Also, I would not switch to Saxon Algebra 2 directly after CLE Algebra 1 because my understanding is that CLE Algebra 1 does not include geometry like Saxon does. If you plan to do a year of geometry between then I think using CLE Algebra 1 and then Saxon Algebra 2 might be okay.

I had two kids go from CLE 805 to Saxon Algebra 1 without a problem. I think it's also possible to switch right after the 700 level. It's also an option to do pre-algebra with Saxon. I might do that in the case that I wanted a child to start algebra in 8th grade or I wanted to use a workbook as long as possible due to writing or vision issues.

Yay! I've been praying for you. Thanks for the update.

Specific learning disability If you put them in school and there's a problem, they can get an IEP which identifies something like a math disability. It could take time until the testing and the IEP is written and implemented. The other option is to get testing done before they go into school, for your peace of mind. That way they may potentially get help faster and there's less of a chance they blame it on something like insufficient instruction.

Awesome!

Very quietly.....yay!

About the one-on-one experience. I think it can vary. There was a period of time that just the sound of my voice would stress out DD. I needed to back up then. Then I heard something from Asperger Experts about Danny having had the same experience when his mom would try to get him to do his homework. They solved the problem by getting a tutor. That allowed the tension over school work to let go from their relationship. It's tough while hsing. And it's tough when we want the best for our children and our attempts to encourage them have them running the other way. :( I was able to solve the problem by giving her a year of independent work, and I was just very fortunate that that method worked for her.

If this helps, we do science twice a week, history once a week, and geography once a week. I always did it this way in the early years and it hasn't hurt my kids. For English: grammar and writing, each three times a week each. Integrated cursive & spelling four times a week. Math: Four times a week (we do a coop, otherwise we'd do it more) Because of the temperature of this particular child, I have to keep lessons short. I further work in a lot of history, geography, poetry, etc., through memory work and coop classes because she enjoys them and they don't require additional writing. She is very bright and works quickly but she could never, ever manage long periods of work. She is now ten. I very thoughtfully increase the amount of assigned reading and writing each year to help her develop stamina without overwhelming her.

Just a quick question. Is he doing dictation with Modern Speller and WWE? If so, could he be getting bored with it and taking it out on you? You said he's also doing written narrations for history and science. Every kid is different and I don't know how much writing he's doing overall, but too much writing can create issues with some kids. It varies so much, though.

I'm coming in late to the conversation, but I have a kiddo who sounds very similar, including the butt and fart stuff. She's a bit older now, but at age two she had already learned to make herself burp to get a reaction from people. She would ask adult guest if they pooped. Anyway, the adrenaline comment got my attention. We found out my DD has an abnormally high heat rate, so there is some deregulation of her autonomic nervous system, which could very well be a problem with adrenaline. Her heart rate is high even when she's sleeping so it's independent of her own response to her environment and her emotions. In other words, it's not stress or anxiety causing it. It also means it's a lot harder for her to regulate herself. Things that have clearly helped her regulate herself (thoughts and behavior): 1. Interactive metronome 2. A stimulant ADHD medication (given with her cardiologist's okay) 3. An antidepressant (maybe this could have been avoided if we intervened with the above first) 4. Love and acceptance didn't hurt either Things that did not help with regulation: 1. Traditional therapy (but we still go) Things that can make it worse: 1. A load of sugar (could be the yeast theory; she had repeat throats infections as a young child) 2. Possibly allergies (when we strictly limited her diet after allergy testing and gave her allergy meds for a while, she was calmer; but it didn't las forever) I hope these ideas help.

We had issues with WWE. We got through WWE3 but in the end I just had her do the dictation as copywork. After that I moved her to Just Write by EPS and it was like a breath of fresh air. I started with book 1 and only did the paragraph sections. Then we did all of book 2 the same year, that was fourth grade. This year she started book 3, and she's switching back and forth with that and writing her own stories. FWIW, I never regretted giving up on dictation. I was happy that we could break a negative feeling about writing, and she could gain a sense of writing for enjoyment. And we could see it as a strength. One year of low writing stress with Just Write turned things around for her. My DD does sound somewhat similar in her reactions. Rather than defiance, I see it as rigidity, which I see as less subjectively negative in tone and (perhaps) more objective. Sure, sometimes it's defiance, but if I sense they are struggling in some way, I'd rather give them the benefit of the doubt which is potentially less harmful than coming down hard on a kid who has limited control. I really don't think it will hurt anything in the short term or long term to do something totally different, or nothing at all. However, my own rigidity makes nothing-at-all kind of painful for me, in my house at least. Lol. One writing activity DD enjoys is using the Modern Speller/Dictation Day by Day as copywork. There's just something about the passages she likes. For a while, I did not interfere with her writing at all. I trusted she was seeing good written examples with Modern Speller and whatever crazy nonsense she wrote in Just Write was fine and she got only positive comments and praise from me about it. It was my way of breaking the negative cycle.

If she is eight, I don't think I'd worry about accommodations now. If you get the testing from the tutor, that might be enough documentation for this age. A dyslexia (or other diagnosis) wouldn't really hurt her if it came later because it's a diagnosis that comes with an objective test. Something like ADHD is trickier because it's a mostly a clinical diagnosis so some colleges will ask for a paper trail showing a history. But, still, if she's eight, you have time on that, too. Evals are awesome but unless you can really manage it financially, you could possibly wait until you give Barton a try. I don't think you would be doing a your dd a disservice to put some time in to Barton and see what the result is. If you're not seeing the expected progress or her frustration level is uncomfortably high and doesn't get better a few months. Then I might be inclined to get an eval. The opening for the person you liked is in February right? Could you make an appointment at a convenient time and hold a spot and then cancel if you start to see progress that makes you hopeful about moving on without the tests. I don't want to advise taking advantage of the psychologist. You could even explain the situation to her. As long as she's okay with a cancellation within a reasonable time frame, it seems like one possibility.

How are you feeling?

After we finish 5A, I'm going to re-evaluate. I feel like I'm putting a lot of work into this to make it work, when something else could probably do the same job more easily. In the earlier years, I really found Singapore had such a great conceptual approach compared to other programs but with what I'm seeing at this level, it's really not all that different from other things out there, except the word problems. I went ahead and bought a used-but-not-written-in 5B workbook to look at for less than $5 including shipping. I'll see how I feel about it. I have Saxon on my shelf and she could easily jump into 76 after 5A, but I'd have to continue to transcribe onto the graph paper, unless I bought the adaptation workbook. I also love, love, love CLE, but she had a bad experience with that in the early years with someone else teaching and she would not look forward to trying it again. But for today, I am very happy. Math has been getting done so much more smoothly and with fewer errors with the printable graph paper with big boxes and light gray lines.

The appointment seems so far ahead. I was going to suggest waiting to see the GI before the endoscopy only because he might see a reason for a colonoscopy...though I hate to mention it. If you had to do both, of course, it would be better to get them done at one. But if it's a matter of waiting until December, I'd probably go ahead and get the endoscopy ASAP if you are able. For us, I don't think the endoscopy was more than 30 minutes once the prep was done (changing clothes, signing papers, inserting IV, etc.). And the anesthesia was so light she was able to walk out once they were ready to let her go, maybe an hour or so after the procedure. The doctor brought us out pictures and talked about her impressions while we were waiting, and the biopsy results were maybe a week after that. Other studies we had were an xray to check for constipation and other stuff, and an abdominal ultrasound. The ultrasound was also a very quick, simple, non-invasive procedure that your pediatrician might be able to order.

My DD had an endoscopy and it was really so much quicker and easier than I anticipated. My DD didn't seem to mind it because she just wanted an answer and to feel better.

Dp

I also get seasick in docked boats! And I get car sick. I also bump into things a lot. I'm going to try your exercises!

I'm agreeing that a slow worker who easily gets distracted and is a daydreamer, who also has writing problems, probably has an attention or mild learning problem of some kind. That's what everything you've described about him indicates, honestly. It's not bad; he's not bad. Some people choose to accommodate at home and are comfortable with that and all it entails. Some people choose to investigate because they want to find effective and efficient ways to help and perhaps get some protection for the future like accommodations for SATs and college. We are all different in how we perceive these problems, how much stress they cause for parent and/or child, and what we choose to do about them. My personal philosophy has been to find out what I'm really dealing with and help it if I can, and to open doors and not close them. There are different ways to do that. You are doing an excellent job accommodating his needs. That's very obvious. But you are frustrated. It's inevitable to some extent but maybe it would be less so if you got an explanation. I'd be careful because he probably senses your frustration and might be getting the feeling something is wrong with him. That's an unhappy consequence of not getting answers. There are moms I've met who are peaceful and joyful as the deal with these differences, and the kids have turned out fine. But if you are frustrated and have concerns about how that might be affecting him, it might be time to investigate.

My DD is ten and similar, and she has more work assigned. She gets through it quickly anyway and not always very conscientiously, I admit. In addition to 5A, she also has a math review book she works on daily and we are using the Intensive Practice book for the first time this year. But she doesn't use the IP on the same day she does the workbook. I think this is a good math set up even though I wish all the pieces could be streamlined into one book. DD is not allowed in electronics during the school day except reading on her Kindle. She is slow to get up and usually doesn't feel well in the morning, so after she gets up and eats she will usually just read for a couple of hours before starting her work. After finishing her work she will often write a letter to a friend or play with the dog or work on some project she's come up with.. She also rides her bike or walks a dog, but I usually have her wait until the afternoon just because I don't want too much attention from neighbors. She has coop once a week and some kind of simple field trip to the aquarium or something, so those things take up time, too. I will tell you. I've had two slow workers and two who needed me glued to their side all day long, and having a fast worker is a lot easier problem to deal with. And if he is happy and learning, I don't think I would make any big changes. But considering your schedule, I think you could add another bite of math with some kind of daily review if he has any retention issues or IP or CWP if he needs challenge. Also, some kind of mini daily review of grammar and mechanics could be useful unless he's really mastered those things. I also think you could add journal writing or a writing prompt activity even if it's 10 minutes. A science experiment? My DD doesn't like doing those with me and I don't like setting them up, so I leave that for coop. These are things I think a kid with his line up could possibly benefit from. In any case, I don't think I'd add much more heavy book work, just little supplemental bites and more time spent reading. And don't make too many changes at once. Please be careful of that. You don't want him to be overloaded or shut down and every person is different in terms of when they got that point. If I tried to tell my DD to work for thirty or forty five minutes on each subject I would ruin everything for her, everything, and our school life would crash and burn. I'd much rather she have a healthy balance, one that is unique to her. I personally would reserve school hours for learning and fun stuff other than video games. But because he is motivated by them, I would make any changes with that gradually and thoughtfully. It's okay to retain that has a motivating factor used judiciously. Perhaps giving him outside activities to do or going out somewhere won't make him feel like he's losing something that's important to him.

The only benefit I can see are the workbooks that go ing with them.

There are actually two types of workbooks. One is called written practice and has little space for writing. The adaptations workbook has basic instruction and other helps and much more spaces for working out problems. The written practice workbook is less expensive with fewer pages obviously. With the Intermediate series, if you continue to the Course series and do it at grade level, presumably algebra would be reached by ninth grade. With the Saxon traditional series, it might be the same, but there seems to be more flexibility merely because of the way they are numbered. Of course, either series can be used how we like.

I like this! I have the borders for tomorrow's work pencilled in. I hope that by doing it this way for a bit, it will sink in. But I imagine I may have to do at least one of those types of problems each day for the rest of the year if I want her to really remember it. She is very slow to develop automaticity.

I'm so thankful for the link Merry shared because the regular graph paper of tiny blue squares could never work. The blue boxes are horrible for people with visual issues and they are too small for most kids with dysgraphia. I made nice big sqares in a light gray color and it has made a such a difference.

I haven't used Saxon Intermediate but I almost did this year. I think Christian Book has a video of the differences on their website. I think the Intermediate series is supposed to have more focus on problem solving. Intermediate 4 corresponds to 54. Intermediate 5 Corresponds to 65. Since I have a kid with writing issues, the lure of the Intermediate course for me is the adaptation workbook because without it the student is expected to copy out the problems into a notebook. You should be able to see samples of them on Rainbow Resource or Christian Book, both textbook and adaptation workbook (not written practice workbook which doesn't leave much space). You'll still need the textbook but the adaptation workbook provides more space for writing out the problems as well as some supports. Sometimes problems are completely written out. Sometimes you have to look at the textbook to get additional information to complete the problem. I was just looking at Saxon Course 1, which is the middle school level of the same series, and the corresponding adaptations workbook and thinking I might just be better off transcribing the problems. For the first time this week, I started transcribing the problems from Singapore. But in doing so, I looked more closely at the book and realized after we finish multi digit multiplication and division, it doesn't really come up again for awhile. (Well, I really have to look at the reviews to make sure.) I think my dd is really going to see it often to retain it, so I started looking at Saxon again. I'm also tired of juggling textbook, workbook, intensive practice, and now transcribing. At least with Saxon, all you need is right there. CLE is the same.