I just want to share and ask a couple of questions.

I'm in homeschool heaven!  I homeschooled my grandson two years ago, when he was in 2nd grade. Both of us loved it. He has high functioning Autism. I worked intensively with him on language and communication skills. The next year he went to public school. He was placed in a regular classroom and made honor roll. The next year he was placed in the AE (Academic Excellence). He made honor roll this year, too. I'm proud of him. He's worked hard and done well. He sometimes asks me if I would homeschool him again, but mom believes that he should be with children all day. She believes it's more normal. So, when my daughter asked me to homeschool my grandson this summer, we were very happy! News spread I was homeschooling. One of my friends asked me to homeschool her son and then another friend asked! I'm more than thrilled to help them all. They are all on different levels. One boy is 8  years old ( 3rd grade) and is still learning English. He came from Haiti two years ago. (after the Earthquake). The other boy (9 years old/ 4th grade ) has a mild speech and language problem. My grandson (9 years old)/4th grade)  has a mild language problem stemming from high functioning Autism. I'm excited. It will be a challenge, but one that I'm looking forward to. I have collected the books I need for my 8 year old foreign student. Thank you PBS for the wonderful books! I have most of my grandson's books. Some are from his school. He's has asked me if I could teach him 5th grade science. He's very motivated. I'm going to try to get his school to give me a 5th grade science book. And I've found a super online science site! http://learningscience.org/  Also, I'm also going to use Time4Learning.http://www.time4learning.com/.  It's a very good online learning site I've used before. I'm contemplating using their vocabulary A-Z program and Raz Kids reading program. And there's so much more I have in store including field trips, chores, cooking class, music and art. I plan to use an ecclectic approach weaving all activities and academics into one. I'm contemplating lapbooks. They are so creative and fun. Plus it's something the children can take home at the end of the summer. So there it is! I'm officially summer homeschooling. Yay!

I have one question:

I need to find out how to increase the two older children's memory skills, relating to reading comprehension. They have difficulty remembering what they have read. I am wondering if any of you have ideas, names of books or internet sites that could help in that area. We are going to be working on reading comprehension, but it's the memory part of it that's my concern. If you have an ideas in you could share, I would be grateful.

Plus:

Do you have any tips on how to homeschool different age children that are on different levels? I taught Montessori on the pre-school level. It's been a while, but I suppose I can draw from that experience.

Thanks for reading my post.

Sent you a PM.

This is what someone else here said about what I PM'd you:

Nancy H. (yardsaler) - Pottstown, PA   Date Posted: 5/7/2012 6:19 AM ET Member Since: 1/22/2008 Posts: 496 Back To Top

My daughter who graduated 4.0 from college in a science field told me most of what she learned about science was from Magic School Bus, (books and videos). They really make the subject come alive, also Bill Nye the science guy really holds their interest also. Apologiia is good but if money is tight books from the library on the subject of interest work well. Whatever you do have fun at that age. It passes so quickly. (My youngest is 20) Give them a love for the world around them and they'll be more likely to want to delve into these subjects on a more in-depth level as thety get older.

Wow really! She learned most of what she knows about science from the Magic School Bus books? Amazing!

The most I learned about science was from my Dad. He was a science freak! Lol We used to talk about it all the time. When I got older we talked about the articles in Scientific American. I still love the magazine. Nostalgia. Lol

Thanks!

If you are interested in lapbooking, Currclick has a free to download In the Hands of a Child lapbook on Gardening for Mother's Day.  You have to sign up, but it is free.  They have at least one new freebie a week.  (No, I don't work for them or profit from them.)  It would be great for the summer.

https://www.currclick.com/cclick_mothersday.php?affiliate_id=38020&

Have you looked into Unit Studies to use with different age levels?  They would all study the same thing, but the older ones go into more detail.  Also, curriculum like Mystery of History is for a wide range of kids.  They can do part of it together and then they each have recommended activities for their levels.

Good Luck,

Sharon thanks for the links!

I'm definitely going to use lapbooks. I'm also going to do some fun book making projects. I have this book on making books:

http://Making Books (Step-By-Step) Making Books (Step-By-Step) Author: Charlotte Stowell ISBN-13: 9781856975186 - ISBN-10: 1856975185

About my french speaking student. I was able to get a bunch of good books from PBS for him. They're not story of no-fiction books, though. I hope to be there when he falls in love with his first book. I think the world will explode all around him. I can't wait.

In the meantime I've started organizing the schedule. One for each child. I find it tedious, but a well laid out plan will make things run smoothly. Well, as smooth as expected for three young, fun loving boys! Lol.