Hugs! When DH's job ended early when I was expecting #3 (We knew it was temporary but thought there might be opportunities to extended it), he decided to check into contract work barely related to his field, thinking it would tide us over. One thing led to another and it became a career in a totally different field than what he trained in. People are always so perplexed when they hear what he does, and what his PhD work was in because they seem so unrelated (there is a tenuous connection, but not an obvious one). He's met a number of people in his current field who trained or previously specialized in totally different areas. So, just wanted to throw that out there as a hopeful story. I didn't want to move either at that time, and was so thankful for the way things worked out.

The second "it" in that comment (The one you linked to) is a bit unclear. I actually took the the "it" in the deeper sentence to be referring to the other program being discussed in the thread (EMF). I read it as saying essentially, "Among all the programs that could be described as 'deeper', EMF is on par or less deep." - Rather than the opposite implication that AoPS is the "on par or less-deep" program. Hopefully @4KookieKids can stop by this thread to clarify.

Yes, the multi sensory techniques for reading/spelling come pretty naturally now since that's what the focus was in the training I took. We had brief sessions on grammar and comprehension but it wasn't the focus. I just haven't given it any thought before this week about how to work on those areas (esp. in a multi sensory way). I subscribed to the SPEL-talk list after you mentioned it a few weeks ago. I actually love "watching" the professionals argue...I like knowing that even the experts don't have it all figured out. They are currently arguing about which multi sensory practices are actually evidence based. 😄 He will do it with all but the most complicated books he tries to listen to. Sometimes older books like E. Nesbit titles he has to slow down on because the vocab is different. TBH I am not 100% about comprehension on these audiobooks, but I do hear him discussing the books with his older brothers, so it is passable. Some of them are a bit lower level like Wings of Fire, but he's listening to the Magesterium series, all the Brandon Mull books, Harry Potter (a million times over and over), a lot of other middle grade fantasy and sci fi. He even listened to the first Stormlight Archive series that his older brother checked out (which might be considered either YA or adult, but seemed clean enough for my teen to listen to). I wasn't super keen on that for DS9, but he liked it enough he asked when the next one was coming from the library. Most of the "skill based" tests were 1 standard deviation or more under (Oral reading, word reading efficiency, spelling inventory), but that would be far different now after 14 months that I've been working with him daily on those skills in a way that is actually sticking. Some of his CTOPP sub scores were inching toward that low, but were still not quite as low as 1 standard deviation below. As far as not pausing for periods/commas, DS9 says he is so focused on the words that sometimes he doesn't notice the punctuation until it majorly causes the passage not to make sense. I don't really suspect ADHD. I do have another child with that diagnosis have filled out the inventories so many times...DS9 just doesn't really check the boxes like DS12 does. He usually just follows along with a finger as he reads, but I could see using a card to look at one sentence at a time could be an interesting strategy to make sure he is really stopping at the end of a sentence. I am not completely ruling out additional evals, I think I just want to try a few more things myself first.

Coming back through with a few more thoughts. If I read the confusing sentence, he can almost always get it - unless I forget and read as fast as I normally talk. I talk REALLY fast and that is more of a problem for him it seems than my other kids. I do have to think and slow down for him. Weirdly though he can listen to audiobooks at 2x, which I think is bizarrely fast! (All my boys listen at those kind of speeds). Yeah, understanding things like that is no problem in verbal speech. Yes, the book is definitely uneven. He wanted a book about cats and I read the first two pages of this one and knew he might need help with a few words here and there so I thought it would just be a good "stretch" read. But some sections are more difficult than others. Today he read about 8 pages and only got confused once, when he forgot to stop for a period at the end of a sentence. His RANS composite was right around 50th percentile, so it didn't seems like a super strong area of need to work on. Do you have any differnt thoughts along those lines? We aren't doing any formal grammar. My "philosophy" of grammar (if you want to call it that) has been to just do very informal introductions to grammar with picture books, mad libs, etc and not do any formal grammar until 5th grade. That was perfect for my other kids but maybe less of a good idea here. I mean, daily we we talk about beginning a sentence with a capital and ending with punctuation, because in a spelling dictation sentence he remembers maybe 10% of the time to do both things on his own, despite working on this for a year. I'm going to leave it there for this post...I'll be back a bit later to respond to your last post. DD wants to make soda bread for our St. Patrick's day dinner but I left too many dirty dishes in front of the mixer. 😄

I have my doubts...LOL. We have an HSA that we can use for health stuff, though we also have 2 kids that need to start braces so I had been earmarking HSA funds for that. It's not out of the question, but I've also been wanting to see what I can work on him with him first. The dyslexia testing wasn't as helpful for anything as I thought it might be, other than telling me what I already 95% knew for myself, that he is dyslexic. And gifted or close to it. His nonverbal logic scores are practically "off the charts". So it makes me hesitate on more testing, thinking that it's just going to tell me things I already know, and my money would be better spent on books or training for myself. After DS9's diagnosis I took a 100 hr OG training that included a short practicum and it was challenging and expensive but I love having the tools to directly teach him without relying on what a curriculum says to do step by step. It's more than just the one sentence. BUT, I do think that a huge factor in sentences he struggles with is that he is annoyed with having to pay attention to punctuation, and will read right past a lot of commas (sometimes even periods between sentences) without pausing. Then he stops and says, "That sentence makes no sense." I 'll tell him to try again, pausing for the commas, which sometimes helps, and sometimes it seems like having to think about pausing for commas in a longer sentence also makes it hard for him to hold the meaning of it all in his head. I feel like some simpler, directed practice at the sentence level would be really good....which is kind of what I think I am looking for - a source of practice material grouped by sentence structure type or maybe short paragraphs to practice with that I don't have to write or source individually. Like, when he wrote the the word "drum" as *derum the other day, I created 5 practice sentences for reading and spelling dictation for our lesson the next day reviewing the dr blend. But I am frequently using books like "Everything You Want to Know and Exactly Where to Find it" by William Van Cleave to source words (and the companion book has sentences sorted by syllable type or phonogram or morphological structure), and that makes my life so much easier because if I need 5 sentences on choosing ou or ow, I don't have to write them all myself. In my head I was imagining that maybe the same type of thing exists sorted on the structural level rather than on the sound level.

I scanned through more of the links - lots of interesting stuff there! I feel like his expressive language is pretty complex. I'm not really seeing a lot of deficits when he narrates a story to me, for example. So the issues come when he is reading, or sometimes when I am reading something to him that requires comprehension of a lot of steps and terminology (like, the directions on a page for beast academy). He's working ahead of grade level in math, and the instructions are getting pretty complex. I know I would rather read it for myself than listen to multi-step math instruction, so I'm not surprised that sometimes it's hard for him to catch everything with me reading it aloud to him. I already own Writing Revolution and have tried a couple of activities with him, but I feel like I need to put more time into wrapping my brain around that program. I've always used very structured writing curricula with my other kids, so this more methodology-focused book is a bit different and I haven't quite figured out the best way to use it. The activities we did were a bit "meh" but I would pin that on my execution of it, not the method. It seems liek a great concept.

Ok, this is a firehose of information....LOL. 😁 First, the book. We have a lot of vintage books in our home and I was so excited when we finally got him pretty solid on the basic phonograms so I didn't have to control the vocabulary in books quite as closely. But complexity is a whole 'nother issue that can make a book hard to understand while still being in the range of being decodable. So, the book is Jenny and the Cat Club, which isn't in the Lexile database. When I put in a couple paragraphs from the beginning of the book, it gave the lexile range as 410-610. He spent a long time before this book working through Aesop's Stories by Edward Dolch, which is also old and not in the lexile database. A couple paragraphs from the same book got the same estimated ranking, but my gut feeling is that it has easier sentence structures overall. The last books he read that were fairly easy for him - one was ranked 390 and another, despite being newer was not in the lexile database either. It's one from the Good and the Beautiful that they call a "level 2 reader" - it was super easy for him, but weirdly when I put it in the lexile estimator, it gave it a ranking of 610-710. Who knows. We haven't had APD testing. His dyslexia testing wasn't as thorough as a full neuropsych testing either. This was done about 18 months ago, We went with a local place with a really great reputation that specializes in dyslexia testing, but their testers are more masters-level qualified people. They did do the TAPS-4 Language Processing assessment, and his sentence memory was super low compared to his other scores on that. Number memory was 50th percentile, Word memory 63rd percentile, Oral direction processing, 91st percentile, auditory comprehension, 75th percentile, sentence memory 16th percentile!!! So there's the low score in an area he maybe needs more of now that his decoding skill has improved significantly. ok, our dinner is ready...be back later. 🙂

Our whole family enjoys Physics Girl: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7DdEm33SyaTDtWYGO2CwdA Veritasium is quite a bit of physics, though some other science topics also: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHnyfMqiRRG1u-2MsSQLbXA

With DS9 (dx is dyslexia/dysgraphia), we've gotten to the point where his word level decoding ability has gotten ahead of his ability to comprehend more complex sentence structures. He's reading a book right now (aloud, with me) that's at the edge of his decoding ability and also has some longer sentences. This sentence: "The more Jenny thought about it, the more amazed she grew that she, who was so small and shy and black, had been able to do such glorious deeds." -- was super confusing to him until I read it aloud with lots of pauses and inflection. The only word he needed help decoding was "glorious" -- all the other words were pretty straightforward -- but the structure is so complex! I don't really have any tools in my toolbox to help him work on this skill formally. All my other kids naturally picked up on the idea of pausing for commas and looking for those sentence structures to inform comprehension. We have talked multiple times while reading books about various places to pause as an aid for understanding, but I think we need something more than informal discussions to work on this skill. ETA: Most of the sentences in the book aren't quite this complex. 😊 The book started out easier and has gotten progressively more challenging toward the end, but he has had comprehension issues with sentences that just have one clause set off by commas as well in this and other books.

Each kid makes a pie every year for pi day - this year I only have to help DS9! Dd picked strawberry pie, DS13 is making Sparkling Grapefruit pie (sounds weird, but whatever!), DS12 is making Raspberry Custard pie, and DS9 picked Chocolate Mint pie.

I think another problem you run into with using scholarly research to make homeschooling decisions (besides the fact that what is best for one individual child may be different than what is best for the statistical majority of children), is that homeschoolers may have different goals than the public education system or than what educational researchers may presume is the goal. Educational research (and maybe the public education system in general) seems to usually have as its measurable desired outcome high test scores. Many homeschoolers couldn't care less about standardized test scores and may be more concerned about a more diverse set of goals that might include things like a broad liberal arts education, exposure to as much beautiful literature as possible, self-directed learning, character/religious education, or having time to specialize in areas of personal talent or interest. Some of these things lead to perhaps similar end-goals beyond the standardized tests (admission to college, or adequate preparation for a well adjusted adult life), but they may take a very different path in getting there. Educational researchers are also looking generally at what works in a 20-30 kid classroom, unless it is research on tutoring or intervention methods for struggling students. We as homeschool parents are teaching one kid at a time, or maybe a small group of kids (usually of differing ages) if we combine siblings for some subject areas. It makes for apples-to-oranges comparisons in some situations. For example, I never have to worry about how my students respond to a lecture method of teaching, because I would never stand up and give a lecture to my one middle schooler who is learning physical science this year. But if my kid were enrolled in a public school physical science class, I would find it weird if the teacher never stood up to give a lecture, because that is part of a classroom model of learning. Educational research on effective science classrooms can't take a one-on-one model into serious consideration as a possible method for public schools to follow because it's impractical.

I'm pretty sure this was mentioned in your previous thread but one area there's a lot of solid research on is phonics-based reading instruction. This is a great article with a lot of sources cited if you haven't run across it before: https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/08/22/whats-wrong-how-schools-teach-reading (I have another comment on a totally different line of thinking, but I'm going to start a separate post for that to keep topics within the thread a little more clear). 😄

You may want to read old threads in the high school board or cross post this there - there has been a lot of discussion on that board about AP options recently. In terms of further accelerating math, it's possible to do Geometry and Algebra 2 simultaneously. This is basically what my 8th grader is doing this year, though he is taking honors Geometry in a public school class and self-studying Algebra 2 with a few different resources with the aim of scoring high enough on a test-for-credit exam to take Pre-Calc in 9th. (He's homeschooled this year except for the one ps class, but plans on full time ps next year). But even without doubling up, your child would be able to get to Calc BC just taking the normal load starting with geometry in 9th - doubling up might only make sense if it could leave time later for other opportunities. My DS13 wants to prepare to test into a program through a flagship state university that gives accelerated high school students an opportunity for math at the college level while in high school, but in a class with other advanced high school students (as opposed to dual enrollment, where he would be in a class with college students). He needs to be done with pre calc no later than 9th to be qualified for this opportunity, so he is trying for that path. You could also look at topics not typically covered deeply in the high school math sequence like counting/probability and number theory. AoPs has texts and classes for those topics.

He says that at one point in the video. Something like "Almost no one calls themselves fundamentalists now, so where did the fundamentalists go?" It was helpful for me as someone who was not raised in a church at all so because I became "churched" at a time when no one was calling themselves a fundamentalist, yet it was this term that was "out there" and I never really understood.

This video is a pretty good explanation of the evangelical vs. fundamentalist. It also talks a bit about evangelical/fundamentalist vs everyone else protestant, but I think it over simplifies that distinction a bit because I'm not sure every denomination moved exactly along the lines he describes. I'm hoping to find a good book to read soon to learn more about 19th and early 20th century protestant church history. (I personally am still a non denominational evangelical, though personally embarrassed to be associated with many aspects of evangelical culture today. "Jesus and John Wayne" by Kristin Du Mez was an eye opening book but I don't want to throw the baby out with the bath water in terms of theological beliefs.)

I wanted something light this year for my 8th grade DS as well for history, so I let him tell me what topic he was most interested in - He picked British history, and I picked up this series of three short British textbooks aimed at middle school age (Here's one of them: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0008195250). Then he also picked a couple of topics to dive deeper with that we found audiobooks to match. The only written output I'm planning is a paper he will pick a topic to write about, and complete in our last month of the school year after his more intensive English class wraps up. He's also more of a STEM kid so the challenging English class plus a workload of 2 math subjects and a science class means that it's a relief to him to have this be his easy subject.

I'm not sure where pods got a lot of traction, but I feel like it wasn't my midwest state. Public school families I know who temporarily decided to homeschool weren't looking for an outside teacher to plan something, and public school families with kids in virtual learning who couldn't stay home with the kids relied on regular paid childcare options, grandparents or other relatives, or free/low-cost options offered by organizations like the Boys and Girls Club. I would assume that most of those families without an adult at home were some of the most eager to send kids back full time when that option opened up here recently for elementary age students. Across the income spectrum of people I personally know with elementary public school kids, nearly everyone has sent their kids back full time.

I can't speak to the Critical Thinking Co math, but BA5 in and of itself is excellent preparation for AOPS Pre-Algebra. My two middle boys only did BA with no supplements and were ready for AOPS. I'm planning to use some other materials during/after BA5 with my youngest, but that is mostly because is he doing BA5 at a very young age (He's 9/3rd grade and just starting BA 5B) and is also dyslexic and dysgraphic so he will not be ready soon enough for the language challenges that a wordy textbook like AOPS will present. But I haven't decided what else I will do with him.

We have some of those things going on in our house, but not all in the same kid so, take my advice with a grain of salt. 🙂 I've noticed that my kids who sometimes want to get into either an argument about basic facts, or an argument about an answer in their school work (i.e. - I say, "This answer isn't 25." Then they say, "The answer key must be wrong."), will believe Google over either me or an answer key. I tell them to ask Google, and surprise, surprise Google will agree with me or with the math answer key. And for whatever reason this works - Google KNOWS. 😄 I have one child who has decided about a few things that he is right and the rest of the world is wrong. For example, this child is convinced that everyone everywhere even famous mathematicians are wrong about 1 not being prime. We just have agreed to disagree about it for now, and I have said he can take it up with his professors when he goes to college. Honestly I do think he will change his mind before then. But if I had a kid that would just not listen to any expert and was convinced that Komodo Dragons lived in the arctic, I would just let them know that I will agree to disagree and look forward to him growing up and traveling there to prove me wrong someday.

If you are on Facebook, this group has a lot of great posts with info on decodable books: https://www.facebook.com/groups/decodablebooks People have posted links to books that are always free or free temporarily, plus discussing sets available for purchase. I'll agree too that it makes sense to get an eval. It was so relieving for my youngest to know that there was a REASON why reading was so hard for him, and it made me feel better about spending more than our typical homeschool budget to pursue the instruction he needed.

The 3rd chapter of 5A is completely dedicated to variables. I just did that one with DS9. Is this photo like what you were talking about with non standard equations? There are definitely a few like this, plus word problems that would result in this style equation.

Our public school district just changed the requirements for the incoming Freshman class (class of 2025 I guess that would be?) to add Environmental Science as a requirement. The previous requirement was biology-chemistry-physics but the new one will be Biology, Environmental Science, and either Chem OR Physics.

I think the transition to a certain amount of work per day (with assignments broken up on a daily basis) is largely based on what makes sense for each subject. For my 6th grader it works well to say "complete one science lesson or assignment per day" or "do one grammar page per day" because the curriculum is already set up that way. But AoPs Pre-Algebra sometimes has lessons that are very easy for DS12 and he can do 2 or more in one day, and sometimes he only gets half a lesson done. I find time works better for that curriculum. I did give him a "progress chart" that showed about how much he would need to do on average per day to finish by the end of the year, so he could see for himself if he was spending enough time per day. But as it turns out he is going quite fast through the curriculum and will finish in the next couple of weeks. I think the skill of having to finish reading a book by a certain date or know how to portion out a week or two worth of work is an advanced skill, and one that my two older kids with no EF challenges didn't really start doing until 7th-8th grade. DS13 is really doing it for the first time this year in 8th grade because he is taking a class that meets once a week for English, and the teacher assigns a whole week's worth of work at a time (sometimes two weeks worth of work in the case of some longer books or assignments). At the beginning of the year I taught DS13 how to sit down and look at the number of pages or chapters in a book, and decide how many per day to read to finish by the deadline (and he could decide for himself if he was only going to count school days or read on weekends as well). Then for other kinds of assignments, at the beginning of the year I had DS show me the list of what the teacher assigned for this week, and then I helped him make a plan to break down what to do each day to get it done before the next class. Now he can mostly handle it himself and I just check in with him once mid-week to see how it is going. It's been a good experience for him because he can't just say "I've had a busy week, I can't get the reading done" - he has to make the time and say "no" to fun with siblings occasionally or he won't have the reading done in time for class and will do poorly on the in class quizzes or other assignments. But I am not sure I would have pushed for that before this year. I don't think anything over the time frame of two weeks is necessary in middle school or even early high school - My daughter is in public high school and with the exception of one or two major projects (that still had very regular "check in dates" where rough drafts or other progress reports were due), virtually all assignments have a time frame of less than two weeks out.

My daughter in public school has a class like that this semester and they call it Global Culinary Arts.

If you are comfortable with some vintage books, Sabbath Mood Homeschool has some great book lists for science that go up to high school level: https://sabbathmoodhomeschool.com/living-science-books/ I tried one of the curriculum guides once and it wasn't our style but even if you don't want the guides you can look at what she suggests. My kids could often get a lot out of books at a higher level than she suggests, especially if I read out loud. A modem series we like is the Scientists in the Field series. It is kind of like a very detailed picture book (with photos) and text about the work of actual scientists. Some years we have done a "just read books" approach for science and I pulled books from a lot of different sources. It turns out a lot of my kids like science textbooks, so we have done this less often for science and more for history.