Help putting together an 8th grade year for student who is behind

[LaMere Academy]

My son has always disliked school. 

 

The past few  years we have been using My Father's World, Explorer's to 1850 and now 1850 to Modern.  We do it together along with Apologia Elem. books with notebooks.  He reads on level and reads every day. 

 

I guess his issues would be with spelling, comprehension and writing.  Spelling and writing go hand in hand.  He isn't a good writer because his spelling is so bad.  He hates spelling tests so this year I've had him using Spelling Workout still but I have him write sentences for the end of each lesson instead of taking the quiz. 

 

He was a very late reader and is reading Harry Potter and the Percy Jackson series lately.  If I gave him difficult classics he wouldn't get through them.  A literature based curriculum is probably not a good idea because he is so picky with what he will read.

 

I'm looking for materials that will be fairly easy for him to use on his own that will bulid up his spelling skills.

I need a history, we have used Story of the World so far.  He is interested in the Greeks and Romans so I may pull something together.

I'm open for science, I may have him do 2 more of the Apologias though, we already own them.

He's on target with math, we use Teaching Textbooks.

 

I appreciate any ideas.  One thing I really want this year is to move him away from me doing everything with him, to him being more independent. 

 

[Mandy in TN]

Maybe Sequential Spelling maybe Apples: Daily Spelling Drills for Secondary Students both of these worked for my child who had problems with spelling. If you purchase the CD, Sequential Spelling can be pretty independent. Apples is Christian, but, since you are using MFW, I figure that's fine.

 

Maybe Apples alongside LLATL would not be overwhelming. It has literature studies, but only a few. I don't think the student books have a grade on them except maybe a sheet on the inside that gives suggested grades for each color. You could look at samples and reading lists and find a fit.

 

If you want to ramp it up more than that, you could use Apples, an IEW history themed comp book to coordinate with your history studies, and maybe Cozy Grammar. Then, keep reading as a separate subject. You could use something like an EMC Write-In Reader. They have a grade 6. DS is using the grade 6. It will help him understand what he should be doing while he reads. Since the stories are short and he is guided through reading them, I think level 6 will be fine, but look at the samples. Again, there are no grade levels on this material.

 

Can you use the Diana Waring audio CDs for history? You could use the History Alive stuff lightly with it for projects instead of the SOTW activity book that is geared to a younger age group.

 

HTH-

Mandy (except for Diana Waring, we have personally used this material)

[zoobie]

Is he dyslexic?

[ElizabethB]

I would have him watch through my spelling lessons and then either the complete phonics lessons or at least lesson 27, the phonics lessons have all the same spelling rules but teach at a slower pace. Also, lesson 27 of the phonics lessons goes a bit more in depth about Greek and Latin words than in the Spelling Lessons.

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Spelling/spellinglessonsl.html

 

He can also do the program here, adding in spelling and syllable division rules:

 

http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/WellTaughtPhonicsStudent.html

 

These are both efficient options designed for an older student.

[LaMere Academy]

Is he dyslexic?

 

They've never been tested, and I know there is not only one way to test for it...but I do believe he and my oldest daughter do have dyslexia or something that causes them to have a hard time reading.  I've read about it online and the things you can do to help.  I read aloud to them so things are easier for them.  Brett isn't motivated though either, he doesn't like listening to me, he just doesn't want to do school at all.  My daugher was the same way.  My other two kids, while they don't care for school, can do it easily and had/have better attitudes about getting it done.