Just for clarification to an above post, the Amish and Mennonites don't homeschool as a rule. They send their kids to private, parochial, and in a few cases, public schools. I used them as an example because they had to fight very hard for the right to establish their own schools and succeeded mostly because well, they took their cause to the Supreme Court and won, but also because they could demonstrate that they were educating their children to state standards, or at any rate, to what individual states deemed an acceptable level. The point being, if, like the Amish, homeschoolers can regulate themselves effectively, other agencies will be less likely to step in and do it for them. We need data!!!!!!

The Amish did something similar starting in the 1950s when they began to withdraw from mainstream education and create their own schools. At first, they were closely monitored, but over time, as the Amish proved they could regulate themselves well, with excellent results for their students, the state DOEs eased off. Part of this is because the Amish mostly welcome state testing.

It's more complicated than this. A normal child who was years behind academically would go into special ed. because they would likely qualify for specialized instruction to be able to catch up. This would be a general education placement with "pull-outs" to a resource room for the 3 Rs. The child would be put on an IEP with goals for remediation, to get the child up to grade level asap. If the child did not meet their goals within the stated time frame, the school would need to provide a reason for it, and modify the IEP accordingly. By law, a child can NEVER be moved from a mainstream educational setting into a self contained classroom, away from NT peers, unless the school can demonstrate, with evidence/evaluations etc., that their needs can only be met in the more restrictive setting. A developmentally normal child who was simply "not responding" would never receive such a placement My point was to compare the current level of accountability of public schools to that of homeschools and to point out how children with the described level of knowledge would be perceived within the ps system.

Maybe the question with regards to standards of neglect can be reframed as, "If this child was in public school and had this level of knowledge, would I consider the school neglectful?" How much more flexible should the standards be for homeschooling? In public school, a child who was not reading by age 8 would qualify for special education. So would kids who could barely multiply at age 12. Whether or not they were nice or socialized or of good moral character would not absolve the public schools of the responsibility of educating them to state standards. So how/when/ why should homeschools be absolved of that same responsibility? Should state standards be applicable to hsers or not? If not, then each state needs to come up with its own definition of neglect as it pertains to hsing if they want to monitor it. Obviously I am in favor of increased accountability and of obtaining hard data on homeschoolers. :D

Have you ever looked at R&S for grammar and math? I ask because it has explicit instruction and constant review, so it's much harder for a child to forget how to do something. My son has similar issues with retention and these two curricula have done wonders for his confidence. My suggestion is to take a break for a week or two before making any decisions. It's sounds like something needs to change, but when you are as exhausted as you say, it's hard to have perspective.

Calvert Spelling has worked well for us. Quick and painless and my son is showing good retention.

Yes, there is truth in it. Smells of food can trigger insulin reactions in some people, which of course, contributes to weight gain.

Hm. I just tried the free trial for Homeschool Planet and find it very helpful, not so much for the box checking, day to day type stuff, but more to keep an idea of the big picture and to ensure that we stay on track with our goals. For example, if I realize that we are going to be done with such-and-such a curriculum at such and such a date, and we are on track, then it's fine to take a break for a week if we want to. Or if we are behind in a subject and want to move ahead quickly, maybe we'll keep going. Or if we're taking forever to get through something, I can look at the schedule and get a better of idea of why. How long have we actually been doing it? Is the workload realistic? Do we need to change up our routine a bit? What about outside activities? Can I make some modifications to the curriculum? When I can track the work we actually did on any given day, it's much easier for me to answer those questions. I guess by putting in that sort of framework, I feel I'm freed up to be more flexible, not less. I wouldn't do HS Planet if it took a huge amount of work to maintain though, or if I couldn't change the assignments around very easily. I guess it gives me a lot of freedom on any given day, while still having "a plan".

This is synthetic phonics!!!! I looked around for materials to purchase a few years ago and couldn't find anything reasonably priced. Woot!

Calvert Second Grade. Both boys have fond memories of their first grade curriculum and it taught them to read very well but the second grade box just gradually sucked the life out of everyone. We've had other bombs but none as bad as this.

Try Diana Rowland, both the Demon and Zombie series.

Make a good attitude (or no complaining) an educational goal for her. Break it down into specific actions she needs to do, then reward for doing it. This kind of thing--attitude, work on non-preferred tasks etc., imo, is as important as school work for these kids.

We don't use the complete package because it would be way too much in the same style for us. I love the lit. guides, though. My oldest struggles with reading comprehension and vocabulary, so from a remedial learning standpoint I think they are absolutely wonderful, better than anything else I've seen.

Thank you. What a fantastic list!

I keep returning to this one. Parenting Children with ADHD by Vincent J. Monastra http://www.amazon.com/Parenting-Children-ADHD-Medicine-Lifetools/dp/1591471826/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1402019716&sr=8-18&keywords=parenting+your+adhd+child

Briefly, no, I don't think your feelings are unreasonable or that it is unreasonable to expect advance notice. If you really, really like them, I would try explaining your difficulties and asking for more notice, but if they didn't accommodate you, or if you don't think they're completely fabulous, I'd try a new practice. We've had two speech therapists and three OTs. They would switch us on occasion over the summer as you mention, but they always communicated the change well in advance and tried hard find out about and work with peoples' schedules.

I've heard mixed results. I keep intending to try them but the price tag is daunting to me as well. During their summer camps the kids can earn a stipend by clearing trails for Mountains to Sound. One 12 year old boy I know really enjoyed this and the camp generally, and felt the people "got him". Another Mom reported that the high school age kids were left to their own devices too much and that it didn't turn into the friendship opportunity she hoped it would. Another friend with a ten year old tried one of the school year social groups. I gather that whether or not these help can really depend on the group. Sometime the groups get fairly cliqueish and it's hard for a new kid to "break in" and sometimes the behavior can get pretty crazy, as in, kids literally trying to climb the walls. So I guess it depends. You could always try and see. They do have some specific interest groups for older kids. One camp I do highly, highly recommend is Blue Compass. Well worth the money. Oh, and I've heard good thing about Dr. Amy Ford's groups in Issaquah.

Because the child has never been in ps before, the school may be giving him a trial run to see how the issues will play out in the classroom. Eight weeks does seem like a reasonable time frame for this. They are doing this because the in-class difficulties are what the school actually accommodates in the 504 or IEP, vs. the issues themselves per se. The point of accommodations is "level the playing field" for the child with problems so they have equal access to a "free and public education", not to actually fix the learning issue--an important distinction. Actually fixing it, as far as that goes, is still on the parents. :)

Check out Blue Compass Camps as well. Both Blue Compass and Aspiring Youth offer scholarships, but you need to ask specifically. How about starting a weekly game session for "quirky kids"? You can post info with the local hsing groups and meet at the community room in the library if you'd like. Check out the high schools in your district. They may have afterschool clubs that match his interests. There is a church on the plateau--I think it's called Eastridge. Apparently they have a large youth group and are both welcoming and inclusive. It's been a wonderful social outlet for the spectrum-ish daughter of a friend of mine. *** Your quote: "The neuro-psych said that if he hadn't specifically tested him, that he wouldn't have been able to tell that he was ASD. So I assume that means he's high functioning? He does have issues but he saves them for home and specifically for me." Yes, that means he is high-functioning. A lot of kids on the spectrum, high or low, do exactly that--save the worst behavior/anxiety etc. for home & Mom. I guess your neuro-psych meant that to be reassuring? Kind of a dubious remark, imo. Since I live very near you, I'm getting curious about who this is.

I agree with your dh. We get mail every once in a while, but nothing of any import. If you've been returning mail up until now, I'd say your obligation is pretty much done.

He might not see the point of doing the work if he already understands it. I try to tell my kids that if they just demonstrate to me that they know it, instead of balking, we can move through the material much faster.

I'm sorry it took me a little time to get back to you! When I say that Common Core has been a disaster for my ASD son, I'm saying in shorthand that the CC emphasis on increased conceptual thinking and abstract problem-solving at earlier and earlier ages (as well as the trend towards accelerated learning at earlier ages generally) has utterly failed him. He cannot learn this way. For him, the basics need to come first and foremost. Everyday Math is a lovely example of this kind of curriculum, and is the one they use at our local ps. No rote learning, computation skills are given short shrift, lots of games, scant review, often no direct point to the assignments. At our house, that philosophy led to meltdown after meltdown and zero retention. But if you take an old style program, such as Rod & Staff, with an old style developmental timetable, with step by step, incremental learning, explicit instructions and lots of review, he does just fine. He might make mistakes, but he understands what he is supposed to do and why he needs to do it. Here's a specific example: Everyday Math starts asking kids to make change in first grade, without explicitly teaching the math facts that make it possible to do that kind of mental math. In R&S, the facts are explicitly taught and drilled and the level of mental math required for "making change" is started in third grade, after all the facts have been taught. It's interesting that my younger, neurotypical son in ps manages to muddle through his Everyday Math assignments and do double digit addition in first grade, but can't apply what he's learned to anything outside of the EM worksheets and hasn't learned any math facts. HTH!

Bump.

I'm laughing to myself because I agree with his ideas, but his arguments in support aren't great. I agree with his comments about privatization in general and the motives of many who promote charter schools. I do think that it is a myth that our public schools are failing. I do believe that there is increased accountability and transparency in institutions run on public funds vs. companies in the private sector. I see this last in action daily now that my older son is in private school, paid for by our school district, and there's very little accountability and less transparency. They make our public school look positively forthcoming. As for rest, maybe he's too busy with his preschoolers to do a lot of research....:)