Have his eyes been checked? Can you SEE anything weird with the eyes? I had one kid who I have known for ages had eye problems just because I can look at pictures and see that they just don't like completely normal. Not wrong enough to notice easily, but just when you really look. I had another kid who would hold her head sideways so that she was only looking out of one eye at the paper. I only noticed kid #3's issues when trying to read using the large whiteboard. Her eyes would start on the left, move to the center, then do this weird jump thing, then she couldn't figure out what line she was supposed to be looking at. All three were cleared numerous times by a well-respected opthamologist, but I kept taking them back b/c I just knew something wasn't quite right. I finally gave up on her and went the route that I thought was hokey, but I was desperate. All three went through vision therapy. They started at separate times, and all 3 started reading about 3 months after starting the therapy. Maybe it's a coincidence, but seems like too much of a coincidence for me to buy it! Another thought - I finally outsourced teaching reading to an Academic Associates tutor who was WONDERFUL. The program wasn't very different from the much-revered Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (OPGTR) that everyone here recommends. The difference in our case was the patience level of the instructor, compared to the much-tired-of-dealing-with-it Mommy. :) Made all the difference in the world. In June, when we started, my kids were still at the CCCCCCAAAAAATTTT stage. Now, all 4 are reading above a 4th grade reading level. Best money I ever spent!

I have one kid who sounds so similar to yours as far as energy levels. We have had her in gymnastics for almost 2 years now. She can do a cartwheel, but it's not pretty. And that is about the limit of her skills. If your goal is for her to become a gymast, yes, it is a waste of time and money. But that's not my goal. Gymnastics seems to be the only thing that truly uses up ALL my kid's energy and leaves her feeling calm and ready to learn. I purposely schedule our hardest day for the morning after gymnastics day, b/c it is her best day as far as ability to sit. It's WORTH the time & money just for that. :)

Help! My planned activity for our history club tomorrow just did NOT work as expected. I need a new craft / project / activity for ancient China ASAP. What was your favorite activity for this time period? Bonus points if it can be put together from supplies I already have in the house, though I have until 10am tomorrow so could run out if I absolutely had to. :)

Does anybody have experience with one of the computer programs designed to improve working memory? Brain Balance or Cogmed or one of those? Did it work? Did it stick long-term? Do you recommend it?

I am in a middle-of-the-road Christian group for CC. The group south of us is much much more religious, and most members at that CC are fundamentalist Christians. The group north of us is a bunch of hippies, and I can't imagine that many are Christians. The point of this is to tell you that the groups REALLY vary a LOT. You need to get in with a group you will be comfortable with. As far as the CC materials themselves, last year we memorized the beginning of John 1, and this year it is the 10 Commandments. There are also a few Bible events in the timeline. So not too much, but there definitely is some Christian content.

This is exactly the challenge. I am supposed to be with the tutor / therapist, and my other kids are supposed to be doing independent schoolwork, but they are finishing and are bored and start picking at each other, and EVERY DAY I end up back and forth, back and forth. I exercise them to death before going. I can't really add any more writing/coloring type stuff as they already complain of hand fatigue. Their reading isn't to the point that they are just dying to stick noses in books for hours. I have tried bringing games for them to play together, and that's even worse. I thought if I added a computer lesson or two to each kid's daily assignments that they would be occupied a little longer!

I count days that we do the 3 biggies (math, reading, handwriting), as well as CC days. I do NOT count days at our other co-op, as that co-op is much more social than academic. Technically I think you *could* count them, but it makes me feel better to know that everything I counted was truly a real day! :)

I'm trying to justify to my husband buying the kids a cheap laptop of their own for schoolwork. What subjects/programs does your 1st or 2nd grader do on the computer on a regular basis? Rosetta Stone Spanish Math U See Dinosaur Chess What else could it be used for? We probably will NOT have internet access on this computer as we will be taking it with us to therapy appts and such.

It really shows the inter-relationships between the different branches of science. I always thought of the different branches of science as being completely separate, and having nothing to do with each other. BFSU really helps you to see how what you learn in one area relates to the others, which enables you to make generalizations. It is very conceptual, if that is possible for a science program? The full name is Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding - it's by Nebel. Do a search - tons of old posts! :)

BFSU is definitely amazing! I have it and love it! I just never do it b/c it is not open-and-go.

I did the same thing. FYI - buy on the LOW end of Sonlight's age range - P4/5 books are perfect for 5/6 year olds. We have enjoyed them even more as 7 year olds. Don't age up! I ended up only using the reading schedule, with my own math & reading. The books were great, and I used it to read the books in their order. We read a lot more than each day - they had 2 pages in this book and 2 pages in that book and so on. We would read 10 pages in one book, and then go pick up the next book they recommended. (We basically read across their schedule instead of down.) I thought I would add ideas using their lanugage arts, but boy was it terrible!! There truly was NOTHING in there worth adding to what we already had going. The problem is that there is a huge disparity between the ages their booklist is appropriate for and the ages the language arts is appropriate for. The booklist is advanced, while the language arts is remedial. I enjoyed having the schedule, but it definitely wasn't worth what I paid for it. This time around, I just bought using their booklist, but didn't pay for the instructor guide.

We joined CC 15 months ago, but I had real concerns. My triplets have some developmental challenges due to premature birth, and for 2 of them remembering things was a real problem. They couldn't execute 2 step instructions, let alone remember lists of things. I really didn't think they had any chance of being successful in CC, but it was the only co-op around here, so we joined just to meet people. Fast forward to today, and the brain training from CC has been truly unbelieveable. Not that I am a memory whiz or anything, but my kids can remember LOTS more than me. I really think the practice memorizing at CC has made all the difference. Their brains are stronger now than they were previously. And not just with dry facts - they are much more successful at dance, b/c they can remember the order of the routines. They have finally learned their church friends' names. They can remember the words to the songs in choir. Etc. etc. I truly think that working this memory work has stretched their brains in new ways. Also, whenever we come across something they have memorized for CC, they are SO much more interested in learning more about it! I look back at the things I learned in science in high school, and I memorized them for the test and forgot them. I can't help but think that had I memorized them in elementary school, and reviewed them for years, maybe I would actually remember them now! PS - as tedious and annoying as I think reviewing memory work is, my kids LOVE it. Truly. They LOVE it. They really enjoy feeling like they are so smart, that they know these facts. It's really given my kids confidence that they didn't have previously. PPS - We only review in the car, so we aren't using time that we would use learning other things.

We tried the school route before kindergarten, and what a waste that was! I had an almost-5 year old who was walking unsteadily but not running yet, and he didn't qualify for PT. I had two kids who were unable to hit a piece of paper with a crayon, let alone color neatly, and they didn't qualify for OT. The speech eval was the worst. We had done that one 2 years prior. I had a NONVERBAL 3 year old, and she didn't qualify for speech b/c she was able to point to pictures when they were named ("point to the bunny"). Their point in doing the evals was to see who made it to special ed. It was ridiculously hard to get therapy if you weren't in special ed - the thresholds were just way wrong. Their response to all my arguments was "don't worry - pull them out of all private therapies, and by 3rd grade they will fall far enough behind to qualify for special ed". That's why we homeschool. I felt extremely unprepared to take this on, but really, I couldn't do worse than what the school was offering, right??

YAY for you!!! I know that has to feel SOOOO awesome!! Please, please, please let us have a similar result!!!

Which Elemental Science is it that everyone loves? Unit Study? Living Books? Classic Series? Which is the most easy, open-and-go? Science is not getting as much attention in this house as it should...

Do I know you from TC or FB? (Megan Welfare --> James, Camille, & Meredith)

Thanks esp for comments about how to work with a group. I keep going back and forth about how to implemnent it, as I have 4 kiddos who are basically the same age / grade / reading level.

I saw the word "singleton" and thought, "oh, it's a mother of multiples! I'm homeschooling triplets and a singleton!". :)

I stumbled across this post while looking for info on dyslexia. I have one kiddo who sounds like your DD's twin. This child is FINALLY a good reader, but it took hiring a tutor to get her there. (And we did it 4-5 days a week for a LONG time.) I hate this, but I think I make her nervous. I don't mean to, but I do. We have completed vision therapy, and are on a very long waiting list for neuropsych testing. We ordered MUS Alpha for her two days ago, just b/c it seemed different from the other things we have tried, and b/c having someone other than me explaining is bound to be a good thing at this point. :( It makes me so happy to see several comments above that MUS helped their kid!!

We don't get around to things like Rosetta Stone very often, b/c my kids have to use my laptop and I HATE sharing. We are thinking of getting one (or two if they aren't too expensive) laptops just for them. I do NOT want anything fancy. I would also like to teach them to type and things like that. I don't think we will store much on there other than programs for them to use. That would be a laptop, right? Or can you put software like that on an Ipad? Thoughts? Recommendations?

THANKS!!!

My kids are reading well - 3rd or 4th grade level both for phonics & comprehension. We are about ready to start picking up some of the next language arts stuff - AAS, FLL, & WWE. Given that, can you give me some idea about how long I should expect it to take to get through AAS Level 1? Level 2? Level 3? (Assume 4 days a week.) Do we need to do all the way through Level 7? Or will we have hit the high points after some certain level? Do the levels roughly correspond to grades? Would you expect to be doing this through 7th grade? And lastly, assuming 4 days a week, about how many minutes per day do you spend on this with each child? THANKS!

We are about 2/3 of the way through our 2nd year homeschooling. I am busily writing a new future plan, having completely scrapped the pre-HSing, and after 1 yr HSing plans. :) A plan is great for figuring out where you want to go, but don't feel too tied to it. As your kids grow and learn, you have to figure out how to get them to the end goal, and the plan has to flex to get you there. As for CC, we did it last year and this year, and will continue, b/c at this point in life it is moving us in the direction of our end goals. I don't know if we will continue into the upper levels, but the memory work from there has really enhanced our at-home studies. My kids are SO much more interested in the things that they have already learned a little something about, and retain a lot more about subjects that they have hit first at CC. I also really like that they do science experiments & art projects there, b/c those are the first things I avoid when we are pressed for time! :) So I would say, yes, it is worth doing in lower levels even if you don't plan to continue long-term. (That assumes that you like/get along with the other moms & enjoy being there. If you don't enjoy the company, I can see how it could quickly become a dreaded thing.)

We use CC just as memory work, and we rarely do anything with it other than review in the car. I treat it like one "subject", and use completely different things for math, reading, writing, science, & history. That being said, my kids pay a lot more attention in CC class when they have a clue what the memory work is about. So I do, most of the time, try to read the kids a short book about the topic right BEFORE it comes up in class. (Like a "Let's Read & Find Out" type book for science, a "You Wouldn't Want to Be" book for history, find a few of the interesting things on the back of the timeline cards, etc..) I go through once every 6 weeks and pull all the books I want to do, and they are in a bin ready to go. When I get behind, DH uses them for bedtime reading. We do locate our history lessons on our CC timeline, and I went through my SOTW book and CC Foundations Guide together last summer, and wrote the CC history sentences into my SOTW book at the appropriate places. That way, I can review them together when we come across them. I have found that I actually don't have to bring them up, though - my kids usually remember (and are thrilled!) when SOTW crosses paths with something they have memorized at CC.

How do your kids prepare for the geography portion of Classical Conversations' Memory Master proofing? Without geography, 2 of my kids could probably make it, but remembering where those locations are has been a bear!