nannyaunt Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 A friend of mine has decided to homeschool her children for 1 year for several reasons. The main reason being that both children need a good solid grounding in the basics. After talking with her for a while she's decided that she wants to do a box curriculum, one that will be easy to implement and still allow her to reach her goals. We talked about the different ones available and these are the three main ones that I'm aware of. She is a single parent and has about $600 for both sets of curricula. I know a little about Memoria Press however, I don't know of anyone who has used the complete Rod and Staff or CLE curriculum for an entire grade. One of her main concerns is having them ready to re-enter PS after the year is over. Anyone else have any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 What ages/grade levels? I would want to find out what the school is using for the grade levels they will be homeschooling since she plans to put them back in a year. Having that scope and sequence might make it easier to get them where they need to be when they go back to school. And I would be trying to find out why they are behind. Learning challenges? Poor instruction? Do they need to go way back to fill in significant gaps? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannyaunt Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) One child is dyslexic and is scheduled to go into third grade this year however the mother thought she would take her back to second grade because she is able to read at that level with some help. But while she was getting help for her reading they ignored her math and so she is definitely at a beginning second grade math level. The older child is a boy who is scheduled to go into fourth grade. This one is harder to describe. He was tested by the school district at the end of the year and the mother was told he is now on grade level for language arts except for reading fluency. This is after two years of - I don't know what to call it - being pulled out for special reading and math. Apparently, someone would sit by his warm side and cue him to answer each and every question and if he sat there long enough they would even give him the answer. One of her big goals for him is for him to learn to work independently. And by independently I mean after someone has given him instruction or taught the material and explained the directions that he can then fill out the workbook or worksheet or write the sentences or conclude the assignment without someone sitting right beside him. The school district is actually supportive of this decision and they don't see any problem in bringing the children back in at the appropriate grade levels. Edited July 25, 2016 by nannyaunt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 It sounds like she would benefit from having the kids evaluated by a neurospychologist to determine their strengths and weaknesses, if that is at all possible. School evaluations can frequently be very limited in focus and lacking in details as well as breadth. They usually approach it from how can we get this child functional instead of how can we help this child thrive. It also sounds like both children would benefit from learning reading from a program designed specifically for dyslexic students. You might suggest she read The Mislabeled Child and The Dyslexic Advantage by Brock and Fernette Eide as well as The Dyslexia Empowerment Plan by Ben Foss. (That last book would be helpful since she plans to put them back in school. It has suggestions for how to navigate school systems, among many other things.) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannyaunt Posted July 25, 2016 Author Share Posted July 25, 2016 (edited) Unfortunately she really doesn't have money for any other evaluations. She's having to borrow money to to do the homeschooling. The girl has come pretty far in a year. At the beginning of last summer she would have an absolute meltdown if you ask her to look at a book and try to read any words. She is now reading books on a first to early second grade level. She and I have been tutoring her all year with an O-G program. We talked about both Barton and Wilson and she cannot afford either one. She also tried to get into Shriners for an evaluation but they turned her down. The boy is actually more of a concern. She just feels like he can't go through life waiting for somebody else to tell them what to do and how to answer the question. She's been homeschooling them this summer and feels that she has made some progress however she doesn't feel like she can put together an adequate curriculum for one year and then reenroll them in public school. So I showed her the different boxed curriculums and she narrowed them down to these three. I will show her the book titles and recommend that she read them though. Edited July 25, 2016 by nannyaunt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 That is such a tough position to be in! Ugh. I feel for her. Big hugs being sent her way. You might post on the Learning Challenges board. Others might have suggestions for free or cheap curriculum that would actually help address the weak areas. In the meantime, I would suggest looking at CLE because it has a lot of review. She needs to give the placement tests, though. CLE may be ahead of where her kids' school is and certainly may be ahead of where her kids are actually functioning. Hopefully she has access to a library that has the books I recommended available or she can get them through ILL. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 ElizabethB's stuff might really help and it is free... http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syllieann Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 I think posting on the learning challenges board is a good idea. I have seen it mentioned that recipe for reading is an inexpensive og program that might be tried before Barton. I don't think your friend will have much luck with a boxed curriculum considering the challenges. I would personally do read alouds, documentaries, and audio books (from the library, so free) for science and history. I would skip art and music unless the kids really want it. If she must have something specific for history, chow is available on audio and has an accompanying workbook available. That would leave the bulk of the money and the time for language arts and math, which is really where the kids need to be grade level. For math, she could look at math mammoth and cle. Both are cheap and allow for independence. Mm is cc aligned, in case that is a benefit wrt returning to ps. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. Tharp Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Considering the goals she has for her children, my vote would be for Rod & Staff. Their entire program is set up to encourage independent work, after some instruction from the parent. I've been very impressed by this aspect of their program. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELAJM Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 She could use The Good & the Beautiful by Jenny Phillips for Language Arts. It is brand new, so there's not much review to find on it, but right now she is offering the pdf version for free on her website. I used the Kindergarten level last year and it was fantastic; I will continue with 1st grade this year. She's got K - 4th grade up on her website, but will continue to develop more upper levels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terabith Posted July 25, 2016 Share Posted July 25, 2016 Could she get the school to do evaluations? IQ, achievement, CTOPP, language testing? That would give a better place to start. I would see about a combination of Ronit Bird's ebooks and CLE for math. For reading, I'd really want to see if there's a way to get Barton, selling previous levels to pay for the next one. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scrapper4life Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 I'm only familiar with math in CLE. It is certainly setup up with the goal of independence. I'm not sure how the rest of the subjects trend. Memoria Press actually has a track for learning challenges. I haven't used it, but thought I'd mention it in case you and your friend don't know about it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoose Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 As a parent of a child with dyslexia, I would NOT do a boxed curriculum. I would forget all other subjects for right now and focus on remediation. I would purchase Barton for both students, and Math Mammoth. Get an abacus from right start math and learn how to use it and how to teach with it, although I don't know how necessarily. For all other subjects I would make a list of living books to read to them and get them from the library or find a used book store. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoose Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Barton for the first year would be about $500 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
importswim Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 I think CLE would fit within the parameters of what she's wanting. My youngest does CLE and we love it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 To be honest, if her kids have dyslexia they really need some very specialized targeted instruction to remediate. Without out that they will be learning inefficient coping skills that may help them limp along but they may not ever really thrive and as they hit harder and harder material they may end up getting severely demoralized and fall further behind. Normally I would say Barton might be her best bet since it is scripted and set up for a layman to implement instead of a trained dyslexia tutor but since money is a huge issue I really recommend going with ElizabethB's stuff I linked up thread. She posts here on the WTM so she could answer questions as needed. The material is free and OG based. For math I would use CLE coupled with either Khan Academy or Prodigy math since instruction is easy to follow and it is easy to implement the program. I would give the placement test and put them wherever they placed then plan to spend targeted time every day using a dry erase board and manipulatives introducing the new concepts. I would also plan to read the questions to the children so the dyslexia issues are not impairing their ability to learn the math side of things. Theoretically they could do the review problems without much input from her but I wouldn't start out that way. And I would absolutely be contacting local homeschooling groups to see if any have any cheap or free fun classes/field trips/clubs, etc.. This can be a lonely journey and the kids may get resistant to doing the work if they don't have outside interests to pursue. She may also really appreciate a social network/outside resources to turn to. Our local homeschooling community is small but one homeschooling group has a library with some very helpful free resources. Perhaps there is something like that available where she lives. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamamoose Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 ElizabethB's stuff might really help and it is free... http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html This looks pretty awesome! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted July 27, 2016 Share Posted July 27, 2016 Considering the goals she has for her children, my vote would be for Rod & Staff. Their entire program is set up to encourage independent work, after some instruction from the parent. I've been very impressed by this aspect of their program. I have used the entire R&S curriculum for first grade and continued to use many parts of it throughout school. ( i don't use their science or social studies after 1st grade, but I have a feel for it.) I have never used a full MP package, but I use a lot of MP and am pretty familiar with their stuff. I don't know anything about CLE. From what you have described of the two i know about, R&S would be the one she would need. MP is way more than basics, is not independent, and is going to be pretty expensive. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannyaunt Posted August 2, 2016 Author Share Posted August 2, 2016 I am so sorry to take so long to get back to you. Life gets in the way sometimes. Like when someone gives your child a new puppy without asking first. Thank you all for answering. I have printed this out for her so that she can get your advice personally. I'm not really certain which way she's going to go but I suspect she will do the Rod and Staff. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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