That is the best way!!! People don't trust it, but it works.

Have you seen Dancing Bears Reading? It's worth looking into as you move forward. It is written for dyslexic students in the UK, so it has a very different style than most currics marketed to homeschoolers. The stories are odd, but the lessons work very well for kids who need more.

Why not Miquon? It's the best imho. This is an excellent teacher's resource book. I also like Everything's Coming Up Fractions and From Here to There with the Cuisenaire Rods. I didn't find Gattegno until it was almost too late for my big kids, but I like the looks of them. I think Gattegno would be more easily understood by most AFTER grappling with Miquon. The discovery style is key.

I'm the same way. There is also the thought that adding D, E, and F takes precious t.i.m.e away from good things, needful things, perhaps the best things. Never add another school subject at the cost of peace, pretend play, creative crafting, art and music. Don't overfeed the mind and starve the soul. Edit: Grammatical fix. Evidently the needful thing dropped off this momma's schedule was sleep. Ha!

Oh, he's too young to worry about. But, you likely are seeing some differences in learning. It's still nothing to worry about, but maybe something to take note of so you don't worry. kwim. Reading is a complex skill with many different little sub-skills underlying the foundation. Some kids will have one or two sub-skills lag behind the rest. At 4yo, you have plenty of time to do things that help develop those skills. All of the traditional Kindergarten activities are needful things. Monkey bars, skipping, riding a bike, Memory Match games, etc... I would not jump to seeing a COVD doc just yet. But, I would add in some things that help the visual development along. Use junk mail and newspapers to practice visual tracking. With every letter you learn, make a seek and find game out of it. Underline each line, left to right, looping the letter-of-the-day (or phonogram of the day....or sight word of the day...) as you go. He might be ready for the Pre-Primer I wrote (found in the lulu Author Spotlight linked below). It is a Kindy level program designed to build a solid and broad foundation upon which to build reading and writing skills. I am in process of finishing the 1st grade level. It's a project I started b/c, after teaching 2 dyslexics to read, I wanted something (one program, not bits of 4 different programs) easy to implement for my youngest.

I would do a short & simple tutorial on penmanship and letter formation (if needed), and then do copywork. Pull sentences from some of his favorite stories to copy. Start the year with sentences that are 4-6 words long, and grow through the year until he can easily copy a sentence or two of 16-18 words. Extend the discussion of the books you read together. Encourage puppets, pretend play, drawing, and other creative outlets for playing with the stories you read. (You need not do more than supervise so that the markers and glue stay at the table. Let the kids do the creative work.) Ask them to retell a short story, describe a character or person in history or a plant or an animal, and repeat back directions for various things. (Can you tell me how you built your lego castle? Can you explain how to fix your favorite sandwich?) This is Narration or oral composition. You probably already do this. Expand upon it, and know that this is the best way to build a good writer (for a 7yo and younger). I like math games and Happy Phonics games for that age range of children. Teach them to play together. That has so many benefits, both academic and otherwise. Otherwise, do NOT add in too much stuff!!! Everything you add must subtract something else, and you have the most important things in your day already. (IOW, do not add a curriculum that takes the place of enjoying real books. The real books are more comprehensive, more interesting, more, more, more...)

I made a Student Planner for mine. These are for kids who need more daily hand-holding with time management. It's all undated. It has a weekly routine and subject assignment planners in the front so the kids can learn to check off things from the subject planner as they go, and write the next assignment in on their daily lists. The daily pages are timed so kids can see that if they start early, they finish early. If they start too late, or take too long of a potty break, their work will extend beyond the normal time for school. This gives them a tool to take more freedom & responsibility in planning their own work schedule.

I don't. I prioritize, make tough decisions, teach the older ones to work independently, let the little one have too much time to get into mischief, eat cheap & easy, let the house go the way of the dust bunny, and generally maintain my sanity by a thin thread. A 7yo and 9yo can combine in more than you are probably doing right now. Grammar repeats over and over and over again. A noun is still a noun all those years later. Do oral grammar lessons together in a 5min spurt before doing something else. Apply grammar individually as they do their own writing. "Do you remember your list of helping verbs? Can you find one in your copywork? What verb is it helping?" Teach them to play math games together. This can take the place of drill work. I make up packets of independent work for the kids to work on while I'm working one-on-one with a sibling. My older two know that certain things have to be done before it's their turn. If they are motivated, we can do a LOT in a little time. Most days aren't that motivated though. It works out.

We play with cuisenaire rods (play, not work) and with sandpaper letters. That is the extent of academics. And, yes, my 3yo is counting with one-to-one correspondence, recognizing numerals, recognizing most letters, learning formation via the sandpaper letters...she's being introduced to the sounds. I only do these things if she's feeling left out of the school routine, and we stop while it's fun. She likes to cut & paste. Loves it. I find ways to work that it to her day. She likes to paint. We read tons of books. We play at the park. Her day is full, and there is no stress about following a curric. I think I'm ruining her for kindergarten though. (At this pace, she will finish kindy before she starts.)

Talk to the children's librarian. If they know they have patrons looking for children's audiobooks, they just might order more. Meanwhile, pester them with inter-library loans for audiobooks. Being low-income means that many of the suggestions you might get here won't work for you. Audible is expensive proportionately when you are pulling from grocery money instead of vacation money. I understand completely! Preschool is a great idea, but costs even more than audible. You'd probably not qualify for Headstart if you aren't working, unless your 2yo has some significant developmental delays. You could check on that though. I'm not sure about all of the rules, but I know they will prioritize spots for mothers who work outside the home. Thankfully, being 2yo is a temporary condition. :svengo: Some ideas to try: Go outside in the backyard or to a local park. Read to one of the older children while the other plays with the 2yo. Every 15 minutes switch between older kids. If you can find a plastic pool cheap, make that the 2yo's "Special Spot." He can have finger paint if he stays in the pool. He can have play doh if he stays in the pool. He can use (washable) markers on paper if he stays in the pool. He can rip up construction paper and glue them all over if he stays in the pool. You get the idea....messy, sensory stuff...if he stays in the pool. You can take the pool to the backyard and hose it down. The bathtub might work for this too. You can sit just outside the bathroom with the door open and read. Put 2yo to bed at 8pm. Read for 30min before putting the others to bed. (Put dh in charge of the 2yo's bedtime routine and maybe you can get a good hour.) If your dh has time, maybe it would work well if you could build an evening routine where you and he switch doing things with older kids/2yo. He plays a game with older two while you take 2yo on a stroller ride. You read to older two while he puts 2yo to bed. Or something similar. Divide and conquer.

I think your days sound full and wonderful for young children. Easy ways to beef up: Audiobooks. More starfall.com (starfall is great...use it to its fullest), SchoolHouse Rocks videos on youtube. Teach the older two to play board games together. There is a lot of critical thinking, not to mention math, in most games. Start with checkers. Teach the older two to do things like playdoh and watercolor paints at an assigned table. Get it out, play, put it away, wipe the table. Teach them the entire process so you can simply tell them "Go play with the playdough while I put the toddler down for a nap." All of the old childhood games that get pushed aside for modern Kindergarten have purpose. Do those things. Their pretend play is vital! I'd keep them home simply for that. If you can feed them audiobooks (from the library and listen during rest time or in the car), that will keep their pretend play advancing. Jump rope. Skipping. Riding bikes. Building with blocks. Swinging. Monkey bars. Cut & Paste. Those things all build needed skills. You have a LOT of good stuff going already. And, :iagree: about prioritizing your health. If you are low-income, seeing a doctor about it might be a sick joke. :grouphug: Have you tried varying your diet? Getting more water? Is the toddler keeping you up at night? Is it stress? Honestly, a mother of a 7, 5, and 2yo is supposed to be exhausted by 4pm. Some of that is normal. Give yourself the grace to do what you can do, and be strategic with your energy. If it doesn't really matter, don't do it.

Go back to crayon nubs. Seriously. For summer. Make it silly fun. But, use crayon nubs, put on some music and just practice strokes to the steady beat of the music. Make sure the paper is slanted properly on the table. The bottom of the page should be perpendicular with the arm. It looks like your ds is trying to copy a slanted cursive, but his own writing is vertical. Either work on slant (with the strokes and crayon nubs) or switch to a font that is vertical. Stetro grips are the only ones I like.

There is a 10 year gap between my oldest and youngest. I'm writing curriculum mainly for my youngest. I want to take the things that I learned teaching the older ones and make life easy for myself when the youngest is K-3rd grade (and the older ones are middle & high school). With my older 2 kids, I have done a lot of scrambling. "This curric is supposed to work miracles and my kid is in tears and now refuses to even try again." By kid #3, I got pretty good of not making THOSE same mistakes. For kid #4, I need to write it all down so I don't forget...plus, I know I won't have the same time in the day/week/year to scramble as I did when the oldest was starting kindergarten. (And youngest had brain trauma at birth, so it's likely that she might need extra time and help with school.) I parent differently now, in preparation for those coming days. Every skill she can gain now is one she won't have to learn later. I don't care what the books say. I care about HER development. She is 3yo and wants nothing more than to be big like her sister. She enjoys learning every skill she can right now. I am capitalizing on her enthusiasm. Reading aloud. I'm circling back around. The big two kids are fizzling out with all the reading aloud. (They read on their own, use audiobooks, and such.) I'm coming back to things for a 9yo boy. He was too young to remember them when the oldest was 9. And the 3yo...we are back to the sweet little picture books. She is really beginning to enjoy sitting for longer than 5min for a book. Truth be told, the 9yo sits for the 3yo's stories too...and the 11yo listens in, pretending like she's busy... I think the main difference is that with my first child, my main focus was on tailoring everything perfectly for him. Through the years, my focus has shifted to nudging them towards independence and confidence in tailoring their own work for their own selves.

:iagree: The mind feeds on ideas. Bring ideas to the table. Let them chew and digest on their own. :grouphug:

I am in a time of transition right now. I think it is a middle school thing. Their needs change big-time! Analogy: When I clean out a closet, I empty the whole thing. Dump everything. Then I vacuum and wipe it down. I usually enjoy the empty space for a few minutes and envision what I want it to look like when I'm done. Only then do I start going through all the items. "Is this worth taking up space?" and "How often do I use it?" and "Does this go better tucked inside another thing?" I think a homeschool mom can look at her schedule in the same manner. Imagine if you woke up tomorrow and had zero currics on your shelf, zero outside obligations, and just zero zero zero pulls on your time except for caring for the basic needs of the kids. What would you do with the kids if you had that complete freedom? Envision what YOU think their days ought to look like. If you were magically thrown into one of Hunter's imaginary scenarios where you had to school with only one small footlocker, what would you take? (Hey, you could get by on that now...and without the natural disaster or zombie invasion.) Once you've got that vision in your head, then take a cold, hard look at the items. Grammar and Spelling are "keeps," but I can tuck those inside copywork and dictation and save a lot of space. Logic is nice, but for this year we can get by with beefing up word problems in math instead of adding a whole other curric. If you have a child with an LD or SN, those things that help them are priority. Learning how to care for themselves is a Big Deal. If they are 18yo with full ride scholarships to an Ivy league Uni, but cannot boil water, they are in deep trouble!!! You are 100% on the right path to follow that nudging to teach them real life skills! And, I'm right there with you. It helps me to compartmentalize my day. We do what we can do during school hours and move along. We do what we can do during chore hour and move along. We do what we can do on the shopping day and move along. We never do all I hoped to accomplish, but life moves along. I just joined the YMCA. It's a 25minute drive for my family. But my kids NEED this. They need the physical exercise. They need to get.out.of.the.HOUSE! They climbed trees and rode bikes and ran around outside when they were little kids. In this middle school stage (and after a move to a different style neighborhood), they aren't playing like they used. to. So, the Y fills a gap. We leave the house at 7:30 am and don't get back home until 10:30. But, the kids were wasting that morning time anyway with dragging of feet and bickering. (And I can get in a workout with my little one in childare. I matter too, by golly!) Shortening the time available to complete their work help to motivate them to get it done before their friends come knocking on the door. It forces me to critique our materials carefully. Those are good things.

Spelling is largely a visual skill. Work on visualizing those words. Write them on a card. He studies the card. Turn it over. Can you remember how to spell it? Write it. Now use it in a sentence. Now write the sentence. Can he remember how to spell the same words tomorrow? Lather Rinse Repeat with any words that didn't stick. And some kids just really struggle with spelling. It is not a sign of low IQ. It's just that their brains don't store the visual memory of the words without a great deal of work.

I relate! My 13yo dyslexic still has a large gap between interest level and comfort level. He's reading just fine, above grade level even...but his interest level is adult. I don't think this problem will go away for a long time yet. He has a Kindle Fire and it's typically always with him...I set it so he can only access books, audiobooks and music most of the time. The Christian Liberty Nature Readers are a good option if you don't object to the 'Christian' aspect. Large print, white space, pictures, and the content is real life stuff...so easy to grasp meaning. Comic books and graphic novels. :iagree: Our library has been getting non-fiction, historical graphic novels and I'm thrilled! They are actually very good for kids who read just fine b/c of the illustrations and the way in which they are done. I understand things better, seeing the maps within the story and such. We went through all of the myths & superheroes in graphic novel form. Those were great too. Have you tried a reading guide? Those can really help. Also, I made lessons to go with the Treadwell Readers. Starting with the 2nd reader (with kids who already know how to decode using phonics), the lessons take all of the tricky words and use them for decoding practice before reading the story. When possible, I build up the words through morpheme (defend, defended, undefended) so that those big multi-syllablic words are not intimidating when we see them in the story. The lessons help them to break big words apart in their minds as a natural process. Some kids need that process explicitly taught. The Treadwell Readers have large print, white space and reasonable illustrations too. Plus, they are traditional fables and tales so they aren't too babyish for an older child. And, the vocab is NOT phonetically controlled but it is repetitive and grows along through the series. If the 2nd Reader is too advanced, take a look at the Primer and 1st Reader. (I'm currently writing lessons for those, but it may take me all summer to finish. Your son is already reading, so just the readers are likely enough for him anyway.)

It's good to know where it bridges over to traditional notation. I might take a 2nd look. I am not a fan of shaped notes. I much prefer hand signs and solfegge, and the Kodaly progression. (hand signs optional) Solfegge has application in higher levels music theory so I strongly encourage solfegge. (My childhood experience in solfegge probably meant the difference between me graduating with a music degree or not.) Sahamama, that's wonderful that your kids sing together! (My kids fight together...not the same thing. :lol: ) Have you tried to find 2 or 3 part choral pieces? Learning some traditional choral pieces will give them experience singing various patterns and will help grow their vocal "tool-box" for when they want to harmonize by ear. I wonder if you could find a bunch for free if you knew a music teacher who is cleaning out her closet??? Those things are more fun for the kids if they have a box of music to pick from. Do you have a music store nearby? (Not one that just sells guitars and amps...one where the music teachers go.)

She could also use the Kodaly book I linked above and use those intervals to drill as she goes. I would be very light on the actual drilling though. (It's a good way to turn a kid off...esp if she's already having a bit of trouble matching pitch.) After she is confidently singing a kodaly tune (and they are common folk tunes - familiar), then start picking apart intervals. Sing on "la" and see if she knows the solfegge, "That's sol-mi!" and so on. She's 10yo. Depending upon her piano skills and how mature of a 10yo she is, you can also start identifying that sol-mi is a m3. Can you sing a m3 starting from a different pitch? (That is getting advanced. But, if you keep it in her range she will likely be able to do it in a year after singing & playing through the Kodaly folk tunes. Just wait for full confidence with each step along the way.)

Oh, keep this simple. Make certain that what she's trying to sing is in her range. Few people realize this, but it's a developmental LEAP to be able to transpose an octave up or down. If she's trying to sing along with something out of her range, that is the problem and it has nothing to do with her ear. And it certainly doesn't need any therapy or lessons or anything. It's like magic! Take a group of kids and ask them to sing back from a model singing very low. The kids will drone monotone. Kick the pitch up into child-friendly range and "POOF" the kids can sing! They mimic exactly what they hear. Another issue that is common is that of kids mimicking stylistic junk. In order for kids to sing reliably in tune, they need to stick to their high, light head voice for a long, long, long while. (Hoot like an owl. That is your singing voice.) Kids want to sound like adults. But they aren't. When they try to sing deeply and low, they lose the ability to maintain pitch. Of course, you can find exceptions. But...they are exceptions. If you want a program. Use THIS. It starts with sol-mi (easiest interval to hear and sing) and gradually grows from there. She has keyboard skills? Great! Use these tunes for chording practice. Use these tunes for practice on the Uke. Sing them first. If she works through this book, singing and playing, she will develop her ear and voice just fine.

This is all good. And, I had a hunch about the $, given you are single and a nursing student. Any kind neighbor (or older sibling) could do Dancing Bears Fast Track with him after school. It is written for older, dyslexic students and it's super-duper easy. I think finishing the program he has started this summer is smart. Consider DB Fast Track for after school tutoring in the fall. I will be praying for your situation. There is no shame in struggling and striving. (My mom was widowed and put herself through nursing school with 3 young kids. Single mom nurses ROCK!)

To the OP, coming back to this and reading some responses... If this were me and mine (and I know it's not), I would do things in this order... 1) Get an IEP from the PS. Talk to the admin, get a feel for what school is actually like there. Get the ball rolling for any and all services he qualifies for through the district. Get that door to the PS open, and take a while to consider the pros/cons. 2) Make tentative plans to keep him home in the fall. Find someone who will keep him while you are in school. Make plans for what materials could be used, what resources you can utilize. (Teaching Textbooks for math. Documentaries for history and science. Check out audiobooks WITH the paperback from the library.) Talk to the children's librarian. What resources are available for free at the library? Think through what your daily/weekly routine would look like. *It is better for him to be home or at a neighbor's house during the day "unschooling" and seeing an OG tutor 4-5 times per week if the alternative is that private school back into the 3rd grade.* (He will likely take leaps in reading level over the next year and be ready to go back into his age-appropriate grade level very soon if sheltered from the discouragement of being held back AND if given excellent tutoring.) If you cannot afford an OG tutor, I highly recommend Dancing Bears Fast Track Reading. In fact, I recommend that anyway. It's 10min per day and it improves reading fluency rapidly for those kids who are past the first hurdle of blending words. 3) If at all possible, start putting that tentative HS plan into place this summer. Summer HSing is how to explain it. No pressure to maintain this in the fall. No big disruptions if you choose to continue. 4) Keep both options (HSing and PS) open until the last week that you must decide. At that point, you will have a better picture of what each option looks like and can make a better decision. Or...at the very least...you will have the confidence that each decision has its drawbacks and you just have to pick the one that everyone can live with. (Something might change with the private school...but I wouldn't hold my breath.) 5) Keep the OG tutoring and/or Dancing Bears Reading up whatever school decision is made. :grouphug:

When I took Latin in High School, we had all of the traditional Christmas Carols in Latin. Those were fun. You could make a copy of the music and jot the Latin underneath. I think the teacher simply did the translations though...you could try google. And, for Latin & music, why not singing? Use the piano to help learn the vocal music, but sing the Latin. Dona Nobis Pacem is beautiful. Is there a children's choir?

C.H.A.O.S!!!!! I've got a velcro-baby for a youngest, attached to the hip. I give the big kids independent work to do in the mornings. Her play area is right next to the school area. I can sit in the middle. The older the kids get, the more I can give them to do independently. When she goes down for nap, it's business time. No, you may not take 5min. SHE'S SLEEPING. We have to do it NOW! There are certain lessons that are impossible to do with a toddler underfoot. Those lessons are priority during her nap.

:iagree: only, I'd get on the phone now and start the IEP process with the PS. If you decide to not send him, fine. But it's started and will be in place in the fall if he does go to PS. I don't like the tone of the letters either. The principal passing over your very real concerns as "emotional" tells me everything I need to know. When he says that the decision shouldn't be made over emotions, what he's saying is that he will not listen to the needs of L or you, his mother. (Of course these things are emotional for you both. This is a major life decision. That does NOT take away from your concerns...in fact, quite the opposite!) That, and the way he tried to corner you, "you agreed yesterday..." give me pause. It is crystal clear that the principal does not wish to consider this issue from the standpoint your ds or you. He wants you to comply. I think it's fairly obvious that they do not wish to deal with any sort of deviation from the set scope & sequence. It costs the school money. It causes teachers to complain about extra work. Putting him back in 3rd grade is the easy answer for them. They won't be begging him to graduate highschool when he's 19yo and has another year left. It's not fair to your ds, but it is what it is. I also agree with the idea of hiring the tutor to keep teaching him, complete the program he has been using. What would it take to homeschool him next year? Childcare? Can we keep the reading tutor? Documentaries? Audiobooks? Math? Put those things on paper. Are they doable? Maybe not. At least you will know. Sheltering him from adults who have pegged him as slow is a thing to consider. In a PS, not only will they maybe be more able to accomodate, but they will be more accustomed to seeing bright kids who are late readers. Don't expect the PS to tutor and actually help him overcome...KEEP THE TUTOR! But, I think there might be less stigma.