I've been gone all day and just got home to these wonderful responses. Thank you all so much for taking the time to respond. I'll try and multi quote and respond to each of you. I appreciate your questions. We are going to try ballet in the fall at her suggestion. I'm hopeful she will enjoy it. We've had her do swimming in the past and it does offer a little social practice but not a lot. I do try and arrange play dates but unfortunately she ends up telling stories by herself. I've tried to support her and play games with play dates but her anxiety has gotten the best of her in the past and she ends up having a meltdown. But it's definitely worth it to keep trying. Thank you so much for these steps. It's very helpful. It's so good for me to hear someone say that sometimes she will be able to and sometimes she won't and it's okay, I think I'm wanting this to be a progression constantly forward and thats not reality - she's going to take steps forward and regress and go forward again. That is really good for me to hear. And I appreciate the reminder to be patient and not disappointed if she can't do it. Great reminders for me.

I'm hoping I can get some advice from those of you parenting children with anxiety. My dd is 6 and is on the spectrum and struggles with high anxiety. I'm constantly at a loss at how much I should push her to try new things, especially socially. We have one year of official homeschooling under our belt and it was good academically but pretty isolating and I worry that she's not getting enough social practice. She is in a social skills group, OT, and a weekly club at our church but I struggle knowing if this is enough. I've tried activities like park days but my dd just keeps to herself, walking around and telling stories. I also tried some classes through the homeschool resource center in our school district but it created so much anxiety for her that we quit after a month. We chose to homeschool largely in part because her anxiety and sensory challenges make a classroom environment pretty unbearable. But I constantly worry about whether the limited social involvement is doing more harm than good in the long run. For those of you with children that struggle with anxiety, how much do you push? Grateful in advance for any feedback or advice. Edie DD 4/07 DD 7/09 DD 2/13

We got a Brock Magiscope when my dd turned 6. We absolutely love it. It seems pretty indestructible (I think it has a lifetime warranty for damage) and it's very easy to use. The best part is you don't need to mess with slides so we use it all the time. Find a dead bug? Just stick it under the scope. Want to look at some sugar or salt? Put it on some black paper and check it out. Even my 3 year old likes to use it. It has been a fantastic purchase.

Math Mammoth is a great program. I should have mentioned that we did give it a try. Unfortunately, the small spaces for writing answers were very frustrating for my dd. I thought the black and white presentation would be perfect but there were so many problems on the page it would overwhelm my dd, even if I covered some up. I do think it's a really great program and hope it might work for my next dd. That's very reassuring! And I was wondering if the rods were used all the way through the books. Thanks for responding - I appreciate it! This is so helpful. Thank you for taking the time to respond. Yes, we are doing mostly addition and multiplication at this point. As math comes pretty easily to my dd, I think your suggestion of skipping to some harder concepts is a great one - thank you! I'll definitely give the Princess and Dungeon game a look, too. We love games around here and if the rods could be incorporated that could be really positive. At the same time, I'm glad to get affirmation from you and others that Miquon has a lot of merit even without the rods. The presentation has been our biggest hang-up with finding the right math program and Miquon has really met the need with its uncluttered pages. Plus, she asks to do math everyday which has been pretty great. Thanks again for your insight. Thank you for your suggestions! I've never heard of Making Math Meaningful before. I do wonder if Miquon is enough on its own for cementing math facts so maybe a traditional math program would be a nice thing alongside Miquon. R&S's plain presentation is definitely a positive. I appreciate your response. Edie DD 4/07 DD 7/09 DD 2/13

Thanks so much for your response! I am also terrible at math and I can definitely see my aversion to math was largely in part to my education. Like so many others, I want a different type of math experience for my dd. The discovery aspect of Miquon is appealing to me so I'd love to make it work. It's funny you mention MUS because I can access it for free through my school district. I've looked at it but wasn't crazy about working on addition/subtraction for a year, multiplication for a year, etc. but I can see that using Miquon first (or maybe a supplement?) you could see more how the operations are connected. That's some great food for thought. I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. Edie DD 4/07 DD 7/09 DD 2/13

My dd sounds very much like your ds! Like your son, I do think she's picturing things in her head. Using them more judiciously might be just the ticket. We haven't gotten to measurement yet but I do think she may be more receptive to using rods for those concepts. I will add that she does love to build cities with the rods - she just doesn't like them for math. : ) Thanks so much for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it! All the best, Edie DD 4/07 DD 7/09 DD 2/13

After a few math curriculums misses, my dd has found her stride with Miquon. We had trouble with RS because the manipulatives were distracting (and I didn't like teaching it) and the pages of Singapore were way too visually stimulating. Miquon's uncluttered presentation and large spaces for writing has been great for my dd. However. She refuses to use the rods. She wants to do the math mentally. Using manipulatives with Rightstart was also a problem as she much prefers and does better with a plain worksheet of numbers to pictures and manipulative use. She's pretty math intuitive so she does well but she often ends up guessing, too. The whole "math lab" discovery aspect isn't really happening. Is the beauty of Miquon the use of the rods and is it still a solid program without them? Sometimes I end up showing her how the problem can be done with the rods but that hardly seems ideal, either, and she isn't very interested. I'm really growing to like Miquon a lot but I feel like we're missing the point of the program. Can anyone relate or have any insight on how I can better teach Miquon? I'd be grateful for any suggestions. Thanks so much! Edie DD 4/07 DD 7/09 DD 2/13

I think RS is a wonderful curriculum that lays a great foundation. My dd has a keen understanding of place value thanks to RS. That said, I loathed teaching it. For me, the spiral nature drove me crazy. I never had a good idea where the lessons were headed and the geometry lessons were seemlingly thrown in at random (they probably arent but it seemed that way). So when my dd started having trouble with some of the conceptual leaps I tried some other programs for a break and ended up abandoning RS. We've finally settled on Miquon and it's fun for both of us. I am grateful for the foundation that RS has given my dd but I'm even more grateful to pull out a program I don't dread teaching and we actually both enjoy doing. HTH! Good luck!

I've been wondering this very thing.

My dd has ASD and she loves Ella Lindvall's Read Aloud Bible Stories. They might be too young for what you're looking for but I thought I'd mention it all the same. The stories are short with simple prose and the illustrations are lovely. There are four volumes with five stories in each book. We've tried other children's bibles but we haven't found any she doesnt find "scary." These are the only stories she actually likes. HTH!

Thanks for your response! I appreciate your thoughts. My dd is much more aroused by too many pictures as opposed to the quantity of problems. For example, the Singapore workbook has lots of pictures with activities which were problematic, not to mention the colorful textbook. Worksheets with few illustrations and a linear format are best. You may be right and MM will be too much but I thought I'd try it since I was able to download some free samples. I'll definitely be giving MEP a try, too. I'm really thankful i have some free options to try things out before investing a lot of money again. I may be trying all these suggestions in order to find the right fit (I really hope not, though!). I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Thanks for your thoughts! All the best,

Magnadoodle.

I'm glad to know I'm not the only one to give up on RS. Holly, I will definitely hang onto the manipulatives. The place number cards alone have been invaluable and the math games have been a lot of fun. I've been checking out MEP and I really like what I see. I think I might try a Math Mammoth and MEP combination for the next few weeks. Thanks again for all the helpful replies!

I've been gone all day and just read all these kind responses. Thank you so much! We will definitely check out MEP. I appreciate the suggestion and love that it's free, especially after spending so much on RS. Thanks so much to everyone for taking the time to respond. It's nice to know there are some good options out there that fit our needs. Thanks again!

I will check out the placement tests, thanks! Momtoamiracle, thanks for sharing your experience. 1-B seems like a good starting point. I'll check out Miquon, too. Rod and Staff definitely fits the non-flashy category but I'm not very familiar with it. Would you recommend it for a child who is pretty intuitive in math? I'm not mathy at all and my dd seems to understand concepts in a way I never did. I'd love a program that can develop her intuition for math while being easy to teach and follow. Thanks again for all the helpful replies!

Thanks so much for these replies. I've checked out the samples and Math Mammoth looks really good and affordable. Just a quick question about placement. We are almost halfway through RS B. Do you see any problems with starting with the Grade 1 1-B? Thanks again for all the replies. I really appreciate it!

Hi there, I'm looking for some math suggestions for my almost 6yo dd. We've been doing Rightstart and although I see the genius of it, I really hate teaching it. My dd is very mathy and has done well with the program but I think she favors more workbook style math. She is most excited when we can do a worksheet from RS, which are pretty few and far between. Plus, we just added a baby to the family and I need something for a while that seems a little more familiar, if that makes sense. Even with the scripts of RS, I feel like I have no idea where we're going half the time (not the fault of RS but probably my own non-mathyness) and if I dread it, it's not going to get done. The big caveat is that I'd love some recommendations that are very black and white and not too visually stimulating. We tried Singapore but there was just too much going on each page. My dd has ASD and we've found the plainer the worksheet, the better. Anyone have any suggestions? I'm all ears. Thanks so much in advance. Edie

Audio books have been hit or miss depending her mood. However, she is a visual learner and I think giving her a copy to follow along with could work. Thanks for the great suggestion. I will give it a try. Thanks so much! I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

I'm wondering if anyone can relate to a child like this. My dd is almost 6 and used to love being read books. But over the past year or so, she has become very resistant. It's gotten so bad that she gets incredibly upset even when I read to her younger sister because she might hear the story, too. We still do some reading at set times - a chapter book at lunch and sometimes a story at breakfast but anything else is a struggle. Part of the struggle stems from the fact she wants to tell stories, not hear them. She walks around in circles creating and telling stories for literally an hour or more. She also can read so she'll read books - she just doesn't want to be read to. Should I just give up on reading aloud for a while? I had hoped to incorporate a Charlotte Mason approach to our homeschooing but I'm wondering if that can be possible with a child so resistant to hearing books read aloud. I'll also add that she does have mild ASD and some sensory integration challenges so her behavior isn't surprising, I just don't understand how to best approach it and she is unable to explain her resistance. Can anyone relate or have any advice to share? Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

Not sure if this helps but I just tried 1A Singapore with my daughter and she got way overstimulated by the presentation of the problems on the page. It was way too busy for her. She usually loves math but could not do a single problem, problems she can easily answer in another format. I've learned that workbooks need to be uncluttered and black and white without pictures for her. I haven't seen other levels of Singapore so I dont have experience there but thought I'd mention it all the same. All the best, Edie

Thanks so much! I'll check it out. I appreciate your recommendation. Edie DD - 4/07 DD - 7/09

Hi there, I am looking to get a new animal encyclopedia for my 5yo dd. We have the National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals but we need to find one that lists what each animal eats. My dd is extremely interested in the diets of animals and whether they are carnivores, omnivores, or herbivores. The encyclopedia we have does it randomly for some animals but not for all and it's frustrating for her. It would also be great if it had maps to show where each animal is located (ours does have that and she loves that feature). Anyone have a good one that fits the bill? Thanks in advance for any recommendations! I appreciate it. Edie DD - 4/07 DD - 7/09

Thanks for taking the time to respond. She doesn't seem too particularly distressed after but I do think the sensory techniques are a great suggestion. Generally, she craves tight hugs when she's overstimulated so I'll definitely give it a try. I appreciate your response. Thanks so much! That article is really helpful. Thanks so much for sending it. I appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Hi there, My dd is 5.5 and has ASD. She has had occasional bouts of uncontrollable laughter in the past where she'll laugh at inappropriate times. However, the past two weeks have been really intense. This morning she laughed for over two hours while we attempted to do school. She would regain control for a minute or two only to lose it again. Last night she laughed in her bed at bedtime for close to an hour. Does anyone else deal with this behavior? Any advice on how to approach it? It feels odd to get frustrated by something like laughter but it can be quite maddening. She seems to laugh the hardest when she is being reprimanded or when her sister is being told not to do something, which only adds to my frustration. Anyone out there experience this? Thanks so much for any input. All the best, Edie

Not necessarily a kindergarten level app but my dd loves Stack the States.