Thank you so much!! So very helpful!

Oh, thank you so much!! Yes, my 5th grader was on an 8.2 level in applied math, 4.7 in calculation, and a 2.4 in fluency. I do work with her daily and she is just slow. I don't push her too much because she starts to cry and get upset. But, if we go at her pace she is usually pretty calm. :)

This is kind of a funny rant (I am not mad, just frustrated) and kind of any other moms going through this. My 16-year-old is the most wonderful kid. I thoroughly enjoy being her mom. She is, however, extremely disorganized. An example of this would be that she teaches piano. She has been teaching piano for a long time (3-4 years) and has gotten better with time. At first, I would help her send out bills each month and divide up her money between saving and spending. This year I told her I was going totally hands off. She has been in charge of everything and I don't think she always gets paid. She just doesn't seem to care. I don't pay for her fun stuff. She pays for it, so once the money is gone, its gone. She is not allowed to touch the savings until college. I go in her room and there is trash everywhere from candy wrappers to contact lens containers. I find money in pants pockets, in little zipper bags, all over furniture, under the bed, in bags with half-eaten popcorn containers, and in the closet. A few years back she lost $300 in her room and found it about 6 months later. I don't do her laundry, so she simply doesn't do it until I insist that it is disgusting and she wash her clothes. A few days ago, she misplaced her phone and really didn't try to look for it until today. She keeps her license in her phone case, so now no phone or license. And this phone was her grandmother's old one because she dumped hers in water last summer at an amusement park. Ahhhhh!! I love her so much!! She is such a light in my life!! Does anyone else have this problem? Does it just take maturity? She is better than she was, but man, its killing me. I also laugh at all of this, because I am hoping one we will laugh together about how crazy she made me with her disorganization. As a side note, I used to always lock my keys in my car-- like it would happen every other month. I locked the kids and the keys in the car on a couple of occasions. I finally said, enough, and that was it. I didn't lock my keys in the car after that. I found a method of keeping my keys with me. I had to, however, be in some really uncomfortable situations before I made myself keep track of my keys. A lot of walking was involved. Maybe it will be that way with her. She will finally decide that she wants that money (license, phone, whatever) and needs it and won't leave it all over to get lost. I am trying to let her handle all the consequences of these choices, so she will make better choices next time, but I am not sure it is working. As a second side note-- she goes to a school for homeschool students and is making straight A's with little problems with disorganization in her classes, so I know she can do it. It seems to be a matter of will.

I posted on the Learning Challenges Board and someone recommended Reflex Math. It is a little pricey, but I am willing to try if it will help with their math fluency. I am grateful to this day that I learned my multiplication facts so well. Has anyone used it and can recommend it?

Good info. I think we will take some time to just work on fluency. Thank you for the good advice!!

They did ok on the Mathematics section. It was under Math Facts Fluency that they both did really poorly. They didn't do well on Calculation either, but closer to grade level there. The administrator said they were both slow. But, I don't do drill with them and maybe I should.

I have a 3rd and a 5th grader that I do math with each day. We sit and do Math Mammoth together. My 5th grader is dyslexic and sometimes struggles remembering certain processes in math and memorization things like her multiplication tables. That is pretty common with dyslexic kids. My 3rd grader, however, zips through school work and usually does pretty well. She seems to master most math concepts pretty well. She has struggled a little with memorizing her multiplication tables and re-grouping addition and subtraction, but from my mom experience as we continue to go over those things eventually it starts to click. I usually find that with maturity comes more understanding, even in math. When they took the Woodcock-Johnson recently they were where I expected on everything except in Math Facts Fluency. They were really low. A part of me says, "they'll catch up as we continue to work on it." And a part of me says, "What the heck??!! Why I am homeschooling if this is where we are at??" The test administrator said that speed really hurt their scores. Should I worry? Is there anything else I can be doing to help or will it come with time? Neither of them likes math. In fact, none of my 4 kids do!! My husband is a bright guy but has always been better at language and writing. My oldest rocks at writing, reading, and language, but struggles through math. I have to sit with my 13-year-old as she does Teaching Textbooks pre-algebra. It is tedious, but bit by bit she is getting it. I was hoping that my younger kids would not struggle quite as much, but here we are. I have recently started supplementing with Beast Academy, which they like much better. I am no rocket scientist but I love fractions and find algebra somewhat enjoyable for a school subject. So, where do we go from here? Any other moms out there struggling with this and have some tricks I haven't tried?

I have a 3rd and a 5th grader that I do math with each day. We sit and do Math Mammoth together. My 5th grader is dyslexic and sometimes struggles remembering certain processes in math and memorization things like her multiplication tables. That is pretty common with dyslexic kids. My 3rd grader, however, zips through school work and usually does pretty well. She seems to master most math concepts pretty well. She has struggled a little with memorizing her multiplication tables and re-grouping addition and subtraction, but from my mom experience as we continue to go over those things eventually it starts to click. I usually find that with maturity comes more understanding, even in math. When they took the Woodcock-Johnson recently they were where I expected on everything except in Math Facts Fluency. They were really low. A part of me says, "they'll catch up as we continue to work on it." And a part of me says, "What the heck??!! Why I am homeschooling if this is where we are at??" The test administrator said that speed really hurt their scores. Should I worry? Is there anything else I can be doing to help or will it come with time? Neither of them likes math. In fact, none of my 4 kids do!! My husband is a bright guy but has always been better at language and writing. My oldest rocks at writing, reading, and language, but struggles through math. I have to sit with my 13-year-old as she does Teaching Textbooks pre-algebra. It is tedious, but bit by bit she is getting it. I was hoping that my younger kids would not struggle quite as much, but here we are. I have recently started supplementing with Beast Academy, which they like much better. I am no rocket scientist but I love fractions and find algebra somewhat enjoyable for a school subject. So, where do we go from here? Any other moms out there struggling with this and have some tricks I haven't tried?

Yikes!! That is so awful!! Neglect all the way!! I feel so bad for this man. How can anyone justify leaving a young person so unable to care for themselves? It also keeps them dependent on the community that they are born into the leaders of that community. It is so sad that this is kept in place by the religious leaders they depend on.

We have talked to 2 different people in law enforcement that say he would be out in a few days if we pressed charges. He would then come after us.

If we were to get a restraining order he would retaliate for sure-- no doubt. It would take the police an average of 9 minutes to arrive. It is no contest. I don't think you understand his state of mind. He doesn't care about being caught at that point. It would be about retaliation. He would do whatever it took to retaliate.

Those are good suggestions. My father is afraid of the repercussions if he takes the guns away. My brother would grow irate at the removal of the guns and considers some "his" although they are not. My sisters and I have been discussing the conditions of me loaning them money ONLY if he removes the guns. I don't think it will ever happen though. We have been begging him.

This is a very long and complicated story about my parents and my brother. I will try to put it in the simplest terms possible, so you can understand the situation. I really just need a place to vent, but any helpful ideas are welcome. I guess the stress of this situation along with homeschooling and just life, in general, have me really on edge. About 12 years ago my brother's mental illness began to take over his life and he started threatening the authorities in the area he lived in. He was suicidal and in a bad place. Eventually, it came to a head, he was arrested, put in jail, and charged with several felonies. While in jail he got mental help. He continued treatment after he got out and was able to go work with my dad, who owned a small carpet cleaning business. My dad's business really wasn't big enough to pay him much, but my brother had no other job prospects after committing the felonies. They worked together for about 4 years and my dad was diagnosed with cancer. My dad could not run his business, so my brother ran the day to day for him and my brother was paid the lion's share of the profits. My dad was in the hospital getting treatment for about 3 months and then he needed several months to recover. He was able to draw disability after this because of the kind of cancer that he had. He was 56 at the time. After that my dad did not do any of the physical labor for the business. He handled the books, bills, taxes, insurance and all that, but he did not clean any carpets. He still made a little money off the business, but not much. Most of the profits went to my brother. During this time my brother also moved in with my parents. They paid him more than before since he did most of the work, but he lived rent-free-- he didn't pay any of the household expenses. My dad did a short stint with Uber, but otherwise would not work. I say would not, because after his recovery he could have gotten a job that did not require physical labor. My mom worked cleaning houses and at Walmart during this time. About 4 years ago my brother started acting really crazy again. He was always mentally ill, but it really started to get bad again 4-5 years ago. I won't go into all the details (I would need to write a book!!). Let's just say he threatened someone else and now has a misdemeanor on his record... But, his felony convictions have been taken off completely. It looks like he has a clean record except for his misdemeanor. This Christmas he came to me and my 3 sisters and told us that he wanted my dad to give him the business entirely. My parents don't make much off the business-- maybe $500-$800 a month, but they were staying afloat. He wanted us to start supplementing their income, so he could take the business and begin a life with a new girlfriend. My dad agreed to this because he lets my brother walk all over him, but whatever it is between them. I said from the beginning that it was none of my business. My other sisters were not so nice about the situation, and he lost it and threatened all of us because my sisters told him what they thought. He agreed to pay my dad $600 a month in rent and he would handle everything for the business except my mom's cleaning. Actually, a pretty fair deal. Fast forward to today-- my brother is yet to pay rent. He got really mad at my dad one day and threatened to kill all of us-- my sisters, their children, my parents, and my family. My dad had to send my mom away that day because he was afraid of what he would do. My dad sat on the couch and the porch all night with his pistol hoping he would be safe. My brother has access to a lot of guns. Everything is in my dad's name, but as I said before he bullies my dad and my dad gives in. I think my father is scared for us and scared for himself-- understandably so. He has made some stupid decisions regarding my brother, as I said before I am trying to simplify. But, there have been many decisions along the way that we tried to warn my dad against and he wouldn't listen. I know many of you will say, "go to the police." Trust me. We have. The only things we can do at this point are: take a restraining order (which does nothing) or have him put in a mental institution, where more than likely he would only stay for a maximum of 2 days. I have a friend that works for a sheriff's department and we talked for an hour yesterday. She said the police really can't do anything unless he breaks another law. So, here are my questions... My parents can't pay their bills. They won't ask my brother for the rent he promised because they say he will be mad at me. Whatever, I think that is a cop-out. I think he will be mad at me no matter what. Luckily, I live 3 hours away, but my sisters are not so lucky. They live about 30 minutes away. My dad can't work now because he needs a knee replacement. He promises he will get a job as soon as he gets that done, but he didn't have a job for more than 6 years when he could have worked. I told him I would help some. I can afford to help some, but I am the only one. My one sister is a single mom with no spousal help and the other is a very, young military family, so they only have enough for their needs. I am afraid that my dad will keep asking until it breaks me. It is so sad for me to write those words. I love him so dearly, but I think he would be ok with me going back to work and sending all my kids back to school to support him and my mom. When is enough, enough? By supporting him no strings attached, my crazy brother wins all around. If they lose their house at least they can live somewhere a little safer without him around. (They would have to get subsidized elderly housing.) But, they would give up a lot. Do I let them face the consequences of not preparing and bad choices or do I help as much as possible because of some of the rotten hands they have been given? And because they are my parents? Also, we have had to start doing "what if" drills in our home. What if my brother decides to do something horrible? How do I hide my kids when he will be armed with AR15s (please no gun arguments-- I know the pros and cons and just don't wish to go there right now)? What can I do to beef up security in our home? Do you think an alarm would help? Sorry to have such a heavy subject. I really don't want to talk to people I know about this because most people just think I am crazy. It is CRAZY!! I know it! If you made it through-- thanks. You have been a great help to me today.

I am also interested in any reviews. I would love for my daughter to take their Spanish course and a course in Music Theory. Please pass on any reviews. :)

This is nothing serious. She is usually in a hurry and she can write better when I make her slow down and take her time. I would just like to clean her handwriting up a little so that it is a little more legible. She loves to type out stories on the computer. I let her do that often.

I am a former (more than 16 years ago!!!) Spanish teacher. I considered myself to be almost fluent then, but that was a LONG time ago. Raising kids and living life I have kept up with it enough to teach through Spanish 3. Any recommendations for a Conversational class for next year or a Spanish 4 class. I would hate for her to lose it, but we are getting on the edges of my abilities.

For US History I have enjoyed reading biographies. It has been a great way to learn about big figures in history and what was happening at that time. I have used "Who is..." or "What was..." books also along the way. My kids have loved this. They don't take tests, but when asked about history they know so much. I love history though and read and study it, so that may help in knowing what to study.

My kids really like Rockalingua. You have to pay for the access, but it has been great for us.

My very rambunctious, full of energy and bright 9-year-old has terrible handwriting. Any handwriting curriculum recommendations out there?

My daughter is gearing up for taking the SAT and ACT. Which prep books would be best? We will probably do some other test prep, but I wanted to just get a book to do a couple practice tests. Which one do you recommend?

My 8th grader is going to our public school next year for 9th grade and I want to strengthen some writing skills. Does anyone know of any good online writing classes? Thanks!!

Has anyone tried and liked this? I am thinking of purchasing and wanted to see if anyone had input on the service.

Thank you all. I bought the simple scientific calculator for her to use. Have a wonderful day!

My daughter is beginning Algebra 2 this year and getting ready to take the PSAT. Does she need a graphing calculator? Most of the kids at the high school use them and the teacher's recommend them.

You sound like my husband. :lol: This was his exact response. I am still frustrated, but I get that she put all the work into it. Haha.