Hi just saw your postings. I use MATH-U-SEE to teach my sons. My oldest 5.5 in K is well ahead of his typical Kindergarten class and he has autism. Mathusee is really easy to understand because you visualize it with blocks. I have been told you can buy the blocks on line at ebay. Anyway, my son(s) have GREAT difficulty sitting still for me to teach them in a classroom model. I can get their attention for a few minutes at a time. Like most kids they love videos and each math book has a video of the creator teaching a lesson on each chapter. The first book Primer, we have been using on and off for about a year. Mastery is not needed at this level but the kids actually really love it and so they are learning it. Primer includes telling time, place value, counting, skip counting facts, and much more. I was told the creator is a math teacher who has taught for many many years and developed the program to teach his son who has autism. I started last year and spent so much money and found I couldn't pull it together between my one sons problems he wouldn't sit for the book work and that is when I searched the internet for some other ideas and found time 4 learning. It was a blessing to have him so interested in a program and then when my other son stopped going to school he began the program. Now we use a little of both, books and time 4 learning. I find the time 4 learning is so much fun, I really like watching them do it. My 9 year old didn't read until he started that program. That is why I still use it to help keep him in the mode of wanting to learn to read. Home schooling does get easier when you find what works and what is a good fit for your child. I worry more about the older grades especially with their disabilities.
Hi!
I'm homeschooling my first grader for the first time but only part-time for now. Had some crazy notion he'd actually benefit from spending the mornings in school. lol Anyway, we "sorta" follow the classical method. I say "sorta" because it really is serving as more of a guide because as I grow more comfortable I find we are becoming more creative and eclectic in our approach.
I just started to homeschool my ds due to his disabilites. I choose the a beka curriculm. Kinda long and boring but now its picking up. even dd is starting to say the phonics out loud.!I guess whatever program you find that works is good. I use such a wide variety so that the kids are never bored. Its going ok this year better than last year. The nice thing is they can work as long as they feel they can and on the days they can't seem to function well they do less or we do our arts and crafts or mazes they love.I see a beware of removeing you child from school topic. In the usa Homeschooling is legal if done right. I did this cause in the past I was spend ing 4 hrs daily with him in homework.
Saxon math user also. Lexia learning.com for dyslexia. First year homeschool mom. Math you see has great math facts tapes also. Teach them in songs. I hear grammer made easy is good also. I am useing aop life pack for health.
1 free website, How to teach spelling .com grades 1-8.
try unit studies Daniel loves learning that way also. Do any of you homeschool your children with disabilities?? I have two that are homeschooled and would like to hear what programs work best for you.We do homeschool our older ones, and the newer ones are young still (that are disabled)... but there are some others here!I have found a site called Time4Learning that has been very helpful in enforcing the needed subject matter for my two disabled sons. It is easy to navigate for them and they enjoy it. The site is broken down into areas of language arts, math, science and social studies. My boys have actually for the first time in their lives began to read from the stories included in the language arts area. Since it is started from the very basic area of phonics they have learned to key in on the beginning, middle and ending sounds in words. They love the colorful cartoon type characters and how it is presented. They even ask for more time on the site. I do not believe they would have learned so much by just using books. Now they can even log in on their own. The site has a parents forum plus if you need it they have lesson plans. I really never used them since once you log on, click on the area you want your child to work on, click on that i t opens into all the subject matter broken down and in an order to create the foundation to move on to the next area when they are ready. They even have quizzes and test to see if they have mastered the material. The best part is they even keep a record of their progress so you can see what they have done and the scores. Better yet if they are not quite getting it you can have them repeat an area of concern. This site is great for home schooling or even using it as re enforcement whether home schooled or for the kid that attends school. Another great area on the site is that they have a playground. Once the child is done with their school work they can go to the playground which is full of wonderful and easy to learn games. So many of the games have an educational curve to them so my kids were learning and didn’t even realize it, they just thought they were having fun. It has been very helpful to my two boys.
Right now I am homeschooling our 13 year old, who has dyslexia. He has different curriculum for different subjects. We buy what works! And he is also at different grade level for most subjects. He does:
Math
Science
History/Geography
Bible
Handwriting
Language
Spelling Power
reads really good books. On the Chronicles of Narnia right now. (this was a boy who didn't read till he was 10!!)
Edited to add: Homeschooling works!! for these special children!
And it's a good way to chat about life alot, too. Hard to do when the child is gone all day.
I use what is usually termed the "eclectic" method for homeschooling - in other words, like BonBon, I use what works!
Math, Science, History/Geography, Language skills are the basics taught - Unit studies allow each child to work on similar topics at multiple levels so they can work individually and together. Citizenship/character building, comparative cultures/religions are also taught, as well as languages (two study German, another French, and the two olders are learning Latin). Both of my older girls act as para-professionals for my son, including developing and following through with speech and OT exercises, interactive play, and life-skills. PE is just part of their overall life - whether horseback riding, gymnastics, stepdancing, or biking.
My 16-year old is severely dyslexic, so for the first couple of years, we used programs that not only had her reading, but narrated it aloud for her so she could process the information much faster. This past year, we've switched from having most of her schoolwork on computer to doing most of it offline, which she prefers. She's currently working on upper level high school subjects and some college-level subjects, as well as holding down a job.
My 11-year old prefers studies that are more science and imagination intensive, and desires to be a veterinarian, so most of her cirriculum is geared with this in mind - science includes animal physiology and unit studies on different species, math includes chemistry usage and cooking, etc. She works part-time for a boarding stable in exchange for ride-time, and puts her vet skills to use on a regular basis, as well as accompanying the horseshoer when he makes rounds on certain days.
My youngest daughter attends public school, but I augment that with language lessons (German) at home and supplemental work in math, history, etc. She's well ahead of her class in most subjects. All the children have private music and art instruction in their choice of instrument and medium.
With Mr B., we work on appropriate use of vocabulary, life-skills, social skills, interaction. He is a whiz on computer, so we use interactive games to develop problem-solving skills, etc. He's showing an affinity for words and numbers, as well as music, so we work on sequencing and beginning reading, as well as music. He also attends private therapy and a 1/2 day developmental preschool.
She is gorgeous. What a little cutie.
What programs have you found helpful. I am currently using a very mixed bag of learning material. I did purchase lots of hands on material and I found a great website for homeschoolers.
Well, were not currently home schooling our dx autistic children.I home school my son with ASD. I also use more of an eclectic approach as mentioned above. I use alot of the spectrum curriculum along with some of the schools are using in our area, plus alot of things off the web. My son's skills are scattered , so I can't go out and buy a particular age or grade complete curric. It's going well, he is happy and is at ease and doing much more than he was doing at school.
I just bought some of the spectrum books, spelling and reading. So far so good. I like to work on their handwriting so these books just give them enough to do without stressing them out. Other wise like I said I use time4learning. I can change the grade level based on their needs K, 1 or 2 myself. This way if they are struggling I can drop it down a grade or move it up if they get bored and know the material. It is a great enforcer to some of our book work.Besides the computer program I use Saxon Math mainly because that is what our district uses. I figured if they ever went back to school at least they would be on the same page for math. The program uses manipulatives sort of the same as your program. I am going to look yours up just to see what it is all about. Always looking for new ideas especially if they struggle. My biggest road block has been teaching them to read. We are working hard at it and they do read some but hopefully it will all fall into place and they will improve on that skill.