Sure, I'd call it annotation. As you've noted there's a difference (in my mind) in HOW one would annotate fiction and annotate non-fiction. I think underlining the main idea of a paragraph can be helpful .... helpful for creating a quick mental outline of how the piece is progressing ... or helpful for creating a quick landmark if you need to refer back to it to answer a question ... or simply to keep you focused on the text. I imagine "identifying the main idea of a paragraph" is also some state standard that is being taught.

I’m so sorry and saddened. Praying.

If I were your daughter, I would ask for a refund. But I’d also, in the future, not pay for specific seats out of fear that the airline would separate me from my kids in car seats. In case of an emergency those kids can’t help themselves and will need to be by their adult. I would bet that airlines would move other people from *their* prepaid seats so that your daughter’s family unit could be preserved. ETA: car seats could be a complicating factor. I don’t think they can be in aisle seats but have to be window seats (or maybe middle seats.

Litwits? https://www.litwitsworkshops.com kiwico.com has a crate that is a competitor to Little Passports.

I don't know of anything other than the C-Pen to read physical books without the extra steps of taking pictures. Similar to Google Live, is Speechify. Their paid voices are A.M.A.Z.I.N.G. Their free voices are good also. Speechify is less arduous to use when reading electronic documents and websites. (I have an affiliate link that might get you a discount; just PM me if you're interested.) If you have Bookshare (which I agree is clunky & temperamental), I've heard that you can link that bookshare account to the paid apps like Voice Dream Reader or Dolphin EasyReader. Bookshare's new Mobile Reader is still less refined than the paid apps but does help for on-the-go reading. But honestly, we end up using iOS's internal Text-to-Speech most often.

Another fan of Sabaton on the boards?!? My kids were introduced to the Winged Hussars by the No Dumb Questions podcast. I don’t think we’ve ventured further into their catalog though. They did just tour through the US recently! Skillet is a Christian band with a very poundy sound.

I suspect my 8th grader is a stealth dyslexic, even though they were evaluated this summer by a NP and not diagnosed with dyslexia. (They just needed to "slow down and read more carefully." Grrr.). However, in this new semester, I've picked up spelling again after pushing it by the wayside for a long time. And I'm realizing that they have forgotten seemingly all the phonics that I taught them in the elementary years ... even some of the vowel sounds! They must be relying heavily on their memory -- and their working memory isn't all that stellar to be begin with. How can I remediate the forgotten phonics and word attack skills? What's a good program for older students? Ideally, it would be super efficient and fast as this child will be attending a traditional high school in the fall. In the elementary years, we used AAS 1-5 for spelling. For reading, we used a mix of Phonics Pathways, 40L/Elizabeth B's Syllables Spell Success, and nonsense words. And if you have any experience with questioning a diagnosis (or misdiagnosis), please chime in too! Thanks in advance.

Do you want the playgrounds to be geared towards little kids or older kids? Would a free place to run on trails be of interest?

OP - another option for an older child could be to tackle the phonics through a learn-to-type program. I’m specifically thinking of Touch-Type Read And Spell. https://www.readandspell.com/us/

Thanks for sharing this. Simplicity sometimes escapes me.

I don’t think a 6th grader would enjoy doing OPGTR for remediation. It doesn’t cover phonemic awareness much, and compared to other programs, it doesn’t have as many helps to the teacher or dyslexic student. Instead, I’d suggest you research the following programs which are often used with dyslexics by other boarders: Abecedarian. This may be better for younger students but his newest editions have been updated to incorporate more Phonemic Awareness (PA). 40L’s free program “Syllables Spell Success” created by fellow boardie @ElizabethB http://www.thephonicspage.org/On Reading/syllablesspellsu.html Barton Rewards Intermediate (better for older kids) Megawords (better for older kids) High Noon Reading Program (better for older kids) if you wanted to work on PA separately from the curriculum, then look to David Kilpatrick’s book edit: I forgot … the M.A. Rooney foundation has free OG-based curriculum on their website.

We use technology to help us build independence here. A diagnosis of dyslexia would allow him to have free access to bookshare.org; it has a large collection of books that can be read aloud by the computer (using a computer generated voice). It also has the ability on some books to be used as an immersive reader highlighting the text that is being read aloud. You could also use Speechify to help him get through books faster. You can download their extension for Chrome browsers to have it read it read websites to you. The paid voices are super nice, but the free voices are quite good too. Their phone app will allow you to send PDFS and even pictures to the app which will then read the text from pictures to you. We an infrequent users of the free version, but we are happy with it when we remember to use. (affiliate link: https://share.speechify.com/mzrLUmz) Since we use Apple products, we can select the text and right click (or long hold) the selection and the computer will read it aloud to us. Safari will read websites to you, too. Also, Microsoft Word (the 365 version, I believe) will read the text to you, and you can also dictate text into Word. As for the vision issues - if you want to investigate Convergence Insufficiency, you'll want to use a Developmental Optometrist. (covd.org)

Your OS should have some controls. Click on the apple in the top left hand corner; choose System Preferences. There should be an icon for "Screen Time" where you can set limits. Each person would need to have their own account on the computer.

Riffing off of this .... I once heard of someone who was gifted a crazy amount of assorted zip ties. It was useful for many, many years ... and obviously memorable to the recipient. Maybe instead of going big, you could go small ... get an assortment of small, useful things that can be tucked away until needed .... picture hangers in an assortment of sizes, command strips, a variety of screws, nuts, bolts, etc., rubber bands in a variety of sizes, binder clips. Of course they could buy these if they needed it, but with these gifts they can avoid the hassle of getting these small things.

A Cup Above other words to potentially build off the location: apex, vista, outpost, lookout No one has suggested a name to feature the quickness/convenience factor yet. (not that I can think of one either!)

Would your dentist be able to give you some? It's a long shot, I know. ETA: Kroger. Apparently my local Kroger has their brand in stock. I searched for "bathroom cups"

What about digital subscriptions? The Atlantic, Wall Street Journal, etc. or just Apple News+ Or Spotify if music is more her thing. or maybe just a gift card for Apps? Maybe she could use it to get the paid version of some apps she already uses and be rid of advertisements. If she reads the Bible, there’s the Dwell app for listening and reading the Bible. (and maybe some wireless headphones, if she doesn’t already have some.) ETA: since they are travelers - is there a way you could buy them access to a lounge? Or maybe buy them points so they can upgrade on their next flight? ETA2: a subscription to universalyums.com ETA3: Spices. Like from https://www.thespicehouse.com.

The Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson

the first three episodes are available for free right now from the website. The others are coming soon. Free ... yay!!

This Catholic center has some-ish of what you’re looking for. (explore the “visit” section of their site to see other things on their property) https://spsmw.org/be-inspired/retreats/

Abecedarian (abcdrp.com)

Depends on the kid and depends on the problem. But if in doubt, write it. I have kids who might write 100/10 = 9 as their last step, but they’ve done gobs of correct math before that point in the problem. Well then that’s just an arithmetic error, and I’m more concerned about the math and reasoning skills above the error. So we move on and don’t dwell on the incorrect answer. But if they showed no work and just wrote down 9, well then I don’t know where they made their error. The kid might not understand the crux of the problem. Thus I need to reteach or expound on that lesson. Also, how can a kid learn from their mistakes if there is no record of their work to examine and dissect? Learning how to find your own errors is an important skill.

I don’t know the answer to your question because I’m of the opinion that it’s important to show your work. It isn’t silly to require their work to be shown. This is the training ground for learning to communicate well, even in math. There’s more to math than just getting the solution. If a person makes a great discovery in math, they had better be able to show their work to communicate their brilliance. Otherwise their discovery is lost to the world. stepping of the soapbox now …

Earlier this summer we switched from AT &T prepaid to US mobile with no issues. With US mobile, you can choose whether you want to be on Verizon’s network or T-Mobile network. They offer a simple unlimited plan but also many options. (Although If you can research the myriads of homeschool curriculum options, then you can figure out which plan works for you.). I chose a pooled plan where each phone pays $9/ mo + regulatory fees to join the pool. Then you pay for the amount of data you want to share at $2/GB. This gives me the option to hotspot too, whereas some of their other plans do not. I have not experienced throttling with usmobile (the same cannot be said for AT &T prepaid). And the times I reached out to customer service via their chat were fine; no issues. You do have to bring your own device (edit: I ‘m wrong; they offer phones for sale. But I don’t see them using any phone deals as promotions like other carriers do), but if you’re phone is one of the lucky ones, you can do an eSim card/activation and not have to wait for a SIM card in the mail. That was pretty neat for me to experience. ok - the walking advertisement is over. I’ve been surprised to read the comments and see it missing from the suggestions. But I’m definitely a satisfied customer!

I used this style all through high school and college (but not for our homeschool). It’s not bad when you teach yourself to add in intermediate steps. So for a paper due in 4 weeks. I would put the actual deadline on the calendar immediately and then for tonight’s assignment I’d write “plan for paper due in 4 weeks.” Part of “planning” would be making entries in my planner for my internal deadlines or reminders that it’s T-10 days, T-5 days etc. As regentrude stated, we utilize this method often as adults for less regular occurrences of events: Library books due, Credit card bills, taxes