2 kids - Homeschooled dyslexic dd from 2nd though graduation. ADHD ds in third grade after his diagnosis, went back to public school for 4th grade and was bored senseless, then 5th through graduation. I always thought they would go back to public school. We toured schools and I always said they could go back anytime they wanted to go. Then they got involved with sports, jobs and volunteering, homeschool enrichment programs, musical theater, made good friends, enjoyed traveling when everyone else was in school, and never looked back. DS has graduated college with an International Business degree after studying in France. DD is in her last year of double-majoring in Graphic Design and Digital Media Production. They have both said they have absolutely no regrets and loved that they "took the road less traveled".

I hope he is feeling better. It is so hard to be away from them when they are sick. One time, I drove eight hours in the snow and rented a hotel room with two queen beds, just so my son would have his own bed and bathroom with he was horribly sick. Having to hike down a hallway to a communal dorm bathroom is no fun, lack of sleep, lack of decent food, dealing with doctor visits and tests. No fun.

I thought I would bump this back up a bit now that the freshmen have had a chance to settle in and get a few exams/projects/papers under their belts. My dd just hit a bit of a wall and called me stressing out. She dealt with a nasty case of Lyme Disease during High School and took two gap years before heading to college as a 21 year old freshman. She worked part time those two years for...get this...our local school district (homeschool enrichment program). It was the best thing she could have done. Her work ethic and maturity was huge heading into college this year. Unfortunately, she is also dyslexic and a bit of a perfectionist. She is attending a very small school in Colorado that is a perfect fit for her, working toward dual Graphic Design and Graphic Media degrees . Her roommate was also homeschooled and my dd loves her (just not her dating drama). After working for the school system, dd has no trouble asking for helping and talking to the teachers , which is a good thing for a freshman. Her biggest problem is herself and the demands she puts on herself. Due to her past Lyme Disease, she needs to eat well, sleep well, and reduce her stress. Due to her dyslexia, everything (especially her math class this semester) takes a long time. She has been trying to make top grades in everything and I think she is wearing herself out. Her anxiety is sky high. I have made a point of letting her know that she does not have to be perfect. (After studying for days, she received a 105 on her first math test, and she has always struggled in math). We have told her repeatedly that we do not expect "A's" every time she hands something in. A low grade - or even a bad grade- is going to happen some day, and it is not the end of the world. It happens, and we will love her and be proud of her anyway. We also want her to enjoy college, enjoy the experience, make friends, enjoy living in the Rocky Mountains and all it entails (hiking, skiing, fly fishing - which she loves) and to learn how to "roll with the punches". I am just not sure how to get this through to her in a way that will reduce her anxiety.

My "mild to moderate" dyslexic DD struggled with spelling. This forum has heard and offered advise to us over the years. We used Sequential Spelling, Spelling Made Simple, Spelling Workout, Barton, Logic of English, Painless Spelling, Spelling Simplified, Megawords, and a host of other spelling programs. For an entire year, every school day she worked on the same 25 sight words (would, could, should, etc.) along with 25 of her current spelling words. At the end of the year, she still could not spell the sight words. It was beyond frustrating and heartbreaking. She would be so embarrassed if anyone asked her to spell anything. Finally, this year, she had a breakthrough. She is 19 years old. Yes- it took that long for a breakthrough. She is taking a gap year and is actually working for our local public school district with their homeschool enrichment program. She has had to write emails everyday to multiple other teachers, parents, and administration staff. She worked hard with spell checker and closely re-reading to make sure she was spelling the words correctly. She finally "gets it". It took a long time and a lot of years, but she is able to do it now - when it really counts. Keep plugging along. It will eventually get through, or at least the processes that will help your DD to help herself, will get through. Looking back, I do not think any single one of these programs was the magic spell fairy. I think it was a combination of coming at it from different thoughts. Rules have their place, visual and patterns (like Sequential Spelling) have their place, too. In the end for us, it was her drive to do a good job that really pushed my DD to focus on her spelling. She still struggles with spelling and probably always will, but she has the tools to help her and she knows how to use them.

Our DS lost his scholarship. Ugg. It was painful. He was a Resident Assistant and living 8 hours away. He had a full ride between the scholarship and the job (housing and meals). Unfortunately, the amount of work and stress of the RA job dealing with everything from suicide attempts, to overdoses, and abuse, while carrying over a full load, caused a crash and burn. He just could not recover and his grade point average took a huge hit. He is working this summer to help pay for a semester overseas, then he only has two more semesters with light loads. The whole experience was an opportunity for all of us to learn a lot. I understand totally about trying to keep the mouth shut. It is not something I tend to do very well. It is so hard to see them struggling and even failing at something you both have worked so hard to attain for so many years. There is also the monetary part of the equation. He/we will now have debt that we had hoped would not be there. I hope all works out for you regarding the scholarship.

Hi Swimmermom3, I have not been around the forum for awhile. It is nice to see a familiar name. Fun to hear that Sailor Dude is heading to Chile. Skywalker is home for the summer, then heading to France for a semester. Our gentlemen have grown so fast. Best of luck to Sailor Dude on his grad school quest. MtnTeaching

We just received notice that my dd has been granted extended-time on the ACT. :hurray: It took exactly 14 days from the Friday I sent the packet US Postal Priority Mail. I just had to tell someone who would understand. DD attends a one-day-a-week public school enrichment program for homeschoolers. The head of the program told me, "Your chances of getting an ACT extended-time accommodation for your daughter is NIL." I asked if they had ever been successful in getting any student extended-time on the ACT. She said, "Never". DD's dyslexia diagnostician, along with the local high school's guidance counselor, both said that I would not be able to get accommodations unless I went though the school and entered her packet along with all the other public school students who have current 504s and IEPs (which dd does not have). The problem is--she is NOT a public school student. After allowing myself to fall into the trap of listening to them for a bit, I came to my senses. I carefully filled out all of the forms, wrote a two page letter describing the accommodations I had used for her since she came home in the third grade, included her old IEPs from K-2nd grade, her dyslexia evaluations from 5th grade and her new one from earlier this year, any other papers I could think of to show her need or to confirm the use of accommodations (like our original receipt from when we signed her up for the Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic in the 6th grade), made her ACT test reservation date, and sent the packet in. This victory is just another reminder that we are the advocates for our children. I was actually listening to these people until the "your chances are nil" comment. It ticked me off and reminded me that I took on the job as her teacher and guidance counselor. These other people are just my supplemental help. This was my job, not their's. Now it is DD's job to make the most of the extra time she has been given.

Does anyone know how to handle requesting accommodations (ACT) for more than one test date? I would like my daughter to take the test at least twice. Can I register her for two dates at the same time that I request accommodations?

Hi EKS, It will not let me see the information unless I pay for a subscription. Could you give us the "gist" of what the it stated regarding taking tests before asking for accommodations?

Was the whiteboard provided in the room already or did he hang it himself? If so, may I ask what he used to hang it with?

The duffel bag idea is great! I was wondering where he was going to put his suitcase - duh. My ds is heading to a school about 6.5 hours from us. We have a big F-250 truck with a cover on the back, so we should will be able to fit his stuff in there. He will not be finding out who his roommate is until Aug. 1, so we will need to discuss the fridge, microwave, rug, and fan at that point.

I am definitely following this thread. I am confused by my incoming freshman son's college restrictions on lofting and need to give them a call. On the dorm's Facebook page, a student asked if the beds could be lofted to different heights. The answer from an RA was "yes". But, when I look at the college website on the Residence page, it links me to a service that does the lofting for the school. The pictures show the lofts that are almost touching the ceiling. Good for getting a desk/chest of drawers/bike underneath, but bad for sitting on the bed (my son loves to read in bed). I am just not sure what ds is going to be dealing with, therefore what we need to buy for clothes storage. They do have a suggested "bring with you" list on the website that recommends the 3M Command hooks (they have all different sizes). Most of the rooms have hooks on the wall for bikes, but I am not sure how that works with a lofted bed. Ds' room is going to be minuscule. Smaller than what I had in the early 80's. I was hoping to get the "over the door" hooks for the closet door for a towel, jacket, robe, etc. Unfortunately, it looks as if there is no door on the tiny closet area. This is going to be interesting.

We used homeschooldiploma . com. It is absolutely beautiful. They have several different wordings for the actual diploma. You can go with a very Christian theme, or a more secular, academic theme. I love that it has our homeschool name in a beautiful font. I picked the more academic wording that states that ds has completed the necessary requirements of our state and is signed by both my husband and me. The cover also has several different seals and colors you can choose from. You are able to make the diploma as fancy as you want (for an added fee, of course). The final personal touch was the ability to have a favorite quote, scripture, school motto, etc. Our school motto is "Never give up, never surrender!" from the movie Galaxy Quest. I put it in Latin on his diploma. Ds absolutely LOVED this!

We did the same. It is absolutely beautiful. They have several different wordings for actual diploma. You can go with a very Christian theme, or a more secular, academic theme. I love that it has our homeschool name in a beautiful font. I picked the more academic wording that states that ds had completed the necessary requirements of our state and is signed by both my husband and me. The cover also has several different seals and colors you can choose from. You are able to make the diploma as fancy as you want (for an added fee, of course). The final personal touch was the ability to have a favorite quote, scripture, school motto, etc. Our school motto is "Never give up, never surrender!" from the movie Galaxy Quest. I put it in Latin on his diploma. Ds absolutely LOVED this!

Dd will be in 11th grade this year. My plan for her has had to take a drastic turn since she was recently diagnosed with Lyme Disease. I am having to cut way back on the types of classes I was going to have her take to reduce her stress while she heals. She is also dyslexic which adds to the fun for her. 11th- Algebra 2- Public School Enrichment course with an excellent teacher (TT) Lit/Comp 3 - Public School Enrichment course- I do not feel this class will be enough. They only work on 4 novels, some short stories, and some poetry for the whole year. I will work with her on a full MLA Research Paper probably for British History and want to add a Brave Writer class depending on how she feels. (We are also slowly working our way through the One Year Adventure Novel together for fun) History- 1st Semester - finishing World History (it was a challenge when she became sick). 2nd Semester - British History (if I can pull together a course for her) Biology with Labs (this also fell apart when she became sick this year, so we are going to try again next year) American Sign Language 3 - Landry Academy online Continuing to prep for the ACT or SAT Electives- Advanced Photoshop & Graphic Design - 1 semester (Landry Academy online) Musical Theater (Public School Enrichment Class) Year-long meeting one day a week. Technical Theater (Same) P.E. (Same - We may have to talk to them about this class if it is too much for Dd. She has already had to stop Competitive Volleyball) Piano