My 14 yo ds has been in a really great missy kid boarding school for the past year 1/2. We're going to be in New Zealand for the next year, however, and have decided to bring him along and homeschool him during that time. I want to approach this year as a time for him to read himself really good books on History, Science, and just otherwise, yet work hard with me on the areas that he's behind (Dyslexia, etc). I'm planning several All About Spelling levels (his spelling is terrible) as it's been good for him in the past for one but I'm not sure what to do about math. He can probably handle somewhere in the range of 7th grade math if he works hard. I need a program where concepts are clearly laid out in a step by step manner. Any ideas????? Thanks!

We're doing it pretty much like you've mentioned. Yes, the videos are straightforward and helpful. My ds seems to be understanding them quite well!

Here are ours: Children's Golden Bible- he'll read and narrate to me Intermediate Language Lessons Bravewriter 'The Arrow' (He'll read the books himself as readers) Spelling Wisdom Strayer-Upton Primary Arithmetic 1 (second 1/2), Some elementary Life of Fred. SOTW 1 with: Pharoah's of Ancient Egypt, Stories of the Ancient Greeks, Augustus Caesar’s World, Usborne, God King, Black Ships Before Troy, The Bronze Bow. Other read-alouds D'Aulaires' Greek Myths with MP guide Lively Latin Apologia Zoo. 2 and Marvels of Science Simply Charlotte Mason picture study, drawing one picture a week from literature and one from nature. Looks like a lot but the only every day lessons are Latin, Math and reading!

I don't know, sorry! Here's a link to the Strayer-Upton so maybe you can compare??? http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=9224

Beth, I don't know where you are/going to be but a GREAT way to get the actual books you want is at bookdepository.com in the UK. They ship for free to many countries. I don't use it in India because our mail doesn't get here 1/2 of the time (!) but I've had things shipped to New Zealand where dh is from with no problem.

You're speaking my language about being able to travel! Here are some ideas: Math Mammoth (PDF) I actually chose these little books instead partly because they're small: http://www.rainbowresource.com/prodlist.php?subject=10&category=9224 One of the reasons I also like Primary Language Lessons and Inter. Lang. Less. (they're small!) FLL is on PDF and so is WWE Lively Latin (Downloaded off website) or Getting Started With Latin (Kindle) Geography- A Child's Geography of the World (PDF) http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/acg2.htm SOTW 1 is on Kindle there are other history options out there depending on what period you want to study. Other SOTW's are small books, though. Part of why I chose them! I add in some extra books as well but literally make some choices by how much the books weigh. Spelling Wisdom (PDF) Writing: Either Bravewriter PDF or online classes Simply Charlotte Mason has picture study PDF's: http://simplycharlottemason.com/books/picture-study-portfolios/ Science: http://www.amazon.com/Marvels-Science-Fascinating-5-Minute-Reads/dp/1563081598/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1338975435&sr=8-1 or Apologia Elementary books (slim!) Lots of good read-alouds are on Kindle! Readers are harder. I have to purchase these (no library) but fortunately they're pretty light. Maybe your library will be good for this. We're starting Bravewriter The Arrow, too. And then there's Ambleside Online with HEAPS of free, online choices.....

Whoops, somehow double posted.

My 4th grader's program that we're just starting is ILL with Grammarland sometime during the year and The Arrow from Bravewriter as well as other Bravewriter writing. Oh, and daily copywork/dictation from Spelling Wisdom if he's not getting it from somewhere else that day. I think PLL and ILL are great but I agree, a bit of supplementing could be a good thing.

Just realized I did a Wordless Wednesday without thinking about it! :001_smile: Wed. was my 4th anniversary of leaving widowhood. Plus, a photo of the women we work with in India. I don't know how to do anything other than just put in link, sorry: http://sandhplus4.blogspot.in/2012/05/first-family-hug-my-favorite-photo-from.html

You could add in something like Grammarland or The Sentence Family for part of the year if you felt like you wanted some easy, fun, earlier grammar exposure. I have those on the back burner for us but so far haven't felt it necessary!

I resisted testing for a number of years because I didn't want to put my ds in a box or have him give up because of some diagnosis. It was one of the best decisions we finally made for him, however. it was really a relief for him to understand himself as well. Before he just considered himself 'dumb.' So often with obviously Dyslexic kids Dyslexia isn't the only issue. My ds had a couple that I had no idea where there even after I'd taught him myself his whole life. I'm so glad we didn't wait until high school to find out what those were because he's now getting more specific help in the meantime. I don't want to pressure him but I DO want him to have the best support possible. I now encourage my friends toward testing at around your dd's age if they can!

Indian parents often start their kids in school at about 3. They are made to write letters and numbers, etc, but when my ds started the equivalent of 1st grade at age 6 here he was still reading better than a lot of his class. In schools where it's expected that if you are well educated you will go to school in English! I think those first few years may be mosty for language learning in reality.

My Dyslexic ds also has Dyspraxia (trouble with writing). While it will never go away there are exercises to help him improve that we've spent time focusing on. At 11 that was much more important for him than very much writing. He pretty much only did AAS and math with a pencil in his hand. I thought his trouble with writing was just with the spelling until we had him checked out. It was really good to get the whole picture and see how to help him!!! Working on typing is a GREAT idea! Also getting you dc to narrate to you and do other things orally. My ds' expressive and reasoning ability has always been way more advanced than what his hand can handle. Great link to your blog, Merry!

I've used both and definitely prefer Spelling Wisdom. I like the selections of passages better that you can use with whatever notebook you want. I didn't really like the layout of the Queen book (have used several). It was hard to encourage good handwriting in the kind of cramped lines that were provided for writing on. Queen is probably a tiny bit more open and go, however.

Sonlight! (even though I'm not using it now) AAS for my Dyslexic ds