Thank you!!! Yes my mind has been made up as far as hey, she has some issues, but I didn't know the direction to take. Thanks for saying it's okay to read everything to her besides her reader!*!*! I have Math U See, Beta through Epsilon, and shen I started she didn't like it! I think i might have started her too remedial, because she was just not having it. She can follow math if I explain and personally teach, but the methodology is beyond her. For example, she still can't add 10s or 100s to a number easily and uses her hands - but she can do equivelant fractions and multiple digit multiplication. Yet she'll confuse the words multiply,divide,add,subtract when explaining how to solve a problem. Idk. We've been working through KhanAcademy 5th grade prep, and she's doing okay. She can't learn from Sal or the videos, but when I explain she can manage. I am looking into the Rewards Intermediate!! We're working through phonics pathways to help some isolated phonics deficits I noticed, but I want a LA program. We've been doing TGATB 3, and she likes it. She's suprisingly good at diagramming, despite getting confused when verbally identifying a part of speech.

YES I highly suspect ADD (or ADHD inattentive I think now it's called?) We live in southern California. I plan on making a general appointment with her PCP amd talk through all this. I've been asked before by her like, is there any other concern? But I always figured they meant healthwise and she's a good kid honestly. I think that's why she's been sort of passed over at school, she's cute and sweet and in the 50th percentile so it's easy to look her over I suppose compared to more obvious cases. I knew public school had certain requirements for testing and wanting to test, etc. and I am just confused about what a diagnosis would do for me, as a HS parent. She is enrolled in a public HS charter. But I'm not willing to medicate (she's fine the way she is, and her behavior is manageable), so are there resources an official diagnosis would accomplish?? As for CuriousMom thank you!!! I agree with just taking a step back. I explained to my husband that if I had to choose between a kid who knew nothing but had a great relationship with their parents vs. a kid who was a genius but resented their family, I'd choose the former.

Hello. I have a 10 year old niece who we've been caring for for 5 years. Something has always been off about her learning, but I was in denial in the early grades, and then dismissed by her teachers in 2-4 saying she just needs time, read more, etc. I read to her, she reads to me, every single day and she still reads at a 2.5 grade level. I swear, I work with her, ALOT and the gains are minimal, and short lived. After the crisis schooling, she did better emotionally at home and I've chosen to keep her with me, and she agrees she likes the personalized attention better. However, now that she's older and I'm reading more about curriculum, I am getting more concerned. Her reading comprehension is weak, her math reasoning nonexistent, she is in general not very aware, when she reads aloud she understands little and changes words and leaves others out. I am convinced she's dyslexic (at a minimum) and possibly more. However, I haven't a clue on what that means, or what can be done about it. Do I foster her love for nails and fashion, and just say whatever she manages as far as reading/math, cool? Do I teach her material below grade level (or at grade level that she can't manage without major help for me) and hope for the best? What do I do? I called her doctor on Friday (she has state insurance, she isn't adopted so I have to go that route for her) and when I went to make an appointment I asked if they can help because she has problems with school, and they said they didn't deal with that. I hung up really fast, embarrassed because I feel like I'm a failure and don't know what I'm doing or how to advocate for her. Please, anybody know where for me to start? Should I put her in PS again hoping they deal with it? Am I expecting too much? I would really just want her close to grade level, not needing me to hold her hand for every single thing. I am more the willing and capable to do the work, we HAVE been doing work (isolated phonics, reading, so, so, so much reading, reading eggspress, book projects, audiobooks), but I can't seem to get her up anywhere close to grade level in reading of any sort. Does anyone have any advice or guidance on where to start? I don't have thousands of dollars available for private testing (not that I'd know how to find that either...), unfortunately. I just don't know what to do and am so nervous about HS, even though in my heart I know it's best for her.

I liked that you mentioned important states versus capitals because some states have a few major cities, but the capital is meh, like CA. I agree too with knowing general location and regions. I think I'm going to formulate something based more on that.

I'm wanting to teach, or introduce, the 50 states to my 5th grader next year. I'm wondering what you consider pivotal info as far as knowing about the states. I don't ever remeber learning the capitals (I still don't know them....), and only learned to name all the states and location in about 10th grade, but I remember feeling lost as far as geographical location in historical contexts throughtout school. My daughter is a more struggled learner, she tends to learn and then accidentally combine or mislabel info later on. She also has a really poor sense of continent/country/state/city, and poor spacial awareness in general for map work, but I want her to have a general knowledge of the states. Overall my question is, outside of highschool, what info do you think is critical in learning about the 50 states, and how have you, or would you, teach that info??

Thank you for your kind words! They are 10 and 6, and you're really reminding me to take it easy. Since my 10 year old was struggling in PS, I keep wanting to shove in as much as possible hoping it'll stick but you're right, it's a marathon not a sprint!

Gosh I have so much to do I feel overwhelmed. Im HSing for the first time officially this fall, but plan on teaching though the summer to catch up and introduce us to the routine. I still don't have an official plan for teaching through the westward expansion over summer. I know what ideas I want, but no books or activities. I still haven't solidified the next year as far as supplemental material, and the summer math isn't working as expected. I got Math U See... DH10 hates it! I'm planning to do Khan Academy to work through missed material, as was the goal for summer. Also, I wanted to do TGATB Marine Bio over summer to have something for summer, bit it seems too intense for DH 10 and DH 6, so I might just read books. So, print daily refresher material for the summer. Plan history/geography for the next 10 weeks. Solidify math goals for the next 10 weeks.

😒

I really like xtramath.

Y'all really cheered me up. Thank you!

So I've bit the bullet and will HS my 10yo DD next year for 5th. I *think* I'm sold on Bookshark E - she loves non fiction history, and we'll both enjoy the time together. My issue is that reading this forum makes me think I'm failing her and my 2 others (who are staying in PS) because what y'all are teaching your kids compared to mine and what they know. I know comparison is the theif of joy, I am just scared HS will hurt her more than it will help her. She was adopted by us at 5, without knowing her numbers, letters, colors and was our oldest, so I didn't know how off that was, so I didn't retain her. She's continued to struggle but we've worked very diligently to help advance her reading, general vocab. and expression, and number sense. She's still not at grade level, but is only slightly below average. She wants to HS after being home these months, and I've noticed HUGE GAINS. I'm so sold, as is she and DH. Before, she'd come home from school and would have to be retaught her math and grammar in order to do HW, and wasn't getting enough personal attention to reteach all the things she was missing at school. She needs more personal attention, and I love being able to give that. Like I said, I have a curriculum picked, and I'm sure I could hit the basic ELA, math, history, science.... But I'm not teaching her Latin or doing unit studies and I feel like I'm doing this all wrong and she's not going to be well rounded enough. We just finished Charlotte's Web, and couldn't fathom reading some of the 9/10 readalouds y'all have recommended, and I feel like if I worked harder with her she'd be able to. So I've failed her. She'd rather watch TV than play, color, read, or really do anything else. She'd just stare into space rather than do those things unless told to. Like I said, idk what this post was for, I'm just feeling confused about what all to choose. I chose Bookshark E, Saxon 6/5, Spelling You See E, and The Good and the Beautiful handwriting (she can't really write or read cursive).... I want more grammar and writing... I'm thinking Evan Moor Daily 6 trait writing and daily grammar... I also want her to learn the 50 states. Nothing fancy, just names, locations, general regional knowledge... I also REALLY need a general critical thinking/logic skills book. I was looking at this Critical Thinking Co. book. I also want to do a vocab program with her. There are so many options, I'm afraid I'll pick the wrong one. Is that enough? Do I need to add a language? She says she wants to learn French, so I want to accommodate that because she rarely expresses interest in learning anything. I am just afraid I won't be helping her, and she'll fall further behind. I keep telling myself this choice is just as much for bonding as it is for education, but I keep worrying I'm failing them all by not spending all my time teaching them all these things. Some of the stuff y'all teach I've never heard of. I'm afraid they're missing out because they're not learning ALL this stuff...

Evan Moor's daily word problems

I hope someone has an answer. I got Beta through Epsilon for my K and 4th grader.... Mostly to fill gaps for my 4th and I'm finding it really hard to navigate because she knows about 75% of each curriculum and I don't know where to start.