I'm seriously considering K12 for next fall and maybe just for a semester...I think :bored: . I want a break from teaching and I think giving the boys accountability to someone else will be a good thing. I'm currently a HOD user and love it. And actually we will be getting to the more independent guides in CTC. I love looking at the new curr and excited about all we will be learning BUT at the same time I also want to clean my house, sew some curtains, paint my bathroom, go to the gym, eat lunch with friends, work part-time (currently doing this now). AND Ds11 is so argumentative and it's driving me nuts. He is constantly complaining about his work assignments (he's dyslexic) and not putting in his best efforts. He says he would work better for someone else :closedeyes: and I think he's right to a point but I still think he will always do just enough to get by. A lot is his personality too not just his academic struggles. If he was in ps I know he would bring a lot of work home because he would be to distracted in a classroom to do it...he was already doing that in 2nd grade before we pulled them out. Also, I do plan on sending them to ps for high school anyway so after this year I will have 2 years left with the oldest currently in 6th and I'm greatly concerned about them being behind. Maybe I'm just stressing because state testing is coming up..IDK

You may want to look at Reading Reflex as it doesn't use "rules" per say. I'm using it to remediate my ds and I can already see a big difference. I wish I had known about it earlier.

Well I can't help you with the job situation but in general I believe TN is a relatively cheap place to live. It seems like a growing number of people are moving in because of the cheap costs, especially retirees. But on the flip side I think income is generally less than other areas so it seems to come out in a wash. We are in southern middle TN and our property tax for 1.5 ac with a 3000 sq ft house is $800. The areas around Nashville are much more expensive. We do not have a state income tax and home schooling seems easy to me but I don't have anything to compare it to. I don't know about housing costs in the area you are looking at as it varies so much. I would suggest looking up a realtor in the area and ask lots of questions. HTH..a little. And in general we are pretty nice too:0)

Curious...What is this program?

This is free for 4th grade and under. It's designed for Sunday School, home Bible studies, homeschooling, etc. http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=4595

I am going to order it!! Thanks for the info!!!

Wow, I just checked out RR and it looks great...but don't they all. :bored: I'm struggling with a dyslexic 11ds with reading. He is currently using A&P spellling that I am pleased with so far. Is the RR book all you need? I noticed there are other wookbooks on the Read Amercia site, are those neccesary? I don't really see a lot of explanation.

Can anyone compare and constrast the two?

Oh ok..didnt' realize there are two programs with the same name. I'm considering it for my ds12 who is a terrible speller. But I'm also looking at R&S spelling. I'll be convinced to go with one and then start looking at the other again:confused:.

Anyone familiar with this spelling program? It's from the same author of Spellwell.

You just described me to a "T". I'm self-diagnosed ADD but if there is a good thing about being broke this could be it...I don't have a choice but to stick with something because I don't have to money buy anything else! Sticking with any sort of routine is also a big problem here.:001_unsure: Sorry, no help from me but know your not alone.

Is there anything like this? I'm interested in any curriculum that can incorporate two subjects, but not really looking into unit studies. I guess I would like to kill 2 birds with one stone so to speak anywhere I can.

Thanks for the links too! This is my thinking too that it may be a little easier. And as I said before that it would be more for fun anyway and very basic. We have enough struggles as is..:001_smile:

I reread your op and one difference between your son and mine is that your son may be fine with his silent reading. Mine is not, although it's much better than him trying to read aloud. He is slow at both, but reading aloud is much harder. So in that sense, your son may be fine.

You basically described my son, except he is now almost 11. Does he seem to read better some days and worse on others? How is his spelling? You may want to have him evaluated for dyslexia. But I will say that from all my reading and research that professionals say to always give them a lower level book to build fluency. You don't want to make it harder for him which makes them more frustrated. A couple things that I have tried recently and seem to help some... 1.I've been having him read the Christian Liberty Press level 3 reader. Before he reads a passage I will highlight with different colors certain blends, diagraphs, diphthongs, etc. that I think will slow him down. This shows the word is already broken down and helps him to not have to think too long on sounding them out. 2. Have him read a sentence or two silently then out loud. With that, my son still misreads simple words, the, for, from, etc. leaves out words and thus not getting the full meaning sometimes. But on the other hand his comprehension is surprisingly good with basic information passages. I can usually just point to the word he missed and he will get it right the next try. My struggle is finding a book that's not babyish and that my son WANTS to read. He get bored with a book before he can finish it, because it takes so long for him to read it. He can "read" to a but the fluency is not what it needs to be. That's definitely not expert advice but HTH some! Let me know if you find something else.:001_smile:

My ds11 dyslexic wants to learn Chinese. He likes the way they write and how it looks. Does anyone have any experience with Chinese in general? Would that be considered much harder as compared to Spanish or French. I'm not really concerned with the academic part of it at this point but if it will help motivate him, I'm willing to give it a try using Rosetta Stone....as funds come available of course.:001_smile:

I've read on here that a few of you participate in a raw milk co-op situation and a few may run one as well. We live on a farm that used to be dairy. I'm interested in maybe starting a co-op, maybe starting with one cow and work up to 2 or 3, but only if will be somewhat profitable. Does anyone have any input on this? If you have a co-op do you make a profit? I know feed would be the major expense, except for hay that my FIL grows for his cattle. I've done some checking and the average price people are paying in this area is 4.50/gallon with a co-op share fee of anywhere between $25-$150.

Thanks Katrina, I actually have it but tried it for his dyslexic younger brother which was too much for him at that time I used it. DS12 reading is average but the other day he asked me what the words..legislature and Parliament were or how to say them. That's why I think he needs to review phonics and how to divide syllables. I may look at it again and have him go through it. He's my more mathy/science guy. He cannot grasp the shwa sound concept at all. Here's some words he wrote recently...importint, lisining, unacceptaboll, and I could go on but it's too embarrassing. I take full responsibility too. :eek: I've put so much spelling and reading focus on ds10 that I've neglected this area with him and really just thought he would get better the more he read...but it's not happening.

I've been thinking of trying it too for my horrible spelling 12 yr old boy. :001_huh:This is one area I've really slacked with him. I really thinks he need to review phonics too. What level would you ladies suggest? I'm thinking of backing him up and start with level 4. Yes, he's that bad!

Same here, I chose not to try AAS because I thought it would be just too much for him to try process at a time. A&P isn't all that fun to do but I do believe it gets the job done and his spelling is much better. DS is 10 and I started him in the spring with book A while skipping the first lessons. A&P doesn't teach rules so with that I have typed about 9 or 10 spelling rules that I plan to go over when we get to that particular rule in A&P. I will be ordering book b for both my boys when we finish this one. DS 12 isn't dyslexic but a horrible speller.:tongue_smilie:

We used the Space and Exploration book and I enjoyed it a lot although I didn't do all the projects that are listed. :tongue_smilie:A friend used one of the other book (chemistry or physics) and she liked it as well. For some reason, science here gets neglected. I don't think it gets rave reviews on this board or I haven't seen many.

DS 11 read it this year and then we listened to it on cassette tapes I found at the library. We really liked it. We also really enjoyed Woodsrunner. I may have even liked this one better simply because of the historical nature of it. It's about a boy who becomes an expert hunter within their pioneer colony. While on a long hunt the boy comes back to find the whole colony murdered and scalped by Indians and his parents missing. So he goes to try to find/rescue them. May be to gruesome for the younger but my boys are 10 and 11 and it wasn't too much for them.

Thanks, I will check those out. I want to have graphics too.

I also posted this in the general but no feedback yet so thought I'd try here. I'm trying to make a unit study but need something to make worksheets with. Does anyone know of a good worksheet maker program? I would like good graphics too.

Is there an easy program to use to make worksheets with graphics and such? I am trying to develop a unit study and wonder if there is such a program.