Hi all, I need some tips in preparation of our upcoming IEP meeting. We homeschool through a public charter school and I was wondering what I have to be aware of when it comes to services we qualify for or how to phrase goals. DS is 2nd grade with suspected Dyslexia and possibly underlying APD. Of course every kid is different and the plan is individualized but I’m sure that families who have been through this could provide me with some important tips since this is still pretty new to us. What would be some typical measurable goals for low working memory according to the Gibson Test? Has anybody had success requesting specific software? OT? I appreciate any insight.

I appreciate the info since this is something I will likely run into fairly soon then.

My kids are almost 7 and 10, so I can’t speak to the teenage phase but we just recently began DHA supplementation again (Omega-3’s). Teenagers often don’t eat well so I’m wondering whether some nutritional deficiencies could make learning harder, along with all the hormonal changes etc.

We have worked all the way from Level A through the middle of Level D. The first three levels have worked fantastically for us. I am convinced my little one (auditory working memory differences, possibly APD?) wouldn’t be reading if it wasn’t for this stellar curriculum. We made it to the middle of Level D in first grade, that’s however when I decided to stop and switch since the spelling seemed way advanced and I would rather focus on the basics first. My friends with the same age group had similar feelings. Since a lot of people go through Level D in second grade, I decided to wait. We will finish the readers mentioned but will probably skip the spelling and grammar. I don’t plan to continue with LoE but can highly recommend Foundations Level A-C

Yes. We joined the waitlist Nov 2021 and were accepted April 2022, so it took about 6 months back then. My son has been doing it for a little over a year now.

Current plan: Literature: TGTB 5 and CoreKnowledge 5 Grammar: TGTB 5 and Fix It Grammar 1 Spelling: TGTB 5 and CoreKnowledge 5 Writing: IEW Structure & Style Finish 1A and maybe start with 1B depending on how we are doing. Math: Combo of TGTB 5 (spiral) and Dimensions 5 (mastery) Science: CoreKnowledge 5 and some MysteryScience History: Online Class (I had to outsource something) but CoreKnowledge LA also covers a good amount of history so we should be good. Extras: VexRobotics, Coding JavaScript classes, Synthesis classes online

Good question! I download the student readers and send them to our iPad mini. Occasionally I will purchase just the student readers if I can find a good deal to make my life easier but if not, then tablet it is. For the higher grades 3 and up I also transfer the teacher guide to the tablet. For the lower grades K-2 I transfer the readers to iPad or purchase readers and print the teacher’s guide for the Listening and Learning Strand since it includes the actual text you will be reading while showing the pictures on the iPad. Since I have two kids the combo of some print and some tablet works well for me. This sounds more complicated than it is but I recommend starting one unit and to get a feel for it. I typically print one week worth of just the listening and learning sections for my younger one and the HP InstantInk subscription helps a lot. I can print up to 300 colored pages a month for around $12ish so it’s a good deal. It depends on whether you are comfortable with digital teacher guides or whether you prefer to work with printed materials. With 2 kids a combo of both works for me.

Yes. I am guessing they are franchised. So it probably depends on who is running it?

I absolutely love CoreKnowledge and have been using it for multiple years for multiple grade levels now. It’s the one thing I 100% will not change for the upcoming school year. I would recommend a slow start to get used to it. When I started out, I only used Science and some History units. Eventually I switched over to the Language Arts units and since they cover so much history and science it actually saves me time on days when CKLA covers both, Language Arts and either History or science. This year I have used CKLA Grade 1 (currently finishing the last 2 units for the year) and CKLA Grade 4. We will be using CKLA Grade 2 and Grade 5 next year, as well as Science 2 and 5. For anybody interested I would say, start with the Language Arts units. My kids have learned so much!

My 6y.o is currently working through FF Foundations 2. He finished Foundations 1 in April and we have seen great improvement, specifically in concentration and auditory processing. Definitely took a while to notice benefits but very happy with progress so far.

The plan so far: Language Arts: Combination TGTB Level 3 and First Language Lessons 3 Writing: Writing & Rhetoric Fable and Evan Moor 6 traits of writing Math: Singapore Math Dimensions 3 (and possibly Beast Academy Online) Science: Core Knowledge Science 3rd Grade History: Core Knowledge History 3rd Grade