Sometimes the only way to see what works is to jump in and do it and see how it goes. I also learned over the yeas what I liked best as a parent-teacher is not what worked for my kids. I have never seen Ordinary... and can't comment. I used AP with both of my kids and it worked. One of them really liked the low visual clutter of AP, this also proved true later on for math, I found out he learns best with black ink on white paper and no cartoons or nonsense fluff decorations on the page. This may seem weird to some people but there was a measurable differnece for my son's ability to learn and concentrate based on various phonics and math book-learning graphic layout styles. It was a growing point for me to put aside my own opinions and beliefs for what was best for home education or curriculum choices and to pick the best things for each unique child to make the learning happen and to have it be a less stressful and more joyful learning process. Good luck.

My child with an LD, I learned, is also a very right brained (visual spatial) learner. THis year I found a recently published book has many study skill techniques (improves memory recall and memorization). I knew some of these ideas from past conference lectures I'd attended and taken copious notes at. This is very helpful to me, for under $12 lots of info in a convenient book (Visual Spatial Learners by Alexandra Shires Gorlon). Since adding some of these techniques to studying my son's weakest areas I see huge improvement, it's a bit shocking to be honest, how well this is working. Check the publisher's site for scans of pages to get a sense for the book. Or maybe it's on GoogleBooks too, I didn't check. Most study techniques I learned in public school (in 20/20 hindsight) are left brain techniques. Thus if a child is very left brained it seems to me doing more of that stuff would work (words on flash cards, taking notes, re-reading notes, etc.) IMO the challenge is when the traditional (or common) study techniques yield no real recall, we have to look elsewhere. If you don't know about right brained learners, there is a good article compaing left vs right by Linda Silverman on the web. http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm IMO this is an issue for kids who are way on one side of the pendulum or the other. I have one kid at each end of the pendulum, what a challenge for me the parent-teacher. HTH

Hi KathyBC, I know what you are talking about. I noticed this in my son at age 5, he had a short span of what he could focus on for reading. He had no ADD symptoms so this was not an ADD focus type of issue. This continued in elem grades so I focused on Charlotte Mason methods of short lessons. I didn't know or think it was a problem as in some circles they say this is normal for that young age of child. With a good match of HS method to the child his LD didn't look like an LD. (I didn't know he had an LD at that point.) However by grade 5 this persisted and to make a long story short I realized he could not sustain working on learning topics (any topic) and I felt developmentally he should have been ready to kick the learning up a notch by then. He seemed to "tap out of energy" or "brain power". When he seemed maxxed out he often was maxxed out for the day. This included getting maxxed out on math he was shot for other subjects. Literally anything he did or was exposed to or taught would go in one ear and out the other. Also includes if went out in morning for some appointment or playdate he was maxxed out for the day and could not do studies in afternoon or evening. Yet same lesson or watching a documentary or whatever the next morning would yield retention and understanding (so weird to see in action and proving the teacher or materials was not the issue). Later he was diagnosed with a visual processing disorder (eye tracking problem). After 24 months of treatment he tested at grade level and was "cured" of it. In reading about LDs though I came across this issue of "tapping out of energy". I have heard it spoken of by Dianne Craft at a HS conference. I later read about it in a book by Richard LaVoie, near the beginning of The Motivation Breakthrough book. (At the start of the eye tracking therapy he maxxed out on reading a book at 45 minutes a day at the end he is reading 3-4 hours a day under his own direction with pleasure and no struggle. This is because the therapies helped his brain work with reading text more efficiently. It's amazing to see the transformation. I don't know that all LDs can be fixed like this but even if they can't there can be changes made in the way you HS to maximize learning.) It is a neurological thing. Kids with an LD (any LD or multiple) kind of start off with a lower reserve in their brains for learning. They also go through this faster than a non=LD kid. When they bottom out they are "done" and "maxxed out" for the day. This is really common in LD kids. Do to the same task or school work their brain uses more energy. Sometimes you will hear this referred to as kids with an LD have to use "inefficient" brain processes that take up more energy. Another way this can exhibit is if an LD kids studies and knows something. The next day they are to have a test on it. But that day they "max out" on other learning then go to take the text and swear they forgot it all. Then the next day all the info is back and they "know it all". This also accounts for how LD kids can "know it one day then forget it the next" or struggle to learn a math concept one day then the next when they go to do it they instantly know it and it's a 'non-issue'. I just wanted to make you aware of this general issue. Whether it's dyslexia or any other LD, this is a challenge. The only thing I have figured to do so far is: pick teaching methods that make learning easiest and fastest do school work that really means something and is not a waste of time or stupid work do the bare minimum of work that is effective to learn and master a concept, leaving more energy to learn other topics that same day carefully set priorities as to what will be done for HS lessons that day let the child recharge in whatever way is right for them (quiet time playing, outside active play, listening to music, art making, lots of social play with others, whatever it is for them) spread out studies in non-traditional arrangements. This could mean not doing math for 3 months but using that time to hyper-focus on other topics, or making reading instruction a top priority and doing that first in the day and carefully choosing the day so the least important thing is last or doing HS year round to spread out the work so the school year is not a big stress fest when focusing on bringing a child up from where they are "behind" make that a priority and don't be so intense about the less important school lessons (choose your priorities) Homeschooling allows many accommodations so when reading about tips to teach an LD child, I have seen so much of a focus on how to help the kid survive the school environment. With homeschooling when those are not an issue so much of the challenge for LD kids is erased. For example let them sleep until they are well rested eat nutritious meals, avoid foods that seem to give them brain fog testing the school way can be reduced peer pressure from schoolmates is gone with homeschooling the day can be scheduled differently ( is the child a night owl, do they thrive with multiple outside recess breaks with lots of motion in between sit down lessons) carefully choosing curriculums to match their learning style and other preferences the pace and schedule of learning can be different (do an intense study of math then relax back on it while focusing on reading etc.) I advise to check out the lectures of Dianne Craft, Lynda Kane (Hope and a Future) and also books by Richard LaVoie for some general info on LDs and the first 2 for HSing. Hope something here helps.

One more idea. The Sansa is a cheap MP3 player. Some are tiny and about $50. Costco sells one great model. Amazon discounts them too. We own 2 different Sansas and love them. IMO the iPod is expensive to justify our family to buy one even if it has been a huge fad item. Audible.com has audio books for download for a membership fee. A library in my state has free MP3 downloads of books via the Internet that automatically delete in 30 days or something like that. (That system is not formatted for the iPod.) I can use this even if I'm not a resident of that town (our state has a rule that a libary card holder in one town can use any libary in the state). So another option is your child can listen to audiobooks with an MP3 player or iPod and it won't disturb others in the room (like a sibling trying to do math work). We have listened to audio CDs from the library in the car and also on a 'boom box' that my kids can move from room to room. Also---the newer Kindles can be adapted for font size and spacing. Thus a book that in paper format is too-small of a font can be adapted on the Kindle to have double spacing and big font that might help some kids with various LDs. Although this is not a cheap thing to get into, and their books for juv lit are limited right now to the most popular, the best-sellers or the ones that were turned into movies.

I think it would help you to set distinctions. First goals for improving reading should be set and worked on DAILY. IMO the striving for reading fluency and improving the reading ability should never be paused for an audiobook listening. (Your message was short so I'm honestly not sure if that is what you were impllying.) Second if more pleasure story-hearing is wanted then audiobooks are fine for that (listen while playing, listen while in the car etc). Third, there is the learning CONTENT issue. If he cannot read independently enough to get 100% book-source content for subjects like history or science then you will have to read aloud if you can't find audiobooks. My son was diagnosed with slow visual processing speed, an eye tracking problem and limited fields of vision 2 years ago. People don't always talk about it but it is real that an LD child can 'tap out' their neurological system by overuse. When they are 'done for the day' they are DONE. No matter what you try to teach it will go in one ear and out the other. This was hard for my son because he could only read about 30-45 minutes a day (a bad day was 30 minutes) then nothing else could be read or it would not be recalled or learned at all. But he could listen to me reading aloud or listen to audiobooks. So my point is to work on that reading fluency daily. But that may tap him out. So do read-aloud's or audio books for CONTENT so that his knowledge base is not paralyzed in this time frame. Also just vocabulary exposure to fiction books by audio book or listen to a read aloud will help build the vocabulary. IMO the fiction audio books as "extras" to the reading of paper books (books of HIS choice for fiction) will help him realize books are good and fiction is worthwhile thus keeping working toward improving reading skills is a good thing. You might also try the paper books that are laid out with lots of white space on the page and larger font. I don't know his age but some examples in the age 9-12 juv lit category are the anniversary edition of Hatchet, the Max Anderson mysteries, anything with wide margins and lots of white space. (For girls, the American Girl series.) Exactly 24 months after my son's diagnosis , after home based therapies done by me, under a doctor's instruction, my son is 'cured'. His reading speed is at grade/age level, other tests are above age/grade level, his visual fields are open. Now he is 12.5 years old and usually reads about 3 hours a day and can handle more self-teaching by reading history and science books. The other day I reviewed a new book The Dyslexia Checklist on my blog. I don't think it's a great fit for homeschoolers but it did say studies show that systematic intensive phonics based reading programs from a young age can "prevent" dyslexia (I think they meant prevent reading problems in a child who has the other dyslexia symptoms) and that remedial work should also be with that system (not sight reading which I found interesting since others push that for dyslexics). The challenge with kids with an LD is they have to do double work: work at remediating what they are behind in while also learning this grade's content to not get further behind on CONTENT. It is not easy but believe me it is worth the effort. It does pay off in the end. Good luck.

A friend used it with one child and loved it for him, he did the work all alone. I bought it used from another HS mom and showed it to my engineer HS mom friend who is big into science. She said it was lighweight science in her humble opinion. An issue with the experiment kit is it is sized for one use only so after one child is done new supplies need to be bought. OR if the experiment is botched you can't do another one. That is an issue for me as many things dried up in the containers and I'll have to see about buying the new materials. Ditto anyone who wants two or more of their kids to use the kit (not all at once). We are using RS4K science right now then I was going to see how Rainbow can fit in for my son who is in grade 7 now.

I don't have an answer but just had to say LOVED your phrase 'slave to the library' I know what you mean but never had such a great phrase for it. LOL

Hello, I also used Alpha Phonics. (First child finished age 6, second child teaching self to read and asked to be taught more so used it and finished at age 4). As you are doing now, I also toyed with using a workbook based curriculum to reinforce phonics. However a HS mom friend said, "Is your goal to get them reading real books or to do worksheets?" So that sealed the deal. When we finished AP we moved on to more real books, the easy readers. They had already read some which I interspersed between AP lessons to give a break from daily AP lessons. So after that I had my kids read daily aloud to me. The 4 year old I didn't want to push hard so aimed at 10-15 minutes of reading aloud to me. The 6 year old I had reading 15-20 minutes. We did this Monday-Friday. Both of them needed minimal correction in their reading which showed me they did learn through the AP lessons, how to sound out the words and they were also taught to read with proper inflection, pause at the comma, react to other punctuation. We just moved up as they got faster at reading and could handle more difficult text. After the easy readers they both went on to Magic Tree House, one loved Secrets of Droon, both loved The Boxcar Children. I also looked for nonfiction books for younger readers, many of these are from the 50s-70s when they seemed to publish more history and science books for younger kids with real content in normal text. Today's books seem more snippety and alongside photos or illustrations. Good luck weighing the options! (My kids are now aged 12 and 9. When my then-10 year old was given a test by a school teacher for decoding phonics he tested out at decoding at 8th grade level. So that proved to me AP and our method worked.)

Thanks for sharing this. Can you elaborate on this, which I can't seem to understand the gist of? "we naturally like to do what we are good at, so look at kids when they are chilling out, what are they doing?" Did she say they were thinking and pondering (a good thing)? Thanks.

I would recommend switching to a natural soap, such as a handmade soap, and consider some that have ingredients that are helpful to eczema. Oatmeal may help. I don't know enough about herbs to say what else is good. If I were you I'd research it, ask an herbalist or a homeopathic doctor. I say natural soap as some of the chemicals in grocery store and drug store soaps can be very drying. When I switched to using my homemade oatmeal soap from natural ingredients in the shower I stopped having to use body lotion daily! I realized the factory chemical soaps were drying my skin and requiring use of body and hand lotions. Now isn't that nuts? One storebought product use requires the use of another? (You can buy homemade soaps if you don't want to make them yourself. I'm too cheap to buy them though, one bar of my oatmeal soap costs me 33 cents and it's over $5 in stores around here.) For cracked skin ointments are good, I recommend natural ones with comfrey but those are not good for use during school. Seems anything with alcohol in it like a Purell should be avoided as that dries the skin out. Also getting to the root of this seems imperative. Have you fully investigated that a food may be causing this reaction? Eczema is often tied to a food reaction and if the food is eliminated the person often heals completely. Wouldn't that be nice?

Wow. I'm feeling overwhelmed just reading your post. So sorry you are going through this. The only thing I can think of is to sit down and make a list of every issue, then sort it into categories. How many are general parenting issues, homeschool academics issues, etc. Can things be grouped, i.e. personal hygiene issues, issues with stepfather, general attitude/rebellion/developmental stage related etc. Then look at it all and set some priorities. What is most important to tackle right now. Honestly I don't think you can focus on every single one all at once. You said some of this has gone on for 3 years, so I can't see a fast fix for everything, do you know what I mean? Also "pick your battles" applies here. When focusing on one area, you have to let the others kind of slide until progress is made in one area then the next thing can be addressed. I wish you luck. (And why do you want her buy in to seek help from your pastor? Remember you are the parent. If you want that counseling or advice from the pastor, do it.)

Oh and if you want basics about how to teach reading comprehension try the popular book 7 Keys to Comprehension. Be forewarned some of it truly is for classroom use i.e. wants class discussion time that is only geared to groups of kids. For a non-workbook approach reading Kathryn Stout's Critical Conditioning which is about critical thinking, reading comprehension and literature analysis all balled into one topic. This is more time intensive for the HS mom but I love the approach and feel it's better than using workbooks over and over and over. HTH

Hi, I had used the Charlotte Mason homeschool method w oral narration then after a test result came back, public school test I was helping a student by letting her use my son as a test subject for...I decided to work on the reading compr. skills as the schools define them. Inferencing etc. I used the workbook REading Detective. It's imperfect, IMO every workbook with a one page reading passage is imperfect. What I liked about it (vs. other workbooks) was it is a combo of open ended questions, mult choice. Also it asks where you got the answer (hence detective in the title). Each sentence is numbered & each paragraph is lettered. Sometimes the main answer was correct but the explanation for WHY that sentence told the answer was wrong. This was very helpful. If the questions JUST had the first part I would have assumed he really knew what he was doing. Come to find out it is valuable to pick apart and analyze the sentences to seek meaning (lest you doubt the importance and instead might think a general notion is better). By going over the answers with my son and discussing all that he got wrong I saw some weaknesses that would have explained the test score he got (not bad, some were 1 grade level below, others on grade level). I had to teach my son to slow down, pay attention to the words and the questions (!) and choose answers carefully. ALthough some of that is general test taking skills it didn't hurt for my son to learn it in this way (rather than in a separate workbook or study assignment). Hope something here helps you.

My son who read Magic Tree House in K & grade 1 moved on to Secrets of Droon in grade 1 & 2, loved it (fantasy genre) after read 35+ all in the series moved on to Boxcar Children (mystery) in gr 2. After that he segued in gr 3 to fiction ages 9-12 category juv lit i.e. all of Andrew Clements and 39 Clues and now in early gr 4 is loving the Percy Jackson series. Due to the age of my son I didn't want him exposed to some content in some individual books so didn't push hard to get out of the formula series books. Some of the juv lit for ages 9-12 can have some themes I'm not interested in exposing him to yet. If you do Hardy Boys be aware the new ones have some questionable things ie smoking cigarettes and one has suicide. Some reference dating, just not of interest & what I wanted to push on my son when he was in gr 1 or 2 or even 3. I hate Captain Underpants. Sorry. Some boys LOVE it. Junie B Jones IMO snarky and all school centered not the life my kids have at all, so didn't expose my boys to that. (Public school in my town was pushing readers of both geners to read it and even did some read alouds of it in grade 1 classrooms.) There are some good animal centered books out there but neither of my sons was really into them. Try Warriors also. Oh and girls of course....American Girl series. If your child cannot make the transition by grade 3 or 4 into a typical format chapter book for ages 9-12 I would strongly urge you to read a bit about eye tracking problems and see if your child has symptoms of that. I had that with my older child and no one had pointed me in that direction, I wish I had that on my radar as the symptoms were there for 1.5 yrs without anyone thinking to investiate it including an opthalmolgist. I am not saying that is the issue just putting that out there in case you need it for the future...

I'll share some things to consider. In the end I think there is nothing perfect out there and that we opinionated homeschoolers will probably find fault with any single product. Simliar to the quest for THE one perfect math or THE one perfect writing composition curriculum. Some fit for some families & some feel none is ever good enough, so they custom blend, taking bits from here and there. Yet that takes work and often costs more than we imagine this one perfect thing would cost. I've done mostly, so far, living book study of science as we wanted to go deeper with information. Yet experiments are then added and frankly I've not done a ton yet but need to get moving on that as my older is in grade 7. Yikes... (In addition to doing nature and botany in an experiential class setting and the living book method) we own & have begun using level 1 of RS4K. Someone on this thread said it is not 'really' secular. I will comment that I heard the author of it speak at a Christian HS conf in 2008. She explained the original draft of it had Christian content but in wanting to market it to public schools her editor convinced her to take it all out and she said she was trying to get it into public schools. This of course was not good enough for some Christians who wanted a strong Creationist theory and also discrediting evolution. One mom said to me then why doesn't she publish two versions? I don't know. I'll not personally comment just sharing this. When I heard Keller speak it reminded me of my readings and hearing the talks of Wise and Bauer about the 3 stages of exposure to content, light exposure in elem, harder in middle grades & then deeper in high school. So when they learn it in high school it is not their first time hearing this info, those terms etc, and they are not scared. The downside to level 1 of RS4K IMO is more shallow learning a little boring to kind of cram the content in to expose them to it, very different than my former focus on Charlotte Mason living books, engaging the reader, etc etc. TOPS is a hands on based program but there are many topics that have to be purchased separately. I have never seen or used Singapore Science so can't comment. Some of what is out there as a big curriculum in one spine winds up being like public school's read the chapter and answer the questions at the back and throw in some experiments. An engineer homeschool mom friend of mine critcizes every single HS program for elem & middle school for not being good enough, wants more questioning, less fact feeding, more experiments *that work*. Wants scientific method, documenting results, etc. I have almost given up on finding that ONE perfect curriculum. I wish you luck on your quest! Curious to hear what you find and how you like it after using it.

I've come to the conclusion there are two main methods of writing. The way our minds work dictates which we prefer. Left brained way: decide what you want to write outline it find material to fill the gaps write it rough draft edit Right brained way: so much to say, not sure which want to include just start writing, can write a ton divide topics up to paragraphs some will be good, some will be skimpy paragraphs if need info, research & fill in cut down paragraphs to 3 from large amount have written craft intro paragraph that includes 3 topics in 3 paragraphs craft conclusion wrapping it all up The way to wreck writing composition is to force a child to write in a way that is incompatibile with the way their mind works. I say do what works. I struggled in school to write the way the teachers taught me (left brained way). It was a real chore to write that way. In my adult years i wrote the other way and it worked. I also have read books by published writers & some really famous writers and found out many write the right brained way with success despite what they were forced to do in school. Good luck.

How about listening to the Classical Kids series? One hour long on CD, stories with facts. We have read some bio's in the past & listened to some music too. We have not studied them as much as I'd hoped. I own the Opal Wheeler books (some antique & some reprints). Don't beat yourself up. Start with the Classical Kids. Most of mine I got from the public library (had to drive to access them in another town) and some I got from Amazon. Vivaldi's Ring of Mystery and the rest in the series... Enjoy!

"Why is it that we don't send them to school, but we use school materials that are just as boring, just as ill a fit, just as unsuited to anyone but the middle." Hear, hear! Liberate yourself and your children. Please give yourself permission. Homeschooling is about freedom. You know what you don't want to do for learning, now open yourself up to the possibilities. There are a ridiculous amount of choices...

Hi, It's very hard to tell another family what to use. I think there needs to be a good match. What is good for one child is not good for another, even with the same mom who loves X program. MUS is a fine program and helped my children learn with ease. I switched to Singapore last year when DS8 was angry with MUS for being stuck on a concept. Finally, I thought, I'm trying Singapore which I've heard raved abt for years. Well my son didn't like it and I didn't like it either. I found it super simple despite using the placement tests, what caused my son to start at that level was MUS hadn't taught fractions yet or the metric system yet. So he was in middle of grade 4 in MUS tested out grade 2A in Singapore and in real life he was in grade 3. My son was bored stiff with Singapore & did 1.5 grades of it in less than one homeschool year. He begged to ditch it in the end. I also found they didn't do enough review such as a unit on liquid measurement, do two days of lessons then never touch the topic again that whole school year. I was told to use the teacher manual (by Hoerst by Sonlight) but since DS already knew all those concepts why bother? We have switched to Teaching Textbooks 5 with son now in grade 4 and son loves it. He begged to do TT which is what his older brother was using & he wanted to do math on the computer like him. If I switch either off of TT we'll go to Alecks (online). I still love MUS and used it for years from prek through grade 5 with older son. The problem with math curriculum is what I love you may hate and vice-versa. One thing I did learn was whatever you pick if it works just stay on the path with it as switching around like I did last year made me feel like we lost a whole year! Good luck making a choice.

There are none that I know of exactly like R&S. Some I know who don't use Rod & Staff use Easy Grammar or Daily Grams. They are a workbook based thing not like R&S though. Grammar for middle school seems to have limited options. Some I know use A Beka (even not evangelical Christians). Others choose to not study grammar every single year in middle school.

The IEW teacher DVDs are for all levels. You said you thought IEW was for older kids. They sell 3 levels of the student DVDs, elem, middle & high school. So the answer is indeed IEW can be for your 11 YO. I don't have an Aspie child but from what I have read seems to me IEW would be a good fit as there are rules and guidelines, note taking from an example. That may be a good fit. Another gentle program is Brave Writer. Totally different approach from IEW about finding the child's voice & appreciating literary elements, a more Charlotte Mason flavor. HTH

I just want to share that verbal should be separate from reading. The two can be completely separate things. Perfect example is child who tests very high on verbal aptitude and has large vocabulary for verbal but is average with reading or even has an LD that inhibits reading (i.e. eye tracking problem). The proof of these being separate would be preschoolers and toddlers with huge vocabularies who talk like much older children and communicate so clearly but have not yet been taught to read. Also some kids who are early readers may be very quiet, not good verbal communicators at all or stick with simpler verbal communication.

Hi, I bet the book "The Motivation Breakthrough" by Richard LaVoie would be helpful for you. If the LD parts near the beginning are of no interest skip past that. I learned a lot in this book. Also if she is used to all learning coming easy then when something harder comes along that takes work, she may balk. And if something new is harder & she doesn't get it quickly or get a perfect score or high score it may be a blow to her, she may not like failure and then seek the path of least resistance by just not bothering to try. THat is an issue also for perfectionist kids who'd rather not try at all at something not easy then try and fail when in the past it all came so easy and all work was correct, great, etc. HTH

Hi, I don't understand what you mean by "a reading program". If she is already reading at grade 3 level what do you want out of a reading program? Do you mean reading comprehension? After teaching my two kids to read, when done with the phonics program they supposedly were at grade 2 reading level. I didn't do worksheets to review phonics. I had them read aloud to me to make sure they were pronouncing words correctly. Later they morphed to silent reading. Because my two were not reading books on their own for fun, I mandated reading as a HS assignment. Younger son age 4 was reading 20 minutes a day (he had started to teach himself to read at 3 and flew through alpha phonics at age 4). Older son finished AP in grade 1 and then was reading 20 minutes a day after that. I raised up the minutes as they got older. And as they got older they were also reading silently as part of history and science lessons in addition to fiction. I assume you are using FLL 1/2. We spent on average 5 minutes per lesson. And we skipped forward when something was mastered & I didn't kill with too much drill and repetition. Have you tried that, speeding it up, skipping over? There is also English for the Thoughtful Child. Or there is always the advice to do no grammar at age 5! Why the rush? If you want reading comprehension I would personally lean toward discussion about books being read. Such as do FIAR with her reading and discuss things in depth. Make sure she really knows all the vocabulary. See if she can "inference" and predict. I recommend also 7 Keys to Comprehension for teaching basics of how to approach reading comprehension as viewed through the American public schools. But at that age I had my kids do narration. for reading comp a la Charlotte Mason method. Later we did some workbook reading comprehension and I found faults with the programs which I'll not get into now. Based on that I don't recommend workbook based reading comp programs, and especially not for a 5 YO just my two cents. Enjoy your young daughter!

Sound to me like she is using text message type wording and capitalization, not using standard English and certainly not proper format for addressing a letter using USPS's requested format. Scary!