Hi, I have my DS12 and my DS10 both working together on this and we only do two pages (or one page, front and back) at a time, we also only do spelling every OTHER day. My boys are the same - they don't hate it but they tolerate it well.

My DS1 will be doing the following: MATH - CLE 8 SPELLING -Apples and Pears (finished series) WRITING-finish IEW -SICC, work on essays SCIENCE- Ellen McHenry -cells, botany (finished elements and brain this year) HISTORY/GEO -homemade Canadian study plus Mapping the World with Art. GRAMMAR -not sure. I think we are done CLE which we have used for the last 5 years. Looking for something new... PE- he plays on a competitive basketball team plus karate.

My DS3 has Apraxia, ASD, and dyslexia as well. For us, we have really found Dancing Bears (implemented very, very slowly) to work well for reading/phonics. We also use CLE math and really like it for the repetition and incremental approach.

I have really enjoyed reading everyone's comments on this. My 8yo has ASD, Apraxia, and pretty severe dyslexia so I too wonder about what his peers are doing. For us, my 8yo's day looks like this: He makes his own bed and gets dressed before breakfast. After breakfast, he listens to an audio book for about 45 min (his older brother read during this time as well). By 9:30ish, I sit with him to do math (30 min) and then we usually work on reading and grammar (45 min). He then has a break while I work with his brothers or he may choose to do something off his daily list that he can do independently (his handwriting, or ETC). After lunch, we often work on science or geography together and then he might do some drawing or other art at the table by himself while he waits for his brothers to be done so they will play with him. As far as other independant things he tackles, the list is quite short I'm afraid. He is still learning to ride a bike and swim completely independently. He will help me cook but it is completely supervised. He loves to do puzzles, and build with blocks. He brings in the garbage container and recycling containers from the curb for me on garbage day. He will water the plants for me. He helps me garden in the spring and summer a lot. I loved reading some of the other things people posted that their kids are doing independently. Lots of good ideas for us to work towards.

We are sticking with: - CLE math and LA -Apples and Pears plus Dancing Bears for youngest -Ellen McHenry science for oldest Taking a break from: -IEW - the boys are worn out from this - not sure how to tackle writing yet for this term. We are going to to some project work this term to cover history, geo etc. I think my boys need some new things to capture their interest.

Thanks. He definitely has/does things he enjoys. He is a green belt in karate (5 years so far), a competitive basketball player and a recreational tennis player. He gets out of the house for these activities almost daily and I know he enjoys them (even if he gets nervous prior to attending the competitive ones). He requires (or prefers) more sleep than my other two boys and regularity gets 10 hours or more. I actually find he says he is tired when he is struggling more. He is very forgetful and this causes him worry as well. He can't seem to hold multiple requests in his brain for very long. If I need him to to do something, I often have to break up the tasks into singular requests or he will almost always forget what I have asked him. Can I speak to a therapist or psychologist about these concerns without doing a full neuropsych eval like I did with his brothers? We definitely don't have the $2500 it cost us each with our other two. I don't have ASD concerns with this son, and I don't think he has any SLD's so I just don't want to put the money out for a full eval if it isn't necessary.

My DS2 has always been my "easy" boy. Both of his older and younger brothers have ASD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia so admittedly, they have been the ones we have focused therapy on for the last several years. My youngest also has Apraxia which has added a whole other level of complication to life. I left my full time job to homeschool all of them 4 years ago. My DS2 has always been shy and relatively easy going, but the last few years we have really noticed a few other things we are concerned about: - he worries A LOT! He is upset at bedtime many nights worrying about getting sick, not dong well at something, or about something bad happening. - he has a hard time concentrating. This really impacts his school work and it upsets him. He tells me he just can't concentrate and it really bothers him. -he is very nervous going into any situation he hasn't been to before. He will ask a MILLION questions, needing to know every detail about where we are going or what might happen etc. -he has started having diarrhea when he gets nervous - which is a lot. He plays on a competitive basketball team (and he is good!) but he will get diarrhea before most games. Sorry if that is TMI. -he thinks he isn't good at most things -despite being very good at a lot of things. School comes fairly easy to him, he is a natural athlete, and just a really great little kid. He is a great friend, treats others kindly all the time (something that doesn't come as easy to my ASD boys) and is really compassionate and sweet but is really hard on himself. I just have this gut feeling that his worrying is more than what is typical. I am feeling worn out from all the testing and therapy for his brothers over the last 6 years so I may have dropped the ball with him and I feel awful that we haven't paid more attention to whether he is struggling. Anyone with a child dealing with anxiety or ADD I would love to hear your thoughts? I know he obviously struggles with worrying but how do you know when it crosses the line to anxiety or at what point do you seek an outside opinion/help? Thanks.

Hi, I also find CLE long too but I really see how well it is helping my kids so we stick with it. We cross out some review and usually only do the larger light unit test at the end, not the quizzes. This helps us but we still find it hard to finish in a year and my boys usually take about 45min - hour a day on math. I would just go at whatever pace works and don't worry too much about grade level.

Hi, We used Wordsmith Apprentice for a break between IEW SWI and IEW continuation course. I also have JumpIn I was thinking of using to break up the year a little bit aswell.

Hi. Thanks for your message. Who would I ask about APD testing? I am going to make an appointment with a new SLP - one the Psych recommended was great with kiddos with ASD. I will ask the SLP for further language testing at that point. He can't really build words very well with his knowledge of phonemes. He can read short words if I chunk the word up into the sound components but has trouble breaking a word into the phonemes by himself.

I asked our SLP about this once and she said there wasn't any SLP PROMT specialists in our province (we are in Canada). I was shocked but we do live in a province with less people then most big cities. I find just locating an SLP somewhat familiar with Apraxia to be a real undertaking here. I haven't asked in two years though so I will ask again and see if things have changed at all.

We have regularly exposed him to audio books since birth. Our routine with school each day is for him to start with 30minutes of audio book time. It took him much longer to appreciate audio books than his brothers. He found it really hard to follow along without pictures until he was much older. We kept playing them and he coloured or played Lego while listening and eventually he started to like them a little more. We play books with a higher reading/interest level for him by audio like Dahl books, Wizard of Oz, anything by E.B. White etc. He has enjoyed them quite a bit this past year or so. At night time we read to him from books that he is interested in but that he wouldn't be able to read to himself. Currently we are reading Miss Piggle-Wiggle. He finds it hard to block out competing noises a lot. If he is talking to me and someone is talking, even quietly near us, he can't concentrate on what he wanted to say. This is the same when listening to audio books. It really needs to be silent for him to have any comprehension.

Thanks OhElizabeth! The Psych didn't give an overall I.Q. score. She said there was too large of a gap between percentages for an I.Q. to be meaningful. The three tests above were all she administered (over 5 individual sessions). He had a year of intensive ASD intervention (everyday for 4 hours) from 5 - 6yrs. He hasn't had any since. He has had speech therapy from 2 - 6 twice a week but hasn't had any since. His speech is pretty good now but he still struggles with "r" and "l" sounds. Due to his Apraxia, he just likes to leave his tongue in the middle of his mouth for all sounds. He has a really hard time elevating his tongue tip to make sounds that require this type of movement. The problem is even more severe in real life speech (where he is trying to say an entire sentence at one time, often hurried or excited, verses single words with lots of time at a speech therapists). We have struggled a lot with him not being able to take what he learns in therapy and apply it to every day speech. He didn't get any other SLD other than the reading. Writing is low too but I think now the scores have to be under the 5% to qualify for an official SLD. In the past, I think they could diagnose one based on the percentile spread. This was our first time have the CTOPP done. My comments about him seemingly doing well on this test was because the Psych said that based on this test alone, he actually didn't really SHOW a dyslexia diagnosis. She said he did pretty well on that test but then the Woodcock Johnson showed much lower scores. We have been using Apples and Pears very slowly for two years, every day, mixed with a little ETC books so I wonder if he did better on the CTOPP because he has had SOOOOO much phonics work over the last two years. He can tell you what any morpheme says if you hold up a flash card, he just struggles to apply this knowledge to reading full words. He is still very much reading CVC or CCVC words only at this point and still sounding them out slowly each time despite the intensive reading/phonics instruction. The only intervention the Psych recommended was getting him back in to Speech. I know we should, and I will, b ut he got so tired of it after going twice a week for 5 years. I felt like he wasn't making any more progress and all the activities they were doing seemed easy to replicate at home. Anyway, I do really appreciate your response. I am feeling at a loss for how to move forward. I'm scared he may never read well and I am so disheartened by the extremely low reading scores despite how much time we have put into reading instruction. He is a good little worker - mostly cooperative as long as we work in short sessions. He really WANTS to read so I am so sad for him that it is such a struggle. Thanks again.

Hi, We just received the results of my youngest sons Neuropsych eval. A few years ago he was evaluated (about 4 years ago) and was given the diagnosis of ASD. He had also been assessed as having Apraxia of speech around age 3. We sought this eval because he has REALLY struggled with learning to read and has made very slow progress over the last three years of homeschooling in this area. Well, he was given the diagnosis of Dyslexia this time around - moderate to severe. Here are his overall results: *removed*

Hi, We are using Dancing Bears too (my ds 7). We are using the A1/A2 books to slow it down even further. I still use the curser with all sections for him. If I don't, he forgets how to chunk up the word (tries to split vowel teams up when sounding out etc.). My little guy still sounds out every sound slowly for every word. It is very, very slow. As far as the Mastery tests, I only go back if he really struggled. If he got all the words on it but was a little slow, I still move on. What book are you using?

We are in Canada so navigating the medical system is a little different but I do very much appreciate your advice. I have contacted our local university to see if they offer any testing before I contact a private Neuropsych. I spoke to my husband abut it last night and he was surprisingly supportive about getting him further testing. I had assumed he wouldn't want to spend the money but he agrees it is time to dig deeper to get him some more help. We will just find the money somewhere 😕 I haven't done the Barton screening test with him yet but will do so this week with him. I also found an audiologist that specializes in APD but they said they really prefer we get a full eval done first to rule out other things before he does APD testing. Now I'm off to look for an SLP that uses PROMPT. My son has had many years of speech therapy but I was never convinced it really helped him to the extent I thought it would. It seemed to me that each SLP we have seen has a 'one program fits all' kind of approach to treatment. Thanks again everyone.

Thanks everyone. Our last evaluation was done when he was 4. The Neuropsych really only did the ADOS and a few screening questionnaires. My oldest son has also been tested (ADOS and WISC) so I am familiar with those tests but not the CTOPP or CLEF5. Oh, I should mention that my son did have an audiology exam back when he got his Apraxia diagnosis (in a booth) and it all came back fine. I don't think this gets at CAPD though but I'm not sure. Ugh, I just wish it wasn't so much money for evals. I feel like this poor kid has been evaluated since birth!! And yet we still don't feel like we know entirely how to help him. Reading is just soooooo hard for him. If the font is slightly different from what he is use to, he won't be able to read even the shortest of words. I should add that he still struggles to write and it is often with a lot of reversals. I know this is normal up to around his age but it is a real struggle for him. We read a lot to him. Every night we read to him for about an hour and every morning he starts his school day listening to an audio book for about an hour. It has taken a long time coming before he would sit to listen to either of these things. I often felt (at least until the last year or so) that he really struggled to understand what was being read to him if he didn't have pictures that he could reference along the way. He has improved with this a little and now enjoys audio books as long as they are not too complex. He also has to have a quiet room to listen to them in. His speech is much better now but he still struggles to say many sounds or blends which makes his speech sound immature. He also really struggles with the pace of conversations. He can't just jump into a conversation because he can't speak fast enough to contribute in a timely manner (I'm not sure if that makes sense). He struggles in group conversations but does much better one on one with someone. Thanks again for your thoughts, I wish things weren't such a struggle for him. It breaks my heart some days.

My youngest son is 7 turning 8 in a couple months. At 18 months we took him to early intervention because he was so quiet, had no words, etc. He was referred to an SLP and was diagnosed with Apraxia shortly after age 2. He had fairly intensive speech therapy from age 2-5. We took him to a Neuropsych at age 4 for an autism evaluation and he was also diagnosed with Autism. At that point, I quit my job to stay home and homeschool all of my boys. I am now feeling overwhelmed about how to help him with his reading. We are using Dancing Bears everyday, using ETC, using BOB readers and I See Sam Readers. We also use CLE gr. 1 Language Arts. I certainly have seen some improvement but it is really slow and often progress is forgotten with any sort of break (we just stopped for a short spring break because my husband was home from work and he forgot a lot). He can read the word RAT several times on a page or over many pages and has to sound it out each time (Rrrrrr-aaaaaa-tttt). He struggles with vowel sounds ALL THE TIME. He knows all the sounds of letters, but has trouble recalling them when reading. He has trouble saying what he wants to say. He often reads ON as NO or the morpheme EW as WE. He often gives letters different sounds when in a word although when you ask him to tell you what that letter says in isolation he knows. He still messes up d and b or even D and B a lot. He also struggles with verbal comprehension. If we are watching a cartoon, and everyone laughs, he often needs an explanation for why everyone laughed. His comprehension goes way down when there are any distractions. I know this is common but I mean ANY distractions. He often needs things explained to him several times or in a different ways or numerous times before he understands. He is a sweet little guy that wants to read but has started to assume it is something he just can't do. It feels like walking through quicksand everyday trying to help him. He is such a sweet little guy and I feel him losing hope and watching his brothers excel and feeling like it just isn't for him. Now that I am not working finances are really tight and although I suspect getting him tested again for academic/SLD issues would be helpful, we aren't really in a position to do so. Any advice?

We are also still on A (in fact, we are using the A1 and A2 to slow it down even more) so I'm disappointed to here B moves fast. My son really struggles with reading so the slower the better for us. I have found that using our LA program (CLE) in conjunction with Dancing Bears has helped cement some sounds for him as they get reinforced in both books.

We won't start 7th for my oldest until September but here is what I think we will be doing: MATH: CLE 7, Khan Academy, Prodigy LANGUAGE ARTS: CLE 6, IEW-SICC-B, Apples and Pears C GEOGRAPHY: Candian Map book, Mapping the World SOCIAL STUDIES/HISTORY: CLE Canadian Social Studies, SOTW 3 ART : lessons at a local studio P.E.: competitive basketball, karate, lifesaving sport swimming. SCIENCE: Mystery Science, Ellen McHenry's The Elements

I'm interested as well. Thanks.

Someone on these boards mentioned Mystery Science a few months back and so we gave it a try to break up the routine of what we were currently doing. Well my boys love it. You watch a clip/video with a mystery or science question and then then do an activity to try to solve it. I don't know that we will be able to just use this forever, but for right now it is awesome. Check out their website!

Hi, I haven't posted in a very long time but wanted to let you know your post really hit home for me. I have three boys and my oldest has a mild ASD and SLD (writing,spelling) and my youngest has profound apraxia of speech and ASD. Homeschooling is such a roller coaster ride every day. I know I am so lucky to be able to do this for/with my kids but I also know most days I am exhausted and a mess by the end of the day. It is so wonderful and so very hard all at the same time.

My 4th grader will be doing: -CLE Math 4 -CLE Language Arts 3 -HWT cursive -Apples and Pears Spelling -WWE 3 -SOTW 2 -Mapbook -Mr. Q Biology and Evan Moor daily science 4 -logic safari