I appreciate the thought Ktgrok, though I have PTSD, not OCD, and my behaviour was in line with my paternal family's church teachings. The whole God only does or allows horrible things to test you to make you a stronger person or to break you because you have not fully, properly, truly repented and turned from sin. While I have a compulsive personality, my prayers weren't due to that but to that being specifically how I was taught to...I want to say cope with having a painful life, but really prayer was treated as the solution to everything so doing so for years and getting no where, it's quite upsetting particularly for a kid who doesn't have the life experience or words or any other resources to deal with the situation so leans more heavily on what little is available. Prayer is kinda all I had then, prayer and the therapy I got at school. One of those, I still use the techniques I learned there years on; the other I think I've spent enough of my life on. I think, even with a malfunctioning brain, ontology can matter. I can't really remember not having a broken mind, but the way in which I view the world and my place in it has drastically affected a lot about my suicidal ideation. I may have to outsource my sanity checking to others more than some others (though I think doing so helps most people and I think a part of why there is such strong evidence for the power of connections and communities) but I still have to line up my thoughts and the words of others against my worldview. However, I do not think that a religious eternity-focused mindset is automatically better or prevents suicide over a temporal one focused on the life in front of you. I think it is more complicated and either one can be a help or a hurt. The pressure of eternity and/or of a God can be an awful burden. Also, it should be noted the increase is not universal. The UK has seen a decline in the suicide numbers over the last few years. The Samaritans have a lot of reports on their work in this area. It's still a big issue, particularly among men of certain ages and men soon after divorce, but progress appears to be being made.

I have had suicidal ideation since I was quite young. I really don't recall a time when thoughts that killing myself was an option hasn't been part of my life. The time period it was worst, so far, was when I was a very devout kid, part of a large religious community, frequently going to church - multiple times a week - and viewed myself as a horrifically flawed human being who didn't deserve anything, not even my life, and that I only had anything through God's mercy and love and, therefore, the pain I was going through was part of God's plan for me and the only way forward was to endure and prove my devotion. I remember being 12 and spending hours at night sobbing, begging in prayer hoping that I would finally do that so the burden would be lifted from me, and then in class considering if the top of the bathroom stalls would hold my weight. I mean, the end result of being damned would be the same either way, would it matter now or later when it's eternal either way? I think there are elements of faith or religious community which some can find helpful, but just as many elements that harm, likely quite a few where it would depend on the person. I'm not sure if this is just me or because of how I was raised, I know I strongly crave an external ethical system with which to hold my self accountable against, and whenever I find one to cling to I may get the high of achievement for a while, but my mental health nosedives. It's the absolute worst way for me to channel my traits. It is only by developing my own compass and standards and becoming strong enough to stand by them rather than fall for and judge myself by another's creed that I've been able to improve. Personally, I don't think almost anyone chooses all of their life or death, and the consequences and the results in this world, even just for those in front of me, are more than enough for me to want to be a better person. From the research I've seen on suicide, I don't think it is any one thing or even many things we can point to with certainty, but I do think the flippant attitude both in general media and in social media is not helping. 13 Reasons Why entirely ignored decades of research on suicide prevention for... ratings, I guess. While what is now sometimes called 'suicide baiting' has always been around, it used to be seen as something horrible that abusers did to their victims and now telling others to kill themselves or drink bleach or that they should die or similar 'baiting' is all over some sites. I know how much louder suicidal ideation gets with such...encouragement and how deeply rooted those words can fix themselves. I still have such words I heard over twenty years ago rattling in my head. Things are complicated and hard enough, adding that on top is just kicking people when they're down.

I was just looking for this. I found it under Account Settings, Signature is on the lefthand side. I'm still updating mine, it keeps telling me too many links...

I wouldn't say 'filled' but more than I experience in other programmes and enough that I warned my kids that it might happen so when it does we check the missed problem together. I also use Math Essentials and really like it as a way review basic maths before moving onto Secondary MEP. There is a lot overlap between book 1 and 2 so for a once review, I put the two books together with the parts in Book 1 that aren't in Book 2 and the end section from both books together. I got the PDFs for both books from http://mathessentials.net and we use the videos from there when they want. I think MeganW's Khan Academy idea is really good though as well.

2 of mine are similar - reluctant to write, good at parroting back, but using their own words seems a struggle. What is working well for us, and I think would fit well into your idea of a unit study approach to different kinds of writing, is Write On*. It literally goes from words through various types of language play and sentences to letters and paragraphs, to different kinds of outlines and essays including thesis writing. There are 100 lessons through with their scheduled repeats of certain lessons (most are easily repeatable but it's planned in the book that every 5th is done a few times) is closer to 175+. My older two ( 11/Year 6 and 13/Year 8 who is one of mine who struggles with this) are currently in the 50s range and it has made a phenomenal difference. It'll likely never be my 13 year old's favourite but I can assign work outside of Write On, we'll outline 3 points together, and he can expand on that from other sources on his own and not just copy word-for-word. I think what helped him most beyond the little and often that Write On does but how each of the lessons has an example on the page that he can compare his work to but knows he can't copy. Quite a few lessons are specifically designed to bring in what's being done in other lessons which they find fun as well. My 8 year old (who is my other reluctant writer and until this year an equally reluctant reader) is also using it though she hit her level soon after 40 so we now actually 4 10 sided dice to pick a repeat. She loves it, this is really the first thing to get her writing. The only lessons I don't have her repeat (and the only ones I've disliked so far) are the ones on accents which is on writing the same sentence in different accents and 'dialogue from days gone by' which is similar but using pseudo-ye-olde accents which I think could easily be skipped. As one off they might be fine but all my kids struggled with those and the idea that different accents should be written differently. That's possibly because their father and I have very different accents but write the same though even surrounded by different accents and dialects they struggle with them written down rather than heard (my older two read the Tiffany Aching novels and it took to novel 4, and me reading a section outloud even though their Northumbrian father has read the first one to them before, for them to figure out that the Feegles use a kinda Scottish dialect...and they've spent quite a bit of time at the Northumbrian/Scottish border). I think, particularly with kids who struggle using their own words, those two lessons stick out as out of place and awkward. *I always feel I should warn that their site is a bit odd, sometimes auto scrolls to the bottom so you have to scroll back up, and you can get more samples at Amazon though each time I've checked it's more expensive there than getting the PDF direct from the site.

I haven't found if the likes section is somewhere still. I found having a place with all the things I'd liked useful for finding those ideas that I knew I had read about but couldn't remember exact details on. If it isn't around, I foresee a lot more searches and notepads of random ideas notes in my future.

I've found this self help DBT site written by those who've used it a good starting place.

I'm a sociologist, not a psychologist so thinking on scale...yes, misdiagnosis happen due to everyone involved being human & there are well-documented trends of particular diagnosis though whether autism fits into that on a large scale hasn't yet been shown. Both autistic and mentally ill people are both far more likely to be victims of violence than the perpetrators. I've seen no evidence that misdiagnosis or the rates of psychopathy are significantly higher in the US than in other countries with far lower rates of mass murder. The attitude of autism = psychopathy/lacking empathy perpetuates a lot of the violence against autistic people and those perceived to be autistic. Autism is co-morbid with a lot of other conditions so there are many of other variables that might be a better fit but the vast majority of violent people have no current diagnosis or history of mental ill health or autism. I think the effort put into linking mass murders and violence to autism or to mental ill health, even psychopathy or schizophrenia, is a desire to move the violence outside of normal society and ignoring how much of our social structures glorify and celebrate violent behaviours particularly in males. Almost all mass murders are committed by men, the vast majority of all violent crime is committed by boys and men, and yet it is very difficult both on an academic and popular culture level to discuss that because it is too often viewed as too stigmatizing to do so to men as a whole but fine to do so to people with mental ill health and autistic people with far weaker evidence. We're an easy target that ignores the bigger picture. I think autistic people and those with mental illnesses deserve better care and better diagnosis practices which, as this thread has shown, is highly variable would be great, but I don't think there is evidence that it would cause a significant reduction in mass murders in the US. I think far more needs to be done on access to weapons and ammunition as well as an open discussion of masculinity and it's portrayals and enforcement to achieve that result.

I agree that it's important to look at first/only when looking at costing and planning though looking at those with later can help see what happens after one goes through the everything looks shiny and I need way more handholding with the oldest situation many of us fall into. :lol: My current Year 1 child I've spent practically nothing this year for him other than pencils and printing costs but he's the youngest of four, I have most of the reading books already as well as a PDF maths programme and I do most of his lessons outside of maths using a whiteboard or one of the books we have plus some reading aloud books & videos. With my first, I bought special pads of paper and a handwriting PDF curriculum that I used for my 2nd and 3rd but am just doing on a whiteboard with my fourth and used normal narrow lined paper once my 2nd and 3rd finished the curriculum, a maths book in a programme that did not work at all for my 2nd and 3rd so am now using a PDF programme, early reader Piper Books which my youngest hasn't started on yet, and way too much on various reading curriculums whereas my younger kids all used free PDF curriculums I used on a whiteboard (though I did buy extra for my 3rd because she struggled so much but ended up back later with a free pdf and writing). Plus lots of books and nature equipment and math manipulates and getting the videos and all that which all my younger kids can now use. And pretty much every gift-giving occasion comes with books as well which has added up to lots of full bookcases :hurray: If lots of book reading makes you happy, then go for it though I agree with maximizing free sources and using Kindle just for the sake of your wallet and sanity on space, though I'm one who only tends to read short stories online and for novels and books mainly for the kids I do a lot of used book buying still.

Seconding Crash Course Kids. My 6 year old loves this and SciShow Kids. Other science ones we like here are ASAP Science, It's Okay to be Smart, Minute Earth, Minute Physics, The Royal Institute, though except for the last one, they aren't aimed at kids and have adult content on the channel. Non-science: Geography Now is very loved here, HouseholdHacker and Great Depression Cooking are good fun, and BBC Teach has a lot of resources on everything. There isn't one uploader, but youtube has been great in finding older shows like Happily Ever After which shows fairy tales from around the world. I'll try to link some later if I can.

I've considered it a bit and see the appeal especially with having lots of timers but not sure yet. Most voice activated stuff hasn't worked well in our house particularly for my spouse (apparently AIs don't understand Geordies :lol: and isn't much better with a transatlantic mishmash accent of me and my kids) and with a child with a name very similar to Alexa I can foresee many confusing moments...

I also have dropped the ball on writing a few times and have tried quite a few things though not the ones you've mentioned so I can't compare. What finally made it click for us is Write On (I bought the pdf here, I've seen the book on amazon as well which may have more examples). I'm not sure why - I think part of it is that it has examples of work we can discuss that are right on the page with the instructions that everyone can see (my older kids, particularly my ten-year-old, likes to see all the instructions herself), part of it is that is started out right back at words and light and letting them be silly and built up step by step & it's built in that we go over certain lessons again and again on different topics, and part is that I can use it with three of my kids at their levels as about as open and go as writing curriculums can be in such a way that it became part of our routine. I also like that it's meant to tie into other things we're learning and the older two can research for it. It discusses levels of writing: my 8-year-old is very much level 1 as described in the intro, she needs a parent by her side to help her as she writes & writes about what she is familiar with, while my older two can do more within the same lesson and pretty much discuss with me, go away, come back for edit discussions... My 13-year-old, who still struggles with basics and has flopped in so many other things, has gone from a couple of months ago struggling to write more than the most basic cardboard cookie cutter sentence to in the last week writing 2 3 paragraph essays, one he spent time to read up on specifically for it, and rewriting an edit of each. It's probably not the most in-depth writing program, but it gets done here and has made a big difference for us. I hope you find something good for yours.

The way I found we enjoyed starting to get into mythology was comparatively. They found it harder to discuss and connect between the stories from the same pantheon but enjoyed it more when the stories were from different ones trying to explore the same ideas. I've not really found books for their ages have much in detail about the rituals. A book I really like and recommend is In The Beginning: Creation Myths from Around the World by Virginia Hamilton. It was a really great way to discuss common things people tried to explain about how we got here and common tropes in those explanations. My older two took turns reading these aloud and then we'd all discuss them. There were great conversations . Sometimes the younger two got involved (one involves a giant, my youngest liked acting him our) but more often than not, they were happy to be doing other things.

My Year 6 child likes Science Detectives from the Critical Thinking Company - it's an open and go and gets in her into the habit of finding evidence for her answers which I like and I find it works well as a spine for other reading and resources. There are two levels (I don't find the grade levels work well for mine), which one will fit depends on the child, particularly how comfortable they are at writing answers to open ended science questions. For science, I have a basic spreadsheet document that is divided by science topic so all of mine are on the similar topics most of the time and I can bring in other resources on the topics. For her, that includes CGP KS2 science book which I use as an end of section review, Horrible Science which she reads aloud to her younger siblings (I try to prioritize reading aloud to help their speaking skills and the 8 year old loves science but she finds reading hard/tiring so two stones, one solution for us), relevant other books and videos. I've not found any of the video curriculums retain or work well as an intro to a topic for mine so I mostly use them to expand things they're doing or just general interest rather than for lessons. For independent work, she also does typingclub, geography games (state tetris and seterra are her favourites with Geography Now videos), she uses khan academy to review grammar terms outside of grammar lessons & has her own personal spelling words to practice outside of spelling lessons, drawing practice from the drawing textbook alongside a lot of reading. We're in the middle of tweaking history...again...humanities in general really. I have been looking at CTC's World History Detective but undecided.

The quiz didn't ask about pubs or smoking or tv shows watched or even whether one lived in a rural, suburban, or urban area. While it's a bit of a naff oversimplified quiz, as is most reporting on research studies or any science particularly from the BBC, I think you're reading more into it than what was there. This survey and the study divides the working class into 4 groups to show the complexity of an often overly homogenized group. I was put in precariat and even as an American in the UK it seems fairly accurate and I think it's important to go beyond the dictionary when we have Tory MPs worth millions with large estates trying to claim even in jest that they're "working class heroes" because he earns money from his job and the person he beat went to Eton. When I tweaked the quiz, leaving income (10-25k), renting, and savings (0-10k) the same, adding more professions known and activities pretty much regardless of what they were put me in emergent or affluent groups (though nothing I put in involved sports). This links with the studies that the most precariously positioned people in society have fewer social connections and have fewer resources to engage in community spaces or cultural activities. That fits me and those I know quite well. Selling undervalued labour or being unable to sell labour and not owning the means of production has widespread consequences in a world where the money from said sales is required for the essentials of life and access to society. Pretty much everyone I socialize with is either medically retired 20-40 somethings or works in hospitality, support, or retail at the customer service level (which makes finding people in "acceptable professions" for ID or citizenship quite difficult which can further limit people's access to many things as UK law limits people's access to things by whether they know those people before getting to fees) and like myself struggles to meet new people and take part the activities we would like to do. The description fit us well and had nothing to do with smoking (and the only smoker I know is my MIL and she only uses vapes these days). To me, it's only classist with the assumption that those who can & do are better or that we don't do those things or know people in those professions because we're flawed or what we do isn't as worthy of doing (give me a walk in the woods and a card game any day over the theatre or sports) or that those with more 'elite' access to society either don't have any problems/don't really work or have that access entirely by their personal value that others don't have rather than result of complex interconnected social systems designed to maintain the vast majority of people in at least a somewhat precarious position even if some of us are more than others. It's not a value judgement, it's a small simplified quiz based on 2011 research of how access to resources alters our position in society and how that specific set of research grouped people and proposed changing lines of class based on it. In the 6 years since little seems to have come of the data for most people.

For the piles of paper, I would recommend sketch books and/or a special file boxes to store art. Both are well loved by my kids and have helped mine. I agree with getting his own special art sets with nice pencils, sharpeners, maybe pastels & chalks. Also other things to draw on like masks or big rolls of paper for large work. Maybe a drawing book like Drawing Textbook by Bruce McIntyre or one of the 3d art books by Mark Kistler or most how to draw books on his favourite topics or animals. My artist kids can spend hours going through and trying to draw from those books. I've tried some of the electronic alternatives and while they can be fun, they don't have much staying power for mine at this point. I can see tablets being helpful when older but at their current ages, I think the tactile and right there are part of what they really like about it.

My daughter did similar this year in throwing us off with sudden plans. She told me one week before applications were due that she wanted to try to apply one of the secondary schools for next year's entry. It's pretty much random allocation (all applicants take an exam but it's to ensure a 'representative comprehensive cohort' so some are taken from each ability level along a bell curve), with the numbers applying and the numbers taken in, she has less 20% chance of getting in and she says she will remain home educated if she doesn't get in so I've been debating what to tweak on the unlikely chance this is our last year. I think you're plan to get outside help on writing could help you and him get clarity and likely some calm over what skills to work on and such. Otherwise, I agree with others on trying to help him see accommodations as a way to give everyone as level playing field as possible so people can see his full abilities - everyone get accommodations, some are just seen as more normal than others (glasses, cars, bags, lights can all be seen accommodations for common human limitations - we all have them even if some of mine are different to yours). I know this is difficult, pretty much everyone I know has gone through the 'but I shouldn't really use this, I can do it without..." and it often ends up with frazzled frustrated people. Other than that, focusing on soft skills including study skills and systems he can use as well as maybe looking to see if there is any literature or similar that you'd really like to share with him now while you have more time for it is how I'm going about it.

We have similar to workboxes through we use a file-folder for paper/book based subjects along with a list for computer-based or other things that don't fit in there. With units, we do rotate though how keeps being tweaked. Sometimes we just do a couple units but for a solid week or so - like one section of science we may do for however long it takes and then put science to the side until the next month when we do the next section (and I'll plan 9-12 sections depending on how long they are) and we'll do something flexible like working on a life skill or body skill with that at the same time and do history and something else during the other time or we'll have certain days of the week to do X and others to do Y. Usually/ideally one unit is academic and the other is practical.

I think part of the issue is that self-care has become another industry almost, just another way to advertise at us and beat particularly women into a box where if we're struggling, it's either our fault because don't do X self care method or that we're too foolish to realize chocolate cake and bath salts exists as if that's going to solve complicated life problems. Self care as it is mostly portrayed is retail therapy and promotion of an unhelpful kind of total disconnect rather than actually caring for self and an environment with multiple types of connections to help which many people struggle to have. For me as I am actively trying to work on this, self care is asking myself what I need and how can I get it without it becoming another obligation, another plate I need to spin? I haven't gotten all the pieces in place, I'm trying to fight out of another depressive slump, but I'm finding the process (as part of DBT) helping me.

How do you use streaming video content in your educational efforts? Do you watch videos about homeschooling, parenting, skill development, or education? I sometimes watch videos on education or parenting if they come up when I'm trying to find a solution to a specific issue I'm having or something I'm interested in comes up. My kids can usually tell when I've fallen down the youtube rabbit holes when all the recommendations have women in the preview boxes rather than their music or minecraft :lol: Do you use videos with your children as part of your lessons (not counting full online classes such as Well-Trained Mind Academy)? Yes, sometimes I will look up videos to have as part of my planned areas particularly for areas where I think the visuals will be good [health and body knowledge certainly benefits as do most science topics here] and other times I will look up videos if they have a question I'm struggling to answer well enough. What are your favorite programs/channels/presenters for this type of content? Why? I don't think I have a favourite presenter for education or parenting related topics. My kids are very fond of ASAP Science and Crash Course for Kids. I do like when I find good resources from the local universities. How long, on average, are these videos? This varies widely. If it's just trying to get a quick answer, it will likely be less than 5 minutes, if it's part of the programme or something someone is really interested in, they can be however long up to full hour+ documentaries. For this content, do you use paid services (Hulu, Amazon Prime, Netflix, other [please describe]) or primarily free ones (YouTube, etc)? I mainly use free services like YouTube and BBCiplayer though I do at times use Netflix for some documentaries occasionally.

I agree with above posts that online courses, rescheduling for your priorities and needs, and maybe reconsidering things like the algebra might helpful. I think the thread on Bare Minimum Middle School, particularly this post, might be helpful to you for organizing things for your Child B. For my autistic Year 8 child, I focus on Maths, English, Assigning readings, and doing 1-2 units of other topics alongside skills and body/mind work. For maths we use MEP secondary with interactive lessons because then he can mostly argue with that and if he drags I will put on a timer. He likes beating the timer. English is his weakest subject and we're constantly tweaking this to try to help his spelling, mechanics, and writing.

A week in a dark sky park is my dream. Just a gentle week of nature walks and hopefully a few nights of clear nights to get a chance to see the full night sky. This along with a holiday to see the 2026 solar eclipse in Iceland are the only get-away dreams I have. I'm not a big on travel, I find it tiring so whatever needs to be restful enough to make the travel worth it.

Only through Isaac and then Jacob, according to the texts, the other sons started other nations which show up later usually either for war or intermarrying. Typically scholars and writers on this connect Abraham's other children to other Semitic-Arabian and north African groups which makes sense to me while Esau's descendent are often written to be connected to Rome which I think is a bit of a stretch to make the conflicts during the Roman Empire far more religiously significant.

I did it as many sons and only at church though would not be surprised if there was an earlier/other less Biblical sounding kids song as there were a few other rhymes that I did as a kid that I later found out were religious versions of older songs and rhymes. I always enjoyed some of the stories and debates around Keturah and her six sons (like her being Hagar renamed and such). In my religious studies days, I enjoyed looking out for the wives, other women, and other less remembered characters in the text.

It feels like a heartbreaking broken record. As American in the UK, I struggle trying to explain these things to people I know when they ask me. We've known for decades that mass shooting spread, social contagion plays a big role, and that the media has a massive part to play of that. There have been guidelines to reduce this based for many years and it continues to be ignored for profit. We actually know quite a bit of what inspires these things, people worked very hard to research this to try to save lives - it just gets ignored. People with mental illnesses are more likely to be victims of violent crimes than perpetrators. While it's popular rhetoric in the media, there is no strong evidence that mental illness is involved in most mass shootings or violence at all. With how the social system in our societies glorify violence and fame, these horrible acts sadly don't go that far against the grain. The thing almost all of these shooters have in common isn't their mind but their sex (in my lifetime, something like 3 mass shootings in the US have involved a woman perpetrator, far far fewer than the amount that specifically targeted women) but almost no one would say this all a man thing. We have worldwide evidence that control of guns and/or bullets works in preventing mass shootings and gun crimes. There is nothing about Americans that means what has worked in the UK, Australia, Japan, and many other countries who still have criminals couldn't work in the US. Japan literally has a world renowned crime syndicate and their tight gun laws with tests and proof of storage still shows results. That many if not most of the many law in US are aimed at businesses and ignores private sellers and buyers is a part of the issue - it makes it looks like something is being done and safety is there where it is not. Really, the idea that no laws can change this when other countries have done so to me says that people think very little of Americans that we must be so much more violent that no law will stop us when so many other nations are not experiencing this.