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Trouble fitting HS curriculum in 4 years


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Long story short-I am a 911 homeschooler of a HS student with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia. We pulled DS out of HS last year after a miserable total fail of 1st sememster in HS. Now a year later, I feel like we still haven't gotten through Freshman anything. How are we going to fit HS requirements in during the next 2 years? He is very smart but school is hard and he doesn't seem to want to push himself. He wants to go to college but he doesn't seem to worry that he isn't gonna get there at this pace. Biggest subjects of concern are Math and Science (because of Math). Current requirements expected to be completed at the end of this year:

 

Ancient and Modern World History(Ecletic-He eats it up)

Biology(Apologia)

English I(Using EIL/supplementing with Jump In for reluctant writers)

Greek I

Pre-Algrebra( Life of Fred-he likes the book but he still doesn't get math)

Fine Arts-(Using Great Courses and adding in other activities to build the curriculum)

Bible (A survey class)

 

Am I stressing myself out too much over his pace?

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I am kind of thinking that the late graduation will be a necessity, but it's nice to hear I am not crazy to think that. Of course if he get's motivated he could accelerate a little bit. We do some summer school but at this point I would like it to just be Math so we don't lose those skills that we worked so hard on.

 

LOF-He is actually a good reader (and I can read with him if need be) but has struggled with math facts etc since the beginning. I was looking for a gentle way to make math less threatening. I think it helps with the fear of math but he needs much more practice than there is in Fred. We go through all 5 bridges every time and I usually end up making one or two more to help him get through the material. Sometimes he still doesn't pass with a 90%. Also there are a lot of "Math Trick" items that always trick him up (i.e. .50 cents vs 50 cents) We will be switching curriculum when we get to Algebra. I am not sure which one yet.

 

Greek- He has done pretty well but it is slow. His dad is a Pastor so that helps and it fits into his love of Ancient History.

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Just real quickly, it seems to me you're probably going to need to count a transition year to make this work out. You'd like to get him through algebra 2 before he graduates, if you can. On the math, you really need to add in something with spiral, something he can get going on. It's pretty clear he's not understanding his way into proficiency. Teaching Textbooks has been really good in our house. I don't think doing LoF on the side is a problem, but I'd do the placement test for TT and see if it can work for him.

 

Can he type? I don't think it's the end of the world if he's not writing a lot this year, but I'd focus on the function skills to let him blossom. If he's not a proficient typer (at least 40 wpm, do an online test to see), then I would add that in as a subject. If he hasn't yet learned to use an software for dictation or outlining or whatever can help him, then I'd get going on that. That functional stuff creates the foundation for him to blossom. And yes, my dd loves history too. Have you read Dyslexic Advantage by the Eides yet? It made a lot of that make sense for me, why math facts would take so long but they'd be so good at narrative. And, for what it's worth, I think TT has been good for my dd, not merely because of the spiral, but because of their use of narrative and stories.

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I haven't taken a real close look at TT yet but I have started the process of finding something else. I like the spiral method but I wasn't aware of the narratives-sounds promising. LOF just seemed like a nice way to go-after using it I see it is good for the kid who finds math boring, but maybe not with the kid who is math challenged.

 

We have been accomodating with keyboard for years and have now moved onto Dragon with hope to see some improvement. I also want to add the lightscribe pen and see if he can receive a benefit from that. I think if we can figure out the assistive technology and keep hammering at the foundations something will click with him. I keep telling myself that is why we pulled him out-we got tired of him just getting passed from class to class without any thought to what was working so I definitely need to be brave enough to change things up and slow down if he doesn't get it.

 

I have read a lot of books about Dyslexia and Dysgraphia but not Dyslexic Advantage. I will give it a try.

 

Thanks for responding. It means a lot to this accidental homeschooler.

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I don't know if it would help you or not, but you might look into the Dvorak keyboard layout. It made a huge difference for my dd. (She's not diagnosed dyslexic btw.) I found it when researching keyboarding and dyslexics, trying to figure out how to help her. QWERTY was just way too much movement.

 

Welcome to the boards btw. Feel free to plunge in and ask stuff. Also use the search function. Lots of information and stories in the posts here! :)

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Long story short-I am a 911 homeschooler of a HS student with Dyslexia and Dysgraphia. We pulled DS out of HS last year after a miserable total fail of 1st sememster in HS. Now a year later, I feel like we still haven't gotten through Freshman anything. How are we going to fit HS requirements in during the next 2 years? He is very smart but school is hard and he doesn't seem to want to push himself. He wants to go to college but he doesn't seem to worry that he isn't gonna get there at this pace. Biggest subjects of concern are Math and Science (because of Math). Current requirements expected to be completed at the end of this year:

 

Ancient and Modern World History(Ecletic-He eats it up)

Biology(Apologia)

English I(Using EIL/supplementing with Jump In for reluctant writers)

Greek I

Pre-Algrebra( Life of Fred-he likes the book but he still doesn't get math)

Fine Arts-(Using Great Courses and adding in other activities to build the curriculum)

Bible (A survey class)

 

Am I stressing myself out too much over his pace?

 

 

I am in a similar situation with my oldest. We held him back last year because he wasn't ready for high school, and now he gets through his work, but at a snail's pace He's doing really long days trying to keep up...I can see we're headed to burn out. I'm holding off making any changes, though, until after I get his school LD test results next week. I was thinking of asking the school next week (if his test results will support it) about reduced requirements (if he were in PS, or ended up there). It is just not reasonable to expect this child to pass 6 subjects each semester!! (And your son has 7 subjects! And tough sounding ones, at that!) Maybe he'd be willing to put in more effort if the load was lighter? I recall our very first psychologist told us, "For kids like these, less is more." Do a few things well...but don't do as much....not as many problems, not as much in a day, but study a few things well. I don't do a very good job at abiding the advice, but I do believe it was the best advice I received! Even though my child would like to attend college eventually, we're probably looking at trade school (at least initially). I think we're going to really evaluate what he MUST accomplish to graduate....and we're likely looking at reducing the expectations, not because he isn't smart (he's brilliant), but because he can only accompish so much in the limited time each day...its very exhausting for him (he works harder than students without LDs.) I've told him he could probably attend college, but it will be a course or two at a time....its just not worth stressing him out over, now. I'm really tired of seeing him sitting at his desk ALL DAY, still at 7pm (trying to earn his privileges by having everything done.) Pretty soon, he'll just stop trying (BTDT....maybe its just this time of year?)

 

My boys have done fabulous with Math-U-See. Sticking with a subject longer (until mastered) seems to really help them, plus there are relatively few problems per page (enough for mastery...but not overkill). We tried LOF. My 2nd child loved reading it until he hit pre-alg/biology...then he hated it. My oldest never particularly enjoyed it (he just hates math regardless). I agree LOF lacked sufficent practice, so we dropped it. I thought we might move to TT, but I've been so happy with their progress using MUS that I saw no need to change....plus my kids have a problem staying on task on the computer....pencil and paper is a better fit for our family.

 

I'll be eager to read the other advice you receive! Most of it will probably apply to my son, too.

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