I don't know what kind of relationship you have with the parents. I'd just start a relaxed conversation about it and say something like, "Wow, I had no idea. He seems to hide (or deal with) it well. I would have never known. What clued you in to needing a evaluation?" I wouldn't make it a big thing at all, but just start a normal conversation with family about a recent diagnosis. I'd say the above to almost any family member and it would be perfectly acceptable. Maybe your family is different. Hugs to you since I'm sure this is upsetting.

I would definitely start...and I did! :D We school year round (July 1 - June 30), but we finished last year's stuff in mid-June. Originally, I was going wait till mid-July to start again because I just felt like I needed a break. Well, after a week, my kids starting asking and asking. I ended up starting on the fly on July1st. It went great and is going great. For our family, we need the routine and school keeps us busy. Without it, the kids flounder around and bug me and end up bickering. School is better. :thumbup1: I say start tomorrow...you can start slow to ease in the one who doesn't care, but I'd go for it. Or, tell him tomorrow that you are starting on Tuesday so he has a day warning. Either way, I'd get started this week. Good luck!

Thanks, Everyone!! I'm having it spiral bound so it will lay flat. If I just removed the student pages, I'll have a big hole in the book between the teacher pages and the back of the cover of book or if I cut that part off completely, no back cover at all. That isn't what I'm looking for since I have 5 younger kids and need it to last for years. I'm going to use the front and back cover as the front and back of a spiral bound book with just the teacher portion. It's no trouble to have it cut off...$1.50 at Staples where I need to go anyway. :) I'm not totally sure what I want to do with the student pages. We don't use them. I don't really want them in a binder because I don't like binders. I don't like loose leaf papers. So, I'm thinking I'll bind those separately. If I ever decide to use them, like for my 5 younger kids, I don't mind making copies of spiral bound books. So, that's what I'm leaning toward even though it would probably be better to leave them loose or 3-hole punch for copying.

When you have your WWE workbook's spine cut off to bind it (or 3-hole punch), do you take out the perforated student pages first or let them cut through those too? I was going to leave them and let them cut the whole thing, but now I'm wondering if I need to take those out first. I'm planning to split it into two bound books: teacher manual and student sheets...if that matters. Thanks!

I know I'm strange, but I want to use them together. I want the better HIG that comes with the standards ed. but I prefer the US. We used US for 1a and b. I have standard for 2a, but I also have the 2a US text book because I got such an awesome deal on all the US text books. I have 2b workbook and IP and text. So, I'm thinking of going back to US for 2b. Really, I'm just really not settled on what I want yet. I feel like I need to use both (with both types of HIG's before I can decided...1a and 1b are made by Singapore and much more like the standards guides than the US. What can I say...I'm indecisive when it comes to math, but I'm trying hard to decide and stick with it. LOL!

I don't have much experience and so I haven't responded, but this is what I would do also. Start with the sorter passages and just comprehension questions that are in WWE1. Do that copywork to build confidence and to learn or cement sentence structure better. Then, she will be more confident going forward and more able to focus on the new skill of dictation rather than several new skills at once. Also, specifically because you said she had only done "some" copywork, I really think it might be helpful to go back to WWE1, even if you do it quickly by skipping some or doing more than one day at a time, or even starting it halfway through. Good luck! :)

I know someone posted a site that listed books by reading level. I can't find it again. :( Obviously, I should have bookmarked it. :tongue_smilie: Can anyone give me a link? Thanks!

My kids were the same. We school year round, but I was feeling the need for a break. We finished our last "year" stuff mid-June. I had decided to break till July 15th to give us a month...rather, give *me* a month. After about a week they started asking when we were going to start the new stuff. We ended up starting July 1st instead of July 15th, which gave us 2wks off instead of 4. Silly kids...loving school...they must have an awesome teacher! :lol:

Voted 3 with at least one infant/toddler. I have a 2nd grader, twin K'ers. I also have twin 3 year olds. I do often include them in our projects and I do prep things just for them fairly often too, but they aren't really students. I also have a 9 month old. I too notice that the advice changes. I read and consider all advice, but those with several children who are older than mine and with large families are the ones that tend to resonate with me the most. Life is different with a big family. :D

The above is exactly me. I was just talking to my husband last night about my recent thoughts on me being undiagnosed dyslexic. He thinks I'm nuts, but whatever. LOL!! Anyway, I've only been HS'ing for a little over 2 years and my oldest is 7. I'm much better at reading out loud than I used to be. It comes with practice. Just keep at it. :thumbup1:

Can you get TWTM at your library to borrow until yours comes? If you want to do TWTM, I would wait until you have the book and then flip the grade you are going to be doing and outline for yourself what you need to do using the condensed lists at the back of that chapter....so, for 2nd grade for my son, I flipped to the end of the grammar section where it lists the suggestions for how much time to spend on each thing for each grade. Then, I wrote that down for 2nd grade with any tweaking that I felt it needed. After that, flip to the chapter on each subject and look through the curriculum recommendations and start researching which one you want. If you already know, write that down next to the subject and the amount of time you already have noted. Keep doing that till all subjects are filled with a time goal and a curriculum choice to use...and there you have it, a WTM plan. :) The above is exactly what I did. However, I'll tell you, I'm a MFW user and lover. I LOVE it. I tweak it a lot, but I love it just the same. :lol: I add in and tweak where needed. I have a stronger classical bent than MFW does. I tend to skip the more CM type stuff...like the Friday nature walk. (My kids get plenty of nature though. ;)) So, I take what they give me, that I love, and I tweak it to fit. We are doing 2nd this year. I have not done this with the higher grades because he is my oldest. But, I'm using FLL instead of PLL and I've added in WWE, which means I have to tweak a bit not to do too much copywork, but it's easy to do that. I try hard to beef up the content both in history and science with book basket. (But, I have 6 kids 7 and under and only so much time. ;)) This year we have also added Apologia Flying Creatures because I don't care for the little Usborne books. But, we are doing a little of both for science. I've found that MFW really is classical at heart. Of course, if the reason is more content than method, it completely makes sense to change. At any rate, if you outline what you "need" to do using TWTM book, you can use that as a jumping off point to plan the year. Until you get the book, you can start with anything you already know is going to be recommended, Peace Hill Press books, like SOTW, FLL and WWE. Good luck! :)

Year round, but we go July to June. So, we start a new grade/year/program/whatever July 1st or shortly thereafter.

It didn't even occur to me to cut it in half! Great idea!! And, I absolutely love the idea of putting things on the dividers like letter formation charts. Just today my son was asking me how to form a letter and I couldn't show him on the chart because where he was sitting at the table it was backwards (and under my daughter since it's under plexiglass on the table :)). That would be awesome to have it right there. Thanks for the ideas!

Whoa! I couldn't do that either. We live in a fairly small town. I find out library to be impressive relative to the size of the town. In fact, for over a year after moving here, I drove 45 minutes to the one where we used to live because I assumed the one here stunk without even trying it. :blush: Turns out it's pretty decent. Anyway, we can check out 99 books per card. So, we could have out 792 if we all had cards. We could never check out that many ;), but we usually have out 50-60 or a little more. I think we have 65 right now.

I'm looking for a way to have my twins sit at the table together but not be able to see each other's work. We don't have desks right now. One is a little farther along in her reading/phonics skills and the other in math. Both will sort of look to the other for "inspiration." :lol: The problem with that is I can't assess how well they are getting it or learning if they are getting from their twin. Right now what I do is put up a binder between them. It's sort of bulky and annoying. I'd like to have some sort of smallish partition or table divider. I'm thinking of like a tri-fold cardboard type shape, but not that big. Anyone know of anything like that? And, just to answer before it comes up, I can't really teach them separately. I also have a 2nd grader, twin 3 year olds and a 9 month old. My teaching time is very limited. So, I have to have them at the table together even though I do often focus on one at a time. Ideas? Thanks!!

This sounds great! We tried xtramath.com and my son hated it after a few days. :( We haven't drilled much since then because I was unsure of how to approach it. So, I appreciate the above explanation. We are still working on addition and subtraction. Actually, he knows his addition just because he does, but he needs work on the subtraction. Questions for you: How many do you start with at a time? If you are supposed to start very few, which makes total sense to me, how do you do 40/minute? Repeat? Do 20/30 seconds? As you are adding more, is your goal to do 40 at a time, then as you take the mastered ones out you add in new but keep the number you are working on at 40? I'm probably not making sense or missing the obvious. Sorry, I'm still somewhat new to HS'ing and struggle with how to teach math even though I'm not bad at it. *sigh* Thanks!

Thanks for this! I'm in VA and never even heard of this. *blush* I bookmarked it so I can look into going. :D

I'm not totally sure at what stage of reading it's acceptable to stop formal phonics instruction, but my son reads similarly and I'm not doing any formal phonics in 2nd this year. He used MFW 1st last year and all the phonics rules were taught. What I'm doing is just reviewing. I'm having him read aloud to me every few days and we review any phonics rules he needs to as we come across them and they trip him up. It seems to be working well. Another thing you could do is go over those phonics rules covered in ETC 6 informally. Look at what they are and basically just tell her "aw" says /aw/ like in saw. Then put a few words up on a white board or piece of paper and have him read them to practice that rule. (just an example I thought of, probably already taught) Remind her of that one for a few days then move onto another. I bought OPGTR just for reference for me. I'm going to look through the end of book and see if there are any rules he missed. If so, I'll do what I said above to teach him quickly and move along. Good luck!

I asked a friend (on another forum) who I knew had bought that paper. It's newprint type. She says she likes it, but I'll probably just stick with printing it. I really haven't ever come across any newsprint handwriting paper that I like. :( Anyway, at least now we know. :)

I don't know since I haven't ordered it. It's why I've been hesitant too. I really don't like the newsprint paper either...that is a great description. I've been trying to figure out how to describe it. Thanks for that! Anyway, I figured it might be worth the risk at only $6 total with shipping and I can return it to Wal-Mart if I don't like it and end up only out $1. But, I haven't taken the plunge. I still print it from ZB's site. I know it would end up cheaper to order it though.

This is what I do. You can also get it cheap from Wal-Mart....here....http://www.walmart.com/ip/Pacon-Multi-Program-Handwriting-Paper-1-2-Long-Rule-White-500sheets-pk/16671270 It has $.97 shipping too. That just reminded me I wanted to get some. They also have the blank top from Wal-Mart you can order. :)

I think I should frame this and put it on my fridge! So true, yet so easy to forget. I liked your 4 rules too. :D

I understand what you are saying...sorry if I got off topic. I can't clean or do anything during school time other than school. The house has to wait. If I get distracted...which I do easily, like right now :glare:...anyway, if I get distracted, the kids do too and we get nothing done. So, I have to focus. I try to pick up before we start and after and then after the kids go to bed, but much of the time, it's just a mess. :lol: and :crying: and :cursing:

This makes me giggle. If I go one day without mopping my kitchen, it literally looks like I haven't mopped in weeks...literally, I'm not exaggerating. Before I had all these kids, it would have taken at least 3 months to get as bad as it does in one day now. I have 6 kids all 7 and under. The floor gets bad very quickly! Same with vacuuming the main living areas (family room basically). My kids do help me, but it definitely takes a LOT more than an hour at my house. And, it is often faster and less stressful without help. LOL! Although, I know you are addressing OP. Different families, different needs. Very good point about having OP's children pitch in!

I've read pieces of this thread. I really struggle with keeping the house picked up. It isn't about keeping it company ready, although I would like that. It's about keeping it picked up enough to function in and not stress me out. *sigh* I have 6 kids all 7 and under, including a 7 year old, twin 5 year olds, twin 3 year olds and a 9 month old. My husband works 6 days a week most days and is gone from 7am to 6-7pm. I homeschool my oldest for 2nd and my twin 5 years for K. It's a struggle. I am working on it and I am getting better. One of my biggest problems is that when my house gets too messy, I shut down. I get overwhelmed and I don't know where to start and I just shut down. That can include school too. I can't work because it's too messy and I can't clean because I don't know where to start. I'm working on that too. I have learned the importance of teaching your children to help. Even 2 and 3 year olds can do it. You just have to put in the effort it takes to teach them...and it takes a LOT of effort for some kids. Most days, I have the kids each pick up a room. We have 3 areas on the main level and each of the olders do one. My 3 year olds help out with what I ask them to do. The room that doesn't get included in this is the playroom, which is often the worst. But, the older 3 don't play in there much, if at all. It's the 3 year olds' mess. Unfortunately, I don't have time to help them do it. So, it gets gradually worse and worse until it is so bad it can't be played in and then the house follows suite because the toys are out of control. (Yes, I need to get rid of some toys. That is a problem for me too....6 kids, 5 boys, generous grandparents = we have a LOT, too many, toys. I'm gradually making trips to GoodWill. :) Anyway, assigning each child a room and having them all help me with the picking up and basic jobs is helpful. If we did this 2x's a day, it would make a huge difference. But, it's still a lot of effort on my part to make them do it...so we are lucky to do it just once a day. To those who said, your house is probably better than you think if you worry about it, mine isn't. It's a crazy mess most of the time. :( And, to the person who said they don't notice dust in other people's corners or unmopped/vacuumed floors...I do. :blushing: I just notice these details. Maybe that is why when people come to my house, I clean my guest bathroom, sweep and mop my kitchen floor and vacuum my lower level just before they arrive....like literally, even if it was done the day before, I do it again within 2 hrs of them arriving. Crazy, I know! :o Honestly though, even though I notice, I seriously don't judge people who have a little dust in the corners or haven't mopped the floor. For me, other people's dust and unvacuumed family room makes me feel better about my own house. I've been known to pull my husband aside and point it out to him because he often thinks our house is dirty, which it is not. It's messy, not dirty. Lived in houses aren't perfect even if they are more picked up than ours. I like him to know that since he feels the need to compare. :tongue_smilie: I do have a question for some of you: For those that swish and wipe your bathrooms daily, what actual cleaning tools do you use? When I clean my bathrooms, I use a rag, even for my toilet. (I don't use that rag to clean anything else afterward ;)) That way, I can toss it in the washing machine. I wouldn't really want to do that daily. Do you use some type of scrub brush that sits next to the toilet in one of those holders? I would LOVE to clean our bathrooms daily...at least a basic wipe down...I have 5 boys, 4 potty trained or training...my bathrooms get stinky fast and I struggle to find time to clean their upstairs bathroom. ETA - Oops!...that is super long...I'll have to edit it down later....time to make school the priority for the day. ;)