We now have the opportunity to purchase Patryk a curriculum! We're very excited, and are looking forward to getting him one. I am looking for something that I don't have to do a lot of prep for (since I have to teach Beau, entertain a toddler, feed an infant, and still have time to cook and so on), and that will capture his attention. He is 5,and this is what he can do: :idea:I know he would be at a first grade level in Math. :idea:His handwriting is awful (due to his muscle disease, but I can completely work around that, and I'm not concerned really with that too much). :idea:He knows what letters make what sounds, and can identify each letter (we haven't gotten to stringing sounds together to make words quite yet, but I have a feeling he can do it, or would learn quickly). My thoughts would be that he would be a mish mosh between K and 1st grade, but I don't know! Do any of you know a good curriculum for a special needs child? Or at least on that is customizable? I'm feeling completely lost right now!!
We're you doing (or looking into) CM? Would that work for him? I know we did a LOT orally with CM type stuff. How is he on a computer? Maybe Starfall (free) and More Starfall (paid, but reasonable-offers lots of printables to go with the free online stuff, plus some basic math) Ray's Arithmetic is a good solid math that can be done orally quite a bit. Have you looked into the letter of the week stuff? http://www.letteroftheweek.com/
Josie, he is a lot better on the computer, and loves the free Starfall. I just sorta let him go on it for awhile during the day. He can manipulate a mouse fairly well. We have been doing a lot orally, and we have a Ray's Arithmetic book, but he's not interested. LOL. Is the paid Starfall worth it? I have thought of using that since Computer activities really catch his attention. If I could find a complete curriculum online I would be thrilled! lol. Would you call the paid Starfall a fairly complete curriculum, save History (which I already have lined up)
We've had paid Starfall for a couple of years and love it! We share the account with a cousin from out of state, because you can put more than one computer on an account. That way it's available at the grandparents' house, too. I'll probably let it expire this year, but he still plays with it just because it's fun. He's not learning anymore, but he still loves it a lot. ... like forcing yourself to put away baby stuff, or telling a kid it's time for a garage sale. Starfall will be tough to let go.
Is Starfall worth the price, yes. Full curriculum, no. Basically math and reading. Lots of pritnables to go with the free activities once you sign up. Maybe Time4Learning? (We just started a 1 month free trial yesterday, so I can't recommend it or not yet, but I do know many homeschoolers who LOVE it, but it is pricier than Starfall...) It does offer more than Starfall, and goes to higher grades, and you can be on 1st grade LA, 2nd grade math, etc...has science and social studies too... but it's $20/mo It looks like it would be a nice core/spine, but lacks any extras (art, music, Bible, etc)
Oh ABCMouse is good, fuller than starfall, but is Preschool-K, so if he's on a 1st grade math level you might need to supplement that...It's what my youngest did for prek and he LOVED it, he's 7 and like 2littleboys kids, he'd still do ABCMouse if I paid for it. LOL You might could buy math and reading separate then do unit studies or CM or something for the other subjects.... ReadingEggs is good, so is ClickNKids, Funnix is free right now. For math maybe MUS, Khan, XtraMath or IXL (IXL is more drill than teaching, but it's nice)
We had ABCMouse for Awhile too, but I think he is more beyond it that I would like to look into something else. He did like it though. Really, price doesn't matter, so I will look into Time4Learning as well. He likes Starfall bc it's easy to navigate.
Starfall is easier to navigate than Time4Learning. T4L opens a new window and I find it a bit clunky so far. My oldest doesn't like it (and he's the computer/tech junkie) but my youngest does...but they've only done it one day so far, so that may change...
