Starting CC in high school & learning challenges

[Guest brucesgal]

I have a 15 1/2 year old.  We don't have "formal diagnosis", but I know most of what we're dealing with. Some dyslexia.  She can read, but still skips words (tracking issues I know), flip flops letters and spelling sounds.  Her processing is VERY slow whether it's in conversation or a math problem.  Higher level thinking skills are a struggle.  She doesn't articulate thoughts and feelings real well either.

 

This year, we enrolled in Essentials with a new CC group.  In my mind, it would be great for solidifying grammar, the math drills should help her "speed up" on basic operations (she is doing Algebra as a repeat this year), and while I'm not a huge fan of IEW, certainly that will be a good thing.

 

Here's my dilemma:  I may be interested in pursuing CC next year.  At her current age, I can hold her back one year and call her 9th grade this year.  That would give us 3 years to work in CC.  We sat in on a Challenge 1 group last week.  We liked it, but it would be pretty difficult for her to go in next year working at that level.  I could go ahead & introduce Latin this year, and try it.  I could also look at starting her in Challenge A or B.  To do that, would mean doing some outside work in other subject areas, just to have her able to graduate at 19 1/2.  CC is pretty intense.  Would an additional workload on top of CC A or B, ultimately be too much?  

 

Have any of you with struggling learners attempted jumping into CC this late in the game?  Just trying to find any input as to how this program works for you.  This is my youngest daughter, and the last one to be homeschooled (the next one up will graduate this spring).  I would appreciate any advice or input.

[OneStepAtATime]

Honestly? I would get formal evaluations before she hits 18 so she could hopefully qualify for accommodations and other help. Also, if you think she needs the extra time and wouldn't mind it then I would do that, too.

[Princess Ariel]

Do you mean community college,CC? Just want to make sure I understand.

[Ottakee]

I agree with getting some formal evaluations soon. Has she ever had an evaluation for vision therapy?

[Heathermomster]

I have a 15 1/2 year old.  We don't have "formal diagnosis", but I know most of what we're dealing with. Some dyslexia.  She can read, but still skips words (tracking issues I know), flip flops letters and spelling sounds.  Her processing is VERY slow whether it's in conversation or a math problem.  Higher level thinking skills are a struggle.  She doesn't articulate thoughts and feelings real well either.

 

This year, we enrolled in Essentials with a new CC group.  In my mind, it would be great for solidifying grammar, the math drills should help her "speed up" on basic operations (she is doing Algebra as a repeat this year), and while I'm not a huge fan of IEW, certainly that will be a good thing.

 

Here's my dilemma:  I may be interested in pursuing CC next year.  At her current age, I can hold her back one year and call her 9th grade this year.  That would give us 3 years to work in CC.  We sat in on a Challenge 1 group last week.  We liked it, but it would be pretty difficult for her to go in next year working at that level.  I could go ahead & introduce Latin this year, and try it.  I could also look at starting her in Challenge A or B.  To do that, would mean doing some outside work in other subject areas, just to have her able to graduate at 19 1/2.  CC is pretty intense.  Would an additional workload on top of CC A or B, ultimately be too much?  

 

Have any of you with struggling learners attempted jumping into CC this late in the game?  Just trying to find any input as to how this program works for you.  This is my youngest daughter, and the last one to be homeschooled (the next one up will graduate this spring).  I would appreciate any advice or input.

There is a local classical school that transitions from a half home to full day school over the course of grammar stage.  Kids with SLDs notoriously struggle due to the reading and writing requirements.  Even the NT kids struggle because they are unprepared for the reading and writing.

 

Personally, I would not attempt CC with an untested, unaccommodated, and unremediated child that struggles.  I just wouldn't, but YMMV.  

[clemota]

Do you mean community college,CC? Just want to make sure I understand.

 

I believe the OP is talking about Classical Conversations, NOT community college.

 

OP, you may want to cross post this on the General Ed board, or even the high school board, as you may get more feedback from there. 

 

Sorry, no direct CC experience here,  but it seems you already think it would be fairly intense for your low-processing, dyslexic child.  Would it be possible to tease out the parts you like (the grammar, the math drills) and add those to her schedule in some way rather than fully join CC? 

[Guest brucesgal]

Thanks all for your responses.  Yes, I was referring to Classical Conversations not Community college.  We have looked at Vision Therapy & Learning RX.  Both are WAY out of budget for us.

 

I have considered and will look at evaluation.  I'm not sure where to go.  I am not interested in going through the PS, but I do see the value in perhaps getting accommodation for her.  So far the Essentials program is going fairly well, it's a lot of work, but the material is "sticking" and her math computation speed is improving.  I'm really not a big fan of IEW, and am looking forward to an online course that she will start in Jan.

 

Anita

[JanetC]

I have considered and will look at evaluation. I'm not sure where to go. I am not interested in going through the PS, but I do see the value in perhaps getting accommodation for her.

Anita

If you cannot afford any other service, the ps evaluations are at least better than nothing, (You may or may not be eligible for PS services, depending on your state.) If you have health insurance, you could ask your pediatrician for a referral to an educational psychologist or other testing service.

 

Ask around your local homeschool groups. Many kids with learning disabilities are homeschooled. If you open up people will share referrals.

[kbutton]

Thanks all for your responses.  Yes, I was referring to Classical Conversations not Community college.  We have looked at Vision Therapy & Learning RX.  Both are WAY out of budget for us.

 

I have considered and will look at evaluation.  I'm not sure where to go.  I am not interested in going through the PS, but I do see the value in perhaps getting accommodation for her.  So far the Essentials program is going fairly well, it's a lot of work, but the material is "sticking" and her math computation speed is improving.  I'm really not a big fan of IEW, and am looking forward to an online course that she will start in Jan.

 

Anita

 

Does that mean she has a diagnosed ocular motor issue such as convergence or tracking problems? 

 

I'm kind of troubleshooting here when I say this, not trying to be blunt or bossy, but if you can afford Classical Conversations, you might want to look around for VT pricing. VT for us was probably on par with CC, and my son didn't need the full, total course of VT, so it was probably less. VT was a HUGE deal here for my son. It made life so much better--it was showing up in different areas that it is with your daughter, but the benefits were fast, dramatic, and huge. I would do it again in a heartbeat. My son is not dyslexic, so where the two problems overlap, you are likely to see symptoms, but I would shell out for VT over CC without hesitation, if the VT place is good and has fair pricing. It will be time-consuming, but if helps with efficient functioning, it could be life-changing.

 

I think you can do things at home for grammar and math fluency. And good testing might give you enough to go on that you can target stuff yourself rather than putting your daughter in a busy, fast-paced environment to remediate a couple of things that may or may not get better in such a place.

 

I have a slow processor (not the one who had VT). He has some language-based issues that we are teasing out (CAPD for sure--maybe other stuff tagging along). I think he'd socialize and goof off at CC when it's hard, vacate mentally when it's hard, and avoid work at home when it's hard, and we'd be out a chunk of change, LOL, but he's still little. 

[MerryAtHope]

What are her future plans/goals? If college is in the future, it will be important to get a diagnosis sooner rather than later. She can get accommodations for testing/classes depending on her diagnosis.

 

Slow processing and trouble expressing thoughts and feelings sounds a lot like ADHD (which is underdiagnosed in girls, who often don't fit the stereotype picture). It could also relate to an expressive language disorder. 

 

Agree with thoughts on VT--if she doesn't have a diagnosis, it's worth an eval just to see if that's an issue. Then you can call around on pricing etc... if she needs therapy. VT and dyslexia look so much alike (and it's also possible to have both). Vision Therapy was a game-changer here (and we found an office willing to work with us so we only had to go once a month and did daily therapy at home. My oldest needed quite a bit of therapy, and it could have been very pricey--this saved us a bundle). I think at this stage of the game with the reading struggles you mentioned, you need to find out what's going on and what can help her. 

 

We looked at CC several times but no one level seemed to fit, and I didn't want to do one level for one thing, another level for another, even if they would have let us. That and we had found specific curricula for math and writing that were working that we didn't want to change...it just never was a good fit here and the money was better spent elsewhere. We did end up doing a co-op for speech later on and that was a better situation for us than the CC set-up. But if CC is working so far, maybe it will be good for her.

 

Hope you can get some evals done though to help her with reading and other issues. There are so many possible things going on, and it's really hard to tease out all of the issues without evals.