flyleft, My son does have ADD. He was diagnosed at the children's hospital when he was 15 and yes, it is the inattentive type. He is a very different boy with treatment and the support of a therapist. His diagnosis was rather late and many years were wasted blaming his problems on other things. I was thinking of this in context of the strong willedness of the OP's son because I would also have described my son in those terms. After we dug deeper and got his diagnosis and then got some help he started to accept that his attitude was not helping him any. He is doing much better now, is more pleasant and also seems happier. He was also a very anxious and often depressed child, very anxious young teen, before we got help for him. I even took him to a center for anxiety for almost 2 years of therapy! This was at a major university where they specialized in this sort of thing. I asked repeatedly of the therapist at the anxiety center: Is there a chance he has ADD? She insisted repeatedly: No. Well, she was wrong and when I think of the years wasted on an incorrect diagnosis I cringe. But anxiety IS part of ADD too. Lots of people, professionals included, associate ADD with destructive wild behavior and fail to realize it has other forms. So when I hear strong willed and anxious I can't help but wonder if there's more to this picture. ADD might be an issue.

Thanks for making it so clear. Linda

Linda, I like the look of your reverse layout. Looks good!!! Sally, I don't see anything out of place in your blocks. Looks to me like you did a good job of it! I have one more reverse block to do then I'll take a pic of mine. I found it was easier to sew clock-wise on the reverse pattern, where I sewed counter clock-wise when the heart was on top of the background fabric. I still need to work on the bottom of the heart in the reverse technique. Thank you Jen......BD girl???? Hmmmmmmm @:) SharonG/FL

One value of homework that no one has noticed, though they've spoken about it: "Hopefully, that child won't come home with homework that s/he needs a little coaching for. " and "Others will take it home, but since they forgot the lesson in class, they are unable to complete the assignment, which just leads to frustration." A crucial part of homework is that it provides FEEDBACK FOR THE TEACHER. If the kid takes the homework home and can't complete it, she knows he forgot the lesson they learned in class, and she needs to find another way to get it into his head. She also knows that neither she or the kid will get much help from the kid's parents, and she can try to teach w/ that in mind. She also knows who misunderstood what about how things were explained--and who got it the first time, and therefore doesn't need further coaching (thereby freeing her up to help the kid who does). I have a bright kid who does her homework almost totally by herself (at least I think she does, though a few times I've heard her say things about her after-school teacher that got me worried--I think when she gets lazy Ms. Napier tells her the answers; but I know that she can do it completely alone, because she does at home.) I don't think the debate aobut why homework is important is exactly the same conversation about whether parents should be involved, or pay attention to their child's learning strengths or weaknesses.