I think LOE (Logic of English) curriculum would be really beneficial for both boys, but particularly your 3rd grader. It has a lot of phonemic awareness activities and it's really made for kids like your own. I'm using the LOE kindy program (as a beta tester) and my 3rd grader loves the phonemic awareness activities and it's even helped correct a few of his pronounciations.

Anyone have a good source or website they use? Dd is in kindy and things like the days of the week, months, etc just aren't "clicking" with her. I want to download some MP3's that I can put on her MP3 player that she plays constantly. I googled but of course there were a gazillion sites and I got overwhelmed.

:iagree: I could not agree more. And to add also that in children it's even less likely to get a positive result even if they do have celiacs. My dd was diagnosed when she was only 22 months old but it was not based on her biopsy. Her blood work was negative, her biopsy was inconclusive (and they also noticed severe damage to her duodenum from all the acid reflux she had), and then we did genetic testing which came back very high risk. We took her off gluten and she gained 5 lbs in 6 weeks which is a pretty big gain for anyone but to start she was only 15 lbs when we went GF so a 5 lb weight gain is HUGE. She wasn't even on the growth charts before we went GF. She was almost 2 yrs old, weighed less than she did at 6 months old, and was wearing 6-9 mos old clothing. She gained 17 lbs the first year she was GF. Now she's a totally normally growing 5 yr old kid who's in the 50th percentiles for height/weight.

Ds is doing delta right now and I do similar to the pp. I require him to do at least 2 review pages from each lesson though because he has a hard time with rote memorization so it helps to keep using his math facts in the review problems. We're only 3 weeks in but I'm pretty sure we could do delta and epsilon this year if we wanted. Instead we're slowing MUS down by supplementing with Beast Academy.

What are you more interested in? The actual phonograms themselves or how sturdy the cards are? I chose LOE because I agree with her phonograms. She has a few more than Spalding and also states that "y" says the long /e/ sound (as in navy or baby) whereas Spalding and SWR do not. Another reason was that the shipping from Spalding was insane and it kind of turned me off. Also my MIL thought she might have some in her basement somewhere since she used to be a Spalding instructor. I can't speak for the others, but in terms of hardiness, we've been using the LOE cards in various games for the past 3.5 weeks and so far they're holding up really well. They are not laminated but they are on heavy cardstock.

I like the LOE ones. In fact I'm using WRTR for ds's spelling this year but we're learning and using the LOE phonograms instead of the WRTR ones.

HWOT was a disaster here. In fact my dh was regularly seen going into another room to laugh because ds would sit there crying & sobbing all through each lesson of Handwriting Without Tears. We called it Handwriting With Tears since there was never a dry eye. Even I found it kind of funny sometimes. This year, for 3rd grade, we're doing cursive using LOE's handwriting program and he likes it! It's amazing. I've never seen my dysgraphic kid actually write without crying but he does the LOE program and not only does his handwriting look nice but there's no tears/frustration and he's proud of his work. I like that all the letters start on the base line.

A mini-update: Ds and I started Sentence Island today since we don't have any other materials yet and he actually liked it. So ds and I decided we're going to give it another few weeks and then re-evaluate from there. If we feel it's still not the right fit I think we're going to try Easy Grammar. As for writing there's no way he's prepared to do the writing assignments in Sentence Island so we decided we'll work on those together with me physically writing them. I found samples of several different writing programs, printed them out, and had ds look through them. He liked Check the Deck the best so I ordered that tonight and I told him we'd work through it really slowly.

Geography maybe? Or is it integrated into SOTW? My 3rd grader is doing: Daily: MCT, handwriting, structured reading (and he does loads of unstructured on his own), daily weather & moon log, math We do various projects and readings for history so sometimes it's once a week and sometimes it's a small amount every day. Geography: he has a certain number of pages (usually about 8-10) due once a week from his geography workbook. Science is somewhat like history in the approach we take so it's 1-4 times a week with some projects that are on-going throughout the year (weather log, a biomes project, etc). We also do art once a week.

Yes he can read very well. It "clicked" for him just before the start of 2nd grade. He doesn't have the confidence to read at his level just yet so he still reads mostly books below his reading level. However we're reading Harry Potter right now as a read aloud and I've had some eye issues lately preventing me from being able to read much - he's read some of it on his own to himself and some of it he reads out loud to me and his comprehension is pretty spot on. He skips words, adds in small words, and also makes up words by just looking at the first & last letter (reading "world" as "would" for example. So that's an issue but that's something I feel comfortable working on with him on a day to day basis and I don't feel it's holding him back from doing anything harder, kwim? As for writing without pain we're getting there. I don't mind writing out some stuff for him. He's also learning cursive this year and he says it's MUCH better than print. He actually did an entire row each of 6 different letters today as review without a single tear or any frustration AND he was proud of himself afterward. He told me his hand didn't hurt at all. We're working on his pencil grip at the same time & also not gripping the pencil so tight. He had an "ah ha" moment when I had him feel my arm as I held a pencil lightly and as I squeezed much too firmly as he always did so he could feel the difference in the way my arm muscles felt. Ever since he's been doing really well and we take a lot of breaks during any sort of writing. I'm not much of a classical HSer (I get great ideas here though that I use often) so we haven't done copy work. He could do it though. He would hate it and it would be in tears the entire time though. And while I also don't do narration I can definitely tell you the child can definitely tell me an entire story about something he read, a video game he's playing, etc. I don't think he's ever been quiet since he first started talking (finally at age 2.5). Last year he seemed to have a hard time getting his thoughts on paper but in retrospect I'm believing it was from two issues: 1) his mind was working much faster than his hand could keep up with and 2) he hated writing so much that he only wrote the smallest shortest words/sentences he could and still get the answer right. Basically what I'm really looking for is something for writing that is gentle and will teach him the process of writing step by step. I was actually just looking at Check the Deck and that might fit the bill. The only part of MCT he enjoyed was taking apart the sentences and diagramming them. I've never diagrammed sentences before so in terms of grammar I need something that will hold MY hand because I'm learning it as well. Vocabulary he's good on. His vocabulary is huge. Right now I'm happy with having him look up words he doesn't know and we also talk/learn about word roots as they come up. Spelling has never been too big of an issue except mostly he would memorize the word and then not spell it correctly later on. However this year I'm using WRTR for spelling and he's enjoying it. Again, like with grammar, dissecting the word seems to interest him so he likes "taking it apart" to figure out each phonogram & spelling rule.

How do you like Step Up to Writing? I noticed it in your siggy. I just talked with ds and he totally agrees that MCT is not working at all for us. He said he prefers more of a workbook style.

I was directed over here from the main curriculum board and was hoping I might get some help regarding a LA curriculum for my 8 yr old. LA is the only subject we've never been able to "fit" and after some reading over the last few weeks we are starting to seriously suspect dyslexia. We'll be getting him evaluated in the coming months. The biggest issue for ds is writing. I first learned of dysgraphia a few months ago and it was like reading a description of ds. For him the biggest issue is mostly the physical act of writing but he also has a hard time organizing his thoughts. This year he's starting to learn cursive and it's actually going very well - he says his hand/arm feels much better and I'm seeing a huge improvement in his willingness to write a sentence or two when needed. What I'm looking for mainly is something for grammar, something for writing that is very gentle, and possibly something for reading comprehension/analysis although we do that somewhat on our own typically. He reads well and enjoys it so at least there's no big issues there. What we've tried in the past: 1st grade we tried Sing, Spell, Read, & Write which was a total disaster because it had way too much writing in it and since I was new to HSing I didn't have the confidence to adapt the program myself. Then we tried Explode the Code online - at that time reading had not yet "clicked" for him and he quickly learned how to memorize the answers and pass even though he wasn't actually reading any of the sentences. Last year, 2nd grade, we used k12 which was terribly boring and had soooo many worksheets it was insane. Most of them we did orally. It was OK but ds hated it, it took forever each day to complete, and it made him hate LA even more. Now for 3rd grade: I excitedly bought MCT and it's been a huge fail. We both agree it's not working at all. It's hugely boring for him. His eyes glaze over as soon as we open the book. He told me today he prefers more of a workbook style than just reading stuff. Ideas? I really don't know where to go from here but I want some curriculum we can use and actually stick with for the next several years. I hate this jumping around. Also I prefer secular material although some religious content is ok as long as it's not over the top. Oh and we're more eclectic HSers than classical so we're pretty open.

Thank you, that looks like something that would be really great for ds. He's not quite to that level yet but I've got it bookmarked for later on. I'm really not sure if he's dyslexic or not. If he is it hasn't affected him too much academically except when it comes to writing. We did supplement a bit with Language Smarts B last year. Perhaps I'll pick up the C level for this year and then integrate writing into another subject like science.

Thanks, I'll check out the other board as well. Bumping for more suggestions :)

With an older child you don't start at the beginning of the Ayres list. Instead you test them to see what level they are at. I just started using WRTR with my 3rd grader this year and we're starting with the M list.

To be as concise as possible: My 3rd grader's weakest subject is LA, he does not enjoy it at all although he is a good reader and enjoys reading so at least there's no struggle there. We believe he has dysgraphia and we're going to get him evaluated for dyslexia in the coming months. The biggest issue with LA has always been the writing portion, whether it's just filling in a one word answer on a worksheet, writing sentences, or particularly writing anything longer than a sentence. I thought MCT would be a great fit for him but it's not working out at all. His eyes glaze over as soon as the book is opened. He doesn't "hear" it at all even when he's the one reading it. Any suggestions on what else to try? I need something very gentle for writing - something that will walk him through the process. As for grammar he seems to do OK with it but honestly I was never taught grammar much so I need something that's very explicit in how to teach it (I can't identify anything beyond a noun, verb, or adjective for the most part). We're more eclectic HSers. Also I want something secular. A small amount of religious content is OK if it's a really great curriculum. I really want something we can stick with for LA. We've switched around every single year which I really don't like to do. Oh and we're using WRTR for spelling this year which is working great so far. Help?

Is there running in Crossfit? We're moving in a few months and the new place we're going to has several Crossfit gyms and I know I would LOVE it but I'm worried about running. Last year I was training for a half marathon - worked up to 6 miles and started having ITBS in both knees. No doctor here has been able to help me, I've tried a bunch of different things, but no matter what I do I can no longer go more than 1 mile before I'm limping (and it makes me limp around everywhere for about a week afterwards). Right now I do Insanity, which strangely does not bother my knees at all, and Chalene Extreme for strength training but I am soooooo bored with Insanity! I mean I love it, but I'm on my 7th round of it so it's gotten really old. Anyways today I did Chalene Extreme

Usually we follow the school system's schedule since all of our friends are in public school but we took Thurs & Fri "off" to go the museum and the zoo so we're going to do some school on Monday then probably head to the pool.

Ds and I just studied this and from what we found there have now been several findings of humans from before Beringia. We only have our very small library though in terms of books (small town) and our sources were not super new. However we found several books that were about 5+ yrs old talking of new theories. I wish I could remember the name of it but we also watched a NOVA program about it several months ago. We actually live in Clovis, just a few minutes from the Blackwater Draw site so we went and visited the museum and went out to the dig site. The museum there was definitely still showing the Clovis people as the first people in North America however that museum was insanely old and dusty and it didn't look like anything had been updated in 20 years.

We've been using MCT for 2.5 weeks now. So obviously not long at all but we're almost through the Grammar Island book. It is not working for us at all and I was sooo excited for it so I'm really bummed. Nothing has ever bored my ds more than MCT. His eyes glaze over and he starts yawning as soon as the book is in his hands. He has NEVER done that with anything else ever and we've done some ridiculously boring stuff (did k12 LA last year, holy wow was that boring). At the moment we're sticking with it because I've been planning on using MCT for the past 2 yrs and never researched other curriculum. I thought he would like it because it has so little writing (he has dysgraphia) but instead he doesn't even hear it - even when I have him read it he can't tell me 1 single thing he read. Not only that it seemed to make him brain-dump all the grammar he did know! Suddenly he can't tell me what a verb or an adverb is when that's stuff he's known and had down cold for a few years now. So far I'm really really unhappy with the purchase.

What's wrong with a comic book style? Personally I'd get both but that's because my ds reads the guidebook for fun. He takes it to bed at night as one of his books to read.

Have you considered removing food dyes? That's pretty much exactly how my ds used to act until I took out all food dyes - now he's a nice, calm, rational little boy who can actually handle his stress/frustration without lashing out.

We LOVE MUS here. Ds has been doing it since kindy when he started with Primer. Actually he went to public kindy for half the year and when I pulled him out his teacher warned me that ds was very behind in math and would have a lot of trouble. Then we started MUS and zoom he took off. The kid never had an issue in math at all - in fact it's his best subject. He's in 3rd grade now working through Delta. Personally the actual gaps to me are small ones that are easy to fill IMO. For us it was money and measurement which were easy for me to teach just in our day to day life. I've heard many say there's not enough review but IMO if you do the review pages of each lesson there's plenty of review. I always have ds do at least 2 of the review pages before we move on to the next lesson. It's so solid on teaching the concepts IMO that I would think the switch to something else later on should go smoothly. Ds is doing Beast Academy this year too just to add in some fun stuff and while the geometry is challenging for him (geometry has not been introduced yet via MUS) he's able to do the other stuff quite easily/quickly.

I started kindy in 1986. It was half day. I remember the big goal was to be able to write my first name by Christmas. We learned days of the week, we learned numbers, and I remember a lesson about patterns (and we were all totally stumped & couldn't figure it out when the teacher - yes the one and only teacher of 30 kids - did a boy/girl pattern with us). There were loads of toys in the room. I remember being taught to read in 1st grade. I remember the early readers I brought home and that the one about a red crab was the dreaded one because it was soooo hard to read. I remember being taught digraphs in 2nd grade. I distinctly remember my 2nd grade teacher drawing a blender on the board and putting in the letters "sh" "th" "ch" etc to make a new sound. And FTR, I went to a private school that ultimately put me so far ahead that when I entered public high school and took AP classes I did not learn anything new until the end of my junior year. The research paper I had to write in my private 8th grade had more requirements and had to be longer than the one due in my 12th grade AP English class.

I would move forward with cursive using a program that starts all the letter on the bottom line. We're using LOE Cursive for both my kindergartner and my 3rd grader this year and all the letters start on the bottom line. I believe Cursive First also has all the letters starting on the bottom.