4/5 of my kids at home are sick with colds and the library doesn't have the science books I reserved yet, so I was at a bit of a loss on science for the day. So I printed off some free notebooking pages from some website, gave my boys a stack of books to choose from, and told them to read a chapter and copy or write 3 sentences and draw some pictures. They had so much fun! My first grader was reading a sentence then shouting "mommy! Did you know that horse power. ..." etc. So here is my question. I have a feeling the answers will be "do whatever you want!" but I'm wondering what works for your family. Do you have them correct spelling, punctuation and grammar errors? I attached the work they did today. I imagine going forward we'll want to use library books, do you let your kids pick subjects or give them a topic so that everyone is kind of on the same page? Or do you choose the books/subjects for them? Is there anything else you use notebooking pages for, such as selecting spelling words or anything like that? We've been doing space for science but I don't think they are that into it. I feel we've covered the important things like the relationship of the earth and sun, day and night, planets, the moon, etc. so I don't feel too badly about moving on for the next few months. Also does anyone use those notebooks from Dyslexia Games or do you just print off your own similar to what I did? I think they look so fun but?

Thank you very much! I don't want to sound like a slacker or a horrible mother, but I have 6 kids. I homeschool 2.5 of them, I'm here with 5 of them all day long by myself. We do ballet and cub scouts, we play outside every single day even when it's bitter cold and go to the park and go on walks, in addition to normal life stuff. I quite simply can not get to therapy or the gym or anywhere multiple times a week especially with all there is to do and little ones who require us to be home for naps, our health insurance deductible is ten thousand dollars a year, I mean some of this is quite honestly not feasible financially or time wise at this time. I'm not saying never ever but. I will be reading up on options, thanks to everyone for the info I do appreciate it! We have an appointment with our ped next week since he needed one for his annual check up anyway so I will see what she has to say. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

He was born at 29 weeks for starters, he's been somewhat delayed hitting milestones (not super delayed, just a bit). Not uncommon for a preemie. When was young he was just very awkward, kind of hard to explain. Lots of falling over and tripping when other kids his age were beyond that. On longer walks he'll complain that his feet or legs hurt, his younger siblings can walk further than he does without complaint. His arches are very flat, I've taken him to a pediatric foot doctor and he basically said he sees what I'm talking about but there isn't anything they can do, just to make sure he's wearing shoes with a good arch support. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Ah you guys I don't know! He's been evaluated by a PT (once with the school district when he was 2, once about a year ago by my the company my youngest son was using for OT/PT) and both times they basically said he's fine. So if I were to call to have him evaluated what do I even ask for? I have a friend who "did her research" and basically her pediatrician allowed her to self diagnose her kid with ADHD and to chose the medication to give him. I don't want to be that mom! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

UPDATE: We just got a an official diagnosis today! He does have ADHD. I'm strangely relieved. DS went through about an hour and a half of testing in addition to an interview, and DH and I did an interview and really really long questionnaires separately. So I don't feel that it was rushed into by any means, the doctor who diagnosed him does not do ongoing care and didn't think therapy would be helpful for my son's situation. Long story short, the doctor said he doesn't prescribe medication and recommends working with your pediatrician to find medication that works just enough so DS can focus a bit more but not to the point where we can see any personality changes. Sooo we have an appointment scheduled with the pediatrician next week. I'm nervous about it, I'm not really sure why because if a medication doesn't work for him then we can just change it right? Like it's not that big of a deal? Any advice, any places I can look for information before we go, any words of wisdom are much appreciated! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

On birthdays each child gets to pick where they want to eat, and we go eat there as a family. So far the prices have been reasonable, they love fast food and pizza. :) Otherwise we get take out and eat at home. Two of ours are still little, but we've never been to the movies as a family. Each child has gone with a parent or friend. We do go see free plays put on by organizations in our area, we go to the zoo and children's museum (we have memberships to both), we have a gym membership so we can go swimming. If we have a movie we want to see we typically wait until we can stream it through Google Play at home for 5$. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

He's adopted so I guess the answer is that he didn't get it from either one of us. ;) But an interesting thing I learned when my youngest son was in the NICU is that very premature kids are more like to have ADHD. DS2 and DS7 were both born at 29 weeks. So I am not sure how or if that factors in as well. And thank you for the analogy about the wheelchair, that makes perfect sense. :)

My brother got remarried and his step children were immediately brought into the fold, equal in every way. They are my niece and nephew, my parents' grand children, the end. Same amount of money is spent on everyone in the same "class" (my parents spend the same amount of money on each grand child, I spend the same amount of money on nieces and nephews regardless of "step" status). We aren't replacing their biological family, it's just more people to love them! :) Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Concept, Puerto Rico, and I'll second (third?) Ticket to Ride. The idea of Concept sounded kind of lame to me but we played it the other night and it was fun! BANG is also pretty fun. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I originally posted this on the Chat Board but someone suggested I try here. I have suspected for quite some time that my 7 yo DS (he'll be 8 in March) has some form of attention deficit disorder. We homeschool so I felt like that would give him some room to mature if it was just lack of maturity, and give him some grace to have extra play time etc. My husband is getting pretty fed up and would like to get him tested and possibly start medication, assuming of course that he does actually have this. Throwing a wrench in this whole thing is the fact that I do not really care for our doctor, and have been considering getting a new one. She seems to be somewhat anti homeschooling, and also anti breastfeeding past a certain age (I'm still nursing 15 month old DD and she has been saying that she should be switched to cow's milk for months now). These things are among other issues that have come up. I love her on the one hand, but dislike her on the other. I assume the process would need to start with her, but if I get a new doctor and then say right off the bat hey, can you test my kid for ADD I feel like that would look bad. Maybe I shouldn't be worried about this, I don't know. Anyway. I thought maybe I'd talk things over a bit here and see if anyone has any thoughts. I've never done anything like this before, and I always second guess myself and think "Well maybe it's not as bad as I've made it out to be, maybe it's normal for his age" etc. Looking at the different symptoms of things online he: * Doesn't pay attention to detail or makes careless mistakes (especially with chores and copy work, skipping over lines, finishing only half of a word before moving on to the next word, etc.). I do feel this is somewhat "normal" for his age. * Doesn't stay on task (especially if it is something that takes more than 5-10 minutes, he will just stop and stare into space, fiddle with pencil, etc. He can sit there for 30 minutes or more doing literally nothing). * Doesn't appear to be listening (won't look you in the eye when you're talking to him, constantly in motion) * Doesn't follow instructions (for example, in a 3 step process he will complete 2 things and not do the other part, such as take sheets off bed, put clean sheets on bed, bring dirty sheets to laundry room he will forget to bring his sheets down to the laundry room. Or at night getting ready for bed he will put his pajamas on but forget to brush his teeth and go to the bathroom, getting distracted by the other kids, or by toys, or by just staring at the wall.) These are things he does weekly/daily, and he still needs constant reminders to make sure that every step is completed. * Avoids or dislikes doing things that take effort or concentration (again, if they last longer than a few minutes, he'll just quit and move on to something else) * Loses things - YES * Forgetful and easily distracted - YES. Sometimes he literally has no idea what he was doing (for example, he was buttering his bread and started playing with the knife in the butter, and I asked him why he was doing that and he had no idea he was even doing it. Half the time he is in la la land and he either has no idea what he is/was doing or else he is a very good liar. I don't think he's lying though, he simply somehow can not remember what he was doing 5 minutes ago). As far as the hyperactivity piece, the only things I really see are constant talking (including interrupting others, not taking turns in speaking with others) and being in constant motion. It's hard for me to know if this is just manners/maturity that needs work or if it is a problem. The other things listed I don't think are as applicable. The interruption and constant talking has gotten a little bit better the past few months, we've been talking to him about it a lot so maybe that is helping? The biggest problems, to me, are his ability to be distracted by anything and everything and the times when he can't remember what he has been doing. His tasks take him such a long time to do, it's frustrating for him as well as the rest of us who might be waiting on him. He is the one who takes the longest to get dressed, to get shoes and coat on, to do just about anything and everything because he moves soooo sloooowly and is distracted by every single thing he sees. DD5 and DS6 can do the exact same things that he does in half the time, with no adult assistance or reminders. I have really mixed feelings about this. As I've said, we've suspected for a while. His younger brother (age 6) seems so much more responsible and reliable and I feel like as DS6 has matured it has kind of highlighted DS7's issues. And I say that with love, I try very hard not to compare them. DS7 has a lot of strengths, including being a natural leader, very very creative, he has wonderful number sense and has amazed me with the things he's learning in math (even things that I didn't teach him), and his language skills are off the chart. He's amazing at art also, he's always thinking of crazy stuff to make. He's clearly very bright, and I don't think I'm biased about that. A few additional thoughts - he's fantastic at memorization when it is read aloud to him. He reads pretty well though makes kind of weird mistakes sometimes. I don't want to make it sound like his school work is horrible because it's really not, he is a great student when he can focus on what he is doing. So, any thoughts on the new doctor or trying to pursue this with our current one, any feedback on any of the symptoms, etc.? Anybody BTDT? I feel a tremendous amount of guilt about this and I do not know why. Sorry this is so long, you get a gold star if you've finished! :)

Thank you guys! I will post on the learning challenges board as well, thanks for the suggestion. I didn't even think about that board. :)

Our gates screw into the wall with those plastic things (I can't remember what they are called but they help drywall bear more weight, do you know what I'm talking about?). When kids are hanging on the gates, shaking them, etc. we put an end to it and administer consequences if necessary. I'll find the links to the gates we have but my little guy is nearly 3 and so far has not been able to open the gates, not even close. My 7 year old even has to use both hands for both of them, they are tough to open. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not but this is our set up. We have a baby gate blocking the kitchen and the stairs that go up to the bedrooms in order to keep little ones contained in the living and dining areas (in our old ranch style house we had a gate blocking the hallway to the bedrooms). Toddler and baby simply are not allowed in other places unless I am directly supervising. Toys with small parts are confined to the bedrooms of the person they belong to unless it's something that everyone is working on together. In those cases we play with them at the kitchen table or the dining room table and it is well picked up afterwards, including the floor being swept. I'm a big stickler for stuff like this. I can't be everywhere at once, I certainly can't watch 2 little ones 24/7 (at least not if I want to accomplish anything else). I heckle my kids to pick up their stuff and if I catch the baby or toddler with stuff that I have asked multiple times for it to be put away and it hasn't been, I have been known to throw it away. No toy or craft is worth the life of another child. I've had a few close calls myself and I'm just not willing to risk it. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I have a family member in South Korea with 2 children of similar age to my own. We would like to start a pen pal relationship between them. They've never met. My boys are 6 (first grade) and 7 (second grade) and his kids are 6 (almost first grade) and 10 (4th grade). We are trying to figure out how to get started. Our kids are on the young side, I know our younger ones will need quite a bit of guidance. I thought maybe we could give some guidance by choosing a theme for each letter for the first part of the letter, then having the second part be a free for all where they can ask questions, tell jokes, whatever they want. So for example the first theme might be Christmas and the kids could talk about traditions or food or activities or something along those lines, then follow up with questions or anything else they want to talk about. Any thoughts on how to get started? Any thoughts are much appreciated.

Please go to the ER and call your OB! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

My kids started eating BBQ sauce on their lunch meat sandwiches. I think it's really gross. Ketchup kind of falls in the same category. [emoji14] Mayonnaise for the win! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I'm getting desperate here. My wee one is 14 months, she has started walking but is more of a crawler. I need shoes of some kind that a) I can get on her feet and b) will stay on. She has chubby feet and ankles and I have really struggled with getting any shoes actually on her feet. At this point I'd be willing to knit something if anyone has a link to a pattern that will work. I'm mainly looking for something to keep her feet warm while we're outside, not necessarily for walking around in. Socks just won't be enough in this winter weather. Links to specific shoes would be much appreciated!

When I was a kid we had a few escaped hamsters. We found ours under a dresser in a bedroom. He had pulled up quite a bit of carpet in efforts to make himself a nice little nest. We also found one in the sump pump. :( So putting some water out might be a good idea if you have a sump pump. Good luck! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I second the Art of Shaving products. My husband is a man's man, and he loves them. They are pricey initially but they make a great gift. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

I really liked this one: http://www.amazon.com/Heading-Home-With-Your-Newborn/dp/1581104448 It has some humor in it but was just very practical and non judgemental. It explains the nitty gritty basics, everything from how to change a diaper to how to wash a bottle to how to get your baby dressed. It gives information on breastfeeding and how to, as well as bottle feeding. I was never around babies much and read this before beginning to provide daycare to a brand new baby. It was beyond helpful. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Thanks guys. He's already been through the whole gamut with the GI specialist (testing for celiac etc) as I mentioned and has been off meds for 2 years now with mostly no problems until the last few months. We did have several follow up visits to ensure everything was moving along properly and to monitor his meds etc. He did finally poop (hooray!), and seems to be feeling about 100% better. We'll reinstitute a regular bathroom time and if he continues getting plugged we'll make further changes. Definitely not our first rodeo with this and we don't want to have to go through the 3 year process of meds, cleaning out, maintaining, doctor visits, etc. which we have been through already. The comment about his body changing and possibly resulting in problems again made a lot of sense. We shall see if regular potty times fix the problem or not, here's hoping they do! Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Ok thank you guys! I just really struggle with the feeling that I'm being a micro manager, or not letting my kids make the decisions that they are capable of making and thereby handicapping them for life! Thanks so much for the book recommendation also, that looks great. Back to poop time we go, starting (hopefully) tomorrow. :) Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

When my ds7 moved in with us at the age of two he was constipated. Apparently it had been a chronic problem which we weren't notified of. I initially thought perhaps it was the change of diet, being in a new home, being uncomfortable, etc. and would work itself out. Long story short, he'd poop about once every 5 or 6 days, it was a huge 24 hour ordeal complete with screaming and enormous amounts of poop. Sought medical advice, was dismissed (their doctor was not good, but I had to take them there because that was what bio mom wanted). Kept pursuing it, finally got referred to a GI specialist. He was tested for a bunch of different things, everything was negative. Basically they said once he was constipated once his body stretched out causing poop to just build up which resulted in poop getting packed into the colon making it hard to get out, and the cycle was just repeating itself. We did about 2 years of stool softeners and also required him to sit on a toilet after every meal time. Eventually he got very regular and after dinner every night was poop time. He was weaned off of the stool softeners over a long period of time, and has been off of them about 2 years now. I know it's a lot of history but I am going somewhere with this I promise! So for a while we continued having poop time after meals, and it was fine. Eventually he started to push back about not wanting to do it, not needing to poop, etc. DH and I decided he was old enough to be in charge of his own bowel movements and was old enough to understand what happens when he holds his poop in. We had talks about what happens physically, the problems and pain it causes, and how important it is to go to the bathroom when you feel like you need to go. The past few months he's pooping less and less frequently. A few times he's been constipated, and talking with him about it he says "when I'm playing I just don't want to stop to go poop so I just hold it." We've gone over and over why it's a problem and how it makes him feel and he seems to understand. Today he's very constipated, running to the bathroom about every 5 or 10 minutes but not able to get much out. I anticipate this will continue the rest of the day, he will hopefully be able to poop tonight finally. He's eating fine and drinking and functioning fine before anyone asks :) My question is, as his parents what do we do? We know it's a choice he's making to hold his poop until he literally can not hold it anymore. Do we allow him to suffer the consequences? Do we go back to having poop time? Do we keep track of his bowel movements and if he hasn't had one in a few days then tell him he needs to go try to poop for a while? I feel like he's old enough to understand and I just do not see how he isn't seeing that if he takes five minutes to go to the bathroom when he needs to he'll avoid the days of sitting on the toilet (sometimes for an hour or more!), he'll avoid the pain, etc. Any thoughts on this are appreciated!

We do "mommy (bio mom's first name)" and "daddy (bio dad's first name"). We don't see either of them in real life (one by our choice, one by that parent's choice) so your mileage may vary. Edited to add, dh and I are Mommy and Daddy. Our 16 year old calls us by our first names and his bio parents mom and dad, his choice.

We have a key hook by the door to go out to the garage. I have gone over with my kids 8 million times "your glasses go on your face or in their case" and that has worked (the cases are in a designated spot in a cabinet). We have a shoe rack by the front door, each kid has a pair of tennis shoes there (during the summer it may be flip flops, during winter it may be boots). All other shoes are in their bedroom closet, but those are shoes that wouldn't be worn as frequently. We have a caddy for all pencils, pens, etc. which is easy to take from room to room if needed. I helped them organize their dresser drawers so all their pants/bottoms go in one, tops go in one, pajamas in one etc. We also have hooks in our entry way where the kids each have a jacket hanging in plain sight. During the winter their coats will go there. We have a hat basket by the front door as well as a mitten/glove basket. Everything goes in those baskets when you take them off unless they need to be washed, in which case they are washed and then go back in the basket. It is somewhat cluttered but everyone knows exactly where everything is and it makes getting ready to go very easy. The older kids can help the younger ones as well which is a big help for me. So in short, a place for everything and everything in it's place. Fwiw I do remind the kids every time we get home to put their stuff where it goes, and if I see something out of place I ask them to put it away where it goes. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk