Math U See - DVD teaches the first lesson, TM is fairly easy to understand + shows each problem worked through for you (if I can't understand the concept because it's different than how I learned I can usually follow the step by step for each problem). It is spiral in nature - mixes word problems and simple algebra concepts as you go.

Jane by Design (comes on after Switched at Birth, is a bit lighter and more comedy-ish) Switched at Birth Dance Academy (another Australian addition set at a dance school) I also enjoyed Chloe King - a scifi type teen show but it was cancelled after ten episodes... :( I have found that I often prefer some of the teen shows because I like the "lighter" content and not so much of the more extreme cultural stuff that is more work than I want for light entertainment. :D

13DS with Asperger's -

I was recently tested for low thyroid (been gaining weight and just knew that was it!) but the Dr said that all he found was Vit D and prescribed those 50,000 ui once weekly pills. In addition to weight gain, I've also been extremely fatigued (along with additional achiness) for a few months. I also have fibromyalgia and struggle with anemia so I'm trying to hit all my bases. I've had blood work done through both my "specialists". At the same time as I started the Vit D I also started generic welbutrin and I've noticed an improvement in my fatigue though my achiness is about the same if not worse. Just because you mentioned Lyme and Hashimoto's I wonder if you have been evaluated for Fibromyalgia?

I found them really helpful! Adding a visual presentation and the occasional fun/funny moments was a great motivator especially with Primer A. And...having multiples to teach I'm always glad to move one thing off my platter! Goodl uck.

My sister in law bought this and said that she thought I would enjoy it... http://www.amazon.com/The-Curious-Incident-Dog-Night-Time/dp/1400032717/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335658549&sr=8-1 It was really interesting, the author's voice is the character with Asperger's. He is a math-smart teen dealing with his mother's disappearance. I couldn't put it down. One warning... the setting is England and there is a bit of language, some of it pretty bad by my standards, however it was used to set a scene and had a purpose so I forgive the book that.

Thanks to both of you - very helpful responses! I've struggled with getting to science all three years that we've been homeschooling - experiments are hard to get done and are done sporadically - and it's a shame I went to engineering college and shouldn't be so intimidated by all this! LOL I am strongly considering Aristotle with quest guides and Thames and Kosmos kit for next year, sounds like it would be interesting in that it ties to history which I love! Thanks again!

I was just reading up on The Story of Science and have a few more questions hopefully someone can answer... We studied Aristotle already this year and I was wondering if I could start with the second book without having read the first one? Also, how useful is the teacher's guide? Can I use this book with two student guides to teach my upcoming 5th and 8th graders if I'm reading aloud and then they would do the worksheets on their own, we would do labs together? I"m considering piecing together a science curriculum for next year, I just can't find anything that really works well for us in our price range. :P

Finishing up our third year of homeschooling, we have used many different things (especially that first year) but have stuck with: SotW (sometimes used as a spine for another program) MUS (primer thru zeta used so far) Classical Academic Press: Latin for Children, SSL, Greek for Children, Logic WWE/WWS/FLL Still can't settle on a science or literature program and I've tried out quite a few. :)

I'm in the exact same debate and would appreciate any feedback I have three boys: -rising 8th grader (strong vocab skills but weak writing skills and weak fine motor - Aspergers) -rising 5th grader (average reader, weak writing/fine motor, dyslexia possible visual processing issues) -and a rising 1st grader (developmentally delayed not reading much yet, ok on the fine motor stuff) I'm looking for a history/literature program that includes mapping, read aloud commentary for the history, fiction book suggestions for all three reading levels, possibly work sheets, writing prompts... I've tried ToG for one semester- it was too much everything - I couldn't keep it straight and felt overwhelmed. I've tried Sonlight and felt over structured. Reading aloud five different books at one time wasn't good for us, the kids like to read one fiction book aloud at a time and can tolerate the history fact reading plus maybe one other thing - attention deficit is a major issue around here. What has worked ok for us have been History Odyssey with Famous Men series books for my oldest... but my oldest son asked that we do less history because he just didn't find it that interesting (/sigh), and the writing/outlining was a pain. This year I've mainly done SotW with the maps, none of the kids (including the youngest) like to color mainly due to fine motor, or maybe just personality. I like Sonlights reading lists and questions....and I love history myself. I am considering trying Biblioplan Bundle for the Family for Early Modern...we finished up Medieval around Christmas and I've been reading a chapter or two of SotW 3 every week but feel like we are getting no depth. I really want to focus on American History and general World History during that time frame for the next school year (or two if needed). Cost is an issue - or else I would just order SL, BP and others then make my own from those. Thoughts or suggestions? I'm trying to find that compromise of what our main focus should be, but regardless of my oldest's complaints I feel that understanding our history as a world, culture and as a nation is really key to understanding what is happening in our every day life. Thanks!!

We tried ToG here and it was much the same as the pp...just too intensive for me to have to do all the reading aloud for my (then) two SN kids on different grade levels. I'm combining a mish-mash of stuff that allows me to feel that I'm exposing them to classic lit and history while still remediating where necessary. Each one has different needs and combining that with my limited time and energy those great sounding (would have been awesome for me as a kid) programs just didn't work. YMMV. :)

My middle son is dyslexic as well - I guess you could say mildly but added to his hyperactivity and fine motor skills it's hard to tell. He is in fourth grade this year and using WWE 2 (almost finished). I know that he would struggle incredibly to use anything more intensive and I feel that he is learning good basic skills of summarizing, narrating and doing a leeeeettle bit of dictation. I feel it is building a solid foundation without expecting more than he can do successfully and I am seeing gains in his skills. My oldest son is in 7th grade and completed WWE/FLL 4 last year (though he did struggle with those very long dictation selections), he started Writing With Skill this year and I feel is being fairly successful in them. For kids with learning differences taking this slower more solid path can really work well.

Darnit - super bummed that I missed this!

4.5 days, 3-5 hours M-Th, half day on Friday reserved just for quizzes and occasionally catching up.

Hope it works out well for you. I am using Greek for Children A with my oldest this year and we are both getting alot out of it. I thought it would be too hard to do both Greek and Latin but using Classical Academic Press for both has made it easier (I think).

Wanted to say we are on year 3 of Latin here, getting towards the end of LfC B with my oldest and LfC A with my middle son. I have been learning along with my older son and have really found it to be a success. Memorization is part of alot of basic learning and capitalizes on the inherent memorizing skills of the grammar stage. We have found the chants to be really helpful and I was gratified that my middle son already knew most of the chants when we started on LfC A with him last year becuase he had listened to older ds and I the previous year. You didn't mention if you used the dvd's? I have found them to be invaluable - they reinforce everything in a way that makes alot of sense to me. I have been able to buy both sets used at about half the cost and it is definitely worth it! My oldest ds liked LfC so much that he pestered me to start Greek for Children this year as well - so he and I are learning two classical languages together now. I really want those new dvd's as well but he doesn't feel we need them. We'll see! :P Everyone has different learning styles, it wouldn't hurt to see if you could sample some of the other systems, I tried PL first and just didn't like alot of things about it even though I have gone the MP route on other subjects. I would encourage you to look around, but don't give up on Latin. I really believe that it will be worth it in the long run - if only for understanding medical/legal terms and vocabulary roots.

The first year or two of homeschooling my health and wellbeing dropped off the radar and then a health scare (severe anemia) made me realize that I had to prioritize myself. Kids get school in the morning after we all eat a decent breakfast and I go for a walk by myself (or with the dogs) and listen to daily audio bible podcast - it keeps me sane. We do school for probably less time than some would think acceptable - around three hours, sometimes longer for my oldest (aspie). The main thing I have given up on is co-op or socializing for the kids - it's just too much to find time and energy. Oldest hates social stuff, middle son is so hyper and youngest very oppositional - it just takes energy that I don't have most of the time. For now I'm happy that they are each learning at their own level, I get daily exercise, we eat home cooked food for the most part and we get to church every week.

Perhaps not much help but this is exactly what I'm planning/doing this year with my 7th grader and 4th grader tag along. My boys don't find history that exciting (unlike me) and just want an assignment that (in the case of my older son) he can do mostly independently and "get it over with". :eyeroll: I like that I can combine HO and SotW with some work - thanks for posting that table! What a time saver that is going to be for me! I find HO to be pretty thorough in their presentation, I like that everything is chronological, it helps me to understand history better. Including the historical fiction I think brings the time to life, I have my older son read the assigned books and I find additional ones that I use as read alouds for all the kids. I hope this works out well for you, I'm excited to move into this time period!

I don't *think* so - I bought the version done by Memoria Press that comes with a Teacher Guide to eliminate one item that I would have to read and learn every bit of. :)

Just looking for an update: Amazon says the book will be available in print January 2012; however, I would really like to buy it before then. PDF is fine. My middle schooler has finished week 6 in the sample and it's really been a hit here, the first writing program where he could do it independently and is producing decent writing! WWS is a hit! :001_smile:

This is the first year of feeling like my oldest is doing his work (semi)independently. I'm right there in the room 95% of the time but this year (7th) he is doing Writing With Skill, History Odyssey, & MUS independently - only occasionally do I have to make him refocus and do the next thing - it's rare for me to have to explain an assignment unless he's just being difficult. Science we do as a family, he and I are learning Latin and Greek together (he corrects my pronunciation sometimes!) and we are doing Logic together - I need to know this stuff so I can fight back when he tries to logic me out of something. This is a big change from even last year, when he relied on me to assist in almost every subject, I was his "secretary" much of the time both because of his attention issues and fine motor problems. Even with Asperger's I feel like he's really a middle schooler now. Moving into highschool I'm hopeful that he will be able to do science independently (he and my middle son are at such different levels) along with more independence on his music study and languages. It's hard to know when to let him move forward on his own and when I need to be learning alongside getting my classical education. With two younger sons following along I feel like I'm still forging the path for the whole family to move up the ladder in terms of education. :001_smile:

I use a similar system, a weekly checklist that I write out. Having the visual seems to help the two older boys.

Just want to thank the brave poster for putting this out there - after reading up a little bit I'm seriously considering trying the Humanaworm and see if it helps with my fibromyalgia and allergy issues. In the long term wondering if it would help my boys with autism spectrum issues, allergies, and ADD. It seems to be worth a try if nothing else.

:copying my post from below about my aspie on add meds: My aspie used Concerta from age 6 to age 10 on school days only and it was found to help him focus and when he was younger helped with his anxiety issues *some*. Bringing him home we homeschooled without meds for the first 2 years - it was incredibly difficult. He gets easily distracted and will daydream for hours even when I am working with him, right next to him. I literally had to sit with him with an arm around his shoulders helping and talking to him to get him through one page of math problems. It was just too much. He asked for medication, he wanted to be able to get the work done on his own. Last fall I started him on generic ritalin (methylphenidate) and he was a completely different child while on medication - but in a good way. He could focus on his work and was even able to write a whole page summary without my urging and assistance. Not every day is great but he truly does better on the medication. I don't see it altering his personality in a bad way, he simply exhibits more self-control while on medication and we *both* like it. Negative side effects: noted more on Concerta (time released capsule over the time) he would sometimes just an energy/emotion dump towards the late afternoon, also had increased trouble with sleeping. ( From birth he's struggled with sleep). When he started the short acting methylphenidate I journaled his reactions for a few weeks - at first I noticed the afternoon depression but he acclimated to the medication and doesn't seem to have that issue anymore. At the same time it isn't *as* effective anymore but still works enough to make it worthwhile. Note: my son has been diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, not "pure" autism and of course every child is different. Before the official aspie dx he was considered by his dr to be very ADD (inattentive variety).

My aspie used Concerta from age 6 to age 10 on school days only and it was found to help him focus and when he was younger helped with his anxiety issues *some*. Bringing him home we homeschooled without meds for the first 2 years - it was incredibly difficult. He gets easily distracted and will daydream for hours even when I am working with him, right next to him. I literally had to sit with him with an arm around his shoulders helping and talking to him to get him through one page of math problems. It was just too much. He asked for medication, he wanted to be able to get the work done on his own. Last fall I started him on generic ritalin (methylphenidate) and he was a completely different child while on medication - but in a good way. He could focus on his work and was even able to write a whole page summary without my urging and assistance. Not every day is great but he truly does better on the medication. I don't see it altering his personality in a bad way, he simply exhibits more self-control while on medication and we *both* like it. Negative side effects: noted more on Concerta (time released capsule over the time) he would sometimes just an energy/emotion dump towards the late afternoon, also had increased trouble with sleeping. ( From birth he's struggled with sleep). When he started the short acting methylphenidate I journaled his reactions for a few weeks - at first I noticed the afternoon depression but he acclimated to the medication and doesn't seem to have that issue anymore. At the same time it isn't *as* effective anymore but still works enough to make it worthwhile.