:hurray::hurray: My library has both of those books! Yea! I look forward to reading them. Thanks for the newer ideas ladies! Copy and pasting away here.:) :iagree: The Witch of Blackbird Pond is not for the "typical" 3rd grader. It actually says right on it 6.1 reading level!! I just hope I can repair the damage that is done. :glare: Thanks again!

or any other phonics "practice". I am using AAS to give my 9dd a better foundation in phonics. Will it be enough on it's own or should I add some type of practice work such as ETC? What have you AAS users done?

Thank you! I love this! :hurray: For some reason when I signed in the first time I didn't take me to that screen. Your directions were very helpful...thanks!:thumbup: Michelle

So what did you put in the search box?? I'd love to read up on this as well.:001_smile:

My daughter loves animals. I looked and our library does have this program. Thanks for the idea!

Hi Angie, I was looking on the DIBELS website and I am not finding passages to print off and have my daughter read. Am I not understanding correctly or could you point me in the right direction? THX!

Thank you so much for all your advice! All the ideas are so helpful I am going to print them off so I don't forget any of them. The poem reading will be perfect for her as she is actually my dramatic child. :001_smile: Audio books will be a good independant activity and I have plenty of easier readers around here. Now if I only had some younger children around here for her to read to...she would really get into that...life is a stage to her. Unfortunately she is my youngest. Maybe I can borrow the neighbor kids?? My daughter has been in a very academic class with a teacher that is less than compassionate and has told her to "just buck up" and work harder. So I sat in the classroom the week before Christmas break and this child has gone from a confident, joyful child to a placid, anxiety-filled child. It has been painful to watch. :angry: She has given it her all and told it isn't enough. They are currently using The Witch of Blackbird Pond as a third grade reader,which may have been fine for my boys, but it has been very discouraging for her. My main job will be to boost her confidence in herself again. I am going to purchase AAS as she needs the phonics. I have OPGTR which I used with my boys but she is a very tactile and mildly ADD child so I am hoping AAS will be a better fit. Thanks again for all the ideas! If there are any other books/websites/etc. I should check out let me know. Otherwise, I am off to check out DIBELS and One Minute Reader...:auto: (I love these little smiles)

or what are ways/ideas I can work on this with her? I would prefer something laid out for me, of course, but I will do whatever it takes. Would short reading passages that we would time then repeat until a certain time is reached be of any help? TIA! PS...if it helps... My DD is 9 (just turned this month) and she is struggling with reading. I am pulling her out of a sm. christian school to hs full-time.

I would go to the library and find out which Let's Read and Find Out Science Books they carry. I would then read a book and google science experiments/projects to go along with the topic of the book....lots of free ideas on the web. I LOVE those books! You could even do a FIAR type approach and reread the book and add a different experiment each day for a couple of days. HTH! Michelle

Thank you so much for all your responses! Thank you OhElisabeth for your guidance in testing. The elem. school she attends hasn't been all that helpful. With my olders boys everything came easy so I haven't had to deal with this before. She is 9 yo and I don't necessarily think she has a LD as much as I think she is just a slower processor that is been in a more advanced academic situation and always hurried along. What I was thinking of doing was bringing her home and going back to the beginning to reteach and THEN if I see roadblocks follow through on the testing...since it is VERY expensive to test. Do you think that is appropriate? Thanks for bring up CLE for those who did. I have never heard of it before! Could you tell me specifically what you like about particularly for a slower learner? I really appreciate it! AAS is definitely at the top of my radar! Do you think it could be used to teach reading? What would you need to add to it to make it to help reading? She really needs to work on fluency. Her reading issue is more about seeing a word she hasn't seen in print before and not able to decode it. She doesn't have that intuition with words. For example, my boys would see the word "horrible" in a book and because they were familiar with the word would take one look and fairly automatically know it was horrible by giving it a quick one over. My daughter does NOT have that ability. If she is not familiar with the PRINT word she needs to decode it yet doesn't seem to have the ability to sound it out either. Again, is this lack of instruction or an LD? Anyway...do you think AAS would work to over come the decoding and what do I need to add for fluency? Thank you SO much for taking the time out of a busy week to answer my questions and to help me! I will look over all the other curriculum mentioned and probably be back with questions! :D

I used to homeschool my older two children but put them all in a small, private school 3 years ago where my youngest went in as a kindergartner. The school is working well for my two olders who are both above average students. My youngest, however, is more of your average to struggling learner and the school is just too advanced for her which is killing her self-esteem. I am pulling her out at the end of the semester. My primary focus is to get her up to speed in her reading and math. We may have her tested for learning disabilities (not sure if that is the problem) in reading but until then I want to get started on an intensive phonics curriculum. She was not taught enough phonics and is not a "natural" reader. Reading is laborious and she needs all the guidance/tools she can get as well as LOTS of practice! In math she does pretty well but just needs a lot of repetition to cement the skills. She is in Singapore Math right now and is doing okay but I feel like it goes a little too fast for her and the story problems are hard for her. I think I want something more concrete/visual...possible spiral? Does anyone know if spiral is better or worse for slower learners? She is not TOO far behind. I dare say mostly up to grade level. She is capable of grasping concepts they just need more marinading time. She may be a little ADD. She can memorize easily, learns easily by songs and rhymes and is very tactile. Because I don't have a lot of time to research I was wondering if you all could help me out here! :) I really, really would appreciate it! :bigear::D:D

Mostly a lurker with an occasional .02 or question. :)

You have all given me some great things to look into! I will be doing some research.:001_smile: And I AM glad to hear that my son isn't the only one that struggled through Saxon and I will tell him that! Maybe there is something other to blame?! It does make me sad to think about how much was lost and dare I say even damaged. I am not familiar with Singapore the further up it goes since he is my oldest. How is the NEM program? Is it something others like and have had success with? Thanks again for all your help!

My oldest is back in a private christian school. We used Sinapore at home through 5th grade. When he went into school for 6th grade he tested into advanced math (which we did not do for various reasons) and scored in the 90's on his Standardized testing. He used Saxon for 6th and 7th grade and now his grades, abilities, confidence and standardized testing scores have dropped substantially. The school is changing math curriculum for next year but I still feel like I need to do some major remediation this summer to reteach what he wasn't catching on to and to regain his confidence in math. Unfortunately, because I wasn't teaching him I am not really sure where things have fallen apart. I am looking for something that will get him well prepared for 8th grade math, even repeating a 7th grade curriculum if necessary. I also am not very confident in my ability to do some of the 7th/8th grade math as it has been a while so it would need to be something that would be explained well for the both of us. Do you have any suggestions?! TIA

We have a 30 ft travel trailer with quad bunk beds. We have 3 children 13-8 years old. We are gone most of the summer with it! Most every weekend with a week trip thrown in here and there. This summer we have rented a camping site for a whole month! It is only 45 minutes from our home so my husband is going to commute or come out as much as he can. Living in Michigan we have gorgeous campgrounds all over our state and of course lakes are everywhere. We try to stay at campgrounds with a pool and a lake since we also have a boat and my kids love to ski, tube, etc. As far as space, we have never felt tight. We are outside most of the time. Even on rainy days we can sit under the awning at the picnic table and play games or read in a chair. There is also a table inside big enough for family game time. Each child has their own bunk bed so they can have their own space to play, read, color, etc. The campgrounds in this area have so many activities for kids that also keeps them busy. I grew up with a cottage and have many wonderful memories but I honestly think this is even more fun. We have been to so many quaint towns and places, met so many neat people and have had more variety of family experiences than I ever did growing up with a cottage. I think it really depends on your family. Each family will have different needs...this just fits for us...our cottage on wheels!