I don't know what their response would have been, but I do know that there are some very young kids in my son's high school bio class (through WTM Academy). While they may be able to do the actual work, their questions and comments during the live online classes are often so immature that it gets really frustrating to my son who is 15 (9th grade age). I can see why a provider might want to have a hard line on age for that reason alone. I don't know how this will come across being typed, but I don't mean it to sound rude. Just wanted to point out why there might be that age restriction.

My son is taking Biology through WTM Academy this year. It's a fairly heavy workload, but the assignments have been worthwhile, and he's learned a lot. Teacher is Upperman.

Please add. Thanks!

Take comfort in the fact that you could have done everything very differently, and your son could still have ended up in jail.. not doing well. Just like any of us, he has choices. The fact that he made poor ones is not your fault. I think you can also take comfort in the fact that he is not done yet. We are all works in progress.

I have recently gone through the same mind shift. Offering unconditional love is all I can do, and when I take away the burden of hoping it will somehow heal the other person I find that I have a much lighter load to carry-- and can subsequently meet this person where they are in a much healthier way. But, I too, also thought as you thought and-- hoped as you describe-- for a long time. It has been a painful process for sure.

Yes-- the journals look kind of interesting!

A friend of mine asked Susan Barton about these books to find out her opinion. Susan Barton sent her a reply that said she "did NOT recommend the books at all". (quoting from the email my friend sent) I ended up not buying them based on that opinion. *edited to add: The books my friend asked about were not the journaling books but the Dyslexia Games books*

For those of you who use Semple Math -- My daughter has made it to level C in Right Start math and now has hit a wall (well.. has hit a wall again). She was doing well, but some of the techniques taught in Right Start are just not working for her. And there is no review which is hurting us. I'm looking at Semple Math and wondering if we'd need to start back in book 1. Any thoughts? Is it necessary to start the program at the very beginning even if the child has mastered some of the addition? Also, does it cover fractions (adding/subtracting etc)? Thanks for any help!

Yes, she knows. We have described ASD as being like a huge umbrella that a lot of very different people can sit under. This seems to make sense to her, and helps her not feel like there's something 'wrong' with her. She has always been extremely interested in reading about special needs, and gets a lot of books from the library about various things-- so she already has a pretty healthy understanding about what kinds of struggles some people face. And, of course, she knows her own struggles. When we only had the mild ID diagnosis, we explained that for her, some things may just take a little extra time to understand ---and that she should be patient with herself. We've been very upfront with her.

This was me as well. My daughter is now 16, and it wasn't until she was 12 that we got the mild ID diagnosis-- and she was just recently diagnosed with also having ASD. Until she was 12 I just thought she had learning disabilites and some kind of speech delay. No.. what it was was ASD and mild ID. Not really going to 'catch up' as I had hoped. It's tough to hear and it took me some time to really get my head around what it all meant. You're not alone! Hang in there..

My youngest is 9th grade this year, and using Oak Meadow's 9th grade English. He will use some of Oak Meadow again next year because of the good experience with English this year. So, for at least the English, I can say I highly recommend! The writing assignments have been worthwhile, and he's come a long way with being able to analyze and discuss works of lit.

Cannot say enough good things about Mayan Families https://www.mayanfamilies.org/ We've been paying for a boy to attend school, and helping his family with food (along with sending Christmas gifts) for the past 4 years. We get frequent emails with updated photos, letters, grade reports etc. There is an active Yahoo group with families who also sponsor kids/families through Mayan Families. A few women organize large shipments to Mayan Families, and we send gifts directly to our child and his family when this happens. We always get a photo of him opening the boxes. He didn't pass his grade level this year, and we got in touch with his teachers to find out why. They were very good at getting back with us; and have started him in tutoring during the winter break to see if that will help him for next year. Amazing organization!

Agreed. My son says he wouldn't call any of it busy work. He thinks it's worthwhile, but just requires a lot of time.

This class has required a lot of time and effort for my son. Requirements for the class include: *two live lectures per week (an hour each) *homework after lecture (from the textbook) *discussion board posts every other week (one original post 200 words and two response posts 100 words each) *a quiz about every other week *an exam maybe once a month *2 labs a month *right now he's working on a paper on a scientific book (she has a list to choose from... he chose The Double Helix-- to give you and idea of the kinds of books on the list. Another one was Sociobiology by E.O. Wilson) Paper needs to be no more than 6 pages in length. *midterm coming up Overall he spends between 15-20 hrs a week on biology. The labs tend to take a long time--- initially the discussion board posts were taking him a long time, but he's kind of got the hang of how to do those now, so are taking him less effort. Between the readings from the text, the homework, studying, and the labs-- he's busy!

My mother-in-law bought this for me (she's in the UK) a number of years ago when my older son was working on the course. Maybe you can find it used? It is very expensive at Amazon . Here's the link http://www.amazon.co.uk/History-Focus-Modern-Teachers-Resource/dp/0719577144/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1449234903&sr=8-3&keywords=gcse+world+history+teachers+guide **Just adding that there are assignments scattered throughout the world history book itself. The teacher's guide just offers some help with those and gives the student some easy-to-fill out worksheets and tables.

Very time consuming for him as well. He is working, working, working all the time on biology. He's learning quite a bit though, and I feel like it's been a really worthwhile course for him.

For money, I've used the next dollar up strategy http://www.autismclassroomresources.com/next-dollar-up-strategy-resources-and/

Favorites: Movies as Literature Modern World History with this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Modern-World-History-Students-Focus/dp/0719577136/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1449163171&sr=8-1&keywords=gcse+world+history (I also own a teacher's guide for this that has unique assignments) Biology through WTM Academy AP English Lit and Comp with Brigid Thompson http://teacherweb.com/USA/BlueTent/Thompson/apt16.aspx Oak Meadow 9th grade English (The Hero's Journey)

My daughter loved this program and it was key to her learning to read. The program really resonated with her.

This is exactly what I've done for my daughter (mild ID). She has a strong interest in nature study, so I'm always keeping that up-- and this year we're going to do a little unit on astronomy because she has an interest in that. But other than that, we focus heavily on life skills with a science bent.

My son is using this now. I can definitely recommend. It takes the student on the 'hero's journey'-- has poetry (from Mary Oliver) and literature (ie. The House of the Scorpion, Kidnapped, Into the Wild etc..). The student keeps a main lesson book (MLB) with written responses to short essay questions, maps, vocabulary, etc. It's a little 'artsy' which my son was unsure of at first, but has actually gotten into as the semester goes on. In addition, there are some exceptionally good lit analysis questions/discussion.

My first CP was called: Charlotte Edrina But I also had Nigel Rudy (these were the ones that came out in 1983/84)

I have a 16 yr old daughter with mild ID (and possible ASD--- waiting for the completion of testing on that). Her reading scores are always good-- math is a huge struggle for her though. I have tried a combination of different curricula and she is at about a 3rd/4th grade level of math right now. We have worked endlessly with math, and she moves forward so very slowly. I hope to be able to get her to a point where she can use and understand money (and the monetary values of money), and with luck-- and hard work- to be able to understand time better. She has made some gains with time, but it is still very difficult for her to really understand. Those two things, along with being able to use math in the kitchen and other functional math are my goals.

We've had similar experiences when trying to bring a dog into our family. We were just rejected by one rescue group because our 11 yr old cat had been declawed as a kitten. They told us in an email that they wouldn't adopt out a dog to anyone who would treat their cat that way. It was a little odd we thought. We've been on our way to meet a dog (different rescue) and had someone call us as we were driving to say that they foster parents had decided to keep the dog. Was a rough ride home with three very disappointed small kids (all much younger than they are now). It's an extremely frustrating process-- I agree.