I can't provide any advice but can only add my story. My sister has always been fiscally irresponsible. She was able to rely on my parents, then her now ex to bail her out in the past. Now divorced (no kids) she continues to make bad choices for herself. She has been unemployed for almost a year. After unemployment ran out, and she was still struggling to find a job in her profession, I suggested working in retail to get some money, any money, coming in. Her reply was that she doesn't want to be 40 and working retail. But I guess being 40 and having foreclosure process starting is ok? Some days I don't know how we are related. She plans on asking my parents again for help because she is doing everything she can...I can't say anything to her because she gets defensive and won't talk to me for lengthy periods of time. I'm going to try some of the things mentioned here since she's my only sister and I can't end the relationship. Thanks for letting me share.

Hi! Reading the posts and I'm right there with all of you. Will follow you all over to the that forum. Have some questions since my DS just turned 18 aka "of legal age".

OYAN was supposed to be his writing class for this year. We switched to Essentials in Writing (11th grade level) and he did fairly well (with a lot of follow up, prodding, and prompting on my end) until we got to the research paper section were he found out that writing a research paper is a lot of work! The topic selection was up to the student. And again, he couldn't keep up with the tasks and the schedule despite me working with him to break it down into smaller steps. For whatever reason, large projects overwhelm him and he just can't get past the first step. So, we switched this month to IEW. He's going into it a bit discouraged and already stating that it's not going to work for him. I've told him we need to at least try. So far, he's been able to complete the assigned work, which has very specific tasks and requirements. I never really thought about the "open ended" project concept before but, after thinking about that quite a bit last night, I really think that could be the key to some of our "misses". I'm going to keep that in the back of my mind when we discuss curriculum ideas for next year. Thank you for sharing that concept 8FillTheHeart.

Just wanted to let you know we've been there as well. My Aspie wanted to do OYAN this year. He promised he would complete the tasks on time and stick to the schedule. Less than two months in and he was behind. We made the joint decision to stop it and move onto something else. Based on prior experience, when he gets behind he then gets overwhelmed and, like your DS, shuts down. I don't have any answers but just wanted to let you know you are not alone. And by the way, we just changed writing programs this month in the hopes that this one will click with his learning style.

Yes, got one over here as well. DS is also 15. He's putting forth just enough effort to get it done and that is it. We're taking Easter week off so I'm hoping that will help. It has been a really bad winter here and thought maybe it was the winter blues.

For my visual learner, we are using icivics (free online) founded by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Covers all the branches of US Gov't, has fun activities (win the White House game was cute), and most importantly, he's understanding it.

We used CK12 Biology last year. Not too wordy. Lots of weblinks to videos/illustrations to further explain topics. It's free so check it out.

We started homeschooling DS when he was 13. Middle school wasn't a good fit for him. We initially used textbooks but he wasn't successfully absorbing the information. We switched him to computer based/visual programs and his learning took off. He's done exceptionally well with Teaching Textbooks for math. He thought he was "dumb"" when it came to math. Now he frequently gets 100%, which has also helped with his self esteem. We use CK12 for science because it has video links on the topics. For literature last year we used Movies as Literature. Abstract thinking is not his thing so watching the movies instead of reading helped him understand a bit more. For history we used a spine but supplemented with a lot of videos (History Channel, etc) and documentaries. Once we understood his learning style, it all clicked and he has excelled in all his subjects. Now to restore his faith in kids his age...baby steps forward.

Thank you for posting your experiences! My Aspie is in 9th grade and I've already started to worry about college. It's nice to hear feedback from those of you further down the path. Gives me hope that we can get there too.

Hi! I use the curriculm currently for my 9th grader, who is an Aspie (Asperger's) and a visual learner. We love it. He's doing much better than when we worked with Apologia. He felt Apologia was too dry and too "wordy" (of course I find this out after I have spent $$$ on all things Apologia for Biology) We download the textbook, which he reads online. He watches the videos via the links imbedded in the book for more information. I print off the worksheets, quizzes and tests. They have the answer material in the Teacher's Edition, where they also give suggested lab work. I compared the coursework to Apologia and the topics to study are very similar. It does discuss evolution, but if you don't want to cover it, you can adjust.

My 9th grade Aspie is doing well academically. Knock on wood. We're on schedule. Just a few areas we are reconsidering. TT - pre-alg. He's doing awesome in! We have to finish up by end of Jan. and start Alg 1 so by start of 10th grade in the fall of 2013 he'll be on Geo like the rest of his peers. Biology - CK-12 - He gets it. I love all the videos (links) they include. History - out of Civil War & Reconstruction and moving foward! LA - Movies as Literature is going really well. Exposing him to themes, hidden meanings, etc. Being an Aspie, he takes things literally. So this is a really good course. We're doing Grammar & Vocab. Not his fave. And working on writing. So far he's really understanding and following the lessons from Essentials in Writing. Can't ask for more. Electives - our struggle. Japanese became too difficult. He doesn't want to give it up because he likes Mangas (Japanese animated books.) I need to find a different teaching style. Same thing with Computer Skills. We were trying Code Adademy but he got stuck and I have no idea how to help. So on the hunt for a different curriculm. And it will probably cost too. He likes the Fallacy Detective lessons. Again, exposing his Aspie mind to logic. All good.

:bigear: My son has been using Irasshai for the past month but he's beginning to struggle with it (of course I bought the books - both student and teacher - UGH). He really wants to stick with Japanese and, like you, I don't know it. I'm interested to see if there is an online course because we'll probably sign up too!

I think Kinsa summed it up best. I went through the same range of emotions she so accurately described. It was hard because he was our oldest, my precious baby who the sun rose & set on. He memorized books at age 2. He was funny, super smart, and so cute. Yes he had quirks but, with our family backgrounds, we just thought our odd genes mixed together more strongly in him. In elementary school, we started to suspect something was off but all the teachers reassured us nothing was wrong because he was well behaved, smart, and loved to read - a teacher's dream. But by Middle School, it was clear something was wrong. The stress & anxiety of multiple teachers, switching classes & staying organized became too much for him. We changed school districts and the new one right away picked up on the issues and started the whole ball moving forward. I struggled with guilt for a long time - why didn't I push more, why didn't I ask for testing if we suspected something, if only we had known sooner we could have gotten earlier therapy, and so on...but you know what...I have to believe we went through everything for a reason and it is what it is. God gave him to us with His plan in mind. And honestly, I've learned so much. I have done things I never in thought I could. I am in a place in my life where I never suspected or even thought I would be. Yes every day is not perfect, but isn't that the point? There is no perfect. It's about the small but simple joys. I read a friend's facebook page the other week where he talked about his son's football game and how he didn't make any tackles or sacks in the game. I just sighed when I read it and looked at my son who is the same age. He told me that day, after years of wearing athletic pants, he wanted to wear jeans. For years it was "jeans are stiff" "I can't button them" "I hate the feel". I thought of it and smiled so big. A small sign of progress. A simple joy.

We did the same thing. Last year was our first year of homeschooling and bought all the Apologia material. My son hated it. We switched mid year to CK 12. Not so much reading, weblinks for more visual aids, and easy to understand worksheets. And IT'S FREE!

As many have stated before, my high functioning aspie made it through elementary "ok". But once he hit middle school/6th grade it all changed. The social scene was different. He was still interested in legos and video games while the other boys were discussing girls, sports, and parties. Being different = being teased/bullied. It negatively impacted his studies. He thought he was dumb because he couldn't get understand the way the material was presented. Having an IEP in place meant we couldn't hold him back even though he was failing most of his classes. We pulled him out last year and began homeschooling. His grades shot up. His confidence and self esteem grew. He now is considering a STEM vocation. We're still working on the social skills, but all in good time. We're making baby steps of forward progress. But at least we are moving forward!

We're using this for 9th grade Lit for my oldest w/Asperger's. He reads extremely well but has a hard time understanding the concepts. In seeing it visually and verbally discussing, I'm hoping it starts to establish a foundation that we can build upon in future years. In the upcoming years, we plan to do American Lit, British Lit, than finally the Greeks but he's so not ready to tackle any of that just yet...ask me how long he was perplexed because of his literal interpretation of the Last of the Mohicans. And that was just a brief discussion we had about the time period!

Hi! Thanks so much for the comments & support. Here are my answers to your questions. Good idea about state requirements. I'm in MI. Want him to take a Health class at the local co-op but he's doesn't have enough confidence/self-esteem yet to be around peers (public school was very hard on him). He's interested in computers/all things electronic. Code Academy is free online class re: computer programming. Thought it may be a good fit. T4L = Time 4 Learning. It's an online curriculm that we went to right away when we decided to pull him out of public school. The social studies is actually listed under 7th grade but in public school they were doing US History in 8th & 9th so I decided to use that to mirror the public school's curriculm. Being an Aspie, he's doing great with the visual & audio presentation style. I'm a bit concerned about the amount of Language Arts material but he really needs to come up to speed. He's super creative with ideas but struggles with getting it on paper. I feel I have only 4 years left to get him prepared for college so I know I'm packing a lot in. Spelling is a struggle. He doesn't have the concept of writing skills down - doesn't know how to write a solid paragraph. And he struggles with Grammar. He didn't know what an adverb was when we started homeschooling in the fall. (not sure when or if they teach this - maybe he tuned out?). The 1/2 credit of Japanese is a good idea to allow us to go heavy on Language Arts. Thanks again!

DS 14 has Asperger's. "Official"diagnosis at 12. We always knew something was off...just thought he got the quirks from both sides of the family!

Hi! This is my first time posting despite the fact I've been reviewing the forum for ideas on curriculm for months. This forum is so awesome!!! Thank you all!!! My 14 yr old son will be "mostly" in 9th grade next fall. This was our first year homeschooling. We brought him home due to the high stress & anxiety he had in PS. After evaluating him, we had to go back a grade in math & language arts to solidify the basics. He's had a great year. Huge improvement academically, especially in math. We've tailored his curriculm to his learning style (visual) and are slowly baby stepping forward. This summer I plan to keep him working on math (TT pre alg) in the hopes by Jan. 2013 we can move onto TT Alg 1 complete that and by Sept 2013 (10th grade) be into Geometry. Here's the rest of my plan. Please let me know if you think it's on track for a high schooler and also for an Aspie. History: T4L: Civil War to Present day supplemented with lots of videos and DVDs Science: CK12 Biology supplemented with videos and frogout dissections Language Arts: Grammar - EG Plus Vocab - WW 9 Spelling - Building Spelling Skills Writing - Essentials in Writing (same concept as IEW but less costly in case this doesn't fit his style of learning) Literature - Movies as Literature (start him on the concept of analyzing literature) Electives: Japanese - Irasshai (tried it a bit this year & he loved it!) 2nd elective - his choice of Code Academy or ??? This should add up to 6.0 credits (1.0 per subject) I believe. Thanks so much!

posting after lurking for months...thanks for all the ideas! :)