I totally agree with OhElizabeth. A visagraph printout doesn't lie, you can see what's going on when you see that print out. There are other things that they can say, "see he can't do this and he should be able to." And a dr who wants that much $$ upfront is wacked imo!

We paid 300 something for the initial evaluation. Then the dr. made his recommendations based on their results. One of my kids had 12 weeks of therapy, the other he recommended only 10 weeks. The sessions were $100 for a half an hour appointment. They gave a 5% discount for paying the entire thing upfront.

MamaFrog, we are using them for memorization, but it's really different than any method I've tried before. The cards have the facts on them, and there's a story that goes along with each card. There is a method to teaching the facts that's listed on one of the cards. It's something like, read card to child, ask them about colors, pictures, numbers, tell them to take a pciture with their eyes, then describe the card with their eyes closed etc...After 2-3 days of this my dd had facts memorized that we've been working on for years! For now I sometimes have to remind her of the story, by saying something like, "8x4 unfriendly snowman", but it's a huge imporvement, she actually seems to have them committed to memory for the first time. Here's 8x4 Then the story goes like this; There once was a cactus out in the desert that was very lonely. One day the snowman appeared on the hill next to him. The cactus was so excited to have a new friend, but when he tried talking to the snowman he found out that the snowman was not friendly at all. The snowman started calling the cactus names and made him cry! The cactus then called his friend the sun to come and play with him. The sun appeared with his 32 rays of sunshine and the mean snowman went away. What do you think happened to the snowman?

Your kids are pretty old. If they were little I'd be on alert, but with older kids you'll probably be fine. I let my 10 and 12 year olds run ahead to rides and such. As long as they know what cast members look like, you will be okay.

I'm doing Dianne Craft's "Brain Integration Therapy" with my two middle kids. So far so good, it seems to be helping. One of our huge hurdles for my daughter has been multiplication facts. She's almost 11 and in 5th grade. We've been working on multiplication facts since 3rd grade. I've done so many different things so help her, it's crazy. I bought Dianne Craft's Right Brain Multiplication cards, and have been following her instructions to help my dd memorize them. This is the beginning of week 3 using them. We introduce 5 facts a week. She knows 10 facts already, and is on her way to learning the 5 for this week. It's amazing. I can't believe how easy it's been. Diane says that right brain learners need pictures, color, humor etc.. to help things stick. At first I thought it was stupid, showing her the fact cards and reading the whole long story to her, but she totally gets it. :D So if anyone else's kid is struggling with multiplication facts, it's definitely worth a try! http://stores.diannecraft.org/Detail.bok?no=14

I did VT with two of our kids, our insurance paid aboslutely nothing. I'd try to appeal the decision. For kids who really need VT, it's a miracle maker.

I wouldn't do Writing with Ease and R&S English with a 2nd grader. I would just do R&S. I think both is too much for younger elementary kids. I also wouldn't do vocab, just have her read read read.

I think a 6th grader could do it independently. I'm doing it with my 8th and 5th graders, and we are doing the reading together, and the book work independently. I really really like it, it's a very rich program.

It can be really hard to find an ADHD medication that works for adults. DH was recently diagnosed, and he's already tried 4 medications, none of which have worked for him. His dr said it typically takes 6 months for adults to find a medication that works for them.

I've been homeschooling from the beginning. Yes, it's the STAR test. It's a totally unhelpful test, I hate it. When we were with a private ISP the kids had to take the SAT9. That was a much better test IMO. I know you can buy it and administer it yourself. I'm tempted to. The STAR gives so little information :glare:

((sigh)) They came this weekend, those pesky papers that tell you how your kid falls inline with all the other kids in CA. I was really hoping my middle two would score better this year, but no they didn't, blah. They are still "far below basic" in math and "below basic" in English. I know they are struggling, and we worked so hard last year in areas that they were weak. I know they did better last school year. I know because I saw their work improve and their comprehension get better. I don't put a lot of stock into those darn scores, but sheesh, it's still discouraging. :tongue_smilie:

Dianne Craft has an interesting plan for kids who struggle with spelling. I haven't tried it, but it seems like it might work. http://www.diannecraft.org/tutor3.htm#3 Do not teach spelling using the writing or auditory gates as they are generally blocked in bright, yet struggling children. Rather, teach them how to use their photographic memory to easily store spelling words to long-term memory. These children feel smart when you they learn this way. It may seem like more work at first, but it is immensely successful and much more fun for you and the child. Spelling will become much easier as you go along through the year. On Monday of each week, use the "most commonly used words" list and words from the child’s daily writing that they have misspelled (not words from a regular spelling book) to give the child a pre-test to find out which words aren't known to make your spelling list for the week. Since many of these bright youngsters have a writing glitch, give them the test orally (you can write the words for them if you want). This way, you'll really find out which words they don't know, not which words they could write correctly. Remember: kids with a writing glitch often inadvertently leave out a letter in a word when they write it. When you have identified between 10-to-15 words that the child doesn’t know (these words can also be taken from the papers they write), make up cards for these words, working with your child. Write the letters that they spelled correctly in black magic marker on the cards. Write the letters they misspelled in color. You often have to put a picture on those tricky letters. For example, in the word “Saturday†make the “u†be a swimming pool with a stick figure person diving into it. You can glue stars, marshmallows, M&M's, etc. on letters that don't want to stick in the memory. At first, the cards will be quite elaborate as you are training your child to use his or her photographic memory. You will find that, after several weeks, you need to put less and less on the words and the child will still remember it. Once the cards are made, have your child sit in a chair with his or her eyes in an upward position. Put the card up high in the air, point out a few letters or pictures, and direct the child to take a quick "snapshot" with his or her eyes. Do this for "five looks" then take it down and ask questions about the colors and pictures of the letters. Then, ask the child to spell the word forwards and backwards. Backwards/reverse spelling is extremely important to this process: if the child can't easily spell the word backwards, he or she isn't seeing a picture of it and the word will quickly fade in his or her memory, even if he or she passes the weekly test. If the child continues to get a letter wrong, put more “jazz†on that letter either by using more pictures or a silly story. If you are working with only one child you can do this process for every word, every day, and then take the test on Friday. If the child is struggling with the word, always direct his or her eyes upward to access the photographic memory. If he or she is still struggling then offer some visual clues like "What are the colors of the letters?" The colors often will pull up the letters in their mind. If you are teaching more than one child, after showing the cards individually on Monday, you can put the spelling cards up high on a wall that the child looks at regularly throughout the day. Each day, have him or her turn her back on the cards and tell you colors, pictures, and how to spell each word forwards and backwards. If a certain letter continues to be difficult to recall in a word you will need to put more "Velcro" or "glue" on the word using emotions, humor, color, etc. so it will stick in the child’s mind more effectively. Often, the child can come up with these extra, silly visual cues. Remember: five “looks†at each word, five days in a row. As the year progresses, the child can write the spelling words in good sentences each week. The writing process will become easier by performing the daily writing eight exercises. You can do this sight word spelling program along with any phonics-based spelling program. To receive a list of the 500 most commonly-used words to use as spelling words, email me at craft@ecentral.com. Some mothers and teachers make the mistake of making the spelling words on small, index-size cards and use light, pastel colors for the letters or make every letter in a different color which gives the child no pattern to take a picture of. This consistently leads to the failure to store the words in the child’s long-term memory. The child will only remember the words long enough to pass the end of the week spelling test. This, of course, is definitely not our goal. Remember, BIG, BOLD PATTERNS and humor if necessary for memory grips. Strong “Visual Velcro†is what these children need.

If you have preteens and or teens and they have an actually have a bedtime, I'm curious what it is. We are re-evaluating bedtimes and I was wondering what the norm was. :bigear:

My dh is looking at starting a plumbing apprenticeship program. We just found out that he has to take an "aptitude test" before being accepted into the program. He was supposed to sign up today, but was missing one document, so he was planning to sign up Thrusday or Friday. How can I help him study for this test? He's not the greatest in math. If we had more time we could buy a book, but our time is very limited! Any online suggestions for math review?

We are "supposed" to be doing US history.

Anyone anyone??

We've been all over the place with our study of history. We've done multiple curriculums (songliht, SOTW etc..) and at least touched on all time periods over the past many years. I'd really like to combine my 5th and 8th graders this year as it's probably their last year studying the same thing. I need a suggestion for something not heavily literature based, that isn't too teacher intensive. Thoughts :confused:

We put Net Nanny on our computer and it didn't work very well :001_huh:. Try Safe Eyes, it's what we've been using for a while now.

That's awesome! Dianne's book has been on my list of things to buy. :D

Yes, but be forwarned it took several weeks for the books to arrive when I ordered from the hotel meeting vs ordering them yourself online.

I switched my dd from Horizons to Singapore, then back to Horizons :blush: I liked the idea behind Singapore, but she got frustrated and bored with doing the same things over and over before moving to a new topic. I wouldn't change what's working...

These are great! Thanks for sharing.

I just checked them out. Ail looks awesome, but it's 51 bucks a month ouch!

Which one are you using? I've been thinking about trying something like that with my 4 year old.

We are in CA and love love love our charter school. I used a private ISP for 8 years before switching. Everyone gets in such a dither about "oh your not a homeschooler anymore if you use a homeschool charter. blah blah blah". My kids still do school everyday in my house with me as the teacher with books and supplies I choose. It' still homechooling, only now I get $700 per year to buy whatever secular curriculum I want or pay for dance or art etc...Best of both worlds when you have a bunch of kids and need the extra $$$.