Has anyone used the Phonetic Zoo spelling program with a child with dyslexia and auditory processing issues. Her first few years of school were a real struggle. But I feel like we've made a lot of breakthroughs in the last 1.5 years. She's now reading at at least a 3rd grade level (she just turned 10) and is doing grammar, writing and math on a 4th grade level and nearly finished with all. She definitely still has some auditory processing issues. And I don't want to overwhelm her and make school too difficult. But I would like to move her toward a more independent program, but can't stand the idea of a workbook based spelling program. I just don't think she would retain anything in that style of program. I wonder if Phonetic Zoo would be helpful in strengthening the auditory processing department, or if it would just be a struggle and overwhelm?

My K'er can't really do her work without me right by her. I do sometimes sit at the table because I'm constantly being called upon for help by one of my children. But my 4th and 2nd grader are independent enough I can do chores in the same area as them, most of the time.

It's in the Instructor's Guide. At the back. The book basket is referring to the weekly book suggestions to go along with what you are studying. I can not usually find the books at my libraries, but I think a lot of people have better libraries than I have had. And there are also grade level reading lists that are entirely separate from you what you are studying. They would be for practicing independent reading skills.

We've kind of begun K, just taking it at her pace. Nothing official, but in the last month we've moved into more K level work since she turned 5 in November. -Currently more than halfway through AAR pre-level, AAR Level 1 next year -Also using ETC, halfway through the 1st "Get Ready" book right now -ARFH K -SM book A right now, will just go at her pace -FIAR -Will use some of the Sonlight P4/5 books that I have from when my older 2 were this age, no schedule, just as desired. -She'll join in with the older sibs as she wishes for science, history, Bible and art.

I am getting ready to have my 6th in a few weeks, with a deployed husband. Kids ages are 9 (almost 10), 8, 5, 3 and 20 months. In the last month I've worked hard to get my 8 and 9 year old more independent with their school work because I realized quickly after my husband left that it was not working for me to be doing FLL or WWE or RS math with them. I adore these curriculums and think they are superior to many others...but with this many children, I need them to be as independent as possible. So we changed to workbooks for grammar, writing and math (although my 9 year old was already doing MUS, my 8 year old preferred RS and did well with it). We still do science, history, Bible and phonics/spelling together. And we try to do that during naptime as much as possible. The independent bookwork they do in the morning. My 5 year old also have a few workbooks she works through (ARFH, ETC, and Singapore K). Most of them require help every few minutes with reading instructions or figuring out a problem, especially the 5 year old. And my 8 year old requires constant nagging to stay on task. However, I do not have to be 100% focused on teaching a lesson, so I can still pull my monkey 20 mo. old off the counter or get him snacks, or pick up after him as he destroys my house in a matter of minutes. He's kind of at a crazy age. Newborns are easy, so I'm not too concerned. Fall will be much harder when the baby is more awake and active and my 20 mo. old is just a crazy 2 year old still. My 3 year old adores ABC Mouse and Starfall and will spend as long on them as I'll allow (and he's learning a lot too, and can add number under 10!) so I pretty much let him play on the computer for several hours a day, which feels really wrong to me. But it is educational and he's learning and it keeps him from antagonizing his little brother. Another thing I do, if things are getting too nutty, is to send one of my older girls to play with the younger boys, while I work with whoever needs help. Even if they are not done with school, it gives them a nice break and keeps the peace a bit, while I'm able to focus on the child who needs it. Then when that child is finished, they can trade places and the other dd can come back to finish her school work. We don't have a strict schedule, might be easier if we did, but it just doesn't work for me. But we do have a general flow to our day and my kids know what to expect in what order and that works well enough for us. I don't plan to take more than a week off school once the new baby gets here.

I saw a very faint line as soon as I looked at it in both pictures. But then I wondered if my eyes were playing tricks on me. I think it's a positive, but I'd definitely follow up with another. ;D

My oldest has done very well with MUS (dyslexic, probably dyscalculic), the mastery approach in very small incremental steps is just what she needed with her LD's. Along with the blocks. But my 2nd grader is hating MUS so much and I'm probably going to switch her to something else. I'm not thrilled about the idea of having them in different curriculums, but I think it's best to match your child's learning style/needs if you can.

Crimson Wife, she's 8 now, I just haven't updated my signature. ;D She turned 8 at the beginning of November. Sure, I get that I need to stay on her to get it done and pop in and out and help her with problems/concepts that she can't get. But with Rightstart, you sit with them and teach the entire lesson and it takes us nearly 45 min. most lessons to get through a lesson (one per day). And then she still has a worksheet at least half the time to complete after that, that will take anywhere from 10-20 min. Mind you, she enjoys RS, but I can't give her my undivided attention for 45 min. With MUS, she is able to do the lesson pretty much on her own (she watches the video, then works independently). She, of course, is very distractable and would rather doodle in her workbook. So I do remind her to get back to work every few minutes and check in with her very frequently. But in between that I can change a diaper, start a load of laundry, throw a few dishes in the dishwasher, get my climbing toddler off the counter, etc. And she can continue to work, whereas with RS, she would just have to sit there and wait for me to get back if it was something that couldn't wait (i.e., crying child, poopy diaper, doorbell, etc.) I wish I could make RS work, I just don't see how it's possible. And so, it's not that I'm necessarily looking for a curriculum that is 100% student led, I don't mind working with her for 10-20 min. and assisting off and on throughout her worksheets, or reminding her to stay on task. I just do not have the time for the entire lesson to be parent-directed like Saxon or RS would be at this age/level. And I do already have a fairly independent curriculum *I* like, I'm not just looking for a curriculum that is independent either. But I want something she won't hate (even if she doesn't love it) and that might appeal to her more visual side and her need for variety. And she has picked up a fair amount of mental math skills from the small amount of RS we have done. I don't think Singapore would be a huge shift like it might be if we had only done a very traditional math approach up to this point. I'm interested in Miquon, but I've heard of it used mostly as a supplement. Can it be used as a stand-alone curriculum? What about Math Mammoth? I have a friend who really likes it. I don't know much about it though. Also, if I did go with Singapore, what would I need? The choices seem overwhelming.

Thanks for the replies on Singapore. I think you've convinced me that it might be the best option for my daughter. To be clear, MUS is very open and go and not parent-intensive at all. If it worked for her, I'd stay with it. I just need something that will engage her more and not make her hate math quite so much. Abeka is colorful and might be that...but I've had a lot of friends who were less than thrilled with Abeka, so I'm not sure I'd really look into it too much.

I have looked at CLE several times and I want to like it. But, I'm not sure if she'd like it any better really, and I don't see any point in changing curriculums just to change . She's very visual, probably ADHD, gets bored easily. What does HIG stand for in regards to the Singapore curriculum?

Yes to this! My daughter was diagnosed with dyslexia/reading disorder at age 6 and the developmental pediatrician would not give her a diagnosis of dyscalculic because she was too young or because it all falls under the same category as dyslexia or something, but she did not say she definitely didn't have it. I was certain she did at the time. We have used MUS and it has been great for her! i won't say it's always been easy, nothing is easy for a child with learning disabilities. But it's been a really good fit. She has relied heavily on the blocks and cheat sheets. The first two years she had a sheet copied out of the primer (or the teacher's guide, don't remember for sure) that had pictures of the blocks in ascending order. She colored them in the right colors and wrote the numbers underneath and it helped her a lot in remembering the numbers and figuring out the problems. Only my daughter never had too much trouble with the process, she just couldn't keep her numbers straight. Now that we are getting into more complicated math (area of triangles, rectangles, etc., and long multiplication and division) she is struggling greatly to remember all of her processes and keep it all straight. It's been challenging. But with the mastery approach of MUS, it helps. And she has cheat sheets for those processes as well. Eventually she's able to let go of them...but it takes her a lot more time to get it than it would take the average student.

My daughter is in 2nd grade and really detests doing math. She is a bit of a whiner/complainer and somewhat lazy anyway. We're working on that. But in particular, she hates math more than other subjects. We've used Math-u-See from the start as it works really well for my oldest and I like the program. And I'm familiar with it. I think it works. And I will say that even though my 2nd grader says she hates math, she does very well in it. She's right on target, more than 2/3'rds through Beta. Now, I've dabbled with Rightstart math; I love the philosophy and think it's a great program. My daughter asks for Rightstart, she prefers it. And we did use it off and on for several months this school year and last. But it's just too parent-intensive for me. I'm getting ready to have my 6th child, my husband is deployed, I have to do all of our baking from scratch because of food allergies. I simply don't have time to sit and do math with her for 45 min. every day. Which is why we always come back to MUS. And she's usually able to skip through many lesson quickly when we do come back, so she's never gotten behind by us doing multiple programs. I would love to make Rightstart work, but it just won't. I've looked into other programs, I think she would benefit from something more spiral based, but those programs kind of drive me nuts. I'm not really opposed to either method, mastery, spiral, or other, so I'm open to any suggestions. I just think she gets bored with the repetition of MUS. And I do not make her do all the pages, I move her along if she knows it. I think Rightstart challenged her more though, which she kind of whined about, but I think she really did like the challenge. I was thinking that I've heard that Singapore is somewhat similar to Rightstart math. I know nothing about the program though and would not be sure what to even buy. Can anyone tell me more about the program? Is it fairly self-directed? I don't mind assisting a little, but I can't fully devote myself to her for 45 min. like with Rightstart. Any other programs I should look into?

The first readers my girls enjoyed were Green Eggs and Ham (read over and over until it became easy), and then we moved onto the Biscuit books such as this one: http://www.amazon.com/Biscuit-Wants-Play-First-ebook/dp/B006H6OKDY/ref=pd_sim_kstore_9 They're repetitive and pretty easy. There are some sight words, but the repetitiveness made it easy for my girls to memorize them. I liked the Sonlight readers list for easy readers. http://www.sonlight.com/1RP.html I would encourage them to read a book over and over until it was easy, cementing the words in that book in their head for when they came to them in another book. Also, my girls hung out at that place of sounding out and reading very easy readers for nearly a year each. It was frustrating for me that they weren't making more progress. What finally helped was getting a program that was phonogram based (you could just get the book The Writing Road to Reading) and going through the flashcards every day, all the phonograms. Eventually they started to read the phonograms in words with ease without stopping to sound out everything. I'm not sure what you're using for spelling, but I really love The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading! Learning the spelling rules will help make reading click and blossom. There's a number of good programs (All About Spelling is another). If you want, I could send you a copy of The Writing Road to Reading. I was going to use it but then ended up going with The Phonics Road instead.

My first thought was a gluten intolerance/celiac allergy. That could account for the smallness. Does he have any intestinal issues? Gas/pain, diarrhea. And does he have allergy eyes, dark circles under his eyes? Those would also be signs. And of course, he should probably be rechecked for diabetes. My children have never been much more than that size around 3 years old, so he could just be a small child. When's the last time he was in for a check-up? Does your ped seem concerned with his size? I don't think it would hurt to ask for a pediatric gastro referral to check into the growth issues if it's really concerning you.

I think you've got a lot of good responses already. I just wanted to throw out one other alternative option to try that won't dry her out. It's less absorbant and would need to be cleaned out often, but the Jade & Pearl Sea Sponge tampons are wonderful, very soft and squishy, very easy to get in and out, they won't pull extra moisture from the vaginal wall. And I find them far easier to position correctly than the diva cup, which I've had no success with personally. But I know many people who love the diva cup. Here's a link: http://www.jadeandpearl.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18

Same thing happened for us when we did that same experiment 2 years ago. The best I could figure from researching the subject was that it was too warm in our house. If you did the experiment thru MFW, you can find an old thread on this experiment on their forum.

Baby #6 is on the way due to this method. I was VERY careful and had a diaphragm with spermicide in at a time when I should have been safe. I wouldn't trust this method. I'm against IUD's because I got pregnant and miscarried with Mirena. But I know they work for a lot of people and it sounds like the copper IUD might be your best bet, to the OP.

I totally agree. But we'll be going to a "Harvest Party" this year too. But you're right. We're still celebrating Halloween. And I'm not sure a Christian school should do that if they have a lot of families that don't celebrate. I have many friends who would be very offended by such a party if their kids attended there and were asked to dress up on that day.

:iagree::lol:

My dd will be 5 in a month and is doing a combo preschool/kindy year, as she's not quite ready for a full kindy year, but not wanting simple preschool stuff anymore either. She knows all of her colors, but I do have tell her to color things a certain color, just to test that knowledge from time to time. She's mostly working on pre-reading skills, letter recognition/sounds, number recognition and recognizing quantities, counting to 10 and eventually 30 by the end of the year. We also do cutting, pasting, painting, some simple science concepts. ETA: I'm sorry, totally didn't realize this was the afterschooling board, so my comments are pretty out of place. I'm a "new posts" button pusher and just saw this pop up.

:lurk5:

:lurk5: Just subbing to this thread. Great ideas all around!

I don't have any curriculum suggestions, but I do know that there are several websites where you can get all the supplies you'll need for the experiments for several different curricula to make it easier to open and go. You would only have to provide the very common household objects, which we almost always have on hand. I really like pre-buying our science experiment supplies for the whole year, makes it so much easier.

We found out when my dd (age 5.5) went in for allergy testing. She was getting tons of hives on a daily basis that had just begun 3-4 months prior. Turns out she was allergic to peanuts, wheat, and a host of environmental allergens. I was shocked she was allergic to peanuts, but she had never been real keen on them and that's probably the only reason we didn't notice sooner, as she hardly ever ate them. ETA: Even though she only gets hives and diarrhea (about 15 min. later), her allergist also considers it life threatening because, he says, peanut allergies that result in hives can turn anaphylactic at any given time and you'll have no notice. I would definitely recommend you take your child in for allergy testing and get an epipen if she does have a peanut allergy.

Thanks for all the reviews! I thought my thread had got buried with no replies, so I ordered the deluxe package earlier today before reading any of this thread. But it sounds like I made the right choice anyway. My dd loves arts/crafts, cutting/glueing, and worksheets, so I think she'll enjoy the worksheets even though, as many said, they're nothing special. I get that and could tell from the website preview that they weren't. But all the other skills are just as important and I prefer to have it all laid out for me. She doesn't know most of her letters yet, but does know some and is asking me about reading every day now. She asks me what words say and repeats them, she's picks out sounds in words that she does know. So I think this level will suit her perfectly, not being too easy or too hard. In Lieu of Preschool, I read your blog posts about it the other day and it was really helpful to see how a whole lesson flows for you guys. Thank you!