She really is! Thank you, Lecka. I'm hesitant to post on Accelerated Learners since I think most of those kids' scores are far above hers. I don't think the higher scores are affecting her learning in any way, or at least not as much as her ADHD is. The school wanted further testing because of some of her behaviors in class, social issues, what seems like possible TOM issues, and somewhat black and white thinking. She also was doing things they consider unacceptable, like pretending to be book characters and insisting she be called by their names, or wearing wings or masks she'd made while she walked through the hallways. 🙄 They did note some pragmatic issues in her testing, and in teacher scores as well. (The score labeled her as "at risk" for pragmatics.) They also said they sense anxiety, which mostly manifests as her perfectionism (which they thought brought down some of her scores, because she got upset and refused to answer if she wasn't 100% sure.) But she doesn't really have sensory issues, other than some sensitivity to clothes, she doesn't mind changes to schedule, no stims, etc. She may be masking well, I don't know. And maybe I shouldn't even care, it probably doesn't matter at this level, except that I think she'd get more understanding from teachers if she had that label. I also would love to understand her better, be able to parse out which of her brain differences might be causing which behaviors, which might be under her control, and which we can work on.

So I do recognize some names here, it's been awhile! I had my daughter home for K and 1st, she was in public school till 4th grade and then we brought her back home for 5th. She wanted to return to school for 6th, so we let her...She's struggled a bit behaviorally, and the school did thorough testing, both there and through a neuropsych to see if we should add ASD-1 to her ADHD. (It was inconclusive...Anyone who looked back on my old posts would see we've been struggling to figure this out for so long, I think she's just right on the edge.) Anyway, they did a WISC, and these were her scores. I'm trying to understand what they mean...I guess I understand most of the spikiness, except for the relatively low digit-span (although I guess that means she's more visuospatial?) And does anyone know if the relatively low PSI and WMI (especially digit span) mean that her meds aren't optimized? Does the relatively low processing speed show her mind was wandering? Also, do ASD-1 kids typically have high fluid reasoning? And...maybe a weird question, but any idea what I might do to nurture this? I want to boost her self-esteem, after a tough year at school, so for the summer I'd like to find puzzles or something similar that will make her feel proud of her skills. A lot of questions, I'm sorry! But thanks so much for any thoughts you might have! )

There are a number of threads here on WTM. Just doing a quick search, I found this. I'd take a look at the comment left by Lori D. here, because she gives so much information. In general, though, if college is the goal, it will be incredibly hard to ensure you have the right credits and documentation without the help of an adult, unless you're far more resourceful than most 16/17 year olds. I agree with KSera that it would make sense to contact your high school and give them your concerns. Someone there will be able to help you or direct you to the help you need. And if your mother is concerned, she really needs to consider this one of her MOST important jobs, because your future depends on it.

Can I ask which state you're in? Your parents are required by law to provide you with an education equivalent to a public school education, and although they can define that (which is a good thing) not getting involved at all in obviously unacceptable. What does your mother say when you bring her your concerns? Can you talk to any other family members? This may help, with information on how social services can get involved. Each state has a way to address this, and protect children who aren't receiving a proper education. https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/advocacy/kids/how-to-report-state-by-state/

So my 11 year old daughter loves to write. I'd brought her back home this year, after some public schooling, and her teachers never said much about her writing ability...But she started writing novels at 7, using her free time to write after finishing regular classwork, and since coming home her writing seems to have blossomed and matured. I don't have anything to compare her with, though, so I'm not sure if this is unusual, and I'd love input. (In general, she's reasonably bright, and scored high on Cogat, but I wouldn't call her gifted.) Feel free to tell me this is nothing special, though! It really won't hurt my feelings. 🙂 Regardless, how can I nurture this? Should I just let her write unimpeded? (I'm a published author myself, but that doesn't help much in teaching writing.) We’ve used IEW, WriteShop and now Cover Story, but she doesn’t enjoy them, and I don’t want to destroy her enjoyment of writing by pushing the curricula.

We've been using HQ this year with my 5th grader, and will have gone through both Ancient and Early Modern within the year. It's perfect for her age, I don't think kids under 10 would get as much from it, but the language isn't complex so they'd at least understand it. I like the curriculum quite a bit, especially Early Modern--Ancient didn't have as many interesting stories, IMO, and battle after battle seemed to run together--my daughter is just so-so about it all, but she's not a history fan in general. We're not using the study guide, I just do separate map work with her and find the corresponding pages and links in the Usborne Encyclopedia. Much of the guide seemed like busy work to me (coloring pages, cooking, crafts) which is great if you like that stuff, I just don't think we'd ever do it here. The History Hops are really the highlight for us, and the Hygge weeks have been much enjoyed, and really add texture to the curriculum.

Thank you! That was so helpful, and I loved seeing the flip-through! I think I'll go for it, although I'll probably choose ferrets instead, since my kiddo is more into science (and animals) than history, and the plague may hit too close to home right now.

Have any of you used anything in RFP's PBL series? I'm looking at the Ferret Ecology and Black Plague units, I'd love to hear how they work with one child, and whether your kids had fun with them! They look so interesting, but I haven't been able to find any reviews.

AoPS offers self-paced online learning, as well as their regular classes. There's also Alcumus, which is free, although I'm not sure how much is teaching vs. presenting problems to solve.

Oh wow, thank you SO MUCH! Saving all these links, and then I'm off to order. Thanks again, Lori. You've been so kind to take the time to respond!

Hi Lori, sorry one more question. Do you think the teacher guide is helpful for Jump In? It looks like it's mainly for scheduling and rubric, but are the tips for teaching, and the "Writing Plunges" helpful?

Thanks so much, Lori, that's been very helpful! I've done some more reading on Cover Story, I was on the verge of purchasing, but while the format looks fantastic, I read several reviews saying that it contains some violent content that I just don't want my daughter exposed to...Really a shame, because I think otherwise she'd love it. I'm now reading more reviews for Jump In, and it does look like it might work well for us (although I've seen some say it didn't actually improve their children's writing. That may be a "Your mileage might vary" thing, though!)

Well she wasn't much further along in 3rd grade either! A lot of development happened in a year and a half, especially this year since I've brought her back home. Thanks so much for directing me to the Usborne books, I hadn't seen those before, so thank you. They look like so much fun! I just bought her the Fantasy and SciFi book, which I think will be right up her alley. Thanks so much, Lori. I'd looked at Jump In at the beginning of the year, and I absolutely love the conversational style, and that it's so self-directed with concrete steps to follow, which I think she'd like. The samples look great. But I'm worried it may have too much Christian content. I don't have an issue with some (I realize Cover Story also has a little) but, for example, I've read that it mentions abortion more than once, and I'm just not ready to discuss that with my 10 year old. How closely incorporated is that content? I know W&R is excellent, and probably covers everything I'm looking for, but I'm worried might be too dry for her...I'd like writing to be as fun as possible, which is why I was looking at the more creative options. In looking at reviews here, I see you've used Cover Story. Do you think it would work with a 5th grader? I'd extend it into next year, but don't want to discourage her at this point. The samples (a chapter on show vs. tell (concept writing vs. "movie" writing) looked fine for her age/level, and the humor interspersed in the videos is perfect for her, but it's hard to tell if further lessons might go over her head, or how customizable it is. I also am curious about how much actual writing there is, if we didn't do the free writing (which I think she'd balk at after the first month or two.) I'd love her to have more experience in research and essay creation, and it's hard to tell if this program would give that to her.

We're on the verge of completing WriteShop Level F (their last elementary level), and I'm torn on what to look at next. My 5th grade daughter liked the gamification of WriteShop, and I thought it did a good job of strengthening her style, so I'm looking for something similar. I don't know that she's ready to sit through the next WriteShop level, it feels too dry to me...So I've looked for something more creative (her own creativity is through the roof) including Cover Story (hard for me to quite wrap my head around) and Faltering Ownership (I'm not sure it'll give her what I'm looking for.) I'd ideally like her to get better at taking notes, and improve her voice/stylistic techniques. But most of all, I want her to have fun...Before this year she HATED writing, and to improve report writing skills I did IEW with her this summer, which made her hate writing even more. But now she's actually writing a novel in her free time, and has improved tremendously from where we'd started. I want to nurture that enjoyment as much as possible! Here are short samples of her writing: the first is the beginning of a 10 page short story, and the second is the first chapter of a sort of field guide she wrote about ocean creatures. (I realize there are minor errors...She's very sensitive to editing, so at this point to keep her enthusiastic I try not to correct her.) I'm pretty sure her writing is on track for her age, but would love feedback on whether she might be ready to move on to middle school level curricula (pared down if necessary), or if we should spend more time on the basics. And I'd love suggestions on a curriculum she might find engaging. Thanks so much!

We're on the verge of completing WriteShop Level F (their last elementary level), and I'm torn on what to look at next. My 5th grade daughter liked the gamification of WriteShop, and I thought it did a good job of strengthening her style, so I'm looking for something similar. I don't know that she's ready to sit through the next WriteShop level, it feels too dry to me...So I've looked for something more creative (her own creativity is through the roof) including CoverStory (hard for me to quite wrap my head around) and Faltering Ownership (I'm not sure it'll give her what I'm looking for.) I'd ideally like her to get better at taking notes, and improve her voice/stylistic techniques. But most of all, I want her to have fun...Before this year she HATED writing, and to improve report writing skills I did IEW with her this summer, which made her hate writing even more. But now she's actually writing a novel in her free time, and has improved tremendously from where we'd started. I want to nurture that enjoyment as much as possible! Here are short samples of her writing: the first is the beginning of a 10 page short story, and the second is the first chapter of a book she wrote about ocean creatures. (I realize there are minor errors...She's very sensitive to editing, so at this point to keep her enthusiastic I try not to correct her.) I'm pretty sure her writing is on track for her age, but would love feedback on whether she might be ready to move on to middle school level curricula (pared down if necessary), or if we should spend more time on the basics. And I'd love suggestions on a curriculum she might find engaging. Thanks so much!