We were at Mardel looking for Social Studies workbooks and my advice would be to look through the content carefully since it varies greatly. I was very disappointed that many of the workbooks spent over half the book covering citizenship. That would be great it were covering things like American history, public service, voting, etc. BUT, the citizenship in most of the books I checked out covered things like recycling, planting trees, preventing global warming, protecting endangered species, etc. They did not cover the traditional topics that I would like to focus on, or they did so sparingly at the end. We ended up getting a geography/mapskills workbook. We will be using Abeka My America and Our America for civics. They cover American traditions, songs, symbols, famous people, and world cultures. They are not really workbooks though.

We are in the lower levels, but we school year round and skipped many lessons at the beginning of Math 2. She did some of them, but only those that I wasn't sure if she had mastered or not. DD7 was already in review overload before we started Math 2. I really like Saxon, but we are taking a break for the second half and doing R&S instead. Then when we start Saxon 3 we'll do all the review this time. I don't see why you couldn't skip lessons. You know best what your kiddo needs.

Just from what I've seen, I'm sure that the visual processing issues are real. I actually think I may have some of the same issues. I tried DD's eye exercises because she said they made her eyes hurt. They made my eyes hurt and made me dizzy too. The first exercise is just simply looking at your "steeple" in the Left, right, up and down positions and holding it for 5 seconds....not something I would expect to be straining!

I had forgotten we have the SN board! I'll do some reading over there too.

Thank you for the links. It turns out the Dr. we've been seeing is the only COVD in our area. So maybe we will stick with him and deal with the drive. I really like him. He said that our insurance only covers the initial eye exam and follow up. Anything after that would be out of pocket.

Thank you all for your input. This is very encouraging. I have ADHD, and I honestly don't remember if he gave me a diagnosis. He said her eyes were not tracking back and forth. Instead she moves her entire head to follow things. He gave me a months worth of exercises to do with her. Trying to get her to hold her head still is a challenge. After the month he wants to see her back to determine what she may need in terms of vision therapy. This Dr. is 45 min away(the closest on our insurance), so we would have to find someone closer for regular therapy. I'm wondering if I should go straight to trying to find a vision therapist instead of going all the way back to the other Dr. The office near our house said most programs atart around $4k. My DH is not even sold that Vision Therapy is real. When I told him about it, he rolled his eyes. He had the same reaction when I told him we needed to purchase a multisensory reading program. :banghead: It has been such a struggle to try and solve her reading problems without support. I'm so thankful for this board.

Those of you who have children that have been through vision therapy, did it help? Do you think it was worth it? DD7 just got reading glasses a couple weeks ago. They help her reading significantly, but Dr. is also recommending vision therapy. It isn't covered by our insurance. We are trying to figure out if it is worth the expense and extra time. We are already going to be heavily scheduled with 3hr homeschool PE class, swim team, and 2 1hr speech therapy sessions for little sis. That and I am committed to homeschooling a friend's son from 12-6pm on M and W. DD7 has had a very difficult time with reading, so if vision therapy will help bridge the gap to get her on level, then it would be worth it.

If you email DEstreaming, they will send you a login for a month free trial. I thought it was great, but we just can't afford it for occasional use. They have thousands of videos. I really liked the grade level(we are 2nd) videos for history and Spanish. It is hard for us to find shows that aren't intended for adults on netflix and our library. I wouldn't do it unless you want video to be a primary learning source. For us, we really enjoy read alouds/textbooks as our primary. We only watch tv a couple times a week.

The CSNstore has the adult classroom tables too. Most of the classroom tables have an option to go up to 30" which is standard adult table height. I saw this one that goes even higher for oversize chairs/wheelchairs: http://www.csnstores.com/Virco%AE-4000-Series-42-Round-Activity-Table-with-Wheelchair-Legs-4842RW-VR1306.html If you are just needing a regular round table I would hold out until a kitchen table pops up on craigslist. That is if you don't need it right away.

The ECMDstore has the cheapest I've seen for kids size tables. Even cheaper than discountschoolsupply.com Shipping is usually reasonable too. http://www.ecmdstore.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?product=16825&category=1056&CategorySearch=&Brand=&Price= CSNstore also has pretty good prices. I don't remember what their shipping is though. I've bought tables from both places. I used to have an in-home preschool. http://www.csnstores.com/keyword.php?keyword=round+preschool+tables&ust=&dept=0&command=dosearch I would recommend getting the higher range of adjustable heights. They usually go all the way up to 30" high so you can use them for adults as well. ETA: discountschoolsupply free shipping doesn't include freight items :(

I like the carson dellosa games. You just laminate, cut them out and assemble the games. We don't have a color printer, so I love these brightly colored pieces. They also sell them in premade sets called File Folder Games-to-go. The kids have fun and most of the time don't know they're part of the schoolwork. Also nice and compact if you need to take them with to lessons for DC that is not participating. http://www.carsondellosa.com/cd2/Products/CarsonDellosa/PID-104186.aspx?CM_VC=10001

My DD has been really struggling with reading. We had been uninsured so we didn't have the resources to get her officially tested for dyslexia and the school district would not test either. But since I have dyslexia/ADHD, I just assumed that was the whole problem. Her eye test at the doctor and at school showed perfect vision so I thought that had been ruled out. Thanks to reading all the wonderful posts here I learned it could be a tracking issue. So on Tuesday I took her for a vision exam and had her checked for tracking issues. Sure enough the doctor said that her eye muscles were overflexing and preventing her from tracking. Since she got her reading glasses she has been reading everything under the sun!!! Before she would struggle with Bob books. Yesterday she was reading the "Help Me Be Good" series, Lizzy's Do's and Don'ts, and Fancy Nancy with ease!!!! I'm just so thrilled! I'm still planning on taking her through the multisensory phonics program this year to cover anything she may have missed. She is definitely a kinesthetic anyway. I'm so relieved she will soon be able to read independently.

I would have never thought of lego task cards....my girls would love that! I think I might have to start adding activity cards. :001_smile:

Where do you get your ideas for activities? I'm always looking for ways to add "fun" to DD's day, but I'm just not that creative.

We use the ballseat. Before DD would rock back and forth in her chair so much she would literally knock it over at least 20 times a day. At the very least it keeps me from feeling like I might blow a gasket. :D She is still very slow with reading activities, but I think it has helped her focus on math. I don't know how she can work while bouncing (I feel dizzy just watching), but she does get it done. We haven't tried the others. She usually doodles or tears/folds up paper while I give the lesson. During read-alouds she walks around the room or bounces on the bed.

We use these: http://www.containerstore.com/shop/storage/openBinsBaskets/plastic?productId=10022942&N=71223&Nao=20 They fit perfectly in the closetmaid cubby shelves they sell at target http://dcuniversehs.blogspot.com/2010/10/workboxes-and-new-classroom.html

I find the Vis a Vis easiest to clean up.

I have a GBC heatseal that I LOVE. It is a bit more, but it is built to last. I've had it about 6yrs already and expect it last through homeschooling. I also get the cheap pouches on Amazon. I like that it does 13" width so I can make 11x17 posters with it. You can also laminate thick stuff like construction paper and cardstock. We had a cheaper pouch laminator(not sure which) at church and it just didn't seal as nice. We laminate everything under the sun. :D

We really like this book. My daughter got it second hand from the neighbor girl and it has been wonderful. She's only 7.5yr so we have only been reading the sections about caring for your body and body image so far. DD has a lot of questions about anatomy and why her 9-11yr old friends are changing so I just use the pictures in the book and give my own more brief explanations for now.

I'm not sure about the OP, but where we live in central Texas there are many native Spanish speakers who are legal immigants. Our children have opportunities to speak with native speakers in our church group as well as neighbors. Many of their friends are children of third and fourth generation immigrants who speak non-native Spanish as well. For us it is a matter of increasing future opportunities. Most professions in our area would benefit from being fluent in the language regardless of dialect or slang. Whether they are a doctor or a small business owner, it will still be a plus. Whether we agree or not, the reality is that Spanish speaking people are now apart of American culture.

I also have a background in French, but I decided to go with Spanish anyway for the same reasons you mentioned. We are about to start this year so I don't have any great insights to what curriculum is most effective. We are going to try Power Glide Spanish. I read through the Parent Guide and it is very self-explanitory. I think the children could probably even do it independently if need be. From what I can tell, it isn't strong on grammer either. I think the focus is to create a love of the language and learn basic conversational Spanish before they move on to a more serious language progam in middle school. They also sell a French version. You can find the program cheap on Ebay. Just make sure it says "children's" or "junior". The Ultimate version is for older kids.

Is there no way to turn off the timed portion??? On their website they say that you can set the timer for the activities, but they present it as though you have an option. So glad I'm reading this thread! If all the activites are timed, then this option will not work for us.

We will be switching to online this fall. I let DD play the demo games and she was so excited to see her worksheets come alive. DD is dyslexic, so I find the interactive/audio a huge plus. It also gives immediate feedback and correction; something I can't always do when she is working on her sheets and I'm helping yDD. Although I love the ETC workbooks, we will be switching to the books that correspond to our new phonics program.

Great links! The Recipe For Reading program looks like an excellent base. Even if I bought all the workbooks and readers, its still only $250. Then I could add textured letters, audio, and games myself.

For me it is a big help. I also keep our supplimental books in there too so for the lessons we need them I don't have to go looking. For example our history box would always have a similar mix of books: SOTW text, SOTW AG, Atlas, Usborne History, and a period specific book like Romans, Greeks, China, etc. Then I'll throw in related readers or worksheets.