I did pick AAR. Not sure about CLE but AAR has hands on games, a slow and logical approach, and they have incredible customer service the few times I've emailed them when my son seemed to be having problems.

Can I just say how much I love these planning posts and getting to see what everyone else is doing! End of 1st grade - June/Summer: Finish SOTW Vol 2, Real Science Odyssey Earth/Astronomy.(very close to done!) Countine working on AAR 1, WWE 1, FLL 1, and RightStart B. Summer Camps Beach Swimming Having fun! Fall (September) 2nd grade! Language Arts: All About Reading 2, All About Spelling 1/2, Writing With Ease 2, First Language Lessons 2 Math: RightStart B/C (Switched mid year and going to work through the summer a bit to try and get through as much of B as possible.) History: Story of the World Vol 3, Early Modern Science: Real Science Odyssey Chemistry Art: Harmony Fine Arts Grade 3, Late Renaissance to Early Modern Art Morning Time: 365 Days of Wonder (Daily quote with discussion) The stuff that keeps us busy: nature study, art class, speech, swim lessons, freerunning, and cub scouts.

My daughter is so excited to start formal school for K4 this Fall! She has a fall birthday so just misses the cut off for K. The plan is.. Reading: AAR pre-reading Math: RightStart A Handwriting: HWT preschool History: Tag along with big brother, SOTW Vol 3. Science: Small unit studies with a science journal and nature study Art: Tag along with big brother Harmony Fine Arts Music/Art Appreciation Grade 3

Thank you for responding so fast!

I've requested additional testing for my son to see if there any possible LD that we don't know of. He already has an IEP for speech (articulation). I'd love to know if I'm just overeacting or if you think there might be something there. I know a lot of this can still be normal for his age, but I'm not sure it is when all of it is combined. I waited a long time to request a speech assessment because I kept hearing how he was still young and it would fix itself (it didn't..) and I keep hearing how kids with speech problems should be watched closely for reading problems as well. I don't want to wait if there is something, but I also don't want to be that mom who is looking for something that isn't even there. I'm just frustrated and I'm not sure if it's the way I'm teaching him, the curriculum we're using, or if there is a bigger issue at play. Background: My son just turned 7 (1st grade, but schooling started at TK for letter sounds and basic math/counting). We've been in speech (articulation) since he was 3 years old. We have an IEP through a homeschool charter school for speech 2x a week. Nothing else has been tested for yet. (I've requested it though so it's coming.) Reading is hard for him and he JUST figured out blending this summer. He's missing a lot of phonemic awareness skills (like rhyming), but is great at others (first/last sound, counting syllables). We went through AAR Pre-level but a lot of it was just too hard for him in Kinder. We worked on it over the summer and started AAR 1 when he figured out how to blend. Comprehension tests really high (if it's read to him since he's still not reading fluently), but he has problems remembering letter names, some sounds, reverses numbers / letters. I thought he was doing awesome at math but at beginning of the year assessment he scored really low, and high. He understands math concepts and tests well for algebraic thinking. But he can't count to 20 and doesn't always remember what the numbers look like. We're using Singapore and are just finishing 1b. I'm not going to move into 2A because of the issues and thinking about switching to RightStart in January although I have no idea if I should do A or B... He also can't remember the names of his friends, family members he doesn't see regularly. He didn't even know my husband or I's real names, just Mom and Dad, as little as a few weeks ago until we went over it Handwriting is hated and I only make him write a few words here and there, maybe a short sentence (3-4 words), or one page of a math worksheet. Other, non-school related issues. He's a VERY picky eater and it seems to only be getting worse. Foods he would eat just a year ago he won't touch now. I don't know why. He bites his nails a lot and at one point even started chewing on his shirt. I got him a chewy necklace and it helped break him of the shirt.. but not the nails. When he gets really excited, he bounces a lot and does some arm flapping. I have no idea if this is normal but my other kids don't do this. It's only when he's excited. He will talk forever about video games.. especially minecraft. Ask him about anything else and he's pretty quiet. He loves hanging out with other kids but I've noticed he doesn't always notice when he's being picked on or kids are being mean to him unless it turns physical (hit, push, etc). He has never done a lot of pretend play. He hated dressing up when he was younger. Although he will play 'house' with his little sister now that she's older and takes charge. She's really taught him how to pretend play I think, it never came naturally to him. He's not sporty at all. He's kind of clumsy and has never done well in, or really enjoyed, team sports much. He has a VERY hard time sitting still, even when he's playing video games. He tips back in chairs, moves all around, always fiddling with things. We've worked around this for school stuff and made adjustments, but there are days it's a lot worse and hard to do anything, even with the adjustments. If you read all of this, thank you! It's been weighing on my heart since the start of the school year and I honestly don't know if it's really just all normal high energy boy type stuff with just a later start because of his speech, or if there's something more to look at. If there is something more, are there any particular tests or things I should request from the school?

My son is going into 1st grade and we started doing narrations over the summer as we are finishing up SOTW Vol 1. He's doing really well and is able to repeat a lot back to me, which he wasn't able to do at the beginning of the school year. The part I'm not sure about is if I just write down what he says exactly, or if I should help correct his grammar? For example, his narration might be something like "Caesar gone to war. The times that he loses he didn't tell them because he wanted to be king." He's understanding the chapter, but the grammar is wrong. He also hates writing. We've done HWT for the last two years (Preschool and Kinder books) and I really like it, but am planning on starting copywork for 1st grade. Do you still use a handwriting curriculum if your doing copywork? Thank you!

Here's mine! He's 6 1/2 right now. Language Arts: Drilling on phonemic awareness skills (AAR Prelevel for weak areas, Webber Phonological Awareness Cards, and Working out with Phonological Awareness) AAR Level 1 when he understands blending FLL WWE Level 1 (maybe) HWT My Printing Book AAS Level 1 (undecided if we'll start this right away or wait) Math: Singapore Math 1B (Finishing from last year), 2A and 2B if we get to it. History: SOTW Vol 2 w/ Activity guide Science: Real Science Odyssey - Earth Science / Astronomy Arts: Harmony Fine Arts Grade 2 (Medieval and Renaissance artist study). Piano Lessons starting with Step by Step Piano Course - Book 1 . If that doesn't work we'll look into getting a teacher. Other: Freerunning/Parkour classes, maybe continue swim lessons. Weekly nature study with nature journal. Spanish with Salsa from GPB. Continuing Speech Therapy.

My oldest turned 6 in December. We're using AAR and finished up the pre-level reading level a few weeks ago. He knows the sounds of most of the letters so we moved onto AAR level 1 but it's like we hit a brick wall. He just isn't getting how to blend. He says each sound seperately and just hasn't figured out how to put them together. (For example, sat is /s/, /a/, /t/... over and over without every blending the sounds together). We're both getting frustrated at this point and our school day really shows it now. Should I just push forward but help him more with blending and not try and make him do the blending by himself, or do I just drop AAR completely for right now?