Thanks, lillians and ropefree, for sharing your experiences. This thread has been really valuable to me (as I sit here and deep breathe while watching my son draw pictures on his math homework, sharpen his pencil 15 times, and have a long dialogue with an eraser...sigh...).
Rope, the physical activity component is such a good idea. I'd forgotten how difficult child's teacher made the class run laps before the start of every school day last year. Hmmm....wonder if that had anything to do with last year being his best year since Kindergarten 
