I remember you posting about this couple before. I personally think it is a horrible decision of the parents to allow this. I get a 17 year old making a poor decision but not the parents allowing her to date a man that old that is immature and cannot even find a job with enough hours. Why would they marry when he has does not have a job that can support them and he is just mooching off someone who is already done and ready to kick him out. He has no sense of urgency about getting an adequate job for his plans to marry. That is unlikely to change about him. She will grow up and mature and he very unlikely will not mature much more since he is already in his mid 20s. She most likely will end up stuck in a bad situation since I am guessing divorce is frowned upon. I wish more states had the age of consent at 18 but allowing a close in age differential for those underage. This is a train wreck waiting to happen. I really feel for the situation this girl in this situation down the line when she grows up and realizes what a bad idea it was.

I would not be happy not getting any work sent home at all and then having that kind of conference since you have gotten nothing back yet. I want to know what my kid is doing if they are going to school. I do not like the fact that the teacher seems so secretive and does not even seem to know the child at all. That was not typical at all when my kids went to school. I would maybe stick it out this school year since he wants to stay but since it is changing to computer only next year and they do not even tell you how a kid is doing I would not send him back there.

That mini column thing always fascinated me and I did want to read more about it but I only found articles. I think she is the closely spaced type. I need to get that book on dyspraxia. She has been doing better overall since she is doing a lot of physical activities but I did not know about the weight training. She is too young for a teen class but maybe I can try to get some heavy work in at home. I think that it probably is a combo of the instructor quality and doing it wrong then ingraining it that way. The instructors are teenagers and most are not great teachers but there is one or two that were really good at teaching (I have not seen them in a while) and the main instructors provide help sometimes and she does learn more when she gets them. In reading she is doing so well now but there are a few words that come up that are similar to other words where she will read it like that old word and it becomes really hard to fix that word. I am still trying to figure out what to use for math with her that has spiral practice but it more towards the conceptual side which she does well with.

That makes sense about learning more then one way to do it and the need to self monitor and know when to use which skill. She is learning new methods in math so maybe that is what is going on there. Wtih the swimming she does have dyspraxia and certain motor skills do come hard but not others. The skill was a side glide which she originally learned really fast.

Dd did not have trouble learning concepts in math and was working above grade level but I am realizing she needs regular spiral practice or she will lose skills she had. What I am noticing though is sometimes when she is relearning something it can take longer then the 1st time. It happens in math and with motor skills. One example is she took just a little over two weeks off of swimming lessons and forgot one of the skills she learned but has not gained it back and it took her less time to learn it in the first place. I know it is typical to lose skills of you take time off but I am wondering why it was learned easier the first time and what to do for that.

Maybe something like Meister Cody would be good? It uses virtual manipulatives and is supposed to help for dyscalculia.

If a teen developed an unhealthy drug habit they would start giving signs. A teen is going to be an adult in a few years. I see no reason to police them and break their trust like that if there were no suspicions. Micromanaging is not going to help them become independent. I think being open and honest and keeping the lines of communication open and judgement free and modeling is a better way to encourage them not to use substances irresponsibly.

Yes OG is an approach based on the research of Orton that Gillingham made more accessible. Things that fall under the umbrella of an OG approach can be a little different but they share certain components. My personal anecdote was that an OG method or methods based off of OG (Barton and Spalding) were not successful for my child that struggled the most but another systematic approach did work. Certain components of Barton and the ways it was organized just was not going to work if I tried to stick it out. What worked was not 'multi sensory'. There are tutors that use a very systematic phonics approaches that are not OG and they have helped lots of students. OG is a method that can work and has worked well and it is a researched based approach but there are other options that the teach alphabetic code in a systematic and successful way that is not OG and OG methods that may not work as well. It seems on here that sometimes people do say if it is dyslexia you should go with OG.

https://www.nichd.nih.gov/sites/default/files/publications/pubs/nrp/Documents/report.pdf Here is the link to it. It was listed in one of the links here but not a direct link it was mentioned in one of the articles.

The reading panel was a compilation of studies and it did have research on different types of programs including OG which they then categorize in different ways. It shows much higher gains for kindergartners that start with phonics then 2nd graders or older who started with whole words then did phonics afterwards. The gains were also higher for synthetic phonics.

I just started buying the answer keys instead of the teacher manual and it has been fine. We are in level 6 but I plan on doing the same for level 7.

OG is not the be all end all and that is not what the research shows anyway. The research definitely shows that synthetic phonics instruction is superior but not that the only means of doing it is OG or that OG is the best method or the only method that is effective. What is clear from the research too is that kids that start with site words will develop habits that are harder to fix and it takes much longer to remediate in older children that were pre taught. Plus there are all different kinds of methods that are labeled OG that are very different. I like having more options then just OG.

Yea I just read the one post I did in last years plans for next year thread and I actually did something different in every single category. I did change things around a bit for my older kids too but for my youngest I did something completely different. 😂 I am actually thankful I did not go with that plan though. She grew by leaps in bounds in reading this year.

She is doing great at blending! It is so nice when you see progress in reading. I do really like how that program teaches blending but it is common to get stuck halfway through so if that happens do not worry just keep going with something else with the new skill of blending.

Has anyone used Spelling and Dictation Plus? I am looking for something my dd that is heavy on dictation but does go over rules or patterns too. She learned to read with the 'I See Sam' sets and I think doing similar with spelling doing a lot of it in context will work for her. My ds who is a strong reader but weak speller is starting to get stuck in Apples and Pears too so I might try it for him too. The one worry though is that it will not have enough repetition of previously learned words.

The books we read together that I discuss with my kids at the same time usually ends up with the same kid leading the discussion every time.

Crime is actually down from when we were kids but the 24/7 media just does not make it seem that way. Sure we all heard of stories but statistically it is very rare for a stranger abduction to happen. There is no need for you to worry about those kids. It is your own worry and they are not yours to raise. The parents are not doing anything concerning.

The dad was in the neighborhood so even if it was longer it is fine. I doubt they are left all day but short periods there is nothing wrong with.

I see see zero issue at all with an almost 9 or 10 year old being by themselves for a few minutes while their dad is in the neighborhood. It was a little late at night but eh whatever. It is a bit overzealous to have such an issue with this and to knock on the door checking for the mom after what the girls described. You do not have to allow it yourself but it is plenty old enough to be left alone for small periods of time especially with a parent nearby. The kids in my neighborhood of all ages walk to a nearby playground and play and I think it is good for them. I have no problem letting kids that age alone for short periods of time. Kids like having increasing independence and it is not bad for them and actually can help them mature. This was the norm in most time periods.

I have been reading the research from the Reading Panel that was linked here and it is eye opening. It is very clear that getting systematic phonics instruction as the first instruction is a lot more effective but it is also interesting how much harder it is to get gains when they did not start with phonics and they developed bad habits from site words. The research from the panel is showing how much more effective it is to start with systematic phonics in kindergarten then add it later with older kids. It is what has been said all along here but I wish there was more info on works for the kids that were not reached right away because we cannot give up on them. I am thankful that there are a few people that found things to work like ElizabethB. You really have an uphill battle though. I also think the finding that phonemic awareness instruction with letters produces a much higher effect then without and it is more effective with little ones. On another site I was hearing how teaching phonemic awareness out of context was not helpful for reading and I was taken back by that at first but I do see why now after reading the research. I really wish there were studies on decodable readers because it is my hunch that is one thing that will greatly improve decoding and give kids more practice. There is a lot if success out there with the Sam readers. I hear a lot of teachers saying that one of the issues is the phonics skills not transferring to reading. I think that a lot of phonics methods do not offer enough practice especially in context.

I start my day a little earlier to fit more in. It is hard otherwise with more then one kid and all that I want to cover.

I believe you that it was how you said. I am sorry that your dad was annoyed to have such a short conversation with you. I know that must be hurtful. I think you know things have been strained but you wanted to preserve what little relationship you did have because they were your parents. Since you guys have helped them and they helped you it is not unreasonable to ask a favor. I am sorry that you found out what your dad thinks of you. You did nothing wrong. He is the one who has emotional and attachment issues and now you can try to keep that in mind and keep your distance more.

Yea I think the average SAT for students in the teaching program in the US is lower then for all other majors if I remember correctly. In the book the Smartest Kids in the World what some of the countries did that improved their stats was that it was actually very selective to get into the teaching program then they had a very good training program afterwards where the new teacher trains with an older one. I do think we need to revamp the programs themselves too. There are teachers who have a masters in special education who have no idea about testing for dyslexia or how to remediate never mind about dyscalculia which is an area they are usually weaker in themselves.

I have seen lots of outrage over any math that is not the traditional right to left carrying method on social media always using one sample out of context and with someone who is not aware of the big picture of where the curriculum is going. I am sure there are some curriculums that do a poor job especially if they are skipping the concrete step but it is always just one example of a problem which does not tell you much about a curriculum. The latest is there was a video floating around of a teacher slowly teaching and explaining the area method of multiplying two digit by two digit numbers and someone posted a video of them solving it faster the traditional way because they are just solving it not trying to explain a concept and then they start coffee and show the coffee being made while the teacher explaining the area method is still teaching the method. The problem is easy to solve mentally which I can do faster then the person solving it the traditional way but people are missing the point that it is about teaching a kid to understand what is happening not to solve it as fast as possible which if you are teaching the other way would not be as fast as you solve it anyway. I see this video shared by lots of people people saying how dumb it is and decrying 'common core math'. Most comments are how outrageous it is to teach the area method rather then the right to left procedure. I have seen hyperbole over breaking problems up into hundreds of parts in second grade math. It is fine if people want to teach only the 'traditional' method which teaching the process by carrying numbers but it drives me crazy they do not even know much about any other ways of doing things or why it is done or about number sense and why kids who do not have an innate number sense benefit from being able to break apart numbers.

The thing that reduces abortions the most is having good access to birth control that is not stigmatized. I do think this will reduce unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions because it destigmatizes it and makes it easy to get. In countries where there is no stigma on birth control the abortion rate is much lower. It does work. I do hope the schools also have comprehensive sex education too and not just focused on sex itself and birth control methods but on healthy relationships, consent and how after having sex that it can be harder to leave someone and see red flags because of hormones. It would include a home link to help parents have an open dialogue with their kids and let them know their values about it. I do think that sex is better in a healthy long term relationship and that many teens make bad decisions about sex and relationships. Having condoms easily available will not stop teens from having sex but it will make it safer.