Heidi Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 I have a friend who pulled her daughter out of PS for the first time to homeschool her for 8th grade. She sent this message to me today: "I am home schooling DD so she can get caught up on things and get her ready for high school next year. I am currently using Switched on Schoolhouse for Science, Language Arts and History. I am using Teaching Textbooks for pre- algebra. I like that all the lesson planning and quizzes are done for me and I like the curriculum so far. (Only at for a couple weeks now) But DD is not a good reader and has a hard time comprehending what she is reading and so has to go very slowly and re read everything. I have to read the text to her also to help her understand them. She does well with lectures. I don't mind doing that at all. I have been starting to research curriculum and am just seriously overwhelmed at everything that is out there. It's like typing in "what is the meaning of life?" in a a google search and having to sort through everything. ... My question is if you know of a curriculum that is better suited for DD's style of learning. Verbal and visual. reading everything from the computer and then answering questions is boring for an all inclusive curriculum. Ok for sometimes. Anyway, can you help me? Any info or advice would help. Feel free to send me links sites and anything else you can tell me." HELP! I don't know anything about dyslexia and how to school with it. Any advice? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Is she planning on working toward remediating the dyslexia at all? Is she planning on putting her back in public high school next year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 Ok, I asked her... She has never actually been tested to see if she is dyslexic but is willing to try to remediate it as much as possible this year. Any resources for that? As if now she is planning on PS for high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Your friend should get her DD evaluated. Did she at least have an IEP in public school? Has the school evaluated her DD? For a dyslexia screening, she can google the terms Scottish Rite Learning Center for her area, call them, and discover whether they test plus ascertain any associated costs. She could also call the local dyslexia school, if one is nearby, and ask about dyslexia screening through them. Your friend needs to educate herself. Maybe look at The Dyslexic Advantage by the Eides and Overcoming Dyslexia by Shaywitz. I think your friend should check out the Barton website and have her child take the placement tests. She should seriously consider hiring an OG reading specialist or using something like Barton. I recommend Winston Grammar Basic, EG Daily Grams 2, and an IEW lev A thematic unit for writing. Whatever writing program she selects, instruction needs to be slow, direct, and explicit. The student will need a roots study too. Maybe have the DD use freerice.com daily for vocabulary. She should try audio books or use a Kindle with the text to speech function turned on. For science, maybe look at books by AGS publishing and use hands-on kits by Gems. Explore webs/mindmapping and textmapping. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrszjk Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 I suggest getting The Logic Of English Essentials. It sounds like she needs to improve her reading skills. I am dyslexic and found that everything just takes longer to do but the biggest help was to learn how to read well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heidi Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 Thanks so much for the recommendations! I will pass them along to her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heathermomster Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Thanks so much for the recommendations! I will pass them along to her. Invite your friend to join our group.. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zoobie Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 If she is planning to put her DD back in public high school, she definitely needs an evaluation. I'd do as much on her own as possible, but the school will have to do its own too. She will want an IEP in place before high school starts. Don't wait for next year to get the ball rolling. By the time they do the testing, have the meetings... Depending on her school district and the daughter's test results, she may qualify for some helpful resources. My daughter in my district would get reading resource room time. Whooptee doo. But in my friend's district, dyslexic kids get Wilson certified tutoring 2-3x per week! Assuming she is actually dyslexic, I would focus most on remediation this year. A year is not a lot of time, especially to an 8th grader. We pulled my daughter after 2nd grade and focused on it most of last year. We are using a private OG tutor, so I can't recommend any home methods. Spalding (Writing Road to Reading) has been helpful to me to learn phonics. I started reading at 3, and having to break down words is foreign to me. I've also read and reread many of the dyslexia books listed above. It's been a year and a half and I still feel overwhelmed with information. Good luck to your friend and her daughter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 I agree wholeheartedly that she really, really, really needs to get an official evaluation and hopefully one that is very comprehensive. Not all evals are created equal. The child could have several issues going on that have not been caught. Everything from vision issues (even if normal vision screening comes back perfectly fine), to auditory processing issues (even if normal hearing screening tests come back fine) to working memory deficits, etc. The list goes on and on. Without an eval it will be hard for her to know where to start or what might be effective. As for remediation for a year before going back to school, I agree that one year is an extremely limited amount of time to try and remediate learning gaps. As mentioned previously,the mom (and daughter, too) must also educate herself on learning differences. There are a LOT of public schools with terrible remediation programs or no program at all. She will have to be the one to learn what her child's issues are and then help advocate for her. The Mislabled Child and the Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide are a great starting point, but there are lots of books out there. Some are great, some are a bunch of garbage. A tremendous amount of research in brain development has occurred over the past several years and those findings are only now really starting to trickle into the public school system and out to the general population. See if there are any support groups in the area. Also, you might check out Kathy Kuhl's Homeschooling Your Struggling Learner... Great hugs of support to her and her daughter. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lecka Posted September 29, 2013 Share Posted September 29, 2013 I think she needs an eval, too. If she has dyslexia it is one set of recommendations. If it is reading fluency it is a different set of recommendations. If it is something else it is other recommendations. Because her slow reading needs to be addressed some way. But -- even if her reading is still slow, she should also be able to have accommodations to be successful at public high school. An eval will help with that. It sounds like she is doing well in how she is working with her daughter at home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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