We're in the states right now, but will probably return to Thailand in 9 months to a year.

I am doing all the homeschooling, but am looking to see what resources there are in the community around me to get them involved. We've been back only a few weeks, and we started by joining the city athletic facility so they can learn some American sports and get more active--it's always hot in Bangkok, and they need to exercise more!

My daughter is studying piano, so I'm looking for a teacher for her here.

As far as academics go, I have them on a fairly strict curriculum path--Sophia (the 9th grader) is in her third year of Latin. She's doing geometry, biology--with labs and lab reports (Apologia)--and a literature program that is pretty demanding with writing literary analysis essays every week. Her history program is pretty standard. And then we do Wordly Wise, Building Thinking Skills (verbal and figural), Word Meanings, and stuff like that.

Matt, the 7th grader, is in his first year of Latin--an intro program. He's doing Algebra 1, a general science program with labs and lab reports (Apologia), Grammar and Lit, World History, and then all the extras like Wordly Wise, etc per above.

My biggest problem with him has been motivating him. He decided two years ago that all of life is heading towards death, that existence on earth is pretty meaningless, and so why bother? It's difficult to get him to read--books that were on his reading capability level bored him in terms of the topics and treatment of the topic. This year his reading level is up to adult level, and so he's beginning to read adult books which interest him more, but it's still very hard to find something that interests him.

In addition to being gifted, he's also "HSP"--a highly sensitive person. So much so that he prefers to be alone or with only one friend. Most of the kids his age bore him, so I'm having a hard time getting him to socialize with other kids. In Thailand, he and his sister have been very alone, so he's used to being withdrawn.

I'm also at a loss in terms of encouraging him career-wise. He's intelligent enough to do anything, but has so little interest in anything any more.

I even wonder if our return to Thailand (we're missionaries there) will be less than beneficial for him in particular. Sophia knows she wants to be a teacher and that she wants to go to Wheaton College. And she socializes with the college students at the Bible school where I teach. But Matt is really a loner there, and I don't feel that he has the opportunity to see many occupations that might stimulate interest. I really want to make the most of this year to figure out what is best for him.

Well, don't know if this made sense or not.

Thanks for listening!
Kathi