We all get it, you have a beef with HOP. That's fine, you have a right to dislike anything you want. You don't need to quote every person who says it worked for their needs, and repeat your too many sight words mantra. Your way is not the only way to do something. I'm pretty sure, kids that it worked for, wouldn't be coming to you for your remedial services, now would they? You are only seeing the failures, kids that probably just weren't ready to learn to read but were pushed through because people think very kid should be reading early. For every kid who you see that HOP didn't work for, there may be 10 or more kids out there that it did. The OP asked if it could be enough. For many, the answer is yes, it can work.

I have successfully helped 3 of my kids learn to read with HOP. We tried many other programs, most brought tears, most left this kiddo or that more confused. Between HOP and Reading Eggs, they all found their way. My only kiddo I didn't teach this way, I'm pretty sure was born with a book in his hand, he read on his own at 4 with no real instruction beyond learning letters and their sounds. HOP gets a bad rap, but it works works for many kids, just like anything else.

I love The Complete Book of US History. We also love Jennifer Armstrong's The American Story.

Have you looked at Teaching Textbooks? I switched my not good at it, math hater. It took a while, but eventually she stopped hating math and she realized she wasn't bad at it. She just needed a new approach. She will never be way ahead in math, but at least now she gets it. It helped our relationship to get me more out of the picture when it came to math. I'm still involved but not like a was. She watches the lesson, does the work in the workbook, I check it and she fixes mistakes, wash rinse repeat until its all correct, then she enters it in the computer. I need to know she gets it, so me checking her work lets that happen.

One more bump. This ends tonight.

I would move quick and try to get him in with the mentor program. It will get him in the door some, and he may be able to connect with someone who will work with him even after he is beyond the age of the program. Also, remember, there are often animals in season in the spring as well... here they hunt small game and spring gobbler, so it's more chance to get him out there. What state are you in?

It's at our Boy Scout camp. They have an archery range and a range that doubles as a BB gun and rifle range. We have adult volunteers who are certified instructors for each area.

Bumping this up, only 3 more days!

It doesn't have to be super expensive, guns and bows aren't cheap, but you can borrow until you are sure he will stick with it. Ammo is expensive, for what it is, it kills me the prices they want. The orange you need to wear can be cheap.. A thin vest and hat is about $10 at Walmart, but most hunters spend a fortune on their perfect hunting outfit. Processing small game can be done at home, but big game is usually taken to be processed. That isn't cheap. I also don't agree with not at least "field dressing" the kill. The longer an animal is dead, along with depending on how warm it is outside, the more chance of things to rupture inside... Which clearly spoils the meat. You need to get the insides out asap.

My boys shoot guns all the time at Boy Scout camp. They have to be on a regulated range with a certified instructor. Cubs shoot BB guns and bow, the Boy Scouts get to shoot rifles and bow. They do not shoot crossbow, but for fun they do get to shoot sling shots. They do not teach hunting safety... just firearm safety. My oldest is working on his Eagle now and says there is nothing about hunting in Boy Scouts. But then again, each council may be different? I would put feelers out for someone who you could connect him with that likes to hunt. Most hunters are excited to share their knowledge with youngsters.

I hate the bad reviews of TT. They are most often from parents who wanted to hand math off completely to someone else to teach. TT is NOT a bad program, it's not even "behind"... it may not move as fast as most traditional homeschool curricula that assume we are all raising rocket scientists, but it's not behind a typical public school text book. I have one who struggled in math horribly. We switched to TT "on level" and she scored in the 97th percentile on the CAT text in 3rd grade. My next uses it a year ahead and scores in the 99th percentile on the test. You do have to use TT correctly to make sure it's working for your kids. You can not expect it to take you out of the equation, and you can't expect the kids to do all the work without writing anything out. Here is how we use it... kids watch the lesson, kids do the sample problems, kids go off with the workbook and do the work. I check the work, mark anything wrong that is wrong. Kid fixes mistakes and I recheck. Once I'm satisfied with their work, they get to put in their answers on the computer.. mostly so they can watch the little character do whatever it's doing. You have to stay on top of the kids, they are smart and will learn quickly how to "cheat the system" so to speak. I know, this isn't my first time taking kids through TT. I really think, for a kiddo not reading well, TT could be awesome. My kids, though not dyslexic, are not super readers (they just don't like words on pages). It's not a bad program, it's really not.

Lessontrek.com They were offering a free lifetime membership over the summer, not sure that's still a possibility or not. I haven't been back since I initially played around with it. It was great, but I'm a notebook kind of girl ;)

I just came across this giveaway and wanted to share... I have seen many HAS giveaways lately, but the real cost of HAS is in the supplies! The My Bored Toddler blog is doing a giveaway for a HAS DVD of your choice AND ALL THE SUPPLIES! We have done several levels of HAS now and even buying "generic" supplies it adds up fast! Enter Here.

Grammaropolis maybe? You can get a lifetime account for $20 at the coop. https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/grammaropolis/?c=1

I agree! This is the one we have and its better than the ones I used in high school. I found mine at a flea market for like $15, still in its box and was terrified I was wasting money... But it turned out to be one of my best homeschooling bargains to date!

I consider myself a "free range parent". They probably have all been out without me from about 3 or so. We live in the country on a private road and border several thousand acres of forest. My kids do tend to stay close, but they do explore the woods closest to our home, where they have a tree house built and several other forts they have constructed without adult help. They are taught from really early on the dangers we have here... snakes (both copperheads and rattlesnakes can be found here but we have never seen either on our own land... just lots of black snakes, racer snakes, garter snakes and the like), coyotes (though they are rarely seen during the day), bears (again we don't see them often but they do visit our yard/woods), and the occasional bobcat. My 3 younger kids (oldest is about grown now) stay together outside for the most part, they know what to do if they see any of the dangerous animals, they know not to eat the berries except off the plants we have shown them, etc. If we lived in town or even on a busy country road, I probably wouldn't be so free with them.

Their placement tests are pretty spot on. Since it's spiral, they will review the "missed" concepts. I did place my DD at grade level in TT when we made the switch... but she hated math, felt she couldn't do it, and needed a boost of confidence. She did test into the next level... but barely. I just felt it was best with her to go easy and let her learn that she could "do math" and it worked... she now LOVES math!

Odd Squad is about math topics.

We love Home Art Studio. Its the first time in 10 years of homeschooling that art is getting done regularly!

Yep, there are like 5 smaller texts in each big text. They cover the same things for the most part.

I had it on the TV the first time I used it and was like now how on earth do I get to this supposed PDF. Was not my finest hour for sure lol Glad you figured it out :)

Are you telling me I was not the only one who had to think about how to find the PDFs??

Our experience has been that they are hard to understand, and often mispronounce words. We have used bigiqkids, click'nspell and spellingcity. All had the same issues. I never played with them much, there may be ways to tweek them, but for me it wasn't worth the hassle.

I agree, we use McRuffy before TT. Very similar approach, but McRuffy is very hands on.

I probably would not remove books I wanted to keep.. Or anything for that matter. Books, cardboard, paper, etc are all favorite realms for roaches. If they aren't in them when you look, it doesn't mean they haven't laid eggs there. I say, let them bomb the crap out of the place, most of the chemicals fade off in a few days, and you could also air wings later on the balcony. I totally feel for you, we live in the middle of nowhere, on top of a mountain surrounded by forest and fields. We always have some creepy crawly in the house, this summer its been fleas.. What a pain they are! And mice, we have mice year around, even the cats can't seem to keep ahead of those buggers! Luckily they stay out of my pantry but they love my small appliance cupboard.