My 7yo has loved Cub Scouts this year. All the boys in his den were quirky kids. He fit in great. LOL. He likes cars as well as Webkinz, and has a zillion imaginary friends, based on the favorite book/movie of the moment. He does play reasonably well with his 4yo sister, though like all sibs they have their moments. No close friends his age ... every time we make one, they move or something. The neighbor boy is three years older, but comes over to play because there aren't any other kids in the neighborhood. My best friend's kids are a bit younger than my son, but they play together okay. As for kids his age ... just not many around, except for his cub scout den. And that's a pretty small group. I think a lot of our quirky kids enjoy older folks not just because they are more interesting, but because they're also more likely to be understanding of the 'younger kid' hanging around ... whereas kids the same age have expectations of behavior (and at 7 may not be able to compensate for the unexpected behaviors of other kids). I don't know if any of my ramblings are helpful or not, just want to add that you're not alone.

Wow, I wouldn't have thought of them for such a young audience. They can be pretty intense. I first read them in late elementary school and still enjoy them. His other stuff is more depressing. And the prequel is a bit depressing too ... but at least the series ends okay.

I would've died of embarrassment ... as either parent or child. :) Hugs to your son. Panic attacks are no fun at all. Cut him a little slack this morning ... depending on how long it went on, panic attacks can be very physically exhausting. He may need more rest or cuddles or alone time or something. As for the emotional aspect ... no advice there. But hugs to you and your dh too.

If we're in the same place, Lynn, they're closing some of the 'hangout' places too, I noticed ... all the children's museums in the area are closing too. We were at the Botanical Gardens on a homeschool field trip today ... felt kind of guilty, actually, to be congregating in a large school group when all the other school kids' trips are cancelled. And one of the workers told me they aren't letting other schools' busses in our area either ... don't know how accurate it is, but if the play museums are closing, then I guess there's not much for them to come for anyway. Ah well. The butterflies and turtles were cute, and probably not carrying any kind of flu. Scary though.

The campus ministries offered a few classes on evangelism back when I was in college. They had very different approaches from one another. One had a more "go out and question random people" kind of approach, which is not my style. The other I think was actually good ... it was designed to make us think about OUR witness ... what in our lives really makes us believe in and rely on God? Then we'd have a ready answer when an occasion arose to truly discuss things with someone. I liked that one. I don't know that Christians need salesmanship classes, LOL, but I do think we (as in the ones I know personally, and Christians in general) can sometimes be shy about sharing our faith ... afraid to scare someone off, or afraid we don't have the 'right' answers, or just aren't secure in knowing why we believe what we believe. So a class that helps us clarify our own thinking can only be a good thing. :) Now if we could just have a class that cured shyness in general, I'd be good to go. LOL.

Our branches offer things like reading incentives in summer, open mike nights for sharing stuff, movie nights with discussions and snacks, murder mystery parties ... all sorts of things.

Wow, lots of things to ponder here! I will agree, though I don't mind saying the pledge, an American pledge is not going to override my Christian faith. If I ever had to choose between the two, I'd choose (I hope I'd choose) the Christian decision. My only time I refuse to say the pledge is when they occasionally do it in church (like on patriotic holidays or Scout Sunday). I have this weird belief that church ground is Holy Ground ... not American soil. Kind of like an embassy. :) And it bugs me to pieces to pledge to any nation's flag in the church. In the past, I'd make my point, such as it was, by remaining seated, but now if I know ahead of time it will be happening, I just stay home. They haven't done it in a few years, fortunately. I do respect the contributions of servicemen (there have been several in my family as well) ... and I wouldn't disrespect them for anything. I love the discussions about citizenship and activisim and patriotism ... never really thought of splitting them all out like that...

We don't generally, but once in a while the kids want to. It wasn't something I had thought to teach till Ted became a Tiger Cub ... he memorized the Cub materials quickly and we had to teach him the pledge ... while the other kids already knew the pledge and struggled with the Cub stuff. LOL. He picked it up though. I think, for cultural literacy at the very least, it ought to be taught. And explained. And then the child can choose or not, based on that.

Not sure, but if you ask on their message forum (there's a support section), they should be able to tell you. The authors do check in frequently. I've ordered from them before, but wasn't in a hurry so I didn't pay attention to the time. Sorry! The downloadable stuff is same-day, of course. :)

I have three of them, I think. If you're new to doing nature studies, they are a great introduction. They give ideas of things to look for on nature walks (and even some printable checklists, some pictorial, to use as a guide), they talk about what to observe in the different seasons, there's some poetry, some anecdotes, just a little bit of everything. I found them very pleasant to read. If you're already doing a ton of nature study and using a zillion resources you already like, you wouldn't need this. But if you're looking for a gentle introduction, Mrs. Lambert's studies are a great way to start. (If you want more specifics, I'll try to see where I put my printout and give more info. You may have to PM to remind me though.) :)

I found it disturbing. I liked that it was trying to portray the Biblical women, and the relationships were interesting. But I did NOT like the taking of Biblical 'heroes' (even scoundrelly ones) and making them into total scum I would be calling the cops on if they lived in my neighborhood. I consider that slander (libel?) personally, when I see such a horrible portrayal of someone who's not around to defend himself. I also thought it very graphic, some of which was probably accurate and some of which I think the author just threw in. I will say, I was the *only* person in our ladies' reading group at church who disliked it or had any problems at all. One woman tried to convince me that some aspects were 'really how they treated women back then, and how the men behaved'. Perhaps so ... but I don't like books where they speculate what the shepherds might be up to with the sheep out in the fields. :/ I would've thrown it away, but I hated to waste the money. I swapped it at the local book reseller.

As an introvert with an anxiety disorder, I have to work REALLY hard to make sure my kids do get adequate time with other kids. It's a real difficulty. There are tons of opportunities in our area for homeschoolers, and for afterschool and summer activities, but for me to get the kids to attend them is hard. And I sure don't want to pass on my introversion to my kids! She may feel that's a struggle she's not up to facing. Or she doesn't really see how it can be done. I look at PS family schedules and wonder how they get it all done! :) Right now we're sticking with church stuff, cub scouts, and storytime outings. So far so good. And the occasional party or field trip with our co-op groups.

We've enjoyed the internet-linked Usborne ones we've gotten this year. They seem to be doing a good job keeping links current. I did find that our Pocket Nature book is made up of several other titles ... one of which we also have in the old version, non-linked. The content looked nearly identical (it was the Butterflies & Moths one), except the newer one had brighter pictures. The internet-linked human body one we've used this year was doubly great ... several of the images were downloadable for coloring or notebooking, besides the activity links.

If you want other good writing ideas, try Julie Bogart's www.bravewriter.com site for ideas. And check out National Novel Writing Month's Young Writer Program at http://ywp.nanowrimo.org ... they have some simple workbooks that students can do themselves, and teacher guides if you want to 'teach' the material. Anyway, that one is a challenge to write a book in a month, and the student version allows them to set their own goals. Tons of fun. Even my 7yo has a blast doing it, and especially when he reaches his word goal before I reach my goal (the official adult one). ETA: National Novel Writing Month is held in November, but teachers who use it spend October doing prep work with the workbooks. And the group also hosts a Script writing challenge every April, which also has a young writers' version.

I'm in AL, and was certified (it expired). From what I understand, if you use that option, you have to be a lot pickier about hours and curricula and all that stuff. It sounded much more like "PS at home", like you might do for a kid who's on homebound tutoring for a time or something like that. We've been pleased with our church covering school so far. There are many to choose from. If you are comfortable PMing a more specific location, and if it's close to me, I'll try naming off some cover schools I've heard of. They all have varying degrees of parental requirements, and religious requirements, and all that. Something for everyone. Was the teachers' prejudice against church schools and homeschooling in general, or about specific church cover schools?

I love the 'Wrinkle' series. I learned to love the Vicki books, though there are some hard topics. Vicki actually turned out to be my favorite character now I'm an adult ... she's a 'real' kid who faces some real issues, and they aren't quite so fantasy. But I still love the Time books. I would avoid the Polly books until she's older, as there's mature subject matter in those. And also very much in her adult novels. Her journals are great. She was an amazing writer.

Having attended storytimes as a kid, done them as a librarian, and then attended them again as a parent (and watching all my old favorites retire) ... I'll say the biggest key is Controlling Your Audience. Let the kids know you are the one running the show, not the kid having the tantrum in the corner. (This goes to chatty parents too.) Plus kids will want to interrupt and tell you all about their similar experiences ... you have to be able to redirect them, let them know they can tell you all about it afterwards but 'right now we are reading this story'. The other biggest key is Knowing Your Material. It makes me cringe when storytellers read a book, especially a classic, and get the words WRONG! (Especially funny when there are readers in the group who point it out to them, but a bit rough on the storyteller.) I learned a lot during my stint as a storytime leader, and I learned even more watching as a parent with my old favorites (pre-retirement) guiding the groups. They were amazing, and I know now I was pretty terrible. :) The newer ones just don't have the same group control or mastery of the material that the old librarians did. Definitely alternate books with wiggly activities like songs or finger plays or rhythm instruments. Ending with a craft can be nice. Leading a storytime can be a BLAST and there are lots of good guides out there for ideas. There's a series called Story Stretchers that might be fun. Or looking at curricula like Before Five in a Row, or the stuff at www.homeschoolshare.com might give you ideas too. Active stories like "Going on a Bear Hunt" are usually a big hit. We made our own out of the simple reader "The Berenstain Bears Ride the Thunderbolt" ... I read the story once to the kids, then had them all line up behind me train-style, and we walked our way through the story as I read it again, pretending to go up, up, up and down, down, down, and all that. You can come up with some really cool ideas.

We use ETC and I allow things like letting them dictate for part of the writing. We can work on writing separately ... mine develop reading skills faster than motor skills (though my youngest may be challenging me on that one!) so I figure, why hold 'em back? The ETC lessons worked for us for teaching phonics anyway. :)

Another thought ... the forum Forward Motion is excellent for helping beginning writers find good advice. They run lots of excellent workshops, some led by actual published folks. :) It's a very friendly environment. Not so many folks post on the Writing Parents sub-forum though. LOL. Guess they're all as busy as we are!

I thought of another tip that got me through the nursing a baby phase, and some of the younger years. Seems like they're always wanting a snack at the wrong time for me to be up in the kitchen. :) So each kid had a small (shoebox size) bin labelled, and filled with the day's snacks. It would include things like a box of raisins, a container of applesauce or an apple, maybe a sweet, just a mix of things that it was okay to have and that they could handle on their own. The rules were: You still had to eat your meals (even if you pigged out on all your snacks before lunch), and The box wouldn't be refilled until the next day, and The box sweets wouldn't be replaced until all the healthy things had been eaten. :) It really helped on the days when my hands seemed constantly holding the baby. I guess it's a meal variant of the Workbox system. :) We do rely sometimes on pre-made stuff ... juice boxes rather than a bottle of juice in the fridge, and so on. Things my kids can be independent with. Since they are still smallish, we also keep all the kiddy dishware in a three-drawer cart beside the cupboards .... all their cups are in one drawer, bowls in the other. (The bottom drawer has kid-sized cookware for when we have a GOOD day.) That helps a lot too. And they know they are always free to get some water. Not sure if those tips help or not, but I was pondering the thread again and I recalled those things helped me through some rough times as well as curriculum adjustments.

My issues are a bit different ... I have a severe anxiety disorder that causes major panic attacks, with all sorts of physical symptoms on the side. My kids know when Mommy's having a bad day and we have to be a bit gentler/quieter/etc. I hate that they have to see me in a bad place, but then again, they are learning compassion too. Mine are still young ... 7 and 4 ... so I've recently been trying to step it up on teaching them basic chores. And I've tried to get a better routine going so the house can run without me during the bad spells. It does seem easier when they're young, and it's gentle learning that can be set aside for another day if it has to be. It'll be harder when my youngest is formally incorporated into the schedule and we add more subjects (we do gentle FIAR, handwriting, phonics, math, and science right now ... the science is new this year). Next year I hope to add grammar, and the year after we hope to start our history rotations. We'll see. On The Homeschool Lounge forums there's a (slowish) group for families in chronic health situations. Might find some good support there.

I want to write too ... fiction preferably, juvenile sci-fi and mysteries and stuff. Have several drafts in various stages of revision. But having kids has put most of that on the back burner for me. I can't do both ... with my health issues, I can do only one job well at a time, so I have to choose the wife/mother one. :) One way around, though, I found through Julie Bogart's Bravewriter blog. She mentioned a novel-writing-in-a-month project. So I went to www.nanowrimo.org and took a look. And then I signed up. And I wrote a (really rough) draft in a month! It's doable! Dh did a lot of the cooking and stuff that November though. LOL. So, when my health can handle it, I write a draft in November each year. Some are better than others, of course. And there are spin-off groups, like an editing support group in March, or the official spin-off of scriptwriting in April. That might be an option that would work for you ... one concentrated burst of writing a year, that you can tinker with lightly for the rest of the year to prep for publication. And it's a lot of fun too. :)

We started ETC pretty early, so maybe that helps us. We do the primers as 3/4 yo, and then book 1 and maybe 2 in pre-K, and then 3 and Beyond 1 in K, and 4 and Beyond 2 in 1st. There's a lot in the TG that we don't use which would really round it out even further ... it does work on fluency and things. We started early because the primers are super easy and my kids already knew their letter sounds (well, as well as a 3yo can pronounce them, anyway, LOL). Then I help them with the written work in the early workbooks ... why let handwriting hold them back from reading? We go slow ... if we need a break we take it... but for my oldest this is working well, and my youngest is about to start book 1 in the fall too. She's already reading lots of sight words ... it would be silly for me to hold back on the phonics for another whole school year. Might not be a schedule that works for everyone, but it does for us, especially alternating the later titles with the Beyond books for some variety. ETC 3 and Beyond 1 work well together, and so on.

We use it as our full program, supplemented with whatever readers interest the kids. We've finished up book 4 and Beyond the Code 2 so far, moving on to ETC 5 now. And we'll add FLL next year for some grammar. (The TG may cover some of that, I don't know, I don't often look at it, but FLL looks nice and gentle.) Anyway ETC works well for us so far.

Haven't read the whole thread yet ... going to go back and do so .. but I wanted to mention that this was a concern of mine too. I don't want my kids to think pirates are good guys! And yet sailing for treasure is so much fun to play. There's a great book (actually it's one of a series) called Obadiah the Bold, by Brinton Turkle. I believe the family in it are Quakers, and it's set sort of colonial era. Obadiah decides he wants to be a pirate, and then through talks with his dad and some rough family play, decides that maybe being a pirate isn't all it's cracked up to be. It might be a good book to read as a family if you want your kids to still be able to play but not buy into the glamor of the actual real pirates.