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rbk mama

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Everything posted by rbk mama

  1. I just posted asking about physics for my dyslexic high schooler. Looking back at old posts, I see that I asked about video lectures for computer science a while back (Edhesive has been great so far). I know that my dyslexic student needs video lectures, preferably ones with some animation and other graphics - not just a person talking (he has some attention/focus trouble also). Does anyone know of a list of high school classes or resources that are good for dyslexic students? I keep thinking there must be tons of homeschoolers looking for things like this for their dyslexic high schoolers who cannot learn well from traditional textbooks. Can we start a list (or a list of lists if anyone has links)? For Bio this year we are using the Miller Levine (Macaw) ibook and it is AMAZINGLY PERFECT for this DS. Each chapter section is just about exactly the right amount of reading and is liberally interspersed with beautiful graphics, animations, videos, photos, etc. It took me a bit to realize that turning the ipad horizontally made a huge difference! LOL. We're also using the accompanying workbook (selected portions) and lab book, and I have the teachers' editions to both of those. The entire collection was quite cheap. I bought lab materials from Home Science Tools and just flipped through the lab manual to see what was needed (we're not doing ALL the labs...). He's watching Crash Course bio videos as an introduction to the material before reading each topic, which is helpful for him (and he really likes them). He has also enjoyed the Untamed Science videos, especially for the ecology topics. He's using David Chandler's Math Without Borders videos for Algebra 2 and Trig right now, and he used them for Algebra 1 as well (both courses use Foerster)- he really likes them. Duke TIP for geometry was less pleasant - the videos were long, dull, and impossible to rewind or fast forward. I think we'll go with Derek Owens for algebra-based physics. No idea yet what to do for Chemistry. I'm also shopping around for micro and macro economics options. I would love to hear what has worked for other dyslexic high schoolers!
  2. Just realized that this is from a fairly old post. Snowbeltmom, if you are still reading this thread - would you be willing to share some of what you've heard regarding how homeschoolers are perceived? I can guess at a few things, but really have no idea.
  3. We need asynchronous because of where we live. However, I think this DS would anyway not do well in a live setting because of his slow processing speed. I'm hoping that by college he will be able to manage with recordings of the lectures that he can review later - but I'm worried a little about that, too!
  4. I'm looking for algebra-based physics for my 10th grade dyslexic DS. Video lectures are preferred as he doesn't learn well from a textbook. Anything online needs to be asynchronous. The top contender so far is Derek Owens, as it seems to be primarily video-lecture based. Any other options we should look at?
  5. Great ideas! Thanks!! We love the One Small Square books, and Janice VanCleave's Science Around the World looks perfect. I love the lapbook concept but haven't been successful with them - we should try again now that they're a bit older. Never thought of growing a Chia Pet! :laugh: My kids would love that. Chocolate Cake I'm with you about Jesus and dark chocolate :thumbup1:
  6. Did you primarily rely on the book basket books for science, or did you do something else for science?
  7. I'm so glad to hear that! Did you and your children enjoy the science portion? I'm undecided about purchasing the MFW ECC guide as we already have the Eastern Hemisphere core from Sonlight and most of the MFW ECC books - and a bunch of others (but I will look and see how cheap the used TM copies are). The books they list for science are pretty minimal. Do you like the Properties of Ecosystems book?
  8. I'm looking for a study of ecosystems to go along with a study of world geography/cultures for my 5th grader, with a 2nd grader tagalong. MFW does something similar with the ECC core. (I'd love to hear more about that from anyone with experience.) I don't need a set curriculum- a few good resources would be fine. The one thing we'll include for sure are the fun ecology videos by Untamed Science. Ideas and book suggestions much appreciated!
  9. Maybe this is a dumb question, but I've been trying to understand the timing of the NMS program, and I can't see how it is possible to indicate "NMS finalist" on a college application when they don't announce the finalists until Feb. of the student's senior year - way past when college apps were done. Am I missing something? The NMS site says semi-finalists will be announced in early Sept. of the senior year (which is confusing- isn't it simply the results of a test, which they already have the results to at least 9 months prior?) So, I can see listing semi-finalist, but not finalist. I read in another thread that there is a May 1st deadline to indicate first choice school if you are hoping for one of the large merit award schools for NMS finalists. How and where is that indicated?
  10. :lol: :lol: This DS has grown up as a foreigner in Asia, looking and thinking very differently from those around him. He's used to not fitting in and making do. And he is very optimistic when it comes to people - he enjoys meeting different types of people with different backgrounds, especially if they enjoy talking about deep things. He is very comfortable in his own skin. This past summer at a math/science camp, his favorite part was just getting to be around a large group of smart kids (for the first time really), and initiate philosophical conversations. The trappings of the university setting were irrelevant. And I agree that "fit" really is a luxury. Americans are used to having SO MANY options and getting things just exactly right.
  11. Thanks for this! #1 and #4 are the most important for us to look at. As I said earlier, this one has no interest in discerning the "vibe" on a campus. My next DS absolutely will want to experience that (much more sensitive in that regard), but not this one. I think that he feels strongly about NOT visiting campuses, because the objective things (like #1 and 4, and other info gathered online) can be determined without visiting, and the rest are meaningless to him. He really would be happy anywhere.
  12. :lol: :lol: He isn't actually banking much on my posting others, though I do think he appreciates whatever info I pass on to him. I have told him that paring the list is something he is going to have to do, not me. But of course I can't keep myself out of it. After spending hundreds of hours researching curriculum/resources for high school, this feels like a natural extension.
  13. I need to think of better questions to ask, then. This kid - doesn't care about grades. So that doesn't work. We are in the US this year, so now's the time to visit. We just haven't thought of how to make those visits worth it for us (and like I said, DS is SO not on board with the idea.)
  14. OK, so this is my DS's argument against visiting: He is skeptical that you can predict what your personal experience will be based on speaking with a few people (or even several people) on campus. At of U of Chicago, for example, he might run into your kids' friends and have one impression, or he might only run into other students who have zero down time and spend all of their time studying, with few hours of sleep. He's also skeptical that those students who are stressed would actually own up to that (as in the duck syndrome mentioned earlier.) I should say also that this DS has lived most of his life in Asia (we're US expats, moved to Asia when DS was very young), and just about ANY university campus looks pretty amazing compared to where we live. Plus, we are used to not having many options. For most of his life there's been one kind of cheese available, one kind of bread, one option for basketball, very limited options in which to pursue music, etc. A lot of what people talk about when they compare colleges - the size, the location (urban/rural etc), feels unimportant to him. And this DC is very different from my others in that he really doesn't care one whit what anyone else thinks about him - feels zero social pressure. So any argument for getting a feel for a place holds no weight for him. He believes that in any university with a good academic program, he will find interesting people to hang out with. He's really just interested in the strength of the academic program. Period. And his parents are concerned about that in addition to finances. So that leaves us with a ridiculously large list of schools. (The only other limits are geographical, to stay somewhat close to extended family.) Anyway, I appreciate hearing about your kids' friends' experience at U Chicago. It may be that this latest pondering of mine is not going to help us pare down the list.
  15. Thank you! This is the type of information I was hoping to gather. U of Chicago and Olin most likely won't be on the list. :001_smile:
  16. Well, DS may need a reality check about how much free time he will have regardless of where he attends. We had several friends at UMich who were in engineering and part of the same Christian campus group with us, and they were all significantly involved - in leadership positions that were fairly time-demanding, so I didn't get the impression that they were struggling to find time outside of their academic work. And they all graduated in 4-5 years. I feel confident DS can manage the academic load of a good engineering program - most of the classes, especially physics and math, he finds exciting and fun to study. And his high school academic load has been fairly heavy. I think I am asking about something a bit more vague. Maybe the type of person who attends a super selective university. This DS is competitive (on the basketball court and in an exam room), but also laid back in terms of how he schedules his life. He loves music and spends a long time each day improvising on his piano, as well as researching and discussing theological questions. In that way, he is not a typical "overachiever," racing from one intense activity to another. Can he survive 4-5 years of hectic university life with very little free time? Yes, he could, but I think he would be happier with more.
  17. FWIW, I wish we had started with Barton from the beginning. At the time we were in a bit of denial about our DS's dyslexia (not THIS kid - he's so smart! If he has it, it's just really mild...) We used AAS (AAR wasn't out yet) for DS, which was helpful for the first 2.5 levels - but didn't really help his reading beyond that. Then we switched to Wilson, which was great for his reading, but not spelling. And it was not that easy to use - required a lot of planning on my part, which didn't always get done well enough. If I could go back in time, we would have plunked down the $$$ and started out with Barton. It is helpful to think of it as a substitution for expensive private tutoring, which someone up thread mentioned.
  18. We were talking recently about families we know whose children are in huge amounts of extracurricular activities, or whose extracurricular activities take up huge amounts of time. My kids do well academically, do a few extracurricular things they enjoy, and spend a lot of time in relaxed conversation or some quiet pastime. DS will have perfect or near perfect scores in every exam, including many (14-16) APs. I wonder, when I hear about families like I mentioned, if the climate at "lottery" schools is best suited for the student who is used to a packed out schedule and thrives on that. DS is very bright, and very self-driven, but this boy likes his down time. He's in 11th, and we are paring down the college list (he wants to go into engineering). I'm wondering if, even if he were to get into a lottery school, if that might not be the best fit for him. Those of you familiar with super selective schools - what do you think? (And I realize they are not all the same - experience with specific schools would be nice to hear about.) How does one find out this sort of information about a college environment?
  19. Thank you for this real life perspective! It's so true - school requires a certain mold that is just not required everywhere else. I needed that. :-) And OhElizabeth - that isn't being braggy - those details of how you use tech are SO helpful. I am horrible at organizational stuff and need to learn that myself. I'm sure I'm not the only one helped by hearing these details. I like the idea of him figuring out and deciding how he wants to use stuff. I think we'll both need to spend time exploring these options. He will definitely need assistance at first.
  20. I hear what you are saying, and that's been what I've found in my small amount of research - that in general, slower processing speed needs to be accepted and accomodated, and there's not much you can do to change it. Maybe I haven't gotten to that first part fully - acceptance. Not because of any test result, but because the reality is so frustrating for my kid. It's also hard to believe with our brains' elasticity that there's nothing you can do. Interesting thought about video games - DS enjoys video games, all different kinds. It makes sense that kids with lower processing speed would not be drawn to these, but he likes them. ?? I'm going to ask him more specifics about the games he likes and those he doesn't - I'm curious. We still have a few more follow-up meetings with the neuropsych so we can get his opinion on what we can do in addition to accommodation. He isn't the one who mentioned the 3A's - that was from the video linked by shinyhappy. I love that book Dyslexic Advantage! When you have a dyslexic kid, that book gives you goosebumps. O/T, but that book makes me wonder if a majority of dyslexic people are 2e?
  21. The numbers I mentioned are percentiles (from the WISC-5) - sorry, I am very new to this whole area and maybe that's not the way you're supposed to speak of them. I know that 30th percentile doesn't sound horrible, but what is significant is the huge difference between that number and his scores on visual/spAcial reasoning and fluid reasoning. Thanks for the video link - that is helpful in understand what processing speed is. Their conclusions were to: Accept, Accommodate, and Advocate. And maybe that's that. But I want to explore ways to possibly improve processing speed at the same time as we're accommodating. I like OhElizabeth's ideas in that last post.
  22. OhElizabeth - thanks for clarifying! I hadn't really thought about the tech options you mentioned. He has a laptop and uses an ipad for his biology ibook, but that's it. And really on the laptop he just uses Word and a teeny bit of excel. I haven't explored organizational tools for him - probably because I am not tech-savvy myself with that stuff. Was just talking with a friend about how I need to use Google calendar to get more organized as our schedule is nuts this year. I am very low-tech. And I had not thought about how hugely important typing is for him, and that I need to make that more of a big deal for him to improve. Maybe lessen some of his academic load to make room for that. I love your idea of a big incentive! I've been thinking about the IM and midline exercises and how to make that happen without him feeling self-conscious - there are three other kids in the house. One is older and would be supportive, but the younger two just being around would make this DS not want to do it. I need to think of how to help him over that. I like the basketball idea because that's good for his basketball handling skills anyway.
  23. Thanks OhElizabeth! I will search out Heathermonster's posts about Interactive Metronome. I read information on their site about it, and it sounds interesting. What types of midline exercises did you find most useful? DS's working memory was 79 - not too bad, but not in line with his other strengths - visual/spacial reasoning and fluid reasoning. His typing is just OK - needs to work on that (not sure what else you meant by tech?) And he needs help with organization. Thanks geodob for that interesting link! I was thrown off a bit by the purpose of that info -- do people actually prepare their children to take these tests? Anyway, I appreciated the specific games/products they list for specifically working on processing speed and other areas tested. Thank you!
  24. So DS is officially 2e, which we've suspected for a long time, but now he's been tested. He has a nearly 70 point difference between visual/spacial reasoning and processing speed (99.7 and 30). He is dyslexic and 15 yo. I'm seeing a lot of information on how to accommodate a slower processing speed, but not much on how to actually improve processing speed. Some software brain games claim to do this, but the evidence is shaky (maybe these are just too new to tell yet?) BrainHQ, Lumosity... Anyone try these? Any other ideas out there for how to improve processing speed?
  25. Yup, same here! He had too many other things he wanted to do with his time than to spend the 2-3 hours/day AOPS would have required. And feeling steadily "behind" zapped his enjoyment of math.
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