When the majority of the mistakes are phonetically feasible, the lack is visual memory. "Crismis" is spelled exactly the way he hears it. I would guess he's distinguishing sounds just fine. What he's not doing is taking that mental picture of Christmas and holding that in his visual memory. Yes, he needs to know that 'ch' can say /k/, and so on...knowing the rules & phonograms only takes us so far in spelling though. This is where some kids need a whole lot more CM style teaching and a lot less curricula. Visualize it. Glue into memory through copying poetry and prose that are meaningful to the child. I would not recommend copying a word over and over like I did in elementary school, no. But the act of peeking at a word, holding it in their mind long enough to copy it on paper, does work to input the word into their visual memory. Word searches and crossword puzzles are great for the same reasons. They force the child to stretch the visual memory.

It sounds normal for 8yo. He's just not a natural speller. Another thing you can try: Put a phonogram on one side of a large index card. On the other side list words that use that phonogram, and add to those lists as he misses words. Quiz him orally on a few of those cards daily. Send him to the couch to study those cards alone for 5min daily. For holidays and months of the year, etc...Copywork as I described above. Make him write out 20 family Christmas Cards in December...and so on...

Good spellers are good at visualizing the words. Work a few things into whatever you already have: - Take a mental picture of the word. Now close your eyes, see the word in your mind, spell it back orally. - Air write the word in huge arm motions. - Build the word with tiles or magnets. - Do plenty of copywork, but cover the passage to be copied with an extra piece of paper and only peek as needed. He will have to hold the words in his mind to get them onto paper. It's that holding the word in his mind that will help the words stick.

Offer a variety of topics. If you make a 6 page packet, I'd pick 2 pages of 3 different topics. I don't tell them any order to do them in. They naturally gravitate to pages that they feel that they can complete. Their choices are great assessments in and of themselves.

No. Do not impose a pace. The best way to do it, ime, is as Lore Rasmussen instructs. Give them a packet of maybe 6-12 pages. Let them choose what to do in the packet. Every few days, make a new packet. They will roll through pretty fast over the course of a year. Use the pages they avoid as a cue on what to directly teach. If they are avoiding something, it's typically b/c they are unsure of it. A little hands-on lesson will move them along. Don't plan it all out now. Plan to spend 30min on the weekends making packets, jotting down which education unboxed videos to watch and what hands-on activities to do. Little kids learn sporadically, and your beautiful yearly plans will be worth nothing. Week-by week, if not day-by-day. 5yo's are so funny that way.

His mistakes are phonetically feasible. He doesn't need more phonics. Apples & Pears would be a good program, but he'd likely skip out of the first two books. Take a placement test. That said, if this were my 6th grader I would not do a spelling program at all. Just continue to keep the phonograms and rules fresh by reviewing them occasionally. Increase the dictations. Pull from content. Study the passage before dictating it. Make a list of tricky words and apply the phonograms & rules to them. Make him responsible for knowing their spellings. Quiz through the words orally right before the dictation. Use his auditory skills to aid the spelling lesson. 3-4 sentences daily is not too much. Orally quiz a long list of words, review from previous lessons, etc.

Use the cursor, the card with a notch cut out. It trains the eye to see one word at a time. My dyslexic is 13yo and still uses a card to hold under the line as he reads. He can read without it, but he gets fatigued much faster. He may always use a line marker. That's no big deal. Your little guy is only 6yo? I would expect many 6yo's to need help tracking. Use a finger to point at each word as he goes. Does he ever follow along as you read? That helps too. I hold a card under the line as I read so ds can look over my shoulder and follow along.

If it's a physical copy, you can resell. If it's a digital product, no. You cannot make copies, and then sell the copies. It is unethical to make copies and then sell the book. It is unethical to make copies for 6 kids from one workbook unless it specifically says that it's reproducible. Many people are either ignorant of the law or disregard it. That hurts the very person who aiding you in educating your children, the curric author. Same applies for sheet music. Do you ever wonder why there is a severe lack of modern composers? It's in part b/c their product is pirated. Music is a hobby, not a living. Why do some really great curriculum writers come and go and are forgotten? It is in large part b/c in such a small niche, when their product is pirated they do not make a living at writing and must spend their time finding a way to make a living. If you appreciate a particular author, thank them by purchasing their books legally and ethically.

Give him Miquon. Miquon and Singapore compliment each other well. You can easily see-saw between as needed. I'd keep up with Singapore word problems. Follow the instructions to give him a packet of work to choose from daily.

We do oral narrations, Charlotte Mason style, as well. I have them do several a day. Sometimes they read to themselves, sometimes they read aloud, and sometimes I read aloud. 3 a day is a good number for the 9yo. 1 a day is enough at 6yo. 30 min/day is not enough reading...but if they are reading during the day in history and science and other subjects it is probably fine. I keep the narration prompts open ended. "Tell me everything you remember about the steam engine." or "What did Alice experience as she fell down the hole?" At about 10yo, I have them write out narrations in addition to the oral narrations. It's good for them to keep a timeline. They can look at the timeline and formulate ideas that provide for good narrations. Learning to narrate is hard. If they are struggling, start with just a paragraph or three that you read aloud. An easy passage would be a description of a place. Ask them to draw the place first. Then explain the drawing.

3yo is a great age to start with the understanding that it's going to be 90% playing with rods. Actually, I highly recommend starting that rod play young. They really do begin to intuit the math after a while. They just know red and light green = yellow. kwim. That translates to so much over the elementary math years.

Use a timer. Set it for 45min. He works diligently for those 45min. Set it for 15 min. Get him outside on the skateboard for 15min. Feed him a snack with a tall glass of water. Set it for 45min. He works diligently for those 45min. Set it for 60 min. Feed him a lunch with a tall glass of water, and get outside for the rest of the hour. Set it for 45min. He works diligently for those 45min. Set it for 15 min. Get him outside on the skateboard for 15min. Feed him a snack with a tall glass of water. Set it again if he still has work to do. If you stop the work at 45min for an active break, the day will be much more productive.

:iagree: with Sahamamama. I'd be asking her thoughtful questions about what she envisions for her life when she's 25, 35, 45, etc... Does she want to own a business? Be a mother? Where would she like to live? What will her hobbies be? (I do this at 12yo with any child.) Start building for HER future. If she wants to own a bakery, let her bake every day. Help her organize recipes and document how changing ingredients changes the final product. Help her find customers. Fund the printing of the business cards she whips up on the computer. I agree with idea that we cannot do it ALL. Choosing to push for college-bound math means deleting other stuff off of the schedule. If she dreamed of being Dr. or an astronaut, you'd clear her schedule to focus on math & science. She has other dreams. Clear her schedule to focus on them. Calculus or Personal Finance & Business math? That is a no brainer. Build habits. Successful and happy people have certain habits in common. Everything from personal hygiene to double-checking a measurement before cutting...those little things make a huge difference in quality of life. Seek out Apprenticeship type opportunities. Her good name in the community is priceless.

Bible A A Milne Beatrix Potter Aesop CS Lewis George McDonald RL Stevenson Rudyard Kipling Mark Twain LM Montgomery *This is for children.

I've seen some assisted living situations that are enviable. A private room/suite is just down the hall from a community area with a kitchen (where food is cooked 3x a day for you to eat family style) and a large space for reading, puzzles, games, music, or just sitting...an outside area for walking. I wouldn't mind a situation like that, especially if I had some friends there with me. Then I've seen nursing homes that are deplorable. I'd rather not be alive than have to live there. What do I hope or expect? I think I'll have to work until I drop b/c I am homeschooling right now and not paying into any sort of retirement for me. There is literally no plan at all for me when I reach retirement age. I became a SAHM young, so I won't even have social security to speak of. I hope I can support myself by tutoring until I'm 90.

11-13 is a 2nd toddlerhood, only now they are taller than me. Baby -3yo is physically demanding, but I expect it out of babies. A 3yo testing her boundaries is a fairly easy fix (esp the 4th time around)...I mean, food/nap/play outside fixes everything. Those preteen years are harder. My oldest is only 13, so I reserve the right to modify my answer in 5 years.

There are degrees of abuse, and an abuser starts small and only grows from there. His behavior is completely unacceptable. Draw boundaries. Do not let him say anything to or about the kids that might hurt their feelings. Draw hard boundaries. I find the situation very odd. I think everyone who has moved away from home goes back to their favorite food places when they go home for a visit. I am guilty as charged. I understand that your dad's wife might have prepared food and was disappointed that you didn't eat it...but why not say, "____ made a delicious meal at home. I'll bring you back out for tacos at dinner." I mean that is a non-issue really. It's odd to keep bringing it up.

Have him copy a short sentence from his favorite books, just one a night. That will help both the handwriting and the spelling, focusing more on the handwriting in 1st. I'd wait until 2nd grade, and until his copying is fluid and easy before beginning spelling.

I'll play devil's advocate. :biggrinjester: Science? Tag along with our nature studies. Games & Puzzles? G-r-a-n-d-m-a...spoils her rotten. Math manips? Got those covered already. Time? What else am I going to do? Laundry? Mop the floor? Ha! :smilielol5: I'm talking myself out of this...talking out loud. I really am interested in seeing your posts on it though. :drool5:

I am interested in hearing how it goes. :lurk5:

I lost a year off my life. Anyone else do this? I decided against it after reading about it on a trustworthy internet article. Do you research. YMMV :driving: Count Rugen: Presently I'm writing the definitive work on the subject, so I want you to be totally honest with me on how the machine makes you feel. This being our first try, I'll use the lowest setting. [Count Rugen activates the water powered torture machine. Wesley writhes in great pain] Count Rugen: [calmly] As you know, the concept of the suction pump is centuries old. Really that's all this is except that instead of sucking water, I'm sucking life. I've just sucked one year of your life away. I might one day go as high as five, but I really don't know what that would do to you. So, let's just start with what we have. What did this do to you? Tell me. And remember, this is for posterity so be honest. How do you feel?

http://www.talkingfingers.com/ Read, Write, Type is wonderful!!!

Are you doing the activities in the Miquon Lab Sheet Annotations? If not, do those! Have her build stairs out of the rods at the beginning of every lesson for a long while. Ask her, "If we put purple red together, what color will it match?" (Slowly move your vocabulary from "together and match" to "add and equal.") "If we start with Orange, but take away light green what will we have left?" Do those things with only the rods on a clear table. AFTER she is confident with a concept, pull out lab sheets from Miquon and the Singapore wb. Do plenty of real life math with her. Cut an apple into 8 pieces. If she eats 3 pieces, how many did she share with mom?

I agree. My point is that there is no rush. Build, don't push. Miquon certainly opens the door for kids who are able to intuit math. Really, no pushing or feeling anxious needed b/c Miquon does lay such a strong foundation of not only math concept & skill, but of the process of learning math. To the OP, if juggling Miquon and word problems is too much in the routine, maybe space out some weeks where you put Miquon away in favor of a Daily Challenge. (Make it a reason to get excited and celebrate. Yes! Toughie week!!! haha!) I think a whole year without any word problems might be regrettable. Space out that "summer" of word problems throughout the year. Then, enjoy!

I keep on with the child reading aloud to me for a long while. I think reading aloud is an important piece of the whole literacy puzzle. I made up lessons for my kids to prepare them for the stories in the Treadwell readers. The 2nd and 3rd readers assume that the child already knows phonics and is reading fairly well. I take large words found in the stories and build them up by morpheme (stand understand understanding misunderstanding) so that when a child sees "misunderstanding" in the story they already know the word and how to decode it. It helps the stories flow smoothly, giving a chance to review the phonics & decoding in short lessons before the story is read. By the time they finish the 3rd reader, they are reading anything on my shelf.