Thanks for chiming in ladies! I'm going to look into both of these programs. Not sure our school room (or is it just me?!) can handle another activity box lol but we'll see! I know I've come across Megawords before but I thought it was for older kids. Honestly, I quit doing AAS 2 with him last year because he was about to overtake his older siblings. They've had time to progress, maybe I'll pick it back up again for a bit and let the LETL slide for a bit. Goodness knows he reads enough on his own! THanks again!

I have four children, three of them grade school age. My oldest is moderately dyslexic and dysgraphic, my second eldest mildly dyslexic and dysgraphic, and my third (2nd grade - but reading about 6th grade) is advanced academically but is pretty typical for a seven year old boy as far as focus goes. Because I can't simply assign a chapter and have the olders write their narration my days are pinched for time! I use AAS with the two oldest children but couldn't fit it in with the third this year. He uses Learning English Through Literature (i think?) which has a few lines of copywork each day and a grammar discussion. I think I'd like to do spelling more deliberately with him as I feel like if he was exposed to spelling rules and practiced a little, he'd be a stellar speller. He's done 1 1/2 levels of AAS in the past and I know that has helped him. What program is similar to AAS in that it introduces one thing at a time, explains the rules, throws in a few "jail words" but is in a workbook he could do indpendently. I think for him AAS is overkill, but I love the rule based approach. I've looked into Sequential Spelling, Spellwell and Phonetic Zoo. Any comments on any of those, or other programs? Phonetic Zoo is more upper level, from what I understand and the website recommends completing level 2 or 3 before starting. I *may* be able to figure that out if it was short term.

Morning ladies Back to school after a planned week off. Always hard to do lol Introducing a few new things and expecting push back from eldest. New, different, changes - she hates them all for the first two days. Then she's good :). Planning on getting the two eldest reading a historical novel on James Cook with audio read-along. Eldest will also start playing around with dragon dictation. Just journal entries this week, low key way to get used to the idea of saying "period" or "new line" while speaking her thoughts. Hope that goes well cause I really want to up the technological accommodations for her (so I'm not the accommodation anymore lol!). There are few more little things, but I forget what they are at the moment :) Few new inches of snow and a few inches of ice on the water buckets outside. Winter FINALLY may be coming. We've been spoiled this year! Kids are sledding in the sheep pen and I may have a hard time convincing them to come in in ten minutes lol. But I've been super productive so far this morning, so I don't want to let that momentum go!

Hi ladies :) Had a busy week as usual. Had to break it to the kids that "Fun Friday" was getting pushed back to "Fun Sunday" (still kinda works, right?) because we've had too many visitors and other weekend activities keeping us from getting much Sunday school done (a normal school day for us) and only doing math 3 times a week was gonna kill us in the end! So now regular school days are Mon-Wed and Fri (town day, outside lessons on Thursday) and project day with a little bit of reading and history on Sunday. So, today being project day, the kids all read their novels while the littlest one and I made playdough. We finished up our chapter on the Plains of Abraham and the fall of New France. I helped ds9 research Nascar hotwheels and helped him compose an email to an American friend to see if she would let us mail these little things to her (let's see, twice the price and $20 shipping, or cheap-even-with-exchange and no shipping?!), He's just completed rebuilding a broken table he found in one of our outbuildings, painted the top green and laid down a car racing track, complete with banked corners, using duct tape, cardboard and hot glue. Then the other three began a massive painting extravaganza that involved rolls of brown paper and pushing furniture outside. 10yo dd made an impressive mural and wants to hang it on her wall. I plan on taking a pic to send to her umbrella school. At that point, the littles were creating messes and I was mopping the paint of the floor. Neighbour called to see if the two oldest wanted to help move a woodpile for $5 each, so they took off on their bikes while the rest of us moved cows. 7yo ds is getting quite helpful! The rest of the day has been spent outside or in quiet time while I dejunked and cleaned a few rooms and practiced my cello. A great project day :)

morning :) I'm pretty sure we'll have a normal day today. I'm trying to track down any kind of comparable immersion reading experience in Canada (learning Ally also not available here), but it seems like that's all but impossible. Unless I made an amazon.com account and tried the kindle app? Not sure how that would work out, but it may be worth trying. And I STILL haven't done the darn light bulb :( Independent reading/preschool math for all Latin and LETL for ds7/independent work for others spelling for dd10 and ds9/independent work for ds7 writing for olders lunch - cello practice for me! memory work, read aloud loop reading for olders girl guides for dd10 @6pm

Morning everyone :) After a hectic weekend and dd's bday yesterday, we should be back to normal today. Although I have a 130 cello lesson by skype and 330 yoga. But I may skip yoga this week. We occasionally need to actually get some school work done! Let's see: Independent reading/preschool for dd3 Math all around Latin and English for ds7/independent work Spelling for ds9 and dd10/indpendent work Reading for ds9 Writing for dd10 Lunch Cello lesson for me Group work (memory work, read aloud, loop) Reading for dd10/Writing for ds9 Also I NEED to get a light bulb in the chicken house on a timer. Why is that so hard ot get done? The days are short enough now they've quit laying already!

I'm late today. The kids' umbrella school (which I adore because they basically just give me money and I do all the rest! No direction from them at all :) ) asks that I write weekly reports, a few paragraphs. I always seem to be forgetting them this year? Due on Monday and i think the closest I've gotten is Tuesday lol. So that's what I was doing today when I had a bit of time to sit on the computer. We got school done today. Went pretty good. Kids have been working hard, so I've been impressed and we've made progress! Good thing, because we're about to take a four day weekend: Home Alone course for dd9, Girl Guide Camp over the weekend and then a Birthday on Monday (all for same dd lol). Not sure what me and the boys will be up to but I think I'll get my little one back this weekend. I've missed her!

Afternoon everyone. just had my skype cello lesson, kids played out side, then put themselves in quiet time. Now I have 45 minutes to chill before we start back up this afternoon. Finished the last book on my list last night. OMG, The Road. It's dreadful. Such a great book, but filled it horrifying ideas and events. But couldn't put it down either! Kids did a full morning of math, reading and writing, and I swapped out writing letters to a family friend instead of journal writing and copy work. Ds7 just needs to finish copying out his good one tomorrow and we'll be all set to mail them :) This after noon, Memory Work, Read Aloud and whatever else is on the group time list, then reading lessons for the two eldest. Dd9 is doing Horizons Reading online and not liking it, but she's doing them anyhow because *I* don't want to do lessons with her. She's so grumpy all the time lol. And she needs them still. It is mostly review right now so maybe she feels like it's a waste of time, but the review is probably good for her too. On the other hand, *so* far, CAP Narrative 1 isn't so bad with her (of course, we've yet to do any actual writing lol). IEW is sort of hit and miss for ds9 but I want to continue with them, so he may be out of luck too. Finicky children. After a while you just get immune to their opinions, I suspect.

We started up as well after our fall break last week. It was Thanksgiving in Canada so I brought my younger kids to visit my parents and oldest dd went off to visit her dad. Today went okay. Pretty well, actually. Usual frustration in math for ds9, usual frustration in reading for dd9, usual lack of focus all over ds7 :P But nothing earth shattering and for that I am grateful! Just got back from neighbourhood yoga, now I'm off to feed the pigs and milk cows before supper.

This week is our break week. Dd9 is off to her dad's - much needed time away for us all (though I feel guilty for saying that) - and I took the three younger kids to visit my parents for a few days. Ended up leaving the toddler there for some extra love and fun, but the boys and I (they're 7 and 9) get to check out some sailing at a nature center htis Saturday. Considering how northern and landlocked we are, this is a big deal lol! Tomorrow we still have allllll the lessons (ASL, music and swimming), Friday I will be fencing like a mad woman for my milk cows' new pasture, and that leaves Saturday morning and Sunday to tackle all the prep for the next five weeks. Wish me luck lol!

Critter, how hot is hot? We're already dropping below freezing at night (just barely). I can't imagine it being to hot to go outside in October lol! Course, I'm in north central BC :P Lazy day for us. I'm hoping to tackle a bit of math and reading today, but with dd9 gone to her dad's I may have a mutiny on my hands! I also have a new pasture to tackle and get set up for my milk cows, so we'll see what the day brings us. For now, need to go walk dh's dogs. Have a good Friday!

Wow. Thank you Sahamamama. My dad is only 63, but he's had diabetes since he was only 6 years old and it's catching up with him. He's had a kidney transplant, has been hospitalized for heart trouble and is currently suffering with some pretty serious back pain that severely limits his mobility. In the last three years he's gone to being the strong, hardworking dad I've always known to someone who's . . . old. With his heart problems, it very well could be my last visit with him. You just never know. I appreciate this reminder, and I'm taking it to heart (no pun intended!)

Well. School went okay. dd9 is still stumping me with writing. Part bad attitude, partly her general overwhelm with writing (diagnosed with dysgraphia), part bad curriculum match. Will think on it some more. She's off to visit with her dad for a week so maybe I'll get hit by lightning this week and have the perfect thing waiting for her when she gets back :P Everything else went pretty good. Dh is gone for a week or so, feeling a little blah. But good news is I"m taking the three younger ones to visit my parents five hours away. I think that's good news,although I usually get a little antsy while visiting. There's so much to do at home!

A good morning. All kids have done math, spelling/phonics, handwriting/copywork and independent stuff. ds9 did his writing assignment. ds7 did Latin. dd9 and I did *some* writing (only a Writing Strands 2 assignment whihc is pretty basic stuff, even if we did do two days in one) but I'm letting her off easy while she's doing assessments with her new Reading Horizons online program. She's not enjoying them which means she thinks she shouldn't do them and I should teach her. Hello, they're assessments. Of course they're not fun. Necessary evil. And she and I have been doing intense phonics for 3 YEARS and I'm ready to move on already lol. She's so not quitting the Horizons program - it's paid for for 362 more days lol!! This afternoon, I'm hoping to do Memory work, read aloud, reading with ds9 while dd9 is working Horizons. If there's time before my neighbourhood yoga class, we'll squeeze in some history. ETA My sweet little dd3 finished About Three workbook already! She adores it. So I asked her if she wants to do another workbook or skip it for a while and she says to me, "but I wuv workbooks". Heart melt lol. So I brought out Kumon First book of Mazes and the next Rod and Staff book. She was delighted. We're doing Before Five in a Row too and she's practically memorized Going on a Bear Hunt. I found a Youtube version where the author performs/recites the story with the book pages enlarged in the background and she's totally into it. Three is so much fun!

I've done WWE1 with a 2nd grader and a 1st grader. The second grader started mid year and just folded in with the first grader. It was a good fit at the time and we continued on to WWE2 like that as well. I would ask one question of one child and the next question of the next child. The other child can add to to the official answer if they like. Same with summaries/narrations. Take turns, allow the other child to embellish if they want to. It ended up being that my first grader was actually better at narration than the 2nd grader, though they eventually levelled out by the end of the year. Try it. See what happens. Adjust as needed. They were together in grade 3 and 4 as well, but with CAP Fable. It's only this year that I've finally decided to separate them as they both have (different) challenges in writing and need more customization. But it was definitely worth it and worked well at the time. FWIW, the older child ended up being both dyslexic and dysgraphic. I suspect the second child is as well, though only mildly. So neither were reading independently in 3rd grade! Just take what's in front of you right now, do what works well for your family and don't over think it :)

Thanks everyone. It's so disappointing that all these great things are advertised, but they neglect to be specific about silly little things like an ENTIRE country can't use the best parts. I haven't phoned or emailed yet - life got away on me - but I'll come back and update when I do.

Let's see. Woof and Balou (did I call her Louie in my previous post?) are our yard dogs. We were broke into a few summers ago while we were on holiday and these two ginormous oafs are supposed to keep the bad guys at bay. They're pretty convincing to strangers but amazing around our kids. Molly is my door mat. She's 16 years old and used to be my chore dog - grain bulls, feed cows, trot around after me wherever I go. She'll sometimes follow me to let dairy cows out to pasture but mostly just sleeps on our landing lol. White dog is a sheep guardian. She lives with the flock and is bonded to them rather than us, hence the reason she doesn't really have a name. All of the rest are border collies (Nova is a cross and was given to us by a neighbour who was moving to a non dog friendly rental), except John who is a kelpie. Oh, and Kate, who's a hound. They are herding dogs. All of them are good for cows and some of them are gentle enough for sheep. Abby is my go to because she'll work for anyone (even a total ignoramus like me) and is nice to my milk cows lol. I would never work Gus or Choke. They're so agressive and gung ho and without the proper commands and authority all the fences around here would be flat, or some animal would be injured. Having said that, they're very nice family dogs, I completely trust them around our kids. Although, all at once, it's overwhelming and can result in disaster. And dh is a rancher :-) We've had dogs that have come between him and bulls when we couldn't get away in deep snow, or in close quarters when he's processing the larger animals some how. They're partners really. And dh can run 3+ dogs at a time and move a herd of 180+ cows/calves/bulls on a horse without any human help. And not from one fenced corral to another - through the bush, over mountains from one crown range pasture to another (we're in canada, so we have crown range. not sure what the us equivalent is? It's leased public land, managed by the government)

Does this mean that ebooks I've bought with an amazon canada account wouldn't work? I'm so confused. I guess I should email them. You wouldn't think it would be that hard to figure this out!

Is this true? I'm finding so many conflicting reports from a few months to a few years ago. Does anyone know? In Canada, can I use my kindle app or a kindle fire to experience Immersion reading (highlighted text in an ebook while listening to the audio version) ? If not, I'm so so disappointed :(

Nice Critter! Tomorrow dd will be at the neighbour's as a mother's helper and I may take the three younger ones on some adventure . . . The mornings have been chilly (below freezing!) but the afternoons have been beautiful! We did our Fun Friday. dd made choc. chip cookies that are divine. Ds7 made Rice Krispie squares. Dd3 got her light table set up and had a great time. dd9 and I sat at a table and drew together. We did history and geography and watched another fun powerpoint on Growth Mindset. They did their independent reading. The morning was as success. This afternoon I may put on an Australian documentary (travel, top 10 sites or something like that) and then maybe a Home Art Studio dvd. Usually Friday afternoon is my afternoon "off" (I disappear into a coffee/book shop for a few hours) but if I did that this week, my children would be left unattended and they're NOT ready for that lol. I'll save it up for next week, I have a few appointments in the 'big' city nearby and it looks like I'll be going solo :)

I feel stupid for asking, but what is WT? Did I miss it somewhere?

Yes, I think that's becoming more and more clear (separating the physical act of writing from the thought to word process). It's not that she doesn't have stories to tell, it's trying to get it written down. Although I think creative writing is much easier. Once she has to include words in a sentence (SWI-A style for example) it's gets super frustrating for her. I would be very interested in the pleasant ways to build working memory. I'm not 100% sure what her issue is exactly. She can remember poems from FLL, she's got her multiplication down pat - even memorizing skip counting by each number in preparation for multiplication, grammar definitions and lists from FLL aren't a problem. But give her seven-eight words to write down (The lady has a cute black backpack) and it gets hard fast. Especially if we do more than three or four sentences in one sitting (but writing them down one at a time). Right now she's been reading Magic Treehouse books independently, but she's just qualified for a Kindle Fire from our umbrella school. She does listen to audiobooks a lot outside of "school time" (Ramona Quimby especially right now, but also others such as Matilda by Roald Dahl) but once I get that "hightlighting while listening" thing they've got going on, we'll probably start the "history of the horse" unit study with a ton of Marguerite Henry books. We read a loud a lot during the day, her vocabulary is pretty good. Though she often can't think of the words she'd like to say when she needs them. Her comprehension is good too, although mostly when listening to a story, not so much while she's reading herself. I think that's a fluency thing.

Okay, this is the second time I've seen his webinar recommended. I was put off by having the join the website, but it sounds like just what I need. She does have word retrieval issues and I could use some help there! I'm not too worried about grammar. I feel like she's okay, grammar wise, at least as far as FLL 3 goes. I think scribing may just be something I need to suck up and do. Not my preference. Although she's qualified for an iPad from her umbrella school, so I'm sure there's nothing but possibilities there! So, in regards to your recommendation to separate writing and output of ideas, it almost seems like what I need is a "mechanics" of writing program and then more like a Bravewriter approach - even a jot-it-down level. I'm not sure what my question even is right now lol, I gained some insight here so that's all that matters!

Yes. Both of my older two are dyslexic and dysgraphic (dd10 moderate and confirmed, ds9 mild and unconfirmed). Overall they both struggle with language, but up close, they have different strengths and frustrations. For speed with SWI-A, I just put in a half hour a day. Maybe a lesson a week? I try not to hold them to a specific amount of output, just specific length of best effort. We've done FLL 1, 2 and 3. I have FLL 4, but in order to make time for different aspects of reading and writing instead of grammar (and for my advanced second grader!) we're only maintaining what we know already through memory work and touching on FLL4 once or twice a week for about 15 minutes. I feel like they already know a ton more grammar than other kids their age lol! As for reading, we went through OPGTR on the white board in grade 2 and 3, with ETC 1-4. Daily reading out loud (she reads, I read). Last year, she did REWARDS with some success. She's improving by one grade level each year, but still a year below grade level. This year she's starting Horizons - the one for older students. She's been assessed by an O-G certified tutor and she complimented me on her phonics abilities and said she seemed almost remediated in reading, it's just the writing that was a concern for her. And still is! Right now, for reading, she reads Magic Treehouse level books on her own. I know she needs more review of phonics and I'm hoping Horizons will be able to do that for her so she and I can free up some time to work on writing. She's not fluent at all, and somewhat robotic. It's partly from not-quite-automatic phonics I think. I'm getting her to read to the preschooler each day. We have an audible subscription and she has Ramona Quimby love affair. Seriously, months straight of every Ramona Quimby book over and over over and over! We do read alouds for history during the day, for fun at bedtime and sometimes we do family read alouds in the evenings (working on Little House on Plum Creek currently). We do a lot of reading around here!

I have a dd who is nearly 10 years old. She's just been evaluated as being moderately dyslexic and dysgraphic - no surprises. Up until now we've done very little in the way of writing, focusing mostly on reading. I feel that's been fairly effective, but now it's time to start some writing. I just don't know where to start. I'm really floundering. I have a ton of choices. Are all writing programs fairly equal and I just need to stick with one in order to reap the benefits? She has done the last half of WWE1 and all of WWE2. The dictations were excruciating for her, even simplified. I've looked through WWE3 and I just don't think she's up for it. She does do some dictation in AAS3 and that goes a little better, much less length and in theory, all of the words are made up of rules she's covered. Last year, we worked through CAP Fable over an entire year. At half pace, it went quite well. I think it was enjoyable. But she still needs to work on basic sentence structure, rather than entire stories at a time. I do have CAP Narrative 1 though (that's the second book,right?) This year, I've started using IEW A with her, the one where she watches a class on DVD, then completes the assignment. It's been tough. I'm with her each step of the way, no leaving her to it. Sentence combining, rewriting sentences with specific words is hard for her. She may just need more time to get used to the structure of the lessons and the method so she can settle into the writing itself though, we've only done two lessons so far. Also, I've been combining her with her brother (whom I also suspect may be mildly dyslexic and dysgraphic?) and I might try doing it with them individually. They each have frustrations with different things and if I was available to cater to that a little more, it may go easier? She's also currently writing a few sentences in a journal each day - very low pressure, literally my only requirement is 3 sentences a day with capitals and proper punctuation. Those two things are hard enough for her to remember - never mind adding in a few things to make them interesting and enjoyable to read. Also on hand I have Writing Strands 2 and 3. And Scholastic's "Best Writing Lessons Ever". I've looked at Verticy, Step Up To Writing (seems like way too much right now), Just Write (but it may seem to young to her), Writing Skills by Diana Hanbury King as well as Bravewriter. I feel like Bravewriter is good for kids who don't want to write. I don't know that she has anything against writing - especially stories and letters - it's just that what she writes is really hard for her to get down and when she does get it on a page it's almost impossible for anyone (including her) to read and understand. Or should I just let her use a dictation program/app and work on mechanics separately? And if I do that, besides First Language Lessons (which we're covering extremely lightly this year in order to get to other things), All About Spelling and Evan-Moore Daily Editing (using grade 3 and we do it together at this point, but it's new), how do I do that? If you're still with me, thank you! Any thoughts on anything I've written down so far? Or anything else :P ?!