ITA with wapiti, do all the homework, every.single.day. Try to do it as early in the day as possible. My dd would be tired and after VT homework. Many days she had a headache after she finished the homework. We did a light amount of school work, with plenty of outside playing to give her brain and eyes a break.

I have a super old version of core 6 (or F), from 1999, LOL. My plan was to update it, to use again next year. Are there samples of the new 2012 IG's anywhere? The samples I found at their site look like last years.

Okay, I finally had a chance to look at what was eliminated. 22 books were taken out, but only 12 put back in?! Are you sure that there were only 12 new books? Hrm...

I'm glad you posted. I have a super old IG, for core F, from 1999. I was going to update because I wanted to use it next year, but maybe I shouldn't if they cut out so much History. Hrm what do to...

I never did calendar time with my kids. Their math taught enough of it for us.

We do the memory cards at home. I think they are fantastic for memory work. 10 minutes a day seems to do it for us :D

I don't think you *need* literature guides, but were are having a blast with a Veritas Press literature guide right now. I am using "From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenwiler", with my 4th grader. I like the Veritas Press guides, they have all sorts of fun stuff in them. You have a ton of Language Arts stuff already though, so I would only add a literature guide unless you take something out.

Who prescribed the meds for your dh? The Psychologist that dh saw, said that he has to go to his primary care doctor or a psychiatrist for medication. At first I was thinking that dh should just go see his regular doctor, now I'm thinking a psychiatrist would be better.

I"ll admit to being a math flipper. It's been really tough to find a math program that worked for my middle kids. I switched them midyear to Horizons. They both *love* it. It does have a lot of extra drill, but I solve that problem by doing 2 lessons a day, and only having my dd do half of each lesson (it's the only way I will be able to make it through the 2 fourth grade books by the end of the the summer). I'm planning on sticking with it through Algebra.

That's encourageing to hear. My poor DH is so discouraged, but he's really reluctant to take meds. What does your Dh take?

I have no idea what the subtype is. We were stuck in traffic, and late to the appointment. So, we didn't get the full 45 min with the dr, only about 20 min. He offered to reschedule, but it was so hard for us to get that appointment that we didn't want to. The dr. pretty much only recommended adhd medication. That was his only solution :glare: I've been thinking that maybe we should call and get a copy of the report so we can read it ourselves. ETA: He's not late, lost or unprepared. He really struggles with learning. He wants to get his masters dgree, and there's just no way he could multi-task well enough to do it. I was expecting to have more suggestions about helping him, but really meds was the only suggestion.

((sigh)) As if I'm not overwhelmed enough with vision therapy, and a kid who I think has dysgraphia (plus the other kids), DH was diagnosed with adult ADHD. I've thought he had adhd for a long time. But he finally decided to talk to his dr about it. He had a full psych eval and educational testing etc... They said his memory is fine, he "just" has adhd. I've been reading everything I can about adult adhd the past few days. So far I've read that omega 3's are supposed to be really good for people with adhd, but I can only find dosing info for kids. Can anyone tell me what the recommendation is for adults?

Hrm. What do you use instead for vocabulary?

We've been using Wordly Wise this year. It's working okay, but I'm not thrilled with the results. I was looking at Vocabulary Cartoons and was wondering how everyone uses it. Do you just have your kids read them, or do they write the words etc...

I think it depends on where you live. I did respite care for foster babies in Souther California several years ago. There were so many foster babies it was unbelieveable. About 50% of them went back to their family of origin, and 50% were adopted. Not all of them were mixed race, but many of them were. There were days that our local intake center could hold no more children. Plenty of babies and toddlers that were adopted, were not adopted by similar races families. It's really no big deal here in So. California, we see mixed families all the time. We have several non profit agencies that place foster kids for the county. I have 2 friends with foster babies from non-profit agencies. There's a lot more support and such for the foster parents with non profit agencies, than in the county system. You might look into it and see if there is anything like it near you. http://www.angelsfoster.org/

I have a child doing the same thing, it's so frustrating!

All the CA charter schools are so different, maybe you can find one that is more flexible. My gf had her ds take algebra in 8th grade, and was able to get the charter school to give him high school credit. I think it all depends on the charter school. Oh and what a pitb to have to drive so far to meet with your ES! Mine comes to my house, it's awesome!

We've done the entire year thus far on CA history. It's actually been a nice break. I'm using Beautiful Feet, and adding in extras from the library, and lots of field trips.

I'm trying to plan next year. I have always had such a hard time combining anything for my 2 middle kids, since they are 3 years apart. With my oldest in high school I don't have to think about what to do with him schoolwise anymore. I want to combine a few subjects for my 5th and 8th graders, neither of them are advanced or ahead. So any suggtestions for how I could combine a few subjects for 5th and 8th?

I haven't used 8th grade (though I have it...somewhere in the garage...). I am currently using the 7th grade History. I don't have him do all the activities in the student book, I pick the ones that seem most interesting. There is always a map, with directions on what countries to color, what places to mark. There are typically 4-5 activities per chaper. I do not have any of the TM's, and we really haven't needed them. HTH's

She does understand the why, she just get's all flustered when we actually do it, and can't remember the order. I should look at the Khan Academy site though, I see it mentioned a lot.

My poor dd can't for the life of her remember to steps to division. I was talking to a friend yesterday and she said her dd struggles too. She told me about a mnemonic that has helped her daughter. Anyone ever heard of Daddy, Mommy, Brother, Sister, Rover? Daddy=divide Mommy=multiply Sister=subtract Brother=bring down Rover (the dog)= repeat or remainder Maybe I've been under a rock, but this is so cool! This is totally going to help her. :D So just in case anyone else hasn't ever heard of it, I thought I'd share Here's a slide show that I'm going to show her to help her remember. ETA: Oops, I put the sister and brother in the wrong spot!

That is so exciting! :D :D She will continue to improve for 6 months after VT stops, as the connections from the eyes to the brain are solidified!

We've been seeing this doctor www.biocytonics.com .He uses Paraclear and or O'leave to clear parasites, yeast, fungus etc... It's been really amazing how well it's working.

ITA with OhElizabeth. There is *no way* your daughter will be able to do VT and all that heavy schooling. VT is exhausting. Marlie was tired, and had headaches after we did the homework. Blake not so much, but his issues weren't nearly as bad as Marlie's. There's no reason to do Barton or any other "teaching reading" things while doing VT. You never know where she will be when you are done. When Marlie finished VT, I didn't have to go back and re-teach anything. It was like all the pieces to the puzzle finally fit together for her and her reading skills exploded. Read to her, let her do fun projects, give her brain and eyes a rest, because they will be working so hard doing VT.