You're absolutely right. After today, reading through many responses I'm thinking I'm going to keep my Sonlight, which has CHOW and many other books and go at it from a different angle. I have tons of Usborne books, both history and science from Core B. I think he's reading well enough to be able to read a lot of it himself. We've known since he was 2 that he is on the spectrum somewhere. It's been manageable through a pretty strict diet until recently. We absolutely plan to go forward with the evals as soon as we can. After the first of the year our HSA will be replenished and we can focus on that. I used to be terrified of the diagnosis, and now I know it will be helpful and give us the tools we need to help him succeed. He is very smart, and very bright. If he's engaged and interested, it's there forever. THIS! He is good with math and numbers, but the simple facts he struggles with. I have the full set of manipulatives from Saxon and we use those a lot, especially the linking cubes, incorporating some of the thought behind Math U See and it works. He can grasp huge concepts, but the little things dont click as easily. He surprised me today playing yahtzee tho, it was the kids version, but he was adding up points as we played, and only once used his fingers. After only a couple hours of Monopoly the other day he was doing much better with adding on the dice without needing his fingers. He CAN get it, it's me realizing HOW to help him get there thats the biggest key.

Sent you a PM! Thank-you! I will definitely look at this! Language Arts/Phonetics is where he fought the hardest last year. Most other things we could do, not easily, but we could do. Phonics... was a different story. I think this is my biggest concern for this year, finding a program that he will actually do, and learn from. He loves documentaries, and learns well from them. Animal Planet has been great for him. His current love (obsession!!!!) is River Monsters. We've all learned some great things from watching it! I'm not going to buy anything for Science unless its a membership to the local science museum. I think I've about decided to hang onto last years Sonlight, at the very least the science. We've done a few things from the books over the summer and he loved it. Short, sweet and doable in a day sounds exactly like what we need. Nothing over whelming, engaging enough he'll do it, and nothing that takes drastic amounts of time. LOF he loves enough he wants to do 2-3 chapters a day, and we play games for supplementing etc so I'm not too concerned with that, at least not this year. Next year I think I'll be looking for something fuller, but we love Fred. He wants to read on without me and I wont let him because I'm learning from it too! He surprised me today playing a kids yahtzee game with adding up points. :) This thread has been very helpful, thanks again.

Thanks! I have not looked at KONOS at all, so I will do that now. I'm in Lubbock, so quite a drive yet from Austin!

Cross posted from the K-8 curriculum board. This is our second year homeschooling, my DS just turned 8 and is going into 2nd grade. He will have some catching up to do tho from last year. I started off with Sonlight Core B last year, Saxon 1 Phonics, Saxon Math 1, Apologia Exploring Creation through Astronomy. It was too much, WAY too much and we never got it all done in a day. We muttled through it tho, until I got pregnant in late October and was seriously sick until Dec. In Jan we moved from NM back to TX. My son shows all traits of ADHD and some very Autistic traits but we do not have a diagnosis. We currently handle it with diet, it usually works well but sometimes it does not. He has an intense hatred of rote memorization. Saxon was far from a good fit for us. It took too long, was too repetitive and he absolutely hated phonics. In the Spring, I enrolled him in Explode the Code Online. This worked well for a month or so and then again, he was bored and it was repetitive. Once this child decides he won't do something, there is nothing and I mean NOTHING that will change his mind or motivate him to do it. I've tried it all, believe me. Saxon math was the same, he hated it. I tried Life of Fred, and BINGO he's learning, he's engaged and he's happy. Sonlight was just too much. He is not an auditory learner, so listenting to me read for the bulk of his day was useless and it took me reading the same thing 7 or 8 times for it to even remotely sink in. Pure frustration. We finished the year out just letting him read, and enjoying Life of Fred together. The rest just fell apart. He is a visual/kinesthetic learner mostly. I just saw the term "visual spacial" today and much of that fits for him. His long term memory is outstanding, he's quick to pick up on big ideas and tasks but still counts on his fingers for 2+3. He has his own routine, and when it's messed with it is not a happy situation. So I need something that will create routine, but not repetitive. Does that make sense? We will continue with Life of Fred. I was thinking something like Lifepac, that is somewhat all in one but smaller and not overwhelming at once. He is a very good reader, and his reading comprehension is great. I need something I can create a schedule for him with so there are no changes to his day to throw him into a downward spiral. He's very punctual, he likes to know exactly what time such and such is happening, how long it will take, what time we leave and what time we will be home. If the plan is altered, he has a difficult time adapting to the plan and continuing to function. I also have a 3 1/2 yearold girl to entertain, and a 6 weekold baby. I know we can be successful and enjoy homeschooling, but I am having a very hard time figuring out what curriculum to use. Unschooling is appealing to me, but he needs the structure. Our styles are nearly opposite and last year, we clashed.

Thanks for this post and all the links! I'll look into all of them and see what pops :) MFW has been mentioned a few times here, I'll be looking at it for sure! I love the whiteboard idea. I've been looking at cutsie schedule ideas on pinterest, but simple may be better! I love your scheduling too. A week off every 6 sounds good for us. Altho I'm only planning on "school" 4 days a week so we'll see what happens. We used some spectrum workbooks long ago, before kindy, and he didnt like them. But now he seems more atune to smaller workbooks than big text books. Which is why we've been looking at Lifepacs. I also love that THEY checked off the list. Last year I made a die with rewards on it, for each completed subject that day he got to roll the die and do the activity. 10 minutes of lego.com, or 15 minutes outside without his little sister etc. I will cross post this on the SN board, I was not aware of it. Thank-you! Thanks for this, you're absolutely right that his anxiety was extremely high. He also *may* have suffered a mild concussion in October, right about the time I got pregnant. He doesnt do well with major change, and this was our 3rd move in 2 years. It was a lot for all of us to handle. Thankfully he seems to have moved past his anger at moving, and thinking about new friends now. We're closer to family and have no intentions of moving again anytime soon. I have taken him to a pedi neuro, and he immediately offered meds, and said he certainly has all the characteristcs of ADHD, but not an official diagnosis. I've had to postpone the followup and testing because of medical bills from the baby. He has an appt with an ADHD counselor in Sept. We dont want to medicate him. You're right about not switching when he digs in his heels, he needs to learn to be a finisher. We had the same struggles the entire year, and I finally realized after the move and my head cleared, that I'd chosen curriculums based on what I liked growing up homeschooling. I chose based on my style and knowledge, not his. It was a very very difficult decision to change anything mid year because I didnt want him to learn to quit. But when somethings not working, and you've tried literally standing on your head to engage him, its not working. I've spent the summer having taken a step back and observing him. It was eye opening to say the least. I can't force him. That is just not his personality, he goes into competitive or anger mode and would quite literally rather be in a corner for hours than pick up 2 toys if he doesnt want to. It's extremely challenging. I have found some ways to motivate him tho, and there are always consequences when he acts like that. It is thankfully not all the time like it was, he has settled down some. This is why I'm really trying to research more in depth what HE needs and make it work. It has just as much to do with my attitude as it does his. Thank-you everyone for your responses, I'm exploring all the suggestions today. Calvert I'm afraid won't be an option, we don't have the budget for it.

This is our second year homeschooling, my DS just turned 8 and is going into 2nd grade. He will have some catching up to do tho from last year. I started off with Sonlight Core B last year, Saxon 1 Phonics, Saxon Math 1, Apologia Exploring Creation through Astronomy. It was too much, WAY too much and we never got it all done in a day. We muttled through it tho, until I got pregnant in late October and was seriously sick until Dec. In Jan we moved from NM back to TX. My son shows all traits of ADHD and some very Autistic traits but we do not have a diagnosis. He has an intense hatred of rote memorization. Saxon was far from a good fit for us. It took too long, was too repetitive and he absolutely hated phonics. In the Spring, I enrolled him in Explode the Code Online. This worked well for a month or so and then again, he was bored and it was repetitive. Once this child decides he won't do something, there is nothing and I mean NOTHING that will change his mind or motivate him to do it. I've tried it all, believe me. Saxon math was the same, he hated it. I tried Life of Fred, and BINGO he's learning, he's engaged and he's happy. Sonlight was just too much. He is not an auditory learner, so listenting to me read for the bulk of his day was useless and it took me reading the same thing 7 or 8 times for it to even remotely sink in. Pure frustration. We finished the year out just letting him read, and enjoying Life of Fred together. The rest just fell apart. He is a visual/kinesthetic learner mostly. I just saw the term "visual spacial" today and much of that fits for him. His long term memory is outstanding, he's quick to pick up on big ideas and tasks but still counts on his fingers for 2+3. He has his own routine, and when it's messed with it is not a happy situation. So I need something that will create routine, but not repetitive. Does that make sense? We will continue with Life of Fred. I was thinking something like Lifepac, that is somewhat all in one but smaller and not overwhelming at once. He is a very good reader, and his reading comprehension is great. I need something I can create a schedule for him with so there are no changes to his day to throw him into a downward spiral. He's very punctual, he likes to know exactly what time such and such is happening, how long it will take, what time we leave and what time we will be home. If the plan is altered, he has a difficult time adapting to the plan and continuing to function. I also have a 3 1/2 yearold girl to entertain, and a 6 weekold baby. I know we can be successful and enjoy homeschooling, but I am having a very hard time figuring out what curriculum to use. Unschooling is appealing to me, but he needs the structure. Our styles are nearly opposite and last year, we clashed.

About how long does a lesson take you with All About Reading? I looked at the website, and he passes the qualifiers for level 2 pretty easily. Saxon is taking us an hour or more to complete a lesson, and the book itself says it will take 45-an hour.

I am leaning very much toward switching at this point, and have no idea what to look at, so your suggestion is most welcome. I mostly went with Saxon because I was so familiar with the math, as its what we used when I was homeschooled. I want him to have a solid phonetic foundation. Today he wrote a sign to hang on our new school room wall, he wrote "fonix is terabl" I had to laugh, one at his phonetic spelling of phonics and terrible, but that he could communicate so clearly how he feels about it. He seems to dread it so much that its difficult to accomplish anything in phonics, or in anything else. I've been using a puppet that helped for a couple of days, but today.... it didnt work as well.

HELP! This is our first year hsing. Its been rough, but we were holding our own until I got pregnant and very sick. Then we moved. We pretty much had our summer vacation in Nov/Dec. We've started back this week and he's making it VERY well known that he hates phonics. He's reading quite well on his own, he can sound things out easily. The code work honestly seems un-necessary altho the phonemic awareness built in has been helpful. He says it takes too long, its boring and its too much work. It;s not "fun." Some of this is attitude that needs addressed, maybe some of it is my technique. But could changing to a different phonics program help? We also have Saxon math, and he does fight some with it, but as its much more hands on for him he likes it much better. FWIW, he is borderline ADHD and has an extremely hard time doing seat work unless its art or something he LIKES. I want phonics to be something he likes. I don't really know what to do at this point. The move has been difficult for him as well. Altho we are closer to our family, we left his best friend, who has not returned his call. We moved less than 2 weeks ago. By the end of the day I'm pulling my hair out. This cannot be good for any of us, as part of the point in hsing is to remove the stressful learning environment. Thats not the case right now. I realize that its just going to take some time to get back into a routine that works, but honestly the problems with phonics were there before. He just wasnt as loud and blatant about hating it. I'm trying to listen and make changes, but what? I am frustrated and I KNOW he is.