Hi, Pam. I haven’t been on here long, but I wanted to chime in because my kids are such similar ages to yours, and our situation is too! My children are 16, 15, 13 and 11. My 15 y/o daughter has issues too, possibly including Asperger’s Syndrome (two of her siblings have it also). We are doing CM for the first time this year, and are all going through a real adjustment period. It’s been very good being able to adapt what we’re doing to meet their needs. 8 weeks into the school year (we start in July so we can take breaks all through the year) and I’m seeing improvement in narration skills, attention, and attitudes in all my children — though there’s still some work needed in all those areas!
We are following SCM’s Module 5 this year, and I’m loving it. If we’d had early American history recently, though, I’d have just picked up where we left off, as the other posters have recommended. I’ve had to tweak things a little — allowing the children to read books a little below the level listed for their grades, and substituting one book for my dd 15 because she absolutely hated the one recommended (her brother is reading the recommended book and likes it just fine). She’s doing much better with the new book. So much of this seems like trial and error, but this year really is already much better than years we’ve had in the past, and I know we’re on the right track.
Blessings as you start down this road!
Tara
