I'm trying to figure out the most realistic science curriculum that we can get done with the least teacher-intensive accommodations. Both of my two children with dyslexic tendencies are science-oriented, so it needs to be high-priority that I feed that strength, but in order to accomplish that alongside all of the remediation that needs to be done one-on-one, something has to give in terms of being more independent. Math-U-See works well for us, because the video frees me up to be teaching phonics to a sibling, and both the video and manipulatives are memorable. We use audiobooks for Story of the World and for Sonlight literature/history when I want them to work independently in those subjects, so that I only need to read aloud the extra books that aren't recorded, and help with written projects, and supervise the hands-on stuff....it's busy, but there's enough independence that it's not all on me. But science...I find that most books need to be read aloud because of the advanced vocabulary to decode, and most written work needs to scribed, and most experiments need to be supervised...and that means that it all has to wait for mom to help, and that's not efficient for two kids that I want to immerse in science as their go-to favorite subject. Is there anything out there that you like that can be found on audio? With a substantial video component? With manageable written work? Hand-on experiments that the kids enjoy? Curriculum that satisfies that big picture desire to understand everything? I don't need it to be completely independent--I love teaching science--but I need to be able to turn them loose to explore on their own more often, and I need it to be actual curriculum rather than Wild Kratts, Magic School Bus, etc. One is in elementary, one is in middle school, and high school is not far down the road. And who knows whether the preschooler will have the same issues. So I'd welcome suggestions for any age. If no one has any favorite recommendations, maybe we can at least chat pros and cons of what we've all tried?

This is so encouraging.

I agree. When I've tutored high schoolers, the vast majority of them who were struggling needed to better internalize how to handle fractions for algebra and chemistry. Sometimes that meant going back to a super simple approach...elementary level manipulatives or pictures to thoroughly understand WHAT the denominator means, and WHY we need it to be a common denominator for addition and subtraction. Same idea for decimals. And likewise, they also needed to know why and how multiplication and division are different than addition and subtraction...WHY do we multiply denominators? WHY do we cancel out common factors? WHY does multiplying create additional decimal places? At the point where they are trying to balance equations with polynomial fractions, or express chemical quantities in scientific notation, they have to understand conceptually at that very basic level, or it will absolutely fall apart as they try to memorize procedure after procedure for complex problems. It sounds to me like they memorized the arithmetical procedure easily at the time, but didn't take the time to absorb the concepts well enough to build their quantitative reasoning. I'd try to go at it from more of a discovery approach if possible...for example, if I do 3 x 1/2, is that bigger or smaller than 6? Draw your answer. Make them draw whole number problems first even, like 3 x 2, 3 x 5, and 3 x 1. Let them roll their eyes, but have them look at their examples and tell you what multiplication means. Then ask them to draw three times a half. Try it a few different ways. Try it by piecing together three halfs. Try it by starting with three wholes, and take half from each. Same quantity? How does the procedure compare to working with whole numbers? And then, if they need to see how it connects to Algebra to not feel like they're regressing, you can give them a simple problem with a variable, such as 3 times 1/x.

I'd consider doing NOEO Chem 1 or Chem 2 for the younger ones.

The best place is local since shipping isn't a factor, but the classifieds here and www.homeschoolclassifieds.com have been good sources. Ebay sometimes. Half.com sometimes, but mostly for novels...harder to find teachers guides. Amazon sometimes.

I've only ever seen it be from a pre-set list of books, and they are never anything I want either. Once in a while, I can convince myself that maybe it would be remotely interesting to listen to one or two of them, but I've yet to find three that are worth my parting with two credits. I mostly use mine for ordering novels that are featured in either Sonlight or Writing With Ease...in other words, literature for my children with dyslexic tendencies. I have never yet seen that sale include children's literature at all. I'm pretty sure the sale cart is reused from sale to sale, simply restocked with different titles, but the same categories as before. There was once a sale on classics when they rolled out the Whispersync feature. That's the only time I ever got anything really useful for free or beyond their normal discount. Many of their children's classics, even novels, costs less than a month's membership, so I've given thought to just binge ordering using the cash price with member discount at the beginning of each school year and cancelling in between.

We're going to try Making Friends With Numbers as a workbook to reinforce math facts, and Times Tales as a multimedia approach. Not sure if either one gets to the multi-digit algorithms, but both look like a different approach to getting those down solid.

We hit a similar snag in 3A. I noticed it behaviorally first, that something was off...trying to do multi-digit multiplication and division is stressful when you haven't even mastered the times tables! What we did to get through it: I made a cheat sheet for each fact family, using a page protector and dry erase marker. That way, my child could still get some practice by filling in the answers periodically, but could mostly just look them up while focusing on how to do each of the large problems. We broke out the base ten blocks. We have the Math-U-See blocks from a sibling, so red hundreds, blue tens, green ones. We didn't have quite enough base ten blocks to do the big problems, so I had to sub some smaller problems (2's, 3's, 4's) to get the hang of it during teaching sessions, then we switched to poker chips with the same colors. If we didn't have them, I'd probably have opted to print enough base ten on colored paper/cardstock. We've actually done that before for thousands. We did the problems with manipulatives until he knew the steps automatically, prompting him toward doing the same steps as the standard algorithm and talking through it clearly. Then we connected that to the written steps AFTER he had the gist of it. . I made colored graph paper with a table in our word processor...green column for ones, blue column for tens, red for hundreds, a few extra white columns to write the symbols and such. We're still going to have to do some fact practice over the summer before we start 4A, but we survived. 3B is like a breath of fresh air by comparison.

As much I love to read, I hated reading ancient Greek literature in school. (Give me Shakespeare any day, but not Greek!) Now that we're attempting our first history cycle of classical education, I'm hoping to read some better versions, gain a little appreciation, and not pass on my dislike to the kids. I don't want to get bogged down in it forever, though....I want to move on to Romans, etc. So, help me out. In very brief terms, can anyone tell me the difference between the Illiad, Aneid, and Odyessy? Where do they fit in history? Should I teach all three, or just give them a small taste of one? Do I need to teach Greek drama before high school? Are any of the plays even remotely appropriate? I very vaguely remember reading Medea in 9th grade, I think, or maybe 12th....but I haven't seen it yet on any booklists like Sonlight, Tapestry of Grace, etc. I have two grammar students (2nd and 3rd) and one logic stage (7th), all doing their first pass through ancient history at home. Thoughts? Favorites?

I think it's an increasing trend. You know how you have to find the right curriculum that works for you and your child? The more that education is legislated, standardized, dominated by textbook companies that produce the annual assessments thus creating a profit-driven reason to push for increased testing and having to switch everything to common core compliant materials (even if the old materials did just as well or better)...the more that all of those factors force teachers into having less and less say in how to meet the needs of their students, the more of us I expect to find homeschooling, tutoring, writing, retiring, etc. I left when I realized that I had more teaching experience than my dd's teachers, and when I realized that their hands were tied. With special ed law being what it is, even though we are sincere about wanting to include and reach every child, teachers cannot "deny" a child access to mainstream curriculum. That makes sense when you are talking about whether an ADHD student should be allowed into a wonderful honors class with rigorous curriculum or forced to languish in a lower level class with nothing but rote, surface detail curriculum and apathetic teachers, as was the case for decades of education. It makes less sense when you consider today whether a student with mild disabilities who aren't failing badly enough, who "respond to intervention" such as earning a C- after receiving tutoring in the subjects they are struggling to read, will never be offered an appropriate curriculum such as Barton Reading. Teachers are limited in how much choice they have over curriculum, for their students, as well as for their own teaching styles. The freedom of homeschooling allows us to actually practice our art of REACHING individuals.

Do your kids reread books? My littlest will reread a book until memorized, but her older brothers responded to FIAR with complaints that "we already read that!" I think that sounds wise to try a sample first. My personal opinion was that FIAR was like a buffet of activities for each book, and while you don't HAVE to do every activity, I just didn't click with enough of them. I liked the idea of someone having read ahead and thought ahead to compile extension activitites, but in practice I only used the obvious ones that I could have thought of myself. I like SOTW's activity guide better, with a book basket of additional readings. Or we come home from the library with a basket of books on some other theme...in kindergarten-first grade we did some state studies about different memorable features such as lobsters for Maine, the Sonoran desert for Arizona with its cactus and lizards and such, whatever science or social studies stood out.

Last time we did standardized testing, dd had a 30pt discrepancy between computation vs. concepts. She's worked incredibly hard with multisensory methods to master her facts, but starts mixing them up as soon as we add more than one fact family. I'm thinking about letting her move on with a cheat sheet for facts, or even a calculator. We've only got a couple more years before Algebra, and still need to get through long division, fraction, decimals, etc., because multiplication (and even multi-digit addition and subtraction) have been so hard to master. Have any of you done this? I'm afraid of fractions being a beast if she doesn't have the multiplication facts memorized to automaticity, but I don't think we're ever going to get there at this rate no matter what I do. And what happens when it's time to do standardized testing? We're required in my state. I can give standard special needs accomodations as far as extending time and such...anyone know if calculator use is allowed? How'd that fly with your district/state if you tried it? Feeling discouraged...

Math teachers are always in short supply. If you could find a multi-subject coop, or even just another family to trade off with, most people I know would swoon to have you tutor high school math or review for the SATs, etc. I would put yourself out there...it probably doesn't even occur to people because they've never had anyone qualified in math offer to teach. I've done science for our coop a number of times and it's like pulling teeth to get anyone to even fill in for a week because they feel intimidated by the subject.

Supercharged Science is online. Not free, but taught by a rocket scientist. I'm not sure about online LA. Bravewriter offers online classes if she needs a writing course taught by someone else. I don't like the rest of their LA as much, though, but writing is good. Sequential Spelling can come on DVDs. Phonetic Zoo is on audio discs. IEW has DVD writing lessons. Editor in Chief has software for proofreading grammar and mechanics. Analytical Grammar has some multimedia stuff, but I only glanced at it after hearing it discussed here...it looks worth considering, and their Beyond the Book Report stuff might cover the literature aspect of LA. If she needs a history, I wonder if SOTW 1 would give him a history jumping off point for reading more Greek mythology. It really depends on her state regs, his personality, etc. In my state, you have to declare all the major subjects, so a period of deschooling wouldn't fly. But, in a more relaxed state, it might be better to start small and add stuff so as not to get overwhelmed. Or, it might be better to keep the expectation of having a full day while he's still used to it. Or start small, but talk about having a full day..."We're going to start your math this week, and then add in the rest of your subjects every week or two after that" so that there is some understanding of this being a transitional period and not that homeschooling = vacation indefinitely. It really depends on whether he responds better to planning ahead like that, or feels pressured.

Staybridge Suites...a little more than Comfort Suites, but they have a door for the bedrooms, and on weeknights, they have free dinner besides the free breakfast in the morning. And a real kitchen, as opposed to a microwave/mini-refrigerator. ETA: And if I recall correctly, TWO bathrooms.

Graph paper can help. Math U See has some printable graph paper in a larger font than usual if necessary. Smaller works for some kids; larger works for others. Anyhow...lining up the equals signs and other elements suddenly becomes a bit easier with the grid as a guideline for some students.

I've heard the same thing about ambidexterity being connected to dyslexia and such. A long time ago...not sure if this is still the current science on the matter....some of the research for a report I was writing on left-handedness suggested that since the inheritance pattern doesn't follow a simple recessive-dominant model, not even when you take into account the effect of some genes possibly being on the x and y chromosomes (left-handedness is more common in males, and there are different rates of inheritance depending on whether it appears in your maternal lineage or paternal)...there is one hypothesis that there is no left-handed genetic trait exactly. Instead, the hypothesis is that there is a right-preference trait to inherit (probably consisting of multiple genes), and a lack thereof. Of those who do not inherit a right-preference, some copy the world around them and become right-handers, some settle on left-handedness, some remain ambidextrous. This hypothesis would account for why many of us lefties are more ambidextrous than righties tend to be. It would also account for why many lefties are creative and gifted...hmm, why not try this other hand? It would also account for the linkage with brain damage and LDs...if the genes that transmit right-preference (or the expression of those genes as the brain develops) are damaged in some way, then the child could become a lefty. If the child doesn't inherit a strong hand preference, and has trouble with directionality as in some types of dyslexia, it's also possible that the child could be copying the wrong hand movements, relying on social imitation rather than innate preference, trying to use his or her own left hand while you use your right hand...you know how some kids need you to stand in front of them with your back turned (so that you're all facing the same way instead of facing each other) in order to show them dance steps in the right direction? As hard as it is to reverse complex movements in sports and knitting and whatnot, it's still pretty complicated for young children to realize that your right hand and their right hand are diagonal from each other when facing one another! Anyhow....All that to say, if you have a child who Is ambidextrous...while you should celebrate the positives and not see that as a pronouncement of doom, you might want to keep an eye on early warning signs for learning disabilities, and twice-exceptionalness (gifted + learning disability such as dyslexia). And you might want teach motions sitting next to the child instead of in front, or maybe even consider using a mirror. But whatever the reason or cause, and no matter how ambidextrous...I wouldn't force right-handedness. I'm glad I played with enough right-handed scissors to be able to use them when lefties aren't available, but there are lots of studies about forcing right handedness that proved that to be detrimental. There may or may not be a left-preference gene, but whatever the reasons the child doesn't default to right, it's not changeable.

I can't seem to make the link paste, but there's a lengthy page about left handed writing at Peterson Directed Handwriting, showing the arm motions and everything. If you google their homepage, it's under Training Tools on the menu that runs across the top of the page. The only thing I'm particularly picky about myself as a left hander is that I try to keep my cursive with a neutral slant, because backward can be harder for others to read. Sometimes I can slant mine forward, but IMO, it's not a hill worth dying on when neutral is easier.

Peterson Directed Handwriting Rhythm of Handwriting (from Logic of English) Callirobics (another handwriting program) BraveWriter (was that already listed yet?) Dyslexia Games

I really liked doing AAS for spelling to reinforce reading...to add a kinesthetic component to put what we were learning into practice, so that phonics wasn't all receptive/passive. But I agree with the above poster...definitely don't treat it like a list to memorize, just an activity to have fun building words. (AAS has manipulatives.) FLL is very gentle. You could skip it if you need your day to be shorter, but it's not terribly stressful for a non-reader since it's all oral. It does have some narration in it, so listening and summarizing skills are touched on. That I find helpful. WWE...we love it, but it's frustrating for an early reader/writer. We did it younger than I wanted to due to state regs, and I basically modified it so that my youngest kids were mostly copying words that worked on the same letters they were learning for handwriting or phonics. This is the one I'd postpone until you get further along in phonics, esp. if you keep FLL and get a little narration there. And if you were to do AAS for spelling, there is a teeny bit of dictation there...all words they have already been taught to spell...which makes the most sense to me.

How long did it take you to get through a volume? What ages were you using it with? Did you use the activities? Supplemental readings?

So...I have a middle schooler and a pair of elementary students. I'd like to do SOTW 1 Ancients with all of them next year. We've been doing Sonlight for American History, and finding younger picture books and such on my own for the little kids, but for world history next year, I was thinking about following the SOTW 1 Activity Guide for elementary literature, while using Core G for literature for the oldest. But, I see that Sonlight has middle schoolers doing two volumes of SOTW per year...while their elementary world history uses a different spine entirely. And I thought SOTW was supposed to take a year per volume for elementary? And then when I look at the time period for Core C...it seems to cover the same ages as SOTW 2-4. I really don't want to read two different spines simultaneously (CHOW to the youngers, SOTW to the oldest) or move at two different paces (SOTW for both, but double-speed for oldest), but I also don't have four years left to get the oldest through world history before it's time to start her high school transcript. In two years, she'd be the right age for Core 100, and the boys would be at the right age for Cores D and E (which I own). And about the time they're ready for G, I'll have another little one coming up to Core B...so I need a good plan... How do you make this work, trying to mesh Cores B / G / SOTW 1, and then Cores C / H / SOTW 2-4? I'm not tied to the daily Sonlight schedule. I want to use most of the books, but I'm fine with having to use my own brain to figure out the day-to-day. I just need help figuring out what's a realistic long-term plan for a history cycle that won't short-change either age-group. The SOTW Activity guide looks like a somewhat better fit for us than Cores B & C as written, too, and we hated the Core D spine... Would it be possible to do SOTW 3 & 4 DURING American history? Is there enough mention of America to do that?? It took us forever to get through D and E with oldest even without paying much attention to the rest of the world...

I need something with an audio/visual component to help cement concepts. Just saw that Real Science 4 Kids is offering Powerpoint presentations to go along with their curriculum, but there aren't any reviews or samples. Has anyone used these? Thoughts? Recommendations of any other curricula with a good multimedia component? I've got middle school and elementary kiddos, so something multi-age or coordinating topics is helpful. I *think* RS4K fits the bill, but I'm really waffling on the fence trying to pick a doable science this year.

My child is still saying "tooken" and "gots" and so forth. We model proper grammar. We've used some of First Language Lessons and Writing With Ease to practice things correctly orally and in writting, but I feel like it's going to take a lot, lot, lot of practice at this rate, that it's somehow connected to the dyslexia/dysgraphia to be a native speaker and still be making these errors orally in everyday speech in middle school. So, are there any materials specifically for dyslexia that target this? Do any of you have this same issue? I'm tempted to try ESL materials, even, but they aren't quite right either. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Anyone have curriculum ideas for making reading more active, for a boy that's always in motion? I have some random thoughts, but is there an actual curriculum that takes this into account?