It sounds like your dd may benefit most from a manipulative based approach. I think it would be most helpful for you to learn how to present the various concepts to her in different ways & stick to one math curriculum or supplement a main math course with another. All of the switching may create more confusion & frustration. If the purpose of having your dd tested is so that the tester can offer you strategies to help your dd be successful in the learning process, that will be a win-win situation for everyone. But if you are simply given a diagnosis (label) & no real help, what's the point? Is it possible that your daughter's medication is affecting her mental processing?

You are responsible for your children & have to make a decision consistent with your own convictions. However, I believe kids can learn from all kinds of books & characters (within reason). If my kids have a moral basis for choosing right & wrong, I think it's beneficial for them to see characters make both good choices & bad choices. They can learn from each, particularly if you take the time to walk them through the positive & negative consequences of those choices. I stay away from books/movies where the lines are blurred or evil is glorified until my kids are capable of analyzing literature on that level. I guess I've always wanted an element of realism for my kids without spoiling their innocence when they are young. I've also wanted them to be able to analyze input & justify their choices for themselves or others. I ultimately want my kids to be able to think for themselves about situations, not simply know that something is right or wrong because they've heard it all their lives. I had a young son inclined toward lying & cheating at one point. I stayed away from books (or editted the read alouds) that could potentially offer him suggestions on how to be a better liar or cheater during that season. Not that we didn't read any books that included characters dealing with that vice. I was just careful on the amt of details shared. Some of the books with lying/cheating characters gave me a great platform to teach from & to ask him to predict outcomes to see if he was getting it. I believe Sonlight's curriculum catalog offers their view of why books such as the one you described are included in their reading lists. Another thought - Something like Lamplighter Books may be what you're looking for.

Virginia, why not go to the OT & ask her to explain the correlations she sees. Speech involves fine motor activity, so perhaps she thinks there are problems with sequencing the motor mvmts involved in speech. Maybe the OT & speech therapist could corroborate.

Outside of school time, I would work on issues such as loving counsel & receiving correction as wonderful attributes in God. I would show him biblical examples & other historical examples of the outcomes of avoiding each. I would begin the school day with an encouraging talk about not aiming for perfection but learning & talk about your expectation that he will make mistakes during the learning process. Tell him that's why erasers were made. I had a dd that broke down whenever she encountered something she didn't already know (Go figure!), so we had a daily pep talk. During school, I would precede correction with positive affirmation of his work. So often, I put more emphasis on what's wrong instead of what's right. I definitely wouldn't use a red pencil with a kid like this. Try using post it stickers to flag errors or circling or starring in regular pencil. You may even want to sit with your son for a while & have him read directions aloud to you or you read them to him prior to him beginning independent work to avoid some of the mistakes. You may want to have him give you the correct answers orally & you fix the problems for him. My goal would not be to let him off the hook in terms of learning or character issues but to recover a positive atmosphere for learning.

batting a balloon around like volleyball hopscotch (masking tape on floor) dancing to music darts sit ups, push ups, jumping jacks, etc. Fun Physical Fitness for the Home by Sono Harris (very old book w/CD)

The Little House abridged versions are great. Others I can think of are the Frog & Toad books, The Bravest Dog Ever, Little Bear books, & The Chalkdust Kid. If you ever purchase from Sonlight or can get one of their catalogs, you will find some nice recommendations for readers there.

Kathleen, it's been a while since I read the article. Here's my quick opinion for whatever it's worth. I decided to teach history chronologically when I 1st began homeschooling 16 yrs ago. I had poor orientation in that area & wanted to fill in my gaps & help my kids avoid that problem. However, it seemed inconceivable to take yrs before encountering American history. I started with teaching Old Testament history by using the Greenleaf Guide. We then studied Ancient History followed by Early American History using a Beautiful Feet guide (literature based program). My kids absolutely loved it! I felt it impt that my kids learn the central figures of American history early on. We've continued with history chronologically from there because I'm sold on the logic & efficiency of that approach.

Take a look at The Young Peace Maker by Corlette Sande. It deals with training children to respond to conflict in a godly way because there will be conflict! www.HisPeace.org There's also a book that I've only flipped through but may be helpful if someone else knows the name of it. Sorry! It's a book written to children by 3 siblings & discusses their squabbles & biblical ways of resolving conflict.

Since your son spells so well naturally, I don't think you "need" to do anything formally. However, I believe a child's questions should be satisfied whenever possible. He is inquisitive about the rules, so I would do as you're suggesting: learn the rules yourself & explain them to him whenever he asks. I am a fan of materials by Wanda Sanseri of Back Home Industries. They may be pricey for your needs though. Here's the link for your perusal: http://www.bhibooks.net/swr.html. Another idea may be Spelling Power. You could find a starting point in that program & give a weekly spelling list. He would then only work with misspelled words, which takes minutes a day, & the spelling rules are given.

I highly recommend Wanda Sanseri's Teaching Reading at Home & WISE Guide. It's based on the Spaulding Method but is much easier to understand. It's a phonics-based spelling program. I also like Spelling Power, which is less tedious to use, but my kids had more spelling success with the 1st recommendation. If nothing else, I think it's a great instruction manual for teachers (moms) to learn the spelling rules themselves.

I do not grade problem sets but require that all wrong answers are corrected. I do give credit in my grading system for daily work, but tests are weighted more heavily. I see the daily work as an essential learning process & preparation for the test. I usually don't require my kids to do all problems but do require that they do alternate problems when they're having difficulty with a concept. I'm wondering if your son's wrong answers are related to computational errors or difficulty with concepts. Does he consistently work through problems twice so that he can catch his own errors?

I've had 3 kids work through the course independently. I graded the tests so I could determine if they were "getting it." You can go to donnayoung.org to get a schedule if you would like. My kids did not follow this exactly but generally worked an hr/day to complete the course. You mentioned that you don't have a microscope. I believe the companion CD has microscope views.

I'm not sure what's recommended, but I used English for the Thoughtful Child after Phonics Pathways.

I know what you mean. However, I found curriculum like the Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament extremely beneficial because it forced us to read passages in more than a cursory way. Perhaps, you could design a set of questions/criteria to determine what you want to get out of the Bible so that you have a format to work with. Otherwise, I think there's a tendency to not get the meat out of the chpts/books.

Hi Shari, Please excuse anything that's irrelevant here. I don't know how many children you have or what their ages are. Like most of us, you have more to do in a day than you have time. I find that as long as I'm focused on my priorities & living out of my overall vision for life , I feel much better. My attitude is more positive & I can make needed adjustments with a clearer head. I also thrive on balance in my life. When I'm not spending adequate alone time with my husband or having time to myself, I feel frazzled &/or grumpy. Another problem is returning to/reminding myself of why I'm homeschooling in the 1st place. Christianity is a big umbrella that covers all of these areas for me, so feeding myself spiritually is a must. Some of the practical things that I've done include teaching my kids to clean the house. My house is mostly kid-cleaned & has been for most of our homeschooling yrs. I've also taught certain topics in groups or pairs to cut down on lots of individualized subjects. For example, I use TOG which allows you to prepare for one history topic, while your kids all read about that topic on their level. When my kids were younger, we would take a wk or 2 break & do a unit study together when we were feeling a bit weary. We did a lot of rdg. The kids did artsy stuff or projects, but I didn't include anything that smacked of formal academics or anything I had to look over. We did oral narrations, Q & A on the spot, etc. It was like a mini-vacation, & we all felt refreshed & ready for our usual program afterward. Here are a few books I would recommend: Margin , The Ultimate Guide to Homeschooling by Debra Bell, Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant Life Homeschooling by Diana Waring, Managers of Their Homes by Steven & Teri Maxwell, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey& Homeschooling at the Speed of Life by Marilyn Rockett.

Have you looked at Jeannie Fulbright's texts for Apologia Science? They are more of a combo of classical & Charlotte Mason but very well done.

Phonics Pathways is a primer & is inexpensive & easy to use & a self-contained phonics/rdg program. I supplemented it with Horizons readers because I already had them, but you could use Bob Books or library books if you'd like.

Congratulations!!! I'm a big reader and always have a book on my night stand. Do your kids see you read? I'm hoping they are aware of your accomplishment. Do you do read alouds with them & finish the books? Just checking since our kids pick up lots of our habits. My kids are very accustomed to me saying, "How do you eat an elephant?" They know the answer as well, "One bite at a time." That drill has been applied to books, "One page at a time." If you can only do that much at bedtime, you will eventually get you through a book. I wish you much success with your future endeavors!

I completely understand your frustration for when a brick replaces the brain! :-) I'm sure you & your son will be pleasantly surprised by how quickly those facts come back with a relaxed approach & review. I've had my kids do simple things for review of operations such as rolling 2 dice & adding/multiplying, using games with playing cards to add/subtract if you lose, etc. Those approaches are haphazard but fun! We use Quarter Mile Math, Wrap Ups, & fact cards for more serious review. If you're into bribing, you could offer your son a reward once he re-memorizes his facts.

We absolutely love Dangerous Journey, arranged by Oliver Hunkin, for the grammar stage.

I think you should only ask your son to produce writing skills that he has acquired through teaching & training. You might want to consider using another writing program that speaks to those skills. There are many available such as Write Source books, Understanding Writing, Word Smith, IEW, & more. Many children hate to write, & it is often because they missed the early skills of writing that didn't seem like work (e.g labeling a picture with a summary sentence, narration, etc.) Some children have not been taught to write (e.g. systematic skills) or don't know where to start with the writing process (e.g. brainstorming, organization). Since writing is an impt skill throughout the educational process, I would back off of frustrating your son with assignments that are above his head so that he doesn't become convinced that he "can't" write. Mental roadblocks are difficult to overcome. I know that you are not intentionally trying to frustrate your son, just expecting him to produce age-appropriate work. I have often had to shift my thinking to helping my children move toward age-appropriate work by breaking down the skill into steps, pinpointing what they're missing, & then moving toward the goal. That takes the frustration out of the situation for both of us, and neither of us feels like we're failing.

My son is doing Chalkdust PreCalculus. Ditto to what's already been shared. I would like to add that I have my son do make-up problems for those he has difficulty with. He selects a similar problem from the ones he skipped. I do not do this if he has missed a problem due to a minor error that he easily discerns when checking his work.

I found VideoText to be a great program & used it with 3 teens. However, one did not do well with it, & I switched her to TT for Alg 2. She needed a simpler format. I assume you know that VideoText teaches the concepts of Alg 1 & 2 as one course. We simply called 1 yr Alg 1 & the 2nd yr Alg 2. One of the pros of this course is that you can actually complete it in a yr or a little more if you're pressed for time & you have a highly motivated student. Another pro is the built-in review of concepts; daily quizzes assure that your kids are "getting it." Finally, you won't hear your kids groan about an excessive amt of problem sets (such as with Saxon). The drawback of VideoText: it's pricey! You can find good deals on used sets though.

In my opinion going away to college is a choice, not a need. Our goal has been to train our kids to act like adults well before they get to college, that is to be capable of making their own decisions, run a household, budget/pay their own bills, etc. Though we protected our children when they were young, our goal has been to release our children into knowledge/responsibilities incrementally & to teach them to think critically & to innoculate them against the bad mores/standards of our present culture. We have 2 dd in college. One is just starting her freshman yr as a commuter, the other is a jr & fairing well. She chose to live off campus throughout her college yrs (and yes, we had advised it). She is grateful for that choice. She has seen many a student fall prey to the party atmosphere of dorm life. I don't mean to imply that that is the future of all students that go away to school & live in dorms, but only to say that going away to school does not guarantee success because the apron strings have been cut. Our adult children are not dependent on us just because they are close in proximity or because they value our counsel. We have graduated them gradually into a mature lifestyle. We expect for them to simply continue what we've begun.

Hi! I have used TOG classic for a couple of yrs & have not seen or used Writing Aids. I have mixed feelings about the writing component using the Write Source books. Prior to using TOG, I had my kids use their history rdg as a basis for their writing assignments. That similarity was a big draw for me to TOG. However, I felt that my kids' writing instruction was a bit lacking during the yr I exclusively used the TOG writing component. I prefer a systematic approach to building writing skills & have found that my kids are better writers when I used a systematic writing program & have them choose writing topics across the curriculum but mainly using history. That said, Marcia has many wonderful writing assignments & great insights. I will be ordering Writing Aids this yr & may try a blended approach.