My son has done every single thing that you mention your son doing. My son's behaviors were very extreme. In order to successfully take away electronics as punishment, we finally had to get a lock box and lock up the power cords to the tv and computer, the game controller and his phone. He was finally diagnosed with ADHD and ODD. He received neurofeedback treatments and our lives have improved drastically. His ODD is completely gone and his ADHD is greatly improved. Diane Craft believes that an imbalance of bad bacteria in the gut can cause bad behavior in children. She has had success with treating children with probiotics. I'm not trying to diagnose your son with any kind of illness or condition. I'm just making the point that what seems like simply bad behavior might have deeper roots.

I am an introvert and an HSP (highly sensitive person). My parents (extremely unloving and insensitive) thought it was their responsibility to "fix" me and make me "normal". At the age of 46 I've finally had to distance myself from my parents and I'm trying to heal from all of the emotional damage. I want to encourage you to be extremely patient, gentle, and encouraging with your daughter. I'm sure you're already doing this. I just wanted you to hear reassurance from someone that has been through something at least similar to what your daughter is going through.

I have a follow up to my original question. The first week that my son entered public school he came home and informed me that he would not be issued a textbook for any of his classes because there weren't enough textbooks available for all of the students. I thought that surely he had misunderstood. Especially since the school district had just built brand new high school building and football stadium with an artificial turf field, no less. Surely the powers that be would not spend money on such extravagances and neglect to provide the students with textbooks. As it turns out, my son was exactly correct, no textbooks available for kids to take home to read or study. Have any of you heard of a school district not supplying the students with textbooks?

Thank you all so much for your input! I am most definitely concerned with the level of teaching. I am a former public high school teacher. If I had given a test to my class and the average was terrible, I would have been embarrassed and assumed that I hadn't done my job. I would have tried to rectify the situation in way that was fair to all students. The idea of 'giving' points to only some of the students would never have occurred to me. This seems preposterous to me. In my day teachers utilized "the curve" when entire classes performed poorly on tests. While this doesn't solve the problem of the material not being adequately taught or learned, it is at least fair to all students. Until recently, I have been completely out of the public school system for 14 years. Obviously, things have changed, and not for the better.

The extra points weren't "earned". They were "given." It is my understanding that quite a few kids made 20s and 30s, so they were "given" 20 or 30 points. My son made a 56. The highest grade was a 60 something. My son requested the opportunity to "earn" extra points, but was told, "no."

I am homeschooling one child and have one child attending public school. I realize that this isn't a public school forum, but I really need some input from others. My son that attends public school was given a Biology test. The class average for the test was well below 50! All of the students that made below 50 were "given" enough points to bring their test grade up to a 50. All of the students who scored above 50 on the test received zero points. To me, it seems totally unethical to give points to only the kids that did the worst. Have any of you heard of anything like this before? I would like to speak to the principal about it. Would you advise that I speak to the principal? How would you handle it? Thank you for your time. I appreciate your input!

For the DVDs the parent administers and grades all of the tests and quizzes on paper. All of the tests and quizzes are taken online with the online version. The grades are also kept online. I didn't like that aspect of it because my kids never did well on the online tests. If they misspelled a word it was counted completely wrong. The grammar tests were in a strange format because you can't do the usual underline, label, diagram on an online test. my kids were younger when we used the online version. They might do better with it now.

Thank you so much for your input! I don't think he has ADD because he is able to focus on playing the guitar and the drums for very long periods of time. Also, when he was very small he could sit still and listen to me read to him until my voice was hoarse. my husband has dyslexia. We had my son tested because he had a hard time learning to read. The test results showed that he has dyslexic tendencies. He overcame his reading struggles and is now an excellent reader and loves to read. I should mention that completing all of his schoolwork is really the bigger problem. He won't complete his schoolwork. That's the reason we started homeschooling in the first place. The assignment sheet is an attempt at teaching discipline and organization. Unfortunately, he isn't motivated by privileges. He has missed out on many great opportunities because we have taken away so many privileges to try to motivate him. It appears that he's sabotaging his own happiness and quality of life. That's why I can't help but wonder if there is a bigger problem. He's very bright and musically talented. I get that not all kids like schoolwork and not all people are organized. I have no doubt that his brain is wired differently than mine. Part of me says I should just restructure his whole life to fit his brain. The other part of me says that he has to learn to exist in "this" world and I would be doing him a disservice to completely accommodate him. I will definitely get the book that you suggested! Thank you all again!!

I have been trying to get my 14 year old son to follow an assignment sheet since he was 10 years old. I ask him to complete all of the tasks on the assignment sheet, check off each item as it is completed, and turn in all of his work in a neat stack to be graded. Obviously, the assignment sheet has gotten a little longer and a little more complicated over the course of four years. It has been a constant struggle. His sister that is two years younger is easily able to follow the assignment sheet. We have tried incentives and punishment. Nothing seems to work. I have many times wondered if he "won't" do it or if he "can't" do it. How do I know if it's just a case of extreme stubbornness or if there is really a problem? Am I expecting too much? I would appreciate your input.