My 10 year old is dyslexic but does read at about 3rd grade level. He really struggles. I'm trying to decide to between getting him a kindle e-reader (the basic one) or letting him use my kindle fire. Do either do audio books? I have trouble with keeping cds organized but would like something that is downloadable. Is this feature available? Also, is either better for dyslexia? He gets easily overwhelmed and distracted and gets headaches during reading.

I'm trying to figure this all out and here is what I have my choices narrowed down to: Beautiful Feet Geography Guide (with maps) IEW Geography Fix-It Grammar, Phonetic Zoo by IEW Apologia Zoology (we are already doing this) CLE Math (already using) OR Heart of Dakota Preparing CLE Math CLE LA The kids that would be using this program are 8 &10 and the 8 year old is a very good reader/speller and the 10 year old is dyslexic/dysgraphic and struggles with spelling. My 10 year old reads about mid-3rd grade level (he is in 4th grade) ... he lacks confidence and gets letters jumbled even though he understands the basics of phonics. He is working through CLE LA 300 ... currently at book 305 and CLE Math 405 and my 8 yr old is working through the 200 level of CLE (both math and LA). We have a son with autism who does a different program and two preschoolers who mostly play and am expecting again in about 3 months. I want to work for the next 2 months in a new program because I know things will get disrupted for a little bit once the baby is here. We do a co-op where they do go to Apologia Zoology and a light history of US. Last year we did the full MFW Adventures program, if that helps to see what other history we've done. We really enjoyed that course. I like the look of both programs ... my only fear with HOD is that even though it is open and go ... what happens if I don't get to all the boxes in a day ... I feel like it is harder to pick up where I left off... however, I'm not sure how hard the BF/IEW Geography will be for the ages of my kids, either.

I would like to either study world geography or late American history (about 1850-2000). My son will actually be going into 4th grade but I really liked the look of the BJU 5th text because the 3/4th grade we've already covered pretty much this year...

Thanks for the suggestions! I just checked out the Veritas Press Online Self Paced History and really liked it. It is nice that it is all online. I'm usually very hands on, but because of a few things going on I need to be able to be freed up a bit but make sure my son still is able to do his work. With that said, is there a scope and sequence somewhere on their website?

I have been using a more Charlotte Mason approach but for this coming school year I would like to try to more "traditional" approach to social studies. We need something that isn't too teacher intensive right now. I need something that is straight forward and will get done. Here is what I have been considering: CLE BJU Heritage Studies Abeka Rod & Staff Can anyone help? I'm right now leaning toward BJU 5th grade for my almost 10 year old. I'm not sure about my 7 yr old, yet.

Thanks everyone for the replies! I did test her on the CAT test and she came back third grade for comprehension and 4th grade for vocab...also 3rd for spelling. I had her take the pretest on LLATL and she came back in the yellow book ... she couldn't quite complete the orange book pretest because she hasn't had enough grammar last year, I think. We are planning on using IEW for writing this year, too.

My older two kids struggled with language arts (my oldest has autism and my 2nd is dyslexic) so when I realized recently how far ahead my 6 yr old is ... I'm worried about next year and what to teach. She is reading between 4-5 grade level. Any suggestions? I picked up a few Memoria Press Reading Guides for 2nd grade (Farmer Boy and Little House). She needs a lot of help with grammar and punctuation/capitalization, still. Other than that, I'm not sure what to teach. She is very visual with spelling. She doesn't spell everything correctly but she is usually right. We recently took the CAT test and her spelling came back mid 3rd grade and her vocab in 4th grade. Suggestions for reading programs (or book suggestions) or Language Arts?

I have 5 little ones (3 school age) and I used to be very active in community type events (when baby 4 was a baby and before) since our 5th arrived (2 years ago) I've mostly stayed in the house. I'm an introvert and have survived living like this but there are times when I miss being around other adults (and the kids playing with other kids other than our neighbors and each other). So, I'm thinking of joining a co-op. Any ideas or advice? I'm also thinking of joining classical conversations which I've never done before. How hard is that with 2 pre-schoolers/toddlers? (We have a 3yr old and 2 yr old). I need to make something work - it doesn't have to be every week but it needs to be more often than we are doing now...

I saw that Youth Digital's App Design 1, Mod Design, and 3d Design is on sale at Homeschool Buyers Coop. They all look like great programs and I'm thinking of getting one for my 9.5 yr old. Has anyone used any of these? He wants to do 3d game design and while it says ages 8-14, I wondered if it would be tough for him to start with. It looks like graphic design mixed with programming. Any thoughts or suggestions? https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/3d-game-design/

Sorry for not saying age grade level...he is 9 years old and in 3rd grade. We've got nine weeks left in the school year. He does Reading Horizons online which I'm very pleased with. He is not delayed cognitively - I should have been more clear. My oldest son is delayed in all areas but my 9 year old is working at about late first grade early 2nd grade level for la. He reads at that level - his writing and spelling have suffered. He had a full psych eval done last year which showed dyslexia and dysgraphia. We think he has very little visual memory but does have good phonemic awareness. He still mixes up some letters and needs to read slowly in order to sound out words. He is an auditory learner- he loves read alouds and comprehension is high.

My son is working on a late 1st early 2nd grade level with reading. He has dyslexia and dysgraphia. We are wondering what to do with spelling and grammar. We use ABeCeDarian for reading - book B2 and an online reading program that covers some topics for grammar and spelling and is O-G approach. He is doing well over the past year. He was diagnosed last Summer. I'm just wondering if we should do more grammar and spelling with him. He is doing well with handwriting now and copywork but not writing on his own. I love spiral for him - he does well with CLE math 300 - and I'm looking into GWG and CLE LA. Also, we did use AAS1 a couple years ago and not sure if that will work - he didn't retain it at the time but could try again. Any suggestions? Should I give him more time? He understands nouns, verb, pronouns, singular and plural and is learning possessives now just out of some workbook I bought. I'm not sure workbook approach is the best fit for him but I'm open to suggestions. He is further behind in spelling, probably, than grammar - but all LA is delayed.

My 9 yr old has dysgraphia and dyslexia. We were referred to an awesome OT who did a bunch of strengthening exercises with him and fine motor exercises. About 4 months later his writing was beautiful and he didn't complain about writing as much. She said he had a lot of core strength issues and problems in his upper body with muscle tone - once those corrected his writing did, as well. She also had him start cursive which can be easier to learn than printing for dysgraphia...

Our son is in 3rd grade (nearing the end of the year for us) ... he was diagnosed about 9 months ago with dyslexia. We worked intensly this year on reading skills and handwriting (dysgraphia) with the help of a great OT and ST (he had muscle tone issues that were hampering writing and mispronouncing words also...) he's come a long way this school year. We are using ABeCeDarian for phonics and an online program which is O-G based...he seems to do better with this mixture than straight O-G which we tried last year. We are also using CLE for math and working on cursive which he seems to enjoy. Is there an easy way to add in a little bit more direct grammar instruction and spelling instruction or should I just wait longer? He is an auditory learner, we've found. We tried AAS1 in the past and it didn't stick but it was 2 years ago and maybe he wasn't ready. I've looked into GWG, CLE LA, IEW phonetic zoo ... he knows nouns, verbs, pronouns and is learning adverb and adj. He is in the processing of understanding possessive nouns from a workbook I picked up but it was 3-4th grade workbook and I'm wondering if it is a little too difficult. He does well with spiral appr. He struggled with mastery math programs but when we found CLE he can remember what he has learned and Is doing well.

We never used AAR but we did consider it ... we used PAL-R and W. My daughter was not quite 5 when we began (a few months before her birthday) ... we finished the program and she was reading. Now, 2 years later (mid 1st grade) she is reading at a 3rd grade level. We only used PAL with her and Reading Eggs as a supplement. I know that won't be everyone's outcome (we also have a son, who used that program without us knowing he was dyslexic - we had used several programs and NOTHING got him reading ... except for PAL. He has learned to read at a much slower pace than his sister and last year was formerly diagnosed with dyslexia/dysgraphia. PAL helped him tremendously but he needed extra help to keep up his progress over the last 2 year). I loved PAL, though, great experience for the kids and for myself.

I'm trying to decide between the Terra Nova Full Battery and the survey test (just math/LA). I can't seem to find any information on what subject matter will be tested for the full battery. Is there a reason for this or am I just missing it? We have been homeschooling from the start and I'm not sure that we are studying each year what would be taught in public schools (for science and social studies) - for instance this year we spent the first semester studying ancient Rome and geography of Europe and the second semester studying American History and the States. For science we have done a bunch of unit studies from the Earth's core and volcanoes, earthquakes, weather, caves and the animals who live there. If these topics aren't covered on the test there is no point in me buying the full battery. Does anyone know? (This is for 3rd grade and 1st grade).

I think my daughter likes hands on ... and worksheets ... my son loves read alouds and drawing (loves art). I'm excited to teach them about the renaissance and some other periods through art history eventually (I was an art major and studied art history extensively) because of both of their aptitude and love for art. I do not, however, love crafts and that was another issue I had with HOD. I know some people love it ... but it got too much for me (last year I had an infant and toddler ... who have since grown a bit and our now more toddler and pre-k/nearing 3 yr). Does ECC have a lot of writing?

Thanks for the response! To be honest - that was the one I also had my heart set on this year... my only reservation is my 6 yr old. Will she be able to do the work in it? I feel like she didn't retain much last year (science/history) and I don't want the work to be too hard for her (but not too easy for DS8).

Added the poll!

I need to find and decide on curriculum for two of my kids who I would like to keep together in the subjects of history/geo/Bible/science - I prefer Charlotte Mason type approach ... I'm trying to decide between: MFW Adventures MFW ECC Sonlight A Sonlight B+C Kids are 6 + 8.5 ... the older one is dyslexic/dysgraphic. We used two programs this past year and did not work (because we have a busy household with small children and disabilities) ... We tried HOD this year and while I loved the content (especially Bigger) I couldn't keep up with 2 programs and the writing for DS was too much. He loves me to read to him. My 6 year old is doing well (advanced) for reading and writing ... has been reading since 4 yrs old (my son just started reading well about a year ago). We have tried US History this year through Bigger and Beyond. We made it through about 18 weeks ... We had to take a break because of the issues I stated earlier. I can't decide ... I asked my 8 yr old what he wanted to learn (I already have math and reading/spelling picked out) and he said either SL b/c or ECC ... I think DD would do well with SL A (not sure if B/C is too hard ... she gets wiggly if reading too long and we are working on narration skills with her... she LOVES worksheets and DS does not!) He loves learning through read-alouds, loves science and art... Suggestions? Hoping for a stress-free year this time!

We are thinking of stopping the tutoring at this time for many reasons. I would love to find a really good program to do in home.

Also doing some reading on PG programs like ABeCeDarian...need to figure which direction to head. Prior to his diagnosis this is what we have tried: 100EZ Lessons (some progress but over all was very difficult for him and frustrating), ETC ... he hated it...then we found PAL-R and it was a success ... he finally was able to make sense of reading. (That program is what we used all last year) He can now read some books fairly well but still struggles in some areas. For the last 4 months he has received O-G- tutoring (the tutor has taught him a lot of rules - I'm just not sure he is able to implement them or access them while he is reading/writing all the time).

Which one would you use? I'm considering these 3 options. Our 8 yr old just finishing 2nd grade just diagnosed with Dyslexia ... reads at about end of 1st grade level according to the psychologist we saw.

I'm having problems deciding on history/geography for next year. I have an upcoming 1st and 3rd grader. We tried to use HOD this year and it isn't working well for us. I started in Bigger (which I did LOVE as did my 8 yr old) but it was too hard in certain skills for my son (too much writing - he struggles with LA). I decided to combine the kids in Beyond and honestly I find it boring. I liked Bigger much better (and my 8 yr old did too) but I couldn't combine in it and it was frustrating both of us with the writing. Don't want to make the same mistakes next year. 8 yr old is great at math, science, and Bible/History - listening to me read and narrating. Needs improvement in Grammar/Spelling/Writing. I need: A program that can EASILY combine 2 kids who are 2 years apart (6 & 8 ... 6 year is advanced in reading/writing/spelling skills - might even be same or better than 8 yr old ... not as good at sitting still and listening) Something simple each day - not tons of books to read ... but we do enjoy read alouds - I prefer to do history one day and science the next 8 yr old has a good grasp on Old Testament Study, Ancient Egypt, (never did Greece/Rome), explorers up through Pilgrims - we have not study the Revoluionary War or Civil War; 6 yr old has retained much of any history to this point. Love the idea of a unit study world geography but am not convinced of which one to do (studying maps, cultures, famous people and animals from each continent) Need something with not a ton of writing maybe some drawings they could do and some copywork Do not want to be stuck doing pilgrims for any longer than we've done - we all want to move on I'm considering Simply Charlotte Mason #5 which does Early American and World and Geography - looks thorough! A Trail Guide to World Geography and maybe Galloping the Globe or A Living History of the World #4.

Can anyone post a review? What level is this for ... I see that it is 1st -2nd ... what kinds of things should be a prerequisite for using this?

Thanks for your input and sharing your experiences! Our oldest son (who is quite delayed) had received OT along with other types of therapy for years. I guess I always thought it was for more severe problems. My 8 yr old is a pretty typical kid but has struggled in the language arts area of learning (he's great at math) and has struggled with not just handwriting but reading, too. Did you kids also struggle with that?