I really, REALLY like phonics pathways. It's simple, it's cheap, it's no-frills and gets the job done in just a few minutes a day. It's not babyish so can be used with emerging readers and kids who need a little remedial help. It's definitely not the most exciting program, but it works.

I don't think I subscribe to just ONE philosophy. I once took a quiz and theoretically I am more un-schooly than anything and yet in practice our homeschool has a more CM flavor w/ classical undertones. I don't think it's necessary to just pick one. It's a homeschool smorgasbord, pick the parts that work from you and leave the parts that don't. :)

Just wanted to update that I discussed my concerns w/ my son's GP and he indicated that the behaviors definitely have an ASD flavor. He is referring us to a ped who will send us for an assessment. We are in Canada and this process could take some time. My next step is to bring my concerns up with my support teacher and request a psycho-ed. Hopefully it won't take long to start getting some answers. I will update this post as we go.

Thank you so much for your responses. The Tony Attwood book is available at my library, I am hoping to get it tomorrow! Thank you for the feedback and resources. I will look into those. I have been feeling a bit reluctant to seek an evaluation b/c I am afraid of wasting professionals time. Thank you for the reassurance that this is worth looking into.

It's been a long road w/ my 8 y/o son and his many quirky behaviors that I have finally come to face the fact that I think there is *something* more to his quirkiness than just his personality. I have had my mind racing trying to figure out what it could be. I've flip flopped from dysgraphia and/or dyslexia (he has handwriting issues), to SPD (he has sensory issues) to ASD. I think it's more than just dyslexia (or whatever) or SPD as I think there is something underlying that is causing these things. If they were isolated in and of themselves then fine, but he also has funny little behaviors that suggest to me that there is something more. Where to start... Social interactions have always been different for my son. Where other kids develop friends, mine seems to be the social butterfly who flits around from person to person depending on whether the play is in his interests or not. He is very focussed on his own ideas and when the play moves on to other areas he loses interest and would rather be alone. He's the same way in conversation, he wants to talk about his own ideas and often it feels like he is talking at you rather than with you. He does not seem to understand the reciprocity in social situations and is very self focussed. He also totally misses social cues and can behave completely inappropriately jumping right into strangers personal space and talking to them (usually in a way that wouldn't make any sense to them - like repeating a bit from a movie or repeating a thought that he is fixating on), or not suppressing his thoughts and vocalizing things that are best kept private. He also tends to speak very loudly when we are in public. He is very busy, always on the move, always thinking about something, always working on his next project. At the moment, he is really interested in stores and selling. He is always setting up a store, making signage for his store, making up price lists, setting up stands in front of our house, turning his grandparents house into a store, rearranging their pantry for his store (and on..and on...). It's like an obsession, it takes up most of his time and the vast majority of his play. He can be very impulsive and get himself into trouble when he is focussed on his ideas. He's very narrow in his interests, but the things that interest him are all consuming. He has a bunch of sensory issues. He is hypersensitive to touch, he can't stand hair cuts, totally over reacts to pain. We took him for allergy testing and even just the doctor's pen on his skin put him into an absolute meltdown. He can't handle loud noises, he puts his fingers in his ears when he is over stimulated or there is a loud noise that is bothering him. He has a problem with textures, won't eat anything if it is touching another food or if it is "squishy". He has problems with both fine and gross motor skills. Took him forever to learn to ride a bike, refuses to play team sports (not sure if it's b/c of the social skills, his perfectionism or his motor skills but he definitely has anxiety when it comes to sports and won't even attempt to play any type of sport even at home with his family). He has trouble dressing, cleaning himself, eating with utensils, using a pencil. He's prone to melt-downs and has a lot of anxiety. He often will refuse to try something b/c he is afraid he is going to fail. He used to play card games with us but will no longer b/c he can NOT stand to lose. He does not adapt well to change. On the other hand, he is super smart. Especially with factual information such as science and history. His favorite show has been NOVA since he was a preschooler. He picks up little subtleties that others miss. He forgets nothing, he remembers everything and he seems to be more aware of what is going on than anyone else. We call him our canary in the coal mine b/c if something is off in a situation he will let us know it! His preschool teacher wanted me to send him for an assessment when he was 3 or 4. I had a total knee-jerk reaction and needless to say an assessment never happened. I am going to get one now. This is just a little snippet of our boy, there is so much more. I don't want to go on b/c I'm afraid I will never stop. Does this sound like "something" or am I describing a typical 8 y/o boy? Somehow I don't think so b/c he isn't like the other 8 y/o boys in our neighborhood. Feedback?

I bought le francaise facile to use for next year. I bought the junior version as I will also be using it with my 5 y/o. It looks like a nice, gentle intro to French.

We just finished 2nd. We did 7 min of copywork/printing practice daily, 10 min homemade spelling daily, WWE, a bit of phonics review here and there, and reading aloud and silently. It was a total of about 35 min (not including any reading). For 3rd we are planning on MCT, cursive, R&S spelling and Queens Language Lessons plus reading aloud and silently. I expect this should take 45 min not including reading. I keep my kids on task by setting a timer for each subject. For instance, my ds knows that he gets 10 min for spelling. Once the timer goes, spelling is done and he can play. HOWEVER, if he fools around or gets side tracked, time gets added to the timer. They soon learn that it is better to work hard for a short time and have loads of play time, then goof off and have it cut into their playing.

Anyone?

I used LBC for a few months last year but had to quit as I had a new baby in the NICU and got so far behind I felt like I'd never get caught up so we switched to something different. It is a lovely curriculum, but I found it difficult to combine my kids (K and 2nd). I used the grade 1 curriculum. Many of the books are advanced and went WAY over my Kers head (he was a young K - still 4 when we were using it). I didn't use the LA at all, but could have for my Ker (it is very gentle). I didn't find it to be much prep. I went through it all when I first bought it and made a list of supplies, it was easy to just look at my list and pick up what I needed each week. I really wish I could have given it a fair shot this year b/c I could have made it work for us if we hadn't gotten so far behind.

...how often do you have them read aloud to you?

I did not follow a spelling curriculum last year for grade 2. We did start the year using AAS but it wasn't for us. I wanted our spelling to follow the rules but without all the extra fluff, so I used Phonics Pathways to teach the rules and made a spelling notebook for my ds. We did 3-4 days of spelling, depending on how much reinforcement he needed. On the first day I taught the rule and he copied some words that used the rule into his notebook. On day 2 we rehearsed the rule and played a "game" on the whiteboard to see who could spell the most words correctly (he always won - lol!) then we would do dictation in his notebook. On day 3 we had a spelling test on the whiteboard. If he got any wrong he wrote the word out 3 times in his notebook. If he got them all correct we were done spelling for the week, if he struggled we spent more time working with that particular rule. It worked well for us at the time. Next year I am using R&S as I would like all the work to be done for me and I would like spelling to be independent.

My MCT books just arrived and I like what I see. I like that it is allows us to move at our own pace, but I want to make sure we get through it all in a year. How much time do you spend doing MCT and do you do use it every day? We school 4 days a week. TIA!

I had a big long post typed up, but I just don't know what to say. I keep going back and forth regarding my 8 year old. On one hand I feel like he is not like other kids, on the otherhand he is my first born and so I have nothing to compare him to. I am suspecting a sensory processing issue or maybe dyslexia (except that he can read - it is his writing and spelling that aren't so good). I'm hoping to hear some stories to help me sort through this. TIA!

I am in the same situation as you. We just finished up K and my 5 y/o is reading fluently. I am not buying readers for him, instead I made up a reading list based on Sonlight and VP selecting only books that are available at my library :)

We did salt dough hand prints which the kids painted.

I would plan to be done by lunch every day. With kids that young you don't need to be spending much time doing school. I'd spend an hour doing the 3 Rs with the 1st grader, 30 minutes with the Ker and anything that gets done w/ the preK is bonus. I would combine the kids for all the other subjects and spend no more than an hour doing those daily. I also would only do a 4 day week. These are early years, they don't need to be worked too hard yet. :)

We are using le francaise facile jr next year. I've looked through it, it looks like a fun, gentle introduction for early elementary :)

Thanks for the feedback. Just to answer a few quetions, he is a righty not a lefty. He does notice that he makes his S's backwards but not always. Today I noticed more letter were backwards. He does fine when he is taking his time and doing his best work (copywork). But if he is free writing, it is loaded with misakes. If I'm not watching him, he often starts his letters from the bottom too. I looked up dysgraphia and it seems to fit the bill, except that he LOVES writing (when it is his own idea). He hates to do any school related writing. His copywork is painfully slow. He has other fine motor problems as well. I thought it was just immaturity, but maybe there is something else going on. How do I go about having him evaluated? I assume this is something they would do if he were going to school, but how do I do this as a homeschooler? I do have a resource teacher that I can talk to about this. I am in Canada, if that makes a difference. I like the idea of cursive and I think we are going to work hard at his writing over the summer using some of the ideas here (we worked hard at writing all year, we just didn't make as much progress as I had hoped for). If by September he doesn't have this sorted out I think I'll see what kind of help I can get him.

The title says it all. S's and 5's are almost always reversed. We have worked hard at handwriting this year and the neatness of his work has come a long way, but he still makes a lot of reversals if I'm not sitting right at his elbow. What can I do to help him? Ideas??

Hits RS Math PP MCP plaid Elemental science WWE Penny Gardner's italics Misses LLVY Living books curriculum (too hard to combine kids) AAS/AAR

We are just getting ready to start 3rd grade this summer. We will be using RightStart Math.

I have no problem sharing snacks at snack time, but oh how it bugs me when a neighborhood kid goes into my fridge or cupboard. I usually tell them it is not snack time and if they are hungry they can go home for a snack.

Has anyone on here had this? I had a really stressful pregnancy and it looks like I may have this. I have seen my GP and he is running tests. If anyone has had ppa could you please share your experience with me? I'm hoping things will get better.

My grade 2 son loves to write. We used WWE1 this year (we started it t/w the end of 1st) and I saw a tremendous improvement in his free writing.

We do it on a white board and make a game out of it, my ds doesn't even know he's being tested.