Rye and I are currently watching this documentary as a part of our studies of World War II and I would highly recommend it.  As it contains some very graphic real footage from the war, I caution you to be prepared for this and would definitely not watch with small children around.   That said, it is an incredible documentary.  The series follows about seven men and women as they tell their real life stories of the war.  Their first hand experiences really bring the war to life and make it easier to relate to on a personal level.

The documentary consists of four 45 minute episodes. In addition to personalizing the war, the series also does a good job of showing strategically how the Nazis moved across the globe and then how the U.S, Britain and the Allies were able to defeat them.  It has some incredibly creepy footage of Hitler and the Nazi party at its height in Germany and Austria and that in and of itself will creep the heck out of you.

Check it out.

http://www.history.com/shows/wwii-in-hd

We are watching this History Channel series on the history of America now as a part of our homeschooling and I can’t even tell you how good it is.  We have just started but we are watching one episode a day to enhance our learning of American History and it is really entertaining.  It is very fast paced, modern, and informative.  It really keeps Rye’s attention, which is really hard to do, and for that I am very grateful.  He is definitely learning from it and during the show I stop it a few times to make sure he understands what he is watching and then afterward I recap and ask him again what he watched just to make sure he remembers and understands.   There are also educational guides and quizzes on the following site.  We aren’t using those but they look good.  For us the series is on Primetime HD On Demand on cable but it looks like you can watch them online as well or order a video or DVD of the series.

http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-of-us

Definitely check it out if you or your kids are interested in American History.  It’s the American History equivalent of Planet Earth.   You won’t be disappointed.

This is not our first time around on homeschooling.  We did it for over a year in the 4th-5th grade.  At the point I pulled Rye out of 4th grade, he was falling behind academically and was extremely frustrated by the school environment. Which, for us, meant nearly daily meltdowns at home.  I pulled him out and he did well.  When I put Rye back into public school with 3 months left to go in the 5th grade (he was ready to try it again for a while), he was able to pass the end-of-year tests at school with higher scores than many of the kids that had been there all year and years prior. And he has significant learning disabilities.

How is this possible?

Because kids like Rye often learn much better in a one-on-one setting.  Rye is dyslexic, has an auditory processing disorder (meaning he often processes what he hears incorrectly),  significant short term memory deficits, and an extremely short attention span.  He doesn’t have much time in the day where he will actually learn and absorb book learning.  So, how do we work with this?

I have found our best bet is to use workbooks and for no more than 2 hours a day.  Normal text books aren’t great for us as he really needs for everything to be hands on.  He learns by doing.  So I do teach him informally how to perform a task and then he does it.  And I generally have to sit with him the entire time he works and work with him every step of the way.  It is not easy.  And it takes a ton of patience.  But it is worth it.  It works.  And this is why he was going backward in public school.  He could not possibly get this much help and attention there and it was starting to show.  In less than one year back  in public school he was going completely backwards academically.  So, here we are again.

So, what exactly do we use?

Well,  we use workbooks for core skills and we use books, hands-on experience and field trips for all electives.   Although we learn a lot in the elective world, we do not have a set structure for electives.  We only use sit down, structured learning for core skills – reading, writing, grammar and math.

Specifically, this is what we are using right now.

http://teachersfriendcatalog.com/daily_chores_friendly_chart-p-58979.html

I use this chore chart (I know, it’s a bit corny for use with a 12/13 year old but whatever.  It’s huge/poster size and it’s clear and it works).  He has his basic skills work on there – reading, writing/grammar/math – and then his other chores for the week.  He checks them off as either done or undone and his allowance and freedoms are based on these checks.  If he does not do his book work for the day, he has no friends over or freedoms that day.  And honestly, I am not a fan of chore charts as by nature I am not an organized or micro-manager type person but he wanted one because it makes it clear and concrete to him what is expected of him.  So, he got one.

For math, we use the Grade 6 End-Of-Grade Coach workbook from the public school he went to and some supplemental workbooks that vary by what is helpful and well laid out (meaning easy to read for him and not too much on a page).  These include Singapore workbooks, hand made worksheets by me and a McGraw Hill one that I can’t find a picture of.

For reading comprehension we use:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Reading-Skills/Flash-Kids-Editors/e/9781411400771/?itm=1&USRI=grade+6+reading+skills

I like these Harcourt workbooks because they aren’t overly complex and they don’t have too much on a page which is great for dyslexic kids.  They also cover all parts of reading comprehension – facts, sequence, contect, main idea, conclusion, and inference.

The writing ones are good as well but we use them more loosely.  And we go down a grade level as we are quite behind in writing skills:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Writing-Skills/Flash-Kids-Editors/e/9781411404823

And this is the grammar book we use right now:

http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay_69639_-1_10001_10002

Again, we go down a grade.  I like these grammar books becasue they are well laid out, don’t have too much on a page, and have a clear lesson on each page.

And, that’s it for the core subjects.  As for the elective work, I’ll write more on as we go.

One of the things I love about homeschooling is the time and freedom it gives us to do and learn things that we may not do otherwise.   This is particularly true in our case with Rye because he only has a smallish window of time in the day when he is open to learning in a traditional manner.  So, we have to use that window to it’s fullest and then find other, more unconventional, ways of learning that appeal to his other senses. In that, one  resource I use a lot when we are homeschooling is documentary films.  I love documentaries and Rye does too now.  I feel they are a great way to learn about the world.

The Boys of Baraka is a great documentary film.  It chronicles the lives of a few 12 and 13 year old African American boys and shows what happens when they are removed from their lives in the ghettos of Baltimore and are taken to a private school in Africa where they can focus on learning in an open and violence-free environment.

Here is the PBS link telling about the film.

http://www.pbs.org/pov/boysofbaraka/

We have seen this before but are watching it again today as it was a few years ago when we first watched it and I think it will have more meaning now that Rye is the same age as the boys in the film.

Check it out.