For my dc, I had time goals. For kindergarten they had to read 20 minutes a day. First grade, 30 minutes. Second grade, 40 minutes. Third grade, 50 minutes. Fourth grade on up, 60 minutes. Per day. I also asked them to keep a book list just so I could see what they were reading (and to remember books that "worked" at a certain grade level when the next dc came up). I printed the calendar and they got to use my cute stamping markers to stamp each day they read their assigned minutes. Also, the per day was five days a week (not weekends) so I could monitor/encourage that the reading be done.

Mine came in yesterday's mail...I think. Possibly Tuesday's mail. But yeah, it just arrived. :)

I am aware of my children's learning styles, primarily because the oldest is very much like me (and I know what MY style is!) and the younger two have learning disabilities/differences. Also, I taught special education for six years before having kids so I sort of naturally assess strengths and weaknesses without even having to think about it much. That said, I tend to teach in a similar fashion to the way that *I* learn best. That sounds sort of selfish, but it is comfortable for me. One of my kids has auditory processing problems and a language disorder; so I know that information presented orally is going to be hard for her. So I make adjustments...repetition is required for her, so I invested in the audio CDs for some of our subjects. Memory work is hard for her, so we do less of it but do it more often and for a longer duration (same material reviewed for months instead of weeks). One of my kids has trouble with visual-motor tasks, motor planning, and general strength...he also has an intention tremor. These things impact his ability to do written work but he does brilliantly orally. So I've backed off on the handwriting requirements for him while still requiring him to practice handwriting and to do a fair amount. I don't necessarily teach to their strengths by making it "fun" but I present the information in a more traditional way and then make modifications based on what I know about their strengths and weaknesses. We also spend time trying to remediate weaknesses (hence my post about which school subjects would you be willing to drop due to therapies...we have two kids in speech therapy, two kids in occupational therapy, and one [possibly two; we'll know soon] in physical therapy. We also did in-home vision therapy as well as in-home brain integration therapy for a time, which ate up some of our school hours).

I thought about posting this on the Special Needs board but it isn't nearly as busy...and I know lots of you here have kids in therapy. Here's our deal. We have three kids, grades 6, 3, and 1. Two are in speech therapy. Two are in occupational therapy. One (and possibly two--waiting for the recommendation/possible referral) are in physical therapy. All of this takes time...time away from school subjects. Obviously, in my ideal world, we would cover all subjects and attend all therapy sessions. Reality is, we *can't* do it all. Something has to give. And any time one kid has therapy, all three miss school! Maybe my question should be worded: What subjects would you make sure to keep despite having to spend hours in therapy (and commuting to and from therapy) each week?

We have to do 4 hours a day for 172 days of instruction. That's 688 hours per school year. It's also 115 days at 6 hours a day. ;)

Please help by recommending your favorite kids' typing program (this would be for mid to late elementary grades and into middle school). TIA!!

I can't remember what you all liked better (much less why)... Do I want Typing Tutor or Typing Instructor? If they wouldn't name them such close names I could probably remember. :o This would be for 11yo 6th grader (and later, for the other two)...

I don't know a lot about seizures, but what I've been reading on medical causes of autism lately (in a new book, Autism and its medical management : a guide for parents and professionals / Michael G. Chez.) which was recommended here on the boards, seizures and autism do sometimes go together. I've asked our pediatrician if absence seizures could be why my not-autistic-but-we-don't-know-what-it-is dd can be so spacey, why she misses language and social cues, etc. If I were you, I'd definitely ask the pediatrician about getting Reece tested, too. Lots of :grouphug: to you all.

By "formalize" I mean we had to start together, like a class. Think "circle time" from preschool/kindergarten if you are familiar with that. We gathered all together, started with a prayer (obviously if this doesn't suit you, starting with a memory-work item of some type can work just as well) and a song (often associated with memory work). Then we did the read-aloud (from scriptures and then from history). Only after that did we disperse to desks for "seatwork." When my ds was not in school but wanted to be included, I bought the Kumon workbooks so he could have something to do. When he was done (which was entirely dependent upon how much "school" he "felt like" doing) he would go to another part of the house to play. Or, I would get out the educational puzzles (alphabet, United States map, etc.) and he was allowed to use those. He was also allowed to use the math manipulatives we have (we use Saxon and have TONS of manipulatives). I toyed with the idea (but never actually did it) of having "calendar" be part of our morning gathering ("circle time"). This would accomplish the Meeting part of the Saxon early grades by going over the date, day of the week, days of the week, months of the year, etc. These are just my initial thoughts...if I come up with something else I'll post again.

and decided he wanted to eat LOTS more vegetables and fruit and hardly any meat. Of course, we have a freezer full of steaks, roasts, chicken, fish, and the like. Part of it also is his uncle, who just had a heart attack at 59. Dh feels he's at risk and needs to make some dietary changes. Basically, he wants go go meatless...but for now milk, cheese, eggs, etc. are fine. I'm just desperate for favorite, no-fail, yummy recipes! I'm used to cooking chicken and rice, chicken casseroles, pot roast, BBQ this or that, pan-fried fish, etc. I don't know what to cook or how to cook it. So far the biggest hit has been something called "Mexican Lasagna" that I got out of a cookbook. :001_unsure:

vegetarian or vegan recipe!! How am I supposed to cook meatless dishes for a man who, up until now, has believed "It's not dinner unless there's meat in it!"? Ack!:confused:

I've noticed that as I've gotten older (and had kids--does that have anything to do with it?) that my attention span is shorter and I'm likely to fall asleep during long shows (movies included). Music helps keep my attention! I'm also not a strong auditory learner (words) and even though live performances ARE visual, I need the music to help me comprehend the words.

I just got my custom orthotics yesterday. Aahhhhh. My feet DO feel better already. Background: I started running in July 2007; by April 2008 I had developed such bad plantar fasciitis I could barely walk in the mornings. After a couple of months of various over-the-counter type orthotics and inserts as well as a Foot Rubz ball and stretching, I got an appointment with the podiatrist. So... I have some questions about my new orthotics. I'm already tossing the three pairs of shoes I've been wearing with the over-the-counter type. My new orthotics are in a new pair of shoes. The doctor suggested padded (especially in the heel) socks until my feet heal. Do you have any you highly recommend/love/couldn't live without? If you have orthotics, why do you have them and how old were you when you got them? If you got orthotics because of a problem like mine, how long was it before you could resume running/normal activities? How long do they last? Do you have to get new ones every so often? Do they do a "remold" of your feet when you get new ones or can they use the original molds? These crazy things were expensive ($395 with no insurance coverage) but so far (24 hours later) seem worth it...

Where we lived, kindergarten was full-day only; no option. While are oldest was definitely ready for school in all the academic ways, she still napped in the afternoons at age 4! We couldn't imagine sending her to school all. day. long. And it seemed especially ridiculous given that the kids had a "rest time" after lunch--why not just send them home before lunch!?!? We did not like not having an option. Then, we found out a number of people in our church were homeschooling. One family had 8 children with a 9th on the way, and their kids were extremely impressive in both knowledge and behavior. We listened to them speak, we watched their actions, and we wanted to know their "secret," LOL. So I visited with the mom, who was very hesitant to speak with me because they had been ridiculed for the number of kids they had, the fact that they were homeschooling all of them, etc. When she finally understood that I was genuinely impressed with her family and wanted to learn about homeschooling, she opened up. She is the one who directed me to The Well-Trained Mind. She said if she were just starting to homeschool (by that time her oldest was 18) she would be using TWTM. I went home and got a copy of TWTM put on hold at the library. When I brought it home, I had to wrestle it away from dh in order to have a chance to read it. This is worth mentioning because dh RARELY actually READS an entire book...he skims, he skips, he "gets the gist"...and then he puts it down. After reading TWTM we decided two things. First, boy had we ever been ripped off in our own education! Second, our kids were going to have a better education than we did. TWTM gave us the courage and the tools to begin an experiment--teaching our oldest dd to read. When that worked, we did kindergarten, again on a "trial basis." When that was successful, we continued into first grade. Somewhere during the experimental years, we realized that our second dd would go to school, fail, be labeled, and be miserable. Her behavior was just not conducive to traditional teaching and learning situations. We were grateful that we had found homeschooling and in so doing had found a way to ensure that she got a good education in a supportive, adaptive environment. In a nutshell: We chose to homeschool because it "felt right" and we wanted to...and now it is also a necessity due to the special needs of our children!

My 8.5yo dd has some learning challenges involving language. So, following verbal instruction is difficult. Also, she had a great deal of trouble learning to read (we were stuck at the c-v-c stage forever!), struggled with letter reversals in writing, etc. It has been said that teaching kids who struggle with reversals to write in cursive can help eliminate the reversals. Well, dd is having a great deal of trouble learning cursive. On top of that, there is no such thing as uniform slant in her handwriting...the letters lean this way and that, they have too many "humps," etc. I really didn't expect it to be this hard! She has been "dying" to learn cursive and now she is frustrated, crying over handwriting, and generally developing a strong dislike (rapidly approaching hatred) of cursive. Anyone have some BTDT experience and advice to offer? I'm :bigear:. TIA

It sort of came from the idea of a "fireside," which, in my experience, has been an evening meeting of religious instruction. Since we rarely have a fire in our fireplace and don't school in the evenings, but we do have a heart in the family room (and it is where we spent a lot of time "doing school" when the kids were younger), we came up with "hearthside." It seemed appropriate since we try to weave religious instruction in with our academic subjects. :001_smile:

Do you have a favorite version? Please post the title and author! TIA

Calling the bank again (it sounds like maybe they already told you "no" about reversing the charges...???). It can't hurt to ask again, and to ask to speak to the higher-ups. The worst they can do is say no. I've had much success by simply asking for things to be turned around in my favor. This is not to say that I take advantage--but more like if I feel that I should have been able to use a coupon, had a charge reversed, had a discount applied, I call and ask. I also take names (usually by asking, "Please tell me your name again so I can write it down"--then they know I'm making notes), dates, and times. I'm all for asking (and more than once, especially if you otherwise have not been a problem or asked for favors in the past). Good luck.

Did PayPal send the refund from the same place the funds went to? In other words, if the funds went into your PayPal balance then the refund should come out of the PayPal balance. Does that make sense? I ask because when I've been refunded, the refund goes to the same place the money came out of (i.e. my credit card account) and NOT to my PayPal balance (or my bank account). I just thought maybe if they put the money "in the wrong place" maybe PayPal could rectify the situation.

and I have made occasional visits to your blog, too. I'm *constantly* getting rid of stuff. Stuff drives me crazy. Unfortunately, getting rid of it takes so. much. time. I was going to do my office this summer...but we went on vacation (experiences over stuff, you know!). What I really wanted to say, though, was don't feel badly about the new dining room set! You didn't ADD it to an existing one, you are REPLACING the (ugly) one you had. I was going to suggest an area rug to "tone down" the black/white checkerboard in the dining room...but I saw someone else already suggested it. Having the pattern around the edges will probably end up setting off the new dining set nicely! Please post pictures on your blog when you get the dining room set up with the new furniture. Getting the new dining room set is similar to what I did last week. After my dd dropped yet another dish and it shattered (requiring 30 minutes of cleaning up tiny shards) I decided we were getting new dishes. So I got on Craigslist and found someone selling an older pattern of Pfaltzgraff stoneware. I ended up with 148 pieces for $200. So what did I do? I gathered up ALL of my old dishware, photographed it, and put in on Craigslist. Yesterday I sold 66 pieces of my largest set for $75. I have another 15 pieces listed for $10. Since my new set came with matching glasses, I also put my 33 glasses on Craigslist for $15. If they don't sell...I'll donate! I have a hierarchy for getting rid of stuff: 1. Hand it down to a family member who needs and will appreciate and use it (this works primarily for ds's clothes being handed down to my 2-years-younger nephew--as long as we pack it up and ship it the DAY my ds outgrows it...otherwise nephew will outgrow it before it gets there!). 2. Sell it...Amazon.com, eBay, Craigslist, kids secondhand stores, etc. and use the money for upgrades (in books, clothes, dishes, furniture, etc.). 3. Donate it (Goodwill, ARC, etc.). So...I didn't ADD to my clutter when I bought the "new" dishes, I replaced what I use/need with an equivalent that we use/need. And EVERYONE is loving it. Funniest thing is, the "new" set I bought is 18 years old and the stuff I got rid of is 17 years old. **sigh** Oh, well!

I find that it depends on the grade level of the kid...with the younger ones, I'm usually standing right there, correcting as they do it. With the oldest one, I'm constantly behind in getting papers corrected because she works alone (and takes forever!). Do you schedule time to correct/grade papers? Do your kids correct/grade their own work? Suggestions (primarily for making correcting/grading easier on the teacher!) welcome. TIA

too many people will NOT notice the "a" in there and you will be Pizza. Seriously. I have a name that is rather uncommon BUT was in the news a LOT several years ago...and people still call me by several other names. In other words, even though it was in the news, spelled the same way I spell it, people can't pronounce it. My last name is constantly mispronounced...people read the "ch" as a "ck" or the "ar" as "er"...I don't get it. I guess what I'm saying is I would be worried that most people wouldn't see the "a" in Piazza and would always be confused/concerned/dumbfounded as to why you named your homeschool "Pizza." We'd never use our name (besides for the mispronunciation problems it generates) or our street name or our city name, either--for the reasons you stated.

More than once. Every time on re-test things are "normal." Usually they tell me it must have just been "irritation" of some type. I think it is fairly common (at least that is what I was told).

I'm trying to narrow my thoughts down enough to get it into one sentence. It's not working all that well--so I thought I'd ask for help from the hive. :) TIA

hth