I’ve always assumed that Charlie and Lucy were around 8, while Linus was about 6.

I didn't have a black friend until I moved to Texas 15 years ago. There was exactly one black person in my city when I was growing up, and only a few hundred (mostly university students) when I left. Now, two of my four closest friends are black, and my kids have some black friends, so I am friendly with their parents.

I also highly recommend the series – it has been by far the most effective writing program I’ve found for my dyslexic/ASD high schooler.

My son writes his answers in a steno notebook - his first attempt goes on the left side, and if he makes a mistake the correct spelling goes on the right. It makes it easy for us to skim through and see which words need to be reviewed.

With my youngest, and in subjects where my older boys need my attention, I sit with them and grade as we go or immediately after they finish. Because I can’t be in five places at once and a few of my boys prefer work independently, I try to take the time to every afternoon to “check in†with each of the older boys, when they’re finishing up for the day or close to it. This is when they’ll give me a rundown of what they accomplished during the day, and ask me to look over or grade anything they've finished. If there’s something that I want to go over with them, or something I can check quickly, I’ll usually do it right then. Anything that requires some time and/or brainpower gets left until the late evening and is handed back to them in the morning.

My second son turned 18 last week and will be a high school senior this year. Ds has struggled a lot over the years due to some learning disabilities, but his junior year was our best yet and we’re feeling good heading into this final year. We were both surprised with how well he did on the ACT in April, and it definitely gave him a confidence boost at the perfect time – he passed his driving test the next week! It’s also gotten him to reconsider our local university, although he’s still leaning toward community college.

The only thing we've used that I haven't seen mentioned yet is the "Key to" math series.

I'm still trying to get a handle on how to teach my youngest, who'll be 6 in August. Within the last year, he's transformed from an easy-going preschooler into a strong-willed, melodramatic little artist. He is reading, so I'm calling kindergarten a success, but we really haven't had the year I was hoping for. For next year, I'm planning to invest in some good books rather than spend too much money on curricula that may or may not get used. Math: Singapore Essential Kindergarten Math B, then maybe Miquon? Reading: Reading aloud daily from a basket of books chosen by me. Independent reading of his choice. Writing: Continue Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting, then copy work when he's ready. History: Story of the World 2 + illustrated biographies and historical fiction. Geography: Legends and Leagues, then reading picture books about and doing some research on one continent each month. Science: Reading books. Arts: Piano lessons, dance classes, reading picture books about the arts and illustrated biographies of great artists, musicians, dancers, free reign with his art supplies every afternoon, etc. PE: Swim lessons, tumbling class.

My 7th grader is not one that I have to worry about when it comes to social opportunities. In the fall, his "social" extra-curriculars will be a competitive cheer team and a club volleyball team, which will both practice at least 2x a week and have several competition/tournament weekends. Ds has really clicked with a bunch of the girls (and the one other boy) on his cheer team this year, and he gets together with them several times a week after or outside of practices. His best friend will be on his volleyball team, and volleyball tournaments involve a huge amount of waiting around, so I expect that to be a fairly social experience as well.

My 10th and 11th graders both took the ACT for the first time today. One of my boys was surprised that the reading was easier than the science, but thinks he did well overall. The other described the whole test as "more painful than undergoing dental surgery and probably harder than performing it". Not sure whether to :001_rolleyes: or :crying: at this point...

No. My kids occasionally say "yes, ma'am" sarcastically when they finally succumb to my (or Dh's) nagging and agree to do something. I have heard my older boys call other men "sir", but they would never use it for Dh or anyone else we know well.

I think there are lots of reasons that people choose to alter the spelling of their kids' names. My niece has a little boy named Jaxon, which they chose because they intended to use the nickname "Jax" (which suits him perfectly). My 12yo has one of the Gaelic spellings of "Owen", because we didn't want his initials to be "OO". Apparently, you can actually misspell a name though: Keira Knightley on Her Unique Name: 'My Mum's Crap at Spelling'

For us, it depends on the kid and the time of day. We live in a very quiet suburb and have several stay-at-home moms around that my kids know well and could call or go get if they needed something, so I've been pretty comfortable leaving my neurotypical kids home alone for a couple hours during the day around age 10, but wait until 12 or so to leave them home in the evening.

In this case, I would keep two separate lists, or at least make a note that some books were read aloud while others were read independently. Dh is currently reading The Silmarillion to my 10yo, but it would be very misleading to include it in his 4th grade reading list. For high school, I have included books that were read aloud in course descriptions. At that point, the list is of works studied instead of books read, so presumably the student would have had to listen well enough to discuss it, reread long chunks in order to write about it, etc.

Santa doesn't wrap presents here. Our kids sit at the top of the stairs until everyone's up and ready, then we go down and check out our stockings and Santa gifts together. After breakfast, we open the wrapped gifts.

I didn't vote because the first option is the closest to how we've handled it, but our son was a little older and did understand what gender is. I also wouldn't use the word "humor". When my 12yo was 3-5, he often dressed in girls' clothes and wanted to be called "Alice" (which he got from Alice in Wonderland). At this point, he completely understood the differences between boys and girls and that he was physically male. He mostly dressed in male or androgynous clothing, but sometimes asked to buy female clothing and jewellery. I never knew whether he would come down for breakfast in jeans and a camo t-shirt, pink leggings and a tank top, or a leotard, tutu and tiara. When playing, he would always dress as a girl and pretend to be one. He was the mother, the sister, the princess, the puppy named Misty, the teacher named Miss Johnson, etc. He wished on his birthday candles and even prayed to be turned into a girl. He never said that he was a girl, just that he wanted to be a girl, God should have made him as a girl, life would be easier if he was a girl, etc. We just let him wear what he wanted (within reason), called him Alice when he asked us to (not 24/7, but if he asked we'd keep it up for a while) and consulted a child psychologist who basically told us to wait and see. I never thought of this as a phase, but as a period of questioning his gender identity. We weren't "humoring" him, just following his lead. I see gender identity a lot like I see sexual orientation - that some people come out of the womb knowing exactly who they are, what they are and what they're attracted to, while others take a lot longer to figure things out. It just happens that this gender questioning and experimentation often starts by 3, instead of 13. By age 5 or so, Ds had dropped "Alice" and stopped wearing girls clothes in public. By 7 or 8, he no longer had any desire to be a girl. At 12, he still has more traditionally "girly" interests than his brothers and mostly female friends, but he is very masculine in his demeanor, mannerisms and appearance. He now seems to be very comfortable with his gender identity, which I doubt would have been the case if we'd forced him to wait until he was 18 to try on a tutu. I won't comment on Shiloh Pitt, except to say that Brad and Angelina seem to be wonderful parents. I'm sure they're doing what is best for their child, whether or not it would be right for your child or mine.

My oldest and his friends never asked each other for gas money when they were just driving in town. They all had cars (or access to a parent's car), so it evened out. When they started taking longer road trips (ski trips, college visits, etc.) and carpooling to college, they did start splitting the gas bill.

My 10yo (who has autism) still firmly believes in Santa. At this point, we find it completely adorable and won't be spoiling his fun. But, he really isn't around anyone who would give him a hard time about still believing. If he were in school, I would at least talk to him about how some people believe in Santa and some don't, and how that's okay.

Ds10's piano teacher asked me to sit in when he was younger (she had little experience teaching kids with special needs), but I drop him off and pick him now. My other boys have always been dropped off and picked up.

Our kids only use public transit when they want to go into the city (we live in the burbs), so for us it's more about where they're going than how they get there. With a friend or two, I'm okay with my boys taking the bus downtown at age 12-13. If we lived in a city where they could take the bus or the subway to their piano lessons, I'd probably allow it around age 10.

I've never felt the need to lock up our alcohol, but if I was worried about it, I would just keep it in the master bedroom. My teens barely go in there, so there is never any need for their friends to.

We've always done school after lunch, but by about 5th grade it would be impossible to squeeze it all in before lunch if we tried. My 4th grader generally does schoolwork from 12:30-4:00, while my 6th grader works 8:00-2:00, with a lunch break in there somewhere.

What stands out to me: Spelling and cursive should not each take 25 minutes, unless these are areas where he really struggles. I would set a timer for 15 minutes for each, encourage him to try to finish within the 15 minutes, but move on either way when it goes off. Nearly two hours for math is simply too much for an 8-year-old. I have a high schooler taking AP Calculus this year who doesn't put in nearly as much time. Are you using Saxon? Is he mentally ready to do math at 6am when he hasn't even eaten? I would leave reading and piano for last, so that your "school day" can be finished earlier. So, the day would look like: 6:00-7:00 - Math 9:30-9:45 - Spelling 9:45-10:00 - Cursive 10:05-10:30 - Latin 10:35-11:05 - Bible 11:10-12:00 - Science or history "School is over" After lunch - piano and reading If he's not really ready to be doing math at 6am, you could do it right after lunch and be finished school by 2.

If that was all I could afford for Christmas, I would definitely wrap them up and give them to my kid. If it's the best you can do, it's the best you can do. Otherwise, I would give them to her now, smile, and say "Merry Christmas". I can remember a couple times that I gave my kids used gifts, but they were things that I'd bought used and would not have bought otherwise (like an $1800 paintball gun that I got used for just a couple hundred). With something like the sweatpants, I would either feel a icky about lying by omission about where they came from, or I'd worry that giving her something that she knew was mine would make her feel like her gifts were an afterthought.

Your kids are so far apart in age that I would never worry about getting them an equal number of Christmas gifts or spending the same amount of money on each. I'll probably spend 3-4x as much on Ds12 as I will on Ds5 this year, but in ten years it will be the opposite.