I found the Remedia Outlining books to be a helpful pre-cursor to WWS 1. I would recommend going through those with your kids, rather than focusing on a 5 paragraph essay.

If I were you, I'd bring him home and have him do Computer Science at the local school. Here is a real life example: My aspie relative went away to a competitive state university for his first two years. He had always been into computers. At this school (and possibly also because of the social life), he found the computer major too difficult and switched to accounting. His family then moved across the country and he moved with them, switching schools and living at home. He returned to his first love, computers, and did great. He has now successfully been in the computer field for many years. It truly is his gift area. Another aspie relative went away to a decent state university. He had also always been into computers. He found the math required by the computer major too difficult, and ultimately chose to minor in Computer Science instead. He ended up majoring in English, but the comp sci and previous summer internships as an IT guy got him a job locally in IT. Best of luck!

Only if it was a weekend. My dh and I are at separate places during the day. If my parents decided to take me to lunch, for any reason, he wouldn't mind. And vice versa. Now if we were both home and they just wanted to take him, that would be different.

We liked Al and Gebra in the Land of Algebra. We also liked Zaccaro's Real World Algebra chapter(s?) about speaking in math language.

I don't know if this will help you, but... one of my relatives is a computer programmer (and an aspie), and to help him with his "coding," he has taken several graduate level math classes. So Alg. 2 is definitely on the way to that kind of thing. Maybe your son could take some programming classes, and then the Alg 2 will seem more necessary? Also, another aspie relative "interned" for free at an office with the IT dept during summers in high school and college. Maybe you could seek out opportunities like this for your son?

I love the Grammar Tales and Parts of Speech Tales by Scholastic. They have books on pronouns, in addition to the other parts of speech. I'm sure Brian Cleary has a pronoun book or two also. Ruth Heller probably has a pronoun book. The Sentence Family talks about pronouns and the other parts of speech. I believe Schoolhouse Rock has a pronoun video. You could probably find it on Youtube. Yes, there are fun books on grammar! :) Grammar Island might also be something to read. I'm waiting on my copy in the mail right now. :)

Taxicab Christmas ornament?

We love our Lands End coats. They are having 40 percent off outerwear today.

Are you sure you got the right sizes? A women's size large top and a women's size 12 pants would be pretty big for most 12 year olds. It seems more likely to be a girls large top and pants size 12. The store Justice is all the rage among that age. I would pick something out from there. They usually have 40 percent off sales or 40 percent off coupons you can print from the internet.

I buy the can of Libby's Easy Pumpkin Pie Mix and a graham cracker crust. Since my dd is allergic to milk and eggs, I just dump the can into the crust (adding nothing else) and bake. Then refrigerate overnight for best texture. (Although it will never be as firm as the regular kind.) My dd loves pumpkin pie.

Are all the girls good swimmers? I don't see how you can ensure their safety if there are ten of them (plus yours) and just you and your dh. Maybe by water park, you just mean regular pool with a couple of slides? Our water parks here are huge and would need more supervision, especially for that age range and unknown swimming skill.

What about white tileboard cut to size? Then it would be a dry erase surface for you, too. You used to be able to get a giant sheet of tileboard for $10 or so from Home Depot or Lowe's. It's been awhile, though, since I've priced it so it may have gone up.

Yay! ((Hugs))

Comprehension Plus workbooks are great. I started with Level A with my dd, around 4th grade. Just have him work through them. FWIW, I skipped the WWE questions. They were torture. The only thing that worked was a suggestion from Dianne Craft's website, which was to tell her to make a movie in her head while I read. Then when I'm done, rewind the movie. Then answer the questions. This seemed to work but was a pain. I liked the workbook approach better. My big picture thinker learned to answer detail-oriented "reading comprehension" questions, but never liked it. Oh, I also had her do Galore Park Junior Science workbooks. Those are a bit more fun and have reading comprehension questions. HTH!

We live in a suburban neighborhood. We hadn't had our outside lights on in years at night, and then just recently, some mischievous teenager type trouble. (One night, they kicked our car and dented it (found a footprint) and the next night, they repeatedly rang our doorbell at 2:18 in the morning.) We fixed our garage light and it is now on dusk to dawn, plus we now keep our porch light on at night. And the mischievous teenagers aren't bothering our house anymore. Amazing what a deterrent a little light can be.

Ah, your kids are young. Wait until you lose an entire year of math or grammar because you used Abeka or Rod and Staff, and they have absolutely no retention of an entire year's worth of instruction. Been there, done that. Like butter on a hot pan. Or maybe your kids will learn no matter what. I got the other kind. :)

Just some thoughts... Well, for now, you could remove all tight tops from her wardrobe. I did that for my dd for a year or two. Then maybe you could buy several styles of bookshelves (sports bras from target or walmart are great, as are jockey brand "crop tops" which you can get online or from Kohls) and strew them in her room or something. Another idea is that you could require tank tops under all shirts that are clingy. That would probably work for a little while. I guess you (mom) could go around bra-less (but not shirt-less obviously) around the house, and she could see what that was like. Then explain the parallel situation. ((Hugs))

Since you said WWYD, I'll tell you. I'd pull her out. I see no reason to tolerate bullying (you hesitate to use that word but I do not. They tend to pick on her and they ignore her to the point that even other kids can't talk to her or they'll be shunned. Yep. That's girl-style bullying) when you have an alternative. Pull her out. Have her do virtual school if that's the only way it can happen. Maybe sign her up for some evening sports or get involved in more church activities or classes at Michael's, Joann or Hobby Lobby. You are noticing a personality change, plus she cries every day and doesn't want to go to school. That's a big deal to me. Pull her out. That's what I would do. ((Hugs))

Just don't give up, even if the first couple of masks aren't good for him. At some point, he will find a comfortable mask (or nose pillows or whatever), and you can get things from cpap online stores if he has issues with things rubbing on his face or head. Just don't give up. Keep at it until he finds what works. Because once he does, things will be so much better for him. And always take his cpap with him for overnites.

Can't you just do it outloud, if that works for him? If you want something written, you could write down the answers he says. I'm not saying there's more to the issue, but I am saying that you might want to go with what works right now to make it less painful for you both. Best of luck!

Gently, unless you live in a vastly different place than I do, you're not going to be able to "sell" much of that stuff. The popcorn and water, sure. Hummus? Vegetarian chili? I would say don't overbuy, if you don't want a lot of leftover food. And FWIW, some kids are allergic to milk (like mine ha ha which is why I am so sensitive) and couldn't eat cheese pizza or yogurt drinks. But she sure would be delighted to have hot dogs or burgers or grilled brisket or sausage on a stick. So healthy is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. Double up in stomach pain, or food she can actually eat. Meat is not inherently unhealthy, at least in my world.

FWIW, my dd was writing resistant until about the 7th grade. I went with it. Copywork was brilliant for her. In 3rd grade, we did the copywork from Writing with Ease 1 (we made the dictation copywork instead). In about the fifth grade, she used this awesome dry erase card story prompt box just so she was producing a little content. http://www.lakeshorelearning.com/product/productDet.jsp?productItemID=1%2C689%2C949%2C371%2C929%2C098&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=1408474395181113&bmUID=1413559449524 In between, I had her do Winning with Writing 1 (very gentle), and we talked about and examined structure of writing a lot. She did the Remedia books on Outlining. We used the Hamburger visual to discuss structure. That kind of thing. Suddenly, second half of 7th grade, she didn't mind writing. It's no big deal. And she knows what good writing looks like because of copywork. So there's hope. They do mature a lot in the next few years. Best of luck!

What are your favorite colors to wear? Where do you live (fall in Texas, for instance, is different from fall in Virginia)? Do you have to look professional or just a nice-looking mom?

Here is a check list of what should be included in a geometry course. Maybe you will find it helpful. http://cty.jhu.edu/summer/docs/geometry.pdf

Crafts that relate to the topic. Scratch art. Coloring pages. Yarn. Anything like this will keep their hands busy and be helpful for the wiggly ones.