Dear Michele, Thanks for this. Very inspiring. I do realise that there's a heck of a lot of heartache and work behind the successes, but the rewards of your journey sound profound.

Another thread to paste into WORD and store in my resources file. Thank you :)

I have 5 of their books behind me on the shelf. All are well battered, I mean well read.

We are keeping alive the wonder of the Mechanics' Institutes "Mechanics' Institutes are educational establishments, originally formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men. As such, they were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees (such philanthropy was shown by, among others, Robert Stephenson, James Nasmyth, John Davis Barnett and Joseph Whitworth). The Mechanics' Institutes were used as 'libraries' for the adult working class, and provided them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanics%27_Institutes Institutes that provide a wealth of resources for motivated self-education. (Looks like I've institutionalised myself).

How about not just rooms full of shelves but a hard-drive chocked with downloads. Which either hide in the computer, or become printouts that need a home. There are some gems there and some are no longer available. But downloads are easier to go on feeding frenzys with. Particularly from this continent.

Thank you for your thoughts and ideas. We did call into the police station yesterday morning but it is rare to find them in and their non-emergency number didn't answer. We were going to ask them for advice on what a passenger can do in that situation (and maybe flag his car). Reading the situation as not-mine, it does seem obvious that I need to reduce her time in his car. I'll talk to dd about me doing all the transport. If she wants me to, I'll consider offering to do the driving if he'll contribute to fuel costs. And maybe be willing to anyway when he refuses. We are not as tight financially as we were. When I was doing all the driving I was staying with a sister in city while dd was with her dad as I really couldn't afford the extra fuel/trips. They were generous but it was not fair to them and I wanted to be home not wasting two days a week. No there's no public transport. I have hitched the route decades ago but dd had better not be that stupid. And isn't. This would still need addressing though, as he does interstate trips with dd to see his parents or for holidays etc. New wife knows you can't stand up to him and share a house, it's also not in her nature. I don't believe he is deliberately driving like this to upset dd. This is just how he drives. It is his road. His car. (His child/ren etc), and nothing he does is wrong. And yes it is worth it to be living this far from him. :)

Part of last Court rounds was to get him to share transport. He would much prefer child was delivered and picked up and he had no effort or expense. We don't live close and two round trips a week is a big fuel budget. (Drop off plus pick up for overnights.) Budget fuel = $1.39 /litre He tells her if she doesn't like his driving she can get out and walk. I don't know how much it would take him to do that. Not a good idea. Even if she had a phone I would not want her waiting on the roadside for 30 to 60 minutes. Yet.

She doesn't have a phone and if she tried to do this I think it would get him cross. Getting him pi$$ed off while he's driving does not improve his driving. I spent many years as an unhappy silent passenger. I love that dd speaks up, but it is still tricky for her.

We have gone this route in the past for drink driving (etc). It did mean I was charged with Contravention of Orders and could have lost child plus jail. I was aware of that at the time but it was still the best option. We've spent many years with Court, I don't want to go back to that if I can aviod it.

One more year. Yes I'm counting. (I taught her to drive at 8. Cos we could.) She likes spending time with him, but is also looking forward to choosing those times. Currently non-negotiable.

DD is quite 'hall monitor' by nature. She has good knowledge of road laws and draws my attention to me not buckling up on private property, not having two hands on wheel at all times, watches the speedo etc. She can drive. Slow on private farm tracks. Lately she has been coming home more concerned about her father's driving. He and I share "transport of said child" for his time with her. Most recent is his doing 15kms over the limit, while overtaking two cars, part of this over white lines and possibly before/on a crest of hill and later on the same trip taking both hands off the steering wheel to get his phone out of his pocket and turn it off. This was also on a 100km road, not pottering around suburbs. She asked him not to at the time and later spoke to his wife about it to ask her to discuss it with her dad. What can she do to feel safe? I don't want to go back to Court. With previous significant non-transport safety issues it was a mix of "That didn't happen", redescibing the situation (incorrectly), and "OK, now I know better, I won't do that again". And next time is a bit different but not neccessarily better. There is a history of drug and alcohol dependency. Options I can think of are writing a letter to him listing these concerns. This can be useful as a paper trail if things deteriate again. Taking child to talk to local police. I have told her they won't punish her father as they were not there. But this may flag him and may give her 'tools' for future. I have said that these same issues can occur with friends driving so it would be good to know what she can do. Me trying to talk to him does not tend to go well, particularly if no other adults present. No one respects her father, but I do not lwant her being the one who has to police his behaviour. Suggestions wecome. Magic wand even more wecome.

Um, all my students get breakfast supplied. And it's regularly eaten during lessons (and maybe in pyjamas).

Young Max shares a birthday with: Teddy, 1915 - [Theodore Roosevelt], 1950 - David Cassidy, singer/actor (Keith-Partridge Family), 1500 - Joachim Camerarius, [Liebhard Kammerer], German humanist, 1526 - Muretus, French humanist (d. 1585), 1577 - Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1648) 1724 - Lyman Hall, US physician (signed Declaration of Independence) 1705 - William Cookworthy, English chemist (d. 1780) 1748 - Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, French botanist (d. 1836) 1794 - Germinal P Dandelin, Belgian mathematician (geometry) 1852 - [Carl L] Ferdinand von Lindemann, German mathematician 1856 - William M Conway, English historian/explorer (Spitzbergen) etc etc http://www.historyorb.com/birthdays/april/12 Congratuations

I have bolded number three as an extra like. Once you allow people to realise you are not a super-woman, but a real person who needs to realign her energies, you can let extraneous duties either go to someone else or just not happen. It took me too long to step back from lots of extras when my kids needed me. Some took longer to get the message, but none took as long as I had. ;) It is a bloody hard acknowledgment. :grouphug:

I can tie down a load with proper truckie hitches. It almost always impresses blokes. Sad, but true

I have taken a couple of boxes of ratty looking kids books to kindy where they were placed near the door with a 'Please take some' sign. It was a fairly poor area and apparently all were gone in two days. Then I took several boxes of the rest of the unwanted and asked if I could place them in the waiting area of a refugee assistance centre with a similar sign. Our goodwill type shops would have binned most of these but they were grabbed. This was several years ago and needs to be repeated now.

Dysgraphia. UGH. UGH. Um, did you mean 'Disgrfy, uuhc, ook' ? ETA; We do lots of oral answers, copy work and don't attempt to combine ideas-writing with legible-copy. They live in separate parts of the brain and don't play nicely.

Here's another option, Simple Schooling Middle School Physics... http://simpleschoolingclassroom.com/index.php/free/free-physics/547-middle-school-physics-portal I bought this through Currclick a while back and plan to use it soon, so can't give you a review of this particular programme sorry. However we used a few of their others, both their brief and longer products and I was impressed. We haven't used the online options. This programme is now available free, via this link.

Joker if you are the parent of a teen, you ARE going to get it wrong sometimes. These are really tough years for all teens and as a parent you are her 'safety fuse'. So be prepared to be told how wrong you are sometimes and that as a falible, caring parent you are... well... failible. Be honest and remind her of this and that these years have/are not neccessarily going to be challenging just because of her sexuality. Transitions, child > adult, are full of emotional growing pains. Remind her that growing up is tough and help her rediscover the things that make it worthwhile. Some people will be asses. Sadly that's a given. Many will be supportive. It's a life skill all our kids need; to negotiate, cultivate and weed the people in their lives. Maybe you can drama-shop with her to develop some responses for possible conversations? Day by day. Good luck. Edited: for grammar, missing words and spelling. Always.

We might need a bit of help recognising 'our boardies' without their familiar names. If this could be managed it would be appreciated. Ta, looking forward to downloads I can manage around our timezone and dodgy internet access.

I have also watched Laura Corin's (Calvin and Hobbes' mum) posts over the years, especially following her negotiate higher education (with atypical kids) outside US. And I back the other nominations given here.

Another who has done some Open Uni subjects here. And this is the route to Uni we are aiming for with dd. I can help walk her through the first subject, until she is ready to take on a full plate independantly. The down side is each unit costs as much to study externally as it would if you were using their libraries, lecture halls, toilets etc. I'd recommend starting with one of their 'Introduction to University' subjects. This was hard, but well supported, invaluable and counts as credits towards degree. I also plan to have dd known by the academics in the stream she chooses. We are able to attend public lectures at the Universities here, which dd loves (usually), so this will help. I would second opening dialogue with the dept your son is interested in and sell him. They want the best in their classes and may be able to help you find the back doors. Do you know mathematicians locally how could act as an introduction to any Uni staff across the ditch? Persistance pays off, and we boardies might have an inkling that your boys are your favourite research reason.

Sometimes on a good road our speed limit seems lower than it needs to be. Sometimes I might want another beer before I leave the neighbourhood Friday beer o'clock. But the regulations I am willing to live by are restrictions for the greater good; meaning my greater good. Why should a matter like education be less important than these for driving? Our rights to home educate are regulated here with care and understanding. As one from outside the US, sometimes the anti-regulation stance can seem extreme.

Silver Moon, I just visited your blog, really enjoyed it thank you. I love visiting IRL friends' school rooms to see and discuss projects and curriculum while the kids play, this felt a bit like that, including getting to watch the kids as they raced past the window. Ta

Kareni, you've just sent me on more threads of great programmes. Thankfully a couple are ones that we are currently using, learning well with and enjoying. So I'd better close now before I see green grass over there..