New to the board.. questions and a bit of our story

[Meghan]

Hello Everyone-

I just registered tonight, so looking forward to getting to know you all.

I tend to be wordy, so will attempt to keep this short

dd is 6 and in the 1st grade. Have had ongoing issues since last year, in what I believe amounts to her auditory learning style (she's awesome with phonics but stinks with sight words) and performance anxiety which has developed at school. The school continues to complain about 'lags' we just don't see at home. I will say her school work is unbelievably inconsistant.

RTI meeting with the school to have them again tell us she needs more sight words work (their solution). Will be suggesting a few ideas, but not a ton of confidence they are going to listen to me. Dh and I were 'invited' to attend the meeting, it will be set up for a time they all agree on with no input from us... not even sure how to feel about that, since it's our dd.

Will be pulling her if they cannot agree/come up with a solution that actually addresses her needs.

If/When that happens, here are my questions (I'm studying up and trying to make some decisions to 'prepare for the worst' here.):

Any suggestions on phonics-based curriculum for us? Looking for something fairly rigid in this category. She needs structure with definitive rules. Also looking for lots of great titles of books for beginning phonics readers. I'm striking out at the library.

Math: She seems to do ok here, although again the school says she has a 'lag'. She is very tactile, and still setting everything down concrete to herself, which school doesn't agree with (no counting on fingers or objects!). Suggestions for a good textbook to work from? Would like this to be fairly rigid as well.

Science/social studies/etc: would like more freedom here, but a few guidelines would be nice.

Am also wondering how we meet phys ed., music, and art requirements?

I'm sad about the entire situation, but I'll save that for another time. I'm sure I'm not the only parent with a child who feels like a failure, simply because her learning styles aren't meshing with the school expectations. It's so odd.. I find her so bright and so curious. She wants to know everything (desperately wants to really read), and shocks me with how quickly she picks up new information and concepts. I just cannot understand why they can't seem to teach her. Well.. actually she's learning tons every day. They just can't see it. She cracked me up the other day while looking at a kids' horse dictionary.. she guessed the right horse emotion for every set of ears...we don't even have a horse!

Thanks for listening, and TIA for any help you can offer me.


Meghan

[hscoach]

Here is a very interesting link for you to check out. It is suggesting a certain phonics program for auditory learners. See what you think.

http://www.custom-homeschool-curriculum ... rners.html

The whole site seems really neat! I was going to suggest Math-U-See since you said your daughter likes "hands-on" for math. They suggest it also.

http://www.mathusee.com/

For P.E., anything that she does (playing, swimming, jumping rope, running, sports, etc.) counts!

For other subjects, there are lots of things to pick from. I would suggest reading some reviews of curriculum before making your decisions. Here are some links for that.

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

http://www.cathyduffyreviews.com/

My favorite place to order curriculum from is Rainbow Resource. They have a huge selection and low prices, along with reviews of products too. Here is their link.

http://www.rainbowresource.com/

Here is a link for a set of phonics readers that I used with my youngest son. He loved these books! They are so fun. There are lots of sets to choose from that you can find on Amazon. The sets that we own are different because I bought mine from Sams Club, but I would recommend all of them that are for sale on Amazon because they are so great!!
(start with level 1) We have Levels 1,2,3 but our sets have 20 books in them. The ones for sale on Amazon have 10 books in each. They come with stickers.

http://www.amazon.com/Animal-Antics-Now ... 099&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Now-Im-Reading-Le ... pd_sim_b_4

[hscoach]

Your daughter might also enjoy Starfall.

http://www.starfall.com/

[Meghan]

Thanks hscoach! Wonderful links!

dd has been on starfall and loves it.


Appreciate the suggestions more than I can express adequately. THANK YOU!

[KarenH]

I agree with all of the above!

We personally will be using MathUSee.....DD will be going into 5th but we need to go back to 3rd grade math and fix some pretty big holes.

[thewellmans06]

I agree as well, we will definitely be working at the 4th grade level but stepping back due to all the holes. Right now my son is finishing up the 3rd grade at a public school---seems they only worked on what they needed to for the public testing the state does--just now doing timed tests in math and even though my son is in a 'higher math' (his favorite subject) they are pushing all the kids past the rest of the subtraction and into multiplying---seriously? Just push them all over.

We have had so many issues in the last two years we have 100% decided to do so, the last week it was about 90% but the more we talk and research the more we know it's the only way. I am sure it will be tough but we know it's the way to go. I'm sure we will be a little 'rusty' at first, we are due in June with number two and plan to continue homeschooling with her too. I am just SO happy to find a forum like this for support!