Don't feel bad.My oldest two are bright and always did things early especially my 2nd son. My third son well is a handful. Completely different from me, no fear, risk taker, climber, hardly spoke more than a handful of words until he turned three. Can't leave him alone for more than a minute because he will get into mischief. That being said he sees the world differently than the other boys. He responds to situations differently. He learns through experience and only recently started to enjoy books. Now that he is closer to four and talking all the time it is definitely easier to relate to him and understand his perspective. Have hope. Also, this sounds kind of an odd approach but try different shows or even books with him. Try them one at a time. If he sits and listens great if not try something different. By different I mean topics, math books, fiction, books without words, books with one word per image, books that are long or short, books that were fairy tales. Show him baby einstein, umizoomi, little bear, wallykazam. Once my son saw umizoomi there was a huge leap in development. Not that he was 2 and counting and adding, but he sees shapes in everything and umizoomi helped him make sense of that. Also, baby Einstein and wallykazam, leapfrog and super why really helped him with his language development. I didn't have to do this with my older two, but it really helped my third son a lot. Hope this helps!

Google books also has literary criticism books available. Also try different editions of the book. You can use the forward of a different edition as a credible source. https://books.google.com/books?id=Hx07khga8QYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Outcast+of+poker+flats&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCEQ6AEwAGoVChMIscTK7-K7yAIVzDweCh1Q4wIh#v=onepage&q&f=false

A couple things, do a general search, read the blogs anyway.Sometimes there are online links to credible sources. Also, some websites have links to credible sources in pdf. You can also find credible sources or links through the publisher site. http://www.bartleby.com/310/4/2.html

I love Firefly Encyclopedia of Animals. It reminds me of nature journaling.

I actually found that writing book reports to be very helpful. Their reading program is one of my favorites. Honestly, everything I learned through their English and reading program up until 8th grade made it possible for me to tutor. I tutored high school students when I was in high school and college students when I was in college. I found that 1 book report every quarter was a good balance. It wasn't once a week or once a year. It was incremental in it's approach. I wasn't expected to start and finish a book report overnight. The lesson plans walked me through outlines and rough drafts. It helped me develop solid topic sentences and strong paragraphs. I used these skills in high school and college. Hope this helps.

I started using Miquon last year with my five year old. I never quite understood how the program worked. I let my son pick any two pages and those are the ones he did that day...so my advice might not be so helpful. A couple things to consider, does your daughter like the c-rods? Will she play with them if you just hand them over? Does she like to play with regular blocks and build towers? Maybe you could use educationunboxed and show her how other kids use the rods? I also wonder if having a story would be more engaging for her? Try using the characters from arithmaticvillage while doing Miquon. Polly plus adds gems. So pretend the blocks are gems. Or it could be that she doesn't have much interest in exploring math or she already understands the concepts of adding and subtracting but isn't interested in playing with numbers. I would try adding characters and a story and see if it starts to interest her.

We run into this too. I found that if they all start school together by doing coloring or painting, blocks or c-rods first there is a smoother transition for my 6 year old. So for example, we all start with a morning prayer, than color a picture for school and let the younger kids color than my 6 year old already has his pencil box open and we move on to his schoolwork. I also have my 4 year old tag a long for science and history of he wants. Otherwise my four year old will set up a show for the three year old and 1 year old. My 4 year old can also do an educational game one the computer with the 1 year old in the crib next to him. Then my three year old can play alone for awhile. The less my 6 year old sees the other kids the better.

Seton's English program is great. It covers all the basics and is pretty traditional I think. I used when I was a child and homeschooled. Since then they have printed their own books for subjects. I've seen them and have used them with my nieces. They are pretty straightforward. I did find having the lesson plans to be helpful for kids roughly 4th grade and up. In fact by 6th grade I was reading the lesson plans myself and writing out my assignments in my planner...no I'm not super organized, but for me I learned best by reading and writing in my planner helped me be organized. It also allowed me to be more independent since my mother was teaching two younger children. I do think you have options if you think the lesson plans would help you. Last time I checked you could purchase the lesson plans or you can enroll your child and have a teacher correct your child's work. Hope this helps.

Poor kid. It sounds like he is really struggling. If he is being pulled out for remediation was any kind of testing done for learning disabilities? Have you looked at educationunboxed? The videos really helped my kids understand addition and subtraction concepts. You might want to consider CLE. I would just get a first grade light unit. The pages are not cluttered, crowded or distracting. Too much color, too many pictures, and too many problems on a page could make it difficult for him to concentrate. I would also see if he can do math orally and then see how he does with just words. Instead of putting pictures in sequence try just sentences or directions.How does he do with reading comprehension? Do you think he would understand more of he could read the lesson himself? I'm just wondering if you could use his reading skills to help him understand math. The reason I ask is I have one son who looks at math problems and can't answer them unless I turn it into a word problem and another son who can't do word problems unless he reads them himself. If he has not had an evaluation done I would get one. Besides counting and adding have you noticed any difficulties with patterns? Can he create a two or three color pattern? Can he identify shapes? Can he count orally or can he only write out numbers in order?

It looks great!Definitely don't worry about extras. Just read to them and go exploring.

Wow, Thank you! You are all amazing. All I've been doing is looking at recommendations. My son is going to be so happy. His love of astronomy started a few years ago. Sounds kind of silly but he always searched for the moon. He's been trying to find planets and constellations, I just haven't been able to help him...until now.Thank you, Thank you! He can't wait to see a lunar eclipse and now I can explain it to him.

I'm sure there is someone more knowledgeable than I about tests, my suggestions are based on past personal experiences and from children I have tutored. I could be wrong but it seems like your son could be struggling a little in a few different areas. I'm not sure about the math. It sounds like test taking skill issues and maybe a little more practice would help. However, if possible can you go back and see if the ones he got wrong are word problems? If they are then I think a lot of his struggles might be based on reading comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and spelling. For spelling, he might not be great at it and be trying to hide it or compensate for it. For example, reading was easy for me. I could read all sorts of words, but when asked to spell them, I would have to really think about it and sometimes over think it and get it wrong. I would avoid using better word choices because of it. I was a reluctant writer because of it. If your son has an excellent vocabulary then maybe his spelling skills might not match the words he would want to use and is becoming frustrated. He can say it, he can't spell it. Also, if he is concentrating on spelling words correctly and his handwriting, he might lose track of what he wants to say or becomes frustrated because his hands can't move as quickly as the thoughts in his head. However, If his vocabulary isn't great or it is limited, then working on building it can help boost his reading comprehension. From your description it sounds like nonfiction reading comprehension is easy, but not fiction. The issue than isn't knowing the definition, but rather how it's being used by the author. It's the difference between saying the grass is green and someone is green with envy. One is fact and the other is someone's perception of emotion. Reading Detective might help or some other book guide. I personally like Memoria Press. However, it might help if you read to him and ask him questions about characters, what they think and feel, consider using books with pictures. Pictures can emphasize the meaning of text. If you work with him orally using listening skills then it might become easier for him to do it on his own when reading or writing. I would also consider working on grammar. I usually recommend grammar practice for the kids I tutor. The more they understand how words can be used the easier it is for them to comprehend what they are reading. Finally, try playing word games. Make up silly stories and write them down. Try mad libs. Take a simple sentence and add a word, change a word, take away a word. Take the same sentence and change the setting. For example, "The boy fell asleep." Did he fall asleep in his chair, a bed, on the beach? Show him how the meaning changes. Draw pictures to go along with them. Hope this helps.

I think CLE might be your answer. We switched to it this year. I had my 6 year old using Abeka and he hated it. I couldn't figure out why. There is nothing wrong with Abeka. We used manipulatives and the books are colorful. It seemed pretty traditional. For fun we did Miquon and Life of Fred, but if I took out the Abeka book he would be miserable. It's not that he wasn't learning math, but rather it wasn't ordered and logical as much as he needs. CLE has been amazing for him. The difference has been night and day. We are done in 20minutes. It's so logical and efficient. He loves the format of it. It's not overwhelming and it makes sense. I never thought CLE would be the math program he would like, but he is so happy with it. My advice would be to look it over, take a placement test and buy a light unit and see how it goes.

Thank you everyone! Are binoculars easier for kids to handle so they can use them more on their own (without mom)? I'm not worried about him breaking a telescope. I'm not sure I can actually figure out how to use one effectively.

I think you might want to start by figuring out each child's strengths and weaknesses. Take the list you provided above and make a checklist for each child. This way you can figure out where to start and what the math program you choose should cover. Than look at The Outstanding Math Guide for 7th grade and see what will be expected of them. That way you can focus on the gap between what your children know and what they are supposed to be ready for next year. I did look at The Outstanding Math Guide website, but it wasn't overly helpful. The description on teacherspayteachers was much more helpful. It listed topics to be studied. It does look like it's just a series of interactive folders designed to be used as a reference, but not really a textbook or curriculum which leaves me to wonder if your charter school is also using another math book? Maybe you could purchase the 6th grade Outstanding Math Guide as a reference for this school year? I'm adding the links for the Outstanding Math Guide grades 5,6 and 7. Teacherspayteachers descriptions might give you a better idea of what will be covered prior to 7th grade math. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outstanding-Math-Guide-OMG-7th-Grade-733900 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outstanding-Math-Guide-OMG-6th-Grade-733855 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Outstanding-Math-Guide-OMG-5th-Grade-544691

My oldest son(6) loves astronomy. Reads about it, writes about it, draws pictures of planets and wakes up in the morning early just so he can watch shows about it. The problem is I'm terrible at it, always have been. I just found it to be so unappealing. I couldn't understand it. So now after avoiding it for years, I'm faced with it every moment he's awake. I'm looking for resources books, games, shows. He's been watching the same series over and over again, How the Universe Works. He loves it but a lot of it seems to be theories and predictions, not fact. I'm hoping to find resources that focus more on facts so he can understand what these theories and predictions are based on. Maybe it would help if I have a better understanding of astronomy? I'm also looking into getting him a telescope, but it turns out that is more complicated than I realized. If anyone has advice on telescopes, how to use them or buy one or which ones are good for beginners that would be great!

My kids really loved Uncle Wiggly.

My oldest son loves history and enjoyed looking at "battle books". His favorites are the DK American Revolution book and The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere. The version I purchased has great illustrations, a map in the beginning that shows the original plan and a map at the end that shows the actually route different riders took. There is also a pocket which contains a letter from the British discussing where powder and arms were being stored. Another great book is The Children's Book of America. It doesn't show maps or actual battles. It does have inspiring stories of war, like the Star Spangled Banner, George Washington, Robert E. Lee, Lewis and Clark. Seriously, I probably read the story of the Star Spangled Banner every night for a month. Also, Liberty Kids is amazing. My boys 3,4 and 6 watch it. http://www.amazon.com/Eyewitness-American-Revolution-Books/dp/0789485567/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441677938&sr=8-2&keywords=DK+american+revolution http://www.amazon.com/Midnight-Ride-Paul-Revere/dp/1929766130/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441678091&sr=1-2&keywords=midnight+ride+of+paul+revere http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Book-America-William-Bennett/dp/0684849305/ref=sr_1_10?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1441678202&sr=1-10

My mother-in-law is Japanese and she is helping me teach my kids 6,4,3 and 1 to speak Japanese. We have the kids listen to Japanese Children's Songs and videos on youtube. There is also a channel called punipuni. My kids found the little cartoons hilarious. They go over vocab for specific topics colors, animals, at the ocean, fruits and vegetables and much more. Purchase the Dover book of hiragana. It's usually five dollar. It teaches stroke order. Very simple approach using boxes instead of lines. Another great purchase is First Thousand Words in Japanese I think it is usborne. If you can add tvjapan or nhk to your cable line up. They have children's shows like Peekaboo, Fun with English, Fun with Japanese and Pythagoraswitch. Sometimes you can find them on youtube. My older kids love Pythagoraswitch. It makes them think and sometimes you can see both the english version and the Japanese version. If your child knows the basics and is ready to move on there is a book called Kanji Power that includes three sections of Kanji. One for first grade, one for second grade and one for third grade. I'm pretty sure it's just three. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJTpCL_sx8g&list=PLBZ0BtnSALnl7mdkDm_0cNAb3T7F6p7R-

I saw on pinterest a couple of fun geography projects for little ones. You make stacking cups with different size boxes or cans the smallest is your house and the largest the world. The ones in between are for country, city and state. The other project is making a book of all the places you go that are important like your house, church, playground, grandma's house, ice cream shop. Go to those places and take pictures. You can laminate and put them on a keychain, print them and put in mini photo album or make a book online. My kids also like to see where everyone they know lives. We just show them on a map, but I bet it would be fun to use/make special pins for each relative. Other than that I would stick to geography they can see like ponds, rivers, mountains. That way when your little one is ready you can show them where mountain ranges are located and which rivers are the longest. Oh and my little guys loved playing with old National Geographic maps. We also bought a beach ball that looked like a globe. My kids also had fun making our own maps of our house and pretend treasure maps. My guys also would play with compasses when seeking treasure. It was all part of pretending to be pirates and they still do it.

I don't have any experience with it really, but I was able to download it on my kindle/tablet through amazon unlimited books feature. I'm hoping to start it with my son soon. So if you have amazon unlimited books its available with subscription. http://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Phonics-Beginning-Samuel-L-Blumenfeld-ebook/dp/B001TH8YA6/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=1-1&qid=1435081104

Thanks for responding. I'm having him go through the public preschool for his evaluation. I hadn't considered an auditory issue. Thank you so much for mentioning it! I asked for an evaluation and said I was concerned about sensory issues and the woman I spoke with had no idea what I was talking about and I don't know if that is considered during the evaluation. Should I consider an eye exam too? Are there any other things I need to consider during the evaluation? What I am hoping for are ways to help my son. I love who he is. I love how he sees the world from a different perspective. I just want to help him, so he can have his needs met. I'm just not sure how to do it. How can I help him learn more? How can I help him be less destructive? Do I need to consider his diet as an issue? I'm hoping if I can help my son or at least if I can understand more about him than I can help others see what I see. My husband really struggles with this.

I've been rewriting this post over and over for days. I guess I'm looking for a little hope and advice. My middle son is 3 1/2 He is being evaluated next week for speech and sensory issues. He pronunciation seems okay, but his language development seems off to me. He's just starting to become comfortable using sentences, he's just recently started parroting me when I read or talk, will say no to questions even when the answer is yes(I think he doesn't always understand the questions being asked and automatically says no), his lack of communication has caused him to be frustrated and disruptive. He has sensory seeking issues that drive me a little crazy. I swear unless in a tub, a sandbox or watching a show I don't get much of a break. He loves being wrapped in blankets, wearing boots, crashing, jumping on everything, rolling in laundry, squishing between couch cushions, fakes falling/slipping, only wears cotton, and is a picky eater. All of this began shortly after he turned two. He seems to learn best by modeling/visual. I swear most of what he knows he learned through a show. So I know he watches way to much tv, I'm just not sure how to incorporate more activities for him during the day. I can't do the same things with him I did with his older brothers. He has no sense of caution. If I taught him how to use scissors I would probably find tons of paper ruined, or sheets, curtains, books in the five minutes he is out of my sight. So I want less shows, but have him watch ones that will help him, so shows that will help him develop vocabulary and language skills. He loves leapfrog, wallykazam, baby einstein. I'm not trying to teach him to read, mostly just build vocabulary and language use. If not a show any other ways of doing this, a way to break down language and present in a more visual way if that makes sense or can I just let it go and see if it gets better when he is older and learns to read. For the sensory stuff, is a schedule helpful, what sorts of things are calming? How important are clothes? I read somewhere that wearing boots gives more feedback, so could the same be said for socks and clothes? My little guys loves running around in his birthday suit, a lot. Could that be over stimulating? He has this awful game he plays called "make mess" and knocks everything in his path down. We've been able to curb some of his behaviors by timeouts, but I can tell his needs aren't being met. Some days he just needs more than others. So I guess I want to know if an evaluation was helpful for anyone? What does daily life look like with a child like this? I've never really done preschool with my older kids, but I wonder if I should with this one. I can tell he is bored. How would I go about doing preschool? By preschool, I don't care if he learns letters or numbers, I want him to learn things like life skills I guess, or social skills? Mostly, I just want to find a way to turn off the tv and not have him get hurt or be disruptive when I am not right next to him. I'm struggling with all of this. I've been reluctant to have him evaluated, but more and more I can see how his language issues and behavior is impacting how others interact with him. Please be gentle in your responses, it took a lot for me to post this and I've been hearing a lot from family members about his behavior, that he needs more discipline, oh I thought he was two, he acts like he is two, well at two his brother wasn't like that, what is wrong with him, his cousin doesn't act that way and she's two, come on you need to be more responsible.

My father-in-law used run a school the books I have are left over from when he retired. They look like they are in great shape. There are several other old math books I have never seen before too. I was hoping to find one I could use next year for my son who would be doing second grade math by then. It looks like people typically start them in third grade or can I start them anytime really? Has anyone used the workbooks? They are yellow but for upper grades.

Thank you! That does help.