Thank you so much for posting about it. I'm purchasing now and will let you (and others here) know how it goes.

Where did you purchase the NAC? We tried Inositol but I don't think we gave it enough chance and things deteriorated so quickly that we resorted to Zoloft. It's been a year now, and although much better, my son is definitely NOT symptom free by any means. We were going to try weaning him off and try St. John's Wort instead. I may try this first though. I'd be SOOOO happy if it helped instead of Zoloft.

I recently learned about this curriculum from another member's blog and I couldn't find many reviews on it. Has anyone used it and/or explain more about it. It looks interesting. For those interested: http://spellingmechanicshomeschool.webs.com/ Thanks,

Lori, those are great examples. Can anyone else recommend specific curriculum that does this or encourages/teaches/holds my hand for these discussions? Thanks,

That would definitely be perfect. If it wouldn't mess up all the "We Remember" review parts, I'd do it myself.

I'm totally with you!! :grouphug: :grouphug: :grouphug:

Hopefully you'll get some better replies than mine, however, I'll give it a shot based on our experience. I have one average daughter and one delayed son that I'm teaching. We've been through quite a few math programs but have used first RightStart then CLE the longest. I've looked extensively at R&S and have just switched to R&S for my delayed son. CLE has done a good job of teaching the basics and the facts to my kids but we definitely do the flashcards and the drills. Without those I'm not sure how well they really would have gotten them. That was one of my reasons for switching from RightStart to CLE. RightStart drilled with games (which is great) but my kids didn't like the games so they didn't get much drill. As boring as flashcards and drills are, they are working for us. I do think, from what I've heard and from samples, that R&S might review these even slightly more than CLE. My other issue with CLE (and this greatly depends on the child and how they learn) is their spiral/incremental approach to lessons. My daughter does fine with this though I think she'd do fine with any math curriculum. I even really like their lessons and how they explain everything. I only wish that they would bunch lessons together that are alike - fractions with fractions, decimals with decimals, etc. If CLE did that, we'd be in heaven - especially with it's workbook format. Unfortunately for my son, this skipping around is not good for him so that's why we switched to R&S. I even contemplated taking apart CLE and doing the lessons that way but it sounds way to hard for this tired mom. My daughter definitely understands the concepts from CLE (how much is from her RightStart beginnings, I'm not sure). She enjoys the geometry/algebra skills though I don't think she even realizes that's what they are. For my son, they get in the way. Hope this helps a little. I'm sure others can give some more advice too.

I don't remember the exact reasons why my neurologist put me on it as it was years ago, but it was the best sleep of my life. :) Honestly, I don't think I've gotten as good a sleep since I was on it. That alone helped a lot of things. Besides knocking me out, I don't remember having any other side effects from it. It's prescribed for alot of things: anxiety, sleep, muscle relaxant, anticonvulsant, and I think an anti-depressant but not sure what else. Good luck,

What you describe sounds just like my psoriasis on my scalp. Don't always go by the pictures. I don't have thick, yellow clumps either. I could literally peel flakes off my scalp though luckily no hair loss. If the dandruff shampoo isn't helping much and she has other issues, definitely have a doc check it. I've now got psoriatic arthritis too and let me tell you, it is NO fun. Not that you can prevent it, but you'll know what to look for and can have it treated asap. I use the Garnier Fructis Clear Control and it helps some. Good luck,

Thank you RootAnn :) Can you tell me why you're having a hard time implementing Homer? That might help me as well. Do you know what else you might consider using if Homer bombs for you? My inclination is to go with Homer and finish it faster - both A and B in one year or just over. I have a feeling OB would take us just as long because we'd need to slow down in places. I don't know if we could honestly go as fast as OB wants us to but I don't want to dawdle with Homer either.

Anyone?

We've been through most of CW Aesop, though not all of B. I happen to have all of Aesop, all of Homer and all of Older Beginners, but I'm not sure which one to choose. OB looks like it moves pretty fast. This is mostly for my 7th grader who is finishing WWE 2 and almost into 3. I'd also tag along my LD son who needs slow and steady (and me transcribing). If we do Homer, is there anything in Aesop B I should "finish up" first? or should we just jump into Homer or OB? Thanks,

Hunter, THANK YOU!! This was just what I needed today.

Thanks for letting us know what you ended up doing. I've done the same, over extended and tried to combine too many programs at once - I agree DON'T. :)

You'd really need to check California's requirements as I'm not sure, but that sounds like the typical highschool track. You'll find many on this board who do just that, 1 year of American, 1 of World and 1 of Gov't/Econ. So with Notgrass, yes, you'd do the middle school American History, but they have a highschool American History also that would cover the details in more depth. They also have World History and Gov't/Econ. However, many others follow the 4 year history track. This is basically covering all of history in 4 years. So you start at the beginning with Ancients, Medieval, Early Modern (includes Am. Hist.) and Modern (includes Am. Hist.) - 1 each year. Many different curriculums you can look at already do this for you, for example, Well Trained Mind, My Father's World, Tapestry of Grace, and many others. Let us know what other questions you might have.

I'm glad to hear that. I do try to add in some manipulatives where I can though he hates them. The only one he tolerated was the abacus from RightStart. He hated the MUS blocks - he just couldn't picture them and make them do what he wanted. He liked frog counters better. He has visual spatial issues also and I think that's part of why math is so hard for him. Geometry will be a nightmare.

So you are looking for something to finish out 7th this year and then 8th next year? I'd do whatever American History sounds good to you and add in some more books. There are tons of great American History books you could read. ATB could easily take over a year and then not feel so rushed. Then, if you wanted to do the 4 year history cycle for high school, you'd be all set. Don't feel sorry, we all started at the beginning. :) Enjoy the journey!!!

Well.... I think cost is going to affect this decision for me. I have R&S 4th already. I'd have to purchase BJU which is $136 at CBD for the 3rd edition which is the one I like. I LOVE scripted. I know alot don't, but it helps me and makes me feel I'm leading the right direction. I also have Singapore Standards 4a&b which I might be able to pull things from. Really I just don't know why he doesn't "get it". Numbers and mathematics are like a complete foreign language to him. We'll just keep slogging through and get him as far as we can. I've been completely stressing about how behind he is and how he'll not get to Algebra this way, but he'll never get to Algebra anyway if he doesn't understand the foundation. Thank you so much to everyone who has posted.

We're currently using ATB and while I like it, it's very superficial in it's coverage of history. I do like ATB and I like how they learn about more than just history, such as National Parks or biographies of people but I think it's more of a first introduction to American History. So if you want more coverage or depth, this isn't for you. I wish now that we had gone with AAH or History of US. Each lesson is setup very nicely and if you like crosswords, puzzles, etc. to go along with it, they have a book to purchase that has those things. If you have more specific questions, let me know.

Thank you for the replies. Has anyone used both? How does BJU "teach" compare to R&S? Which would hold my hand more?

Do any of your special needs kids just need to be told "how" to do math and not worry about the "why"? or not really understand the "why"? I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time with too much explanation. Maybe less would be better? Just curious what you've seen with your experiences. Thanks,

That's what he needs though, memorization, and it takes him forever to memorize things. SM is a problem for both of us; he doesn't understand it and I don't teach it well. I just can't wrap my head around a lot of it. He's on about a 5th grade level.

My son with learning delays has a HORRIBLE time with math. We've tried it all. Asian-style would be my preference but it's just too abstract for him. We just did a year in CLE Math and it's like we never did it. He needs more time on each skill. I've narrowed down to these two (BJU Math and Rod&Staff) and possibly MCP Math. Can anyone help on this? I'm at my wit's end here. Which of these will explain it best to him and then give him a lot of practice (ALOT)? and also give me help in explaining it? ETA: In case it helps, we've tried, CLE Math, RightStart, Singapore, Math Mammoth, MathUSee, Saxon, Teaching Textbooks...... Thanks,

My suggestion after having done this in our RV (and we still travel but for shorter times now), is to only worry about the 3 Rs. The rest is gravy and will be picked up along the way. It's such an awesome experience along the way that they will pick up a lot. You also don't want to be lugging around tons of curriculum. So math is definite, writing (however you do it - or keep a detailed journal of the trip) and lots of reading. If you can, get a Kindle or Ipad and read, read, read. Have Fun!!!!

Check out Map Trek: http://www.knowledgequestmaps.com/Map-Trek-Outline-Maps.html