Advice please

[quietchapel]

I would appreciate any suggestions for resources for my 2e, ASD daughter. She will start eighth grade in August, and I would like to have a general idea of appropriate materials for high school.

 

I'm in need of ideas for materials for literature, writing, history, and science that are structured, have clear expectations, and will be challenging.

 

Dd is a tough one. The way I often describe her is that ( as a ten year old) she independently read and understood Nietzsche, A Brief History of Time, and various works of Shakespeare, but for the life of her can't spell ' horse' or remember '3x4'. ( This has improved!)

 

I have materials and plans to address her weaknesses, I'm just struggling with what to use to nurture her strengths.

 

Thanks very much, in advance.

[almondbutterandjelly]

I have a book tub every year (this started in elementary but continues through high school.  We are currently doing 11th grade) where I put in a lot of books that are on grade level (usually classics but not necessarily) or relate to our history studies.  My dd chooses a book from this tub and reads it for 30 minutes a day until she's done (if she hates the book, she can pick a different one).  We don't do any further work on those books.  She just reads.  If she feels like talking about it in casual conversation, fine.  If not, fine.  

 

She has read many wonderful books this way.

 

That is not the only thing we do for literature, but I do consider it one of the most important things.

[quietchapel]

I have a book tub every year (this started in elementary but continues through high school. We are currently doing 11th grade) where I put in a lot of books that are on grade level (usually classics but not necessarily) or relate to our history studies. My dd chooses a book from this tub and reads it for 30 minutes a day until she's done (if she hates the book, she can pick a different one). We don't do any further work on those books. She just reads. If she feels like talking about it in casual conversation, fine. If not, fine.

 

She has read many wonderful books this way.

 

That is not the only thing we do for literature, but I do consider it one of the most important things.

Thank you. We do this! Her books are on a shelf, though.😊

[prairiewindmomma]

Do you think she's college bound at this point?  CC? University? Challenging university?  

 

For writing, I would consider IEW or WWS.  They have had the clearest instructions, and include checklists.

For science, I would consider Apologia if she needed support in learning note-taking, or BJUP (probably paired with DIVE) if she needs challenging textbook style learning.  (Apologia has a somewhat disorganized conversational tone.)

I am using SWB's Ho_W + the student activity guide for history for one of mine. He really appreciates the student guide's clear questions.  It's also a good chance for him to practice short answer and brief essay writing.  I don't know that my next child in line will use the same materials. My next in line is currently using History Odyssey, and we may continue with that in the future, but I worry that the task checklists aren't specific enough for him.  I've also considered using K12 privately.

[quietchapel]

Do you think she's college bound at this point? CC? University? Challenging university?

 

For writing, I would consider IEW or WWS. They have had the clearest instructions, and include checklists.

For science, I would consider Apologia if she needed support in learning note-taking, or BJUP (probably paired with DIVE) if she needs challenging textbook style learning. (Apologia has a somewhat disorganized conversational tone.)

I am using SWB's Ho_W + the student activity guide for history for one of mine. He really appreciates the student guide's clear questions. It's also a good chance for him to practice short answer and brief essay writing. I don't know that my next child in line will use the same materials. My next in line is currently using History Odyssey, and we may continue with that in the future, but I worry that the task checklists aren't specific enough for him. I've also considered using K12 privately.

Thank you! Yes, I think she is college-bound. I've considered WWS. I was concerned about the same thing for her with History Odyssey.

 

I should have specified that we are not Christian, though not opposed to using Christian materials. We tried apologia before, and it was just a bit much. I've looked at Novare, though, which may be an option.

 

Years ago I truly believed I'd be able to use the same materials for each of my children!😂😂

[2Peanuts]

For writing, I would also recommend looking at IEW. The way they scaffold instruction works really well for my ASD kiddo (although he’s only 8 so a few years behind your DD). He has reading comprehension issues but using the IEW techniques, he is able to narrate back full paragraphs and write about them, too.

 

I actually also use IEW for my neurotypical DD12 and her writing has improved tremendously. I have used both WWS and IEW with DD and found that IEW was much easier to follow. It also works more intentionally on building a paragraph than WWS did. I kinda felt like WWS would give a template for a type of writing so she’d knock out, say, a scientific discovery paragraph that was dull, dull, dull! Meanwhile IEW gives both the template for a decent paragraph and how to cull information from the sources plus how to vary sentence structure to make the writing more interesting. All told, her writing is much easier to read now and she has even noticed the change.

 

We are not Christian homeschoolers either, and I have found IEW’s writing materials to be neutral in its materials. (I’m talking about their Student Writing Intensive courses; they have thematic writing courses that may not suit secular homeschoolers.)

 

Good luck with the search! I’ll be looking for this type of info for my DS in a few years!

 

Carol

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[quietchapel]

For writing, I would also recommend looking at IEW. The way they scaffold instruction works really well for my ASD kiddo (although he’s only 8 so a few years behind your DD). He has reading comprehension issues but using the IEW techniques, he is able to narrate back full paragraphs and write about them, too.

 

I actually also use IEW for my neurotypical DD12 and her writing has improved tremendously. I have used both WWS and IEW with DD and found that IEW was much easier to follow. It also works more intentionally on building a paragraph than WWS did. I kinda felt like WWS would give a template for a type of writing so she’d knock out, say, a scientific discovery paragraph that was dull, dull, dull! Meanwhile IEW gives both the template for a decent paragraph and how to cull information from the sources plus how to vary sentence structure to make the writing more interesting. All told, her writing is much easier to read now and she has even noticed the change.

 

We are not Christian homeschoolers either, and I have found IEW’s writing materials to be neutral in its materials. (I’m talking about their Student Writing Intensive courses; they have thematic writing courses that may not suit secular homeschoolers.)

 

Good luck with the search! I’ll be looking for this type of info for my DS in a few years!

 

Carol

 

Thank you, Carol! That information is very helpful. IEW has always intimidated me, but I may need to get over that.

 

I've been considering TRISMS for high school, which has IEW integrated throughout.

Edited March 8, 2018 by quietchapel