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2016 is almost over...what has worked this year and what are you dumping/changing for 2017?


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Title about covers it.

 

5 of the things we will continue with happily in January 2017:

 

Barton

Fix-It Grammar

IEW SWI

CTC math

DD's Art History courses through Landry

 

Things I am trying to replace:

Switched on School House Integrated Physics and Chemistry for DD

 

Switched on School House health class for DS

 

What about anyone else?

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(ETA: 13yo boy with mild intellectual disability: dyslexia/dyscalculia/dysgraphia)

 

Sticking with:

 

Handwriting Without Tears

Stevenson Language Program

Semple Math

 

Kumon skills workbooks (fine motor)

Home speech therapy

 

Thinking of adding Teach Me Language. I bought it; it's sitting on a shelf. I need to break it out and figure out how to use it.

 

Not really ditching anything at this point.

 

ETA: History and science are tag-along subjects with my 10yo son. Story of the World and Science Kit monthly subscription.

Edited by Kinsa
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My dyslexic/dysgraphic??/ADHD kiddo with slow processing is in 3rd grade and half way through level 4 of Barton and we are sticking with it. We are working on cursive, its not going well...I would love to change it up but we've tried HWT and are using MP now. I don't know...

 

We are using Teaching Textbooks but he struggles to write the problems correctly and that is a hangup. He does fine if Iwrite them for him but he takes up so much of my time I was hoping for something more independent. He hates it all. :/ 

 

 

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My dyslexic/dysgraphic??/ADHD kiddo with slow processing is in 3rd grade and half way through level 4 of Barton and we are sticking with it. We are working on cursive, its not going well...I would love to change it up but we've tried HWT and are using MP now. I don't know...

 

We are using Teaching Textbooks but he struggles to write the problems correctly and that is a hangup. He does fine if Iwrite them for him but he takes up so much of my time I was hoping for something more independent. He hates it all. :/ 

For TT, do you have the notebook that goes with it?  He wouldn't have to write out the problem then, only the answer.  Or maybe I am misunderstanding?

 

Have you tried graph paper or a set of dry erase boards with lines on them?

 

For the cursive, DS did better using a dry erase board with guided lines on it.  Might that help?  I used my phone to take pictures of finished work but I realize not everyone wants to take that extra step or has a phone that takes pics (they aren't high rez but they are legible).

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You know what has helped this year?

 

Hopping around from book to book even when nothing was wrong with the first book. Even in math. Short attention spans+ love of new things and hate of accustomed things== curriculum-hopping with a purpose!

 

This happened accidentally at first, when I had stuff go missing. But I realized DUH they love LOVE! using a different book.

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You know what has helped this year?

 

Hopping around from book to book even when nothing was wrong with the first book. Even in math. Short attention spans+ love of new things and hate of accustomed things== curriculum-hopping with a purpose!

 

This happened accidentally at first, when I had stuff go missing. But I realized DUH they love LOVE! using a different book.

:lol:

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You know what has helped this year?

 

Hopping around from book to book even when nothing was wrong with the first book. Even in math. Short attention spans+ love of new things and hate of accustomed things== curriculum-hopping with a purpose!

 

This happened accidentally at first, when I had stuff go missing. But I realized DUH they love LOVE! using a different book.

 

Lol!

 

This is a good intro to what we are changing...I started with a handful of resources realizing that no one resource was really going to get what we needed. I was right, but I am still juggling things awkwardly. I think I finally have a good enough bead on what is working that I can maybe flag the extras in a targeted way instead of feeling like I'm guessing. 

 

It helps that some of the resources are things I used with my other kiddo even though he's very different, and I know whether or not they will get to a specific skill in the next several levels or not. 

 

I started the year confident, then I kind of fell in a ditch of frustration, and now I think I have a way forward. Just a typical year, lol! 

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The Prodigy math game has been the biggest success of the year around here. I purchased subscriptions in a group buy back in March, thinking we might get a month or two out of them before the kids lost interest. It is now December and they're still playing. In fact Prodigy was the only math that got done at all during the first trimester of this pregnancy. It even got my ds11 doing multi digit multiplication and long division.

Edited by maize
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You know what has helped this year?

 

Hopping around from book to book even when nothing was wrong with the first book. Even in math. Short attention spans+ love of new things and hate of accustomed things== curriculum-hopping with a purpose!

 

This happened accidentally at first, when I had stuff go missing. But I realized DUH they love LOVE! using a different book.

Yeah, NEW! is almost the only way to grab the attention of ADHD kids at times.

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The Prodigy math game has been the biggest success of the year around here. I purchased subscriptions in a group buy back in March, thinking we might get a month or two out of them before the kids lost interest. It is now December and they're still playing. In fact Prodigy was the only math that got done at all during the first trimester of this pregnancy. It even got my ds11 doing multi digit multiplication and long division.

Yes, Prodigy has been a hit here too. My 13yo is working at the 1st grade level, as I'm using it for reinforcement only, but it's a huge hit.

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This is at public school, but we made a decision earlier this year to move my 2nd grader from the regular math curriculum to Saxon math, starting over at the beginning of 1st grade math.

 

He got a 60% or so on a math test for half-way through 1st grade math with the regular curriculum (in 2nd grade), but he knew almost everything for Kindergarten math.

 

Saxon is going so well for him.

 

Our school's regular math curriculum has been really good for my older son, and it is going well for my daughter, too, so I didn't want to take him from it.

 

But besides being behind, he was not retaining. The teachers told me the regular math curriculum is great for many kids but it is mastery-based and that means they see special needs kids who are just not getting enough review and so they see many kids not retaining and developing holes where they forget things that have been covered.

 

Then I went to my autism parent support group and brought it up, and every single parent there said the regular math curriculum was not going well (as kids got older, too) and that their kids had many holes. (Edit -- maybe not holes exactly, but the parents needing to re-teach many concepts to help with homework, bc they would forget and need review.... and it is just not what I see with my older son or hear about in general from other parents.). Some of these parents had not been offered Saxon (their kids doing comparatively much better) and with the parents able to review things with them. Some were offered Saxon but turned it down bc then their kids would be off the regular math track through 6th grade and they didn't want that, so they were also doing a lot to help them at home. (And for these kids it seemed like my son -- like maybe you can help them do the homework day-by-day but they are overall mostly lost and with a poor foundation, from what their parents said.). (These parents are trying to get their kids caught up and don't think it is time to give up on that and have their kids be in the resource room for math, which I think is fair, honestly my son was more behind from talking to them I think.)

 

I thought my son was just too behind to try to keep him in it, and then it has turned out to work out very well.

 

He is closing the gap and his teacher thinks he may get back to grade level in the next year, they might move him up (I would need to agree to it and it would be based on him taking a placement test).

 

He has more math than just Saxon bc they have two additional "math enrichment" times a week separate from math block, and he is doing much better than that now, too.

 

The calendar part is going really well, too. He has been working on calendar skills since pre-school and now the Saxon is a really good fit for what he is ready for in calendar, and he is really showing improvement with calendar concepts.

 

His confidence about math is really up, too.

 

Edit: there is a real risk here for kids to go in the resource room and not have much get done. It is something where I need to check up and follow up often, bc there is not oversight like there is in the regular classroom and it can be easy for people to think my son is behind and not capable of much.

 

But I really like the resource teacher doing math with him and have talked with her about how often she works directly with him, and who works with him if she is called away during his math time, etc.

 

I also do little things at home to see how I think he is doing and if I see progress at home.

 

But now I continue to follow up, but I think the routine is good, and now he has shown good progress and so now within the resource room he is definitely considered a kid who has potential and capability in math, and i think that is a new thing to some extent.

Edited by Lecka
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Already switched from Saxon Algebra to Math Relief as noted in another post.  Nine lessons in and it is going really well and she has made several comments about how much better she likes it.  

 

Planning on sticking with everything else.  I would like to incorporate more Great Courses and will focus less on literature and more on writing.  She seems to naturally understand the lit stuff.

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Are they working out well?

I think the sessions are more productive than the school sessions were, I really like the therapist and she comes to the house, so much easier than having to take the kids somewhere.

 

We'll see if she can get ds11 saying his "r"s.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think the sessions are more productive than the school sessions were, I really like the therapist and she comes to the house, so much easier than having to take the kids somewhere.

 

We'll see if she can get ds11 saying his "r"s.

That is the route we took with my oldest. The free school therapist didn't make much progress although to be fair,she did miss about a forth of his sessions. Sadly our insurance didn't cover, but it worked. Glad you are finding a productive therapist! Edited by Silver Brook
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Well, we are sticking with Barton, read alouds for history, tinker crates and science books with Dad.

 

We are switching from RightStart to Teaching Textbooks. I just can't do everything with everyone (I have four). I can still help at times but hoping this relieves a little pressure. Also we are adding keyboarding and I'm hoping if the new schedule allows more speech related activities.

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We are sticking with:

- CLE math and LA

-Apples and Pears plus Dancing Bears for youngest

-Ellen McHenry science for oldest

 

Taking a break from:

-IEW - the boys are worn out from this - not sure how to tackle writing yet for this term.

 

 

We are going to to some project work this term to cover history, geo etc. I think my boys need some new things to capture their interest.

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