I spent a lot of time on the computer this weekend, looking for materials to help my oldest son, who is struggling with language arts.  We've been using Bob Jones DVDs for two years, and while he IS learning, it is such a struggle for him.  I've been looking for something to help him master some basic skills that he just didn't master when he was younger.  I just didn't see how repeating 3rd or 4th grade was going to help.  If anything, I figured it would make him feel inferior to his younger brother who is simply thriving with the Bob Jones 4th grade DVDs.

I took the suggestion from Youngwife, to change the way he's being educated.  I decided to remove the Bob Jones spelling, english and reading DVDs from his curriculum completely for the time being.  Since he is so great with computers and loves everything about them, he will instead use interactive software geared toward children who are struggling with reading, spelling and english.  I found the software at Linguisystems.  I purchased a few programs from the "No-Glamour" series for helping him with grammar and vocabulary.  I also purchased a workbook with short reading comprehension stories that have questions to answer in complete sentences (instead of the usual multiple choice), which I hope will help with the capitalization and punctuation problems he has.  He has always struggled with putting thoughts from his head onto paper, so this should give him lots of practice at that as well.

The "No-Glamour" software also has a program for improving social behavior.  My son has always had a hard time "reading" people.  The software leads him through social situations and he has to choose how to respond.  It also teaches manners, the importance of doing your chores and taking care of yourself.  I hope this helps him get along a little better not only with friends, but with his brother and sister.  My husband and I are always telling him it's time to grow up, so I hope the sections on taking care of himself will help us define what we mean by "grow up".

I am going to give him several weeks of practice on his language skills with these programs.  He has taken an interest in a series of books, so I'm going to have him continue with those in addition to the reading comp worksheets.  When  things begin to click for him, I will slowly begin re-introducing the DVDs.  That's the plan...but as I sit here, I wonder if that would be the best thing to do...hmmmm....that will take some more thought, but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.  Thank goodness homeschooling is so flexible!

Thanks again to everyone who responded to my earlier post.  Your comments and encouragement really helped!