Best states for Homeschooling?

I've home schooled in three states, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and New Hampshire. I was left alone in Wisconsin and New Hampshire. I liked Wisconsin best because we only had to submit the ages of the children we were home schooling, and there were no assessments required. New Hampshire requires a letter of intent with the names and grades of the children and an end-of-year assessment procedure of our choosing. South Carolina was the worst, as we joined SCAIHS and had to submit wordy evaluations every quarter, if I remember correctly. New Hampshire tried to get health information on my kids, and I sicced the HSLDA on them, which put an end to that. I did hear that some people in Wisconsin, who lived in a different school district than we did, got hassled. I think it sometimes depends on who's in charge in your local school district, their attitude toward home schooling, and the amount of time on their hands.

Don't worry about it. My mother used to tell me (as she wrestled the ba away from Son # 1) "When he walks across the stage to get his high school diploma, no one is going to ask at what age he was weaned and potty trained!"

She was right, they didn't!

Luckily, both sons' sons (1 1/2 and 8mos.) much prefer the sippy cups, which is a great relief to me. In our families, Grandma (or Mi-mi) is seen as the last resort for bottle, bed and bathroom training. I think it's because I've done it twice and nobody died or required extensive therapy!

OK, I am a terrible one to ask, being that my kids could sing the alphabet before they gave theirs up, but...

my SIL, who successfully weaned her daughter off of them at about 1 1/2 yrs., is now trying to wean her 1 y.o., and she has some nifty products that are helping. She has some system of sippies that start out with a bottle nipple (but shaped like a cup), then it goes on to moving the nipple part to the edge of the cup, then a really soft sippy spout, then a regular spout. She also has taught him how to drink from a straw, and he thinks that's really cool! So far, he's at the soft sippy spout stage at meals, but he likes a regular bottle of warm milk before bedtime or a nap.

If you think this system might work for you, I will find out for you what brand it is and where she got it (but she's the biggest Target fan I know, so I would have a hunch that's where she got it). Good luck!

If you haven't already tried it, why don't you try giving him only *water* in the bottle. Tell him that if he wants milk (or any other beverages you allow him to drink), he must drink them from a cup.

The idea is to separate the satisfaction of sucking from the taste of the milk.

Since he's two, you might see some real tantrums when you first implement this. Be firm. Be completely consistent. Buy earplugs if necessary. If you are totally consistent, the worst of it should be over in a few days. (And if he's two years old, a couple of days with little or no milk won't do any harm; if it worries you, offer him extra yogurt or cheese to make sure he gets his calcium.)

Of course, whenever he *does* drink from a sippy cup, praise him enthusiastically, especially when he does so without complaining or asking for a bottle.

Once he has come to accept that he only gets water in the bottle, he'll probably lose interest in the bottle altogether. If not, you can phase the bottle out gradually by restricting the bottle to just before naps and bedtime. Then you can eliminate it at naptime, and finally at bedtime. At bedtime, substitute some other soothing activity, like rocking, cuddling, a special tucking-in ritual, and/or a story. (I used this method to wean my oldest son from the pacifier at age three.)

You can also tell your son (if you think he's able to understand) that once he's a "big boy" who doesn't use a bottle anymore, he will get a special reward to celebrate. It doesn't have to be a toy, and it doesn't even have to cost any money - it can be a special outing with Mom or Dad, a play date with friends at his favorite park - anything that he really likes that will help motivate him to cooperate. (Yes, promising a reward helped smooth my 3 year-old's transition away from the pacifier, too.)

Also try to secretly recruit friends and relatives he sees often to praise and encourage him. Sometimes praise is a lot more effective coming from a third party.

If he's really having a tough time giving up the bottle, you might see if his doctor is willing to talk to him about the importance of giving up the bottle. Little kids understand that doctors are authority figures (I guess from seeing their parents ask doctors for advice and take instructions from them), and will often take their instructions more to heart. The downside is that unless you can combine this with a regular checkup, the doctor will probably charge you for an office visit. $$$!

Good luck!

We homeschool our three here in Colorado.After we got all of them out of the inept and thoroughly corrupt local school district, we haven't had any problems or interference. Colorado only requires a "letter of intent" to remove them from public school and an evaluation by a private, qualified person every two years.

BTW, I'm looking for Switched-On Schoolhouse subject disks for 6th and 8th grades. Buying them new costs and arm and a leg. If anybody here has the disks or knows someone who does please FReep mail me with a price. I'd really appreciate it.

NJ is pretty good. Low regulations, but then there was that stink last year about the four starving children whose parents "homeschooled" them. They didn't of course, but that's the excuse they used to not send them to school. The Department of Youth and Family Services (DYFS or DUFUS as we like to call it)had their minions in the home like 15 times in two years and couldn't spot anything wrong.

Well, now there are a couple of bills in the legislature that are pretty restrictive, but they don't seem to be going anywhere.

I have to laugh because a new State Assistant District Attorney who is now coordinating with DYFS to try to clean up the mess had been homeschooled himself.

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