One thing about phonics, is that you do not have to learn all of it. A student proceeds from letter sounds, to a vowel plus a consonant, then onto some easy 3 and 4 letter words until the maturity of blending kicks in. Learning phonograms at this point is super helpful. Then you add in long vowel words -- while all along teaching appropriate sight words. I am not familiar with LOE, I have heard good things about Barton for struggling learners. Honestly, I do think you can "overkill" the phonics if you spend more time on teaching the systematic phonics than you do on real reading. Fluency starts happening towards the end of 1st and 2nd grade for some, others need another year. One of my children could not remember the phonics rules, so I had to teach the phonogram sounds written overtop of pictures or other visual clues that helped her "get it." You might consider looking at BJ Press Phonics review which is a workbook tailored for this stage of building fluency. If you break up your reading time with 1/3 time systematic phonics + sight work review and then the other 2/3 of your time developing a love of reading this might work. I have also used Alpha Phonics to drill particular spelling patterns. We even made construction paper books about family members and pets to give practice to these words from the systematic practice time. The reading sets from Memoria Press have also been a help to me. Their first grade set was books like Little Bear, Blueberries for Sal, and other classic books. The Arnold Lobel Frog and Toad series was also fun. Even board books from earlier years, to practice reading helped in this fluency stage. For one of my children who needed extra practice at 2nd grade, I opted for the BF history through literature to allow for extra time. The point? As parents, we want to teach a love for reading by teaching well. But , if the teaching is so much phonics drilling that the joy is lost, then you might need to adapt your approach. Mem Fox, the Australian author, also has some books about teaching reading. I forget the title, but my library had it on audio which I listened to in the car several years ago. I just pasted it in below, even thought the title is about reading aloud, it still was a help. http://www.bjupress.com/product/228296 https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=alpha-phonics&tag=geminimobiles-20&index=aps&hvadid=22379090&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_51uthm63cg_e https://www.memoriapress.com/curriculum/literature-and-poetry/storytime-treasures/ https://www.amazon.com/Reading-Magic-Children-Change-Forever/dp/0156035103/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1499552014&sr=8-6&keywords=mem+fox http://bfbooks.com/Literature-Packs/Early-American-History-Packs

We just finished The Waterhorse, which is quite a bit different from the movie. It had a lot of humor. This would be easy reading for a 5th grader. You might also have fun looking at Eats Shoots and Leaves - which is about grammar, but seriously funny. This is not literature, but might be fun to reinforce grammar.

I am using the one from Lee Binz' Total Transcript Solutions. I bought access when my oldest was an 8th grader. She has lots of helpful workshops and ebooks that are helping me navigate all the paperwork.... http://www.thehomescholar.com/total-transcript-solution.php My accountability organization also does transcripts as a service. I do not know if you have that as an option in your state. Lori D., What an awesome list of resources! You are such a help to so many of us on the forum! Thanks for sharing. :)

BJ Press math is very rigorous. I have used it for 11 years in teaching. It is actually a bit accelerated. The lessons are solidly explained, teaching for understanding the general concept before having to "do it." We are doing their Alg 2 this coming school year, so I cannot speak from experience about the Pre-Calc. They do publish a scope and sequence. The person that helped me with my purchase was a consultant from HomeWorks by Precept. http://www.homeworksbyprecept.com/Eujeana-Chism She was able to answer my questions and help me figure out the cheapest way to get what I needed. I do not use a lot of BJ products at all, so she was a big help. She does answer texts.

We have studied Latin in our family using Memoria's Prima Latina, Latina Christiana 1 & 2, First Form, part of Second Form, then a year of BJ Press Latin which was not well organized in the book, my daughter finished with a year using Henle with the study guides from Memoria. I did the use the Latina Ludere with LC1 for my second child. I will start Prima in a few weeks with child #3, while her sibling is in First Form. Basically, with studying with elementary age, Latin requires 20 - 40 min per day. Reviewing the grammar, learning the vocabulary, practicing the translation exercises, recitations, etc... I look at it like math - Latin needs daily teaching and review. For me, I like the clear structure of Memoria. We had to switch out of the form series with my oldest since she thought the translation exercises were babyish. While BJ Latin has awesome translation exercises - The BJ Latin is classical - not Christian. It also teaches vocabulary from all 5 declensions at one time which is so confusing. My daughter finished the book out of sheer will power. The cultural information was great, just the language study itself was not a good fit for us. Henle, on the other hand, was a breath of fresh air. Clear review of everything you learn in LC at a faster pace. The translation in Henle is all about Catholic church related stuff or Caesar war sentences. I did teach everything up to LC2 and Second Form. I did as much as I could from the BJ Latin, and I oversaw my daughter's independent work using the Henle study guides in her last year of study. After all of this Latin, I took my daughter to a local fall concert of the Bach B minor mass. She (and I too) could understand everything! So, for us, relating it to music, the ecclesiastical Latin was much better than the classical Latin. Learning Latin has also made teaching grammar easier, as well as vocabulary. I never knew anything about Latin until learning some with my children. The memoria LC series was written in such a way that I could learn with my children.

I have used the AG teaching the research paper and it is very well done. I also have listened to Dianne Craft's lecture on teaching composition to right brain learners. It is a very concrete/visual way to approach the pre-writing part of the research paper. I use both of these. Now, I am using The Power in Your Hands by Sharon Watson to take it to a higher level with structuring and style. It includes MLA specifics. The website has downloadable PDF samples. http://stores.diannecraft.org/6-right-brain-paragraph-composition-writing/ https://writingwithsharonwatson.com/the-power-in-your-hands/

Could you do a mix? Do some of the more expensive (possibly explosive??) labs with virtual technology and the other hands on ones in your kitchen? I am checking this option for our Chemistry for next year.

Some of what I am [trying] to do: trying to finish a grad class on Teaching Right Brain Learners, refresh my memory in using Sibelius music software, reviewing chemistry to get ready for the school year, working through an educational essential oil course, preview an online first aid for my high school student, reading books about developing executive skills for students, etc. I am part way through Smart but Scattered for Teens.

Hi Friend, I don't have time this morning to read through all 3 pages of the posts, but I can recommend something that might be useful for your 3 year old. I apologize if this is redundant. Critical Thinking Math for preschoolers, and their thinking skills books. These are great for preschool in laying an enthusiasm for math and a good foundation of geometry. My only criticism is that the pages of addition and subtraction were not developmentally appropriate for my daughter at that time. But I chose to have her do a selection of it - not all at one time. When I had one in Jr high at the time, and another building reading fluency, these books were a perfect fit for my young scientist in training. Now, she is is rising 3rd grader with very solid math skills. Critical Thinking Company has bundle deals that might be worth looking at. http://www.criticalthinking.com/preschool-academics

Can anyone recommend any intro to statistics classes for non math students? I have a fine arts student but think that at least a semester of statistics the senior year would benefit anyone.

Sorry, I just now saw you have already read the BF books....

We did Beautiful Feet early American for 2nd grade. It was great to continue to build fluency and learn history simultaneously. (My Story of the World would not have been a good fit for this student. ) For 3rd grade, we continued where we left off, and then used the BF geography for 2nd semester 3rd grade. Since my older child was studying American Lit, this worked well for my family to keep us all in the same general area of history. http://bfbooks.com/Study-Guides http://bfbooks.com/Literature-Packs/Early-American-History-Packs A lot of these books can also be found at the library.

Omnibus 3 for history, lit, and theology, BJ Press Algebra 2 Dr. Wile's Discovering Designs in Chemistry Professor Carol's Discovering Music Expository Writing part 2 using Sharon Watson's Power in Your Hands multiple fine arts/music credits - I'm not sure what will be affordable with time and money I am still organizing this last year's papers, so I am not in full swing with planning yet - but this is my basic plan

The mystery list includes 12 Agatha Christie novels, a mystery short story audio series, and then another 10 or so titles without authors. I have to check these out to make sure they are at least teen and adult level. Her historical fiction list is still in the works. She has already written one paper towards this and probably has at least 20 titles. I will cut and past my rough draft course description below: Course Description elective: Historical Fiction Literature Credit earned: 1/2 credit Course Description: This is a self-directed course. In this class, the student will read historical fiction novels. She will choose various authors within this genre. Credit will be awarded based on hours of participation. Student will write at least one paper related to the reading content of this course. Primary texts: various novels from the historical fiction genre, related video recordings of these same books. Books include: I have to add these in.....

I agree with the comments above. Lockpicking sounds like a fascinating skill! Useful too, it just might develop into a small business..... You can help your student add in an academic component more specific than the interest led learning he is doing. Whether it be writing some papers, going through an e-course, or just keeping a log of what he explores. You might want to check out Lee Binz' Delight Directed Learning ebook on Amazon. Sometimes she gives free downloads at the beginning of the month to various titles. This book would help you word a course description and give you ideas. http://www.ebooksdownloads.xyz/search/delight-directed-learning -- this is the first time I have seen this particular website. I usually download from Amazon when she has free stuff. https://www.amazon.com/Delight-Directed-Learning-Homeschooler-Passionate/dp/150898767X/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1497972134&sr=8-14&keywords=lee+binz https://homehighschoolhelp.com/delight-directed-learning Just out of curiosity, I did a quick search for course descriptions - so much came up. You have probably already done this, but here is a link to just one of the many that might be worth reading for ideas. http://www.ce.ucf.edu/FileRepository/Docs/HomeInspection/Locksmith%20Course%20Description.pdf I have a 3rd grade Tinkerbell who might be very interested in this when she is old enough :)

Hi, I am almost done with my course descriptions for last year. I have 2 more to go. I need some advise from those of you with more experience than I. My daughter is always reading books outside of academics. Since we keep lists, I was planning to group some of these as a 1/2 credit due to the amount of time she spends reading. She also writes papers related to the reading so there is an educational component. I am planning to put these as an elective course called Mystery and Suspense Lit or the other growing list of her Historical Fiction genre. My thoughts are to grade it 75% reading time with 25% composition average. Any thoughts??

When I was contemplating when to start Omnibus, I called the publisher and asked. They told me many people start a Jr. high student in Omni 3 because it is easier reading than Omni 1. Personally, I chose to wait until 9th grade to start the Omnibus books with level 1 in 9th. It was a huge jump with all the reading assignments. But the way the Omnibus books are written, you do not need to go in order. For 7 - 8th grades, I chose to split America the Beautiful into 2 years doing half the book for the first semesters of each year. We filled in the second half of each year with some other world history references from Yesterdays Classics that fit the time era of our trivium cycle. My goal was a solid general understanding of world history before we started Omnibus. I waited until 9th for Omnibus because I thought my daughter needed more maturity before diving into seriously hard work. Looking back over the last 2 years, I do not regret it at all. Another option for Veritas is to choose either the primary (mostly history and lit) or the secondary (mostly lit and theology) rather that try to tackle both. It is also possible to audit the self paced courses so to adjust the order or substitute a book. You would have to keep your own quiz average in that situation. Since Veritas tends to have accelerated reading levels, you could also check the elementary self paced online courses for the last 2 cycles; they contain a lot of American history. The reading list for 4 - 6 th grades in the cycles we have used have had lots of teen appropriate books too. Personally , I pick and choose from their elementary lists to make it work for my family. The free trials on the Veritas website helped me to know the level of the self paced. I needed to make sure it was not too babyish. Since I have not used HOD, I cannot speak from any experience there. Other considerations for similar content: BJ Press 8th grade American Republic textbook, Beautiful Feet Jr. High would be much easier than Omnibus, Apologia also has a nice Am lit anthology for high school students.

Hi Friend, I have to get my copy back out to use it for my second daughter. We will be going on "round 2" of the book for the 2017-2018 school year. From what I remember, the lessons were longer at the beginning of the week when introducing a new concept, but then faster as we worked on the follow up work. I think it was probably 20 - 30 minutes. Depending on your schedule of completing the book in 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years -- you also have some weeks "off" to focus just on lit and composition. I will try to take a look this weekend. It has been a couple years since I taught the AG. I am still finishing the course descriptions from this last school year. So, I 'm not in planning mode yet.... But I need to look at it anyway for my next daughter. :)

This post is a year after my last one. After doing the AG on a 2 year cycle, and the Essay package, as well as the research package - both from AG authors. Then, they came out with the Beyond the book report series which I also used. We did a year in Sharon Watson's Power in Your Hands this last school year. I was also teaching Jump In to my 5th grader. I recommend what Lori says except to skip Jump In altogether and go straight to Power in Your Hands. They are very similar in the foundational stages. Jump in does have a great section on research writing, but you will get that in your BBR anyway. In my opinion, I would focus on the BBR 5 paragraph essay and research paper in the BBO for basic literary essay and basics in expository writing. Then switch over to Power in Your Hands to go deeper. You do not have to teach the whole book in one year. You could implement whatever seems appropriate for the lit you are studying, and other writing assignments across the content areas. Even if you do not use Power for anything but the opinion paper, basic persuasive essay, and examples of MLA documentation; you can build on that foundation the next year. You can make the Power assignments relate to your literature. I paired ours with Veritas omnibus 2, biology topics, and topics of my daughter's choice. Power in Your Hands is easy to follow and really a help in learning to have solid writing skills. Doing AG on a one year schedule will be very busy, depending on how much your students remember from their elementary years. Best of Luck as you construct a plan for your year. :)

All three of my children did the guessing both in reading words and in reading music. This has been the case for many children I have known. The internet has several websites for sight words, I used the (dolch?? or a similar sounding name) list to accompany the systematic phonics we were working on. Our sight words were pulled from the web list as well as specific words in the books we were reading. The research I have seen demonstrates that children learn best how to read when taught with a combination of solid phonic along with a whole language approach. A teacher does not have to use one or the other. You can tailor it. For my youngest daughter, I did have to make right brain style cards for many of the phonogram sounds to help speed things along. This child could sound out the words so much faster once we worked on "tricks" to remember the rhyme. In the end, now I have a rising 3rd grader who is reading by syllable chunks and big words beautifully. I am thankful! For me, each of my children have been very different students in putting together a working combination of systematic phonics instruction and practice with an appropriate growing list of sight words. Ruth Beechick wrote that blending sounds into words is a maturity skill, and it comes at different times for different children. Her book "A Home Start in Reading" helped give me a working foundation to use in my teaching. Best of luck as you process so many pieces of good advice from everyone.

You could easily make a version of the flash cards. The point of the cards is to put a visual image with the word. Specifically writing the work overtop of the picture or as part of the picture. It does not need to be fancy. I made my own right brain type of flash cards to help my 2nd grader remember some math facts, and the tricks for figuring out specific patterns. Memorizing just did not work for her. Now I know this is math, but the trigger memory website has wonderful ideas for this type of thing. http://www.timestales.com/MainProducts.html Also, if you look up one of these visual style teaching resources on Amazon, you can get ideas from what other people also viewed and just from their reviews also. The snapwords on pinterest are exactly this kind of thing. I just did an image search. Wow! They are beautiful! Markers on index cards were what I had on hand in the middle of an expensive schoolyear :) (My daughter actually liked helping to make the cards - it seemed to help her remember the information better. I do really like the Brain Training manual. While reading it the first time through, it made me wonder why I wasn't taught some of these things in my college general education classes for ed majors. It might be possible to find it used. Not all children respond immediately to the training exercises. I am thankful God allowed my daughter to improve so much. I wish you well as you explore and research what is right for your situation.

I have the Brain Training Manual and I have taken her PD course on how to implement it, which is basically just reading and applying the manual in a specific case study situation. I used this with my oldest daughter to deal some particular issues. For her, it made all the difference. Basically, the teacher needs to assess the student in order to determine what to work on first - using the checklists included in the book. Then just follow the directions for the appropriate large muscle exercises that are outlined in the book. Dianne's book explains to do specific exercises 4 days per week, with a very specific brain training session one day per week. It took about 20 minutes per day to do this. I will be working with another child this next school year with a different set of challenges, so I am excited to see what happens. Brain Training therapy is not just for LD students, but also for the gifted kids with a learning glitch such as disgraphia. Some dyslexics have been able to improve. (I don't know how it would work in your situation) The exercises help the student to think more efficiently, using less energy. For my girl, it made a difference in how long math took, handwriting anything quicker, also in improving her communication skills such as her reaction speed in conversation. I noticed an immediate difference even after just 2 days of the exercises. By the end of the training period, much improvement had happened. This is not the only program that used large muscle movements to work on visual or auditory processing problems. Royal fireworks Press also has a series. I saw it at a homeschool convention. Dianne's is much cheaper if you consider the scope. RFP books were $20 each. You might find other options if you research midline therapy. I met someone from Texas who told me about a program called "small steps" that sounded very similar. Dianne's Right Brain Teaching DVD also addresses how to design and make visuals for teaching anything in order to make it stick for the students who have learning issues. I am working through it right now and it has been most helpful. She does have some shorter youtube samples, and she also has a series of DVD's that (I think) come in a set to give specific ideas for right brain teaching of the content areas. The right brain teaching has helped me to adapt lessons for a student with auditory processing issues, while I was waiting for a season of life with enough time to do the brain training. What I like about Dianne's resources is that they are designed for parents to use at home, (you do not need to have a degree in special ed or nutrition to make a program work).

We have used the RobBob videos on youtube also. Sometimes watching a teacher explain in different words really can make a difference! Also, I got a math catalog in the mail today. It is called Didax. They have a website http://www.didax.com/searchresults.html?grade=9&menu=math&&subject=95 Many math manipulatives for middle school and high school level. It might be worth looking for ideas. Good Luck Friend as you work on this! :)

Have you looked at any right brain learning approaches to teaching math? Using manipulatives/pictures/colors/wacky stories helps most learning styles, but from what I have read on Dianne Craft's website as well as other places - right brain learners do best with working with one type of math at a time. For example to work with just fractions before percents for several weeks, rather than the spiral approach many curriculae use might be a consideration. My oldest student had a dysgraphia issue that took time to work out using the brain training exercises. I do not know much about dyscalculia - but if your daughter responds well to visuals - it might be worth looking into some right brain learning techniques to help her develop understanding foundational concepts before too much more work on the procedures. My second daughter ( who is definitely a right brain learner) has the most solid understanding of math concepts. I think it is because we did everything with a base 10 set, fraction tiles, we made stories to remember order of operations, division procedure and stacked double digit/triple digit multiplication... We combine our curriculum with right brain "tweeking" to help her understand and remember. and Lots of review. It is hard work, but very rewarding to see progress. http://stores.diannecraft.org/7-right-brain-math-also-titled-dyscalculia-taming-the-math-monster/ http://www.diannecraft.org/right-brain-math/ I will say in my personal experience, the BJ math has done a great job in helping me teach for understanding before performance. Their 7th grade math is a very solid review of all the elementary concepts in a pre-algebra type of way. It is challenging. I think it is called Fundamentals of Math. Older editions might be cheaper. But I highly recommend using a teacher edition with all the extra helps. If I were in your situation, knowing what I know about teaching, I would consider using a 7th grade general math as review whatever is needed for one semester, and then jump to a pre algebra course. You could even start prealgebra, with a plan to review something older for 15 minutes every school day. You would know best if this is appropriate. I would not want to go too far into pre-algebra if my student were still struggling with renaming fractions or estimating. If you have time for a summer break, it might be appropriate to work on just math to catch up. I have friends who really like the Math with Fred series. I know they have upper elementary and jr high books that deal with just one type of math, such as fractions and decimals. The books I have previewed do not do a good job explaining the concepts, but it is a good fit for some students. For one of my friends, switching to Fred math made a dramatic difference for her daughter. It might be worth checking out for the sake of review. I wish you well as you research options.

I use BJ Press Math because of the conceptual approach. It is hard, but explained well. The teacher edition shows every step of every equation. We just finished geometry. Realistically, a teacher could compare the table of contents with another course and choose to skip the harder sections for a struggling student. The publisher also has recommendations for teaching at 3 levels: basic, standard, and advanced. It is easily adapted up and down. BJ Press also has an online option for lectures that go with the book. I like the post above about working side by side with the student. I have to do this with my non-math daughter. Since she is used to this math, we plan to continue it up through Algebra 2. The problem solving included is (IMO) helpful for SAT prep. http://www.bjupresshomeschool.com/product/421560 We tried to combine the Thinkwell online course with the BJ books. It did not work because the BJ was so much more rigorous. But the Thinkwell professor is fabulous, and it might be a realistic option for your student. Homeschool Buyers Coop has sales on Thinkwell just about every month. A year's access for about $70. This might be worth investigating for you. Thinkwell even allows a free trial so you can check out the program and hear lectures. https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/thinkwell/ https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/thinkwell-testimonials-all/ http://www.thinkwellhomeschool.com/