Hi, I have been homeschooling for 9 years...

[kimberannie]

we have a son who is 18 yos and is finished school.

 

We have a son who is 16yo. whom I am still teaching.

 

I know I have been too lax in what I have taught him. He has some slight learning disabilities which makes it hard for him to do a lot of stuff on his own.

 

We have been concentrating so much on his reading and math skills everything else seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can use to get him back on track in the quickest way possible.

 

He is using BJU Pre-Algebra for math and novels and novel studies and that is about where it ends cause I have no idea what is the best thing to use.

 

I would appreciate any help you can give me. By the way, we live in an area where there are no requirements for subjects or testing or anything like that.

 

Thanks

[bkpan]

You might get more responses for his age. Those ladies are very helpful. hth

[WTMindy]

but I wanted to say Welcome! You might find better luck if you post on the high school board. I don't know what you mean by novel studies, but I would probably add some writing in there. How is his writing skills? Depending on his independence level, I would probably have him choose a weekly (or every other week, depending) topic of his choice and do some research and write an essay about it. I think a kid needs to have a good handle on a five paragraph essay and how to organize and write one.

[Claire]

I too think you will get more responses if you re-post over on the High School Board. My dd also has mild learning disabilities, so I understand how difficult some subjects can be. However, my dd went to public high school starting in 9th grade and we have discovered that she can do a *lot* more than I was expecting. Public school has required her to work harder and it is really paying off. Part of the problem of homeschooling high school, IMO, is seeing that your high schooler really works a full day. My dd is in classrooms for 7 hours a day and then routinely comes home and does 2 hours of homework. Even given that half of her classroom time is wasted, she is still working a lot harder for her public school teachers than she would have for me! :)

 

What are your son's intentions following high school? Does he want to attend college? To get into community college, he only has to pass the community college's entrance test. However, any math, science and English (especially writing) he can get out of the way in high school will help him once he gets to community college. Remedial classes there will cost money but offer no college credit.

 

For a high school diploma, he really needs to have completed some physical education work (sports is fine) and a health class (covering the human body). Are you near a YMCA he could use for the sports and physical exercise?

 

For math, a college-prep route would include Algebra I and II, Geometry, and one additional math course. There was a recent thread on VideoText covering 3 years of high school math (but needing only 2 years or less to complete.) I will link that thread here. This is an expensive program to purchase, but its resale value is high. I would probably opt to use this program in your situation because your son could cover all of the basic high school math in two years with it. Also, there is a helpful support group for it at http://groups.yahoo.com .

 

For English, I would add in vocabulary, grammar and *writing*. For vocabulary I really like the WordSmart computer CDs, but they are expensive. For grammar I would recommend the highest level of Hake grammar. Both of these can be done largely independently by your son, with just occasional supervision from you. Your son could do Hake just 2 or 3 times a week and spread it out over two years. WordSmart can be done just 20 minutes a day.

 

Writing is tougher. Do you have any high school co-op classes available to you? If not, people on the High School Board should be able to help.

 

For science, a college-prep route would include general science, biology, chemistry and physics. Again, people on the High School Board should be able to help with courses.

 

High school also usually requires a course in U.S. history and civics, a geography course, and a course of world history.

 

The specific courses I mentioned (VideoText, WordSmart, Hake) would all be fast ways of getting your son up to speed for graduation.

 

we have a son who is 18 yos and is finished school.

 

We have a son who is 16yo. whom I am still teaching.

 

I know I have been too lax in what I have taught him. He has some slight learning disabilities which makes it hard for him to do a lot of stuff on his own.

 

We have been concentrating so much on his reading and math skills everything else seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can use to get him back on track in the quickest way possible.

 

He is using BJU Pre-Algebra for math and novels and novel studies and that is about where it ends cause I have no idea what is the best thing to use.

 

I would appreciate any help you can give me. By the way, we live in an area where there are no requirements for subjects or testing or anything like that.

 

Thanks