Thank you myboy! That was super helpful. My ds is 8. I may just go with the Barton screener first to see where we are. She did say she would be able to tell me if she thought other things were going on and he needed a full psyc eval. Seems like a reasonable place to start. Sandy

Yes, it's just $350. I guess I should go back and confirm exactly what testing she is doing. Someone pm'd me with an educational psychologist right near me that she really liked. I think after reading ohE's post, I may just opt to do a full eval. I'm going to email her again and ask her what specific testing she does but I'm pretty sure her field of expertise is just dyslexia. I haven't made any decisions yet. Sandy

I have been posting for a few days in this forum. As you may have read, I suspect my son may be dyslexic. His issues only seem to involve reading, spelling, and memorizing math facts. He seems to be making consistnt gains in his reading ability. We are using LOE. He has already had a vision test for the vision therapy with a fellow covd. I contacted Susan Barton for a list of certified dyslexia testers in my area. There is only 1 near me. I have been in contact with her and she is recommending a screening at the cost of $350 based on what I have told her. She also does another more in depth evaluation that cost about $850. She said since I am homeschooling, I am not worried about getting school accomodations so the basic eval/report to let me know if he is truly dyslexic is all that I need. She also said she could tell me if we needed further psychological testing and could recommend someone in that case. I guess I'm wondering if I need to go straight to a psychological test or if starting with a basic evaluation for dyslexia is all I need at this point? He is developmentally normal in all other areas, as far as I can tell. Thanks, Sandy

Thanks ladies! This has all been so helpful. I've been jotting stuff down do I can go back and look later. Does anyone know if Logic of English would be considered good for a dyslexic child? We've been using it for maybe 4-5 months. My son is making really good progress in his reading, but it's not yet carrying over to his spelling. I did order the spelling journal and I'm going to have him start using that for more practice. I'm thinking i'll have him use a different color pen for the multi-letter phonograms. Someone that I talked to the other day (retired dyslexia tutor) insisted Barton was the best and i should be using it if I think I'm dealing with dyslexia. I have no idea how it compares to LOE. Sandy

Yes, math facts are a huge struggle. My son has made progress using the Addition the Fun Way program. He will still forget the stories if I don't "flash" him daily. I'm planning to use something similar now that he is getting to multiplication. I decided a while back to just keep going forward. He gets the concepts, it's just his fact recall holds him back. Like your son, my son struggles with math facts and reading. Oh....spelling too! Sandy

All subjects! What have you found to make a difference in educating your child with dyslexia? I would particularly like to hear stories of how maybe you were doing things differently before diagnosis and what a difference a simple change in curriculum or teaching method did for you. I suspect my 8yo may have dyslexia. We'll be having him tested just as soon as I can find someone to test him in my area. I'm in Roswell, GA if anyone has a good recommendation: ) Thanks, Sandy

Ok, great. I am finished with Overcoming Dyslexia. I'll start on Mislabeled Child next. Thanks, Sandy

Thanks so much ladies! Fair, I did enjoy the article. I think I'll get Overcoming Dyslexia first. Those were the two I was contemplating. Sandy

Please recommend what to start with. I suspect my 8yo may be dyslexic. I am talking with someone now and will go for testing in July. What should I start with? Sandy

Yes, he has 4 kids of his own. Two young ones thriving in public, and two adult children from his first marriage. He has had lots of issues over the years with his dd23. My mom reminded him of that too. He just doesn't remember what it's like to have a hormonal 11yo with an attitude to boot. I have decided to let it go. We are happy just the way we are and I really have no desire to send my kids to public school. His comments just threw me for a loop. We took the week off last week and I was already feeling guilty about that. I felt lazy. Getting back to school this morning felt good! Sandy

Thanks! I bookmarked all of these. Sandy

Thank you! I loved your story. Sandy

Is there a website or source I can use to find out what the reading level is on certain books? Thanks, Sandy

Yes, my mom is definitely supportive and defended us. We have a unique situation in my home. My mom lives in a separate in law suite connected to our home. She is here and available all the time (retired). In fact, she helps me a lot with my 2 yo while I help the others. I am extremely grateful for her help. So while he was here visiting he took her aside to express his concerns. I'm just aggravated! It's none of his business and I'm surprised he would think its ok to tell me to send the kids to school. I feel much better today. He will probably never mention it again. He's coming back Wednesday with his wife and kids so we'll see. My kids are fine and I know in my heart things wouldn't be better in public school. In fact, I would be willing to bet things would be much worse. Sandy

Thank you ladies. I guess I was just shocked to hear this. He has never once said anything about homeschooling. He has always been what I thought to be supportive. I am just surprised to learn how he feels. Maybe he is genuinely concerned about my daughter but he definitely doesn't need to be. My daughter and I has a good laugh about it today. I'm going to just try and ignore it and let him know its none of his business if he ever mentions if again, which I don't think he will. I just needed to get my feelings off my chest. Sandy

I don't even know where to start. I have homeschooled my children from the beginning. My dd11 is strong willed and can be difficult, she struggles with math but is overall fine academically. My 8yo 2nd grader is a super sweet natured kid. He is a bit behind where I think he should be but he is making progress. He has had a difficult time learning to read and struggles to memorize things like math facts. In the last couple of months, he has really come a long way. I think it's just a maturity issue. He's getting there and I'm not worried yet. My other child is almost 3. He is super intelligent as far as i am concerned: ) My brother was here to visit last week. While he was here, he came to the conclusion that my kids need to be in school. He begged me to put them in school. My daughter and I had some issues with her attitude about me taking away computer time. She was mouthy and not very nice. This is just my dd though. For the most part, she's a happy kid. She likes homeschooling but does need to get more involved with outside activities. I am fully aware of this and working towards finding things for her to do. My brother felt she was so upset about her computer time because she is lonely and depressed. Of course, he's seeing her act out towards us and he automatically assumes she is lonely and needs public school. My daughter is not depressed and I am terribly upset that he thinks my kids are unhappy. My kids are very happy to be homeschooled. I asked them yesterday if they felt like they wanted to go to school and they both said "no!" Of course things could be better around here, but for the most part, we are all happy to be here. My brother had a discussion with my mom about us. He thought my kids were unhappy. He stated he was worried about them and that kids need to be around a bunch of other kids their age. He was also concerned that my 11yo comes across as being 17. He sees her maturity in a bad way. He actually said "my heart bleads for them." I confided in him before all of this came out about my 8yo's struggles. Now he thinks my son is behind because he is homeschooled. As if he was in public school things would have magically been different. He had just finished telling me about how he helps out in his kids classrooms and that they have 3 different reading groups because the kids are all on different levels. This makes me so sad to hear. I am so upset that he sees us this way. I have been second guessing myself for the last 2 days. I am questioning myself if I am doing my kids a disservice. Am I ruining their lives because they don't have a bunch of friends? My daughter has 2 good friends. My ds doesn't have any real close relationships yet but he does have contact with kids in his once a week coop. He'll have more coop days in the fall. He plays with the boys next door, but he's content just the way things are. He's a real family kid and I see nothing wrong with that at 8yo. The schools in my area are very good. In fact, I moved here for the elementary school my kids would have attended. I am now wondering if they would do a better job, if my kids would be happier kids with tons of friends. I hate that I am feeling this way. Most days is a struggle to get started but once we get going things go pretty smoothly. Neither of my children like school, but they tolerate it. I have never had criticism from someone about our decision to homeschool. Coming from my own family, is such a blow. To hear that my brother has been worried for some time, really bothers me. Hearing of some of the stuff that goes on in schools brings me some peace. One of the homeschool moms I know just put her kid in school. Must be 4th grade I am guessing. Just the other day, some kid spread his fingers apart, wiggled his tongue, and asked him if he knew what it meant. I mean, this kind of stuff happens in elementary school. Just gross! I can only imagine whats going on in the middle school my daughter would be attending. It feels good to know I am protecting my kids from this, but I feel sad that maybe they are missing out on the good stuff. Thanks for listening. Oh, and to my cousin Terri on the boards, this is private so please don't mention it to anyone in the family. I don't want this getting back to him that it bothered me so much. Sandy

Wow! The Have Fun With History looks great! Thanks for the link.

We ended up dropping out of it. My dd was doing the once per week live classes and kept missing them. We just decided to start back with American Hstory. I'm not doing Mr. Powell's AH though. You can sign up for his recordings at any time. I think it's $20 per month. I would definitely consider using his courses again in the future.

I did not know you could change the grade. I confess, I just barely skimmed the program. I basically got her set up and let her go. I did get some time this morning to go through and print the quizz pdf's and answer sheets that she has completed so far. I had her retake them and she did great! She said it was fun and could we do more. lol she has taken one test so far. I found that she didn't answer over 1/2 of the questions. Somehow, she didn't see them. I asked her all of the questions today and she did fantastic! I had no idea you could print the quizzes rather than do them online. I think she does better that way. Not sure why though. Basically, I was worried for nothing. Thanks y'all! ETA...I just went back in and fixed everything. Her score is now an A+. Yay! Far cry from the F staring us in the face. I still have no idea why she left so many questions unanswered. She claims she didn't see them! She clearly knew the answers today. Oh well!

Ok, I was able to find her quizzes and yes, I can see them. Not before but after. I can see that in some instances, she puts the wrong answer. But, on some with spelling errors they mark as incorrect. She spelled geyser as gyser. I don't agree with marking answers wrong due to spelling. I also see that the instructor marks the page to find the answer for unanswered questions. I think I will print these and sit down with dd over the weekend and find the few she left unanswered. They list the correct answer under the wrong answer so they would definitely make a good study guide. I can print them and put them in her binder to help her study. Thanks everyone!

Calming Tea, I'll look in to SQ3R. Thanks!

I'm not sure that I can look at the test. This is all done online and I'm pretty sure once she starts, she has to finish. I'll take a look today. She definitely needs to learn how to study for a test. Does anone have good advice on that? Maybe something like a workbook we could go through that teaches test taking strategies? I did buy a DVD from the Great Courses called Superstar Student. We just haven't started yet. Arcadia, now that you mention it, I do remember something about the grading system on these tests. I can't remember if they were marked wrong for spelling or just points taken off. She has excellent spelling in real life but I can see her making mistakes while doing this. She is used to failing them so she probably goes through them pretty quickly.

I am definitely inclined to do that. She's the first to complain about my choice of curriculum. She has never tried to get out of her science lesson. That speaks volumes. I'm just stumped about the failing quizzes. I think I'll try letting her use the books in hopes she'll hang on to some of it.

Dd11 is doing this science on her own using the online option. She says she really likes it and never complains about doing it. The problem is that she has failed almost every quizz and test. She's not too far into it but far enough to have done several quizzes and 1 test. How do I help her? Is this a comprehension issue? Interest issue, even though she really likes Mrs Vick. I have thought about letting her use the book and study guide while she takes the quizzes and tests. Any suggestions?

I did google for strategies and found this http://www.backfencepub.com/Careless%20Error%20page.htm I think I may order it. ETA, I just ordered it from Amazon new for 5.99 under the other buying options.