I really appreciate everyone's thoughts and ideas!! It has encouraged me that maybe it's possible to do both.... but yes, I think I need to step up on the social outlets big time. My DH has a pretty demanding job, but he is able to work from home some and also is very involved with her and her learning. So, maybe I need to stop thinking that all the responsibility lies solely with me! ;) I've been pretty drained from trying to do everything myself, so I guess I need to stop doing that. haha. Seems obvious now after reading all the comments. Why didn't I think of this stuff before? I guess sometimes you are just too close to a situation. Thankful to all of you!

Thank you so much for all of your thoughts and good questions. I think she is fine as far as socialization; but I am naturally much more introverted than my DH, and he complains that my introversion is sort of holding her back (I've tried really hard to listen to him and attempt to get her around kids whenever is possible.) We don't need the money. At all. In fact, we just recently sold our home to downsize to a smaller home in order to save money. But, I think his fear is "WHAT IF" we will need the money in the future? We also have one daughter in college and one daughter about to start college in a couple of years, and I think he is feeling that weight. For the last 8 years since I quit working full time (when we had the baby), he has been bothered by the fact that I don't contribute as much, financially. So, I guess it makes him really happy that we have this financial cushion. I would say we don't really want too many "toys"... in fact, we have given up a lot of luxuries in the past several years such as gym memberships and lawn care service. However, we DO pay for our kids to do expensive things like club soccer and competitive gymnastics (and we pay for part of the big girls' private schooling.... they are my step-daughters, and their mom pays for half). Yes, the homeschooling is not the problem. I think it is definitely what my husband expects monetarily and what he wants for her socially. I would be thrilled if tomorrow he said I didn't have to work any more and could just focus on homeschooling her. :) But, after 8 years of that argument, I know now it will never happen. I feels sort of frustrated because he and I have different goals. He says he really doesn't want to put her back in public school, though. I think he is conflicted, as well.

She is 8 and about to start 4th grade. She is VERY advanced for her age, and that is the primary reason we pulled her out of school 2 years ago. She has thrived in homeschooling. She loves it and dislikes the idea of going back to regular school. I would say only special needs she has is that she is definitely gifted and needs a lot of depth and challenge. Private schools we have looked into are full. Co-ops around us are full. We are on waiting lists. But to be honest, I don't know that co-ops will even give her the challenge she needs. She is a friendly kid who needs a lot of interaction.... when she is left to her own devices, she will literally read or draw all day. I don't think there is necessarily anything wrong with that, but husband is worried she is withdrawing too much into her own world. I guess in a perfect world, we could find a challenging co-op that handled all curriculum planning for me and wasn't an hour drive from where we live, but it looks like I can't find anything quite like that. We are in Birmingham, AL, and the co-op choices are pretty slim or crazy hyper religious and I am not comfortable with that. Right now we are just wondering if we go back to public school if we can augment at home. We had tried that in K and 1st when she was in pub school, but she was just simply tired at the end of a long day at school and didn't want to do extra stuff at home. She is also a very talented musician and practices 45 min every day. I'm also afraid pub school time and homework will zap her ability to focus on her piano like she does right now.

I'm not sure if this is the right place to do this, but I need some help/advice from other homeschooling parents. I have been homeschooling my daughter for the past two years, and it has been WONDERFUL!! The whole time, I kept working part time as a freelancer. Well, in the past 6 months, my workload has quadrupled, and I've picked up a steady contract with a client for the foreseeable future. So, I'm now basically working full time, from home. My husband wants me to continue the work. I don't want to give up homeschooling, and neither does my daughter, but the spring semester was amazingly hard, because I suddenly did not have the time to devote to her that I had before. Since she has no homeschooling siblings, she basically got lonely and bored, because I couldn't give her the same amount of time/attention. We are thinking of putting her back in public school. The thought makes my skin crawl. But we also couldn't find any co-ops that were the right fit or had any openings. I guess what I'm asking is HOW can I discern what to do? I sometimes wish God would send me a letter and tell me exactly what he wants, haha! Honestly, my husband thinks she and I need a break from each other anyway, and he is very worried about her not getting enough socialization (even though she attends Sunday school every week and is part of a kids' climbing club.) Any thoughts/suggestions?????? Thanks in advance.

Syllieann, that is also very helpful. Thanks!

Dmmetler... thank you! That is such an obvious solution; why didn't I think of that!? :D I think she might actually enjoy learning to type, too.

Hmmm... mostly so i can make sure she has comprehension of whatever chapter or subject we've read. I also encourage her to just journal her thoughts about anything going on in her life, or to write stories. She does all three well. She just seems to hate it. I don't want to require her to write so much that I "suffocate" her. I also am afraid she might intentionally start underperforming just to avoid doing it.

Hi, I'm new here and wanted to get some of your thoughts. I have a DD7 who is very advanced. This is our first year of homeschooling, and we really like it so far. I am following WTM method for the most part. My question is this: how much writing should I have her do at this point? She is a very strong writer.... often writing 2 pages or more for her history chapter summaries. She is strong with grammar and includes descriptive words and complex sentences in everything she writes. I can't complain at all with the quality of her writing!! However, she seems to dread writing because it takes her a long time and her hand gets tired. I've told her to try and "summarize" more.... that she doesn't have to be so detailed. But, it is like she is compelled to write extremely thoroughly. So, there is this love/hate thing going on. She "hates" writing, but she does it so WELL!! I know writing is important, but should I really require her to write every single day? Especially if she is so strong with it? Would one long, thorough writing assignment a week be enough? Or, should I keep trying to get her to write briefly a little bit each day? TIA for any ideas or thoughts!