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I want to start with some background information on my soon to be freshman.
My oldest son was diagnosed at the beginning of his 2014-2015 school year with a Visual and Auditory Processing Disorder that directly impacts his educational performance and needs. Visual Processing Disorder reduces his's ability to make sense of information taken in through the eyes. This is different from problems involving sight or sharpness of vision. Difficulties with visual processing affect how visual information is interpreted or processed. A person with visual processing problems may have 20/20 vision but may have difficulties discriminating foreground from background, forms, size, and position in space. He may not be unable to synthesise and analyse visually presented information accurately or fast enough. The eyes look and the brain sees. Auditory Processing Disorder is a neurological defect that affects how the brain processes spoken language. This makes it difficult for him to process verbal instructions or even to filter out background noise in the room.
There is a breakdown in receiving, remembering, understanding, and using auditory information. His ability to hear is adequate, but there is a neurological basis. His ability to processes what he is listening to is impaired. It can affect many aspects of how He learns in the classroom—from focusing on what the teacher says to understanding what he has read. 

Grades 5-8
* Reverses letter sequences ( soiled / solid , left /felt )
* Slow to learn prefixes, suffixes, root words, and other spelling strategies
* Trouble with word problems
* Difficulty with handwriting
* Awkward, fist-like, or tight pencil grip
* Avoids writing assignments
* Slow or poor recall of facts
* Difficulty making friends
* Trouble understanding body language and facial expressions
* Continues to spell incorrectly, frequently spells the same word differently in a single piece of writing
* Avoids reading and writing tasks
* Trouble summarizing
* Trouble with open-ended questions on tests
* Weak memory skills
* Difficulty adjusting to new settings
* Works slowly
* Poor grasp of abstract concepts
* Either pays too little attention to details or focuses on them too much
* Misreads information

Below are some links to videos that explain what he faces every day to learn. 

Visually processing disorder 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9pHvS7Mr_l8

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MWKWNPdxpyk

Auditory Processing Disorder 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ME0dSM3D-Bk

This is an example of what it's like for him on a daily basis to hear and decipher what it is he is actually supposed to do.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vzegGXoZY30


http://www.ncapd.org/site/mobile?url=ht ... .html#2847

With all of this information I hope I haven’t lost you. This will be our second year of homeschooling, so in a lot of ways we are still trying to navigate through and now we have all that comes with high school. My son does great with math and ok with science. Tests are difficult for him not because he doesn’t know the information but because he may have forgotten how to get the answer or forgotten the information. He may test one day and fail, turn around and test later that day or the next without reviewing the information and pass with flying colors. When it comes to spelling, he simply spells the way HE hears it; for example if he hadn’t been told 10,000 times the tree is spelled with a tr he would spell it “chree” because that’s what he hears. Writing is excruciating for him! He had to write a half page paper while he was in public school over the Alamo, and he and I literally shut ourselves in my room for 2 days to write this paper. Not because he didn’t know the information, because he could tell me everything about the Alamo, but he couldn’t get it from his brain to paper. When he would get some information down it didn’t make much since. He can read between a 7th-8th level, but he HATES to read. When he’s reading he cannot tell you anything he just read because his eyes are focusing so hard to read the words he doesn’t retain the information. If he has an audio version of a book and the book he can follow along with he can tell you everything about the book.

We are apart of a homeschool co-op, where he will take World Geography, 9th grade IEW, Physical Science, Algebra 1, Apologetics, and Sign language. I want to use HOD for the other areas or even as enrichment he needs. I’m just not sure what would be best. What would help him feel successful? We are still working through the effects of a public school system that had no care for him and the difficulties he has learning.

Hello! We are glad you are here. You did a great job of sharing about your son. I want to encourage you that we do have quite a few students who use HOD successfully with students who have auditory and visual processing disorders. So, you are not alone!

Based on what you shared, I see that your son already has a pretty full 9th grade schedule through his homeschool co-op. Since HOD is designed to be used as a child's primary curriculum without the need to add anything to it, I fear your son would be overwhelmed if you chose to supplement with too much of HOD.

With what you listed thus far, it looks like your son is missing part of his English credit for grade 9 as he doesn't have any literature study. You could definitely look at using BJU literature and/or the novels we have scheduled in the World Geography guide. However, with your son's visual processing issues in mind, the volume of literature in BJU with the novels would likely be too much. So, you could instead consider doing Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 6/7/8 along with the Level 7/8 Book Pack. You may find that a better fit for your son's 9th grade year. We do have many families use this option for 9th grade students. You could also consider using audio books for your son's book choices instead along with Drawn into the Heart of Reading. This would work too as Drawn into the Heart of Reading works with any books you choose. It does not have a required book list. As you mentioned before, it would be good if your son had the actual book to follow along with as he listens.

Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 6/7/8 https://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-into-packages.php

Drawn into the Heart of Reading Level 7/8 Book Pack https://www.heartofdakota.com/drawn-int ... nal7-8.php

If desired, you could also consider using the "World Religion & Culture's Study" and the "Logic" portions of our World Geography guide. Those are two areas that your son may not have covered with his current plan. The "World Religion & Culture's Study" is quite reading based however, so you would have to see if that would work for your son. I am thinking you would have to read some or much of it aloud to your son to keep up with it. The volume can be a bit much as a read aloud, as it was not designed to be done that way. Depending on how much other reading aloud you are doing, you could consider it. It is also designed as good pairing with our World Geography portion of the plans, so you may lose some cohesiveness by doing it the World Geography study at co-op instead. Still, the "World Religion & Culture's Study" is a terrific subject with much great content to ponder, so you may want to consider it!

World Geography https://www.heartofdakota.com/hearts-fo ... ckages.php

These are just a few suggestions for you to ponder! I hope this helps!

Blessings,
Carrie