My heart goes out to you because I feel your pain. I went through the same thing with my oldest son. Of course, I can't say that our situations are the same - they sound similar, but I will share my situation with you and my thoughts based on my situation. For my son, the difference is that his K teacher did not tell me that he needed an eval. She was already trained to work with ADHD kids, so she felt/knew that he was not ADHD/ADD. She called him a kinesthetic learner and utilized strategies with him that allowed him to move and be active while learning. She did her own test with him - when she thought he wasn't paying attention, she'd call on him and he could answer the question or repeat what she said. This is what brought her to her conclusion - that he was paying attention; in his own way. She said he was global and able to multitask. Her words made me research these terms and I wholeheartedly agreed based on the things I saw in other areas of his life. Much like the things you see. My son was able to raise his head and do a push up before he ever left the hospital. The nurses in the hospital commented on how strong he was and they were concerned that he didn't cry when they gave him his shot. He walked without every crawling -- I think around 9 months or so. Had great motor skills - a great athlete and lagging fine motor skills --- his younger brother still has better handwriting than he. He is now 10 and homeschooled. He was fortunate bc his K teacher was trained and knew how to work with him - though he still averaged 3 behavior marks per day - she told me not to be overly concerned - she has to correct him - but his being high energy and kinesthetic was simply going to result in more marks than other kids. So we started to celebrate having less than 4 instead of expecting none. In 1st & 2nd he lucked out again with male teachers. Male teachers typically run very active classes, so he fit in fine there - they never complained. Then in 3rd - it all hit the fan. He got a teacher that expected him to sit still and listen All Day Long. Not going to happen. She didn't even like for him to play with his fidget toys in his hands ---they are silent but allows him to move without being a distraction. He started to feel like he was bad and actually told me that he hated his life. Mama was alarmed - ph.d. in math - lead mathematician at work - always career-minded woman - came home to homeschool my sons. I will not allow the school system to destroy my child. It is estimated that over 1 million children are misdiagnosed as having ADD/ADHD. You must ask yourself if their expectations are appropriate for the age of my child. You also have to wonder if it is reasonable to expect every child to be educated the exact same way. Some kids are simply high energy, kinesthetic and a sit and listen class will not work for them until they are passed x-years old and have a lot more self-control. I encourage you to read The War Against Boys or do some research on the subject of how classrooms are more suited for female learners than high-energy male learners. High energy boys are the 'problem' children in schools no matter how smart their test scores say they are. Your son is scoring high on those tests - research shows that if the school is successful in breaking his spirit and love of learning, his scores will begin to decline in 4th grade and by 7th, he'll be a below average student going through the motions. Please know that I am not trying to speak badly about schools. Schools have a TOUGH job of educating a LOT of different students. What I am saying is that the typical school environment may not work for YOUR child. A great school on paper is not necessarily a great school for your child. When I researched things, Montessori was a good choice for high energy kids that need to be active/involved while learning. What I am trying to say is that you are looking for ways to fix your kid ---- he likely isn't broken --- instead change his learning environment to one that suits him. He will NOT conform to his environment (as you have seen 'no rewards or punishment work'). He can't conform. Asking him to conform is like asking a bird not to fly.

MLK's Mountaintop speech beginning near the end at: 'Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead...'

Once the broccoli has flowered it is passed its edible stage. You want to cut the florets off as they grow, this will stop the plant from flowering. If you never got a nice broccoli head, then it is likely that the plant bolted. This basically means that the weather got too warm too soon and the plant went straight to flowering due to this warmth. One thing that you can do is allow the flowers to produce seeds and harvest the seeds. If the plant was an heirloom variety, the seed will produce the same plant. However, if it was a hybrid variety (which it was unless labeled otherwise), you can't be sure what type of plant you will get - it will be broccoli - but may not look or taste like it's parent plant.

In the past, we cleaned out our hallway linen closet to store all things homeschool. Worked out well and allowed kids to strecth legs and have a little locker time (like public school kids) to get their books. We moved the linen closet stuff to various places: top shelf or floor (under clothes) of bedroom closets, under bed storage, donated, etc.

The program can definitely be used for all student types. I believe that it is the recommended ages that warrant the gifted label. However, students at the top end of (or even above) the recommended age, would not need to be gifted to successfully use the product. That is actually what makes it perfect for us because I can use with both kids - in which the youngest is gifted.

Just in case anyone finds this post looking for a similar resource -- as originally requested -- RFWP Suppose the Wolf were An Octopus is an exact such resource with questions for about 50 books per level.

I lean more heavily on nonfiction books. I have boys, so they didn't mind at all. Also Michael Clay Thompson wrote 3 children's books that are advanced and entertaining, but I am not sure how much they would be enjoyed if you haven't done his curriculum and it is just 3 books.

For my tactical kid, Learning Wraps worked quite nicely. For my audio-visual kid, nothing worked for a long time. Finally, dad stood at a whiteboard and recorded himself writing and saying all of his multiplication facts. DS watched them everyday for two weeks. It worked. We had gotten to a point where not knowing his multiplication facts was slowing him down too much: desperate times, desperate measures.

My kids used the 1.7 mm mechanical pencils (mentioned above) with great success. Before we found those, sharpening pencils was a classroom job assigned to one of the kids. Our problem is erasers. ARGH!

Just another idea. I create my kiddos a playlist in youtube for their math instruction. It takes time, I go lesson by lesson and save a video for every lesson into the playlist. I then create a spreadsheet that names the video, book lesson, practice problems, and homework problems that should be done. They scratch off as they go. This route is good if you find a program that you like/prefer, but doesn't come with a DVD option. And yes, you can find a youtube video for every grade and math topic. The trouble will be picking which one. You'll end up with a few favorites; like Math Antics for us.

We use: MCT to teach English grammar and writing Spanish for Children for Spanish grammar and writing Rosetta Homeschool Spanish for speaking RAZ Plus / Public Library for Spanish reading We are all English speakers. DH took Spanish in high school. I did not. We just started year two and it is working nicely. The boys speak to each other in Spanish while playing -- without being asked to do so -- and they are picking up on conversations that Spanish speakers are having in the store.

New-This-Year Hits MCT Voyage for DS8 & DS10 Glencoe Literature Course 1 --- EXCELLENT for DS10 McGraw Hill My Math 5 --- EXCELLENT after failures/intense dislike of Singapore and Saxon for DS10, Singapore works for DS8 Megawords - DS8 & DS10 - bought mostly for ds8 who wasn't breaking words into syllables to sound out; only 6 weeks in and he is already transferring the skill. Old-Favorites Apologia Exploring Creation Series Mystery of History Apologia What We Believe Series

I am using Megawords 1 with ds8 and he is doing fine. We do one lesson per day and recite the word list twice a week. I have the teacher's edition, thus we also complete the diction work and the assessments. I think it is more of a reading program than spelling; though both reading and spelling assessments are given. It is carrying over to his normal reading; he is starting to recognize syllables and sound the words out by syllable.

ds10 seldom ventures beyond black and white.

Classical Academic Press. I love their products.

Mine are enjoying the Writing & Rhetoric classes given by Classical Academic Press. This is the 2nd year for DS2. They are in Level 1 and Level 2. The classes are great, feedback is great --- including good and constructively bad feedback. The interaction with kids from all over is awesome. Last year there was a kid living in Egypt in the class. The kids have time to speak with each other about their personal lives and even had a bring your pet to class day. They have a board where they can 'hang out'. The teachers are very responsive and give great remarks on all assignments. They also do oral quizzes and have one-on-one conversations with the kids during breakout sessions. The other kids are place in different 'rooms' where they work an assignment together or read their assignments to each other. It is a nice setup.

She sounds almost exactly like my son. It was an executive functioning type issue. He got 100% on most redos, the issue was never understanding the problem. I did exactly what you are doing now, but if he scored lower than a 70% he had to do an intervention assignment to give him more practice on the topic. I also made sure to emphasize that the last step to working a math problem is to check your work. I do this even when I demonstrate a problem, I check my own work. If he proclaims, 'I'm finished!'. I ask, 'Have you checked your work?' ... No ... Then you are not finished. He does work his math problems more carefully now and those types of silly mistakes are basically gone. But, to be honest, I am not sure what worked. I do believe that the issue gets better with age, but I also believe that the consequences were necessary to encourage that development. Now, if I can just get him to read the directions before he starts his work....I think the last two 0% on assignments will get him to slow down and read the directions. 1st page was estimating multi-digit products, next 2 pages said to estimate and then calculate to verify his estimate. Guess what he did...yep, continued to estimate (only) on the next 2 pages. So 0%....even though all estimates were correct. SMH! BTW, he is now in 5th, the careless mistakes were bad in 3rd, improved in 4th, and so far pretty much gone in 5th...except the reading directions thing.

Royal Fireworks Press has a science curriculum that explores the Digestive System. It is for 4-8 if I remember correctly.

Looks like you have boys like I do. One loves art and the other hates it. For the one that hates it, I have tried different things. He has liked wood burning. So, for this year, his art is wood burning. Other things that he has liked has been making sculptures out of scrap material (hated clay sculpting), origami (held him for a short while), and nature photography. He loves doing claymations. He has also liked making drawings using the computer program Scratch. Something else I plan to try is digital art and manipulating photos. Though he hates art, he actually likes to draw scenes from books -- go figure.

Definitely, go to local star parties hosted by the astronomy clubs. They were a hit when we studied astronomy and there is nothing like seeing, what you are learning, in real life.

My ds has taken to memorizing parts of speeches and songs.

I'd be interested in 3 - 6 months.

When ds was 7, he was able to understand why he couldn't spend savings because he had a budget. So, it may help to teach her how to set up a budget. Allott money to her budget categories every time she gets new money, and attach the savings to a long term goal; like a college education, college dorm decorations, senior year expenses, first car, etc... One rule I have is that they have to save 50% of all money they earn, 100% of all money they are given --not gifts, just grandma gave me $10 just bc, and they have to tithe 10% of all money earned or given. This has given them an understanding that you have to earn ~$20 to have ~$10 to spend; which mirrors real life ... after we pay taxes, health care, life insurance, and 401k.