I would not compare yourself to others or worry if you are normal or not. It just sounds like you have a lot of challenging kids with both behavior and learning challenges and you have sensory challenges yourself. From other things you posted it also sounds like your spouse is challenging too. It is really hard to deal with all that. It sounds like you try very hard but you do not have a lot of steam left and you get overwhelmed but there are not a lot of good options with schools. I know that feeling. I do think you can improve. I would not be so hard on yourself first because if you are hard on yourself you will not be able to take the first steps. I also would work on pausing when you need to and taking little breaks when things are getting hard.

http://visiontest.rfwp.com/questionnaire/index.html Someone on a Facebook group just shared about this resource for vision related activities from Kenneth Lane. First there is a screening that says if you are at risk for different vision related difficulties. There are now workbooks grouped according to the issues you are seeing. I am not sure how it compares to his big book but I like this format and am considering getting a few components to start off even though they are a little spendy.

Aside from the timeout issue and not handling it well the benefits of a center is that they have equipment you do not have. I would think rigidity could be addressed at home but the sensory needs could be addressed in the center where they have equipment you would not.

I am following for ideas here too. My ds was doing math at a higher level last summer and he gets concepts and is good with mental math but then went to school and was working below his level and he lost some of his skills. He is not a fast worker. We do more then 1 lesson a day and I scribe for him a lot but I do feel there is probably parts I could skip but it is hard to trust that. I use prodigy for review and other supplements too and that adds to the time spent.

Visualize World Geography? It is pricey but it looks good and you can use it for all your kids. Can you use it for sports or gymnastics or music lessons or other extra curricular activities? A online supplemental math subscription like CTC or Redbird?

My youngest got her speech evaluation results through the school and she had a moderate articulation delay in words and a mild delay in sentences (she missed moderate by 1 point) but she does not qualify because it does not affect her education which I am not sure I agree with based on her spelling and reading progres. She really cannot spell anything with blends or long vowels and she has even left out vowels or put the wrong vowel sound but she looks like some of the other kindergarteners in class reading her cvc readers with doing phonics pathways alongside it all year and hearbuilder in the summer. Anyway we cannot afford private speech but is there anything I can do to help her articulation. I will probably end up homeschooling her next year and will probably use Barton. Will that help at all? She passes part C now.

So maybe Writing and Rhetoric might not be the best choice for my 3rd grader at first. He is a very good narrator but I do not think he is ready for that kind of written narration yet. Writing is a weakness.

I have not seen summer camps priced that high. Is that with overnights included? I thinks camps priced half that much are expensive and we cannot do those so that is definitely too much.

There is not really a safety difference between a booster a a 5 point except for little ones who may not fit properly and who probably cannot sit in it without getting out of position. I would not use it before 5 but after then I would for a kid who can sit properly and it fit them well. I switched at 5.5 with my oldest because her car seat expired then and she was sitting in it good without getting out of position. Some argue that boosters are safer because in a car seat just the head is thrust foward. I still have my youngest in a 5 point harness at 6 but only because she got out of position too often when I did a booster test with her. I think she would be better now.

Is Treasure Conversations a full year curriculum or can it last a semester? Would it be good to do with a 3 and 5th grader together? I also thinking of Writing and Rhethoric but not at the same time but also was wondering what what level to get with a 3rd and 5th grader who are new to it.

Some of my favorite cloth diapers were a very basic fitted made out of a prefold that closed with a snappy. I had a friend who helped me make them and I really liked them because they were really easy on and off and very absorbent. They are probably one of the easier to sew and affordable since they are made from prefolds. I actually saved them for the end of the stash because I really liked them.

I do not recommend Saxon for a struggling student. It a very poor fit for mine. Plus it is not easy to accelerate through to try to get them caught up because there are so many problems and each new thing only gets touched upon with a few examples in each lesson.

I also just had a friend who lost their baby late term. I am wondering what I can do too. I do not live near them.

I really liked that book a lot but for things we can do to improve public school not for stuff I can do with my kids at home whether homeschooling or after schooling. I guesse the advice to not give up when things are hard or when there is some sort of challenge is good. I do think having higher standards to get into a teaching program is a good thing but I do not think that really applies to homeschooling.

To me it is very important and I pause when I need to like I had to recently with a certain type of Signapore problem to make sure they were doing it the mental math way being taught. If I could go back I would do it differently for my oldest child who is now behind in math because she just learned procedural math. I think being able to solve problems different ways and being able to visualize what is happening is important. I like emphasizing left to right methods and calling things by hundreds, tens and ones. I like the idea of starting with the concrete and showing the problem before working out the problems. I also like doing a lot of subitizing type stuff then extend it to addition and subtraction so they can think through and picture what is happening. For my youngest I have done subitizing, then addition and subtraction within 20 with Cuisenaire rods, ten frames and the abacus then two digit with one digit, then two digits within 100 then any two digit number. For multiplication I really like teaching it first with rods by them figuring out how to group them to solve it the easiest and to introduce division at the same time. I like the way they show multiplication in Educational Unboxed. I know you mentioned using Miquon. That is a good curriculum for conceptual or mental math.

I read advice from a book when my kids were little and stuck with that. It said the parents job is to make healthy food and the kids decide what they want to eat of it. You do not bride or threaten. You try to incorporate one thing you know they like at least and do not worry if they eat the rest. I try to include one thing they will like as a side but that does not always work out perfect. I have not made special meals even a sandwich. There is a snack times before dinner though. Everybody is different though and it is fine to do things differently. I understand some kids have extreme sensory issues and that in that case things are very different and you do what you need to do. If a kid literally only had a handful of things they ate I would like to get an OT assessment and maybe try feeding therapy. I know that also is not always a possibility though. I would love to get OT for other issues but it is not possible for us because of cost and insurance issues. If that what you got to do that is what you need to do.

I am one of those famous last word people who was only suppose to be in this cold place for a few years and then move on. I am so over the really long winters. I do not mind a short winter or some snow like in a four season climate but when months with winter weather outnumber months with nice weather it gets old to me. I just want warm sun not cold sun. I tried to do lots of outdoor stuff in the winter and get all the nice gear with layers making judicious use of thrift stores but it honestly was a little annoying to pack everything get dressed when we got there because of the car seat thing wear a million layers (not really but it feels like it) only to have it last a short time with whining kids who either somehow got cold or just did not like the layers. Now they can go outside themselves and sled in the yard or play in the snow but it is not the same as really playing outside all the time like in the warm months. We barely see neighbors in the winter but they see them a lot in the summer. We can't afford tropical vacations but short vacations are not the same as living some where. I been done with this place a while but it is not easy to leave once you get established. A bigger house is not as nice as going outside more and feeling warm sun and riding bikes. Although I admit I could not do the heat of the south either and it is funny to hear my kids tell people that is is sooooo hot in central east coast states since they visited in the summer.

It is good they are looking into an assessment. Ronit bird would probably be a good start. I would also cross post this in Learning Challenges. They may have some advice over there.

Watching that video that was posted I had the term wrong. It is subitizing. It means working with a ten frame, abacus, dice, dominoes and work on being able to recognize numbers without counting them grouped in ways to make it easier to see. You see what she can recognize and work up from there until she can recognize numbers to 10 at first and then to 20. Also it is good if they can recognize that smaller groups of numbers can be made up of other smaller numbers. I agree about the suggestion of Ronit Bird too.

My guesses are that maybe there was a reading assessment that tests phonemic awareness, nonsense words and letter sound fluency that flagged her for it and then maybe it would be helpful, she got flagged because she has a 504 plan or maybe there is some sort of writing intervention too and they felt that was something she would benefit from. I would not necessarily dismiss it right off. I would want to know specifically why they flagged her and how the intervention class teaches that is different the the regular class.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations for YouTube videos that are very fun and engaging and also do the type of exercises that help with core strength which two of my kids especially need to improve and my other kid joins them too. I know there is Cosmic Kids Yoga but one of the two really does not care for it much and calls it babyish and boring. I tried other Yoga that two declared boring. We started a martial art recently and that seems to be really good for the kinds of exercises that will help but it is only 2 days a week.

My youngest dd actually does have a lot of the issues you mention but her joints are not at all loose and she does not have the skin issues it describes. I did not realize what Ehlers-Danlos or that it was related to those issues was until you mentioned it. So it is very useful to look it up and see if you see those kind of issues.

I like Addition Facts that Stick and Subtraction Facts that Stick but it can last longer and you can add other manipulatives like ten frames, an abacus, c-rods or chunky counters arranged in patterns. I did not realize there was a video for them. Definitely watch them. If you cannot buy it right now just work on substidizing with ten frames, an abacus and counters or use c-rods and watch some of the videos from Education Unboxed and do some of the videos that work for the stage she is at. I start with subsidizing work then extend that to addition and subtraction. You can even do it alongside another curriculum.

I was thinking of switching after reading that too. I have a thread about it too. I would give the placement test from Signapore. Maybe he can handle a higher level. I did not find a placement test for MIF but I think the levels would be similar. I do not think it would be too hard to switch since they teach similar material but I do not have personal experience.

We are doing 2 classes a week but I am thinking of adding YouTube exercises every day that strengthen core muscles and help with coordination because I do feel they more practice for that.