natcriss

Hello, Sherry. I am also homeschooling a child with similar challenges. Although she has not been diagnosed with Aspergers, she certainly exhibits many indicative behaviors. Additionally, she has been diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and has various documented learning issues. Your post struck a chord with me. We began homeschooling Kate when she was nine for reasons not unlike your own. And I was excited to see how your path has been so similar to my own (from teaching various creation myths along with the Big Bang and merging Montessori with Classical and Van Damme's hierarchy to flagging all the secular resources in The Well-Trained Mind). We even own the same Usborne book (I love their internet-linked encyclopedias.). My daughter's strengths are reading comprehension and science. Her biggest weakness is math and anything else that involved complex, abstract problem solving. After much trial and error, we have settled on using history as a backbone, because developments in science, math and other fields naturally build on previous discoveries (which makes teaching concrete-to-abstract to much easier). We teach grammar, writing and literature separately and do not necessarily tie our selections to history (although we do when possible). The only purchased set of curricula we own is Math-U-See, and we will continue to use it (and giggle at the occasional Biblical reference in the word problems) because of its seamless incorporation of manipulatives throughout the lessons. Has your daughter read The Mysterious Valley by Maurice Champagne? My daughter read this and later began reading aloud to her little sister from it. Your daughter might be interested in it as well. Have you discovered Joy Hakim's Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way? It is fascinating and written for the younger reader. She has written several other books that I am interested in reading. Right now, the only other Hakim book on my shelf is Age of Extremes. I haven't pulled it off the shelf in a while, so I may go do that now. My daughter also loves cats, but her current obsessions are horses and archery. I just go with her interests and incorporate them into homeschooling for as long as she will let me...and then we're on to the next thing. Natalie PS. To help Kate cope with social anxiety and to increase her personal awareness, we do a lot of role playing to prepare her for situations we know will present challenges. She is having a luncheon this weekend for her 17th birthday, but she never would have been interested in or capable of sitting through such an event just a few short years ago. I hope this helps.