We have a Korean and Japanese exchange student for a month through 4-H. They gave us small thoughtful gifts that express their countries. We gave them small welcome gifts, but they gave several gifts, also thoughtful ones, and we wanted to think of something representative of the country as a whole. We have some ideas and some nice local stores with local state themed gifts, but I am looking for ideas for the country as a whole. These will be for when they leave so I have time to think about it and plan. Anything good on Amazon is double bonus points, then I don't have to shop for it!! We are also planning on making a photo book for each of them and getting them some t-shirts, they both like American t-shirts.

Any good phonics program will work as long as it does not include too many sight words taught as wholes. My hundreds of remedial students have all suffered from guessing habits from incomplete phonics instruction and sight words taught as wholes. I have a page explaining how and why to teach all but 2 of the 220 Dolch words with phonics: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html

I have 20+ phonics pograms and have tutored remedial phonics for 23 years. My favorite free phonics program is available from Don Potter, Word Mastery, goes to a 3rd grade level. Favorite cheap program, Phonics Pathways, goes to a 4th grade level. With my remedial students, I use Blend Phonics, free, for basic words, goes to a 1st grade level, and Webster's Speller, 12th grade level. With my kids, I used a basic phonics program like Phonics Pathways for the basics followed by Webster's Speller for multi-syllable words. My blending page and beginning reading page have cheap and free ideas to make learning the basics fun. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/newstudents.html http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/blendingwords.html

This is the foodsaver I have, $89 at Amazon, may be cheaper at Walmart. It works great! https://www.amazon.com/FoodSaver-Vacuum-Sealing-System-Starter/dp/B0044XDA3S/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1501018804&sr=1-3&keywords=foodsaver

If you get a foodsaver, 6 months to a year, plus the things lay flat and take up less room. Otherwide, a few months, the less airspace in your container, the longer it will stay good. My dad routinely finds foodsavers for a few dollars at yard sales, they are $80 new I think, it has been a while since I bought one.

There is usually a lot of that type of clothing at thrift stores and consignment stores for a bit cheaper, but compare new too, thrift store prices vary, some are almost as high as new, it depends on the area.

6 and 5 can do sandwiches and microwave soup. They can also set the table, 2 year old can help with napkins, maybe bring the utensils to the table for the older kids to set up. Start training now!

I really liked SingaporeK, and used Singapore all the eay through 6th grade. My daughter needed a lot of hands on work, she did Right Start games and abacus as well, my son was fine with just Singapore K, he is naturally mathy and she is not. You can see samples online, and it is not that expensive. The full Right Start is expensive, but just the games and abacus and activities for abacus are reasonable.

I would look into local First lego league, robotics, YMCA programs geared to geeky interests, and swimming and karate. Find a bunch of options and pick the one he likes the most. If you are in a state with rural areas, 4-H may also have some good geeky options. We had trouble with my son breaking in here, he usually finds a ton of friends super fast, he found some friends at a 4-H first lego league. 4-H now offers a lot more than they used to, they have branched out from animals and sewing.

How old are your other children? Some how to cook/how to chop lessons over the summer if they are older, younger they can be trained to make sandwiches and microwave soup.

:grouphug: No recommendation, just a short story to share: We had friends who adopted, she is normally the sweetest thing but she got so annoyed with the breast feeding shaming that she got snarky with her answers, I forget her exact reply but, sadly, she had a pat snarky answer by the end. Good luck! It was harder than I thought, too, it seems like it should be natural and easy but I had problems with my first and needed help and hints from friends.

You can teach the basics of an OG program for under $30 by using the Recipe for Reading manual and doing the lessons on a white board. You can follow up with Sophris West Rewards after a few years for higher level OG phonics, it is $100 for teachers manual plus $20 for student workbook, but you can sometimes find teacher books used. Not as easy to use as Barton, but pretty easy and a lot cheaper. ETA: The Recipe for Reading manual's cost has gone down, it is now under $20 at Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/Recipe-Reading-Revised-Expanded-Traub/dp/0838805051/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1500314760&sr=8-1&keywords=recipe+for+reading I personally think it is better and more interactive to not buy the workbooks and just teach from a whiteboard and with magnetic letters or scrabble/banannagram tiles. Another book I own, Back on the Right Track Reading, suggests buying a small box of kitchen or bathroom tiles at a local hardware store and writing on them with a sharpie to make your own tiles, then you can have a single tile for sh, ch, oa, ai, etc.

I have tutored hundreds of remedial students over the last 23 years. Most of them have been at least 2 grades below grade level. I have developed materials targeted for older students and adults that work much faster than a normal phonics program. First, I would screen for a phonemic awareness problem, that would have to be fixed with something like LiPS first before phonics could work, here is a free test: https://www.spelfabet.com.au/2013/02/free-phonological-awareness-test/ Even if there is not a phonemic awareness problem, it is good to understand the basics of how sounds blend, see the "Allophones and Approximations" section of my blending page, have her and her mom look at the lego block sound pictures with you so they understand what is going on with blending: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/blendingwords.html Next, some reading diagnostic tests and some grade level tests, along with the material I use with my remedial students, the average student gains 1.7 reading grade levels after completion, about 10 hours of work, all free to print, I would print and use with her: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html If there is a slowdown of more than 10% on the MWIA, you will want to do the nonsense words instead of regular words and also the optional nonsense word document. Give the MWIA I, linked on Don Potter's page, not the MWIA 3, the MWIA 3 is for someone reading at the 2nd grade level or above. She isn't reading well enough to do the silent reading speed test, so skip that. You can try the NRRF test but she probably will score at grade level 0 on that. You need to do the MWIA I and the 40L Quick Screen Reading Grade Level Test. I would work daily on the phonograms on the 40L Vowel and Consonant chart, and have her review it at home daily once she learns how to use it. Then, she can use it for reference when reading. You can watch how to use it by watching Don's Video about charts that are similar, also watch the other pre-reading videos for ideas in case there are problems in these areas that need to be covered: She and her mom can watch through my online phonics lessons at home together: http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/phonicslsnslinks.html If she gains at least a half grade level in a few months after working through all that, just repeat the Syllables Spell Success program and my online phonics lessons and add more Webster 2+ syllable word tables and supplemental phonics resources. If she gains less than that, there may be a vision problem or dyslexia, if there is dyslexia, the cheapest OG program to buy is just the manual for Recipe for Reading, although with shipping to Australia a more expensive program that offers an electronic option may be cheaper. You can do the whole Recipe for Reading program from the manual with a white board or chalkboard. For math, I would start with the online assessment from Letsgolearn, it also has a bit of free remediation from Khan academy, you will have to do more, but it is a start and also a good way to identify areas that need work. You want the ADAM K-7, it is US $25. I would do 20 minutes of the test a day and do not allow her to answer "I don't know," have her guess instead, it can cut off areas that you know if your sequence does not match and you say "I don't know." Also, you want to sit and see where the errors are, the explanations on the report are thorough but not always totally understandable unless you watch the test. https://www.letsgolearn.com/lglsite/ADAM_math/parents/ ETA: It is a bit on the young side, but I like Read, Write, Type for learning phonics basics in a fun way, it also teaches typing, she can try the first few lessons for free and see if they want to purchase. Most of the other online phonics programs promote guessing and sight words to some degree. http://www.talkingfingers.com/read-write-type/ You can also make an extra copy of my phonics concentration game for her and her mom to play with my one page 40L Vowel and Consonant chart once they watch through my online lessons together and have the basics mastered, the extra practice will help with speed and fluency of reading.

Here is an hour long YouTube explaining it. He also has a book called "Reading in the Brain." https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MSy685vNqYk

Word Mastery is free to print from Don Potter. You could also do a bit of syllables with Webster and then do some 2 syllable words to get that feeling of progress.

When i teach my group phonics classes, I save the games for the end when they are tired of seat work, it also extends the attention span a bit. The last game is a crazy run around relay race game that requires little volunteer help so the rest can clean up the facility and gather up the student folders. White board work is also good with individual students, but easily distractible students, I hold their white board markers when they are not writing.

If there is an Ethopian grocery in the area, they should have injira, make sure it is 100% teff flour, it makes a yummy bread alternative. It is basically sourdough teff bread/pancake. Corn tortillas with chicken, ground turkey, beans, etc. Leftover dinner, microwaveable. I would search garage sales for a food saver, my dad finds them for $1, they are $100 new, easy to transport food, takes up less space. You do need to bring tupperware to cook in. You can bring your own toaster. I bring what my husband calls an "easy bake oven" for on the road cooking, I will find the link and add, it is a car powered oven that fits a small rectangular pan, cover with aluminum foil, most things cook in 20 to 30 minutes. When I travel, I bring my meals frozen in food saver bags and bring for each meal a gallon ziplock bag with a paper plate, disposable fork and spoon, and some napkins. Good snacks are gluten free seed and fruit mixes, fruit, gluten free granola. Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Fred Meyer, and the large Asian store in Renton, I forgot its name, all have good gluten free sections. Here is the portable car oven, it works well for the price. You can also find them at large truck stops off the highway, like a Flying J or a Loves. https://www.amazon.com/RoadPro-12-Volt-Portable-Stove-Black/dp/B00030DLEE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499662803&sr=8-1&keywords=portable+car+oven

Interesting, my son just did the same, but the difference was made up from lawn mowing at grandpa's house for the last few months. I am considering buying him a game, he did work hard. Since he was buying himself, we ordered online, the X-box was $10 cheaper online from Gamestop than in store. The guy at the counter could not believe it and looked it up himself, he did not realize the price difference. He gave us the store credit rate and a card with a code to redeem online.

I would use blend phonics with Don's cards, run back and forth to get them, go on a walk and do a card every minute, make a few full page and shoot darts at them, relay race to grab cards and sound them out, treasure hunt hide them with hints around the house, sound them out when you find them. http://www.donpotter.net/pdf/blend_phonics_spelling.pdf http://www.donpotter.net/education_pages/blend_phonics.html You can carry a few around in your purse and do some when stuck out and about. My blending page has some more ideas about how to mix it up and make sounding out words more fun and interactive. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/blendingwords.html

I'm going to try my first Livestream on my Youtube channel tomorrow, 29 Jun 2017, 2:00 Mountain Time (4:00 Eastern, 1:00 Pacific). I'll talk about Webster's Speller then take phonics and spelling questions!

Your second grader could watch through my online phonics lessons this summer, any that are over 20 minutes split into 2 parts. Then, OPG or PP are both easy to accelerate through, or for free, Word Mastery, OPG and PP go to a 4th grade level, Word Mastery to a 3rd grade level. You could also try my syllables spell success, a fun way to quickly go through the phonics basics and get a start on Webster. http://www.thephonicspage.org/Phonics%20Lsns/phonicslsnslinks.html http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

My bingo and language worksheets are a fun supplement whatever you decide: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html

Don Potter hasn't updated his YouTube channel for a while, had problems accessing it, so just started a new one, moving all his old videos to the new one. He has also been making new ones with a new document camera he has. He has one on Noah Webster's syllabary, he goes through all the syllables. His old YouTube channel is still there, he just won't be adding new videos to it, he'll add all new videos to his new YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrE2sfPXJZv4sS_cmxfP7Dg

One could at 4, the other 8. They were quite different. I have a lot of experience teaching phonics, too and used the same methods for both of them, lthough I had to use a lot more programs with my son for my sanity--I use different programs when reviewing phonics basics with my remedial students, too, so I can pretend I am not teaching the same thing over and over. I never tire of Webster and Blend Phonics , though, I alternate them and other good programs.

For natural spellers, K-6 words with rules, Spelling plus by Susan C. Anthony. She has free some Dictation sentences online. The book Natural Speller has 1 - 8 grade words but no rules. You could also do some of the activities from my Syllables Spell Success program, all free to print: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/syllablesspellsu.html For extra worksheets for older students, I like Marcia Henry's Words, the CD comes with and it allows you to make as many free copies of each worksheet as you have students in class, and as many classes as you have, so the investment is worth it. It used to be $25 without the CD. http://www.proedinc.com/customer/productView.aspx?ID=989