Good idea!

Thank you all that is a real help. I noticed in the one sample lesson for High Noon Reading Level 2 they do discuss open/closed syllables, but it sounds like maybe that is not a really heavy point of emphasis if you didn't notice the rules as much. http://www.highnoonbooks.com/pdfs/hnb_reading_TG.pdf I am tempted to just flip a coin at this point.

Thanks, glad to hear the cursor is okay. Anyone have a good time estimate on a High Noon reading lesson?

Still struggling to decide between High Noon Reading and Dancing Bears and I have a few questions for Dancing Bear users and one question for High Noon users. Dancing Bears: 1. Do they teach open/closed syllables? Truthfully i'd never heard of them until I watched the Barton demo and I'm a fine reader (a sight reader/terrible speller, though). 2. Is there a script for explaining rules or do you not try to explain rules? 3. Does the curser slow kids down too much? We've had teachers tell us not to have them point at the word, etc. but make hiseyes learn to track. When your kid then read from a book without the curser, was it fluid and fluent? High Noon: How long does a typical lesson take, it looks like it has a LOT of parts. Thank you!

I just found this thread and I think this might be my kid, too. You can be VSL and still love to be read to, hear books, right? Everything in the description is a fit.

Here is the reading level assessment for High Noon: http://www.highnoonbooks.com/HNB/find_reading_level_1.tpl?cart=137210158617504568. Glad to hear Dancing Bears' stories are amusing, too. I'm okay with a little older-kid humor (they've already heard Captain Underpants so the cat's out of the bag). My kids have already gone through Bob books, some of Phonics Works and a set of basic readers at school and they are very bored with the content.

Thanks, I appreciate the feedback. The placement tests for High Noon were definitely the ones they enjoyed the most, too.

I have looked at a number of reading programs for my 2 boys. They both have learned to do a LOT of guessing. A reading eval on my older son indicated huge gaps in ability and reading accuracy; however, after doing some placement testing this morning, I am feeling a little better about his abilities. He's been pushed to read quickly and make it sound good, not focus on accuracy. I think if I help him shift that focus he'd test better. He has been in an OG program for 2 years and I myself am not that convinced he needs the thoroughness of a Barton or a Wilson. I'm thinking I might try a less intense program for a few months and if it fails, then move to Barton or Wilson. Once his reading is better, than I'd I just gave them a number of reading assessments. The 8 year old skipped lots of small words (it, the), and misread words but was able to read with a smooth flow and understand the story. The 6 year old also was stumped by many words but would smoothly read really hard words, too. Both struggled with nonsense words. So I think I need to back up and fill in the missing phonics gaps but I also don't want them to be bored to tears. I gave them placement test for AbeCe and the 8 year old placed into Level B (short version) and the 6 year old placed into Level B1. Both did poorly on the nonsense words. In Dancing Bears, the 8 year old placed into FastTrackAB and the 6 year old placed into Level A. In High Noon Reading, I couldn't figure out how to evaluate Level 1 or Level 2, but based on their reading level assessment, it seems like the 8 year old needs part of Level 1 and the 6 year old needs most of Level 1. The High Noon high interest readers seem like such a fit. I definitely am going to order those. But for our phonics piece I am debating between High Noon Reading Level 1 or Dancing Bears. I am planning to add air writing/visualization exercises to each lesson. Has anyone worked with High Noon Reading Level 1 and Dancing Bears? Any pros/cons to consider? Thanks!

Thank you all for the thoughtful input. For some reason I couldn't find my own post to respond... All of these responses are making me realize that maybe I'm not putting all the pieces of the puzzle together. The CAPD is an interesting point because he was extremely sensitive to noise, bright light and chaotic situations when he was younger. He's matured and regulates his behavior (used to get really upset), now he covers his ears if necessary, and will endure a lot, particularly if he's with peers (wants to fit in). Also, he seems less sensitive to these things every year. I have wondered about CAPD before. An informal screening showed visual and auditory sensory issues when he was younger, but I've never done any official evaluations. He would seemingly "shut down" when overwhelmed and then also "throw a fit" after having too much input. I guess I wanted to avoid any labels and just focus on things that would help. Most of the things that were supposed to help: consistent boundaries, good nutrition, tons of heavy work, consistent sleep and down time, etc. all seemed like things I would provide my child anyway, so I never sought a diagnosis. And in my heart of hearts, I just want him to be "normal" because that sounds like an easier path. So my reading list over the years has included periods of focus on selective mutism, sensory processing disorders and now reading problems. Maybe all of these "problems" are all coming from the same root and I've just never found the right issue. Part of me thinks giving him time hasn't been a bad strategy because he has really blossomed. He will make eye contact with and greet adults (his teacher the last two years made every kid do this and shake hand every morning and he is now able to without it being a struggle), he is well-liked by his peers, well-behaved, hard-working and 90% of the time handles overwhelming stimulus or emotion appropriately. He is better at knowing his own limits. For example, he will tell me when we get overscheduled "mom, for me 4 things is just too many in one day." Every year he gets a little better at these things. However, I obviously don't want to miss an intervention I should do. I sent the test results to a friend on the mainland who is OG and LMB trained and she agreed she thinks there is an auditory piece there, too. She thought that because his receptive vocab.was high but his expressive vocab. was low and his following directions score was low we should address the auditory component as well. She felt Seeing Stars would address both auditory and visual so even if we don't know what the role each piece is playing I should buy the Seeing Stars kit ($500) and do it myself, and also use Barton or Wilson and add a fluency program. Frankly, I'm pretty sure he's never had any explicit instruction in how to read syllables so that may help a lot. She thought going to a COVD was a good idea because she's had students who seem to be really helped by it. Any at home screening ideas for this island-bound mom? Tickets for just me and my DS to see developmental optometrist are $300 and then I'm not sure how we would do ongoing therapy. I also realize he's never even had a real hearing or vision exam (just the pediatrician and Lion's Club at school). That might be a good first step as well. I told him that the LMB assesment was just for curriculum placement because we were going to homeschooling so I'm hoping and I will do basic vision and hearing on his younger brother at the same time, so hopefully none of these evaluations will stand out. Who would assess him for processing issues? So thank you for raising the other issues. I'm so far in the forest sometimes I don't see the trees.

Thanks again everyone. We've decided to start off with Singapore because I think my kids will react better to color and more white space. Also we are going to experiment with both Mortensen and Miquon to see what seems to click with my kids. I plan to purchase 1. Singapore 1A and 2A (I am going to make my rising third grader back up to 2A to make sure he gets the SIngapore foundation. Currently the older child places into 2B, but I thought I'd be conservative because the scope and sequence at Montessori was so different. I'm going to start rising 1st grader at 1A. I thought I should just buy one semester to see if it's a fit.) 2. HIGs for both levels 3. Challenging Word Problems for level 2 4. A few Miquon Lab Sheet PDFs from CurrClick to see what we think 5. Cuisinaire rods WITHOUT notches 6. Some Mortensen workbooks (hoping for PDFs soon?) 7. Base 10 blocks, Mortensen blocks OR MUS blocks (debating cost and also ability to turn MUS blocks over to show negative numbers). 8 Life of Fred (already started 1st book and the kids really like it) Note: The debate I've read on this forum for unnotched rods versus notched rods/abacus was very compelling; however, I didn't know what to conclude so I'm just going to experiment with both and see if the kids have a strong natural inclination. Thanks again for all of the help!

I would like to buy a set of Base 10 Blocks but am not sure if it matters which set. I've seen some with different colors for the ones, tens, etc.and then some that are all blue. I've seen some that are "weighted." Some are interlocking. The set on the Singapore set is $40.00, the sets at Rainbow Resource are $21.00. Am I missing something? I have also seen MUS sets and Mortensen sets, which are much more expensive. What's best for 1st and 3rd grade?

Thanks so much for the ideas for integrating Montessori materials. The good news is that it seems like a lot of families like both Singapore and MM. But, just when I thought I had it narrowed down to one of those plus Miquon, 126bugeyes shared a new idea...Mortensen Math. Any one use Mortensen alone or with Singapore/MM?

Thank you all for your responses. The paradox of choice...I am now thinking I should do either Singapore or Math Mammoth AND Miquon (with some Montessori manipulatives). Already started Life of Fred for summertime fun and it's all they want for bedtime books. The reason I am leaning toward Math Mammoth is that I like the idea of having it all in one book/available digitally. Do any Singapore fans have a compelling reason I should go Singapore instead of Math Mammoth? I definitely came to homeschooling assuming I'd do Singapore and then I've found all these other great programs, too.

Thank you for the advice. I will definitely look at the working memory support I could start providing right away. Is there any screening or testing for visual issues that I could do at home? Is there any piece of the vision therapy I could do myself and see if it helps? We live on an island which according to the COVD Website, does not have a developmental optometrist, but there is one who visits every year around January. I spoke to her when he was in 1st. At that point his teacher didn't think he needed it and the Dr. who knew the teacher said to defer to her because she was really good at recognizing issues. It wasn't until this Feb. of 2nd grade year that his teacher said he needed extra support. My kid is desperate to appear competent so I think he did a great job bluffing early on. There is also one COVD on a neighbor island. There may also be COVDs who come see patients but just don't have an office. I will start making calls tomorrow. Also, I've never considered ADHD, because he's great at concentrating, will focus for hours, has never had any behavioral issues (except falling apart for me after holding it together at school all day). But is working memory a piece of ADD or ADHD or is it something different? I will also do the learning type screening for both of my boys (of course the, easy-going 6-year-old who taught himself to read at 3 has obviously gotten about 2% of my homeschooling planning attention) I really appreciate your help

My son just turned 8 and finished 2nd grade. We are starting to home-school next month. Previously he was in a Montessori school and for the last 2 years, his spelling work was Orton-Gillingham based (teacher is O-G trained.) Throughout first and second grade his teacher has observed that he often seems unsure of what he is supposed to do after being given directions (not goofing off, just confused). In February she told us he needed extra support in reading and spelling (she tutored him 5 or 6 times in the spring). She also has said many times that he tries very hard. This is part of the reason I’m starting to feel very concerned: he’s been really working at it and is still having a hard time getting it. He began speaking at a very early age. He loves to listen to books and has good comprehension. However, reading has been a real struggle for him. We just had a Lindamood-Bell Assessment done and it showed real disparities between vocabulary, reasoning and comprehension where he was strong and many other measures including reading accuracy and visualization of words where he was much weaker (these measures were 60 -93 percentiles lower than his strong scores) . He guesses at multiple syllable words and seems to rely on context to pass the comprehension questions. They said he applies the phonetic rules correctly to single syllable words but has a very hard time with multi-syllable words. They said he needs explicit instruction in syllabication, but seems to have good phonemic awareness. When explicitly tested on phonics rules he knew most simple sounds including ch, sh, oa with spotty knowledge of ou, au etc. They don’t think he has any underlying visual processing issues but that he needs to learn to use that ability to help him with the orthographic portion of reading. They recommend their Seeing Stars program to help strengthen the visualization of words (4 hours a day, 5 days a week for a month=$8500). He has not made the fluency gains (he has speed but not accuracy) to get to the point where reading is fun, so that he does it more, so that it gets easier, so it’s even more fun. As an avid reader, I want this for him so much and I don’t know how to help him. It seems like there are several different categories of approach: O-G methods: Spalding WRTR, Spell to Write and Read, Logic of English Foundations Level, Barton, Wilson, Reading Reflex/Phonographix Fluency Focus: Read Right, Read Naturally, Lots of book time My gut instinct is to do a little of everything and have him read along with audio recordings, review phonics with a program like Reading Reflex that’s less intense than Barton, and then just continue to provide lots of opportunities to read and listen to books. I would also try to figure out what they do at Lindamood-Bell and try to duplicate what I could to improve visualization. Tonight I also read another post that referenced dyseidetic dyslexia. I’ve never heard of it but it is characterized by an inability to remember how words look. No one has ever told me my son is dyslexic. Now I am wondering if I've missed something. The poster said it’s a type of dyslexia that might not be helped by phonics-based programs because the problem is visual. Any advice on how I should help him?

oops, sorry to post twice :).

Thanks, this is helpful. I hadn't looked at Math Mammoth, but I will. The Challenging Word Problems sound great. Anyone combined Miquon with MM or Singapore?

Thanks, this is helpful. I hadn't looked at Math Mammoth, but I will. The Challenging Word Problems sound great. Anyone combined Miquon with MM or Singapore?

There seem to be so many great math programs out there...I am a little overwhelmed. My boys have had 4 and 3 years of Montessori, but for 1st grade and 3rd grade we are going to homeschool. Has anyone made the Montessori-home transition at this age (6 and 8)? The older boys is currently doing multiple digit number multiplication with the checkerboard and the kindergartner is doing division and multiplication WITH the support of the materials (division board etc.). I am not confident in either's deep understanding or ability to do this without the support of the materials, so I am planning on backing up to make sure we're solid on place value, addition, etc. I am leaning towards using Singapore with additional manipulative support and I wasn't sure what to add in. The boys been using the colored Montessori bead-based system and math materials at school and I don't think C-rods or math u see blocks colors align with Montessori's system (and maybe that doesn't matter...) Also I've read a lot of the threads of abacus versus c-rods and now feel more confused than when I started researching. Any suggestions? Should I mix Singapore with another curriculum or perhaps just support Singapore with c-rods and base 10 blocks? I really appreciate your help because I had no idea the number of choices out there. Thanks!