Yes, he always asks for tighter hugs... like dad gives. His SPD is severe in both extremes. When we first started Occupational therapy 4yrs ago he was avoiding with almost all sounds and light and seeking with oral, proprioceptive and vestibular stimuli. Touch was both avoiding and seeking. He was a weird one with not feeling when his clothes where on wrong but being driven crazy by itchy tags. And screaming at the top of his voice that everyone was being too loud. He has a Benik vest, but he started chewing on it, so we had to discontinue using it. We tried a weighted lap blanket but he just played with it too much. He has a lot of deep pressure games in is sensory diet now. As he is getting a bit older he seems to need a little less then he used too though. He started Physical Therapy at the beginning of this year and I think that it has made a big difference in his more clumsy behaviors. But the boy still can't tie his shoes.

Yesterday morning ds9 was wearing two pairs of underwear because it made him feel more "snuggley". Later he had his pajamas on backward and inside out. When asked why, he told me that they conducted better kinetic electricity that way. He was trying to light his bedroom lamp with static electricity and the help of a battery. Ds has been tested and tested. He's not considered 2E by the "professionals" because his IQ was in the low average range. But is as far advanced in everything that doesn't require fine or gross motor skills as he is behind in things that do. His 4th grade spans 1st through 9th material this year. And he still sleeps with a stuffed Lamb.

we are currently using: tea strainer/infuser and pompom games. Twisty game using these. Wall Push-ups Tongs and marbles transferring from one container to another. Sponge Squeeze Lemon Twists (literally twisting lemons) :lol: Wire work (twisting wire into shapes like little people or animals)

Probably not the norm her. I went to school mostly in the failing schools of CA. I remember three grammar lessons in elementary school. The first was what a noun is in 3rd grade. The second what a verb is also in 3rd. The last was diagramming a sentence in 6th grade with all parts of speech (which I had not yet learned). There were no grammar lessons in High School. I got my first real grammar lesson in my Freshman College Basic English course. Here in Ohio the kids do not learn "grammar" in elementary ps. My nephew (an average student) is in 9th grader and is just now learning the parts of speech. But he does know how to put a condom on a banana. :glare: Oh and he went to "The Best" school in the district. Dh went to the same school back in the 80s and did learn grammar in 3rd, 5th, 6th, 8th and all 4 years of High school. But he was in honors classes.

Dh really is getting tired of not having any real line to the end of our "formal" schooling day. So we've been talking about doing something each day after we've finished schooling. Here is our short list... but this will get old quick I think. (We're thinking cheep or free) Any other ideas? We don't have museums or a zoo around here. :001_huh: Go out for ice cream (though I have 2 who can't digest dairy) Go see a movie Take a walk on a nature trail Go for a bike ride (until Nov.) Go to a store Go to the mall Fly a kite Go to adventure zone (put-put, go carts and the like) Go to the park Go fishing

My 9yo needs it daily, boy does he stink. Taking out the dies in his food has helped some though. My 11yo only occasionally. I have to shower and deodorizer myself daily, even when I was thin and young I had too. I also wash my hair daily, if I don't it's major itchy. When I was nursing my oldest I didn't deodorize because he had allergies to every little thing. I don't use aluminum based deodorant though, it brakes me out.

Here is ours.

We're doing Middle ages this year. So our reading list looks like this... We do bible, devotional, history, geography, biography and science reading during the day. We do literature and nature readers in the evening before bed. I like to drift off to sleep thinking of fantastical creatures flying around rather then battles fraught in some distant land. Though my ds9 likes to sneak in science books at night too. SOTW Vol. 2 ds7 listens to it on audio and the other two read it themselves. Dd listens when she feels like it. I pick and choose from the AG list of books that I think they might like each week. They each read two. As far as the AO books go We don't do An Island Story we're not English and found it rather boring. A Child's History of the World mid-year probably around December. If it's redundant we will drop it. I read An Island Story with older two with our 1st history rotation. This Country of Ours Part 3 and 4 this year. Trial and Triumph this year we are reading Light From the Darkness (which is a total of 11 stories so this isn't done every week). The Little Duke I'll read this usually a couple chapters at a time. It will be a quick read as it's that kind of book. Best read in a few sittings. Joan of Arc Will begin this once The Little Duke is finished. Dh will be reading it to everyone in the evenings. Tree in the Trail My oldest reads this to my younger two. Seabird My second ds reads this to my younger two. We read the lit. and nature books in order. We will likely be reading through the summer. My 11yo is doing year 7 on his own. He will occasionally read aloud to me from one of his books. But he finds my reading aloud too slow for him. Though I will often see him lying at the door to the younger siblings room when at bed time.

I used Phonics Pathways with all four of my children. My oldest was 1.5 when I taught him letters and sounds A-Z. Then we did blends and diphthongs at age 2. It was very informal, just a lot of "What's this letter ,mummy." "Oh, that's an Aa it says A and aaa as in I Ate the ants." I thought that every parent did that. Now I know otherwise. I had one who waited until he was 3 to learn the letters, but he has vision problems.

We use PP and RP. We start using Reading Pathways after finishing CVC. Honestly Bosters is not necessary for a homeschooler. I would only get it if... 1. Your little one is really struggling to read CVC and two-consonant blends after pg. 60 in Phonics Pathways. 2. You are doing a co-op. 3. Your child is an only and you have extra time to play.

No it isn't. We have never had any trouble with them. When I have had questions in the past they were very helpful. They did have one of our books on back order before but it was just a few days longer then usual. I would call and talk with them. They may have a large volume of customers right now. It is only the 2nd year that they have been using a central office instead of regional sellers. So that may be the problem.

Just wondering were these ten-year-olds homeschooled? :tongue_smilie:

My dd 4 told me today, "Mommy you are squelching my natural curiosity for numerals by not getting me my own math book." She has been asking for one for 3 months now.

Jenny in Florida :grouphug:

My 11yo is working on Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost My 9yo is working on A Leaf by Aileen Fisher My 7yo is working on Autumn Woods by James S. Tippett My 4yo is working on Down, Down by Eleanor Farjean

Ours is up Here.

This is what we did/do too. I've never really noticed a delay, but this is an area we began working on from the beginning. Even when ds was reading Bob Books we'd talk about how Sam was "sad" and Mat was "sad" and why. Though I doubt we will ever get to a point where it is an automatic thought process like his older brother.

My ds likes to do sporty stuff but has actually been asked not to rejoin soccer and swimming (group classes). Now that he's a little older he might do better in an individual sport but group anything is difficult for him.

My ds has severe SPD including sensitivity to smells. When he was young (2-3 years old) he would tell us exactly what was in the refrigerator when it was closed. Once he told us that he smelled snow coming. It was a cloudless day and everyone laughed, 15 minutes later it started snowing. I second the smell station. It really helped ds learn to tolerate smells... and how to react properly to "bad" smells. Which is not as important to eating but very important in the grocery line when the lady in front of you forgot to shower. :lol:

We've been trying for a while to get ds in to see a Speech Therapist. His levels actually surprised me. We've been told that he has some severe executive function delays and yet he scored very high in that area while scoring very low on some other areas I thought that he would score higher on. The ST thinks that he may have some visual problems that haven't yet been dxed. We've known that there were some "vision" issues but because he reads at/above grade level and his regular ophthalmologist didn't find any serious eye issues our insurance hasn't authorized any further testing. We did find someone who did out of pocket VT but we can't really afford that right now. Anyway, they've asked ds to join one of their Social Thinking Groups. He is so excited. This is the first time ds has been invited to do anything... so he was ecstatic. We (mom and dad) would love to know what to expect from those who've used a social thinking group. :001_huh: thanks

My dd4 is doing Kindy this year. I was hoping for one more year of her just playing and having fun but she pretty much insisted on "real" school this year. Being #4 she gets bored just playing by herself. She's not my 1st accelerated child so it's not as much of a surprise for us that she's ready for more faster and sooner.

I are finishing up Prima Latina with my 9 yo. and 11 yo. boys. The 9 yo. is PDD-NOS with some not-yet-dxed vision issue, but Latin is one of his favorite subjects. He really likes the practical portion... getting to have a conversation in Latin. We're using the whole program including the DVD which I think has made a big difference. I have dyslexia and think that learning Latin would have really helped me feel more confident about learning English as a child. That said, I wouldn't do Latin with a child who was reading lower then a 4th grade level.

I was told that I was the opposite of gifted. At age 6 I took the Stanford-Binet L-M. My father told me the score but did not understand what the score was really saying. He told me that my score proved that I was "an idiot" his words. When my son began to have some math issues we took him to be tested. Of course, we did a lot of research right after getting his scores and that's when I found out that my score was in the gifted range.

We tested our two oldest boys at age 7 and 5 respectively. My oldest was having some serious issues dealing with anything mathematics. We'd tried several different programs including the much love SM and still it wasn't clicking... to the point that he was calling himself stupid and idiot. So we were really looking for LDs. His math scores were more then 20 points lower (he was preforming on a early K level) than all other scores. We were directed in the direction of MUS and 4 years later ds is at grade level. Not "gifted" in math by any means but no longer struggling. But even with a 20 point spread in scores he was on the upper end of HG. My second son was tested because we suspected LDs as well. He had sensory issues, focus issues and writing issues. He was given an IQ test along with several other tests, to "rule out" giftedness. He tested at 70 so bordering MR. Now at age 9 he reads college level text and does triple digit mathematical operations in his head. After reading hundreds of articles on giftedness over the last few years, I'd say that he is indeed gifted, but his Autism masks a lot. We haven't tested the younger two. My almost 7 year old has a slight writing delay but is accelerated in everything else. Not crazy accelerations like the older two. But he's at least very bright. As he gets older we may test... or not. My daughter 4 is most definitely gifted. She's light years ahead of where here oldest brother was at 4 and she absorbs things by osmosis it seems. I suspect that eventually we will want to test to see where her strengths lie. But not for some years.

Here is ours.