My youngest would drink it daily if I would let him and if we kept it in the house. He has maybe one or two a week, when we go out to lunch or dinner. My older boy always drinks water, he doesn't like soda. My oldest drinks sweet tea, which is probably almost as bad as soda, or water. Me? I wish there was a Dr. Pepper diet, where I could just subsist on regular Dr. Pepper with chewy ice all day and maintain a nice, slim figure. But since that's not happening I try to only have 1 or 2 a week. I once went a whole year without soda, and you know how people say when they go without it for a long time it just doesn't taste good anymore? It's not true. It was better than ever!

I totally get it. I pulled my son out of a tutoring program's Earth Science class because even 10 chapters into the book, there was almost as much text about "worldview" as there was about actual science-y stuff like volcanoes and and mountains. Plus the OE creationist view our family espouses was repeatedly labeled as "secular" by the text, because of course only an YE creationist view would be considered Christian. Can't we just talk about science, and acknowledge that there are differing points of view? Or just grade a writing paper on how it is written instead of poking the kid for having a viewpoint that differs from the teacher? Probably most of the people in my co-op are YE, and many would probably be surprised to learn that I am not. I like the fact that it doesn't come up--IMO that's how it should be.

I have an Instagram account. I follow my three nieces, because they have adorable babies and lead interesting young lives, and I follow my college daughter and two of her friends. That's enough for me. I gave up FB several years ago because it was just way too much info about people who were little more than virtual strangers to me. I don't need wordy details of everyday life, I just want an occasional photo. So Instagram it is. ETA: I also have Linkedin and Pinterest accounts that I never look at. I'm not even sure how I got on Linkedin, and while Pinterest is a neat idea, it was waaaaay to much visual stimulation for me. I looked it at twice and never again.

My daughter is studying Linguistics and has introduced me to some really interesting reading on the topic of language acquisition/accents/etc. This book is one I enjoyed very much: Do You Speak American?

My son is in a fantastic literature/writing class at our co-op. He has read the following this year (8th grade): The Giver The Call of the Wild The Old Man and the Sea Animal Farm The Hound of the Baskervilles The Book Thief They have also read several short stories . . . The Necklace, To Build a Fire, etc. They have questions to answer, discuss each book in depth, and have written several papers. So far Animal Farm has been his favorite--it opened up so many discussions about history, politics, and ideology. My son has learned much and grown much as a result of his reading and this class. I think they are considering finishing the year with The Maze Runner.

Yeah my oldest is a natural speller. She was around 9 or 10 when we "dropped" spelling for vocabulary study. I knew it was time when she would take a Spelling Workout test and spell every word correctly, yet when I asked her she didn't know what half of the words meant. She was working several levels ahead in the series so they were difficult words. Now her brothers are not natural spellers. They do All About Spelling and as a consequence, know a lot more phonics/spelling rules than their sister. But she's still a much better speller. Some kids need all those quirky English spelling rules to help them learn to spell. Some kids don't. It's really okay.

We have a giant bin of assorted lego pieces. Most of these came from a cousin who had outgrown them. Then we have the color-sorted Lego pieces--green, blue, brown, yellow, red, orange/purple, Lego people, and wheels/car parts all have a shoebox sized plastic box. Grey, white, and black all have a 12 quart sized plastic box, because we have more of those. All of these boxes are stored in the hall closet and dumped on a blanket when a certain piece needs to be found. Then there are the random "special" pieces that each of my sons has collected, and they are in various sized boxes in their rooms. And that is not including the many, many already-built or in process of change/build that cover pretty much every available space in their room. Our lego pieces have "lived" like this for a long time so my boys are used to getting out the box that they need and sorting the pieces they are putting back. It makes it a lot easier to find a certain piece, though there are still very random shapes and sizes in every color box. But I'm weird like that. It might be a little too much organization for some people . . .

Pretty much copying Amy's post, but switching the order: 1. Dd is gifted really smart and I thought she would be bored. 2. I couldn't bear the thought of sending her away for the day. 3. Dh's work schedule. He never would have seen the kids. #3 is the reason we KEPT homeschooling. That plus the fact that my second child had a lot of issues that would have made school very very difficult. In a nutshell, we started homeschooling because dd was ahead and I didn't want her to be bored, but we continued homeschooling because we loved it and it gave us so much more time as a family.

For the most part, those who don't feel comfortable teaching are very able and helpful assistants, and go above and beyond by being the first to volunteer to sub or picking up the slack in other ways, just seeing a need and meeting it. There are others who are happy to do the minimum. Know that it can never be entirely "fair." One mom brings 6 kids to co-op, another brings 1, yet both volunteer the same hour of teaching or assisting and both pay the same membership fee. By the same token, there are those who are gifted teachers who seem to always teach, and this means they are greater contributors. Generally those who are teaching are doing so because they love it, and we try to be very appreciative of our teachers. But we are also very appreciative of our assistants, because they do fill a vital role in helping the teacher and being a second adult in the room. It's not as much work, but it's still important. Those interested in teaching let the leadership know in the spring what they would like to teach. We make a sample schedule and fill in the blanks as needed. There are always plenty of options to choose from. Sometimes classes get cancelled before they start because there's not enough interest--there always seems to be a class or two that everyone wants, and these fill up quickly. Teachers do have the added benefit of registering first, so they do have a small advantage there.

What I like most: the community. Mine is a group that has been around since 2002, and we have been in it since the beginning. My kids have friends from our homeschool group that they've known literally their entire lives, and not only are the kids friends, our families are friends as well. It is a supportive community in so many ways, and I can't imagine having homeschooled without it. We have a support group side to our group as well, but there's something about being there weekly with the same people for co-op that makes it more community-minded. The way the co-op is structured is that we offer whatever people want to teach, so it's generally very elective in nature. We do not, however, require people to teach--you can either teach or assist for your hour of serving. When we've tried teaching as a requirement it hasn't gone well--not everyone is cut out to be a teacher in a group situation, IMO. The downside of this is that the people who are good teachers and who love to teach are always teaching, while the people who are not . . . don't. This makes for a slightly unequal distribution of the work, since planning/preparing/teaching a class involves more work than just showing up as an assistant. I don't like this, but it is similar to how it works in many all-volunteer organizations--someone always ends up doing more, and there are folks who will take full advantage of that. We have many who only assist but help out in other ways. Others do the minimum because they can. I guess that's what I like the least--people who LET others do more of the work. We have had mixed results in offering more academic classes. If the kids are into it, if the parents are on board and supportive, and if the teachers are all-in, there can be some really great academic offerings at a co-op. But there are always the kids who don't do the work, the parents who don't make them do the work, or the teacher who was gung-ho at the beginning but whose enthusiasm fades mid-semester. I think the best way to overcome this is to have specific objectives and expectations from the outset, and real consequences for those who fail to meet them. If a teacher is working hard to present a class of excellent quality with an academic focus, a student who continues to fail to do the work or participate should not be allowed to continue to attend. This doesn't often happen in co-ops, because no one is paying much for the class, so the student/parent commitment just isn't there. Same with the teacher--she's not getting paid, so without a firm commitment from the outset, things can quickly fall apart. I've always felt that it helps to encourage parents to teach a class that they want their kids to have, but never seem to get to at home. For me anyway, if my child is in the class and I know my family is getting a personal benefit from my teaching, I am more likely to put more into it. I've taught all sorts of classes that my kids have enjoyed all the more because they are with their friends instead of just with mom, and I've put more into it than I ever would have done if it was just us at home. I might not be getting paid, but the value is built in for my family. For the record, I direct the co-op we are in. We have about 60 families in our co-op, and about 100 additional families on the support group side. The kids in our group range in age from babies - high school, and we've always tried to be a group that has something to offer every age group, since homeschool families come in all shapes, sizes, and age ranges. Ours meets weekly for two class periods plus a group Assembly time. Some people would like it to go longer, but those people are not in charge and this person gets tired and cranky after 2.5 hours (we've done three class hours before--it was exhausting). Leading is a lot of work, but very rewarding. We are just moving into a period of more academically focused high school classes, as I have a rising high schooler for whom I need this to work, but the people I have on board for this and the planning we've done already makes me hopeful that it will be more successful than our past academic class attempts. I will make it a success for my son, anyway, and that's the best I can do.

My hesitation with your Henle instead of SFL plan would be that Henle is not as teacher friendly. I have one currently in SFL, and years ago before the Forms series was published my oldest did a portion of Henle I with the MP guides (assuming they still publish these?). The reason she only did part of Henle was that I was a Latin newbie as well and was just going along in the books with her. If either of us had a question, often neither the book nor the guide had the answer. I finally moved her to Latin with our state's virtual school where she did well. Now if you have a Latin background obviously this won't be a problem for you, but I just thought I'd throw that out there for those who do not. With the Forms series, you actually have a teacher book, and as well as a dvd teacher if necessary. The exercises and practice material are already laid out for you, even exams and quizzes--I love how it is all right there. If its an issue of not retaining because it's just fill in the blank, buy only one workbook that is not to be written in and have your students transcribe into a notebook, as they would with a math text, for example. Write out the vocab every day, and maybe do forms practice with more than just chants--write them down as well. There are ways to add more to your current Latin without having to move to a new curricula. But can I just say that I am absolutely flabbergasted that with two 11-year-old boys you are looking for MORE writing than FFL offers. I let my youngest drop Latin after completing FF because the writing was so much, and I generally end up having my older do more than half of the lesson in SFL orally, with me transcribing for him. In no way would more writing have been an even remote possibility. My older boy does have processing and memory issues, so there's that, but all the same I think it amazing that yours are willing (or at least needing) to write more. All kids are different--do what works for you!

I personally think that not everyone is equipped to teach a group of children, even in an elective-based, co-op setting like the one I am a part of, so our co-op requirement is for teaching OR assisting in the classroom. Parents have to stay on-site and perform one of those functions (teaching or assisting) in one of our two class hours. My experience in requiring people to teach who are not equipped to do so has not been positive--generally nobody is happy in that situation. Regarding admission requirements, our group has an application process and a very limited application window. We also have a sort of vetting process by requiring applicants to be part of our general membership first. Ideally that allows us to get to know them through the field trips, social events, etc. of the general membership, but we're a large group so it doesn't always work out that way. Once a family is in the general membership they have the opportunity to apply for the co-op if they are interested and if we have space available for the upcoming year. We only accept applications for a two week period in the spring prior to the upcoming co-op year. We also have a co-op open house for our applicants so that they can see what they are getting into :-) The application asks general information like names/ages/grades of their kids, because we might be low in the primary area but be bursting at the seams with middle schoolers and we need to know where a particular family will fit into that. We accept by family, so we need to make sure we have space for all members. The application also asks where they see themselves contributing to the co-op, and we do place an emphasis on teaching, but if an applicant says they are only interested in assisting we do not rule them out. We also place a high regard for personal recommendations, and ask if they know anyone in the current co-op. Once we have all of the applications we (the board of directors) go through each and every one to determine who will be the best fit. We desire to find not only those whom we need, but those who need us. It is incredibly difficult to determine who "gets in," because our spaces are always limited and we hate turning people away, but with a lot of prayer and careful thought it all works out in the end.

This hits the nail on the head--you're not wired that way, and it doesn't sound like twin #1 is, either. Because when it comes down to it, this isn't about what he is doing, but who he is. You've gotten great advice here. Yours is a kid who is going to need a lot more hand-holding and small term goals in the area of time management. And while your training and assistance will go a long way toward helping him manage his time in the future when he is able to be more independent, he may always seem (to you) to struggle in this area. Because he's wired that way. I am the organized, get it done person in my house. My husband is a lot like your son. For some reason, clocks just seem to run a lot faster for him, and he can spend an hour doing something that should have taken 10 minutes and not even realize that it has been way more than 10 minutes. Yes, it affects me and my getting things done sometimes. But it's who he is. I can't expect him to change and be more like me, because an area that is a strength of mine does not need to be and will never be a strength of his--he has his own areas of strength. I guess what I'm saying is to help your son by teaching him time management strategies and setting realistic expectations in the baby steps that he may need right now, but don't compare him to yourself or to your other son. Don't forget to find and appreciate his strengths as well as helping him with his weaknesses.

Yeah one of my kitties is just coming off a week in the cone of shame after a neighborhood cat fight gone bad. I think some beachside crunch is in order.

I want to frame the above quote and hang it on my wall. It's brilliant. Of course if there is a mess of crumbs or whatever on the floor, I will clean it up. But as far as "how often do you do this particular chore," the answer is weekly. And my 14-year-old son does it, not me. He's more detail oriented and does a better job :-)

Well I can reassure you that of all of the colleges that dd applied to as a homeschooled student, IU's application process was the most homeschool-friendly. I kept records via transcripts and submitted those, plus test scores and I think the app had one essay question, but that was it--not a big deal at all and she was admitted no problem. Now it would have been nice if there had been a little more merit aid to accompany the acceptance letter, since out-of-state tuition is so ridiculously expensive, but she's quite happy at the in-state school where she ended up instead. All that to say, colleges are really ok with homeschooled students, with many larger schools even having an admissions counselor that specializes in homeschool apps. At IU the admissions guy we met with after our tour was homeschooled himself!

I already posted here once, but tomorrow my dd starts her first ever real paying job! Part-time, of course, college is still her first job for now, but she wants to go to Spain this summer for overseas study, and we told her we are not able to pay for it. We can help her, but she needed to apply for various scholarships and get a job if she wanted to go . . . so she did! She's working at one of the on campus dining halls, literally steps away from her dorm, so it's a great situation. Just last year I was harassing her about college applications, and scholarships, and studying. It's really neat to see her taking the initiative on her own now, and succeeding!

Also read this recent thread where a boardie talks about similar behaviors in her son and some of the strategies she's learned to be effective with him. He's 8 now. And really, 8 seems to be a turning point. It was for my son, and I've noticed that others in this thread have posted that behavior started to turn around at 8. If that exhausts you because he's only 5 now, I understand. But with my kid it was the case that he literally could not stop and just turn it off once a fit started. I had to find out what was setting him off (not eating regularly, sensory triggers, additives in his diet, etc.) as well as help him learn to recognize when he was about to lose it and teach him strategies for dealing with it. It's hard, and it is exhausting, but it will get better. FTR one of the things that calmed my son down when he was 5 was a nice long bath. He could go into the bath spitting venom and come out a nice, calm kid. He would stay in the tub until the water was cold and his skin was pruny, but something about the water was hugely calming to him. He was the cleanest 5-year-old around!

My older boy was a lot like this. It felt at times like the rest of the family was walking on eggshells to keep him from falling apart. Ages 3 - 5 were particularly difficult. Two book suggestions that helped me tremendously were: "The Explosive Child" by Ross W. Green "Raising Your Spirited Child" by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka Both helped me understand my son and adjust my expectations and discipline strategies accordingly.

Yes the Miami zoo is amazing, but also pretty miserable in August. Temps in the 90's, high humidity, and lots of walking on concrete do not make for a pleasant day, IMO. Floridians stay sane in the summers by either staying inside or staying by the water. I suggest a day at a waterpark if your family likes that sort of thing. Here are a couple in the area: http://www.pbcgov.com/parks/aquatics/waterparks/#.VNteanby_xQ--good for younger kids, as they are smaller, more local parks https://www.rapidswaterpark.com/index.cfm?--huge waterpark with lots to do, but might be too much considering the ages of kids in your party Museum of Science and Discovery mentioned above is also a nice reprieve from the heat.

Guilty as charged, both IRL speech and in writing. Just a quirk of mine, I guess. But I've never noticed the word to be unique to one gender or the other. Sorry to irritate you, Poppy. I won't even add a superfluous "so" just to be clever.

I am in the process of developing a 9th grade U.S. History course for our co-op. The Hakim books are top on my list right now, mostly because I really like the narrative style and think it very appealing to this age group in general and this group of kids in particular (a few with learning challenges, probably slightly outside the range of neurotypical). I really like the idea of adding the Critical Thinking series, plus regular evaluations and projects. IMO the Hakim books make a really good jumping off point for plenty of learning opportunities, even in high school. Maybe not for APUSH-type kids, but that's not my target audience. Tailoring the class (and the curricula) to fit the students with the goal of a strong US History base that the students remember and enjoy is my goal.

Late August shouldn't be too terrible crowd-wise, but know that it will be unbearably hot and humid. If you come prepared and expect it, it's manageable. With that in mind, I suggest absolutely trying to budget an onsite resort. You will be able take advantage of their front of the line pass without paying extra, and you'll be close by in case you need a mid-day break. Two park days would be your minimum, three would be better because it would give you an extra day to go back and do you favorites. Just make sure all three are park-to-park so that you can get the full HP experience for all of the days.

Great article debunking many stereotypes, by an author who was homeschooled: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-sosa/homeschooling-setting-the_b_6638900.html

Found this article where a college counselor comments on the trend of college prep for young children: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-stephens/the-infantilization-of-co_b_6636892.html