I love my kindle fire and my kids each have a paperwhite. It has lots of pluses--many books slightly cheaper on kindle format that paper, ebooks don't take up a bunch of room, easy instant dictionary, etc. But, it's not an iPad. There aren't as many apps as for an iPad and it's just not as elegant. But if you consume a lot of Amazon content (and I do--Amazon prime, the kindle unlimited thing, etc) it is seamless and painless. I have an older iPad and I don't like the way it interfaces with Amazon. So I think it depends on exactly what you want out of it and what you are looking to spend. HTH.

In retrospect, Montessori was a disaster for us. Simply not goal-directed and too much time spent on glorified housework. Four years later, I'm still kicking myself about it. I would suggest you go with your gut and avoid this placement. Best wishes on some of the other options suggested above. Maybe look into Davidson at age 5 and up? They likely could help put you in touch with other families, at least in the same region.

I believe so.

There is pretty good data for magnesium therapy for migraine (over the counter nutritional supplement). This is from American Headache Society: http://www.americanheadachesociety.org/assets/1/7/Magnesium_-_October_2013.pdf There is also some data on feverfew and CoQ10 (also health food store/supplement stuff). HTH

Thanks for the info, everyone! I will probably order something today in hopes of getting by our planned school start date. Hoping we can see progress within a couple of months.

Clemota, thanks! That is very helpful! Sounds a lot like my DD--she does on ok the list based approach for that week but then can't actually spell a thing "in the wild" two or three weeks later.

Silly question--does megawords have a placement test or I just start with level 1? Anyone have experience with AVKO Sequential Spelling for a kid like this?

How much time do you allocate for Apples and Pears? I've heard it mentioned but don't know too much about it. The PDFs certainly look reasonably priced. I have never heard of Megawords but I will check it out, too. Thanks for the suggestion. I have an appointment for her to get eval'd for a learning disability next month but not sure that's going to really change anything. I just feel terrible for letting this fester. I knew there was a disconnect but I didn't realize how bad until we had testing done a couple of months ago. I feel like it is bad enough that it limits her (writing in general is not a strength--I would like to put her in G3 because that's her reading level but have decided to keep her in Athena's because of this). Thanks for the suggestions.

I need some help for DD11 who is an avid reader with good comprehension and yet an abysmal speller (well below 50th percentile for grade level on her ITBS despite very high verbal scores). I feel guilty about it because I've been ignoring it (other than weekly list-based spelling tests) thinking it would get better, sort of chalking it up to asynchrony. I think I have finally realized this problem won't fix itself. I have searched old threads but many of the discussions are about younger children. She will resent it if I have her do spelling work designed for 6 or 7 year olds. Thoughts?

Thanks for the tips! I will totally look into Brewers for the Fall.

Hellen, same here. They said one of I sent back had food stains (I watched these kids take the whole test--nobody ate anything.). I don't know if it's their way of making extra money or what but honestly I think I would rather them just charge me the real cost of everything up front and then my kids could write in the books. We used BJU. Anybody else offer ITBS for home administration besides BJU ?

You ladies rock! I am always so wowed by what I read on this board. Pioneers have nothing on you.

LOL!

Sorry ! Was not the intent! I think tics and seizures can have a certain amount of symptomatic overlap and tics are way more common than gelastic seizures. A pediatric neurologist could sort it out (both seizures and Tourettes) and insurance should cover it.

Sorry--older thread but wanted to add: has your doc considered gelastic seizures? Any experience that is focal/brief, repetitive and stereotypical (meaning very similar each time) makes me at least consider seizure. Also ASD kids have a higher incidence of seizures. (Seizures do not have to involve motor movements or even impairment of consciousness.). Just a thought.

My DS11 has high functioning autism and I would not accept this behavior from him. He does have issues with poor impulse control (and has intermittently had issues with swearing and name calling) . We will probably never get the behavior we want (not completely) but I definitely will continue to let him know what is and is not acceptable. Anything less is a disservice to the child. I would absolutely try to find a nice way to discuss this with the parents. I may have lesser punishments for my son similar to the way a two year old has a shorter time out than a five year old but I absolutely would not give a child carte blanche to behave how he wishes simply because he has an ASD diagnosis.

Thank you so much, Mandy and Snowbelt Mom! That's very helpful!

Anybody else that has used this program? I am a STEM type looking to outsource writing for my soon to be middle schooler. I was leaning towards Write At Home but after reading the above put it on hold. Is there something else out there completely turn-key that folks prefer?

+ 1 for Northern CA

I have tried two separate IXL subscriptions with my kids (hope springs eternal). We just couldn't make it work. The biggest gripe was that if you miss a problem it adds like five more problems of that type. Which means task completion is a moving target. The second biggest complaint the kids had was it was too much like a worksheet--all drill and no fun. OTOH, there are folks who swear by it. Just didn't really work for us.

We just completed the process a few months ago. The portfolio requirement seems rather elaborate. We happened to have achievement testing done the same time as the WISC so were able to apply with simply the test scores. This made the application very manageable. I spent about an hour on it ( max ) and just hit the send button. If I couldn't remember a particular milestone or specifics about his previous projects then I omitted it (and they still accepted him).

Thanks!

I am looking into doing EPGY open enrollment for elementary level math but I need a group to join. Anybody know of any open groups? Also, I am trying to transition out of Saxon into something else as a part of this transition. Anybody have thoughts on what would dovetail with EPGY's approach? Thanks!

Fairfarmhand--thanks! She has been going to gymnastics 2x a week for the last 6 months or so and it really does help. She has to share that with DD3 but they have a good relationship and are in different classes at the same time so it's worked out so far. She definitely wants time away from her other (seemingly more successful) siblings and this helps. Heathermomster--MD psych just had as fill out a couple of parent symptom inventory type checklists and used that in conjunction with the testing to arrive at an ADD diagnosis. It probably is part of the puzzle because she did improve somewhat on the stimulant. I think it's just 3rd grade really hits her particular deficits harder and now she can't keep up. Her handwriting is slow and a bit messy--not the worst but definitely not the best. I will check out the Sousa book--it sounds interesting. I come from kind of a mathy family and so it really pains me to see her struggling with math. Grandpa rails she must not be practicing math facts hard enough (which I know is not the case). Wapiti, thanks for the insight. I am feeling weary already with this and it is dawning on me finally this will be like peeling an onion. Hate seeing her struggle like this and it doesn't help that her younger brother (DS6) is working at or above her level on basically everything. First rule of holes is stop digging and so I think I will take the overall sense I'm getting that really what I need is some good expert advice. I will see if I can find a psych who specializes in 2e and have him/her look over the existing testing and make recs. Maybe we need different testing, not the same stuff over, or different evaluations. Anybody have anybody in California or Nevada they would recommend for this?

Hi all, Was hoping for some advice for DD who just turned 9 and is in 3rd grade. We are in our 3rd year of HS'ing. Prior to this, she was in a Montessori school. DD struggled to learn to read around the age of 7 but now seems to read reasonably proficiently. Reading comprehension is not nearly as good as comprehension for information presented to her orally. She struggles with math facts. Everything seems to take longer than it does with her siblings but I can tell she is honestly trying and aims to please. It visibly affects her self confidence and self esteem. About a year and a half ago, we pursued testing through a local nonprofit organization (testing done by a Masters level provider). The report was fairly generic, not terribly helpful, but based on the report I suspected ADD and took her to a psychiatrist who diagnosed ADD and we started on medications. This seemed helpful (she paid more attention) and so we continued onwards (this was in the middle of first grade). This year however (now in 3rd grade) she really seems once again to be struggling. We tried increasing her medication and all that has done is keep her up in the middle of the night (stimulants). Her neuropsych testing from about 1.8 yrs ago [ shows a 40 point discrepancy between VSIQ / PRIQ and processing speed as well as a 25 point discrepancy between VSIQ / PRIQ and working memory.] (Actual values redacted). I guess I was just a little too happy to think that adding some meds would fix her issues. Clearly that was not the entire answer. Despite the above scatter profile, she received no formal diagnosis and we were just told she was bright and not to worry about anything. I am wondering if I should repeat her testing (since it's almost 2 years old anyway)--but it didn't really give us answers the last time, so not sure repeating it will be of any benefit. Or, should we just try more meds with her psych? Or should I just try to have her work harder or get her outside tutoring? Any assistance gratefully received...