toys. One recommendation, if you can find some on eBay or a second hand store, might be Capselas. At four years of age my son was fascinated with his grandma's Capsela set and, with some help from Daddy, could put a lot of the models together. Good luck :001_smile:

Our community college doesn't have an age limit (except for the fitness center), a high school transcript isn't required, and placement tests are only necessary if the student plans to take a math or literature class. Both my 10 year old and 12 year old are taking for-credit courses (art for DD and computers for DS) at the community college. There is a dual enrollment program for high school students but, of course, DD and DS are too young to qualify.

My daughter started taking one art class per semester at the community college when she was 10 1/2, and now at twelve she is still at the community college and has plans to continue with classes until ... well, I guess until she graduates. My son started a 3D graphics class a few months before his tenth birthday. For both children the community college environment has been encouraging and confidence building, and both enjoy being in classrooms with people like them (taller and older but still interested in the same subjects). I've dabbled in online classes but the community college offers physicality; being physically present with other students and being able to ask questions of a live teacher has meant a lot. So, dual enrollment might be a consideration. It wouldn't hurt to ask for a tour of the community college and meet someone in the graphics department. Even if the two of you decide classes aren't an option at least you could get information about required classes, degree requirements and job availability after graduation.

Until I read this thread I had no idea March 14 was going to be so special. I told my kids and they are now brainstorming Pi Day ideas.

I had no idea it was possible to program an EV3 using Python. I did a Google search and came up with "ev3dev" - is this the website DS should look at? Or is there something on Lego we should look into?

Good thing I went into the community college testing center with DS (10 years) to make sure he was able to get his Accuplacer math test started. I jumped in and helped him with the initial set-up, which was great because he would have been flummoxed by some of the questions. His name, address and student ID number were easy to answer, but it was the demographic information he would have been puzzled about. The test wanted to know if he'd scored higher than a C on his high school math classes, what his anxiety level was about taking the test, if he was eligible for financial assistance and free lunches, and whether he was, or was planning to be, a single parent :huh:

I wanted to comment on the OP's original post. I had a similar experience a few months ago when I thumbed through a couple books the girls at church were reading recreationally. I was completely taken aback to find that the content was years behind DD's current reading level. I too must live in a bubble because until then I thought DD was maybe slightly ahead of her peers. In all fairness, what other girls are currently reading doesn't matter one whit, and what my children are currently reading doesn't matter either. It was just weird though. To find myself so out of touch that I had no clue what "normal" looked like. Somehow it made me feel disconnected. My two aren't even PG, but they are no where close to being 50% kids. Actually, trying to keep DD and DS appropriately challenged and supplemented means I'm exhausted all the time. It's been going on so long I can't even imagine what it would be like to have a different parenting experience.

We're in Santa Fe, and I love the city (and the red and green chile) but I've found it almost impossible to find art and technology classes for my two children (DS 10 and DD almost 12). All the art classes available here are after-school programs (most public/private school kids are too tired to focus by then) and concentrate mostly on arts and crafts and free form art expression; not the rigorous art instruction DD craves. Any technology or computer programming classes for kids are all day, summer only, and very expensive. Last year I finally managed to find DD a private art instructor that actually challenged her, plus she started one art class a semester at the community college. This fall DS started his first class at the community college, however I'm going to run out of resources for him in about two years - or less. I know there is a gifted program in Santa Fe, because DD's homeschool friend attends it once a week - however, I don't get the impression there are a great deal of gifted offerings in town. I don't know about Los Alamos/White Rock, but we're considering moving to a university town in another state so DS can find the educational support he needs.

I have MCT only, for some reason, it's hasn't been independent for us; I sit and read the textbook and then sit and go over each workbook page with DS or DD. DD likes the story book / chapter book feel but I don't think DS is as interested in the format. IEW's Fixit! Grammar is, IME, more independent. It's also a bit more interesting for DS because I can make it a game. "You have three pronouns in these two sentences. Can you find all three?" If he finds all three then he feels like he won - something - I don't know. It's a boy thing. DD likes the story format because that's what interests her. Also, I feel like the format is a good blend of worksheet and copy work so that either could be somewhat optional. For instance, sometimes I have DS mark the worksheet page and then I recopy the text, with corrections, in his notebook. Or I'll mark the worksheets while he dictates corrections and parts of speech, then afterwards he does the copywork. Or other times he does both worksheet and copywork. Also, my DD really enjoyed Grammar-Land's chapter book format, and a year later she still likes to recite the poem about Little Bo Peep with the pronouns replaced with nouns. The bit about Exclamation standing on his head is still mentioned as well. The language is old fashioned (it was published in the 1870's) but even DS seemed to understand the text (I read Grammar-Land as a read aloud).