It broke my daughter out in hives and that was worse than the inattention. Essential oils are not at all essential for kids with plant based allergies.

Exactly this! I had no reason to expect two children with learning disabilities given my history and my husband's. Maybe it's my anxiety or just a bad experience, but going forward I hope for the best and plan for the worst just so I'm prepared. I'd hate to be blindsided by a learning disability with so little time to remediate it. I'm ticked enough that I didn't figure out I had one dyslexic and one dysgraphic until they were each in third grade!

We dropped Singapore for BA in order to save my daughter's love of math. It was painful to convince her that she needed to solve lots of unchallenging problems when she had already demonstrated mastery. Only you can know how much practice your student needs, but going with BA alone worked out well for us.

We finished through 5C and I have not seen the algebra book, only the pre algebra. It's a fantastic text and challenging. Is it possible to have a crush on a text book? Yes, I like it that much. It would be a shame to skip it. I'm sure someone else will be better able to chime in on whether it's necessary, but I cast my vote in favor of doing it.

PEMDAS makes my daughter very angry. The first time she saw it was in a test prep book a few weeks ago. The problem is not her understanding of the order of operations, which she has down cold, but is exactly what you mention above. She insists that PEMDAS is NOT accurate and wants to know why anyone would teach that to unsuspecting math students.

I totally agree with the above. And I would caution you to examine your reasons for wanting him to be ahead. My oldest is advanced in math because she NEEDED to be. Here is how it worked... When we did a chapter on two digit addition with carrying, first, we did only the number of problems she needed to do to show mastery. She gets math really quickly so it usually didn't take long. Then when she had that figured out, usually in just one lesson, I'd say, "And look, you can do the same thing with numbers as big as you want. And you can add columns of more than two numbers the same way. Try some challenge problems, get them all correct and move on. Then when the more advanced topics were taught later, we had already covered them. We'd go straight to the chapter test and if we needed to cover something we would go back and do so. She always asked for more math. She really enjoyed math and asked for more unless it was boring (which was only when it wasn't challenging). When the first Beast Academy came out in April of her first grade year, we were so relieved. She needed the challenge. She wanted it. The challenge kept her interested in math. My younger daughter is not advanced. She likes math (which is important to me) and we move at the pace that she needs. She will finish Beast Academy 3D this May at the end of her third grade year. We spend what I would consider a reasonable amount of time on math for a third grader (usually thirty minutes or less). If she gets frustrated, we just put it away. The next day, we pick it up with fresh eyes and that usually resolves the frustration. Sometimes she is having such a good time, she asks to do a little more. My goal when we finish elementary math is to have a very strong foundation without creating dislike. For my oldest, I can totally say that we met this goal. So far, so good with my youngest.

You peeps on the learning challenges board are fantastic. I'm new to this journey and you are so generous with your time answering all my crazy questions. I appreciate all of you.

Interesting. Could be. The fluency scores were her lowest. That's probably related to low processing speed and working memory, no? It kills me because the information is in there, it just takes a little longer for it to work its way out. I'm learning to be patient. I'm not patient by nature.

I agree, giving the PASS might be the best idea for youngest this year (unless I can count the WJ IV). I feel pretty good about my oldest taking the Stanford 10. Now that we have a handle on her ADHD, she will probably test just fine.

That seems like a logical explanation for academic fluency, but it's actually the second lowest score on the report, just under sentence reading. The other fluency scores are quite a bit higher. Some of this stuff is really puzzling.

Total agreement.

Ok, I am looking at my oldests PASS results and I remember what bothered me... 😂 She is dysgraphic. Her psych evaluation took place just two days before I administered the PASS and the PASS showed her as overall high performance in Language. Something seems off about that. I think it actually sums up my whole feeling about standardized testing. It seems like an enormous waste of time and money.

Stupid question, but do you mean the Woodcock Johnson IV? Because that was done at her evaluation and it never occurred to me to use that. The state doesn't specify which test, only that I test. Bang, mission accomplished. Speaking of the Woodcock Johnson IV, what is "Academic Fluency"??? Most of our testing has detailed information, but all I have for this one is a score (and not a great one). I have given the PASS test before(when my oldest was in the third grade) and I didn't love it. I don't recall why now. Maybe I should pull out her results and see if I can remember what bothered me. And as for accommodations, our report recommends time and a half for standardized testing and says nothing about having it read to her. How valuable can a test be when you can't read it for Pete's sake. I mean, I get that the reading portion is testing reading, but if the science portion is ALL reading then it's not testing my child on science, it's just another reading test.

I live in the state of GA and we have to do standardized testing in 3rd, 6th and 9th grade. This year is a testing year for both my daughters. We've chosen the Standford 10 because I can have it administered locally and it's untimed. I think my oldest will be mostly ok. We definitely are not common core aligned at my house and so I'm a little worried for both of them on that front. Anyway, I bought the Spectrum test prep book for both grades and I just feel sick. There is soooo much reading. I mean, I knew there was, but... I don't have to submit the test results, just keep them for my records. I'm suffering from serious test anxiety and I'm NOT EVEN THE ONE TAKING THE TEST. Someone, talk me off the cliff here because I'm ready to jump. I can't be the only one in this situation. I don't want my third grader to come home and tell me she's stupid (she most definitely isn't) and I don't want to receive these results and feel like we are doing a bad job when I know know know we aren't. I mean, I just had her evaluated by the psychologist and her vocabulary, math, etc. scores were amazing. That's not a fluke. What do you do? Can I just tuck them away without ever looking at them? (Denial could really work here.) How does everyone else deal with this? Teresa

When we're were in Ireland, we used our Verizon phones for ten dollars every 24 hour period. Not a great deal, but we only used it when absolutely necessary. You have to set it up that way on the Verizon website.

Thank you. I'm always amazed at how quickly she responds. She must get a lot of emails, but she always gets back to me.

It ALL makes sense. We have been trying to memorize sight word spelling Barton style... Very frustrating and doesn't work for her at all. We've made up some mnemonics and printed little cards. For example, we have a card that says, "Mr. Mister Rooster" and has a picture of a rooster on it. She came up with that one on her own. We also have Mrs., Mister Rooster's Sister and somehow I managed to find a picture of a hen in a tutu to put on that card. We laugh every time we see it. Anyway, we've had a lot more luck with this. We're also working on Times Tales which was of absolutely no use to my oldest. She just doesn't think that way apparently. My little one, however, is doing remarkably well though we are taking it more slowly than the instructions recommend. Anyway, the other thing I've learned about her learning is that we really need to "over-learn" something to make it stick, and even then we have to review pretty frequently. She's a very visual learner. That's not me at all. I take in information best by reading it. Jokes on me, right?

Yes, she has been seen by the COVD. She seems ok in that regard. It's hard for me to understand how hard rote memorization is. Of course, our evaluation was only in November so I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the whole thing I guess.

This sounds great!!! And yes, we review review review. It takes a long time for something to really stick.

I love that the Tennessee aquarium has one way traffic. In the Georgia aquarium I felt like I was going to lose my kids in the bustle of people moving in every direction. Agreeing with the original poster that the big animals are amazing in Atlanta, but having lived in Chattanooga for awhile and getting to enjoy the aquarium there at off peak times... It's fantastic.

My daughters both got B. My youngest is mostly better after about four days and my oldest has been down for a solid week with a pretty high fever, very sore throat, coughing... It's aggravating her asthma as well. Today she seemed a lot better and was actually fever free at bedtime. I'm hoping for a good day tomorrow.

My daughter is having a really hard time differentiating between these words when she reads. She's not having as much trouble spelling them. She did fine on the lesson on contractions and totally gets that we're is a contraction of the two words we and are, but she reads we're as were every single time. Where is frequently were as well. I hate that these stinking words are so close in spelling. It's making us crazy! Anyone with any tips?

Two of my daughter's first words were strawberry and spatula. 😂 Sometimes they like to wait till they have truly mastered something. Show offs.

We are. My daughter is anxious to take it, but down with the flu.

Often the problems at the beginning of the chapter are easier. Maybe have her do a few to show mastery and then move on to the harder ones? Then she could move through it more quickly and find the place where she is actually challenged. Just an idea.