home schooling

Salamat hari! It’s been a long time since I lived in Southeast Asia…I have some Calvert materials I haven’t gotten around to using. From what I have seen, the curriculum is very academic and probably not ideally suited to a LD child. You don’t have to use it, do you?My advice is to plan on spending several months just to adjust to homeschooling. The rule-of-thumb is to allow a student one month of adjustment time for every year spent in school — which would translate to your stepson needing over a year just to relax! Similarly, it is going to take you some hands-on time working with him to get to know where he is and what he needs. LD children typically learn best when materials and approaches are hand-picked and adapted to their specific needs. It takes some trial and error to figure out what is likely to work and what is going to get you nowhere.Reading is the single most important skill to be learned. Usually decoding skills are a problem for an LD child who is not reading at grade level, so I would start with that. A good all-purpose book is Reading Reflex by McGuiness. This approach remediates decoding problems even in teenagers and adults. http://www.readamerica.netOften poor decoding skills are the reason for poor reading comprehension. If comprehension is a problem even when he is not doing the reading, then you may want to use the Lindamood-Bell book on Visualizing and Verbalizing also. http://www.lindamoodbell.comBooks on tape can be invaluable for an LD child who has reading problems. Listening to the written word spoken builds valuable language skills, vocabulary, etc., in addition to transmitting knowledge.Can you easily get books and materials from the U.S.? Or is it prohibitively expensive in time and money? Rainbow Resource is an excellent source for a variety of homeschooling materials. They have a website (http://www.rainbowresource.com) but you need to get their wonderful catalog for the product descriptions.I really like the book “Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language Skills”, compiled by Judith Birsh. This is an excellent reference book that covers everything from development of oral language, through reading, spelling, writing, mathematics, and organization skills. It’s not a teaching guide. Rather it provides excellent research and teaching ideas on approaches that tend to work well with LD children. It would be a wonderful resource to have on hand, and is available from Amazon.For math, we like Math-U-See (http://www.mathusee.com) for concepts. Usually it needs to be supplemented with something like CalcuLadders or Quarter Mile Math for drill practice.You can probably find some distance learning schools by doing some searches using http://www.metacrawler.com. Also, you can join the DyslexiaSupport list at http://www.groups.yahoo.com and search the archived messages for information about distance learning schools.My own experience has been that “canned” curriculums and computers don’t work well for my LD daughter. She learns best with one-on-one human interaction. I’ve discarded many materials that didn’t work well for her, using a trial-and-error approach. The advantage of distance learning in your situation might be the “belonging” to an online community. The disadvantage is that the school cannot possibly be as responsive to your stepson’s needs as you can be.One other thing I would recommend is using Audiblox with your stepson (http://www.audiblox2000.com). There are no guarantees, but this home-based cognitive training program often helps LD kids a great deal. And, if it helps your stepson, it would make both his learning and your role as teacher easier.Most LD children learn much better one-on-one, so it will probably be greatly to your stepson’s advantage to be homeschooled.Mary: My husband’s job has us currently living in Malaysia. My stepson
: accompanied us and has been in private boarding school in Penang.
: Because of his learning disabilities the school can no longer take
: him as they do not offer special education. My stepson is 13 years
: old, but up to 3 years behind his peers in reading, writing,
: comprehension skills, etc. Our only choice at the moment is to
: home school. Because of some of his insecurity issues we do not
: feel we could send him back to the states to attend a boarding
: school for special need students. I would like any information you
: may have to help me prepare to home school someone with his
: special needs. Our company uses the Calvert Home Study Program. I
: would like to know about home study material and on line
: interactive programs that could help both us make this a positive
: learning experience. I would also like any suggestions for
: teaching him how to improve his reading and comprehension skills.

I agree with everything that Mary MN said in her post. I have purchased Calvert 6th and 7th grade, but my dysgraphic son had trouble with the writing requirements. If your company uses Calvert, and the company pays for Calvert for you, then I would suggest that you email Calvert Educational Consultants, and explain your predicament. I know that Calvert is very flexible and helpful with LD situations. They do make suggestions for you, and they will work with you. If you want ATS, that teacher will bend the rules to favor a positive learning experience for your son. Even though it is a canned curriculum, you and the Calvert teacher can tailor the program, and will work with you. However, this may not be the best idea. Mary MN had some great ideas also. I just thought I’d share what I know about Calvert. You can talk to Calvert users at the Calvert website, and also at Yahoo.Groups.com. Mary NJ

:I have been reading messages on Ld online periodically and am wondering if Mary from MN is the same Mary that attended the PACE program with me last JUNE in Colorado Springs?Salamat hari! It’s been a long time since I lived in Southeast
: Asia…: I have some Calvert materials I haven’t gotten around to using. From
: what I have seen, the curriculum is very academic and probably not
: ideally suited to a LD child. You don’t have to use it, do you?: My advice is to plan on spending several months just to adjust to
: homeschooling. The rule-of-thumb is to allow a student one month
: of adjustment time for every year spent in school — which would
: translate to your stepson needing over a year just to relax!
: Similarly, it is going to take you some hands-on time working with
: him to get to know where he is and what he needs. LD children
: typically learn best when materials and approaches are hand-picked
: and adapted to their specific needs. It takes some trial and error
: to figure out what is likely to work and what is going to get you
: nowhere.: Reading is the single most important skill to be learned. Usually
: decoding skills are a problem for an LD child who is not reading
: at grade level, so I would start with that. A good all-purpose
: book is Reading Reflex by McGuiness. This approach remediates
: decoding problems even in teenagers and adults.
: http://www.readamerica.net: Often poor decoding skills are the reason for poor reading
: comprehension. If comprehension is a problem even when he is not
: doing the reading, then you may want to use the Lindamood-Bell
: book on Visualizing and Verbalizing also.
: http://www.lindamoodbell.com: Books on tape can be invaluable for an LD child who has reading
: problems. Listening to the written word spoken builds valuable
: language skills, vocabulary, etc., in addition to transmitting
: knowledge.: Can you easily get books and materials from the U.S.? Or is it
: prohibitively expensive in time and money? Rainbow Resource is an
: excellent source for a variety of homeschooling materials. They
: have a website (http://www.rainbowresource.com) but you need to
: get their wonderful catalog for the product descriptions.: I really like the book “Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language
: Skills”, compiled by Judith Birsh. This is an excellent
: reference book that covers everything from development of oral
: language, through reading, spelling, writing, mathematics, and
: organization skills. It’s not a teaching guide. Rather it provides
: excellent research and teaching ideas on approaches that tend to
: work well with LD children. It would be a wonderful resource to
: have on hand, and is available from Amazon.: For math, we like Math-U-See (http://www.mathusee.com) for concepts.
: Usually it needs to be supplemented with something like
: CalcuLadders or Quarter Mile Math for drill practice.: You can probably find some distance learning schools by doing some
: searches using http://www.metacrawler.com. Also, you can join the
: DyslexiaSupport list at http://www.groups.yahoo.com and search the
: archived messages for information about distance learning schools.: My own experience has been that “canned” curriculums and
: computers don’t work well for my LD daughter. She learns best with
: one-on-one human interaction. I’ve discarded many materials that
: didn’t work well for her, using a trial-and-error approach. The
: advantage of distance learning in your situation might be the
: “belonging” to an online community. The disadvantage is
: that the school cannot possibly be as responsive to your stepson’s
: needs as you can be.: One other thing I would recommend is using Audiblox with your stepson
: (http://www.audiblox2000.com). There are no guarantees, but this
: home-based cognitive training program often helps LD kids a great
: deal. And, if it helps your stepson, it would make both his
: learning and your role as teacher easier.: Most LD children learn much better one-on-one, so it will probably be
: greatly to your stepson’s advantage to be homeschooled.: Mary

PASSWORD>aa4um5Lp2CxdUMy advice would be to go back to the level at which he works confidently in skill subjects like reading, writing and math. This may mean going back even more than 3 years, but you have to start with what he CAN do and progress from there. Don’t despair- in a year’s time he will probably gain much more than a year in grade level, so he doesn’t need to feel like he’s going to be “behind” forever.In subjects that focus on content, like history and science, he may be able to work with grade level material IF you read material to him and allow him to do most of the work orally rather than in writing. And of course, he can enjoy lots of good literature that you read aloud, or through books on tape.Homeschool offers you the opportunity to recognize and nurture his strengths while working to improve weak areas, so be flexible with whatever curriculum you choose.Jean: My husband’s job has us currently living in Malaysia. My stepson
: accompanied us and has been in private boarding school in Penang.
: Because of his learning disabilities the school can no longer take
: him as they do not offer special education. My stepson is 13 years
: old, but up to 3 years behind his peers in reading, writing,
: comprehension skills, etc. Our only choice at the moment is to
: home school. Because of some of his insecurity issues we do not
: feel we could send him back to the states to attend a boarding
: school for special need students. I would like any information you
: may have to help me prepare to home school someone with his
: special needs. Our company uses the Calvert Home Study Program. I
: would like to know about home study material and on line
: interactive programs that could help both us make this a positive
: learning experience. I would also like any suggestions for
: teaching him how to improve his reading and comprehension skills.

Thanks so much for your quick reply and valuable tips. We are not required by my husbands company to use only Calvert school material. Since I am not familiar with home schooling I was surprised at all the material available and just a little bit overwhelmed. So everyone’s advice has helped me a lot. Luckily we will be going on home leave in a couple of months and I will be able to hit the bookstores and pick up things I can order over the internet to bring back to Malaysia with us. Audio and video material will have to be purchased while I am home as these things are very hard to get thru customs if ordered by mail. I also see that I must be patient and not throw us both into some kind of school regiment as soon as he gets here. To further complicate things, we just got news this morning from his boarding houseparents that he fell last night and has broken a small bone in his ankle. When it rains, it pours. It’s great to know that there is support and advise out there. Thanks!DJ: Salamat hari! It’s been a long time since I lived in Southeast
: Asia…: I have some Calvert materials I haven’t gotten around to using. From
: what I have seen, the curriculum is very academic and probably not
: ideally suited to a LD child. You don’t have to use it, do you?: My advice is to plan on spending several months just to adjust to
: homeschooling. The rule-of-thumb is to allow a student one month
: of adjustment time for every year spent in school — which would
: translate to your stepson needing over a year just to relax!
: Similarly, it is going to take you some hands-on time working with
: him to get to know where he is and what he needs. LD children
: typically learn best when materials and approaches are hand-picked
: and adapted to their specific needs. It takes some trial and error
: to figure out what is likely to work and what is going to get you
: nowhere.: Reading is the single most important skill to be learned. Usually
: decoding skills are a problem for an LD child who is not reading
: at grade level, so I would start with that. A good all-purpose
: book is Reading Reflex by McGuiness. This approach remediates
: decoding problems even in teenagers and adults.
: http://www.readamerica.net: Often poor decoding skills are the reason for poor reading
: comprehension. If comprehension is a problem even when he is not
: doing the reading, then you may want to use the Lindamood-Bell
: book on Visualizing and Verbalizing also.
: http://www.lindamoodbell.com: Books on tape can be invaluable for an LD child who has reading
: problems. Listening to the written word spoken builds valuable
: language skills, vocabulary, etc., in addition to transmitting
: knowledge.: Can you easily get books and materials from the U.S.? Or is it
: prohibitively expensive in time and money? Rainbow Resource is an
: excellent source for a variety of homeschooling materials. They
: have a website (http://www.rainbowresource.com) but you need to
: get their wonderful catalog for the product descriptions.: I really like the book “Multisensory Teaching of Basic Language
: Skills”, compiled by Judith Birsh. This is an excellent
: reference book that covers everything from development of oral
: language, through reading, spelling, writing, mathematics, and
: organization skills. It’s not a teaching guide. Rather it provides
: excellent research and teaching ideas on approaches that tend to
: work well with LD children. It would be a wonderful resource to
: have on hand, and is available from Amazon.: For math, we like Math-U-See (http://www.mathusee.com) for concepts.
: Usually it needs to be supplemented with something like
: CalcuLadders or Quarter Mile Math for drill practice.: You can probably find some distance learning schools by doing some
: searches using http://www.metacrawler.com. Also, you can join the
: DyslexiaSupport list at http://www.groups.yahoo.com and search the
: archived messages for information about distance learning schools.: My own experience has been that “canned” curriculums and
: computers don’t work well for my LD daughter. She learns best with
: one-on-one human interaction. I’ve discarded many materials that
: didn’t work well for her, using a trial-and-error approach. The
: advantage of distance learning in your situation might be the
: “belonging” to an online community. The disadvantage is
: that the school cannot possibly be as responsive to your stepson’s
: needs as you can be.: One other thing I would recommend is using Audiblox with your stepson
: (http://www.audiblox2000.com). There are no guarantees, but this
: home-based cognitive training program often helps LD kids a great
: deal. And, if it helps your stepson, it would make both his
: learning and your role as teacher easier.: Most LD children learn much better one-on-one, so it will probably be
: greatly to your stepson’s advantage to be homeschooled.: Mary

I’m lost as to where to begin, so I hope you can keep up! I have 2 boys (10 & 13) who have LDs and we have been homeschooling for … this is our third year. With that said,
During my/our first year (very painful) I sent my kids to a private program, specializing in ld/dyslexic programs, while I attended every workshop/class offered for ld/dyslexic students …. then we started year two (ofcourse since I was an expert, we winged it on our own) … and we made it, barely .. THEN, I realized that I really knew how my kids learned and worked on figuring out how to teach them ….. so finally in the middle of year three, I’ve got it figured out!! We use Calvert (and LOVE it) for everything except math … for math I use Saxon. Although Calvert requires everything that seems impossible for the dyslexic, we make it work … it takes a little longer but the fact that they prepare our daily lessons helps …. I read alot to my boys …. I let them verbally give me answers …. the material is at their level so I compensate for their LDs ….. please, let me know if there is anything I can help you with this process. It is really hard for me to explain how rewarding this has been for our family ….. I firmly believe that if a child can’t learn the way that we teach, we should teach the why that he/she learns. When you understand HOW your child learns, there are many programs out there … Calvert has been wonderful (ofcourse IF I used Calvert during year 1, I’m not sure I would feel that way!)
Susan