It about that time to see if I won the trivia contest and you are not here. I know that, but am feeling a bit scared for you right now. I like what Kat_wa said "I hope that rock moves easily." I just feel like crying for you right now. Hope something positive comes your way today. Whatever it is you need surely there is a beginning to solve your problem right around the corner. Use your friends to help you. I am sure they want to. I give you my strength as I worry about you. It is a beautiful sight to see the outpouring of love people have shown here. Hope that helps you as you work on your problems.

I would have a sorry commute if it were not for my ZEN, given to me by my son. My commute is anywhere from 45 mintues to an hour each way. The ZEN has a 30GB capacity and let me tell you, that's a lot of books. And we make a monthly trip that is about 7 hours round trip and DH and I listen to books on the trip. He isn't much of a reader, but he is totally hooked on audiobooks. In fact, our television watching has decreased dramatically since he discovered audiobooks. I have more than 50 books on it right now and still have lots of music, too. If you're going to spend the money, I say go for one that has the largest screen that your money can buy. I tried a teensy one, but my old eyes could barely read it. And the color on this one (and many others) is much easier to read than some of the more inexpensive ones. This is one case of "you get what you pay for", IMHO.

Before you throw out all your food,make a list of it,and they'll give you an addy to send the list to and they will reimburse you. My sears one broke like that a couple years ago and i had the warranty like you,and that's what they told me.If you don't know the price of something,just guess at it. If memory serves me correctly i got the full 250.00 back and it only took about 2 weeks for the refund to come. Kathi

I really dont feel like his homework load is that much. The longest part of his homework is the read for 30 minutes, and I usually try to let him have a break between the reading and doing the book response. I have been teaching him to write down important things while he is reading so that he remembers them when he is writing his book response. Which, like I said is answering a question like Did you identify with the main character or What did you like about the book or dislike?.... There is sometimes another worksheet or something and sometimes more over the weekend but then you have the whole weekend to work on it. And, while I dont necessarily think homework always helps... in his case I think homework is necessary because he doesnt pay attention in class or do classwork half the time so he really needs the opportunity to think for himself and make sure he knows the information given him. And yes, he is aware that his brother will be in the same grade as him if he fails and it upsets him when we talk about it and he doesnt want that to happen. And like I said, he gets really upset and down on himself when he gets bad grades but right up until he actually gets the bad grade ... it is like is doesnt phase him at all. It doesnt encourage him to work harder or even do all the work for that matter... And, coincidentally enough last night I came home to find out that he didnt do a summary he was supposed to do the night before and apparently the teacher let bm know and that he had spring break to get it done or it would be a zero. Last night we went from him arguing with dad that he didnt have to do it for two weeks... to he did it but he left it at his moms house... to just sitting there doing nothing until I said enough ... put it up go to bed you can start again tomorrow. So, he is at work with me today sitting at the other desk in my office with no distractions trying to get it done. He spent hours and hours reading a six page short story last night. I finally sat down and told him if he didnt make the choice to straighten up and start doing what he was supposed to be doing I would not be signing him up for football and that he was grounded for the rest of the day. I don't know maybe the threat of losing football will work since that is something he really really wants to do. I do like the line of "your teacher can't tell your smart by looking at you...." He has been in summer programs through the school in the past and he was in tutoring throughout this year. But, truthfully I did not want to put him into tutoring... they didnt really do that much that was actually helpful in tutoring and I think there is a line between making sure he succeeds and just overloading him and making him burnout. It is not that he doesnt know or understand the stuff (which is what I feel like tutoring is more for) he just doesnt do it. However bm pitched a fit about getting him into tutoring... and then didnt do anything about it so I called up the county and got the paper work and signed him up just to keep the peace. And the summer program was about the same. I did talk to DH last night and regardless I am going to get the homeschooling supplies for the fourth grade (they have some really great computer programs and he loves techy stuff and the computer) and this summer he is going to work with that. It will be like part of his chores get up get dressed clean your room do what ever other chore is yours for that day do an assignment on computer ... go play and do your thing. That way we know he at least has a back up to make sure that he is getting what he needs to get out of fourth grade. Other than that I am not sure what to do. I am not even sure that I should have thrown the football threat out there but last year he really made an effort knowing his grades had to be up to get into football... So, I am hoping something will click for him.