We are never failing our children when we have THEIR best interests at heart. It doesn't matter really, where they are educated, what matters is that they are and that as their parent and primary teacher, we remain involved in the education process. My little guy is like this too. He's at that awkward phase of learning, where they know enough to be doing 'big boy' work, but not enough for it to come easy. Learning to count by two's and tie your shoes - to quote my favourite tortoise Franklin- is easy and fun because 'I can do that'. But reading this book and doing these sums is not fun anymore because I 'can't do it. They're still little, but not yet big. We have tweens, but there's a small phase between little and tweens that gets over looked. It's a really frustrating time for them and for us. You're certainly not alone. This is where God shows you just how tenacious and patient you really can be.
Angie.. what did you end up doing? Garrett has been back in public school since Feb. I do know we needed a break from each other, but I really regret doing it. Hubby says I'm not allowed to bring him home again and to just homeschool the others, but as much as I hate dealing with his attitude (which after school I still deal with anyway), I kind of am hoping that something will work out and I will be allowed to bring him home next year.
I've got two who have transitioned beautifully from home school to public school. In fact, I called the school district, gave them their test scores, and they were put straight into gifted the day they started school. I think the public system can work. Teachers - in general - aren't evil. They do have your children's best interests at heart and they want to see them learn. You can usually work with them. Two thoughts, however... 1. School is not a fix for discipline problems. In fact, the all-day separation can make discipline more difficult. Both my kids went through a brief period of thinking my opinion didn't matter for anything, after they returned to school. 2. If you feel like you're beating your head against a brick wall with regards to teaching your son - have you considered the possibility of a subtle learning disability? I struggled every day to get my son through his writing, and there were many tears. When we had him tested at 9, the results were unmistakable - he has an LD related to perception and fine motor control. I sent him to school and he promptly lost every last bit of progress he'd made in writing while he was at home. However, thanks to the testing we had done, we know that it's not my fault he's behind in this area. It's not his fault, either. It's no one's fault - it's just the way he was made. So the school system gave us no difficulty over the fact that he isn't up to the same level as other kids his age. Good luck!
I'm wondering this too. Are you requiring too much seatwork? Too many workbooks? I've heard of familes having great success with programs like Konos for their "anti-school" kids. Have you asked him what he would like out of your homeschool? Maybe he would like more projects or hands-on stuff... or maybe less. My point is that maybe the curriculum you're using isn't suiting his learning style? Just a thought. Good luck with whatever you decide! -Sara ETA: I'm in no way implying that you're using the wrong curriculum and that simply changing what you're doing will fix all of your problems. I just noticed that noone has brought up the idea of changing curriculum and I was just wondering what you're thoughts are on this. If I were in your shoes, I would seriously consider public school also! It's not the worst thing in the world and some kids really thrive in ps.
Hey everyone. I'm so sorry for taking so long to come back to this thread. Life here has been pretty hectic. Thanks crazymama for bumping it up We're still homeschooling, though it was seriously touch-and-go at one point. I got so far as setting up an appointment to register him and attending a parent's meeting for kids going into 3rd grade (the year you have to choose which French program your child will be going into). I ended up cancelling the appointment to register him just 2 days beforehand. I don't think it was any one thing that changed things around here, more a combination of a lot of little things that almost amounted to a complete overhaul of how we homeschool. First thing, my husband (who is much more against the idea of public school than I am, not that I'm "against" it, exactly) had a very serious talk with Josh about his attitude, his responsibilities and what we expect of both him and all the members of our family. I think knowing that his dad was disappointed in his behaviour struck Josh as much more serious than my frustrations. Understandable, I suppose, since he's stuck with me all day every day LOL I took away the video games during the week and implemented a star chart system for the two older boys to earn video game time on the weekends. While even dh and I are pretty into video games and we firmly believe they can even be beneficial in a lot of ways, we had to admit that Josh especially was getting way too obsessed with them (his portable Nintendo DS, in particular). It took a couple weeks of constant, daily whining and begging to be allowed to play before it sunk in that we were serious, and he's much more motivated now to do his chores and his schoolwork in order to earn game time. I'm hoping to be able to eventually have doing a good job at his schoolwork be motivation enough, but I'll take what I can get for now! LOL oh, we also bought a couple of math & spelling games for his DS (there are several really great ones out there, if anyone wants recommendations) and part of his video game time has to be spent on those. We did change up some of our curriculum. I switched from a more workbook based science program to Apologia. We're doing the Astronomy unit right now and Josh actually asks to do Science on days it's not on the agenda. I've switched out our social studies for unit studies with lapbooking. Having a couple of subjects be more handa-on has helped him be more willing to deal with the more "boring" or seat-work oriented curriculum that I'm not willing to change because I really feel it's best for him. So, overall, things seem to be on an upward swing. I'll be starting my middle son with kindergarten this summer, so I'm hoping having his brother also doing school will help, too. I've also had to lower my expectations for myself, in regards to housecleaning, etc. That's been really hard, but I'm working on it. I just keep telling myself that I've got 3 small kids and eventually they'll get older more independant. Thank you all so much for all the advice and suggestions and encouragement. I really appreciate it, and it helped SO much!
I am really glad to hear how things turned out for your family as my nephew is the same age as Josh and I am dealing with a lot of the same issues. He just came out of ps a little over a month ago though. I think that I am going to "borrow" some of your ideas!
I'm glad to hear things are working out! What are the DS games you got? I am on the look out for things for all my kids.. well other than the baby of course..lol. Garrett and Rylee each got new DS's for Easter.. and neither have many games, and then I got a DSi so that Reagan can play it to stop wars.. he got a riding tractor thing for his Easter gift. Oh.. I'm not the one who bumped this... but I'm glad it did get bumped because I wondered how things were going for you! I still wish I could bring Garrett back home but don't see it happening without a fight with hubby. Maybe things will go smoothly over the summer and he will see it... and maybe they won't and I won't want to bring him home anyway? But really I would love to make it work.
Some of the DS games we have are: Spelling Challenges and More Learn Math for Grades 1-4 Math Play Math Blaster in the Prime Adventure
Such a hard thing to decide. Maybe you can think of other options -- public or montessori? Rather than public?
I am still reading all of your replies. But I totally understand how you feel. My ds and I have the same problem. There are days when the phone is in my hand and I'm considering calling to see what has to be done to send him to ps. I'm thinking that for us, we need something new and I've noticed that while the past few weeks we've had a lot of unstructured time (with our mourning) and the kids (especially ds) seem to be falling apart. It seems like he needs more structure. So we're starting fresh on Monday (well, Tuesday really because Monday is our co-op day)...and hope for the best. I just wanted to say that I've been there (am still there) and I hope for the best for you all. I am sure that WHATEVER the right decision is for your family that you will make it.
Oh Angie...I am TOTALLY stealing your star chart to earn games idea! My ds is a HUGE gamer. If I were to ask him what he wanted to do to make our school day easier he would say "play video games". lol...and I've tried the comp. curriculum and it still doesn't work. He wants his own games. We're in the process of switching to a no t.v. until after 5pm thing which is working pretty good. And I'm changing to a 1 hour a day game time. But I love the idea of EARNING weekend game time by good effort with school work. I'm excited now!
I make my kids earn games time too - we have a system where I've listed how many cents a certain chore is worth, and also a penalty chart where I take money out of their jars. A penny is worth a minute of games. I decided to use money so he'd get quicker at recognizing coin value and fast with adding and subtracting them!
Sometimes it's a day by day accomplisment. Regardless, it's STILL an accomplishment. Set yourself small goals and allow yourself to feel good when you've reached each goal. You can do this. It's very clear you have your childs best interest at heart, and that alone will keep him on track regardless of which track you may choose. Huge hugs!
