Okay, I will think more on your reading suggestions. He had asked me if it was okay to start with The Maze Runner once we downloaded Libby and I said Yes! I was just thinking so much of the popular fiction is at a very low reading level, but it sounds like you are saying there is good stuff out there, so I will find it. He used to like to read all the Guinness World Record books, so maybe I can get him into some nonfiction. And magazines would be good as well. Thanks again! I think this may really help him in a way that is manageable. I will let you know how he progresses.

Thanks. Libby does connect with the library offerings through Overdrive. My plan was to pull out my old Sonlight catalogs to make suggestions, starting out easy and then increasing difficulty level. That lexile link will be another great resource for me.

His spelling is good (at 8th grade and he's entering 11th), but it is below grade level and when I went through the phonogram cards with him, he didn't know some of the very basic ones like "ck". That's kind of why I thought he might benefit from some work with multisyllable words. But maybe he doesn't need that? That is where he came out on the DORA assessment for spelling as well -- 8th grade. Do you think that's not a big enough gap to be concerned about or did I not mention he was entering 11th earlier?

I will definitely read through all of the resources you have sent me. This is all a goldmine to me! Thank you again! I feel your comments are helping me to move in the right direction for him.

Oh, thank you very much! He's always been very frustrated in school, wanting to do well, but never really being able to. He had a very noticeable processing problem when he was little. After I started listening to all the Barton videos, I was thinking he might be a candidate for that program, but now that I've done some screening and assessments, I don't think so. But, his reading is slow and he obviously doesn't know or understand many things you would expect a kid his age to know. I asked him what books he'd read this last year and he laughed because he hadn't read any. I got him set up with an audiobook app (Libby) earlier today thinking that might help him more than anything, as long as his listening comprehension is okay. I bought an old copy of the Rewards secondary program which focuses on syllables and I had been looking at the old SRA Spelling through Morphographs book. I will absolutely try to get him going with the immersion reading. That is something I had done with my son quite a while ago. That is a very exciting prospect and something I think he might actually enjoy doing and find manageable. Part of my problem is that I am just getting started after many years away from this and I don't have good assessment resources. There is no way he is getting any kind of testing. His mother is not going to make that happen at the school and she will not be able to pay for it. But! I feel you have reinforced much of what I have been thinking about what he needs. I was feeling like I should do a reading program with him to strengthen those skills, and might be cheating him by not doing so, but there is so little time left before he graduates, I don't want to waste time going in that direction if he doesn't need it. Thank you! What do you think of Rewards Reading or Spelling though Morphographs? Are you familiar with those programs?

I used Fastt Math with my kids and it was wonderful. I'm not seeing anything out there that is great. I'm surprised because there should be tons of stuff with all the technology used these days. It seems like there is less now than what was available 15 years ago. Am I missing something? This is for an 11th grader who doesn't know any of his facts. I took a look at Rocketmath and that may be okay for a younger child, but I am hoping there is something better out there for a teen. Also, there used to be these really memorable little math stories to help kids who struggled with learning math facts. I can't find them. Anyone know what I am talking about? TIA

Great to hear about LiPS being doable with the manual! I've been looking at Foundation in Sounds as well. Since I posted this, I have started to work with my nephew who is a rising 11th grader. I had planned to use Barton with him, but I am wondering if it is really appropriate for him. He tested in the 30th percentile of the PSAT reading portion last year, so he can definitely read. He passed the Barton student screening with flying colors. I gave him the Let's Go Learn DORA reading assessment and got an odd result -- 5th grade vocabulary level but 12th grade reading comprehension. I was listening while he was answering the comprehension questions and he did it very quickly, almost to the point that I thought he might be guessing. Next week, once school is over, he is going to take a practice SAT reading test for me, so I can get a better idea of where his comprehension level is. I also used the San Diego Assessment SWR uses to place students in their program. He placed in list W for SWR. I had him do a fluency reading from an old book I had -- 6 minute solutions. It only goes up to 8th grade, but he was reading about 100 wpm and told me he felt like he would really slow down if he had to keep going. I know that's slow, but he was very accurate and didn't make any mistakes when reading the passage. Today, I started going through the phonograms from SWR with him thinking I might just start at list T and work through it and then follow up with Rewards Secondary Reading and Six-Minute Solutions. I worked with him to get the Libby app on his phone so he could start listening to audiobooks and I was also going to have him use an old Vocabulary program I have from my homeschooling days. When I ran through the SWR phonogram cards with him, he surprised me with how many of the phonograms he did not know. This has me questioning if SWR is the right choice for him and whether I should go with Barton after all? A little more info about him -- he scored in the 6th percentile for math on his PSAT. I went through some of the addition and multiplication facts with him and he does not know them at all. And yet, he has just finished geometry with an A! I don't know if he can learn them or if he was just handed a calculator early on and never really needed to learn them. I just don't know if Barton is appropriate for him or not. I want to make the best use of his time. My son hated SWR and I'm sure my nephew will too. It is quite tedious. I don't know how Barton compares.

Thank you, again. And that is reasonable and something I can totally understand. I don't have young children anymore so I am no longer as emotionally impacted by these types of fears. But, I do remember when the H1N1 flu was being hyped up years ago and I took both my kids and got them the vaccine for that. I had never gotten them a flu vaccine before, but I was worried for them.

No. I just appreciate you being polite. I can't get into a big discussion here because I feel like there will be 20 people coming at me from the other side in a matter of minutes and it's just emotionally draining and not something I can manage. But, thank you very much for your nice reply. I really do appreciate that.

Okay. Thank you. Good night.

Did you read the article I linked? I'm not saying you have to believe that article, but did you look at it?

I really think it is pretty clear. Kids are safer from covid than they are from the flu. That's been known for a long time. I honestly don't have the emotional energy to try and dig up all of the information, but it's out there. And I get being scared for your kid. I haven't read through this whole thread, but it seems that whenever anyone does post any actual data, people just dismiss it. And obviously, you don't have to listen to me. You have no reason to. It just gets so frustrating to try to post any alternative views on these boards over the last number of years. I haven't been on here in ages because of that. I shouldn't have looked at this thread. It's just very upsetting to see so many people truly unaware of what their true risk is.

And clearly, you have plenty of company here. In the well-trained mind echo chamber.

I don't think you really care about the data. You just want what you want and if you can get the government to impose your will on others, so be it. As long as you feel safe, the rights of others be damned. Who is really the selfish one?

This just really isn't true. https://slate.com/human-interest/2021/03/children-and-covid-transmission-your-child-is-basically-a-vaccinated-adult.html