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Curriculum help


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I posted this on another board, and they suggested I post it here as well. This is the situation...

 

I am attempting to assist my aunt who wants to hs her grandson that she is raising. She actually pulled him out of school last year, and he basically sat around doing nothing but video games all year. He was having a lot of problems in public school, socially and academically. Thought he had ADHD at first but after formal testing found he had dysgraphia (he has a hard time organizing his thoughts, sequencing things, and getting them on paper).

 

I gave him some assessments to try to figure out where he needs to start this year. He will be 13 this fall and in public school would be in the 7th grade this fall. His reading level is at grade level, but he is behind in all other subjects. His grammar skills tested at 3rd/4th grade, his spelling was 3rd grade, and his math skills were about 2nd/3rd grade. The next problem is that my aunt owns her own business and has little time to spend one-on-one teaching him. She has requested curricula that would require little assistance from her that he can mostly do on his own.

 

I cannot supervise his education as they do not live close enough for him to school with my children (and quite frankly I would worry about him being a disruptive influence on my children's schooling). At most I will be able to check-up on him on a weekly basis and see what help I can offer. I am basically asking for the impossible--inexpensive curriculum that doesn't take much in the way of teacher time for a child with special needs. I know that sounds ridiculous, but sad to say my aunt seems okay that he is just with her at home/work and out of trouble and is not too concerned that he is so behind. So, any suggestions for a math program, handwriting, grammar, spelling? I am not too concerned at this point for subjects other than these basics. He enjoys reading and so I plan on giving him a reading list that will hopefully give him enough exposure to literature, history, and science for the time being. I just really want to concentrate on getting his core skills closer to where he needs to be. I am grateful for any help I can get on this one!

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ACE would fit the bill if they are OK with the conservative Christian viewpoint. They have placement tests that would help her figure out exactly where he needs to start and go from there. They also have a CD that covers math drills, spelling, reading, and typing that might be very helpful.

 

http://www.aceministries.com

 

Oh, I am using this for my 2 girls with special learning needs and it is going well.

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Here is what I would do in this case.....

 

Easy Grammar Plus...it covers all the basics, it is Jr High level and above but it is very comprehensive and does not require that you already know a bunch.

 

(I actually have a Grammar Key set. I am not happy with it for us, but you might like it for your nephew as it is all self grading).

 

Is he ready for MUS Gamma? If so, the instructing is done by someone else on that. If he gets a topic, he can move on to the next lesson. Each lesson is supposed to take a week but the glory of this is it gets to the point and teaches the basics and then you can move on and not do the rest of the worksheets for the week. It says this right in the instructions. He may very well be able to get through 2-3 levels in this program at his age in a year.

 

For vocab, I would just do Calvery spelling CD (no correcting for teacher) or Word Roots by Critical Thinking press..use the CDs so it is corrected by the computer. I use Word Roots.

 

Also, he needs to work on KeyBoarding. I have been told Mavis Beacon is the best and am planning on purchasing it soon myself.

 

I would leave his curriculum at this. I would set a rule of no TV except educational TV during the day and he will get so much out of this. I have this rule and do not teach any social studies or science and my DD just scored 99th percentile in both science and social studies in both these areas on the ITBS. I would also give him access to books to read all he wants. My DD had a reading learning disability and came so far with all her reading the year I had a baby, because I left her to read and didn't have the time to teach much. Alll that free reading caused a 20 percentile point increase in her ITBS score in reading.

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