Curriculum for 6th/8th grader with MERLD

[MomtoMERLD]

I need help, advice, etc. This next school year will be my first year of hs-ing. I don't even know all the abbreviations that I keep seeing on the forums! So, I need some help or advice.

 

I am definitely hs-ing my rising 6th grader and probably some or all of my rising 9th grader this next school year and I am trying to plan ahead so when the curriculum fair comes to town in a little over a month, I will know what to buy.

 

I was given the advice that they need to have a curriculum that builds on language weaknesses. One that is multi-sensory, that does not use a lot of straight lectures, that minimizes worksheets, has visuals to pair language and for dd bypasses handwriting. I have been told that the only way to eventually bypass the SLP sessions is to get them reading.

 

Sooo, is Sonlight a good curriculum or is it "hard"? I don't want to go with Teaching Textbooks for math since it is below grade level, and ds is strong in math and dd is on grade level. They're both coming out of a classical school, and I would like to go some time before memorizing that heavily again. Curriculum is expensive so I hate to make a mistake on buying the wrong thing. I would love some advice or feedback on this. I hope all this makes sense!

 

Thanks!:bigear:

[ondreeuh]

I don't know what MERLD is exactly (I did google it, but it's not a diagnosis my child got) but it sounds like it could have fit my son. We got the non-specific "language disorder" and he had trouble with speech, articulation, and comprehension. He still has trouble recalling the right words at times, and when he's stressed it's much worse.

 

Sonlight is good if they have a good vocabulary and quick comprehension. It's literature-based, so judge by how they do with read-alouds. My ds is fine with it because he visualizes the stories like a movie, but other kids need something different.

 

Check out Thinkwell for math. It's on grade level, and the instructor uses a lot of visuals to explain the concepts through video. Problems can be worked out on paper but are inputted on the computer and immediately scored. There's a 14-day trial, and the Homeschool Buyer's Co-Op is having a sale later this month for 40% off, I believe. You can try out several levels, so give it a shot.

 

Are your kids currently not reading, or are you saying they are not reading enough? We use spelling lessons to work on speech. Breaking words into sounds, recalling the phonograms for the sounds, and writing them (or you could do typing, I suppose) all strengthen the connection between what you read, hear, and say. I first have to train my son to hear what he's saying before he can learn to self-correct.

 

For science and history we watch videos (Netflix documentaries, Bill Nye, neoK12, etc.) to reinforce what we read. I work on writing separately. It has taken my son a long time to get the pre-writing skills necessary and we are using a remedial program now. It's pretty easy to find hands-on science, well maybe not so much for middle schoolers. We use Singapore's My Pals Are Here in which most of the learning comes from experimenting and doing activities and just reasoning through things, and it not heavily weighted towards reading or writing.

 

You may need to scribe a lot, or get them typing. As long as they are learning the material, don't let the writing slow them down. They can narrate their understanding or use a program like Inspiration to get it on paper (screen?). There are good accommodations available, but keep working on those weak areas. Sometimes kids need more time to develop foundational skills and then can come a long ways when they're ready.

[MomtoMERLD]

I am sorry I didn't explain...MERLD is mixed expressive receptive language disorder. Dd has both and ds has expressive issues. All language based issues...translating into vocabulary, reading comprehension, weaknesses.

 

That's the thing... They don't like reading because of their weak vocabulary, but they can't strengthen their vocabulary unless they read! So I guess you are saying that Sonlight might not be the best curriculum to use. I like your other ideas and will check them out. I would love some more ideas if anyone has any.

[Tokyomarie]

I used Sonlight for my daughter w/receptive/expressive language challenges from the time she was 10yo- when I discovered SL- until she was in her last couple of years of high school. I started with Core 3 and took about 1.5 years each for Cores 3 & 4. After that we were able to move a little more quickly.

 

What worked well: dd is a very visual learner, so any and all Usborne books were helpful (esp. in science). I also added Usborne & DK books that weren't part of the SL curriculum. It helped her to get pictures into her mind of lots of concrete & even some not so concrete ideas.

 

Another thing that worked well for us was narration. At first dd could only narrate one paragraph at a time. I would read a paragraph aloud, she would provide a narrative summary of the paragraph. We worked up from there. I modeled the process of summarizing for her with longer passages to make to make sure she was comprehending what she was hearing when I read the read alouds.

 

It was a long process at first but in time- measured in years, SL really helped build her vocabulary. We also used Wordly Wise and other vocabulary building exercises, but hours of hearing me read aloud really helped in a big way.

 

I have no idea what your children's ultimate potential might be, but as an encouragement, with years of focused attention on language, my daughter who scored very well on non-verbal measures of intelligence at 9.5, but not nearly as well on verbal measures, scored high enough on the SAT & ACT to garner major academic scholarships on college entry.

 

I am sorry I didn't explain...MERLD is mixed expressive receptive language disorder. Dd has both and ds has expressive issues. All language based issues...translating into vocabulary, reading comprehension, weaknesses.

 

That's the thing... They don't like reading because of their weak vocabulary, but they can't strengthen their vocabulary unless they read! So I guess you are saying that Sonlight might not be the best curriculum to use. I like your other ideas and will check them out. I would love some more ideas if anyone has any.

[MomtoMERLD]

Thank you so much...that is VERY encouraging!

[razorbackmama]

My son has MRELD also, but his is caused by CAPD. One thing I have learned with him is that he cannot intuit things when it comes to language. The standard advice to build vocabulary (especially in classical circles) is to read read read read read. However, for him that does absolutely nothing since he cannot figure out from context what vocabulary words mean. So I have started very explicit vocabulary teaching with him. We use Wordly Wise. Others like root-based vocabulary programs, but my son has trouble with those since he cannot transfer the meaning of the roots to different words. So we are working through this vocabulary program, and I'm working on teaching him HOW to learn vocabulary through context, so he can actually understand what he reads, since he doesn't not naturally grasp the meaning of words purely by context.

 

Another thing you can do is to go over any potentially unfamiliar vocabulary prior to reading the section. I'm not sure how easy this would be with Sonlight, but maybe if you preread the section????? (Or do they possibly list vocabulary words in the IG? I've never used Sonlight, so I don't know if they do or not.)