If your dc had problems memorizing the rules in ASS, do they have problems memorizing scripture or poems? My dd doesn't have problems memorizing long poems or passages of scripture. Which actually surprises me:)

Right now I am using A&P Spelling with my dyslexic dd 2nd grader and NT ds 1st grader, but I am wondering if AAS would be better? I'm thinking she would enjoy using the letter tiles. They are both finishing up level A, but their handwriting is horriable. We only do 1 page a day, but I really think it is too much writing. Maybe I need to break it up through out the day? I am also thinking about trying Dancing Bears Fast Track with dd to try and help build confidence and speed in reading. Has anybody used both and could compare? Does AAS have as much built in review as A&P? I really like that A&P continously reviews hard words like 'want' and 'what' (well hard for my dd:tongue_smilie:)?

I'm almost done with A and I haven't run across any spellings that were different from US spellings.

What do you do to deal with your dc's disability? My dd is dyslexic. Not so bad that she would qualify for special help, but bad enough to keep her right under grade level; right in the crack. If she was in a classroom, a teacher would just think she wasn't trying or studying. I know this because she is the same as her older sister and I have had teachers make me feel this way. I keep hoping that one day I will find that perfect curriculum that will make everything click, she will make a huge jump in ability, wake up one morning and her dyslexia will be gone. I know I am fooling myself because my dd, who graduates next week from high school, has struggled all her school years with dyslexia. My oldest dd has been living at an arts school her last 2 years of high school (musical prodigy). She has struggled to maintain her grades. Everything is so much harder for her. Her academic teachers are always comment that she needs to study harder. lol! She studies more than they would ever imagine. I am worried about college. She will start out in a leap program for dc who had bad SAT scores. But she has been doing everything on her own for 2 years and knows how to work. My younger dd doesn't have a special gift like my older dd. She is making progress every year, but I don't see an end to her struggle; just like her older sister. I push and push and honestly, I am not sure if it is the right thing to do. How do YOU cope with your dc's disability? How to you know when you are pushing too hard or not hard enough? How do you know that the progress they have made through out the year is acceptable? How do you deal with younger siblings catching up and passing them in ability? How do you deal with the frustration it causes you, when you get "the blank stare" after they have spelled the same word wrong or still don't know what the word is in reading after the 100th time. Or the frustration you feel when they they stop every other sentence to fidget and completely forget they are even reading? What can I do to help me deal with my emotions when teaching a struggling learner. It takes all the joy out of me. I don't want my joy stolen when my dd is really trying her best. I have already dealt with this for 18 years. Sometimes I think it would be easier if her problem was more apparent and people could recognize she has a special need. Then I wouldn't always be needing to explain to everyone that she has a problem. I am the one with the problem. It makes me feel like a bad parent. It makes me feel like people think I don't care and am not dealing with the problem. It makes me feel like I am not qualified to teach my dc even though I am a certified teacher and all the other certified teachers I have talked to could never "fix" my dc's problems. It makes me feel like a failure.

I don't think this is a phonics issue. I think it's a vocabulary problem. If you don't know what a word means in the first place, sounding it out correctly is useless. I would look over his reading, pick out the words that you know will give him problems and then go over those word on a whiteboard/paper, write them out as syllables and write a definition. This way, when he reads the passage and the word is encountered, he can use the whiteboard/paper as a reference. I don't expect a child that young to know what those words mean. If they don't know what they mean they become a nosence word and what does it matter if they have pronounced it correctly or not.

Curious what you use? My dd will be in 3rd next year. She is not ready to do a 3rd grade LA program yet, but this is the year curriculums seem to make a big jump. I feel like programs expect reading fluency and independance. She can read at an end of 2nd grade level, but needs assistance on harder words. She is not ready to 'read to learn', but is done 'learning to read'. Reading is steady, but slow and she is not ready to read independantly. She doesn't struggle really bad. She seem to be just slightly below where she needs to be to excel; right in the crack! I want her to learn and excel in what ever program I choose, not learn and struggle KWIM? It is almost like she needs something in between a 2nd and 3rd grade level; a gap year. We are done with phonics, use A&P Spelling, use R&S orally, Cheerful Cursive, and have started PLL. I greatly modify PLL. There is no way she can do any dictation. She is struggling with narrating and the language is archaic which causes her problems in understanding the questions. For example one question she was to orally answer in a complete sentence said- Of what use is a cat about a house or a barn. My dd had no idea what this sentence was asking. If it had read- How is a cat helpful in a house or barn. I think she would have understood. We tried Classical Writing Primer, but again, she was not capable of writing the passages from dictation and she retained nothing from the spelling lessons. Hence modifying the program and I feel like loosing what was supposed to be taught. Is there a complete LA program written for dyslexics? I wish A&P's would write a complete program. I am so tired of piecing a LA program together and then modifying. I am afraid that I am going to modify it to the point that my dd will not learn what she is supposed to learn. I have been looking into IEW and Fix-It. The material looks to be very systematic, but I am not sure she is ready for that. I think it would be great for her starting 4th grade. IEW's PAL program looks way to behind for her. We don't need phonics and handwriting. We need time for fluency and a very gently LA that is designed for dyselxic 3rd graders. Help?:001_huh:

I recently listed to a couple of homeschool speakers who gave some tips that may enhance learning. Here is what they said: 1. Being able to see trees or greenery out a window, in the room you HS in, helps enhance learning. 2. Painting your HS room green also help by making your feel like you are outside. 3. Ferns and Ivies clean the air in your house better that commercial air purifiers. I don't know if all the above is true, but I think they would be interesting to try. What tips have you heard or learned that can enhance learning?

It depends. I worked at the Greenville convention to get free admission. I bought 2 things and saved about $10 that I would have had to pay for shipping. On the other hand, buying over the Internet is tax free. I bought a $600 order from MFW online when they were having a one cost shipping sale. It saved me about $35 in sales tax. In other words, it would have cost me $35 more if I had bought at the convention because of SC state tax. The seminars and actually getting to touch and feel curriculum makes going to the convention very worth while.

An other: Too repetition. I wish curriculums would mix up what they do every 6 weeks or so. Like 6 weeks of worksheets, then 6 weeks of notebooking, then 6 weeks of hands on, ect... Doing the same thing all.year.long drives me batty!

I would prefer to stay on DST all year and not change. I hate loosing an hour of sun in the fall. I would rather have more sun in the evenings. And why does Public school have to start so early in the mornings? If they started at a reasonable time like 9am, it wouldn't be dark when kids were going to school. After teaching middle school that started at 7:15 and seeing how sleepy kids are at that time in the morning, it would be better for students to start later anyway.

Does looseleaf, non-newsprint, 3rd grade lined paper (the kind with dashes in the middle) exist? If so, where can I buy it. I think it would be much cheaper than printing lined paper. Thanks!

Get 32. You might be suprised how much you like and use it.

Apples & Pears spelling! It is totally different and designed for struggling spellers. It is not babyish at all. There is a placement test on their website. Go to the Special Needs board and search Apples & Pears. You will see how good the results are from the users. It is the best spelling program I have ever used!

Thanks!

To turn off iCloud.... On your ipod, Go to settings- storage and backup and turn off iCloud backup. You can still download your music instantly even if the cloud is off. On your iPod, go to iTunes and choose purchased at the bottom. Then choose music. All the song you have bought through iTunes will pop up. You can select which songs you instantly want downloaded onto your iPod. Having an 8gb works good if you manually manage your music. You can download and delete all the time to have just what you want without having it all on the iPod. When you open iTunes on your computer anything you have bought through the iPod will be waiting to download. It just doesn't do it automatically.

You need to disenable the cloud. That is why it is trying to load all your apps via the Internet. Disenabling "sync all apps" will only stop it from syncing all apps when you connect to your computer via the usb cord. If it is trying to sync the app via the Internet, it will defiantly run your battery down especially if you have Internet that is slow (1-6mbps). Most apps don't require the Internet once downloaded.

There is only one sample page on her website and it is in print. I was wondering what the cursive portion of the workbook is like. Is it interesting? Does it teach well? Would you recommend the program? :bigear:

Are you asking how long the battery lasts between charges or how long they last before needing to be replaced? A lot of times batteries are drained because there is a Internet issue. Try putting your iPod in airplane mode and see if this helps. If it does, then it is trying to download or connect to the Internet continually. My aunt's Internet at work has the same name as her Internet at home. When she would get home, her iPod would try to get online with her work password until it drained the battery. If she doesn't put it in airplane mode reset the Internet with her home password the battery will be drained in a couple of hours.

For those of you that like dry erase boards, do the markers not bother you? I hate the smell and that my dc get markers all over their hands. I hated white boards when I was teaching because the kids always left the lids off the markers. I much prefer chalkboards. But then again, I won't let my dc color with regular markers because it ends up on their hands.:glare:

I use R&S readers and I think they are considered basal readers. I like that they have a controlled vocabulary and that vocabulary is introduced slowly. I use them with my dd who is dyslexic and needs lots of repetition of words. My younger son doesn't need a basal reader. He can sound out words easily and can read real book at his level. My dd gets too frustrated over many unknown words. Lots of new names can really throw her off. Basal readers normally have a set of characters and a dc is not constantly trying to remember a new list of characters.

I feel the opposite. I worked when some of mine were little and I was resentful about being at work. All I wanted to do was be home. I taught public school and hated that I poured all my energy into other people's dc. I was too tired to do any fun stuff after working full time. I hated hours of homework with my older one. I much prefer to be home. I don't need a job to find intellectual stimulation. I do miss being with adults, but I solved that with church activities.

Do you pay taxes on product purchased?

I don't have any answers, but you will get more responses if you ask this question on the special needs board.

Last try. Anyone?

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