Disclaimer: Mine is just a 7th grader, not sophomore, but this is something I've been struggling with too. I realize this is an extremely simplistic partial-answer to a complex question, but I recently got the book unJournaling. It's just a collection of writing prompts with a fun or creative bent. It won't teach how to write or grammar or anything particularly vital, but it DOES seem to be opening my 7th grader up to the writing process. It is NOT our writing/grammar program (we use Hake), just an extra something to loosen up the whole thing. Like SailorMom, I have trouble teaching writing because I picked up good writing methods from the books I would devour. My 11 year old daughter, also a bookworm, is also an excellent writer. Her 13 year old older brother, OTOH, has a really difficult time. Reading is difficult and he avoids it whenever possible. So, by extension he has never picked up those natural writing tendencies. It has always been a struggle. He can recite grammar rules and diagram sentences, for example, but when putting it into practice in his writing, there seems to be a complete disconnect. His spelling is atrocious, he forgets words, he puts punctuation in completely arbitrary locations...It drives me crazy. His sister stands behind him when he's emailing friends so she can make sure he's saying what he thinks he's saying! lol Til now it has always been a fight getting him to write. A natural story-teller, he likes the creative process, but the transfer onto paper is painful. unJournaling, however, has been fun. Truly. His journal is in an OO document (since his handwriting is completely illegible). He types his 2-3 paragraph response and then goes off and does something else. Later, we sit down together and read this thing. I make him read it to me, so he can see how difficult it is to pick through as is. Then we go about fixing everything. I make him leave the original and we just paste another copy directly below it. I want him to be able to see his progress. And because of the brevity and fun topics, he doesn't seem to fight the dissection of his work like his does his English papers. We'll see how long the novelty lasts, though. ;)

On the contrary, schools try to get kids qualified for any label they can. They get more funding! And even if I didn't have to drive about 200 miles to a specialist's office, we really can't afford such a thing anyway... But yep, we do the same thing with word "chunks," too. -tion, for example, just came up in a word today. I can't even remember what the word was, but he blew through it, said some nonsense word and I made him take it apart. "Well it ends in -tion." Yeah, but you need to look at the pieces of the rest of it, too. lol LilyGrace, Maybe I'm missing something, but how is writing info on a notecard any different than writing it on paper? Even in younger years, a topic like states of matter, for example, should be more than a single day's topic...

Thanks for the reply, Kristy. :) He has had a basic LD battery run back in early elem. He had speech delays so it was standard protocol to run other language tests. It all came back low-normal but just watching him grow, it's obvious speech was a reflection of other language problems. (He's actually really good at math. He intuitively picks things up. He just doesn't like doing it.) At 13, he hasn't had speech problems in years, instead, it's now all in his reading/writing. "Big" words will throw him. He just looks and guesses. When I catch him, I'll have him go back, re-read, break into smaller pieces, use phonics rules, etc. When it's just in silent reading, though, who knows what I'm missing! Like I said, he's a bright kid, so he tends to choose a lot of non-fiction science-y type books that are packed full of "big words." Reading aloud is difficult too, obviously, as there are multiple language pieces in the brain that now have to be used at the same time... Because his handwriting is so bad, we're really working at keyboarding. I want him to get to where he can type as fast as he thinks. But where note booking also does a lot of hand written work, I'm wondering if this is a good fit. I don't want him to hang up in the writing process though, just because his hand writing is bad, KWIM?

did i put this in the wrong place?

Basic background-- We have two kids, DD is in 5th, DS in 7th. We just re-started HSing DS after Christmas (we HSed his 3rd and 4th grade years following a sub-standard school, but moved just before 5th, so started him in a new district and he was happy. ...Til 7th grade that is. Anyone remember Jr Hi?) We do Sonlight, Saxon and Holt Science, a secular program, all of which we used in our first HS bout. He's a bright kid, but he has language issues. Spelling is appalling, handwriting is nearly illegible, and he gets more information from things that are read to him rather than that which he has to read to himself. On the bright side, he has a good grasp of grammar and mechanics. I also have a really strong suspicion that he has ADD. So I'm trying to decide: How do I get this kid turned on to school? :unsure: He knows he does well with Saxon so far as learning information, (in fact that was one of his complaints with public school was the lousy math series and that he didn't have as good of a grasp...) But he "hates math." He rarely hates science. Even on days when it's nothing but reading and response type of work, he just loves science enough to carry him through. He's also enough of a history nerd that whatever I throw at him so far as that goes is OK, too. But just OK. He hates to read, so any literature tends to be difficult (we do Audible whenever possible. He's very much an auditory kid). I went with Sonlight in hopes that the real-books aspect would be appealing rather than SO much textbook work. It did wonders in the younger years, anyway... Then I tripped over notebooking and thought ah-hah! A new panacea! Has anyone had luck using a notebooking approach within their curricula with kids like DS, who hates to read and has trouble with writing? The teacher in me says anything a child is struggling with they obviously need to practice more, so it could be a good fit... Someone please give me some thoughts... :confused1: