I have to stick with that list because our charter school pays for the classes through them I believe. Otherwise I have to pay out of pocket. My girls are thinking Stanford, MIT, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA, UCSD

Not doing A-g (california people only who want to deal with UC and state schools) and want to know what that is like. She academically struggles. What curriculum do you use with a child who struggles in all areas?

I just wanted to say my daughters did this course last year. They really learned a lot. We smooshed one years worth of health in one semester (like 3 chapters a week) and they got a full years credit from it. I also added in additional work which was watch four documentary from Netflix and Hula and write a review of it. The work was pretty intense and what they learned was stuff I learned in college and in adulthood as an EMT and Nurse. They used an anatomy coloring book, covered some biochemistry topics and learned a lot about nutrition. They learned about fitness by developing a fitness plan. They learned about basic first aid as well as basic diseases such as diabetes etc. Truly impressed. It comes with a syllabus book that has all the activities in it and it comes with teacher's answer key. They have a textbook, anatomy textbook and two trade books to read I believe. It also talks about alternative health stuff and emotional and psychological health issues as well. I also added an indepth sex ed component to it as well.

Is so tempting when you need a break lol But then not as tempting because I can take a break just by hanging out with all of you online. Nah....I'll save my money and talk to you guys on the forum. TWTM cult LOL

Yes very much considering that but I have to see if they accept his medical exemption form. We are in California and they are strict about vaccinations even though an MD has advised us not to vaccinate him until older. We have her letter.

I got my older kids in high school pretty independent. I got my 13 yrs old in Moving Beyond the Page. My 8yrs old is moving along but struggles and requires me by his side for everything. My 4.5 is starting TK and I am so unmotivated!!!!! The thought of starting all over again with my 4.5yrs old is making me go buggy eyed. Someone please please send me resources that will inspire me. A new computer program, game, board game, curriculum===something. Mind you my 4.5 yrs is a child with severe speech issues. So that makes it more challenging. I don't think I can read all the classic books all over again. I did it all with my first set of kids who are adults now and then did it again with the 2nd set and now the third set...I just want to hid under the covers. I challenge you all to inspire me!!

I can't take planners. I have had to learn this the hard way over and over again. I have a general over view plan of what I want to do with the kids each year and most of the curriculum I use is the "do the next page" method and go for it as consistently as possible LOL

With two of my girls I never had to get them to practice, they just did whenever they wanted and it went well that way. If I felt they were getting tired of an instrument, we just added a new one ;) They are still learning music and that's all I care. Plus they end up falling back to something they are comfortable with anyways and loving it more in a deeper way. A better appreciation to it. I have a daughter who knows piano and ukulele and wants to learn cello. My other daughter knows acoustic, electric, bass and drums. Another daughter Flute and she is already starting to get wiggly with it so I'm thinking adding another instrument or vocal lessons to get her still involved in music.

I would like to discuss the issue of "being behind".I have seen people post "we are behind in history,math or whatever" and around spring I get that same panic. Or I have said my son is behind in schoolwork, grade etc. I thought about all this really hard and shouldn't that term be null in the homeschool world. It just puts me into such stress, pressure and depression every time I get into the frame of mind. I start pushing harder and it gets ugly here in the house as a result of it because everyone is getting snapped at. Husband included lol. A few months ago I printed out calendars for the next six months and plotted our course in a curriculum. Did we follow it? No and I was miserable. I should just stick with the tried and true of just do the next page and don't worry about plotting it out on the calendar. How can us moms relax and enjoy the process without putting undue stress on ourselves or are we being irresponsible by taking too lax a position as we are not per se unschoolers? Although lately that's what we feel like. I noticed our family goes into waves. A period of unable to get motivated and doing nothing and then a period of frenetic panic which leads to a lot of tears and me having to chase the kids down. Where is that happy medium? Has anyone found that peace yet? Do you feel guilty feeling behind? How do you resolve this? How do you keep from getting burned out and just keep a steady pace? Isn't the word "behind" meant for kids in real school? What's the point of homeschooling if "behind" is in our vocabulary? How do you define "behind" in your family? What is "behind" for you or for your kids?

I wanted to add ASL BYU has signing cafe appts and people can go to these cafe appts online and just practice their skills as long as they wanted and to prepare for tests etc. I think all of BYU foreign language classes has these language cafes to practice the foreign languages. My daughters said those appts were helpful and in general everyone was helpful and encouraging.

We are with Connecting Waters Charter School and even though we are with the charter school I still have to research programs, pick and set up my kids online classes and schedules. We are doing the A-G route recommended route for high schoolers in California interested in UC or state because these girls want to go to some school like Stanford. Besides I have girls who like school work. They cried when the school year ended and I had to go searching for textbooks for them to read over the summer. So this a-g thing is no biggie for them as they got all A's last year. So last year they took Moodle classes through the school and they said the English course was pathetically easy. Algebra had a lot of nit picky work such as make sure you label the top of the page like this or that and submit it electronically like this or that but the substance was easy for them. They also took a BYU ASL 1 class. As well as a few electives, Health and Nutrition through Oak Meadow curriculum which I made them do a whole years worth in one semester and they got two semesters credit for that. Plus I beefed it up too with additional essays of documentaries they had to watch. They really really learned a lot from the class and so excited to learn chemistry next year. They also took a Career and Education class...blah because they already changed their major to mechanical engineering and microbiology from psychology and art therapy. They also got Visual Performing Arts credit doing whatever they needed to do to get credit for that class which was the California Music Teacher Test for the piano child and starting a rock band for the guitar child and write a bunch of essays and study a musical timeline or genre and make a collage about music. Pretty easy. The only class they loved was their biology course with the Schools science mobile lab. Next year..... I am trying to avoid all the Moodle classes although they are free because it was a pain to deal with Moodle connections and the classes were easy. 1) Will take Art of Problem Solving Intro to Geometry. Junior colleges don't seem to have geometry 2) Junior college classes 1) ASL 2 , 2) English or History class 3) Chemistry through the schools Mobile Science Lab 4) CTE Business and Financial Literacy elective kind of thing that I think all high school should know 5) Apex classes depending on which Junior classes they get into: World History or AP Language and Composition 6) Computers elective course. I am deciding on APEX or one of these: Here are the approved online vendors for a-g and AP courses with the links to their 2016-17 UC lists, these will be continually updating through December 2016: Apex Learning https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4540/20 ALVS - uses their teacher, about $350 per course per semester CTV - uses our HQT, $250 unlimited course access for school year Art of Problem Solving https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4757/20 Teacher led, meets weekly, about $500 per course per semester BYU https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4241/20 must be teacher led, about $200 per course per semester National University Virtual High School (must choose the part time enrollment option, cannot enroll in the full time diploma program) https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/3792/20 teacher led, about $350 per course per semester Online G3 https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4811/20 For pricing, consult your ES UC Scout https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4485/20 teacher led, $199 per course per semester Fuel Education https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4506/20 teacher led, about $350 per course per semester K12, Inc https://hs-articulation.ucop.edu/agcourselist#/list/details/4494/20 - they have teacher led courses now, teacher led, ranges from $425 to $525 per course per semester Thoughts on any of these please?

We ended using BYU and it was an ok experience. The only drawback was getting signing appts and if there was a delay the kids couldn't move on which delayed them finishing the semester on time. So plan on getting the kids to finish up the program two weeks before your regular hs ends so the finals can be ordered, proctored and graded in time for transcripts or that the ES doesn't have to drive back down to your house or you don;t have to drive to the school. For those unfamiliar with our situation we are with Connecting Waters Charter School and we are following an A-G course that CA has so students can enter state and uc schools (there are alternate routes but my girls are not totally strong test takers) and our ES lives in Stockton and we live in the East Bay. My girls said they learned a lot from the program.

Thank you Marie for your support. Off to do more research and file IMR. Why does it always require such a fight for anything for our kids? We have to find the inlaws, families, friends, doctors, professionals, legal process. Its exhausting. I just met a man who has a son with a tracheotomy and fighting the school district to teach him signs. And he is a single dad because his wife died during child birth which complications led to his son having tracheotomy. He is dealing with major cover up from the hospitals and not telling him the truth about things. It's been five years of fighting for him. Just when I get down about my situation, I always hear about someone else who has it way worse.

I wanted to say that Kaiser and school district says my son has both APRAXIA and Phonological articulation issues. Kaiser therapist at first wanted to state you can't have both and that's why they won't diagnose him with apraxia. Beyond frustrating. Crimson: I am taking him back to Kaiser ASD clinic and maybe that will count as Independent Medical Review? Did you have to get legal counsel to file that IMR? The problem is Apraxia they say can't be diagnosed by a MD. It has be diagnosed by SLP. Anyone know anything about this?

Yes we parents have to be careful not to judge other parents if we suddenly won't move to get our kids a certain type of treatment or sell everything to accommodate for the treatment. Everyone's circumstances is different. Smaller families may be able to pick up and leave larger families maybe hard and kids under court jurisdiction--no. Moving is not always easy and can make things worse especially losing local support network. Our family has moved 7 times in 8 years and lived through some tough financial times such as living in a hotel and in a trailer in a back of yard. We finally have some roots. My husband and his ex did move to another state years ago because they thought their kids asthma would be better. It ended up being a bomb and ended their marriage and losing lots of money and my husband did not get a job that was comparable to what he had established here. Even worse the kids asthma didn't improve but worsened leading to hospitalization. Moving is extremely costly and worse when you got to come back to the Bay Area. Telling me I need to have PROMPT is like dangling a chocolate muffin in front of me and saying you know you need it and you got to have it and but wait you can't...sorry....that's tough. I know that he needs Prompt. I know that but what do you do when when you have tried everything. It doesn't mean I will give up. I will try but in the meantime, I gotta do something. Ive even filled out the grant application form for small steps but they required infor about an actual therapist in the area and how many hours they suggested. I can't even get in to see one therapist because apparently two PROMPT therapist locally are with Kaiser. If you drive further...in the Bay Area 10 mins of driving distance wise equates to an hour or more due to traffic. I am quite aware we are living poverty level in Bay Area but my kids have a roof over their heads, clothes on their body, have basic general medical care, vehicles to transport them, involved in extracurricular activities paid for by our local independent study charter school and go to bed with a full belly. So I just manage the best I can daily and keep my chin and head up and carry on never letting my kids feel we can't care for their basic needs. If anyone seriously have some ways that they KNOW I can get Kaiser Oakland to budge, please let me know. Many of us on the list, are homeschooling our kids on a single income and doing the best we can do for our kids. The pressures to be amazing moms is so great already, lets try to be easy on each other especially when we have special needs kids. We all need pampering and encouragement. OhElizabeth: many of your posts over the years have been very helpful and encouraging. You just caught me at a very rough moment when I was yet shot down again by kaiser oakland just that day and needed something to give me hope that I can do something for my son. That I haven't completely failed him.

You know I looked up an SLP Prompt therapist for Oakland closest city and guess what she works for Kaiser. There is a head honcho at Kaiser Oakland speech dept that blocks people from getting the things they need. So all I can do is continue doing the speech therapy that I can get and find other things to enrich things.

Wow was looking for support and ideas but get blasted and insulted instead. This is a first on this list and I've been on this list before it even moved over to this new one.

My son had someone trained in Prompt from the California Dept of Ed to evaluate him for an IEE and even with that no PROMPT from the local school district themselves . We actually had an IEE. We had to get legal counsel just to get that far just to get the Apraxia diagnosis that Kaiser fought me for two years. Now we owe too much from legal counsel bills. He made some improvements from that evaluation of two days. She made her report and suggestions to the school district but nothing from the school district. I read from previous posts that OhElizabeth you were positive about RPM. What changed?

Yes I called Prompt Organization drectly. Two years ago. No movement. We cannot move. We have children under court jurisdiction.

Yeah been fighting with Kaiser. They won't give me Prompt or more than once a week speech therapy. School district speech therapy is ending so he will only have once a week speech therapy. I'm pretty frustrated. Even frustrated the school district that says he has Apraxia not Autism but they won't give us Prompt speech therapy. So not sure what else to do. We are only making $50,000 with 7 people in the family living in the Bay Area. So paying anything out of the pocket is limited. Academically he loves academics. He loves learning so I just want to keep increasing vocab and concepts. Hopefully eventually he will be able to speak intelligibly or he can write. So that's my best situation. You get what you can get. At least RPM is free and I can do at home. No extra training needed and no different than just reading him a book and asking him questions about it. But incorporating my writing and spelling words out. It's unfair to many people to say one is better than the other when finances and location may dictate what is available. I wouldn't doubt that SLP won't like RPM cause SLP won't make any money out of it. ABA people won't like it cause it takes the money from them too. Medical community won't like it cause parents can implement this without need a specialist. When we had ABA, our ABA therapists often argued with SLPs and vice versa. One says they are more important than the other. One says that ABA shouldn't do SLP work and vice versa. One year my son got no speech therapy because of the school district garbage and Kaiser so we only had ABA and my son made some good progress despite having now SLP help for a WHOLE year. Then you should hear what ABA people say about OTs and what OTS say about ABA people. I am beginning to think money has a lot to do with what people decide to be fake or not especially in the autism world.

Hi everyone update on homeschooling with seizures: Child A: 15 yrs is doing better once we decreased her topamax. When she was on a higher range of the drug she started to fail her hearing test in one ear. It was ototoxic. We have seen too much but just maybe general spaciness and not being able to follow a conversation. Pauses and starts. No more big falls and major twitching. She went to Washington DC this Spring as a teen representative of Northern California's Epilepsy Foundation Teens Speak Up program. It was all expenses paid and both her and her dad went as I hate flying and I've been to Washington DC before. You can find her blurb about herself and more information by going on the the website. They had lots of workshops about epilepsy, advocacy and lobbying and she got to meet legislators and congressmen to politely ask for money and why by telling them her testimony. If you know of any teens with epilepsy that is relatively under control (as the trip can be grueling-she had a seizure on it due to being very tired) please please consider the Teens Speak Up program. She has volunteered in their office for the year as well as gone to their summer camps and participated in their teen art therapy program. It truly is a great program. She just had her annual eeg and the meds look like they are working and she may be able to get her driver's license in a year or so. Her first year in high school has been great. She has done well despite having her seizures. As long as she gets enough sleep she is fine. Child B: 4yrs. Still has brief infrequent seizures, not medicated except for rectal diastat should he ever go into status. He struggles with Apraxia and Autism. Working improving intelligibility and interest in speaking.

How about Cued Oral Reading? http://yakketyakslp.com/Cued_Oral_Reading.html More info about it https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cued-oral-reading-simple-way-help-children-childhood-apraxia-canty

We have IEPs in Connecting Waters not Ocean Grove. We had to get legal counsel because many charter schools don't really like working with kids with special needs to keep their test scores up. Or they feel it is not the least restrictive environment. Oh brother/

I would like to start a thread on those homeschooling using Rapid Prompting Method -RPM I am using it for my son who has Apraxia and Autism. He is verbal but intelligibility is low due to Apraxia. He is four yrs old and starts TK in Sept. My goal is to increase concepts and vocabulary. Right now his main form of communication is potty humor. Sigh! That's his default topic when he can't say things further. I am interested in those using it: 1) Age of child 2) how often 3) topics 4)lessons 5) your favorite blog, video and whether the website forum has been worth it or not (btw I do not have Facebook and will not have it). 6)how things are going. We started on our first lesson yesterday based on a sample lesson in the green book I think. He did fine but I felt really unsure of myself. He wanted to do it on the floor and that was fine. He had a hard time staying still and wanted to just roll the trike nearby so we talked about the wheels. Are you rolling the wheel or the seat? Technically he was pushing the pedal....hmmm.