Please help me Simplify!!!

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nena3927
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:10 pm

Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by nena3927 » Thu Sep 03, 2015 6:35 pm

This is our third year homeschooling and we have used LHTH, LHFHG, and are started Beyond back in July. The two years I followed the guide as written we had such fun years! Well my oldest son (7) started having trouble with Singapore math mainly because he needs LOTS of review to remember anything. Then he never took off with the ER set after finishing TRL. My younger daughter (5) did great after TRL and is working through the ER at a very fast rate. Well due to my sons struggles, I started researching other curriculum and ended up starting this year by using only HOD for Bible, History, and Science and using CLE math, AAR and AAS, and BJU English (for him only, dd is using the English in Beyond). Well this has been a horrible start to our year! I cannot get everything done and am stressed out way more that the past two years we've homeschooled. CLE is working wonders for his retention and he enjoys it but it takes SOOOO long to complete a lesson. He is doing great with AAR but again it takes SOOO much time to complete. I've already dropped AAS as I cannot get that done right now. I am also 8 weeks pregnant with our 4th child and have been miserably sick to the point where we haven't even did any school the past week. I am in a really hard season in my life right now and could really use some advice and prayer please.

I have a friend that uses Abeka DVD and she almost had me convinced to order that this week, so I could rest. I was honestly planning on ordering it tonight but after really praying about it, I felt to try to go back to HOD as written. I don't know what to do with the math issue and reading issue with my oldest however. I know AAR is great and we do have dyslexia in the family but I am just not well enough right now to get through a lesson with him. He is towards the end of The Early Reader's Bible but looking at the other bible, I don't think he could read that one. Is there a more open and go phonics program that teaches all the phonograms like TRL? With math, I was tempted to try Teaching Textbooks just so that was one thing I did not have to teach even though CLE is going well aside from the long lessons that wear me out. I really am at a loss here. Any advice would be appreciated and prayer too that my nausea/vomiting would ease so we could get through a school day again. I also have a preschooler that I'm trying to teach here and there. I know there are people with way more on them right now than what I'm dealing with, but I'm just overwhelmed at the moment with all my duties as a mother and could really use some counsel. Thank you for listening! May God Bless all of you who have taken the time to read all this!
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

LynnH
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by LynnH » Thu Sep 03, 2015 7:11 pm

We did CLE for several years with HOD and it was doable, but that was the only thing that was different from the guide. Everything else we did exactly as written. With CLE I did end up cutting back the number of problems. If I knew he knew the material then I would only make him do 1 or 2 of a certain type instead of 3 or 4. I haven't used the other programs so I don't have any advise about that. I have definitely found that doing the guides as written makes a big difference in how smooth my day goes.
Mom to:
dd 22 college graduate and employed as an Intervention Specialist
ds 18 US2, Loved Preparing, CTC , RTR , Rev to Rev, MTMM ,WG, WH and US1
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rodandmegs
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by rodandmegs » Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:32 am

Have you looked into Shoelace Books phonics? It's a $10.00 PDF you download, and it looks simple to implement. I actually printed out the first 30 pages to try with my son. It would be something you could do with him on the couch, and it wouldn't take a long time each day. I will be praying for you. I know how it feels to be overwhelmed!! God will give you the strength you need to face each day. This is our first year with HOD, but I gave been doing the guides as written, and we are getting so much out of it. I would suggest to do that! For math, I would do what Lynn suggested- only make him do part of the problems if he understands them. When we used rod and staff math, I would make my daughter and son do a set amount (like 5), and if they didn't miss any, they could move on to the next section. I think it's overkill to make them do thirty of the same problems!! We would also do some orally, as mental math is a great ool they will need.
Mikaela - 9th - Bob Jones University DVDs
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Nealewill
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by Nealewill » Fri Sep 04, 2015 10:26 am

I have not used CLE but I have used AAR and AAS in the past. My oldest has mild dyslexia and she used AAS when she was 8 & 9. My son has auditory processing disorder and he completed AAR when he was 7 & 8. AAS was not a good fit for my son at all because

Are you trying to do one lesson a day with AAR? You shouldn't :-) I remember when my son did it, we spent 1 day doing the teaching, the game and some of the fluency sheet if there was time. The next day we read the rest of the fluency sheet and started the story. The third day we finished the story and fluency sheets not yet completed. Sometimes I would go into a 4th day. I personally would just set the time for 20 min and that is all I would do in that time period. As for AAS, I wouldn't worry about it right now. I would do the spelling in Beyond. I know you are probably worried about not starting spelling off with AAS but because of time, do the spelling Beyond. You can always start AAS later if you feel like you really need it. As for BJU for English, I would drop it. There is plenty of Grammar included in Beyond and it is very balanced with spelling, writing and literature, especially as the kids get older and up in level.

As for math - if you really dislike Singapore, then I would go with Teaching Textbooks. Now is the time to switch if you plan to switch. Your son and other kids are young. I have never used it so I can't say much about it. CM would say that lessons should be short at this age. I am not sure if you are a CM momma but HOD is a CM philosophy.
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

nena3927
Posts: 114
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by nena3927 » Fri Sep 04, 2015 1:15 pm

Thank you ladies for responding. Today I went with everything as written aside from the math and we have had such a better day! I wonder what Carrie's response would be to the reading for my ds. Today we started back with the ER set and put away AAR. He only has a few stories left in The Early Reader's Bible and he struggled with two words only today which was great, and I thought about keeping a running list of those words and reviewing them before reading the next story the following day. I don't dislike Singapore at all, its just that EVERY time we came to a review last year my ds could not remember how to work the problems. We used Singapore in K and 1st and I love the mental aspect and quick lessons. But my son's struggles weren't occasionally but were with almost every review he had. We went through that for an entire year. I would also like Julie or Carrie's response to that as well. What do you do with a child who forgets everything between reviews? Not one program can possibly fit each child although it would be so much easier if that were the case.
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

MelInKansas
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by MelInKansas » Fri Sep 04, 2015 2:24 pm

Being pregnant is no small thing. You definitely need more flexibility and grace for yourself at those times. So take a deep breath and think through how to proceed. Obviously doing the guide as written would shorten and simplify things. But if you feel that your son needs more intensive work in Math and Reading then, well, he needs it. Shortening the amount you do in those programs would help, but will that slow you down too much in math? It seems like some math programs are just meant to take up a lot more time. Is there any way your husband could work with him some in the evenings? My husband does math in the evenings with my oldest, who is doing Singapore but is in 5th grade so it just is longer and takes a long time sometimes. They actually sit down and work on it right after the younger kids go to bed, about 8:30. She is a night owl so this works for her, it probably wouldn't for every child.

Either having your husband do some, or moving to TT or something seems like it would help out with math. I think Singapore is a great program and even kids who struggle with retention can do well with it. I have one kid who is very quick to pick up on math concepts and one who is not. With the one who isn't I use the hands-on activities a lot more and spend more time on those. They really help. With my math-y kid I might have them do it once or twice, but with the 2nd born I let her play around for a while and make up lots of problems for her to do. When I have seen her struggling with a concept we add more problems or do it differently to help her. She needs more reinforcement of the concepts sometimes, and she is the one who struggles when they get to mixed story problems - not all the problems are solved the same way. Those were really hard for quite a while. She has gotten better though, and I see her picking it up and getting the concepts down.
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

countrymom
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by countrymom » Fri Sep 04, 2015 3:33 pm

Carrie just replied to another thread that might interest you, viewtopic.php?f=6&t=16666. I see your son is 7, so I would definitely take that into consideration. Our son is 8, turns 9 in November and he struggles with reading. He is probably dyslexic, if not that, something. I talked to a professional this summer and she doesn't even test until around age 9 because there is just so much variation and so much still developing, especially in boys. Having said that, I wanted to share what I have been doing with my son since Christmas because it seems doable for you and it is really working. After pouring over library books I chose a method where we sit down with a reader and I read a paragraph or section first (pointing to each word while I read), then we read together, then he reads it (me still pointing with a pencil tip the whole time). Now I usually skip the reading together part because we have made such progress. If he struggles with a word I help him decode it. We used The Reading Lesson and haven't gone beyond that in terms of phonics instruction. I did stall for quite a while in the emerging reader set. We got as far as the Frog and Toad books and then I just checked out level 2 and 3 readers at the library. Now just recently we are back in the emerging reader set and have progressed right along. Keep in mind my son is almost 9, so older than your son. If I were in your position I would not tackle a heavy phonics program. I agree with Carrie's analysis, after a point the rules just confuse the kiddos. A child that struggles anyway is probably not going to gain that much with continued phonics rules. I do sometimes point out something that wasn't covered in TRL as we sit and read together. You are at a rough point right now and I think a strenuous program will just stress both you and your son. Give yourself permission to just take it slow with reading this year and have fun with your son reading low level books. It will come, even if not at the pace had planned. :D
Countrymom
Wife to J
Big J - LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, Rev to Rev, Modern Missions, beginning parts of World Geography
Little J - LHTH, LHFHG, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, working in CTC

Nealewill
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by Nealewill » Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:01 pm

In light of everything you have shared, I would drop all of the extra stuff you mentioned and just use the HOD resources. My oldest had a tough time with the reviews herself but I just had to sit with her and hold her hands. Don't worry about it. There is a lot of review of this in future books too. They don't just teach you one concept and then abandon you to the following year thinking that you have understood it all. They bring it up again. And you can practice it again.

In addition, with reading, since your child can read that book, I would also not complete AAR either. I think AAR will probably slow you down with your progress. In addition, I did find that even though I had used AAR with my son (of which I had picked out prior to using HOD), it does take a lot longer to complete and even when you are finished with it, you are still finding that your child still can't read everything. He finished it a while back but he still needed help when reading things from the library. It wasn't really a magic genie to fix his reading struggles. He just has a harder time with reading than most kids. I really like what countrymom said. I didn't quite do that but I would listen to my son read almost 40 min a day. I know it sounds like a lot but he went through both sets of the ER and the extra books in the back. We would just get lots and lots and lots of books from the library. I had my kids read or look at pictures at night before bed. Also - I spent a lot of time just reading to them, even above what is done in HOD. I think just a love of reading has developed in him because we look at books all the time. That is huge! And the emerging readers (even the lower level readers at the library) as long as it interested him, he would make an effort to read it. There are a lot of things that go into a child being ready to read that aren't even necessarily based on their ability to read. For example, my youngest can read really well but she used to be very particular about the look of the page - it had to have color pictures and the print had to meet a certain size. The complexity of the words wasn't an issue, it was the esthetics of the book alone. My son, he needed to see the same word OVER and OVER and OVER again before it would stick. For him, me sitting with him and listening to him read 20-30 min a day is what made all the difference. Also - 2 years ago I took a sabbatical from TV. During the school year, they get 1 hour a day and 2 hours on weekend days. It used to be NO TV during the weekday and 1 hour on the weekend day. I don't know if you allow it much in your house or not but that alone was HUGE in encouraging my kids to love books as well. I constantly found my youngest and middle child curled up on the couch and my youngest used to read to my middle child regularly. They were both in lower guides so they had a lot more time. Now my youngest is in Bigger and she does a lot of reading on her own if I let her. I am hesitant to let her do too much yet but currently I am letting her do all of the science readings, she is reading the level 3 DITHOR books and she is reading 50% of Phillis Wheatley to herself. She just likes to read. My son is doing well with his readings but I still listen to him read. I also plan to help him with some of the readings in the sense of alerting him to difficult words he will come to. For example, he will be reading the Egyptian book and that book will be challenging for him. Engaging and exciting but also challenging. I plan to sit with him daily and tell him the challenging words that are coming up. Also - instead of listening to him read DITHOR on those days, I am going to listen to him read that book. For me - listening to the kids read is what has really helped my kids get ahead. That is hard for me to give them my full attention but it is what has made the most help. With my oldest, she needed a lot of help until last year. That is when it really "clicked." My son, it still hasn't really "clicked" fully yet. I know it will get there. He is a really hard worker compared with my oldest. But he just needs a lot of handling. I would say - handholding is your BFF. That is where you will make the most strides. I would stick with the ERs. Reading will come. And your son is still young. I didn't start DITHOR with my son until last year mid spring. I am glad I waited. He wasn't ready. But he is ready now and zooming through many of the books. I am always amazed at how well he does reading know where he came from. I also know that this year in Preparing, he will be challenged and he will grow by leaps and bounds. This was the year my oldest dd really took off. I know the same thing with happen with my son too. It is always exciting to see your kids tackle something challenging and then to see the payoff. Praying for your decision though. Waiting is the toughest part but sometimes that is really all there is...waiting.
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

Nealewill
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by Nealewill » Fri Sep 04, 2015 8:03 pm

I also would like to mention one other thing - before finding HOD, I had other resources picked out for other subjects - mainly reading with my son, math with all, and spelling with all. Last year, I decided to drop it all (except finishing the AAR with my son) and I switched everyone over to the HOD resources. It was truly the BEST thing I ever did. My year went SO much better. Everything was balanced and every learned a ton. For me, this seems to be a great fit and I am glad we use all of their products.
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

nena3927
Posts: 114
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:10 pm

Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by nena3927 » Wed Sep 09, 2015 12:58 pm

I just wanted to update and say that since we've went back to using only HOD recommendations for Beyond, our days have been wonderful! I'm so glad I listened to that "still small voice" and didn't order Abeka Video School! The time we've spent in school has been cut in half and my dc are really enjoying our quick and fun our day is again. It really helps me being sick with this pregnancy to have a well planned out day. I'm also ordering Singapore for my ds. I'm a little nervous about it because of his retention, but everything goes so much better following the guide and I'm going to try again. If anyone has a student that struggles with retention in Singapore and you have made it work, I would appreciate your input. I may need to start another post though for that. Thank you Carrie for this curriculum and the choices you've made in choosing to carry different publishers! I can you tell you after trying for a month to use other things, our homeschool would NOT be NEARLY AS ENJOYABLE if it wasn't for the way you have the guides set up and your recommendations. Thank you! Thank you! I've threw away all my homeschool magazines except for two and am staying off other boards so I don't get the "grass is greener" syndrome again lol. It's amazing how so easily I can be swayed by someone elses opinion when what we have is working wonderfully. Everyone have a great day! Blessings!
~Nena
Blessed Wife and Mother of 3 :)
DS (7) Beyond
DD (5) Beyond
DS (4) Loving R&S Preschool Workbooks

Nealewill
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Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by Nealewill » Wed Sep 09, 2015 3:37 pm

Yeah!!!! That is wonderful. I am so happy to hear that your week went so much better!

I think as a homeschooler, many of us are always on the prowl when it comes to homeschool curriculum. I have been guilty myself. There really are a lot of wonderful things out there. Before finding HOD, I switched around a lot. It got to the point for a few years that my husband would tease me because I would actually buy a full set of curriculum from one company for a year, my year would go well and then buy from that same vendor in anticipation of the same results for the next year's set. However, that second year, my year would go terrible and I would buy a WHOLE NEW curriculum :shock: in hopes that I could find a better fit. That happened 3 times! The first time happened when my oldest was in 1st grade. I found a different reading program that thought would be better only to have it be a complete fail so I switched back to my prior program (Abeka). The second time was when my oldest went into the 3rd grade curriculum level with Abeka - I was no longer on board with that style of education and I switched to MFW. I had already used some of the stuff from Abeka and couldn't return any of it. The third and final time was the following year, I found HOD 8 weeks after we started our second year with MFW and found MFW was no longer a good fit. I had never heard of HOD before that but I fell in love with the books and style of HOD .... so I switched. THANKFULLY (and believe me - my husband does thank me LOL), I have never done this since! After my first year of using HOD, our year went so well I actually no longer have much temptation to stray. And this is my 3rd year using them. I just love it. I find that if I use their products, my day is fully balanced and packed with learning. My kids love it too. I have finally found my perfect fit. Knowing all this and using all kinds of different vendors at first has kept my tendencies for checking anyone's "grass" at bay. I no longer keep catalogs for other vendors at my house nor do I research much. I do enjoy my homeschool conventions but not longer really look at products. I go to listen to the speakers and I enjoy stopping by to see Carrie and Julie :lol: .

I do hope you have a wonderful year. Sounds like you now off to a wonderful start :wink:
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

Nealewill
Posts: 1611
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:08 pm
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by Nealewill » Wed Sep 09, 2015 3:50 pm

nena3927 wrote:I'm also ordering Singapore for my ds. I'm a little nervous about it because of his retention, but everything goes so much better following the guide and I'm going to try again. If anyone has a student that struggles with retention in Singapore and you have made it work, I would appreciate your input. I
I am sure others will reply to this - or to a future post when you make one - but my oldest struggles with math. I would just encourage you to do lots and lots of handholding. Also - don't skimp on the teaching portion. A lot of the teachings seems like it is things they should know or understand easily. I am SO mathy and so are my younger two. We barely have to cover much of the teaching for them to get it. And they fly. My oldest....she just doesn't get it as easily. For her, I am just helping her as much as possible. And many times she sits near me when she does math so that I can see when she is struggling. Since she hates math (or it is one of her least favorite subjects at least), her tendency is to look out the window when it gets tough. If I see her looking out the window a bunch, I know she is stuck. So we work on it together and talk about it. Also - I split her lessons up sometimes. I will occasionally have her do only 1/2 of the problems and me check them as she is moving through them. This way, I will be able to see errors quickly so that she doesn't make incorrect methods a habit ingrained in her brain. This helps her to practice the correct way over and over again. Also - I have heard from many that kids get stuff at different ages. So if your child struggles now, they won't always struggle. Singapore really is a great program. It may take time to get used to since it is different than other programs. My kids switched to Singapore a full year ago. My younger two didn't have any trouble with the switch but my oldest struggled a bit. Every day gets better and I am actually grateful for the switch. I think my oldest understands way more about math than she used to and is learning the art of how to think about challenging word problems. All in all, I am glad we made the switch.
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

MelInKansas
Posts: 1700
Joined: Thu Apr 15, 2010 7:32 pm

Re: Please help me Simplify!!!

Post by MelInKansas » Thu Sep 10, 2015 12:28 am

Yes, I echo what Nealewill said about math. Use the activities in the guide, use them as much as you can. Give them more time doing the activity and make up more problems. Write down additional problems if your child struggles. But try to make it a game/activity so they will enjoy it more. The activities in the guide and the workbook should be enough, Singapore does repeat pretty often so even if you go by one concept without quite mastering it, it will come back again. Reviews are probably pretty difficult with a child who doesn't retain the information well. Maybe before you have a review you could go back over some of the pages with different concepts and do the activities again or something. My DD who struggles with the spelling lists, especially if the unit gets broken up over a weekend and she's got her spelling test on Monday or Tuesday, I let her look over the words again sometime before the spelling test so she has them a little fresher in her mind. Otherwise she is sunk.

Some of the activities are just manipulating things, a picture or a story, but maybe while you're doing that you could write the problems down on a whiteboard, to give an extra visual reminder. So say you've got ants and you're adding them in the picture, you would write down 3+4=7 or whatever math problem you are doing.
Melissa
"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases
His mercies never come to an end"

DD12 - Rev to Rev + DITHOR 6/7/8
DD10 - CTC + DITHOR 2/3
DD7 - Bigger + ERs
DS5 - LHFHG
DD2 - ABC123
2 babies in heaven

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