I am thinking of you today.

I am using Vocabu-Lit for vocabulary and really like it. My daughter likes it as well. I get it from Rainbow Resource. Just make sure you get the right grade level. For reading comprehension I am using Memoria Press. I get the books with coordinating workbooks. This works out well. I have her read a chapter alone and then answer the questions she can. I will go over her answers and if they are correct, great. If they aren't, or she has skipped questions she can't answer, then I make sure we find those answers as we read. Next, we always read the chapter again out loud, taking turns. I pay attention for any of those answers that she either missed or didn't know the answer for. Usually she will find them on her own as we are reading. This has increased her comprehension quite a bit. Oh, I will also periodically stop and ask her about what we just read to be sure she understands it. This is where I have seen the biggest increase in understanding. It used to be every time I stopped her, she had no clue about what we had just read (i always take the time and explain it to her until I am sure she understands), now, at least 80-90% of the time, she does understand and can tell me easily. Reading out loud together has been incredibly beneficial and something we will continue to do. Lastly, back to vocab. In Memoria Press there are vocab words for each chapter, so every 2-3 weeks, I take those words and the words from Vocabu_Lit and give her a vocab quiz. I do it the "hard" way....just list words and she has to give the definition. This has also helped her immensely because she can't just short term memorize the definitions. Vocabu-Lit does have regular tests and unit tests, but I find mine more effective (though she does take all the Vocabu-Lit tests as well). I hope this helps you, please feel free to ask me any questions!

Thank you all for your input, help, and sharing your stories . My husband had to make numerous calls to both CVS and our insurance co. It still isn't resolved, however, he got a claim form from the insurance co and will be submitting the claim via paper to the insurance co in the hopes of getting it covered. It will be the very last time we ever use CVS for a flu shot. If they still refuse to pay for it, I will have him see if the HSA will reimburse us for having to write a check to pay. This is all beyond frustrating. Why do insurance companies make it so darn hard to get care?

I just got a bill from CVS for the flu shot I got in December. Insurance co refused to pay for it because I got it at the pharmacy instead of the minute clinic. Also, CVS refuses to allow it to be paid in any way other than a check or money order, which means we can't even use the HSA account to pay for it (45.00). This makes NO sense to me....any of it. How do we even fight it??? They have always paid for our flu shots at the pharmancy including my daughter's a couple months prior. Yet, they claim they have no record of us ever getting them at the pharmacy. Lately they seem to find ways to not pay for things and I am over it! Our premiums and deductibles are SO high and yet they find ways to pay even less.

I think you are simply amazing and have such a loving heart to foster these dogs knowing that they won't be with you forever. It sounds like she is with such a wonderful family and will have a fantastic life, but gosh my heart hurts for you. Having to put your own adoption of a Golden on hold just compounds the pain. Lots of hugs. I hope this little one is able to go to a family sooner rather than later. In the meantime, it needs to be said again, you are awesome.

I'm so happy for you!!!!!!

I am very sorry for you loss. I hope everything gets worked out soon and without any further drama.

You have gotten such wonderful advice. I just want to offer more hugs and sympathy for what you are going through.

I'm very sorry about what has happened. Your class sounds amazing and I so wish my daughter could take it. For that matter, I really wish I could sit in on it as well. Please don't let it change how you present the material, this has absolutely nothing to do with you or this class (in my humble opinion).

I just wanted to say that your feelings are valid and real. It is okay that you feel this way. I'm so sorry you are sad and hurt. Many hugs...

I honestly think it is left-over nerves/frustration/panic from being tested constantly at her elementary school. They had very frequent timed reading tests and, on top of that, they all read out loud routinely in class and the teacher had a clicker and they had to read fast enough to keep up with the clicker or they called out on it. They also had timed math facts tests they had to pass. So when it comes to any kind of timing, that is super obvious, she just doesn't do as well. Now she always finishes tests in a very reasonable time, so I do think it just the on-the-spot timed out loud reading. She reads out loud to me every single day and her speed and fluency are improving daily (they are quite good at this point). She doesn't hesitate on at least 98% of the nonsense words, she reads them steadily and fluidly, other things that lead me to believe this is hold-over anxiety from 6 years of that foolishness at her old school. The ironic thing is, all of that at her school was done to make them great readers, she did well, she appeared to be successful with their program........yet.........she wasn't at all. It wasn't until she learned proper phonics (your program) that she truly learned how to read and how to sound out words. That will never fail to astound me.

I have not tested her recently. She does read the nonsense words daily, but I don't time her. I look for accuracy only. She does not do well being timed, I have learned. Her old school used to time their reading and they were punished (as in given bad grades and also made to repeat the passage until they read it within the time limit with no errors) for not reading it fast enough with zero (or only 1) errors. Timing her was defeating to her and so I chose to stop. Her self confidence increased noticeably once I stopped. Given how well she did yesterday I am decreasing the reading of nonsense words to twice a week.....as long as she continues to do well reading them. If she starts struggling at all, then we will go back to daily.

Okay I think that was incredibly charming of you! It kind of makes me want to do it.....

There is no name on it anywhere? What about an address? If there is an address you could try looking up that to see if it is some company you haven't heard of. To me it is creepy and would bother me too. I would definitely want it to stop. How close together have they come? Oh, could you enter the city/state and maybe "chemistry" into Google and see if you get anything?

Last year my then 7th grade daughter had Woodcock Johnson testing done (as per standardized testing requirement for my state). It showed possible dyslexia and some reading comprehension issues. I reached out on this board for help, and boy did I get it. I got several suggestions. @ElizabethB. reached out with her phonics program. She held my hand as I figured out what to do and how to best help my daughter. I implemented the program as soon as I could. We spent last summer break working intensively on it. I kept up the nonsense word reading once the new school year started. I took every single suggestion given to me by the wonderful people here as well. Today my daughter had her yearly Woodcock Johnson testing done. While it is obvious she has grown in every area as a result of Elizabeth's phonics program and all of the other work we have done (vocabulary program, changed the way i do spelling with her, lots of oral reading, reading comprehension program, and again...lots and lots of phonics), I really didn't know what testing would show. Results? She is no longer considered learning disabled in any way. No signs of dyslexia. She made strides in areas that "we just don't see growth in at this age. Ever.". She was stunned at how much progress my daughter made.....speechless! She is not only where she should be academically, in most areas she is ahead! Zero signs of reading comprehension issues. Zero dyslexia signs. We are over the moon thrilled and relieved. @ElizabethB. I owe you more than I can ever say. Thank you so very much! Your program is truly superior and I am so grateful to you for all you did to help my daughter and I. She will continue to read nonsense words a few days a week. Even the psychologist said to not stop what we were doing because it is clearly working! To anyone who has a child struggling with reading, please go to Elizabeth's site and implement her program. FYI: the private school my daughter was in from K-5th grade claimed they did phonics. Nope, they did a watered down version of something vaguely resembling phonics, but it most certainly was not the phonics that a child needs in order to read and sound out words. Which is how we ended up in the position we were in.