My dd, 14, is in 8th grade. Because of her dyslexia, we are currently using MFW's "Creation to the Greeks". It has been a good fit for us. The reading has been interesting (and not too hard) and we are enjoying the material. According to their website, next year she should be doing their 9th grade "Ancient History & Literature". I have my concerns since I think that it most likely too difficult for her and it may be mostly redundant since we have covered much of the material this year (though not to the same depth). My dd is somewhat independent in her studies but I'm not sure she'll be able to do the work if it's over her head. My current thought is that we may do the next curriculum one in the 5 year cycle. That would be "Rome to the Reformation". I thought it would make sense to do what comes next and I figure that I can enhance the curriculum, so it's not quite so young, so to speak. I'd be interested if anyone has tried this and/or if any of you have any ideas.

:iagree:I totally understand what you are saying. I home school just one child and it was hard to figure out what would be good because so many seem like many curricula have multiple children in mind. We used Sonlight for many years and just this year made the transition to MFW. It is working quite well with just one. It most definitely can be very overwhelming. For a while I stopped looking at the CBD catalog because everything and I mean everything looked good. Last year, I attended our state's home school conference. One of the speakers said that she and her husband come up with goals for home schooling (every year)!. And with those goals, they can best choose a curriculum. To be more specific, her main goals were: finding a curriculum that 1) incorporated the Bible throughout (so that the Bible wasn't just an add-on subject) 2) was academically challenging 3) would help her children to develop independent study and academic skills (so that as they got older they would be more and more independent with their studies. Obviously yours would be different but it at least gives you an idea of how to narrow down your search so that not everything shows up in your view finder. It was weird for me to come up with goals, I guess I had never really articulated them even though I had home schooled for quite a few years. I know I had goals but they were very nebulous. When I finally came up with goals, it helped me immensely. Without them, everything looked good. Hope that helps! :001_smile:

Hi Sugarplum, I also wanted to welcome you to the boards. I was a lurker for quite some time, reading what others had to say and recommended but staying in the background. I have to say how much this forum has helped me. I was a public school teacher for quite a few years before home schooling (I taught junior/middle school and high school Math.) Even though I thought I was equipped because of my background, it was hard making the transition to being at home and being the "expert" on how to teach everything. This forum has been so very helpful (thank you all!) for my questions, my concerns, and for buying very good used materials and curricula for my home schooling needs. Everyone has been so patient with my many questions and they will be for yours as well! So thanks for joining us, Laura. I'm sure you'll find some things to consider, and some things that may stretch you and your thinking. And we're all here for you and each other. I so appreciate that. It's like my own eclectic community that's always there. We're here for you as well. There are so many success stories that it'll blow your socks off. You can do it, Laura!!!!! Blessings to you all, Karen

My dd is not a "mathy" child and has dyslexia. She is very artistic. We had tried A Beka, Saxon, and Math Mammoth prior to using TT. We started at TT7 last year when my dd was in grade 7. We took the TT assessment test and placed her at grade 7. I was amazed since she had really struggled with the basic concepts. What really helped us was using Math Mammoth prior to TT. We began (MM) at grade 2 and went through part of grade 4 when she was 10 to age 11. We LOVE TT! She gets it in a way that I never thought was possible. I thought she was never going to master Math and she is. She completed TT7 last year with a high 90s average and is doing Pre-Algebra this year. She enjoys the CDs, listens to the lecture and does the practice problems with the CD. Then she uses the book to do the problems for the lessons. She actually likes/enjoys Math since using TT whereas she used to hate it with all the other curricula used before TT.

Jean, I'm relatively new to the boards. That is to say that I've been on board for a few years but haven't said a lot, mostly just read a lot. My heart is warmed to hear about how things have turned out for your ds. It's just too easy to get discouraged when you have to regroup and shift gears when you hit roadblocks in our home schooling journeys. My 14-year-old dd has dyslexia and we're just about to embark on a new LA curriculum. I am struggling to remain hopeful. But we too have had such success with TT (we had tried oh so many Math curriculums that I came to a place where I thought she'd never master any Math concepts and she is! I am so thankful for TT). Thank you for the major encouragement you have offered that it is ALL worth it and that it will ALL turn out alright. Congratulations to your son and to you for a job well done! Bless you, Karen

Can you tell me more about Brave Writer -- what it consists of, what was it about Brave Writer that got your dd writing. No I haven't seen SWB's video. Do you have a link for it?

I'd like to jump on this bandwagon as well. My dd is 14 and dyslexic. As a result, we've done little writing and grammar. Should she start with WWS or should she begin with WWE4? Also we have not done any FLL. Should she do some of that? If so, which level? FYI -- She writes complete sentences that are punctuated properly. She knows what nouns and verbs are. She's not quite sure what a paragraph is, other than something that is indented and consists of a few sentences. And, that's about it. Any thoughts on where should she begin?

Coming from having been blessed with just ONE child and having taught public school for a few years, I would echo what starrbuck12 said above. Before the kids "go to school" (any traditional institution), you are home schooling them 24/7. With keeping them home with you, you are just carrying on what you've always done. I LOVE that we are a family; That we know each other through and through; that we get to be together when we are awake and full of energy, not just at the beginning of every day when everyone is grumpy and rushing around trying to make the bus or at the end of the day when everyone is tired and grumpy and irritable. We get to be flexible and allow OUR schooling/learning to fit into our REAL life, not a superimposed life that has to fit around the school's schedule. We also school all year around, which gives us the opportunity to enjoy what comes our way, and also to shift with the needs. And the cool thing about learning all the time, is that my dd has never had a sense of "Hey Mom, we're not in school now, so we can't do that!" OR, "You're not my teacher!". Anytime is a good time to learn or study something AND I have always been her teacher. Lastly, I LOVE that I have a relationship with my dd that I never had with my mother because I never spent any time with my mother (other than when I was rushing around in the AM or when I was grumpy in the PM) whereas I have spent so much time with my daughter that I cherish her all the more. She is one really really awesome girl! And my dd doesn't have the peer thing going on, like most children, where peers are their everything -- their source of truth, their source of fashion, their sense of who they are. Yes, it is very hard sometimes to do this -- to be the Mom, the homemaker and the teacher. And lines can get very very blurred. But I wouldn't trade this for anything. And I've been doing it from the beginning and my dd is 14 (and has dyslexia and has had a hard time with learning). But I LOVE that she can learn at her own pace in her own way without anyone making fun of her or allowing her to feel inferior because she's different. Home schooling is such a blessing and I thank God that He has allowed me to play this part in my dd's life. It has ALL been worth it!

Extra storage is like a hard drive. Extra memory is a memory card. Both are needed. Although sometimes they work together, both are used for separate things. Here is some information from a link I found. You'll find the link for this at the end of this italicized blurb:Computer memory, or RAM (Random Access Memory), is used by your computer for instant storage. Your computer needs instant storage to allow applications and processes to run up to speed. Computer storage, or hard drives, are used to store everything on your computer. For example, if you were to install Microsoft Word on your computer from an install disc, you could then use Microsoft Word whenever you want. You would not have to insert the Microsoft Word disc to use the application, because that application is now completely stored on your hard drive. Read more: Computer Memory Vs. Storage | eHow.comhttp://www.ehow.com/about_5452977_computer-memory-vs-storage.html#ixzz1iyMnrD4x If you don't have enough memory (RAM), your computer ends up putting a little bit of a file here and little bit of the file there (wherever it can find room) and as a result, your hard disk gets very fragmented (in pieces). In order for you to use some file (let's say a WORD file), your computer has to find all the pieces and try to put them together. This takes a lot of time to do. So if your computer is very fragmented, it takes forever to do the simple things AND because you have very little memory, you can't even fix it (called defragging). I would second the recommendation. If you don't have the skills or have a friend with the skills to help you, then go to a place like Staples, I think they will "clean up" your computer for $9.95. I don't know what they will charge for putting in additional memory. It really depends on what you have. If you have maxed out the memory for that computer, they can't do much. Maybe you know of a place that has better prices than Staples. Anyway, here's a link for Staples: http://www.staples.com/sbd/cre/marketing/tech_09/repair.html Hope that helps!

Because of my dd's dyslexia, writing was very difficult (the actual mechanics) as well as encoding, spelling, etc. As a result, I had her do very little writing. She has since had tutoring for the dyslexia which has helped tremendously, in reading, comprehension and has given her a desire to write (which has always been there). As to "not having the tools", what I meant is that we've done very little continuous language arts of any sorts because of her dyslexia. We've done a little A Beka mostly and this year we are using Writing Strands 3, Intermediate Language Lessons and Spelling Power. The latter two are going well but she seems a bit stumped by Writing Strands. They will ask her to write a topic sentence and she is baffled since she has never heard that terminology before (really) and doesn't know what to do with it. Writing isn't my strength so I'm at a loss as to how to help her. I tried looking at Writing Tales on Amazon but I couldn't see more than the cover so I don't have a sense of what that's like. I was able to look at Writing with Ease on Amazon and the levels I could look at were the lower levels where it's mostly copywork, narration and dictation. That's good but I feel like she's at a loss (and me also) since I'm not sure where to begin. I feel like she's behind and has many years of catching up to do. She mostly wants to write fiction but doesn't really even know where to start. Do I begin at Level 1 and move through it or begin with something else made for an older student? As to her current skill set, she has basic grammar down, basic sentence structure and can write sentences and has a basic sense of what a paragraph is. But, let me give an example of where she is and her frustration. She saw an essay contest in a magazine that she receives and wanted to enter it. She didn't know what an essay was or how even to write it but she REALLY wanted to do this. I was stuck in a place of letting her try this (and fail perhaps?) or just saying forget it. So we tried it. We did research on what an essay is, and how to write one. And in the end (with much frustration and tears) she wrote on and sent it in. I am very proud of her but am really wrestling with, "How can we do this so that she knows how to write (different types of writing) so that they flow and much of the frustration is gone?" I know this is a bit rambling and not particularly cohesive but I hope it gives you a better picture of where we are and perhaps where we should go from here?

Do any of you know anything about Brave Writer Curriculum? I'm looking for something for my dd who has dyslexia. She is at a point now where she wants to write but does not have the tools. She's 14 and in 8th grade (though I take that very very loosely). I stumbled upon Brave Writer and was curious. Any other thoughts or ideas are greatly appreciated.

Does anyone know where I can get unabridged versions of books? I am currently looking for Patricia St. John's books: The Tanglewoods' Secret, Star of Light and Treasures of the Snow. I have heard that the original books are so much more descriptive and meaningful.

I went to hear someone at a home school convention talk about Alice. The husband teaches it at a university. I loved the presentation. I was a computer programmer in my former life and thought my dd would like it. It hasn't happened yet. But, he did recommend a book called Learning to Program with Alice. It's quite pricey but he said it was good. Hope that helps!

I thank you for leading me to Rick Lavoie! I had never heard of him before but I watched the YouTube videos and now have his book It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend. I have begun reading it and also got the VHS out of the library called "How Difficult Can This Be? The F.A.T. (Frustration, Anxiety, Tension) City Workshop. Excellent, excellent movie of demonstrating what LD kids and people deal with in order to try to process information and communicate. I would highly recommend it. I watched it alone, then I watched it with my dd and then I had my husband watch it. We were all enlightened. I have realized that I am LD and that my daughter is. Maybe even my dh. Thank you for sharing this!

I totally agree with what has been written. Years ago, we lost twins and the cards that people sent right away were invaluable. But the pain that endured after the fact was almost unbearable even with God. But, those that stood by us through the days and months and years that followed were the ones that God used to heal our pain. Only He can heal the pain but others, through their showing that they remember (since it seems that everyone else is carrying on as if nothing has happened while you have a almost mortal wound that is bleeding and no one is talking about it or even showing that they remember that you are hurt beyond anything imaginable) help make it doable. Soon after losing the babies, I remember wanting to yell in the grocery store, when the cashier asked how I was doing (casual conversation by someone who didn't know me), "I LOST TWINS AND FEEL LIKE I'M DYING AND CAN BARELY BREATHE. HOW ARE YOU?" I was so angry and hurt and numb and felt all sorts of things that I didn't know how to process. It was only God who used many many thoughtful and caring people to touch my broken heart to allow it, in time, to heal. And I thank God for those who remembered days, months and years later. One friend sent me flowers one year to remember the babies. That so touched me that I wept. The note template is wonderful. Keep it short and sweet. Show them that you care and are there for them. Thanks for taking the time to send a note now and in the months to come. They will remember those and be comforted by them. God will do the rest. Bless you.

Just wanted to add my two cents here. My dd is going to be doing TT Pre-Algebra this coming year and I asked TT about any changes in the "new" automated grading version (which I think is 2.0) vs. the "old" version 1.0. They said that they had made some changes, so you might want to check with TT directly to see if there have been or will be changes forthcoming in their upper level Math programs. By the way, my dd is very artistic and has struggled much with Math until we began TT7 this past year. It takes her a long time to do her Math but she is getting the concepts and getting them right. So I am very pleased.

I appreciate all the advice given. I did look into NLD and see some parts for my dd that apply but not much (my dd has incredible fine motor skills. When she was very young, and first picked up a crayon she held it correctly and used it correctly. She has been drawing since she was so very little). It was helpful to read about the social piece of NLD. I do find what you have said WishboneDawn most helpful. I do believe that we all have are "issues" or "disorders" if we were to use a fine-toothed comb and look at them but the bottom line is to find some things that work and do a whole lot of praying. For myself, I know that I have never liked groups, and I consider a group a gathering of more than 3 people. And when I approach a group, I try to find a familiar face and if there isn't one, I try to find a friendly, welcoming face. And if there isn't one, I try to find someone, I can introduce myself to. I'm glad to hear that you have strategies (your knitting) that you use and that you've come to see that spending good time with yourself is good as well. It is my heart desire to equip my daughter as best as I can and to help her to realize that she is fine as she is and that she can rely on God for all the rest. Thank you ladies for your help.

Well, yesterday, my dd was PMSing so I know that added to the discomfort. Because she didn't know to interact in this "new" group, she isolated herself (I think, since I wasn't there most of the time). She brought a drawing pad (she's very artistic) and spent some time drawing. But she is naturally shy and I don't think knows how to reach out to others, to say, "I'm having a hard day" or even put her own feelings aside and walk up to someone and say, "Hi. My name is ____. What is yours?" And, I know that, perhaps like you, when she doesn't feel well, she withdrawals into herself. I just read this article on ADHD that said, "ADHD children have a very difficult time with simple social interactions. They don't read facial expressions or body language very well. Their comments are impulsive, they interrupt others continuously, and struggle to fit in with peers. At times they talk too much, or not at all." Another article said, "ADHD children often lack the social skills that are essential to success in life. These children can be socially inept, and their lack of interpersonal skills may cause them a multitude of difficulties." With all that said and done, I want to be able to teach her to be true to herself yet learn how to operate in this world. We have to be social beings to survive, to live, to work, to play. So that is my dilemma. How does one do this? How do I get inside her brain to understand how she thinks and feels and operates so that I can help her to cope and strive in the years to come?

I was discouraged last night and found this thread about ADHD and books that have helped some of you: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=286789 My dd is 13 and yesterday she and I went to a campsite to help celebrate her friend's 13th birthday. There were probably 10 - 12 other families at this campsite and we'd never been there before. She was there from 11 AM - 7 PM. I stayed a while, maybe an hour chatting with some Moms until I knew she felt comfortable. She did go tubing and had fun for a couple of hours, but the rest of the time she didn't know what to do. When I showed up later to pick her up, I stayed a while and saw how miserable she was. She knew very few people at this campsite and I have realized again that she isn't good at how to read other people, she gets so absorbed in herself and how she's feeling that she has a hard time being aware of what others are doing (stopping over to see if she's OK), she doesn't know how to engage with them, she doesn't know how to engage someone in a conversation, make a friend, and to be able to see needs around her and try to help. Are these issues with ADHD kids? And, are any of the books listed on the above thread good for improving social skills for a child with ADHD (she also has dyslexia but I don't think that plays a major part here). Her academics are OK and I'm not really concerned about them but I am concerned about her being able to have the skills she needs to handle life -- when she doesn't know everyone at a gathering, when I'm not with her, when something happens in life that's unpredictable. Everyday there are situations where I don't know everyone, where unpredictable things happen. Here's the list that people said that they thought were the best: The Family ADHD Solution by Mark Bertin Driven to Distraction by Dr Hallowell The Survival Guide for Kids with ADHD ADHD Parenting Handbook Ritalin Free Kids by Robert Ullman How to Get Your Child off the Refrigerator and on to Learning by Carol Barnier My heart goes out to my dd and I hurt for her but I don't know how to help her. She is my one and only so interaction with others is such a key. This past year she was courageous enough to take an art class with no other children she knew (she only knew the teacher) and I was very proud of her. She grew a lot socially but I need more things like that, where she can spread her social wings and see for herself that she can do it. Any encouragement would be welcome for I am so discouraged. And any praying that you might do would be a blessing.

Do any of the above mentioned books help with improving social skills for children with ADHD -- like how to interact with people, how to meet new people, what to do in new social situations, what to do when situations aren't predictable, etc?

I sent you a PM. I'm praying for you.

KellyT01 and HSMom2One, Could you tell me more about TOG? It matches up with the classical education model, is that correct? How does it work for children whose skills don't match up with "where they are supposed to be" (like my 13 dd whose skills aren't all "7th grade" skills)? Are the lessons adaptable to adjust to different skill levels? What do you like the best about it? What are things that you have struggled with? Since I don't think you're still on-line right now, I'll PM each of you. Thanks in advance.

I am attempting to select a good Biblically-integrated curriculum for next year. I am interested in ones that use a CM-style approach. Since I tend to try to do too much (when I have planned it on my own and used my own resources) I thought this year I'd try something that someone else had put together for me. I have narrowed it down to two choices: HOD and MFW. Since I have not done either before I was considering HOD Hearts for Him Through Time: Creation to Christ and either Exploring Countries and Cultures or Creation to the Greeks, to begin at the beginning, in a sense. My dd is currently 13 and in 7th grade. But because of her dyslexia I was concerned with MFW being too rigorous for her. She is a somewhat independent learner. And I was concerned that HOD might be a bit tedious. She reads at around the 5th grade level but her writing is lacking in substance (maybe around the 3-4th grade level?). Also, could someone tell me how much time is involved in doing the HOD or ECC from MFW? Are they both 4 day a week programs? Any other thoughts would be most helpful.

Dear parents of one child or those home schooling one child, I am attempting to select a good Biblically-integrated curriculum for next year. I am interested in ones that use a CM-style approach. Since I tend to try to do too much (when I have planned it on my own and used my own resources) I thought this year I'd try something that someone else had put together for me. I have narrowed it down to two choices: HOD and MFW. Many of the curricula I have looked at seem great for teaching multiple children across multiple ages but I do not have that issue. Since I have not done either before I was considering HOD Hearts for Him Through Time: Creation to Christ and either Exploring Countries and Cultures or Creation to the Greeks, to begin at the beginning, in a sense. My dd is currently 13 and in 7th grade. But because of her dyslexia I was concerned with MFW being too rigorous for her. She is a somewhat independent learner. And I was concerned that HOD might be a bit tedious. She reads at around the 5th grade level but her writing is lacking in substance (maybe around the 3-4th grade level?). Could someone tell me how much time is involved in doing the HOD or ECC from MFW? Are they both 4 day a week programs? Any other thoughts would be most helpful.

I was wondering if it's necessary to start at Level A with Apples and Pears? I gave my dd, age 13, dyslexic, the assessment and we got to the Level B1 page. But I am wondering will we be missing out on critical things (concepts, sounds,etc) if we jump in at Level B. The reason I'm asking is that I've heard it's important with AAS (All About Spelling) to start at Level 1 so that you don't miss anything.