I've been using it without any previous IEW exposure and find it pretty self-explanatory. Good luck!

This is me exactly. I started Latin along side my 5th grader and 2nd grader this year. LfC A and we are using a dvd and pronunciation cd's. Sometimes my son corrects my pronunciation lol. However, I can understand the rules better and I understand how to parse (breakdown) the sentences and guide him in that way. We work it all together. I started my second grader a month or two later (that's how long it took to get his curriculum) and he is just doing Songschool Latin which introduces some vocabulary and the idea of reading and understanding another language. My intention is to keep doing LfC with my older son and we will learn together. I'm excited to have this opportunity! When else in life do you get to learn another language as an adult? I do think that my two years of Spanish in high school helped to at least understand the concept of the different noun and verb forms and endings.

I read this post/responses with interest because I'm in a similar situation. My oldest son is undiagnosed "officially" but has many of the traits of HFA/Aspergers. The most glaring are the lack of coordination, little professor speech, and difficulty with peer/social groups. He also struggles alot with ADHD and I think has some visual-spatial issues. He was evaluated at age 6 on the recommendation of his kindergarten teacher who was convinced that he had autism. At that point the dr said no to autism (though he agreed that his strengths and weaknesses mimiced autism) and yes to high level of ADHD. As he gets older some of the traits have become more obvious. Like Karen I struggle with whether or not to have him officially diagnosed. One of the several reasons I pulled him out of public school was the lack of diagnosis, without which he couldn't qualify for an IEP and accomodations in the classroom. The teasing (started in third, continued to fourth) was getting really bad and affecting the way he felt about himself, his attitudes and personal habits. I get concerned that a label might limit some of his future opportunities. For instance, he if wanted to join the military (I could see him sitting in front of a computer for the Air Force lol) would he be disqualified? I'm not saying that he will or should go that way but I'm not quite ready to limit him at this age. OTOH, I could see that having some accomodations for the ACT/SAT could be extremely valuable and useful. At this point since we are homeschooling I guess we will continue with the wait and see approach. Luckily, we did find a social skills group that he qualified to join and really enjoyed. I'm hoping for a second round of that in the spring.

Insert Pokemon/Neopets for Faeries and you have my 7 year old son. I think this is just a lesson that some/many kids have to learn and this is the age to do it. It would be so easy to send him back to school but he had his teachers convinced he wasn't *capable* of the regular workload. He is extremely resistant to schooling and I know he is getting more and I am demanding more than anyone else will of him. As horrible as it is some days I know it's what we have to keep doing. This morning the lessons started with a prayer then a discussion how and whining and complaining about school would result in one warning followed by suspension of computer/video game privileges for the day. So far so good... By the end of "2nd" grade: MUS Beta (plus additional worksheets/calculadder/math computer games) CW Autumn Primer First half of WWE 1 HWOT - Print (plus copywork) SotW Ancients w/ AG Song School Latin The Story of the Orchestra/Classics for Kids selections Logic Safari Greek Code Cracker FLL 1,2 AAS level 1 (just started this week to remediate) possibly Level 2 Children's Illustrated Bible Old and New Testament RS4K Biology pre-level 1 I am considering going to year round schooling to continue to allow for shorter days. This will depend on whether we decide that we can continue homeschooling in the years to come. I hope so!

Heck, forget the 11 yo (who is exactly like this) my 7 year old boy is the same! For both my boys (btw they are both really, solidly ADHD) I have to sit with them the entire time and keep them on task.

I don't think there really is one right answer for an outline though there could be several wrong ones. I would think that reading the passage (usually three or four paragraphs) and then reviewing her outline would tell you if she 1) understand sthe main idea of each paragraph and 2) chose appropriate/reasonable supporting details. I am working through the same thing with my 11 year old but due to special needs he needs alot of support so I'm usually there as either his director or secretary and immediately redirect when he gets off track in his thinking or daydreaming lol.

That sample page is for level 1 - you are pretty much right, it's a reading schedule and book list and includes recommendations to use some evan moor history pockets. We tried level 1 for about two months and I've gone back to just SOTW w/ AG for my younger son. For my older though we are using HO level 2 and I'm very happy with it. For those who say it's boring I suspect would probably find most history boring. My boys aren't into crafts (which would liven up some of these studies) so whatever we do will be fairly dry with reading an encyclopedia page(s), related books, working on a map and coloring a page - that's just what history is for us now. I love the help in teaching traditional outlining for my older son. We are using IEW and learning KWO's there so this is a great fit for that gap. Level 2 is well laid out and provides the kind of supports that make my life easier! :D

:iagree: I so agree with this! My son is unofficially on the autism/asperger's scale. Public school seemed like a good idea until somewhere in the 3rd grade when the teasing began in earnest. When I pulled him out two months into 4th grade I felt like he was drowning and I had to make a sudden and drastic decision. His attitude and social skills have made dramatic leaps in improvement since coming home. I'm confident that the stress and anxiety of dealing with the teasing at school was impacting him socially, emotionally and even academically. Because of social anxiety we dont' do alot outside of the home but I did get him into a social skills class last fall that he really loved and we've started going back to church regularly. Everyone we meet comments on his excellent manners and his kindness. I think that one day his peers may catch up to him. ;) Welcome to the board - so sorry I missed your post until today. I will continue reading ahead to see what everyone else responded!

Good suggestions. I would wonder how the hours are tracked or monitored as well? When I think about what happens in a public school first grade class I don't believe that there are four hours of solid "instructional" time. A school day includes recess, story time, potty breaks, lots of waiting on teachers and classmates - and a little math manipulatives, learning to read and write, music, art, etc... If you can continue doing basic reading, writing and math during the other children's nap times it should be reasonable to have 30-45 minutes of "P.E." during playtime, recess, coloring and crafts that you are probably already doing with other kids, access to puzzles and blocks, story time/read alouds, life skills (learning to cook and clean, help with laundry, pick up toys, make a sandwich). That should all count as school. If you can add in a foreign language or language arts that includes chanting and singing (not alot of seatwork) it would probably benefit your childcare kids as well. I can't imagine their parents minding if they start to learn some latin or spanish vocabulary! :D Science in first grade should include being outside and actively observing nature, making drawings of what you see. A big experiment could be planting some seeds and observing the growth of the plants. That could be done with childcare kids around and involved. Depending on space you could do a small garden and let the other kids get involved. History could include local or family history or could extend to reading from Story of the World or another spine for the topic you want to explore. Reading books about historical times is a great way to start getting ideas about how people used to live. Just some ideas. I wouldn't panic. You are the one who in the end is accountable for making sure your child gets the best education possible. When you look at it that way there is nothing that the state can tell you that would exceed what you want for your child - it's all in the application of those ideas. :lol:

Hmmm, so if I can ever figure out how to get medical assistance it sounds like I should mention this as one of his "issues". Thank you so much for your input ladies!

I don't have as much experience as some of the moms here but wanted to offer some of my experiences and support. I am currently homeschooling 2 boys (plus a pre-ker). Both of my older sons have a variety of LD's and other than being labeled as ADHD I haven't gotten much support or help from my public school. I'm doing alot on my own, we also don't have good health insurance to afford alot of diagnostics and treatments for them. My oldest son is somewhere on the austism spectrum, he is very intelligent but like your son is very childlike in many ways. He was treated horribly in his classrooms from about third grade on. I was seeing his spirit being crushed and him turning into an angry person from being teasted and taunted every day. The best thing I have ever done for him is to pull him out of public school. Other family members have even noticed just how sweet, kind and caring he is (really unusual in an 11 year old boy). His grandparents just eat it up! That's not to say he doesn't fight and tease his brothers - he is human! But in family interactions he is unusually mature and kind in his approach to others. Even if he struggles with peer group interactions I think that one day his peers will "catch up" with him and his social traits will be more appreciated and respected. Honestly in our culture preserving that childlike innocence and way of looking at things is truly a gift to our family. That doesn't downplay the heartache of wondering why your child can't fit in and doesn't have "friends" but on the upside when you meet "average" kids his age I'm not sure I would want him to fit in. :glare: I love how my oldest boy still likes to snuggle and give hugs. Honestly, I wouldn't trade that for anything. So - onto homeschooling topics. I started him out last year doing the SoS because I was finishing up an internship and working fulltime. My disabled mother was home with him and he got through but it wasn't a good fit. I had time to re-evaluate and this year we have been doing an eclectic WTM program. I use WWE and FLL with both boys, Handwriting w/o Tears, Math U See, History Odyssey and SotW, IEW Ancients for the older son along with the WWE, we are also learning Latin using Latin for Children, and using some logic workbooks from Prufrock Press. I love being able to teach their lessons in small bites and knowing when to backtrack or to cover material differently. My older son's academic and social growth over the past year has been phenomenal. I'm seeing some progress in the younger son but still feel like I'm getting a handle on his learning disabilities. We also found a local organization that offered Social Skills Classes and my oldest son reluctantly took part. After the first class he was hooked. These were age/developmental grouped small classes where they learned about taking turns in conversations and other things that help kids to fit in better. I'm hoping to do another round of the classes in the spring. Most of all I would just encourage you to keep homeschooling your son and providing him with what he needs. Don't worry too much about standardized tests (how often do those help you in real life?). Teach him real life skills - cooking, laundry, cleaning, shopping, helping neighbors and family members. These things will serve him well. I would expect your educational system look more at if your son is making progress (even if slow) versus is he up to grade level. At one time I was concerned about my son's future as an adult but now I am confident that he will get through high school (probably at home), likely go on to college (community while at home to start at least) and that one day he is very likely to find a job in a field he loves and will be able to take care of himself and maybe even have a family of his own. We will see what the future brings but it is filled with hope.

As an infant/toddler my middle son had a hearing impairment from fluid in his ears (but not infections) that caused a speech delay. It was finally identified right before he turned three. Getting tubes fixed the hearing problem and he received language therapy through the county and public school system through last year. He still has some idiosyncracies in his language but for the most part he probably wouldn't stand out as having a speech/language delay. However, I've noticed over the past year or two that sometimes when he is excited and talking he will repeat the last word of each sentence in a whisper. For example, last night he came out and asked for another bedtime snack and said, "I was wondering if I could have some peanuts? (whisper) peanuts" I asked him to repeat himself and he did, exactly the same way. I've noticed this before and when I point it out to him he laughs it off (he acts very goofy alot). Other diagnoses: he has ADHD, SPD (hypersensitive) and I'm pretty sure is dyslexic. My older son also has ADHD, SPD (hyposensitive) and social anxiety/awkwardness - very much on a high functioning asperger's level but doesn't have a "professional" diagnosis for autism. Any thoughts on this? Is this a sign of something else I should be looking into or just an idiosyncracy?

What you are describing is a traditional outline. I. What is this paragraph about (indent)A. supporting detail (indent)B. supporting detail (indent indent)1. additional detail (indent indent)2. additional detail etc.... I'm not sure I understand your question?

:iagree: My oldest finished HWOT Cursive two months ago and now he is doing a page of daily copywork in his best handwriting. My middle son is still working through HWOT and doing ReadyWriter and other copywork. I plan to keep up the copywork for the next few years for the older. Probably through traditional middle school. I bought a big combination pack from Happy Scribe and just pick out five pages to do each week for each boy. We are learning some of Proverbs this week through the copywork. :D

I didn't even know there was a second! :D

Unless your 7 year old is pretty advanced he should be on level 1. If you go to the website for History Odyssey you can download the first 6 weeks work/maps everything for *free*. It's a great way to try it out and see if it works for you. http://www.pandiapress.com/history_odyssey.htm

I briefly tried MoH and just didn't like it - your mileage may vary. Primarily I think it was a philosophical YE difference. I have HO for my 11 and 7 year olds and found that I like HO2 but that HO level 1 wasn't really needed for the younger. I am doing SOTW w/ AG for him, older listens in then does his HO2 for the same time period. I am doing the order based on the HO2. My biggest complaint about History Odyssey is that the levels don't coordinate - so if I followed their schedules then my younger and older would be doing different topics.

I have both, you can do this with Startwrite (and be able to choose your own font and size and selections) and just the book to explain the process or you can just buy the workbook - either will do the job.

I have two special needs boys and have found WWE to be a good fit for them both. The only thought I would add is that you may want different levels for the two. For instance, the WWE1 that I'm doing with my 7 year old has a selection from Peter Rabbit this week, the one for my 11 year old has a selection from Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Also, the level 1 sections are much more simplistic. But neither requires the student to master alot of physical writing - it can be toned down by the parent as needed. PS - I also like having extra student pages - I bought them for the higher level so that it will be simple for my younger student to reuse the workbook in the next year.

I experienced the same thing with my now 11 year old Aspie-ish son. It was very frustrating for me. For us a combination of things worked well. One, let him read high-interest books that he really enjoyed (for us it was Captain Underpants, honestly I hate those books but he loved them). He has/had reading for "school" where he did comprehension questions. We are using WWE now and having alot of success. At first he didn't get it but I'm always willing to go back over and reread the passage and am finding that he's better and better. We do alot of repetition and I make sure he has background information to understand the text. Having a picture/visual aid or even drawing his own may help with comprehension. The number one thing for us was for me to not get frustrated and know that he was doing his best. Keep trying. Keep reading (both quality read alouds and letting him read his books) and count the small successes. Memory will get better with use and practice. Many kinds of games can also help with this kind of thing. Hang in there Mom!

I have a rule at the dinner table that I apply to most areas of our life. They have to try one bite of everything before they get the "treat" (such as bread with dinner) - and this goes for school too. That's not to say they have to love everything or do it forever but they do have to try things that they don't love or even like. I think that part of life is sometimes doing things that we don't want to do to get to the payoff in the end (such as my husband going to work every day lol). But I do rely on my mom-instincts to notice when something is really not working, we don't do things that are crushing their spirits. Noone has to eat platefuls of spinach, beets, etc... but we do all have to give things a shot. JMHO.

My 11 year old Aspie has been using: FLL 4 IEW Ancient History Based Writing WWE3 I really like that the WWE is narration, dictation, retelling - which is hard for him. The IEW is really challenging but I support him and we work side by side, I underline words on the pages and write down his ideas on the worksheets. Then I guide him through the first sentence or two. I type up his rough draft and then we go over it together and I have him do the final draft on the computer. Gradually I am turning more and more of this work over to him but if he flounders I step right back in. Writing has always been a really hard thing for him and he gets easily "defeated". This more intensive writing I do every few weeks, in between we stick with FLL/WWE. For my 7 year old ADHD/Dyslexic son we are currently using: WWE1 and FLL1/2 I am focusing on memorization for him, he really needs better overall language skills and fluidity in his formal speech. We do alot of our work orally. His writing is atrocious and very difficult for him. We have been doing HWOT, I do ReadyWriter exercises and daily copywork. I just ordered AAS after once again looking at the rave reviews on this board and we are going to give that a try. My older son is a natural speller, my middle son is...not. I have Winston Grammar Basic set that I used with the older at the start but he really seems to prefer the diagramming in FLL so sticking with that for now.

For diabetics what you want to avoid is lots of sweets. So your main course and most sides shouldn't be affected. Meat, vegetables and even some carbs will be ok. With carbs fiber and some fat slows down absorption of the sugars so for instance whole wheat bread will be better than white bread. Dessert is the trickiest. If you have some items that are unprocessed (whole fruits) that is your best bet. There are some things you can buy these days that use Splenda as a sugar replacement but even those a diabetic will have to watch out (for sugar alcohols etc). Also be aware that diabetics will probably avoid alcohol in drinks and food. Have some sugar substitutes available for tea/coffee. But basically any meat, veggies, cheese, fruits without sugary syrups will be easy for her. Good luck with your menu planning!

I started out our school year using History Odyssey level 1 and level 2 Ancients for my 2nd and 5th graders. At this point I am not using the HO for my younger at all, I prefer doing SotW and AG with him. For my older he listens along with SotW and then uses his HO 2 for outlining, map work, etc....I like the additions for my older child but I think SotW really handles it well for the primary grades.

We went with Latin for Children for several reasons: I like the dvd lessons and pronunciation cd, I like the workbook and activity book and I didn't want to have to print out my pages/activities. My 2nd and 5th graders have been enjoying them and doing very well.