If I'm sick, school is called off. :)

http://eps.schoolspecialty.com/products/details.cfm?seriesonly=2699M This is for a book called Literacy Leaders - its exactly what you are looking for. It's also correlated to Explode the Code if you want to use both together. To view samples click on Free Resources on right. Good luck,

Breath!!! :) You CAN do this. I'd first suggest starting EASY. Perhaps only working on one subject a day until you have it down, then adding another when you are ready. It will likely take a while until you find your "groove". Just when I find mine, things change, so I'm not sure if it ever gets to be "exactly like we want it". I only work with 2 children (so far) so I'm afraid I can't offer advice for 4 but I'm sure some ladies on here will have some great suggestions. I'd like to recommend looking over the simplycharlottemason.com website. They have some great schedules that you can look over and see how you might juggle working with all 4 dc. Look on the menu on the left under Planning and you can view Daily and Weekly Schedules. You don't need to use this curriculum/learning style to glean some ideas. Hopefully this helps a little,

I'd recommend getting the Intensive Practice books and adding those in. They will really stretch your dc.

Heather, He hears the differences in the sounds, he just has trouble retrieving the right sound from his brain when he needs it. For sit, he may say sot and then catch himself or if I say, its an i - what sound does that make and he gets it. He's really pretty fluent with cvc words and even some harder words. He often reads a word that I'm surprised he knows. I asked him if he sees words in his head when he's trying to spell them and he said no. For the words he knows how to spell, he's memorized it. Is there a test or something I can ask him that would help me determine if Seeing Stars is what he needs? Can you give me an idea of how Seeing Stars would help achieve the visualization? You mentioned On Cloud Nine. We have been using RightStart and I think its going well. He's just really behind. He can't picture the abacus in his head but he does alot of his math mentally. We also use Singapore IP and CWP. Those are much harder for him and he usually needs me with him to work through the problems. Do you still think I should look into OCN? or stick with RS?

Yes, I've joined the group there and have been reading all day. Of course, I'm slightly even more confused now because of all the different options. :confused1: I'm leaning towards at least trying Barton - I think Level 1 would be good for my son. He only just "got" rhyming words in the past year or two so he may have phonemic awareness issues that this could address. At this point I'm willing to try anything but a "magic" fix would be nice (or at least a here, this will definitely work for you). ;)

You might want to look at Notgrass's new America the Beautiful. It's brand new and I don't think its even shipped yet so no one has seen it, but they have samples up on the site. It's for 5th to 8th grade so it may be a little on the harder side for your ds but if you keep it laid back it might be perfect. Here's the link: http://www.notgrass.com/america_the_beautiful.php I'm sure others will have some ideas too. Good luck.

Unfortunately, no, he's not good with math. He remembers stories that we've read perfectly and movies/tv shows that he's seen but trying to remember numbers or letters and he falters. He sees the books in pictures in his head like a movie when we read but he can't picture words in his head. It's there, but he can't retrieve it. Elizabeth, I've looked at your site many times and found alot of good information there. I'm just having a hard time finding the fit he needs. I looked at those charts and those would completely confuse him. He's a perfectionist too so if he doesn't remember one of the spelling rules (once there got to be so many of them) and when there's an exception to the rule, it really upsets him and throws him off. I'm wondering if I should just work on reading and then worry about spelling or if its better to use a program like Barton that does both. In AAs I was trying to do both, but maybe Barton is better setup for the combo since AAS is just spelling? BTW, thank you everyone for helping me with this. It seems the more I read, the more I realize that the dyslexia lock doesn't have only one key to unlock it and it takes trying alot of options to find it.

We used MUS Primer, Alpha and Beta and by the end my kids were tired of the monotony. They wanted more variety of problems and learning. My son, special needs, also had trouble with the blocks. So we switched to RS. It's perfect for the variety of lessons and I can't say enough about the abacus. It's really made a difference for both of my kids, but especially my special needs son. Good luck finding what works best for you,

Well, I'm thinking of Barton for reading since he still has such trouble. He's on about a 3rd/4th grade level I think. I went ahead and bought a set of the I See Sam books and we are going to work through those to remove any gaps and build his confidence/fluency. I'm jut not totally sure if this is a decoding or fluency issue or some of both. We had done Saxon Phonics and he disliked the coding so much that we switched to AAS, but really that didn't go much better. He just gets bogged down with rules and can't move past them. He knows all the letter sounds and can hear them well but he seems to have trouble with retrieval (in his brain). He mostly messes up vowels - "i" for o or "e" for u - that kind of thing and vowel teams throw him. He doesn't have any auditory processing issues and his comprehension is great when I read aloud to him or when he reads. So anyway, DS being 13, I'm getting nervous and he really gets frustrated that he can't read better.

If my son (13yo) didn't do well with All About Spelling and hated it, would he feel the same way about Barton Reading and Spelling? He really disliked the hands-on of the tiles and all the rules. And we moved very, very slowly through Levels 1, 2 and 3. Thoughts? Thanks,

Thanks everyone - I'm still trying to decide what to do though I'm leaning heavily toward Barton. He's already done vision therapy and though it helped a bit, he's got too many other issues going on that it couldn't help. If anyone else has any opinions, I'd love to hear them too.

My humble opinion is that the books may be too much for her, even if you read them. My daughter is like this. She can read the books herself, she can listen to me read them, but if they are just slightly above her comprehension (or completely non-interesting to her mind), she hates them. I've chosen easier or more entertaining books for her and she's great with it now. I hope you find something that works for you with it. As my daughter has matured, she's much more able to get into the Sonlight books now.

When we came into RS from another curriculum, I really wanted to do RS C since I felt that is where they should be. However, everyone on the RS Yahoo group highly recommended I start with B instead of the Transition lessons. I'm so glad I did. There's alot in B that lays a good foundation and if some lessons are easy, you can do more than one in a day. Good luck,

I've written about my son here before and he has dyslexia along with other delays. I've been working with him on phonics/reading for years now. He is 13 and still having trouble. Even a leveled 3 reader, though he can read it well, he will come to me constantly to make sure he's read words correctly. He started to read Percy Jackson and did ok, but again had to check with me on many, many words and it really frustrated him. I started working with him recently on REWARDS but it was suggested to me to try ABeCeDarian Short B and then C with him first, then move back into REWARDS. He's finished with B and moving into C. I see improvement with him but he's so far behind where he should be. Previously, we've done Saxon Phonics K, 1 and Intervention (didn't finish) and AAS 1, 2 and 3. He hated both of these programs because he just can't remember all the rules and he also has a hard time with patterns. So my question, finally.... :) Do I continue on the path we're on or do you think something like Barton would really be more beneficial for him at this point?

For me, I find this very common. I've been homeschooling for six years and, although it still happens to me, I find it happening less and less. I also think its good to do, IF you can afford it, IF you can prevent yourself from buying everything, and IF what you are using now isn't working. (Ask me how I know? :blushing: ) It's a great way to learn what works for you, the teacher, and for each of your children, who may have different styles. Something that helped me is to keep a notebook with each subject on its own page. I wrote down what I was using currently and wrote down the pros/cons of it. Then at the bottom half of the page, I wrote down curriculums I'd like to try and their possible pros/cons. If the one I was using didn't work for us well, I looked at my list and moved on to the next. I also could take my lists to convention and look, in person, at each of the ones I'd really like to try sometime. Like another poster said, I, too, have a long term idea of what I'd like to accomplish. Nothing fancy at all, for example, 2010 RS D, 2011 RS E, 2012 Pre-Alg, etc. I have this for each of the 5 main subjects and a few electives. I change this constantly by the way. :) But it keeps me on the right path. I also think when their young and we are first starting out homeschooling, we worry over getting it "just right". Trust me when I say, children are very flexible and can handle mistakes without it derailing their entire educational process. (Again, ask me how I know?) Sometimes the mistakes teach us so much in return. Good luck, and don't forget to ENJOY the journey!!!

We were just fine with RS C and RS D and have RS E all ready. The subtraction wasn't a big deal for us - I taught it the RS way and then they chose their own way of doing it. We supplement with Singapore Extra Practice books, Intensive Practice books and Challenging Word Problems. They do one lesson of RS a day and then 2 pages of one of the others. I always have RS do the "teaching" and Singapore do the "reviewing". Intensive Practice really stretches them. I didn't worry about the fact memorizing. After doing all of this, they have their facts down well and RS C really practices them alot also. We've tried Math Mammoth several times and they just scoff at it. Even though Intensive Practice is hard at times for them, they'd rather do that than MM. Good luck with your decision,

I think using the abacus and games alongside Singapore would work too - or maybe as a test to see how it goes over. We use both RS and Singapore IPs and CWP, but we use Singapore behind where we are in RS.

I would also recommend RS. It's not hard to teach at all and really, I've learned more math myself just by teaching it. :) Well I guess not more math, but I've learned to do math faster and easier and also do it in my head. I don't think you even will need to re-teach the RS way. We didn't and both of my children did fine coming from Saxon/MUS into RS B. The only major difference is the counting and we just had fun with it. Good luck,

Especially since you are starting in the middle, there isn't much of this at all. My dyslexic is doing really well with RightStart - slow, but well. We had tried Saxon and though I thought it would be good, it was too much copying and too many problems. We tried MUS but my son couldn't visualize the bars they use at all. I tried Singapore alone but it wasn't concrete enough. So we moved to RS - the abacus is what sealed the deal - its much better for my son. We don't do many of the games at all either - he's not a game person - but just the way RS teaches enough. It is teacher intensive but its not bad - our lessons take about 20-25 minutes including him doing his problems. This is at the end of Level C. So all that to say, there aren't any jingles or things like that to memorize or use to get you through RS. Hope that helps,

It can be pretty expensive on their website: http://store.cambiumlearning.com/ProgramPage.aspx?parentId=019005266&functionID=009000008&pID=REWARDS&site=sw so I'd check the used threads here, ebay and homeschoolclassifieds.com too. You may find a good deal used. Good luck,

I have both and use both for different reasons. I think it depends on which look you like better and how you want to use them. The KQ maps are more of a curriculum as they give you what to do (if you want that). The Old World Style maps don't come with directions (which may be fine for you). The Old World Style maps are beautiful but you'll have to plan exactly how you want to use them. I'm using the US ones for a state notebook and its great. However, I use the KQ ones (new ones) with our history. Not sure if that helps, but let me know if you have any other questions I can answer. :)

Kai, thank you so much for your detailed reply. Extremely helpful!! I think the issue is that he started to show improvements and I went overboard thinking he could be more independent. I was excited he was doing better and just assumed the stamina would be there to continue with it. I'll not make that mistake again. I did back off the typing some lately because other school work was taking so long. I'll add that back in and make it a requirement. Math we work well together and I'm with him for the whole process. He does like to check each answer before moving on - just to make sure. Word problems are awful for him, but I'll just continue to sit and do them with him. Reading, we had started REWARDS and it was suggested to me to try ABeCeDarian short B and C first, so we've been working through that. As soon as we are finished, we'll go back to REWARDS. I also require him to read 30 minutes a day. His reading has really improved over the last year but its no where near grade level. It's about 4th, maybe 5th grade; though last year, his reading level was probably 2nd grade. I'll add in the fluency readings. I already read everything else to him unless he wants to try it himself. Planning to remove myself slowly is a good idea. I'll go back to full help now and then let him decide where he feels he can work independently and in a timely manner. Thanks again,

Thank you Marie. It's good to hear how others have handled it. I think it would be best for him at this point for me to help out more so he doesn't feel so overwhelmed. I think having him tested would be good, however, I have absolutely no idea where to go for that around here. The school district is out - I'd much rather pay for it ourselves than go that route. Do we see a neurologist? A psychologist/psychiatrist?

That is exactly what I mean and what I was wondering everyone else does. I want him to love learning and not feel its such a dredge because its so hard for him and because it seems to take him forever when his sister is finished in less than half the time.