Thank you to all who post on this forum. I have learned valuable information along the way this year from you. This is my first time posting. I am not new to homeschooling. We graduated two of our children from homeschool and our oldest child was homeschooled until the last two years of high school. Our adopted daughter is our youngest. She just turned 15. She was homeschooled until she was around 8 and then went to private school for a while and the last couple of years was in public school until the pandemic hit. We have resumed homeschooling with her back in the fall and plan to continue to do that for the remainder of her schooling. She has multiple special needs, language processing, adhd, bipolar, anxiety to name a few. She spoke another language until age 4 being in a crowded orphanage overseas. She struggles with attachment issues so that impacts our schooling (I'm limited to how much time she can tolerate working with me, needs to do some things on her own). The only reason we put her in school was for safety at home. She learned little while in the traditional school classroom even when moved to special ed in the public school. I am going backward and trying to fill in the gaps. My husband works from home now so continuing to homeschool should not be an issue. I understand how she thinks and learns very well. If she does not get a concept I have many resources upon which to draw from and work to solidify before moving on. This year has been all about getting her mental health in better shape through flexible structure at home and new medicines and lots of doctor appointments! My husband has to remind me often that though we aren't where I'd like to be with the curriculum to look how far we have come!
This year we have done SC ⅚ with some modifications. I did not start the program until a few months into the school year. I was working with basic math skills and R & S English 3. I began to add in parts of the program after attempting the Cricket in Times Square guide. That guide was very difficult for her but we got through it. I found out about SC and decided to give 5/6 a try. We had not done Latin previously so I have been working through Prima with her. She is reading on her own through the SC 3 American history books. We have just about finished the R & S Math 3 which I chose to use to solidify math facts. Her math level is higher than this but there are a lot of gaps. Before starting SC 5/6 I had been working with her through the Key to Fractions books. She has done well with them and is in the last booklet. Thus, at some point I think we will be able to move through math a bit faster. Language skills are her greatest struggle. We were able to get through most of the recitation book. Her short term memory was tested at 15% so this is difficult but with prompting she can answer a lot of the questions. She really has to think about it though to know what she is saying. We went back to the R & S English 3 to go along with the recitation book as she needed more, especially since Prima Latina does not have a lot of grammar. We were able to do Farmer Boy, Charlotte's Web, and Paddington with the guides. I spent a lot of time working on sentence formation choosing to have her use a student guide. Farmer Boy was the most difficult for her. She can read a lot of things but struggles to comprehend what is read. The extra step of listening to mom/dad read or audible after she has read does help but is time consuming. We did not get to Mr. Popper's Penguins. We worked through as many of the Intro to Composition assignments we could squeeze in and worked through Traditional Spelling I and will finish Traditional Spelling II this summer.
Since language is such a difficult thing for her, it felt like the Greek Myths and the Christian Studies I were doubling up on reading comprehension. We were focusing so much on the literature that she and I were both spent. The Greek Myths were very difficult for her to understand. I know a lot of kids comprehend information at higher reading levels if being read to, but with her it has always been hard if the Lexile level is much higher than her ability to read it. For her to understand and appreciate a story even if hearing it aloud, the language still needs to be simpler. My plan was to catch up and get these guides done over the summer. We only got through one unit of each of them. However, I realize that is just going to be too much and we really need to take at least the month of July off and start fresh in August. We were able to do the science as scheduled. She loved it!
So with all that said, I’m conflicted and see two possibilities (perhaps there are more). Option one— Stay with ⅚ and reteach EGR I, use the Mr. Popper’s lit guide and 2 other lit guides at a similar level, move on to Latina Christiana. Sub the R & S science we have already done with MP Mammals. The benefit to this might be more time to focus on sentence and paragraph formation with reviewing grammar concepts and reading comprehension questions while having more time to focus on grammar through the next Latin level (my understanding is it will have more grammar). Option two— Move on to ⅞ as written but with Christian Studies I and Greek Myths in place of (?) Christian Studies II and Famous Men of Rome. She could handle the R & S English 4 but I wonder about whether there will be frustration in focusing on that along with so much Latin. She has done ok with Prima but I know we need to be able to give more focus for mastery which is limited when I spend so much time with literature and grammar.
I have come to grips with the fact that high school level work is something she will not likely attain. I am in a state that puts no requirements on me other than testing and attendance. I want her to enjoy learning and learn incrementally to whatever capacity she can. Thus, I’d be thrilled if we can get through SC 11/12 in the next 4 to 5 years. I have been collecting materials so I have a lot of ⅞ already and most everything from ⅚. What would you advise?
This year we have done SC ⅚ with some modifications. I did not start the program until a few months into the school year. I was working with basic math skills and R & S English 3. I began to add in parts of the program after attempting the Cricket in Times Square guide. That guide was very difficult for her but we got through it. I found out about SC and decided to give 5/6 a try. We had not done Latin previously so I have been working through Prima with her. She is reading on her own through the SC 3 American history books. We have just about finished the R & S Math 3 which I chose to use to solidify math facts. Her math level is higher than this but there are a lot of gaps. Before starting SC 5/6 I had been working with her through the Key to Fractions books. She has done well with them and is in the last booklet. Thus, at some point I think we will be able to move through math a bit faster. Language skills are her greatest struggle. We were able to get through most of the recitation book. Her short term memory was tested at 15% so this is difficult but with prompting she can answer a lot of the questions. She really has to think about it though to know what she is saying. We went back to the R & S English 3 to go along with the recitation book as she needed more, especially since Prima Latina does not have a lot of grammar. We were able to do Farmer Boy, Charlotte's Web, and Paddington with the guides. I spent a lot of time working on sentence formation choosing to have her use a student guide. Farmer Boy was the most difficult for her. She can read a lot of things but struggles to comprehend what is read. The extra step of listening to mom/dad read or audible after she has read does help but is time consuming. We did not get to Mr. Popper's Penguins. We worked through as many of the Intro to Composition assignments we could squeeze in and worked through Traditional Spelling I and will finish Traditional Spelling II this summer.
Since language is such a difficult thing for her, it felt like the Greek Myths and the Christian Studies I were doubling up on reading comprehension. We were focusing so much on the literature that she and I were both spent. The Greek Myths were very difficult for her to understand. I know a lot of kids comprehend information at higher reading levels if being read to, but with her it has always been hard if the Lexile level is much higher than her ability to read it. For her to understand and appreciate a story even if hearing it aloud, the language still needs to be simpler. My plan was to catch up and get these guides done over the summer. We only got through one unit of each of them. However, I realize that is just going to be too much and we really need to take at least the month of July off and start fresh in August. We were able to do the science as scheduled. She loved it!
So with all that said, I’m conflicted and see two possibilities (perhaps there are more). Option one— Stay with ⅚ and reteach EGR I, use the Mr. Popper’s lit guide and 2 other lit guides at a similar level, move on to Latina Christiana. Sub the R & S science we have already done with MP Mammals. The benefit to this might be more time to focus on sentence and paragraph formation with reviewing grammar concepts and reading comprehension questions while having more time to focus on grammar through the next Latin level (my understanding is it will have more grammar). Option two— Move on to ⅞ as written but with Christian Studies I and Greek Myths in place of (?) Christian Studies II and Famous Men of Rome. She could handle the R & S English 4 but I wonder about whether there will be frustration in focusing on that along with so much Latin. She has done ok with Prima but I know we need to be able to give more focus for mastery which is limited when I spend so much time with literature and grammar.
I have come to grips with the fact that high school level work is something she will not likely attain. I am in a state that puts no requirements on me other than testing and attendance. I want her to enjoy learning and learn incrementally to whatever capacity she can. Thus, I’d be thrilled if we can get through SC 11/12 in the next 4 to 5 years. I have been collecting materials so I have a lot of ⅞ already and most everything from ⅚. What would you advise?
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