Seventh grade with dyslexia

My daughter is in 8th this year and has dyslexia, along with other processing difficulties. I will tell you what has been recommended by my evaluator, as we will need to begin counting credits for high school in the fall.

Math – DD has struggled immensely with this subject. What has helped the most for her is using topical workbooks. This year we have done workbooks on clocks, calendars, money, and recently I purchased from Math Mammoth downloads of multiplication, fractions, and measuring and division. I’ve had the pages printed, and now dd is working on multiplication for the most part. I have found with her that mastery in one concept works best, rather than going form concept to concept. She does seem to be making more progress this way.

Language – For this area, I am going back to Queen’s Language Lessons. The lessons are short, which was recommended. I will also have dd do some work in spelling using Spelling Workout. Her spelling is very poor, which is common for dyslexics. My evaluator was impressed with Spelling Workout when I showed it to her. She thought it was a good choice for my dd, so I will continue with that in high school. She only recommended having her do writing once a week, but not do a formal writing program. I may have her do some written narrations or letters to friends, etc. I will be helping her put things in order and in paragraph form, and also help her make spelling corrections.

For social studies, I am going to do short readings and a little written work here and there. I want to do the two years of SCM American history, but will wait until 10th and 11th to do that. 9th grade will be state history and world cultures, using reading level library books for her to do some reading independently, or I will read to her. Yes, I do much of the reading with her as well. If you want to do a timeline, Homeschool In the Woods has pictorial  figures you can use. I may use those for American history. My daughter learns better with pictures.

Science – This year I am reading to her from one of the Exploring Creation Zoology books. Some of the reading/vocabulary is a little difficult for her to understand, but she is learning from it. However, in my plans to do Botany in the fall, I have the Exploring Creation book and also Great Science Adventures, which has more ‘to do’ in it. My evaluator thought Great Science Adventures would be a great program for my dd by itself. So, I am not going to use Exploring Creation. She said my dd needs more hands-on and less reading. So, right now, my plans are to do three different Great Science Adventure books for her high school credits. I will have her read some library books on her level to go along with the study some days.

The key is to have short lessons, more hands-on, and less writing. I should have learned that by now, but I kept trying to follow books/guides the way written, and we would always end up having problems. Whatever you choose, you may need to modify it to fit your son’s needs. If he has struggles with writing, do not require much in that area. Another thing my evaluator recommended was to have my dd read a little each day with me by her side. I did that for years, but stopped when I thought she could read certain books on her own. I will pick that up again. Hope something here helps.

I should mention that I recently got SCM’s Living Math: A Guided Journey DVDs. These demonstrations will help with hands-on instruction along with the math worksheets to learn different concepts. It was recommended by the neuropsychologist that I focus on real world math which will result in long term benefits to adaptive living skills and eventual independence.

Andrea,

I have the SCM Pet Store Business Math. I was actually thinking about selling it, because I don’t know if dd will be able to do it, given the level of math she is in right now. But, I have decided to keep it, because she seems to picking up on multiplication, and if I keep at the basics and money for a couple more years, I think she may be able to do it. The neuropsychologist also recommended letting her use a calculator and not require memorizing all the facts. I haven’t let her use the calculator much, because I want her to do some thinking, and she IS mentally figuring out some multiplication problems.  I don’t expect her to memorize all the facts, but I am so happy she is understanding the multiplication concept. Another thing the psychologist said was that she will probably never understand the relationship between fractions and decimals, so other than money, I am not even going to touch decimals.

If your son is still in basic math, you may find the DVDs helpful, even if it is for reviewing. I have watched much of the first one (there are two dvds). There is not much on that one that we need, because dd is already doing addition and subtraction on paper, but the second one has demonstrations in multiplication, division, and fractions. So, that may be helpful. I wish I would have had this resource when dd was just starting out. We have been through too many years of frustration and tears when it comes to math.

So, for math, we will only be working on basic operations, money, fractions, and measuring, using real world application, and sometimes using the calculator. Hopefully dd will eventually get to the place where she could handle the pet store course, even if it is when she is a senior:) We also will work on time management, because she doesn’t have a good concept of time. I am not a structured person, so this has been difficult for me. But, the psychologist said to use a schedule for a portion of the day (like 4 hours) and let her put in the schedule what she will do, and make her stick with it. I really need to utilize something like that, so she pays more attention to time, and it will also help her with independence and responsibility. She needs consistency, and I need the resolve to put it into practice!

I struggled with that as well. Finally, at almost high school, I am okay with it, and our days, for the most part, have been going much smoother.

The Beautiful Feet guide that uses Genevieve Foster books is for junior high and ninth grade. Is your son working at that level? You said AO books may be over his head. How do they compare to the Foster books? Even though my daughter will be in ninth in the fall, I would not read the Foster books to her. The level of reading would be too much for her to process/comprehend.

I like SCM because it gives book suggestions for all different levels. The level of reading in the SCM Stories of the Nations/America books looks like a good level of reading. There are some books in the 7-9 list on SCM that I could probably read to dd. But the 4-6 would probably be a better fit for her to process. The d’Aulaire books she could read on her own, for extra reading, but I think I would lose her if I read the Foster books. Maybe your son’s comprehension level is higher. If so, the Foster books may work for you. Another part of SCM that I have appreciated is Bible. Did you look at the SCM booklist? If not, here’s the link. https://simplycharlottemason.com/planning/curriculum-guide/early-modern-epistles/

I just thought I would point out those things, since you are undecided. Your situation is different, so you may be fine with the higher level books.