Honestly, I homeschool. Never once have my kids had a bellyache. nm

• Back to school bellyache - what to do? - WI MT
  • Thanks to all who replied - nm - WI MT
  • Honestly, I homeschool. Never once have my kids had a bellyache. nm - Kim
    • Their bellyache will come later, when they actually have to deal - with the real world and real people.
      • Sounds like you need to educate yourself on homeschooling. nm - Kim
    • Honestly, I send my kids to public school. They've never had a belly ache either. - sm
  • Fourth grade - Me
  • Poor baby . . - Mimi
    • Stomach ache - jgr
      • Can you invite them over to play again? (nm) - Can you volunteer in the class for a day?

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must you be so full of yourself?

Pros:  Wonderful bonding.    Flexible schedules.  We "do" school on our time frame, no getting up at 5:30 a.m. to get the kids ready for school.  We can take vacations whenever we want.  My children have thrived.  My oldest was in public school for 3-1/2 years, nearly destroyed not only his love of learning but his spirit.  My children have had time to explore their own interests in detail.  For us homeschooling is not what we do, it is a way of life.  We do everything together - grocery shopping, doctor visits, yard work, cook, etc. 

Depending on the laws in your state you can teach whatever you want, however you want.  What works for me might not work for you and that is okay.  It does take some trial and error though to find what works. 

Unless you live in a very rural area there are lots of support groups with field trips, park days, activity days, etc.   Most people think socialization is an issue, can't figure that one out though.  Our kids participate in community sports, scouting, play with kids in the neighborhood, plus in my area we have a weekly activity day during the school year, we have park days throughout the year, we have at least monthly field trips, the Y caters to homeschoolers with all kinds of classes, we visit nursing homes and do a lot of socializing with young and old. 

You don't have to worry about bullies, you don't have to worry about someone bringing a gun to school, you don't have to worry about having a school lock down while they bring in the drug sniffing dogs.

No one loves your child more than you and while there are some good schools and some good teachers, you can still do better.  It is not written in stone either that if you homeschool you can't later put them in public/private school. 

CONS:  It is hard work, especially if you work FT on top of it.   If you've ever had a child in school you may be like a lot of us who have a public school mentality and think you have to mimic the school situation, where you do every subject every day for 7 hours a day and it just isn't so.   If you're child helps you cook that is life skills, not only learning to cook but learning math by measuring.   You'll probably get lots of flack, especially about the "S" word as we call it (socialization), you're raising a momma's boy or a sissie, someone who will never be able to do for themselves, you're kid needs to learn the hard knocks of life. 

It is tougher beginning at such a late grade, but it can be done.  I started my son in 9th grade 9 years ago, so obviously I know a little bit about it.  I also had a great friend who homeschooled her high school kids, so she could get me started with a lot of support and encouragement.  Be sure you're ready to be with this child 24/7, because that's pretty much how it will feel.  We did have problems with the school but tried every avenue to solve them before saying, "We don't need to put up with this, we do have a choice," when the school counselor said that we didn't have a choice.  They thought they ruled my son's world;  they were WRONG.  I AM HIS PARENT, I believe I do have his best interests in mind when making choices for him.  We are a Christian family, so it was easy to start by investigating Abeka Books for materials;  bear in mind you'll have to buy all your own materials, nobody helps with that.  My son now has his degree and is IT manager at a bank, looking to make VP. 

You'll need to check out the homeschooling laws for your state, they vary.  Just do an internet search for homeschooling laws for your state.  Check around for homeschool groups, there are several out there.  But, the biggest thing is just to make sure that you and your child are committed to working together to do this.  It does take a lot of commitment and communication to do this and do it right.  BEST of luck to you whatever your choice.

So, PFFFT to the person who says kids need to be in school.  I know better and obvious hundreds or thousands of others do too.

tired of the "S" word.  I think most people feel like we keep them locked in the house all day, doing school for 8 hours a day.  They are community sports teams, the kids in the neighborhood, homeschool activities, park days, church, etc.   There are some families who isolate themselves, but the majority do not.   My kids are extremely social and on weekends we have a line at the door wanting them to come out and play.   I told DH we needed to put up a sign on the door that they aren't here so kids will stop knocking.    Not only are my kids very social, but they are as comfortable with someone 65 as they are with their own peers.  My oldest DS has kids 5 to 6 years younger wanting him to come play because he plays so well with them and they look up to him. 

Kids don't have much time to socialize in the public school setting and the socialization isn't always positive. 

for the most part are just  normal people, some do it for religious reasons, some do it because they have a special needs child whose needs aren't met in the public school system, some do it due to medical issues.    There are extremists in every segment of society, homeschoolers are no exception.   This is a very sad situation and I knew that the homeschooling issue would be picked up on and picked to pieces.   It is funny hearing all the news people trying to figure out how these 2 could have possibly met since they were homeschooled.   Unfortunately there is a lot of ignorance out there and people are quick to condemn that that they know nothing about. 

Since this has been on every news channel the past 48 hours I'm really surprised it has taken someone this long to post the comment you did. 

call her by her first name.  The little neighbor girl next door from the time she could speak called her Aggie (my mom's first name), and they were great buddies until the day my mom pased away. 

I don't think there really is much in a name, but more in the respect you are given and the way you are treated.   Personally, I kind of cringe inside when someone calls me Ms. Anything or God forbid, "maam" (makes me feel like Methuselah!) ... I'm always just plain Merrie.  :-)

But, as someone pointed out, to each his own.  If you want to be addressed a certain way, you have that right, and people should respect that.  I'm glad you corrected the child ... hope it "sticks."    

There is certainly no need to take that tone.  Developmentally delayed is the preferred term among physicians.  The American Association on Mental Retardation changed its name as a consequence.  The DSM-IV is slow to change because the people in charge don't want to go through all the time and expense to publish a fifth version.  Again, the doctor said "he is retarded."  Not a medical term, not appropriate.  As far as autism, case in point on DSM-IV.  Depending on where you look up the DSM-IV some publishing sites still have it on the wrong axis.

As far as getting over it, if people had that attitude we'd still be calling black people the N-word and neither they nor women would be allowed to vote.  The term retarded is as offensive as the N-word or any other racial slur.  So beg your pardon but as long as people, especially doctors who are supposed to be well-educated, continue to be ignorant enough to use that word to describe someone with a disability, I will continue to have something to say about it. 

And oh btw, if the doctor wasn't so ignorant, he would know that saying oh well I want to do a bone marrow biopsy but it would be too hard to explain to this patient, is just wrong.  He should know about conservatorships and health care proxies.  Because if this patient is truly disabled, then he was declared incompetent by the courts on his 18th birthday and he is not the one who makes the medical decisions.

getting so bad about the what if's with the new packages coming out in October and all the speculation, I had this comic flash of all the suits sitting in NJ with headphones on, plugged in,to the big PC's in corporate land just listening to all the "chatter" on the boards...sorta like the CIA supposedly was...can you imagine all the chatter traffic going on until October?

We just need to take a deep breath, try to relax a bit, really nothing we can do until October, then who knows what part of the month we'll all get our packages? 

Believe me, it has worried me to no end, single mom, can't afford much more change, but also can't do a darn thing about it till then.

he could do it on his own with the materials. I have never, ever had to help him with his homework and he still gets honors. Oh. . . to be THAT lucky!  I struggled through high school and college to make honors.  He's what I refer to as an "open and shut student."

He opens the book, reads the assignment, shuts the book and brings home an "A" or "B" on his test.

I'm no slouch in the brain department, but I've never had to help him so I was thinking with some materials, guidance, and putting him on a schedule, it might work. If that ends up being what he would like to do for now until he regroups.

back when I was in high school in the late 70s!  The first high school I went to was just like that.... there was a large snob/bully society  (the snobs were basically verbal bullies because they'd put down people that weren't in the  "clique", and I had some idiot teachers.  My algebra 2 teacher was so stupid that she would write a problem out on the board, stop, look at it and say  "oh that's not right" and then erase it, doing this 2-3 times per problem,... then wondered why no one had a clue what to do on tests.  

I was grateful when we moved to another town and the high school in the next town was much smaller.  The teachers cared about the students and teaching, and the students generally cared about each other.  There weren't snobs there because the area was economically depressed and no one had a lot of anything.  I was able to participate in a program with a local college where during my senior year I went to high school 1/2 day and college 1/2 day, so the 10 of us that did this (out of a graduating class of  99) graduated from high school with 30 hours of college credits completed.  We were also able to do this because the local college gave us discounts to participate in this program. 

When I've asked on classmates.com about some of the snob/ bullies from the 1st high school not a single one of them has had a great life.  One of the ones that was in the "it" girl group has been divorced 4 times now and is a heavy partier, and I've been told that she looks like crap from the years of partying.    One of the guys who was the most "it" for the males died from AIDS which he ended up getting after he moved to New York to get into acting, turned to a life of male prostitution and picked it up there.    The successful people are those who hung around with people like I did.  Out of the group I hung around with 1 is a pediatrician, another a dentist, another is an architect, another is a software engineer and every one of us has stayed in contact throughout the years and get together occasionally. 

as the logic defeats me. Seems to me the reverse is true.

Personally, I couldn't live with myself if I drove to the store, knowing that someone's son or daughter had to die for the gas I was using, but if you can . . . enjoy yourself, I guess.

My flaming face reference was to the one inside the original post  like this

Not to the flame that flickers outside on the main page next to the original post that shows it has had a large number of viewings.

I'm sorry to have ruffled feathers by making a casual observation simply about emoticons.  My apologies to anyone haven taken offense regarding this.