Thanks everyone. Those are great ideas. I think she is okay on her subitization but I have two little special needs boys we adopted from China that definitely fit this description. I found it so odd as none of the 10 we have had experienced this deficit so I didn't know there was a term for it. I appreciate all of the suggestions for getting through the testing too. Thanks!

Thank-you for your detailed reply and suggestions. It will take a two weeks to get through the placement test. Ugh! But we just keep slugging through. Can you explain what subitization skills are? I am not familiar with the term. Thanks! ally

My 14 yr old (8th grade) has an average IQ with very slow processing speed, less than the 5th percentile. She also has memory issues. I recently brought her back home after a year in a small private school. I've been trying to use Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra but she is really struggling. She does not like to do things on the computer so I've been having her watch the lesson but work the problems out of the book. Afterwards, enter the answers into the program and watch the solutions to the ones she missed. Saxon is not an option as it moves to quickly for her and has too many problems. It can take her 2-3 hours to complete a lesson. Does anyone have any suggestions? I think I need a workbook format where she writes in the book. Thanks!

Thanks so much. I have hesitated with Explode the Code on-line as he did finish book 3 this summer. I will check out the others.

We are loving Where the Mountain Meets the Moon right now with my two 11 yr olds and 13 yr olds. It is in our Sonlight Core F curriculum and is a wonderful Chinese fairy tale book that has a beautiful story line woven through.

My son was adopted from China at the age of 6 1/2. He is now 8 and in 2nd grade. He is struggling academically but not receiving help at school except ESL. I would like to supplement him after school with some things on the computer since he enjoys it. I think he would respond better as he would view as a privilege to work on the computer and not more "school work". What are your recommendations for math and reading work. I am considering Time4learning but would love to know of other programs people liked. We did reading eggs last year and I didnt see a lot of value to it. He figured out ways around actually learning the material. Thanks for your help

My son was adopted from China at the age of 6 1/2. He is now 8 and in 2nd grade. He is struggling academically but not receiving help at school except ESL. I would like to supplement him after school with some things on the computer since he enjoys it. I think he would respond better as he would view as a privilege to work on the computer and not more "school work". What are your recommendations for math and reading work. I am considering Time4learning but would love to know of other programs people liked. We did reading eggs last year and I didnt see a lot of value to it. He figured out ways around actually learning the material. Thanks for your help

Thank-you all for replying. This is a veteran teacher so I am a bit surprised that she thinks this is developmentally appropriate. This little guy is my #10 and so I've been down this road a time or two. I ramp up the academics slowly for my kids but expect a lot from my middle and high schoolers. I was beginning to think maybe I was wrong in thinking it was too much for even a regular 1st grader.

Thank-you all for replying. This is a veteran teacher so I am a bit surprised that she thinks this is developmentally appropriate. This little guy is my #10 and so I've been down this road a time or two. I ramp up the academics slowly for my kids but expect a lot from my middle and high schoolers. I was beginning to think maybe I was wrong in thinking it was too much for even a regular 1st grader.

Just had a question for you all. My son is in 1st grade in public school. He was adopted last year from China. Instead of spelling tests each Friday. His teacher gives them dictation sentences. She gives them 5 sentences but only requires him to do two. He has yet to get them correct this year. I have him copy them for 4 days at home to prepare him. It just seems like a pretty difficult task for the first semester of first grade for most kids much less an ESL kid. Here are the sentences for this week: Did you see the flag over the school? The red sled went down the snowy hill. Who made the black clip fall off the desk? They saw four purple plums in the tree. The boy was glad to play with us. Are you doing dications with your 1st graders who are beginner readers? Maybe I'm wrong and this appropriate for 1st grade. Thanks for your help.

I don't know a whole lot about MUS but my experience with math mammoth and my struggling math student was abyssmal. We are plugging along through Saxon which is my favorite math curriculum for my mathy students. I am tempted to try MUS with her and will if we hit a wall. She does know her math facts but her processing speed is painfully slow and she does not do well with any mental math. HTH

I just spent the weekend at the Empowered to connect conference in nashville. They have many free resources available at the website on strategies to parent our kids from hard places. Dr. Karen Purvis is a Christian and has really made this a ministry. The conference was great and there dvd's available. Hope this helps.

Okay, so my two 5th graders were in public school last year. They were homeschooled prior to that and had done CLE English and Rod and Staff. They don't remember anything! Can't identify any parts of speech. Ugh!! We are using BJU this year and they are already struggling on lesson 4. What is something I can use to refresh their brains? I don't mind going back a couple of grades. They did no grammar last year at public school. Thanks for your help!

Why would you do that? They are both similar and it seems as if it would be overkill. Just my 2 cents.

My girls have been in public school this year and studied Amer History up to the Civil War. I have the 1 yr condensed Sonlight Amer History program but I'm wondering if I should do the Part 2 Core E instead. Economically, using what I have would be cheaper but I could sell it and purchase Core E. Anybody have an opinion? There is so much rich history in the second half of our nations history. Thanks for your input!

Congratulations! You will have a ball even if you are tired! I have kids from 30-5 and while I don't have grandkids yet, I am enjoying all the different ages. We have adopted our last 5 kids so I can't relate to the pregnant part, but if I had given birth to my youngest, I would have been 45. I love having a 5 yr old and I am a much more patient mom than I was years ago. You'll be fine!

Any other ideas?

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a phonics program that would be good for my son who we adopted in Dec. He will be 7 yrs old this summer. He is from China. Thanks

Thanks for your input. Anybody else??

Thanks so much! I knew I could count on the hive!

BJU materials are so stinkin' expensive! I know that you can't find them discounted but was hoping to find a place that offers free shipping and no sales tax at least! Any thoughts? And do these apply to the DVD option?

I'd like to hear your thoughts on any of the Critical Thinking software you have used. I have used their books in the past but would like to cut back on some of the things I have to grade. My girls are in 3/4th grade and one I would consider below average, one about average, and one slightly above average in their thinking skills. It's definitely an area that needs work. Thanks!

check for the BJU readers on Amazon. I was able to snag the 3rd grade readers for less than $5 each including shipping from the used site. It won't help with the worktext but still a good savings!

I'll try to give some history. I have 9 children ages 29-9. I have homeschooled someone for 17 yrs. Most have been homeschooled up to highschool age. My youngest 3 girls at home went to school for two years. Two of them had just been adopted from Ethiopia at ages 5 and 6. I really felt like they needed school for their language development. It went well and they loved school! But I prefer homeschooling so I brought them home in 2nd and 1st grade. Here we are almost 2 yrs later and they still ask to return to school. Most of my grown children would say if asked that they wished they had gone to school. I am having a hard time justifying homeschooling when nobody likes it. I have tried changing my methods over the years but my children seem to love the day in and day out of the school experience. I realize that if I had never sent the younger crew that they probably wouldn't be longing to go back. I'm thinking of sending them back next year. Our school is a pretty good one and while I'll miss them and the homeschooling lifestyle, I feel like I'm being selfish by forcing them to stay home. They are very sweet obedient kids who are not the least bit demanding so I'm not caving into their demands. I just have this nagging feeling that I'm depriving them. We are also adopting two more boys in the fall from China who will be 4 and 6 when they come home. This will be a very bumpy year. I'd be willing to homeschool them if they were happy at home but.... It doesn't help that my area doesn't have a lot of homeschool activities/groups that are free or low cost. Most are expensive tutorials and most of the homeschoolers are involved in these things. Thus they are too busy for park days. Thanks for letting me vent. My husband says we should put them back in school. Maybe at some point they'll miss the relaxed lifestyle of homeschooling and want to come back home. I'm feeling sad that I couldn't make it appealing enough.

Thanks for answering. That's just what I was looking for.