We wanted to wait until after our wedding to start HSing so we started yesterday. Since I'm working FT and DH is not he was going to give her the lessons for the day. I carefully wrote them out the night before. I had a sneaking suspicion that my DSD (2nd grade) was behind in first grade even though her report card had her performing "at grade level." I knew she wasn't a strong reader but her math was good. I could just TELL she didn't know the things most first graders knew, even things like tying her own shoes. But I was not at the parent-teacher conferences so I didn't have any solid data. My DH called me very upset saying he couldn't do the HSing and he didn't have the patience. It took her forever to read through a simple preschool book, she totally did not get what a "noun" was (lesson 1 in our Grade 2 book) and she had trouble with the review math and couldn't do even the simplest counting by twos with marbles. I came home and he was frustrated and had yelled at her, and she was frustrated and just wanted to quit. But she didn't want to go back to school where the teachers were mean too. Luckily I pointed out that our DD had bad TEACHERS, and she wasn't a bad student. Her teachers were bad because they either couldn't see that she wasn't learning or they didn't do anything about it. It upsets me that they would pass a student with a "reading at grade level" when she can't even read a simple preschool book. We're going to go back and do some first grade stuff to bring her up to par. I continued her lessons that night and was more patient and she did better. We're both glad we're doing HS. It's just hard repairing what PS did NOT DO!!!
Remember that you guys have flexibility. If there's something that's not working find another approach. Also, I would really reccomend leaving aside the grammar. You can get homeschool excellent grammar curriculums (Easy Grammar, Winston Grammar) that don't start until 3rd or 4th grade. That's because it's a very abstract concept and a lot of younger kids simply aren't ready to fully understand it.
Can I suggest Grammar Rocks too by Sholastics I believe.... they teach what all those things re in a video /music video cartoon style, very helpful you may rmember hearing them as a kid--- AAA noun is----- a personplaceor THINGGGGGGGGG lol Congunction junction whats your function? all that helps my kids remember
Don't stress out! I know you must feel the pressure to bring her up to par quickly...but don't. You need to repair the damage, yes, but the damage wasn't done in a day and it won't be repaired in a day. Take your time and make sure she understands the basics. Get Abeka or Hooked on Phonics or something. If you have to start her out a yew behind than do it. If you have to go over short vowels again then do it. This is not her fault or your fault. Once she is back on track...even if it takes quite a bit of time...she will progress just fine. Give her time to learn what she should have been taught. If you rush through in hopes of getting her caught up you will run the risk of her having problems in the future. 1st-4th grade are all pretty much the same concepts just a progression of understanding...so allow her the time. She will be fine. Time is on your side.
I remember my first day of homeschooling my dd. I ended up putting MYSELF in timeout because I was losing it! Just slow down and do find out what she DOES know. She may need some confidence before she learns new stuff.
Hey I found out some things about my dd the first year we homeschooled too. Like the public school didn't teach her lots of things she should know. We just went back over them. I think it is great you are patient with her and are willing to recognize the ps didn't do their job and that you just need to go back. I think you will do just fine.
We use this for dd for grammar and it does a great job of explaining nouns, verbs, etc. http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html
I ran into the same wall when we first started HSing Zach. I didn't realize how much his "elite" private school had failed to teach him until then. But, that's the beauty of homeschooling. You just start where they're at and move from there. Because he was schooled so long, it's hard to keep him from freaking out if he sees me using a lower-grade-level book, though. For instance, in grammar right now, he's using a workbook for 3rd/4th grade, and he's in 5th. But the pages are more fun than the ones for older grades, and I've compared the content: it's nearly identical. I mean, honestly, how many different ways can you teach what a noun is, ya know? If you think it'll bother her to see you using 1st grade material, try to not draw much attention to it; or tell her, "Oh, this is just review..." You can also sign up for some of the printable sites online and she won't know the grade level of what you're printing out for her to do. Just a thought...good luck! And tell DH to hang in there. It definitely takes a while to adjust. It's a whole new lifestyle!
Don't be discouraged after only one day. Consider just spending the next few days testing the waters to see what is missing and then fill in those gaps. You have all year and can school year round if needed. We had trouble along the way, and got an entire half year behind in some subjects. We were later able to gain ground and catch up because I did not let the grade level thing bother me and we just located materials to teach what we were missing and then moved on. Having the skills we were having trouble with remediated with better cur. choices than we had used previously gave a strong foundation for later learning. A lot of curriculums don't even do much with grammar until third grade anyway so don't fret. You have all yeat to teach what a verb and noun are and that sentences are complete thoughts and have to have a capital and a punctuation mark. If you can get this done you will be ready for most 3rd grade grammar programs. A lot of folks find Explode the Code to be a good program for remediating basic phonics and to improve reading.
Hang in there! You're already on the right path with the choices you have made! Just take a step back and gather your thoughts and think about your approach. This grade is very much a trial and error. You test out to see where they are and what curriculum works for them and what doesn't. For grammar, I highly recommend the book "First language lessons for the well trained mind". It is part of the classical curriculum BUT you don't have to be doing classical to teach it. It's a relatively cheap book (I got it on amazon for around $10). And it has simple grammar lessons that you do each day. What I have liked so far (this is our first year with it....finishing our 4th week already) is that it is very repetitive in teach concepts like noun and it gives very detailed examples of each concept. My son didn't have a good grammar base last year so we're starting him with it (he is 2nd grade but the book starts at 1st) and we're doing my daughter with it as well (she's 5, doing 1st grade work). They're both getting it because it's making sure that they get it! For reading, check out Starfall.com which is a reading website for free with many many different levels and they can play games related to the sound concepts their studying as well as read stories about the specific sound (such as silent e at the end of the word, etc). Best of luck!!!
I have to ask this... as homeschoolers, we believe that children are all different and learn at different times, correct? If that is so, then how did the ps fail to do it's job if the child simply wasn't ready to read? By pushing her into second grade when she wasn't ready? Just trying to clarify if that is what the failure part is about. If that is the case, I would get a good advanced 1st grade phonics/reading/spelling program (such as A Beka) and start over with her. If she isn't ready to read on a 2nd grade level then she isn't ready, and giving her 2nd grade material is only going to frustrate her even more. Just my 2 cents, best wishes!
There are a lot of free online printables. You can print these up, starting with K and work your way up. This way you can see what she knows, what she needs help on, and what she doesn't know at all. Our middle daughter had a difficult time in public school. We talked to the teachers and principle about holding her back because she was struggle. It never happened. YES, with homeschoolers it is easy to get away with teaching your child at their level. In public school, if your child is pushed along, even when they are not ready, this makes school difficult. It is always a game of catch up and confusion. So I completely understand your concern. For you child to be passed along when she wan't ready IS the schools fault as far as I am concerned. Thankfully you and your DH caught this on day one and not later after things were completely a mess!!!
It'll be so easy to "catch up" don't worry about trying to fly through the 1st grade books. I'd just keep trucking at a decent pace and you can use the summer to get extra schooling in. She'll be up to where she need to be soon enough.
Thanks for all the encouragement! We dropped back and did some easier stuff so she could have some "wins" and she was SO EXCITED when she finished a whole page of addition math problems and got all but one correct! I'm finding she has a confidence issue, and when she gets something wrong she gives up and refuses to do anything else. I went out and got a phonics book and also got Schoolhouse Rock DVD! Luckily reading, grammar etc. were always my strong subjects so I think I'm going to enjoy teaching that. Plus, I LOVE Schoolhouse Rock! So thanks for that suggestion!
