I do not know the extent of the intervention she had in TN but I believe it was a personal aid. She was in ST for sure, just not sure what other help she had. Either the parents do not know their rights, or we are just not communicating well on that issue. Since she is pulling her dd out to homeschool, I don't know that she will pursue worrying about that now.

How soon after she mails the letter of intent to the school, does she need to wait to pull her dd out. She mailed it today...

I do not know this either. I assume it's due to different state regulations. They lived in TN before but honestly, I just don't know anything about it. She came home with a very bad report card today and not anytime in the last 2 months has the teacher indicated that she wanted to meet with the parents about how to help her or anything. The school system she is in is very bad and I don't know that having an IEP would even help there.

Thank you for the encouragement Arcadia. I'll be sure to pass that along. Also appreciate the ideas and suggestions, Tammy. Those are great ideas on covering the other subjects. :) I'll PM you the stuff we used for brain training. :)

Thank you so much. I will pass it along. I imagine at some point, she'll join this board but in the meantime, I am grateful for those of you willing to share your knowledge.

Yes, little niece got her report card today. One C, three D's and 1 F. Not a peep from the teacher in two months that she was heading that direction. Parents work with her 3 hours every night with schoolwork. I think even if with all the make-up work they have to do, niece will be so much better off out of that system. :tongue_smilie:

My dd11 had success with a program called LearningRX. It improved her processing speed and working memory tremendously. (I wrote a post about it on my blog is you want to search there) But we have seen that if we don't continue to challenge those areas, she gets rusty. I would still do it in a heartbeat as it helped her so very much, but it's true that you need to keep using it or you will lose it. I'm sure that's true in everything though. :)

I think we posted at the same time. :) Thank you for the practical advice. She came over today and we worked out a plan for brain training with what I have, and discussed the legal necessities and how to proceed from here. Both she and BIL are ready to do whatever they need...libraries are definitely in their future. :) I've already offered Phonics Pathways to them as we never really clicked with that book but they will do the brain training first and add subjects quickly but not too quickly so the child is not overwhelmed. :)

Thank you for the link on audio books. Yes, this will help her for sure. In SC, the parent (or legal guardian) is responsible for teaching 51% of the time. I can teach her, just not all the time. Fortunately SIL and BIL are up to the task of doing school. I'll just consult and probably take her with me to co-op classes. :)

Thank you again, Elizabeth. You are a wealth of information. Niece had a cracked skull as a baby (sister dropped her) and a stutter that has gotten better with age. Until she moved here, she was in speech therapy for that so these pages will be very helpful to her parents I know (shoot, I'm fascinated by them myself!). They have really struggled with knowing what to do for her; the only thing they know for sure is the school system here is failing her and fortunately, they are the type who are willing to think outside the box.

Thank you for sharing your experience and your warning. SIL and BIL just left and they are very committed. We have a plan but they are executing it, I will just consult and help them find books. Mostly, from what SIL and BIL say, it's failure on the school's part to recognize a child who learns differently. The school here is very rigid and does not allow a child to learn something in their own way...so when niece needs help with homework, mom isn't allowed to help her think in her own way, she has to think and answer in the method the teacher has declared as the only way to learn. Tough for a child who thinks in a right-brain dominant way. :P

Oh, I didn't think about getting it through her doc. She just said the school wouldn't provide it. I'll mention that; thank you. :)

You are right. That will be hard for us both I think. Thank you for the reminder that this needs to be her thing and my position is to guide and suggest.

Elizabeth, it seems like that might be a good post to keep on hand. I'm sure it's a common issue. :)_ Thank you for your suggestions! Niece is 10 yr old, btw. Thank you ALL for your suggestions and links. I will share all of these with her and I believe we can find something she can do. SIL will do the bulk of the schooling, my part in this is to help her plan and try to use my books and whatever free resources we can. You guys are awesome and I appreciate your help! :grouphug:

The program I used for dd is called Learning RX. I had forgotten about Diane Craft's program; I will look at that and see if she thinks it might be a good fit. I'm sorry for the confusion. I'm terrible at posting in a straight thought line sometimes. :tongue_smilie: I will not be doing the bulk of the homeschooling, mom will. SIL just wants me to help her figure out a plan. Thank you so very much for the links and suggestions. I will look at them and share them with her as well. I had forgotten she'd need to file intent to homeschool. I'm so glad you mentioned that!

Thank you for the bump and the suggestion of what to search. :grouphug:

My SIL, BIL, 2 nieces and MIL moved here earlier this year after my FIL's death. Niece (10 yr old) was already struggling with reading before she moved but now has lost her minimal reading skills while in PS. She qualified for special help in TN but not here. She also has a speech delay that she does not qualify for help with here. SIL has asked me to help her figure out if homeschool is a good fit for her dd. I am happy to do so but don't know where to start. She is coming over Wednesday to look at what I have and discuss a plan for her dd. I feel brain training is important and have the curriculum to do it, but do not feel qualified to DO it with someone not my child. It's very intense and hard work and don't even remember every aspect of it as my child did it almost 4 years ago. But I'm certainly going to share what I have and see if she will be able to do it. Obviously the child needs to learn reading skills but feel that brain training would help her overcome her inability to decode and remember. But we also have to consider our legal obligations for her schooling. What curriculum can I choose that will cover all her legally necessary subjects while not being too "young" for her, yet not too hard for her? Her mom has only ever been in PS, niece has only been in PS, this is way outside their norm but mom is desperate for dd to get some help and this is her only option as far as she can see. They are extremely poor so they can't get in any programs or even buy a lot of books. Basically I feel like we are building a program from scratch with only what I have in my house, but if something is not terribly expensive, I'm willing to spend some money on books that will help her. I need ideas and input, please. I want to do right by her but feel ill equipped. Thank you!

My SIL, BIL, 2 nieces and MIL moved here earlier this year after my FIL's death. Niece (10 yr old) was already struggling with reading before she moved but now has lost her minimal reading skills while in PS. She qualified for special help in TN but not here. She also has a speech delay that she does not qualify for help with here. SIL has asked me to help her figure out if homeschool is a good fit for her dd. I am happy to do so but don't know where to start. She is coming over Wednesday to look at what I have and discuss a plan for her dd. I feel brain training is important and have the curriculum to do it, but do not feel qualified to DO it with someone not my child. It's very intense and hard work and don't even remember every aspect of it as my child did it almost 4 years ago. But I'm certainly going to share what I have and see if she will be able to do it. Obviously the child needs to learn reading skills but feel that brain training would help her overcome her inability to decode and remember. But we also have to consider our legal obligations for her schooling. What curriculum can I choose that will cover all her legally necessary subjects while not being too "young" for her, yet not too hard for her? Her mom has only ever been in PS, niece has only been in PS, this is way outside their norm but mom is desperate for dd to get some help and this is her only option as far as she can see. They are extremely poor so they can't get in any programs or even buy a lot of books. Basically I feel like we are building a program from scratch with only what I have in my house, but if something is not terribly expensive, I'm willing to spend some money on books that will help her. I need ideas and input, please. I want to do right by her but feel ill equipped. Thank you!

I didn't. I wondered if I needed to do that to get some responses. Thank you for the suggestion.

My SIL, BIL, 2 nieces and MIL moved here earlier this year after my FIL's death. Niece (10 yr old) was already struggling with reading before she moved but now has lost her minimal reading skills while in PS. She qualified for special help in TN but not here. She also has a speech delay that she does not qualify for help with here. SIL has asked me to help her figure out if homeschool is a good fit for her dd. I am happy to do so but don't know where to start. She is coming over Wednesday to look at what I have and discuss a plan for her dd. I feel brain training is important and have the curriculum to do it, but do not feel qualified to DO it with someone not my child. It's very intense and hard work and don't even remember every aspect of it as my child did it almost 4 years ago. But I'm certainly going to share what I have and see if she will be able to do it. Obviously the child needs to learn reading skills but feel that brain training would help her overcome her inability to decode and remember. But we also have to consider our legal obligations for her schooling. What curriculum can I choose that will cover all her legally necessary subjects while not being too "young" for her, yet not too hard for her? Her mom has only ever been in PS, niece has only been in PS, this is way outside their norm but mom is desperate for dd to get some help and this is her only option as far as she can see. They are quite poor so they can't get in any programs or even buy a lot of books. Basically I feel like we are building a program from scratch with only what I have in my house, but if something is not terribly expensive, I'm willing to spend some money on books that will help her. I need ideas and input, please. I want to do right by her but feel ill equipped. Thank you!

Thank you for the input!

My son is a voracious reader. He just finished "The Giver" in a few hours and I am scrambling to finish it myself. He has the study guide but wanted to go through it together so he has to wait for me. I'll be done with it this weekend I'm sure. He reads every night; that's how he gets himself calm before sleep. He says he won't remember an old book once he has a new storyline in his head. I will not have this book done tonight before bedtime so he will have to wait at least another day before I am ready to do the study guide. All that to say, do you let your child read other books before they finish a literary study? I'm not sure what to do with him since he has so much more reading time than I do. I don't want him to pine for a book all night... Also, do you always read the books your child is doing a study on or do you sometimes just give them the discussion guide and call it good? Thank you for any thoughts on this!

You guys are always such a wealth of information. I wish I could :grouphug: you all; you have no idea how much this has helped. Well actually, you probably do. :lol: I am ready to look LFC in the face again. :)

Oh thank you! I like your schedule AND the explanation that some of the stuff is just not going to make sense right now. I forgot there were free online resources so that's nice that I can work that into our week. You make it seem so easy. I am VERY relieved that I can put that history book away for now. :tongue_smilie: You have saved my sanity (and kept me from wasting money by tossing this stuff!). I am grateful. :)

I am so lost with this curriculum. Does anyone have any advice on how to teach this well? I have read and re-read the history book that goes with it and cannot figure out what we're supposed to be doing. Maybe a good blog post somewhere about how others have approached this? Do I have to be doing Shurley Grammar to really "Get it"? Thank you for any help, advice or commiseration. We are all so excited about Latin but this is discouraging us to the point of not wanting to do it.