My oldest has used it for K and 1st and we'll continue with it for 2nd next year. We have really liked it. He likes that it's colorful and does a variety of topics each day. The spiral approach really helps him to not forget topics. While the TM is not scripted (which I personally am glad for) it does give you some good ideas (enough for me to buy it used and glance at it everyday). They do recommend a variety of manipulatives that ds enjoys. We supplement with Singapore to make sure we are being very well rounded. He finds Singapore very easy so I think we're doing fine with Horizons. We also do a variety of other math things: flashmaster, Sum Swamp, etc... that help with learning facts.

Thanks for all the replies. I joined Heart of Reading last night and I'll look at the materials you all have mentioned. I think it's just hard for me to decide because he has done SO well this year. I don't expect him to always make leaps and bounds progress, but I want him to continue to do well and I want to be wise in what I choose to do. Since we're not going to be continuing what IS working, I'm just having a hard time deciding what to do next. One more question...are OG programs typically at homeschool conventions? I'll be going to the NC one in May. I've been in the past but not since ds had his diagnosis.

My 6.5 year old ds was diagnosed as severely dyslexic this August. We have a small private dyslexic school near us where he has gone all year, 4 days a week, for an hour a day. I have supplemented that with All About Spelling at home (we just finished level 1, starting level 2...he is farther ahead than that in his tutoring, but I've kept AAS behind as a good review/reminder). He is doing GREAT...tremendous progress since the beginning of the year. He still has to work very hard and reading is far from easy but we're really pleased. We're also doing some vision therapy so I'm not sure where that fits into the equation. The problem? The reading tutoring is SO expensive. We just can't keep it up. We're committed to finishing this year, but have to look to move totally to doing it at home next year. So my options in my head are: 1) Go to the 30 hour Orton Gillingham training and become certified, and use the materials they provide to kind of make my own curriculum, continuing with AAS as part of this. 2) Switch to Susan Barton's program. I like that it would provide extra training and be very complete. However, the order it goes it concerns me a little as he has done so much this year but not really in the order she goes it. For example he is great at silent E but she introduces that a lot later. I'd have to talk to them to really figure out what level he would go in on. (Also thought about the Wilson program but know less about that) 3) Just stick with AAS or maybe add in All About Reading since it will be out. I think by next year we would be on level 3 of AAS and we could just go slowly and steadily through that since he is already used to it. Sorry this is so long...any thoughts or experience? Thank you!!!

We're coming up on that chapter shortly and I thought it would be fun to do a mock Olympics...somehow handicapped so my oldest doesn't win everything!

We do Breakfast for Dinner (cheap and everyone's favorite) and then family game night every Friday. I started it because the kids have SO many board games and we just weren't playing them enough with them and they're young so they didn't necessarily know how to do them on their own. It is their favorite night of the week!

My son is 6.5 and at the beginning of this year he was at the same point. He has known his letters/sounds since he was 4, could sound at words, but had to sound out EVERY word EVERY time. I had him tested and he has significant dyslexia. We were using the similar curriculum to you. We have switched to AAS plus he sees a Orton-gillingham specialist for reading help 4 times a week. Plus, we are doing the vision therapy thing too and that has also helped us tremendously. I am getting trained in O-G methods in a month or so and then we'll stop the reading class (it is just too expensive but we thought it worthwhile to get him started and I'd like to be well trained since this will be a long term issue and we plan to homeschool for a while). Anyway, for us finding out what was going on and getting help has made a huge difference. He is now reading short chapter books fairly easily which is shocking considering where he was in August. We saw a huge leap with the vision therapy and then slow incremental increases through the different method of teaching. If you were to change one thing, I would suggest using AAS. It really is a reading/phonics program as well. You'd probably get through the first steps fairly quickly and then slow down and really take your time...and it's not terribly expensive. If you're willing to spend a little more Barton is great as well.

I second the motion to have a sweet highschooler to help with the littles and do some cleaning. She'll appreciate the money and it will help your sanity. Another thought...not sure what is wrong health wise or what medical options you have around you, but I have chronic Lyme disease along with a host of other problems that stem from it. This year we paid a small fortune to see a fantastic integrative doctor about an hour from my house. I still have a ways to go, but the money to see him, for a variety of IV treatments, and for supplements was well worth it for how much better I'm doing and the fact that I see a light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe the money would be better spent on you as it would enable you in future years. Good luck!

I'm very interested in this too!

I have had two CHIs...they are wonderful, but I did have issues with their durability. I switched to the FHI (by Farouk). I have the 1 3/4 inch one which I greatly prefer to the 1 inch because you can get done so much sooner. I had my last FHI for seven years til it bit the dust. I just got a new one on Amazon for about $85. I think they're worth every penny...and I'm very cheap!

My son struggled to retain sounds/letters although he did eventually get it. When we moved onto CVC words, he could sound them out...and then forget them if he saw them one sentence later. Same thing now with blends and silent e. I ended up having him tested and found out he has dyslexia and well as some auditory/visual processing trouble. I'm not at all saying that is what is going on with your daughter...just letting you know what happened to me.

Thank you so much for all the replies. I really appreciate your thoughts and I'm processing through them and trying to wrap my mind around everything. Thanks particularly for the thoughts on Vision Therapy. I've heard such positive things about VT on these forums and one other I frequent, and was a bit thrown when the two professionals I'm working with said otherwise. Thank you SO much!

Well, I've been lurking for a while and figured I might as well post since I think I'll be on here a lot coming up:001_smile:. Sorry in advance...this might be long. My oldest ds is 6, in first grade. Up until about 2 1/2 months ago, I thought everything was basically on track. He's had some fine motor trouble, but has really improved using HWT. He has struggled with reading, but has always been making progress, so I was sort of into the "late bloomer" theory...until I read a description of dyslexia online and realized he had virtually every symptom. There is a small private school for dyslexics in our area and so I took him there to be tested. She pretty much immediately agreed that he was "significantly dyslexic" and he now gets tutoring at this school 4 days a week for 45 minutes. He has shown great improvement which is awesome. Well, after our two rounds of testing with her, she then said "I really think you need to go to a psychologist for more intensive testing. I think there is a lot more going on here". She thinks he has aspergers. As I'm sure many of you understand, I was fairly crushed. I used to know someone who had severe aspergers who, quite frankly, was just so hard to be around and that unfortunately is my mental image of aspergers. We are beginning testing now, but I would just love to get your wise opinions. Here are his symptoms: -high IQ (around 135) with significant dyslexia -very creative, imaginative, loves to play pretend -very advanced vocabulary...he's like an old man in a 6 year old body -he struggles with eye contact. He does pretty well with family and close friends and kids, but poorly with adults he doesn't know or if he is giving a lot of information -he is very clumsy in athletics. He actually was quick learning to ride a bike/scooter, but soccer, catching, throwing, etc... are a mess -he loves being around people and plays well with kids his age...we've never had any problems with other kids and him although he does sometimes seem different to me than them due to his large vocabularly/speech trouble/clumsiness. -he is "quirky". He makes jokes that we don't always get (I don't know if anyone would get them). He doesn't laugh at inappropriate things, but sometimes when he laughs at something funny he laughs strangely, almost a fake laugh. -he has articulation trouble. He has been in speech in the past. He has improved a lot and no longer qualifies through the public school system, but can still be hard to understand if you don't know him at all. -He is never hyperactive, UNLESS we have new adults over at the house. Then he can get a little crazy, almost like he's trying to show off to them. It's not terrible, but it's not his usual behavior and he struggles to control it. -He is very loving and affectionate, loves to hug and snuggle and is definitely our most compliant child. So I'm doing this dyslexia tutoring, getting more testing done, looking into more speech therapy, and worried about aspergers. I've also set an appointment with a vision therapy doctor, but the original dyslexia teacher and the psychologist have said they don't think it will help so I'm thinking I might cancel that. Sorry for the book...if you stayed with it...any thoughts??? Could this be aspergers? How do they go about diagnosing correctly?