I have a child who also may be dyslexic (long story on why we haven't gotten him tested yet which I'll spare you). But All About Spelling he's done really well with. It teaches not with random lists but it teaches the spelling rules (then has you practice with words using that rule), has built in review, and is very hands on. My son doesn't do well at all memorizing random lists of words...he does much better remembering the rules. He'll still forget sometimes but he's more likely to catch himself about the rules than words on words that just need to be memorized. So, while of course there are those words that don't follow rules, this is a much more efficient use of his time to learn the words that DO follow rules according to their rules and not by rote. Another thing that helped in addition to AAS was adding in reading practice with nonsense words, which requires him to rely fully on phonics rules. While this is mainly for reading it has helped with spelling too, as it encourages him to think about what rules would apply to words that are tricky.

I so get where you are coming from. My situation is a little different than yours in that I've always had my two oldest in public school (and we have good schools in my area where they have been thriving)...but for the last four years I have homeschooled my youngest, and this year we decided to send him back to school. I loved homeschooling him, but for various reasons this was I think the best choice. But this is so different than sending my other kids to school was. The anxiety over how he'll do is so much higher (thankfully, seems to be going well so far). There's a pile of stuff I had bought "to do later" that is still in my house and I'm wondering how much I can do in summer with him. I'm still in a bunch of homeschool groups (like this one) and have not been able yet to make myself opt out of any (even though when local homeschool events pop up on my feed it only makes me sad that we can't participate anymore...unlike your situation we have a vibrant homeschool community here). Already, long before this decision, I found that homeschooling my youngest made me much more critical and "meddlesome" about things my other kids were asked to do. I challenged how much homework my middle schooler had when we moved to a new school, I have already this year offered my oldest an alternative text for history after groaning over how boring his textbook was compared to some of the material I was covering on the same era with my youngest. So, yeah, I get it. No advice yet, but... I noticed they have "clubs" here, and I was really thinking of starting one for homeschoolers who are now public or private schooling their children...just to chat about this part of the journey. I feel like I need to talk to people going through this same transition. Would you like to join if I started that here?

Just wanted to add that I'm sorry that people have dismissed what your child is going through like that. What your child has is so difficult, both for him and for you and it is NOT YOUR FAULT. It must be really hard, especially when behavior comes out in front of people who don't know you well or your child's situation. We get so much judgment as parents, and it's worse when we're dealing with something people don't understand. Wish I could give you a big hug.

I think it's natural to treat those things differently, not just because of the stigma, but because they are different. Bipolar and autism are both things that can profoundly effect relationships, and can cause behaviors that can be much more difficult for OTHERS, while dyslexia and sensory processing don't tend to effect people around the child in the same way. My mom had bipolar disorder (she passed several years ago...just felt the need to explain the "had" cause sadly as you know this isn't something that goes away). When a very good friend of mine was diagnosed with bipolar and told me, I really struggled not to think of her differently, not because I was ignorant about the disorder but because I was all too familiar with it. So, I understand your hesitancy to share with people about that. I would tell people who need to know (caretakers, teachers), but I would wait to tell others until it was necessary (ie, maybe you don't need to tell a parent on the first play date at the park, or birthday invitation or whatever, but you would want to let them know before the first sleep-over, or if their children started to play together regularly with yours). If it were my child, I would want people to know eventually, but I wouldn't want it to be the first thing they know about my child.

If you're close to the end I would finish. If you're not, I would ask if he would rather try another book.

I noticed the club feature recently, and was wondering if there was a club for parents who used to homeschool. I made the hard decision to send my child to public school after homeschooling for four years, and I feel like I need to process with others who have done the same. If there's not a club, would anyone be interested in forming/joining one? Or does anyone know of any other forums or facebook groups like this for parents who are no longer homeschooling?

When do you plan to travel? Is it possible for him to go to school just until you start traveling? That would give you AND HIM a breather, give him a taste of what public school is like and give you a taste of what he is like in public school, and if you know ahead of time you are coming back to homeschool so you can travel as a family, it gives you a good out.

We were in a co-op with similar expectations, and I think this sounds reasonable and it's good that you cover things up front. The only thing I saw that I might change was the last expectation, which I think could be worded better. "In the event there is any incompatibility between participants or their parents and these expectations you will be asked to find (or start) an alternate group, and we afford you this same right to part ways" I would say in stead "Participants or parents not able to meet these expectations, or causing other conflicts, will be asked to leave the group. If you find after starting that this group doesn't meet your needs, you have no obligation to stay, and we hope that you find (or start) another group that better suits you."

I'm not a die-hard. never quit. "homeschooling is the only way" kinda person. I have 3 kids, one of which has always been in public school, one who briefly tried homeschool (but it didn't work) and one who was homeschooling until two days ago. But, because of your son's age...what he's going through sounds very much like a stage (and one that may pass). Granted, you've said this has been going on for years...but it sounds like what's happening now with his attitude is worse than usual? When you say "he complains and resists everything, sending hateful daggers to me whenever I ask something of him. He is sloppy, lazy and disrespectful. I don’t trust him at all, as he sneaks phone, computer, candy and lies by default"...has THAT ALL been going on for years or is that just adding to the struggles that were already going on? Because early puberty can just be hard. For my kiddo it hit early...from 11 to 12 he was just miserable to be around. It was literally a year of constant sarcasm and insults where the best I could do was get him to "not say anything at all" cause he seemed incapable of saying anything nice. BUT IT PASSED. So my suggestion is to try to separate what are long term struggles that may be primarily about homeschooling or how you're homeschooling, and stuff that may just be related to puberty...deal with the long term stuff (and school might be part of that, or might not) but be prepared to wait out the puberty stuff.

I think Kiara is spot on! That's what I would do if I was teaching history to multiple kids. I never actually had to combine with different children, but I did do Story of the World with a child who was very visual and had a very short attention span, and came up with some "tweaks" that would work with nearly any history curriculum for engaging younger kids. Some of these could even be used for the 3 year old... http://imaginativehomeschool.blogspot.com/2016/09/tips-story-of-world-for-short-attention.html Also, there is a book series by Maria Ruiz and Glòria Vergés called Travel Through History that is excellent for younger kids. It says ages 4 and up but I think many 3 year olds could handle it just fine. They're very short and gentle. For instance, the first book, Pre-history through Egypt, is about 30 short pages. I would read these books to your youngest two when you're starting the section they cover to sort of give them a sense of that era. It would be a way to include even your 3 year old, a little. I would also get some of those books that show a whole city, castle, pyramid, etc. with tiny people in a "where's waldo" sort of style. (Like the Usborn Time Traveler, the DK Cross Section books, or similar ones). With those type of books you can have a younger child look at a related page while you're reading and there is enough visually there to keep their attention for all or most of a section of reading. You can ask them to see if they see anything that you're talking about in the reading.

I HAVE one. I picked it up at a garage sale not knowing what it was about (just liked the picture on the front), and wanted to give it to someone who had an international adoption. It's about a family that adopt a child...the child is from Asia though. I can't remember the name and can't seem to find it right now, but if you would like it I'm happy to send it to you when I find it. You can private message me with your address and such if you want it.

So, if b/d reversals are a problem, Handwriting Without Tears might help her because while it's similar to the traditional manuscript taught in schools, the b and d are written differently, which helps with reversals. Their "a" is sort of like a cursive a, and their d starts like an a, so it's helpful to remind my son that "d" starts like an a. It's helped a lot with reversals. ProgressivePhonics.com and PrintPath both have a font very similar to HWT. Progressive phonics handwriting printables are free and they have a few pages directly addressing b/d reversals. (The main difference between PrintPath/ProgressivePhonics and HWT is that the uses three-lined paper in stead of the special lined paper HWT uses). I used those for my son who homeschooled after completing KG, because it was a little cheaper and allowed me to just focus on what he needed work on. PrintPath's free sampler contains practice pages for both the a and d. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teach-Handwriting-Explicit-Instruction-FREEBEE-856680 Print Path also has a set specifically designed for reversals (they recently added it so I haven't tried it, but have used various other things by them and they are always good quality): https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/REVERSAL-REPAIR-Reading-Writing-Multisensory-Interventions-1773515 They also have several things designed to help children who have already learned to write to address other problems. I've used parts of the following two to help my older son correct some issues with his handwriting (things like "floating letters, spacing, making sure things like g and y rest on the line, etc"): This one is for 2nd Grade, to address any problems children may have with their writing: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2nd-Grade-Handwriting-Instruction-and-Handwriting-Practice-HWT-STYLE-FONT-3218336?aref=xpill8l0 This one is designed to help a child move from 3 lines to one lines, while addressing any writing problems they may have along the way: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Handwriting-Practice-3rd-4th-grade-Handwriting-Without-Tears-STYLE-FONT-1423658 Another exercise that helped us with reversals was driving a cut out paper car (flat...just a picture of a car cut out) along the line until it hit the b or d and seeing that it could climb the "hill" on the d before hitting the wall, while on the b it hit the wall first. Tracing in sand is suggested too, but didn't help my son.

All About Spelling, Addition Facts that Stick, Subtraction Facts that Stick,

So, my youngest has been homeschooled the last 4 years and we've been doing Story of the World. My oldest is in regular high school. We got his books today and I flipped open his history book to a random page and it was something his brother had just covered in SOTW. But MAN, the difference! I mean, I realize part of the reason is that it's high school, not elementary, but they made something interesting so dull. It made me remember why I disliked history so much in High School. I made my high schooler, who hates history, read a paragraph of his book and a paragraph of the same topic in SOTW. He pointed to SOTW and said..."This is so much better. I could tell by the first sentence." It takes longer to cover the same topic, but it's so much more enjoyable to read.

We briefly covered Plato and Aristotle when we got to Greek history...not thoroughly, more to just introduce the idea of philosophy. We used TedEd videos. If you search on Youtube Under TedEd & Plato, Aristotle you'll find several videos that are kid friendly. I noticed too that Crash Course has something on these, and they usually do a good job but I haven't watched those so can't comment.

Now he starts in with work generally with no fussing...though if he hits a frustrating spot he will shut down and we usually break for 15 minutes and come back.

Wow... 40 minutes in KG sounds like a LOT. Our whole homeschool day in KG was about an hour long-- even broken into 15 minute chunks with breaks in between we got diminishing returns after that long. (He repeated KG at home after a year in public school. 5 minutes of work suggested by the teacher after school was a lot then. ) He's come a long way since then...can go much longer, but I do not plan do after-schooling any time he has regular homework. The class he is going to be in says they don't usually do homework unless they don't finish something in school. So I'm aiming to try maybe 15 minutes at first and maybe increase to a half hour. If he's like my older kids he will need at least a half hour to do something fun before he can even think about doing anything more work related. I'm thinking of taking him directly to a park after school to play and then doing this afterwards as the school gets out pretty early and is right next to a park.

Thanks. What did you mean by "compliant?" He's willing to give it a try if that's what you mean. Wasn't sure though.

So, I have a kiddo with ADHD and possibly a second learning disability. After a miserable year in KG we homeschooled him...been doing that for four years. We're in a different state now, and got him an IEP, and they offered to put him in a reduced size/multi-grade/individualized class that I think would be good for him at this stage (though I'm mourning not being his full time teacher a bit). On the one hand he's going from homeschooling a few hours a day to a full day, so I don't want to add anything to that. But there's a few programs that he's been making slow but good progress on that I would like to keep working on afterschool. The phonics work could probably be done in 10-15 minutes a day. That's the one I think he would most benifit from continuing. I'm thinking about leaving the rest only for summer-time practice. But if I did want to add in math, spelling, or an interest based subject (he's really, really interested in learning about marine life right now), do you think I should rotate it (just one subject a day)? The teacher is open to the idea of letting me do this IN STEAD of other homework. Thoughts?

Urbino by Extra Credits is one I'd watch... (and dang the "thumbnail" for youtube videos shows large...I really don't know how to make it not do that).

For b and d reversals All About Reading has a good free guide: https://info.allaboutlearningpress.com/letter-reversals Progressive phonics free handwriting book 2 has some excercises for b, d, and g reversals. http://www.progressivephonics.com/handwriting/lowercase-letters And the way that Handwriting Without Tears, PrintPath, and Progressive Phonics teach the letters, b and d are formed differently, not just backwards. All start the d like an a. And the free sample of the lowercase handwriting pages at PrintPath has both the a and the d, so you could have your child practice those and remind her that you start a d just like an a. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Teach-Handwriting-Explicit-Instruction-FREEBEE-856680

Print Path (on teachers-pay-teachers) has a trouble shooting unit that addresses some of those problems, and another unit for teaching kids to transition from 3 lined paper to single lined paper that also addresses those issues. I'm actually using parts of that one with my 13 year old who went to public school and had unreadable handwriting...and he's making some real progress (which is hard to get with an older student set in his ways). https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2nd-Grade-Handwriting-Instruction-and-Handwriting-Practice-HWT-STYLE-FONT-3218336?aref=lvrfcs79 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Handwriting-Practice-3rd-4th-grade-Handwriting-Without-Tears-STYLE-FONT-1423658

TedEd - It covers science, history, all that stuff and works with both those ages. Whatever topic I'm studying, I always look to see if TedEd has something on it. Crash Course - They have both videos for kids and videos for adults on various topics including science, history, government, philosphy (the kids one is Crash Course Kids and would be great for you youngest but your oldest might actually enjoy some of the stuff for adults too). Extra Credits History and Politics - Extra credits main thing is gaming videos (really intelligent gaming videos, actually), but their History and Politics videos are GREAT and work for both those ages up through adulthood (deep enough for adults, funny and cartooned enough for kids...but not offensively funny). They Might Be Giants music videos for your 2nd grader. A lot of them touch on science. I really like MOST of those. I say "most" because there's at least one that I found to be sort of hostile toward faith/belief (The "Science is Real" song, which contrasts science with "angles, unicorns and elfs").

So, our first year of homeschooling my husband had a contract job in New York and we were going to go up, visit him, and some of my friends/relatives in nearby states, and do some homeschool stuff while we were there. It never happened because the job ended early, but I planned for it and made these pinterest boards of both things to do and projects to do when we got back or during the trip (like while driving). New England: https://www.pinterest.com/galel/hs-new-england/ New York: https://www.pinterest.com/galel/new-york/

Do the flashcards while jumping on the bed (or trampoline if you have one)! With math, do a flashcard walk. (Best in a park or some other open area). Have your child pick a direction to face, then answer the flash card question, then walk that many steps in that direction. Repeat, and see where it takes you.