So one more thing: I suppose I need to realize that we do more school than I realize. We often sing alternative words to popular songs in the car. ANd we will spend lots of time matching sounds and rythym to get the best version. I realize now that oral type of work actually stimulates word retrieval and more. I mean some of the lyrics we create are rather absurd, but it definitely gets his interest.

Wow. I feel so much better. I was seriously having thought issues. Its not just writing, its all the school work except math. Math is a joy for both of us. He loves learning it and I enjoy mentoring him. The problems I have with the writing across the board is that I have a Kindergartener. I have a very relaxed approach for K so its not a big deal, but I find that I will skip things with my K'er because my 6th grader needs me to scribe or work on something with him. AFter reading all the comments, I feel like I am NOT ALONE and that dysgraphia is very pervasive. It is in his word choices too. Week 29 is tough, but we will get through it at our pace. He is very proud of his work when he is done. I'm getting excited about Bravewriter. On his history timeline, he draws cool pictures with each date, but they look like a 2nd grader did it. I'm more impressed that he enjoys the process. He used to hate drawing and now he enjoys it. I'm focusing on that kind of success for the most part, but doubt creeps in and is a traitor to my thoughts.

Thank you both!!! We have a Mac so Ginger isn't available. Dragon didn't work well. He does use voice dictation on his iTouch Evernote app to get some thoughts out when he doesn't have computer access. He does have a slower processing issue (but he is my deep thinker) and the evaluation classified him as atypical ADHD, but we have never felt he had an attention issue that wasn't directly related to him being overwhelmed by noise/distraction while he was trying to read/write. Although his voice hasn't changed yet, he has definitely experienced the fogginess of hormone overload. That's been new. If I even look at him wrong, he wonders what's wrong. I think I needed to feel as though he is where he is and that it's OKAY. It's hard because I would like to outsource a class and was looking at online options and I felt that typed online written responses on tests would probably be beyond him right now. He works very well with the WWS as long as we go slow and break up the steps because he understands the direction that the program is going. He is also really good at outlining. While I was at Yoga this evening, he had typed up another paragraph from his outline without any reminders. Three sentences and three footnotes, and he figured it out on his own. I was tickled that he did it and he said the footnotes don't bother him as they are just copy and paste from his works cited. He does not like doing the initial citation though so I know that with him, practice will help. Sentence writing is a strugge. His writing tends to fluctuate in complexity, and the spelling, capitalization, punctuation errors are very hard for him to see. I *need* to find a good program for the MAC. However, that said, we will be taking a break from it in 7th and using Bravewriter style to get his voice out. He made a comment that he would like to do some more open ended writing! He found a book laying around our family room called "Unjournaling" and he decided he would write from that 1x-2x per week (very short but fun to him exercises). I can tell he is feeling alot more confident about writing. There used to be tears and he dictated his narrations everytime through 5th grade. We decided together that in 6th,I would scribe every other history narration. He types 1 per week. Its been working very well because he is really proud of his writing......which is why I don't want to edit it at all. I might tell him to focus on capitals or spelling, or punctuation and then let it go. The whiteboard has been a lifesaver. He writes spelling words on that and uses it for math. I have to say that he really loves being homeschooled and tries his best. He has told me that regular school would push him beyond his limits. I can see that. he used to cry after public school every day in 2nd grade. THanks for the vent. I needed a different view.

My dysgraphic/dyslexic son tries so hard. He continually gives me great effort; he wants to succeed so much. On the other hand, he is easily overwhelmed. He is in 6th grade and all work (except Math) just takes so much longer than expected. I want to move him forward at the pace he needs to move. How do I deal with the discrepancy between his brain, my brain, and his output skills? We are working on Week 29 of Writing with Skill. We have been here for weeks. He is doing one step per day and sometimes multiple days just for one step. He is learning to cite and footnote which is tedious work for him. I realize that I am not just teaching that skill, but also the computer skills for footnoting and that takes time. It's taking so long. My brain just wants him to 'GET IT DONE' but I know that he really does need explicit instruction. It's not so bad, except that he is highly verbally gifted so I'm always confused about how much work is too much or if it's challenging enough. He can say such profound words and connect seemingly unrelated concepts. Yet, writing/typing is like awkward and stilting. He relies on the same sentence structure for many things. His handwriting is SO BAD that he can't even read it which is why we went to typing. However, sometimes he just wants to write it down because its quicker then getting on the computer. Even so the typing has so many errors that I'm not sure how much I should correct. Believe me, I have worked diligently to get to this point. He mostly did dictation before, now he volunteers to type his history narrations so I loathe to even correct those at all. But, in his writing class, I feel like he needs some direction....OKAY I am all over the place in the post. Sorry. Its been one of those days where I wonder if homeschooling is helping or hurting him. sigh. Calming words?????? Its not his attitude, its mine. He is a good natured kid.

I've spent HOURS looking up books in LA. I still prefer Audible because we can listen in the car, but he gains so much from following the highlighted words in LA. I normally get him the fiction books, but I have a hard copy available too so he has a choice. THe History of Science is right up his alley! He loves loves loves history. I never even thought to check that one. He eye-reads Human Odyssey because he likes it. He learns so much better through auditory though. Thanks again. I will look these up.

I'm searching to add to my 12 year old son's reading list. He is currently studying Biology so that would be great, but I'd rather he have an engaging book than a boring one! Before I spend HOURS on learning ally, I'd thought I see if there were some favorites with this forum. He recently finished Shipwrecked at the Botttom of the World (both my 5 year old and 12 year old LOVED It). He has a bunch of literature to read, but I'm specifically looking for non-fiction. THANKS:-)

I was considering AG for my 6th grader...mostly for the mechanics. We have used MCT the last three years with great success. I thought he might like to do diagramming withAG for a change. MCT really made him understand the sentence structure so as we do WWS, I can easily talk about phrases, clauses, subjects, subject complements, and direct objects without a blank look. Lol. I can tell him to try swapping his DO with his Sub without any confusion on his part...and for my dysgraphia/dyslexic, mathy kid that is epic! He absolutely appreciates the single sentence analysis each day rather than A full-page of grammar. That said he does need practice with applying punctuation.

Thank you! we have been hoping this would go on sale. Now, I hope the iPhone app creator class goes on sale ;-)

Wow, all these plans look so interesting. They are certainly helpful for a newbie like me. I've got a general plan, but don't have everything decided. Math: Singapore 5 and CWP 5 Spelling: AAS 6 Writing: Bravewriter/IEW or BW/WW4 then WWS-I'm not sure what he will be ready for yet. We just finished WWE3 this week and he wants a change. Language Arts: MCT Voyage for the grammar, poetry, Caesar's English, and undecided on writing portion. Science: undecided. We are doing Exlporation Educ.'s Physical Science this year and its heavily supplemented with lego robotics. Civics: on the fly discussions, attending community council meetings, volunteering at local preschool to read to kids French: undecided. We have Rosetta Stone and Ecoutez Parlez now. Latin: undecided to even begin.... Logic: Mindbenders, Balance benders, Word benders. History: SotW3--books, documentaries, primary sources as well. PE: Weekly Rockclimbing (his passion), Swimming. Snowboarding as time allows. Gosh when I type the plan, I feel more ready than I thought!

When you said, "frazzled," and "hive of angry bees," I nearly toppled over. You used the words that I have been feeling the last few days. I've got a grid with each subject, each day, and each assignment so my oldest can see the direction we are going. I use it like a 'loose' guide and I don't have to stick exactly to it....because if I did I would IMPLODE. I only have one child in school, but my three year old is a hurricane--disruptive, chaotic, and CLINGY--you know...THREE. I adore him, but I can't calmly educate my oldest while my youngest is stealing the math manipulative that we are currently using or writing on the carpet with sharpies:001_huh::001_huh: all the while laughing MWUHAHA. Yes, my DH taught him the evil cackle. So, basically, I don't have it nearly as bad since I am only teaching one kid and I'm not preggo, but I am coming out of lurking to let you know you are not alone!! And, also, I am reading the responses carefully because there are so many with good advice. One thing that I know helps me is a very long walk or run after dinner BY MYSELF or with the dog to have silence and maybe strategize ways to make sure my oldest stays on task while I am hopping around like a rabbit on fire.

Oh, I feel for you. It is so hard to make that switch from food they love. My youngest was diagnosed with EE when he was 6 months old while I was breastfeeding him. That meant I had to go on his allergy diet or put him on $500/month formula. I went on the gluten/dairy/soy/oat/coconut/green bean/pea/nuts/peanut free diet and never looked back though I did drool and occasionally whimper at all the yummy food I could no longer eat. My child is 3 now and very healthy. I can now eat gluten even though he can't. We have adapted. Brown rice pasta, Quinoa, black beans, rice, veggies, and fruits are staples. He eats a wide variety of foods even though we still avoid the unsafe ones. He LOVES black beans, chicken, and fruits. He will try almost anything if he knows its 'safe' for him. Its not easy, but when your child feels better....its so much better. Its awful when my littlle monkey gets a reaction. AWFUL. Potty training a little one who gets horrid diarrhea from a SINGLE crumb of gluten....TOUGH. Once your child knows what food they can eat, it helps. Really. We avoid fast food except for the occasional lettuce wrapped burger with no mayo or cheese. I can safely order food while on vacation...even if my child eats the same thing every day. Even though it feels so hard, there are options. We went on a Disney Cruise this spring, and my child was treated like a King. They made him special cake, sent him room delive:grouphug:ry one night when we didn't go to dinner, brought him pancakes from a different dining room...all in efforts to make sure that he ate safe food. I was so surprised at how helpful people can be once they realize that your child gets ILL from certain foods. Even our friends will bring potluck food that is safe for him. SO, yeah, its hard, but its not impossible!!!!

I read DP and was so motivated by it, but instead of forming a book club, I used it as a very light introduction to find the 'secret' message of a book. If I ask questions that are too open-ended my perfectionist son won't respond. However, if I ask him about the protagonist, he can come up with an answer. Then I ask about the antagonist. In fact, I love hearing his ideas just those because sometimes I assume one and he has a very different idea. I might ask about the climax and how everything fell into place. But, usually this discussion doesn't happen in one sitting. It might take us a week of mini-discussions while we drive somewhere in the car. I was thinking of taking it to the next level, but I'm not sure that I can manage one more thing once school really starts. I've got great ideas on having a Book Detective Theme where we find all the clues and then figure out what we think the main idea of the book is and if there might be a secret message. We could pursue Plot, context, setting, etc. I just can't seem to put it into action. Plus, my spunky three year old is a mover and a shaker who is constantly throwing a wrench in all my plans:willy_nilly:

I am surprised by how much he retains even though my goal isn't retention. Our goal is exploratory and exposure. It helps that he is totally interested in history. Sure, he doesn't remember all the details or certain people, but he gets the big picture. He knows the egyptian history spans a long time. He gets that Mesopotamia was full of conflict and interesting personalities. He sees a progression in time from simple culture to more advanced with technology and that technology can change so much. He's beginning to see that strategy in warfare can make a huge difference. I think for us, its a stepping stone into critical thinking. He is very auditory so he LOVES LOVES LOVES listening to the non-fiction stories and related fiction. He is picks up details even if he does forget names or dates later. He knows big concepts in a timeline. We also go slower than the four year cycle because we follow so many rabbit trails. I'm okay with that because this is the area where we are fostering the love of learning and following his interests. That's my two cents :-)

When my son has issues with a concept like this, I give him two problems a day. We do the first together, and he tries to do the second (sometimes I just give him the exact same problem) on his own. If he can't, we do it together. I've found that he does really well with me continually keeping the topic 'open' but not pushing. Usually, at some point, when his brain is ready....it clicks. Long division was like that. We did one review problem a day--first I did it with the number discs than I did it using the algorithm. Finally, it was like a light bulb just went off in his head.....I joked with him having a Eureka Moment because I believe he was, ummm, doing school in just his underwear :lol:(he runs much warmer than everyone). I think it came down to a single word choice and of course I can't remember what it was.

EM is one of the reasons I pulled my son out of public school mid-year second grade. I put him in Singapore 2A and it took us a semester. I felt like we were behind, but we really weren't because its about learning what he needs to learn. Then, last year in third grade, it clicked because I went back enough to cover the basics. He blew through 2b, 3A, and 3B with nearly a month left of school. We went very quickly through material that he understood. In some units, I'd teach the whole unit on Monday, and he could either Test out of the work or do the workbook pages-he knew what areas he needed practice by how challenging or unchallenging it was. Sometimes, he would say its too easy and would answer orally so we could move to the next subject. Other times, he would see that he needed practice. I felt that learning the Singapore style was important since everyday math nearly killed his love for math! There are lots of parents with more experience than me, so im curious about their POV. Singapore is all about mastery so it's way different than EM that way. Plus, You build on that mastery---concrete to pictorial to abstract. My son who floundered in EM has literally made leaps forward and it was thrilling seeing him master the basics, use that knowledge to apply to the next level--the mental math techniques have served him well. I think my son needed to start at 2A (and that was where the placement test put him) because of the beginning of multiplication. Division is taught at the same time which is completely different than EM. One thing EM did teach wonderfully was place value. That made the switch so much easier. So some of the work was super easy and some was more challenging. I think you could skip some of the basic addition type stuff,or fly through it while focusing on mental math, multiplication, division, and word problems. Switching programs raised his confidence (not that he was lacking, but it was nice for him to have some math be easy). He did spend time on the division algorithm because he knew he needed practice. Sometimes, I'd give him the practice problems after a unit and if he did well, I'd move to the next unit, but continue to review all material periodically. Id start where the placement test places him. Anyway, that's my two cents...not really an answer but more of our experience with the transition. I want my child to be rock solid on the fundamentals. When he is ready to leap, I'm there to help. I know everyday math doesn't teach long division till 4th so Singapore is ahead of that!

This is my son's least favorite of the MCT Island series. He is also 9. I started it in the fall and saw that he was losing focus after the rhyming chapter so we put it on hold till now. LIke others I started doing tea time with both my boys (the other is 2) and they both ask for teatime every day :-) He has always loved Shel Silverstein and Ogden Nash so I knew he appreciated some poetry. During our hiatus, I incorporated the concepts from MOH which we did cover like alliteration, assonance, and Rhyme schemes into other subjects especially during our Read-Alouds and occasionally during teatime. When we returned to MOH and started meter, I got the same loss of focus. So I figured I might have been covering too much material at one time. This time I picked the terms that I thought would be the most helpful and we just reminded each other of them. I told him I was learning with him and I needed help remembering. I intentionally avoided analyzing the poems in the back of MOH. I don't think he is ready for that, his eyes glaze over and he just starts asking, "do we have to?" My point is to inspire the love of poetry and words, not kill it. Right now, he is really thinking about the terms iamb and trochee and how they sound. That's good enough for me. I think its awesome when he runs around the house reciting,"Double double toil and trouble" and that he understands that its sinister sounding because the beats are emphasized differently than normal speech. MOH throws a lot at us and we are progressing SLOWLY at his pace so he can have the opportunity to think about it. He usually absorbs information very quickly but poetry is different for him--maybe more challenging for his mathy mind and it definitely is out of his comfort zone. We read from it about once a week now and that is enough. Next we will focus on tetra/penta/trimeter and count the beats together. ONe day it will all come together :-) We will finish MOH and begin Building Poems, but maybe not as soon as I had planned.

I'm curious too. My ds9 loved the Boneville series. He read them everywhere: dinner table, car, bed, and even the grocery store. He hasnt read so voraciously since those books. Generally, he prefers audiobooks. He did enjoy the Origami Yoda book . He did devour the choose your own adventure historical fiction series-Pearl Harbor, World War II, Samurai,etc. they were very easy reads that exploded his confidence.

We are not in a co-op and I don't worry about it. My third grader is happy with his weekly rockclimbing and swim lessons and doesnt want to take classes with other kids unless it was music. He is very social (neighborhood kids, scouts, etc.), but prefers to have quiet for his studies. Well, maybe its not that quiet with his vivacious, joyous, silly two year old brother interupting every thirty seconds, but he is at home where he wants to be.

My son had an amazingly long attention span at 5, and disliked worksheets with a passion! I tried to do lots of fun and focused activities-science museum, art museum, etc. We read a lot together. We had lots of interesting discussions. Most of all, we worked on observation skills- Looking at our world closely. This included people, nature, letters, numbers, counting, words, books, handwriting. Copywork was perfect for that. He didnt really like to write though:confused:,but I think that was due to pencil grip. I taught him watercolor techniques and did lots of nature walks with watercolor pencils and a notebook. I suppose i kept that year very informal because he was 5, but not in kindy yet due to the cut-off date. He didnt like to color, but he did like to paint. At 9, he still dislikes coloring with crayons :lol: but he enjoys markers and paint. Oh, he really liked AAS as long as he got to use dry erase markers instead of a pencil. don't know if that helps, but nuturing that focus has been crucial to my son's success. On that note, i know NOT to interupt his Lego concentration without significant warning.

Typically, I'll teach math a day or two ahead or even for the week. It really depends on the unit and how many WB exercises there are. Then he does the workbook pages on his own for a few days or the rest of the week. He asks for help as needed. I pulled him out of school in january 2011, so i started him in Singapore 2A mid-year. He just finished 3A this week:D. Frontloading the teaching has really helped him. Each day is a review of my earlier teaching and he can move as fast or slow as needed. I barely had to teach the money unit as he is quite obsessed with cash, but he needed more instruction on long division. He gets concepts quickly when introduced, so I think that time in between the lesson and the workbook helps him slow down the process and makes it stick. Plus, i like that he has time to develop questions or realize that maybe he didn't quite get it. Sometimes, all i need to do is one example problem and he is off and running. I did need to do a long division problem a day for a while, but he knew he needed it and asked me. I just wish writing came as easy!!!

We played a lot of card games like War. For adding, we would use two cards with the highest total winning. My son loved playing it so that's how we started Math everyday. ;)

well, being to new homeschooling, and being so excited with the whole process, I get a lot of questions and comments on WHY I left PS. I usually comment that my son is getting exactly what he needs because his education is completely customized to him. As for the social aspect, if anyone comments on the lack of social opportunities, I have to ask, "Have you met my son? He has designated himself the Welcoming Committee to all the new kids on our street." He makes friends not just in a school or neighborhood setting, but in scouts, swimming, rock climbing, soccer and basketball with kids of ALL AGES. School time is his 'alone and quiet' time and he thrives with it. So far, I have not had to stick my fingers in my ears and sing LALA LA LA LA, but I am sure it will happen :lol: