Elizabeth, I have actually worked through some of your materials (the syllable success one we did twice, most recently last April and saw a big improvement!), and I had done the MWIA test before and the results weren't super off last time, so I'm going to reissue it now because things seem to have gotten worse. When we first found your site, I wasn't even considering homeschool I just wanted to catch her up to reading on level, and it would be 2 years later that I end up here. Crazy what a small world it is. She phonetically can sound words out well, her main issue with fluency is she changes words. Would becomes should, for of, where were, catching is catches or catches, etc. I was told it would fix itself with age, but no - she's almost 11 and emotionally she's caught up but mentally/educationally there are some blockage. I think an issue too is that about 4 months ago I had her move to independent reading over reading aloud to me, because I thought she was doing okay, but I've noticed it's regressed since then. I'm going to take that assessment with her after she eats. Thank you so much!!!

No, public school didn't fail her. Her POS birth parents who abandoned her after birth with elderly relatives who neglected her did. She didn't even have PBS to fall back on, she was minimally interacted with and played candy crush most of the day. I didn't read the rest of your post yet because that really bothered me. Even though her teachers blew me off, it wasn't the school. I didn't advocate for her hard enough when she was young, mostly because I didn't know what the hell I was doing. She will be returning to public school, I think that's the best fit for our family and goals. Thanks.

Okay, I know I'll receive some side eyes off the bat, but I have no network of people to ask. I'm newish the to parent thing, and this is the only responsive group I know of, so work with me. How do you approach your children who are consistently behind? I have a 10yo DD (5th grade) who came to us at 5, unable to count or sing the alphabet. She was in public school until last year, and we've been homeschooling exclusively this year because I felt it would benefit her to have 1 on 1 teaching (with me) and the public school is distand learning. However, K-4 she's been behind (I'd say C grades. Always a grade behind or so in reading level, red zone in standardize testing, and just generally off when it came to common sense and school work), despite working daily to remedy her reading and math skills. I'm talking 1-1.5hrs of homework, and 1hr of reading extra a day. Enough to see results. She never caught up. My thought is a typical child with daily instruction would reach grade level. She hasn't. She is in 5, and tests in 3.5. Am I failing her, or is she just naturally not inclined to reach testable grade level standards? I have another child, but she's 4 years younger, and naturally grasping everything, so I have no comparison on normal. It's just rough because my 6yo can read more fluenty than my 10yo, and it's causing confidence issues during shared learning time. And I'm wondering WHY my 10yo doesn't read better than my 6yo.... I know this sounds SO self centered, but she's in a public charter, so it's hard to justify me homeschooling if she doesn't meet grade standards, kwim? I'm just curious how other families handle adopted or foster children who came to their homes behind the others. You guys, I feel like I'm not good enough to parent her because I'm so concerned about her academic capabilities. I feel like a crap parent and person, and yeah. Like I KNOW I need to accept her skill level, which I do, I just don't know the fine line between working at her level and keeping her steered towards grade level, with the goal being going back to PS at grade level. How hard do I push her, or know when to stop? Do I work through the grade 3 curriculum at a regular pace, though she'll never catch up? Do I go quickly, what happens when she continues to not grasp the concepts? (We've been doing this. She still can't tell me whst a verb is. Even after I tell her 2 minutes prior. We review, she tells me, but next time she still doesn't remember. She says noun, adjective, direct object... Just guessing and reading my face to know if it's right... She uses this technique of reading me with ALL her work) I think she's ADD, but my husband doesn't want to medicate her so I haven't gone through the trouble of navigating her insurance for an eval. Writing that out makes me feel negligent and just horrible. I want her medicated. Hell, I'm not a doctor! Am I a crap, lousy person for saying she needs meds for being behind? Idk. Our days are tough because transition from A to B is a 5-10 min+ task. Is this typical? An 8-2 day isn't enough to get all her work done. Wtf is happening here. I'm so lost. I don't think I can handle the responsibility of trying to get a child up to standards and failing at it. I feel like she's doing well, then she takes a test and fails. Anyone have any advice, encouragement , or relating stories?

We do a lot of fried rice and stir fry and such. Basically a lot of Asian inspired dinners. I use shelled edamame, tofu, or a meat subsititue for the protein, and add in the sliced, cooked meat for my son and husband who "need" meat. This is the most comprehensive list, and I do a lot of this myself. I also do burrito bowls, with rice, beans, roasted corn/onions/peppers, guac, and salsa. Add chicken or beef for thise who want it. So, so good. The idea of making separate dishes, like casseroles seems so cumbersome tbh!

Beside the girl just wanting to go to the pub, https://youtu.be/soI0q3CBliE I really love the little boy who refuses to be on the naughty list, https://youtu.be/AFZOakF5Yhc

Me too. Her one about wanting to go to the pub is my favorite video ever.

They recently redid TGATB level 4, it's more cohesive and adds more writing. Worth looking at.

Thanks for telling me about TGATB being on sale. I got the 2 and 3, even though I see they're redoing them. For the price I can just take and leave what I want, and I hoard curriculum as it is so yeah. Thanks!

I think I'm just going to get the BA books and give them a try! Thanks!

I'm not fully homeschooling my 6yo, she's in a public 1st grade Spanish immersion program that does mostly unstructured distance learning. She's so bored with their math, she knows how to add and subtract within 10, and do adding with regrouping. We were working through MUS Gamma, we're about half way through, but I have a used workbook, so halfway to about the last 1/4 are things like measurement, shapes, time, money - things I can't reproduce so the program is moot without the practice pages. Also, I.don't think my kid needs the repetition, and want a more varied, advance curriculum. I do not want to stick with MUS, but I want to continue with math because she likes it and has the time. We had Beast Academy and while she liked it and was able to do it, it wasn't enough practice imo, and I didn't like that it was on the computer. She also wasn't ever eager to do it like she was the the MUS. (We had the online... Are the physical texts different?) My 10yo homeschooler is doing Teaching Textbooks. She's not mathy, and it's a treat to use the computer. I don't want to use TT for 6yo. I've been looking at Mammoth Math, Singapore (which one omg!), TGATB, or potentially Beast Academy (if the books are different from online with more straightforward practice). All level 2 likely, she'll be bored to death with repeated +/- within 10s. She can do about 85% of each of those's placement into Level 2, her deficits are with measurement mostly, and minor things specific to each curriculum. What do you recommend? I prefer something advanced or rigorous, she's so bored being home with her current workload, and I don't have any math for her right now. She gets concepts quickly, and I don't need anything teacher friendly, just thorough and challenging. I haven't chosen, because a lot of threads I've read here people have said some programs aren't too thorough and frankly I just want to be told what's best for a bright, bored kid who needs something to do and has emphasis on critical thinking, number sense, and includes the math sides like measurement, time, and currency. Thanks y'all!!!

Build Your Library has an evolution unit that'll work with your kid's ages if you just want something planned to supplement. Her stuff is well done and affordable.

If you're in the US, how'd you find a developemental opt? Did you ask your regular optometrist? Google? Did insurance cover it?

Yeah I think I need to get more blocks 😁, or tanagrams tiles (is that what they're called?) To have her recreate shapes in space. We continued the lesson, and she used a paint brush to section off on the computer screen and managed to complete the lesson (it starts over if you get 2 wrong). The program is designed to be a way to view and conceptualize math differently, that's why we're using it. I just never knew how badly we needed it. This deifnately is showing me some of what is going on in her head, and I need to find a way to solidify to her that different agles shows different sides of the cube but try are still the cube. Maybe I'll paint the sides different, like a die is labelled but with color. It's so hard to think of a time when I (and other kids) didn't knwo thst and were taught about 3D. Idk.

This is my child. She uses odd word choices, and a lot of filler words like you know, this, that, it when she needs to explain more. Like shell say, Mom remember when we were over there that one time and that thing happened and it was hard? And get mad when I don't remember because after probing I found out it happened a year ago. And she gets mad I don't know what she's talking about 😑. She didn't start conversating until around 8.5. Before that it felt like I was always talking at her, which is weird, because I can conversate with my 6yo.

I know I want to get her all the diagnosis. Issue is, we have guardianship of her and is on state insurance (bc she's not formally adopted by us) which is a.... difficulty. We don't have the extra money to pay out of pocket for a lot of specialized visits right now and I'm having trouble navagating resources. But I've seen how adamantly you advocate for specialized vision tests, so that's on my list. Fortunately her birth father is getting good insurance in the next few months and I'm going to doctor her all over the place. I'm wondering, since your family has visited many specialists, what is the result of the knowledge of diagnosis? As in, have you found a better way to teach to your children, or what benefit have you found from knowing specifics for your children?

Yeah we are doing teaching textbooks 6 (shes in 5th), and she is completing each lesson 90%+, it's just I know in my heart of hearts she's following the steps but not getting it. I'm considering doing MUS, starting half way through Gamma because I have through Epsilon, just to see if the tactile makes a difference. Only thing is I want her back in public school by 7th, and I want to keep her roughly at school standards, which is at multiplying fracfions and decimals this year. While she can learn all those things, she learned them last year in PS, she doesn't remember or internalize them. I think I need to start over so she rmemebers them and can understand. For example, she has a hard time understanding that 9/20>8/20 because she learned that 1/8>1/12 and forgets wait if the tops are the same this rule, then if the bottoms are the same this rule, and she wants to draw it to see and who can draw 9/20ths? I'm like. wait kid, what's hard about this? She doesn't get it. I will look into Rod and Staff, I have MUS and see if it might mesh better and be less mastery vs. spiral which I want. I want a spiral, tactile program!!

What do you mean by that?

I know 😥 I do ask her, she usually has a hard time explaining why. She says a lot of and this, and then this thinking I know what she's talking about. If I ask her to use phrases and words to explain like, first, add, remainder, denominator, multiply, etc. she usually says the wrong words or phrases and gets all confused.

The object was to say how many 5 blocks fit in that shape. She couldn't figure it out so I figured if she physically made it with blocks she could count and see how they fit. Then I realized how big the issue was. It's just I don't know how to teach or show math sense. I feel it's just something I know and people know so idk what to do.

I never thought of it that way I'm going to see if she can recreate a physical box I make.

Okay, I'm reviewing some topics my 5th grade 10DD hasn't ever gotten the hang of. I knew something was off and I never could put my finger on what it was exactly. I have an example of something we're having trouble with. No matter how I explain it, she's having a hard time seeing 3D images properly and she's been guessing her way through it the whole time. Anyone have any clue how to help her? I'm so confused, she's even more confused. In the pic, I asked her to recreate the box (we're reviewing, or I though reviewing, volume) because she kept guessing the dimensions even when I pointed them out. Like she's confused a cube is 1x1x1? The periwinkle is how she recreated the box. I'm lost. What do I do? I asked her to explain, and she said there was 5 in back 3 high, 5 in front 3 high, and said there should be 3 on the left, but used the 5 because I only gave her 5s. Huh? I showed her the correct way and she nodded but couldn't do the next one, and we've repeated that cycle and now idk what to do? I don't know how to teach it I guess? How do I teach this? This is making serious sense though because she has realllllly bad basic understanding of what adding, multiplying, dividing IS even though she can do the operations.

I like the 180 Days Of series. Like 180 Days of Reading for 1st grade, they have all subjects. I have a few of them, and they cover most grade standards. I also have BrainQuest ones, which have all subjects and are colorful and great for review. Evan Moor Skill Sharpener series is really beautiful and engaging, but more teaching and revisiting than review, and are single subject. Those are the ones I have out on my shelves for lower elementary.

I 100% think that's the true issue.

Why though? Honestly. I mean, if people, even people of your congregation, came and said they support BLM and share why you should too.... Is that too much? Is pointing out that there's racism still too much? Like, I'm so confused where the disconnect is? Is it that you think BLM is some organized group causing all the world's problems? Like as a Christian, how can I not welcome ANYONE to my church, especially those advocating equality and peace?

Yeah. I KNOW I KNOW my opinions on the thread are crap. But it's so white saviory to me to have some lady join a spanish speaking church to learn about them and be taught by them? What do you want, a tamale recipe? We are not a commodity. Like how far removed are you to think you need to join a spanish speaking church to get to know Hispanics? If some white lady wanted to befriend me to get to know me and mine, yeah, I'd be beyond wary and know what's up. But learning Spanish, visiting a church, knowing our "struggle", doesn't make you an ally.