Thanks this is helpful for me. I am thinking we want CHEm 101 this next year and it is helpful to see that some supplementation may be needed as well.

Typer Island has worked well for my special needs dd and my kids who don't have special needs. It is set up as a game and since we don't do many computer games at our house it works very well for them. Jennifer in PA

I have 2 dd who I am using this BIT with. My oldest ,14, is not very consistent with it and so I have seen little progress yet. She does admit that after she does the eye eight exercises her head hurts; tell me something is happening. My youngest, age 6, is more faithful b/c I supervise her more closely. I think it may be helping. If she is struggling to remember her phonics I usually remember that we have not done the exercises yet and she seems to do better after that. Dianne Craft is going to be speaking at the CHAP conference in Harrisburg, PA in May and I am planning to hear her speak then. Looking forward to it.

Audio books are very helpful to my dd. We use http://www.myaudioschool.com for academic materials and have found that works well for her. and I read aloud much to her and the others. Jennifer in PA

I used Spell to WRite and REad which is labor intensive by my oldest dd who is 14 and I am sure has a visual processing disorder, a form of Dyslexia, learned with that. She still isn't a good speller but she is a good reader. On a side note something that very recently has helped her is going off gluten. Her head is clearer and she is able to read longer and think more clearly. Jennifer in Pa

At age 7 I would not push too hard. That is still very young. In order to work at developing writing skills you can have him dictate stories/etc to you and you write them down. Also make sure that if he is going to school in the afternoon too that he gets enough break times and chance to be outside and play and have some freedom. Some things come more easily with maturity especially if you are presenting the material regularly and maintaining a love of learning. Jennifer in PA

I have 2 right brained kids and teaching phonics was hard. I used Spell to WRite and REad for the oldest and she is doing well now with that. The youngest we are working with now. Right now I am just working with stories to connect with her on the sounds and it is working. Stories seem to be helpful to connect and I also found it worked on multiplication facts for the oldest. Jennifer in PA

We bought Dianne Craft's book a month or two ago and have been working with it. I can't say I see dramatic results yet but my oldest tells me that her head hurts whenever she does the visual exercises. I believe it is helping in some way if it makes her that uncomfortable b/c those exercises don't bother me. Jennifer in PA

If you have a local environmental center that has raptors that live there, like we do, you can go and get owl pellets there. Jennifer in PA

IEW is good b/c the videos are interesting and it is a formula type of approach so the kids know more what to expect. Sometime I think kids don't like writing b/c it is so overwhelming. Jennifer in PA

I have 2 who really struggled/struggle with phonics/ etc. I have found that connecting stories to what they need to learn helps. Also we write with chalk, on the whiteboard, in the salt box and say the sound or word at the same time as writing it. This all helps. Jennifer in PA

I have used RS with 3 out of 4 children so far (4th is just starting) and we have gone through E for everyone. I have had no complaints and the kids transitioned well into other things. My oldest went into Life of Fred with some Keys to and the 2nd went into Keys to with a little piece of Life of Fred. My 3rd is in RS now at level D. I still love RS and would recommend it to anyone. Jennifer in PA

I agree - just choose the 4th grade test.

I think you will clearly need the Teaching CD's and then just apply them to various subjects. We used the medieval book for IEW this year but it goes further than I will be going with history. So I jumped off one week and had the kids do their own essay based on a question in history. It worked pretty well. Next year I may be doing more my own thing with the TWSS. Jennifer in Pa

We use Truthquest history all the way through and love it. There is plenty of freedom because you don't have to use all the topics she offers and you can pick and choose what books you use with it. It works well for me and I appreciate her overall perspective on history. There are samples at the truthquest history site. Jennifer in PA