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Lyrical

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  • Gender
    Female
  • Location
    NorCal

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  • Biography
    I have four kids. The oldest is 20 years older than the youngest. Two of the four have LDs.
  • Location
    SF Bay Area
  • Interests
    Sewing, Writing, Cooking, Home Improvement
  • Occupation
    Teacher, counselor, bookkeeper, cleaner, cook, ombudsman extraordinaire.
  1. We used History Odyssey from Pandia Press also. It does use SOTW, jumping around quite a bit. We loved the History Pockets from Evan-Moor that are an included part of HO.
  2. Yes, I was looking into this myself, and you can do it. They don't make it very obvious though. On the Home page, Click on All Bookshark products, on the left. You'll get a big list of everything.
  3. My son was diagnosed with dyslexia between 4th and 5th grades. I became interested in dyslexia and did graduate level work with Susan Barton, who created the Barton system. I'd say definitely find a language arts program designed for those with dyslexia if you suspect it. It won't hurt; those programs will help any student, not just those with dyslexia. Good ones implementable by the home teacher will be AAS, Spaulding, Barton. For math, the major problem for dyslexics at that age is memorization ... they have a problem memorizing random info, so math facts and multi-step operations. This is very individual. Many dyslexic students may go on to memorize these things, many never do so, and getting hung up on forcing the kid to do so may just frustrate everyone. The standard accommodation is that a dyslexic student is allowed to use a calculator if they wish. Many dyslexic students go on to be better at advanced math than elementary math, due to their advanced spatial reasoning and visualization abilities. Unfortunately, this was not true for my son, who never really successfully got past Algebra 2 despite his advanced IQ. I know Susan Barton recommends Touch Math and Times Tales for math for dyslexic students, but I haven't tried them myself.
  4. We are finishing up Minimus, and then we will move to Lively Latin. I had extensive Latin as a kid though, so I'm not looking to learn along with her.
  5. You don't say if you have any other academic concerns regarding your son. Is this the only issue? Two of my older kids were diagnosed with learning disabilities and dysgraphia; they *really* struggled with the physical aspect of writing. My youngest is almost 8, and she dislikes writing. It's just not her thing. I am, however, not concerned about her fine motor skills (she's a gifted artist,) and she works above grade level in math and reading, so I'm not concerned about LDs ... writing just isn't her thing. I don't want to push her too much and make her hate it even more. I am gentle and supportive. Occasionally, I make a paragraph assignment mandatory, but really she writes about what you are describing or less. Next year we will start cursive, since she has expressed interest in that, and I'm hoping she'll want to write more in order to try out her new skill. We are also starting piano, so we'll see if that has an affect on endurance, but she draws all day long, so I don't think that is the issue for her.
  6. My advisory teacher from the homeschooling charter school we use, told me that TT is known to be slightly below grade level, and good for students who are working below level. I had never heard that before, but perhaps it is true. Oh, but you used 6, so you should have been okay ...
  7. OKay, do not feel a failure. Do. Not. I don't know how you are homeschooling ... through any kind of group? Charter school? We homeschool through a public charter, and it is our second year doing so. We had a very stressful year, because halfway through there was a death in our family. NO schoolwork at all was done for a month, and when we did resume, schooling was sporadic at best, because I was stressed out, caring for a disabled, and now, widowed, family member. At the year-end testing (required) my child had risen by several grade levels in both math (she started out behind in math) and reading, just by being told to read on her own, and using Dreambox, and some math apps on her iPad. Give yourself a break. Life happens and you are figuring this out right now. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can adapt to both your style and your children's needs. When I started homeschooling many years ago I used Calvert which was a a scripted and scheduled full curriculum. That might be something to consider if you are busy with a new baby, as I was back then.
  8. Setbacks and struggle are okay! Embrace the struggle ... in fact, in math, and particularly for girls and math, we should try to remember to praise the struggle and the work, not getting hung up on levels. (I'm working on this myself.)
  9. When I first started homeschooling (about 19 years ago :001_rolleyes: ) I used Calvert. Perfectly good, quality, scripted, planned out school-in-a-box type complete curriculum. I recommend it, particularly if you are looking for something academically rigorous and secular. My DD who used it has very fond memories of it, and it was a great way to start for me because it was so scripted and scheduled.
  10. Okay, thanks ... I'll try to relax about it; I tend to get hung up on doing things "right". :tongue_smilie:
  11. Okay, so I've finally decided to go with History Odyssey Ancients for my 1st grader. I haven't bought the text yet, but I am looking at the preview and I see two items in the list that are unavailable except at ridiculous prices; Modern Rhymes about Ancient Times: Egypt, and the Ancient China Treasure Chest. Does anyone know if there is an updated list of required resources? I know that Sonlight has their own ancient China resource, although it gets poor reviews. Any further advice about these items? How necessary are they? Alternatives? Thanks!
  12. I agree! I found her blog to be such a great resource as I prepare to teach 1st next year to my youngest. I do hope Satori Smiles come back up again!
  13. This is really the area in which my DS, 15 with dx of dyslexia and ADD, struggles the most, and I worry. We have in the last few years gotten him voice-to-text software, but I feel that he still flounders in actually, effectively using it, along with planning his writing ahead of time, and proofreading at the ending. So, I'd like to work on getting him to take an assignment, use a planning software, like Inspiration, and then to write using the voice-to-text, then proofreading, then spell and grammar check, and a final proofreading. He really has a hard time catching his mistakes, which is typical for someone with dyslexia, so just accepting that he may need help here is also something we are working on. My DS has the intelligence to go to college, but I worry that even if he wants to go into science/engineering/programming, he still will need to know how to write, at least somewhat. Looking forward to reading other answers ...
  14. I totally agree with this. I think it's usually best to go for the full psychoeducational evaluation with a good neuropsych ... sometimes the problem is that these are hard to find. Often money is also a big issue for people, so I do think that SB was trying to make it easier for more students to get evaluated and get accommodations, as well as to ultimately get the right kind of tutoring. Also, Barton testers are supposed to screen out those that don't seem to have straightforward, uncomplicated dyslexia. Anyone with signs of more complicated issues are supposed to be referred for fuller testing.
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