Homeschooling another child and math for ADHD/Dyslexia girl

[jayjensteve]

Hi there! I started using Heart of Dakota (Bigger) for my 9 year old last year and now we are in Preparing. I also use Little Hands for my 2 year old. I have recently started homeschooling my niece who was failing and supposed to be in the 6th grade. She mostly struggles with math and reading. She seems to enjoy the history and science readings we have done so far, but she says she thinks its boring. Any ideas how to make school more fun? Also for reading, I am just going to do DITHOR with her (level 3) and math we are doing Teaching Textbooks 4. However, I am afraid Teaching Textbooks is not enough math for her to get ahead. Do you think Singapore math would be better for a child who has mild ADHD and dyslexia and who was failing 5th grade (but the public school was going to pass her anyway!)?? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions you guys can give me! Also, she really struggles with spelling! Any advice on what to do for that! In Preparing we are just doing dictation now. Thank you guys so so much!!

[Nealewill]

I have never had my oldest tested but she really struggled and has tons of dyslexia tendencies.

I used All About Spelling initially but found after the first 3 levels that she was still missing most sight words. I switched last year to dictation in HOD and her spelling is SO much better now. I was very surprised but it has really taken off. I highly recommend it. As for math - again - I started with Abeka math. It is a very traditional approach. My dd just didn't get it at all. I used a company called RightStart for a few years. I really liked them but they were just too teacher intensive. Plus, it seemed like they did not have enough practice with tougher concepts so she was really struggling on things I didn't think she should be struggling with. I switched to Singapore and have never looked back. I just love it! All 3 of my kids now do dictation and Singapore and we love it.

As for dyslexia, I recently read an article about why kids have dyslexia. I am pretty sure my oldest my have trouble with visual processing - especially spacially. I am considering taking her to the doctor for it but it would be a specialist and cost quite a bit of money. I have to find out if Cincinnati Children's hospital near my house has anything for this. If they do, then it is in network and it will only cost me $3,000. If they don't, well.....I am looking at 6,000 out of pocket. Ouch! But I have noticed when she is doing anything that requires spacial attentiveness, she is still struggling more than I think she should be. So I am praying about it. She also reads really slowly at times. But sometimes, she zooms through things. IDK. I am praying about it. I haven't feel like the Lord has led me in a direction to do anything with it yet but have lately felt like getting her tested just to see if there is a problem and to see if there is anything I can do about it.

[my3sons]

If she is in 6th grade and doing PHFHG, you would definitely want to be doing the extensions with her, as PHFHG is primarily geared toward 3rd and 4th graders. If she is a 6th grader, maturity-wise, CTC on up would be a better fit. We have found none of the HOD guides to be 'boring.' They are wonderful, provided dc are placed correctly. I know it is tough to decide what route to go when special needs in the area of reading arise. I know some wonderful long-time HOD users with severely dyslexic dc, and it seems they have found success in one of 2 ways. One, if they want the child to do the reading, they choose a younger guide knowing the maturity of content and skills won't be there, but they are alright with that knowing the child is doing the reading and hopefully growing in that area little by little. In this case, the parent reads aloud the extension package to appropriately elevate the maturity level without upping the reading level (or gets the books on audio). Or, two, if they want the child to have the more age appropriate and maturity appropriate content in the guides matched to their child's age, the parent does a good portion of all of the reading, using audio books when able, and partnering with the child on the reading for most or all subject areas, knowing that though this takes more time, the child is challenged by the maturity of content. For a 6th grade student, you would be considering CTC or RTR in this scenario. I am not sure which way you'd like to approach the year for your niece, but I hope something here can help from ladies who have successfully been down this same road and found success in one of these two approaches! May God bless you as you help your niece in the year ahead!

In Christ,
Julie