We use these http://store.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=70_76_90&products_id=257 The lapbooks and hand's on activities bring the story to life and make reading fun for my dyslexic son who is not a fan of reading at all. It also includes vocabulary work, comprehension, etc. I add a fun book report project at the end just as something extra since he is older. Something like writing a newspaper story about the plot, dressing up as a character and doing an oral report, or something in that realm.

I have a dyslexic son who I have been having trouble getting reading fluency up for, although his comprehension is just fine when he is given as much time as he needs to read the text. I am currently doing the Saxon Phonics Intervention program with him in hopes it will help. However, I just gave him the Miller-Word-Identification Assessment and he is scoring at only 11 wpm on the first level. There is not a 10% or greater slowdown between the holistic and phonetic lists, which I believe is good. However, he did make quite a few mistakes. On the phonetic list. They tell you to go back and have the child spell the word out loud and then say the word again. He did that, and each time was able to say the word correctly without hesitation. In the interpretation section it says this about it: What exactly does this mean, and what can I do to try and overcome it when trying to bring his fluency up? He is 11 by the way, and he was homeschooled last year after I grew tired of trying to fight for interventions for him.

Have you tried Saxon? The problem we are having with my son who is almost 12 and very dyslexic is that he has trouble with the memorization aspect as well as obviously any reading, even of instructions. He also is not good with holding focus when working independently such as watching online instructions. Saxon has easily understandable worksheets that he can navigate on his own, as well as a great review of past skills each day. This actually helps boost his confidence when the first thing he sits down to each day is a worksheet full of problems he recognizes. This puts him in a better mood to tackle the new skills.

I have heard a lot of good things about MUS, and we almost went with that. In the end though, I chose Saxon. The reason why, is because with my son's severe dyslexia, he needs the constant practice of old skills mixed with new in order to really solidify the knowledge in the long run. I don't plan on pushing him to do every problem on each lesson because there are a long, but I loved their integration of old skills practice with new skills presented. Plus, Jordan doesn't thrive well on doing work independently on the computer just yet. He will be 12 in December by the way.

Khan Academy has some good step by step teaching videos. I use them in addition to my teaching to help reinforce the lessons. https://www.khanacademy.org

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Club Vacations location there last year for Spring Break and it was fantastic. They have villas that go up to three bedrooms I believe and they are withing walking distance to almost everything in Gatlinburg.

I haven't, but I will check it out now. Thanks!

Are you looking for baked goods recipes? Or are there recipes that are using coconut oil or almond milk? You can always use the recipes and come up with substitutions. I always used natural grass fed butter instead of coconut oil and you can use flax seed for breading things instead of almond or coconut flour. I do not like coconut flour, but I do like almond flour and do not taste a difference in baked goods. Flax seed will work for breading, but not for baked goods, really don't know of a substitution in that case.

I bought a Saxon 5/4 worksheets and tests book off Amazon last week and it arrived with over 100 pages missing. They offered a refund if I paid to ship it back, but I wouldn't even get half my money back once I paid to return it. It was listed in "very good" condition. Glad it all worked out for you!

Thanks! I will look into Simply Grammar as well.

We have been part of both Baptist and Methodist churches in the past.

Okay, so I think I have my curriculum planned out for this upcoming school year. A little background. I pulled my now 11 year old out of school last year because he is severely dyslexic and they wanted to hold him back for the second time. Their interventions were a joke and he was not making any progress. This year we did Time for Learning and then I put together my own eclectic mix of stuff for the end of this year. We have also started the Saxon Phonics Intervention program and the AAS program these last few months. I wanted to really get him going this upcoming school year though, so do you think this plan is "enough"? Reading - Hands On Unit Studies found online with interactive lapbooking/activities of the classics. We are doing Treasure Island right now. Spelling - AAS. Level 2 and 3, may make it further throughout the year. Phonics/Grammar - After we finish up the Saxon Phonics Intervention, I wanted to start him on a grammar program. I was thinking First Language Lessons. Writing - We are currently using Writeshop Book C and would move on to Book D. Science - Elemental Science Physics the Grammar Stage and coordinating science videos like Bill Nye. History - Time Travelers CD'S New World Explorers and probably 1-2 more throughout the school year. Math - Saxon 5/4 and possibly some videos from Khan Academy to go with it. Art - He will be taking pottery and then graphic art classes locally as well as our art projects for history and reading. Music - He will continue guitar lessons I was also wondering if anyone had any suggestions of free and fun Bible curriculum?

LOL Trust me, it doesn't always look like that. Well, the living room, kitchen and dining room usually do, but the rest of the house, not so much. I just pulled those photos from my blog posts on our remodel, so the current view is a little messier. :laugh:

I actually hated it when we put the first coat of blue on, but I grew to love it once it was done.

Let's see if this works LOL. We do not have a big house, but it is what it is. Our dining room Most of our living room. Our homeschool corner that is in the dining room now.

We are using Writeshop C right now and are loving it so far. It make writing more fun, is not too much work in one day and I like that it has fun ways of presenting the finished projects each week, as well as guided writing practice to help my 11 year old be more creative without having to write 5 different stories on his own each week. The problem is that next school year Book D with the Student pack are $80 total and that is a lot for just a writing program. I have not been able to find book D used anywhere. Any suggestions of a writing program that has a similar style that may be less expensive?

I know this may be an unpopular idea, but have you looked into medication? We tried all natural routes before finally giving in to trying medication and it was the best thing that could have ever happened for us or him. My oldest is 12 and has ODD and ADHD our days were just as you were describing before trying medication, only he went to public school. He was constantly sent up on suspensions, refused to do work, was failing and the straw that broke the camels back is we didn't give him his way one morning and he went to school and told them that his dad punched him, which definitely did not happen. He later admitted he had lied, but the damage had been done and we had to go through the whole ordeal of DCF. After that we started medication and he is now a student who has honor roll in public school all year, rarely has behavior issues at school and only normal pre-teen level outbursts at home. The best part has been that we are able to grow close and improve our relationship again over the last few years and we have been able to teach him various life and coping skills that he was not able to learn without the help of the medication. For instance, the fact that he can make his own choices and taking responsibility for his actions. I know medication is not right for everyone, but it was a saving grace in our case.

My son is the same way and he hates writing. We started with Writeshop Book C a few weeks ago and I am already seeing improvement with some of the tools they utilize like the Super Speller notebook. The program is a little more fun than others and not too much work in a day. Every day there is guided writing practice, where they develop a short story and you write it down. Then, once a week they develop a story of their own, write it one day, edit it the next and then put it together in a unique format with the final draft. This week we are making a puzzle out of it. My son is 11 and still doesn't love writing, but he protests less with this program.

I did some assessment testing and found that my dyslexic son was severely lacking in phonics and word recognition. I found the Saxon Phonics Intervention Home Study Kit and purchased that. It is a very intensive and scripted program, but I really think it is going to do some good. I have only been using it for a week or two, so it is too early to tell, but I will definitely update when we get further along. I wanted to try Susan Barton, but that price is just out of my range.

I wish I didn't have to "teach" so much. My son is really dyslexic though. So, if I left him to read on his own, one of two things would happen. He would either start guessing and not read, or he would start reading and it would take him an hour or more to get through some of the reading for different subjects we do. Also, unless he reads aloud, I cannot correct words that he either can't sound out or sounds out wrong, which means he likely won't understand what he just read. I can let him work independently when he is doing a writing assignment, a worksheet I have already explained or a lapbook project we have already gone over. Other than that, I am by him for hours a day. We are doing a remedial phonics and spelling program that require me to be there teaching, so that adds to the time I suppose.

Also, if they like lapbooking or notebooking, there are a ton of free unit and lapbooking studies here. http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php We are doing some now for history and science and love them. Mr. Q's science is free for the first book and I would have loved to use it, but think it is a little old for my 11 year old. Would be perfect for yours though I think. Also, do you have a public school book depository? You can often get free textbooks there and then you can add to them with worksheets/lapbooking/unit studies you find online for free.

Thanks so much for the input. After hearing the responses and going through the grammar level books, I have chosen the grammar level physics for him for this next school year. It has more of the type of experiments he wanted to delve into anyway and it will give him at least another year before moving onto the logic stage books.

Thank-you both for your replies. I looked over the grammar ones and the content seemed too easy, but then I only looked at the biology one, maybe I should look at the others and see if we should start there before moving up to the logic stage. I was just going to have him do a one paragraph summary or just a narration review of the material instead of the long writing assignment they recommend.

I have a dyslexic 11 year old who I will be moving mostly to 5th grade next year. He just did a DORA assessment and is working on a 4th grade level in reading comprehension and oral vocabulary However, he has fluency issues and it takes him at least 30 minutes to read a short passage. He is working on a Kindergarten level in site word recognition and scored very poorly in phonics, we are doing remedial programs in those areas. While he can read and can understand what he reads when given an unlimited amount of time, it is tedious. Therefore, I read most of the other core subjects such as science and history to him for the most part. Because he can understand grade level material, I don't want to hold him back in these other subjects. So, for those who have used it, do you think Elemental Science the Logic Stage would work well if I were to read the encyclopedia passages to him for the most part? I know there is some writing, but I imagine it can be shortened if needed. I like that it has an experiment each week with an optional activity at the end of the week as well. He loves hands on stuff and would be extremely interested in the dissections and other activities with his brother. I was also going to supplement each week's lesson with a Bill Bye the Science Guy episode or other science video to help add to the fun and auditory factor.

Thanks everyone! I actually had him do a DORA assessment today to gauge where we are now and he has made some progress with reading comprehension. He is now working at a 4th grade level there, so although it may take him a half hour to read a short 4th grade level passage, he is understanding it. He is also working on grade level with vocal vocabulary. His phonics and word recognition are far below grade level, but if I am reading the content to him, it should not interfere with his ability to understand the content. I was going to supplement the Our American History with other biographies/books and unit studies found online, but will look into Time Traveler curriculum too, it sounds like it may be an option as well. I will hold off on MOH for a few years then.