This is our first year of homeschooling and at first we were doing pretty good. ( My ds is 6.5 and in first grade. ) Now he is bored. It doesn't help that I have a VERY active 2y/o that demands a lot of my attention so we get interrupted and what would take us a couple hours seems to drag on all day. DS hates to write and read although he does rather well at both if he would just do it. He is VERY creative in coming up with excuses when its time to read. He has a journal that he could write about anything he wanted as long as its at least two sentences and draws a picture to go with it. But I find myself regressing back to dotting the letters just to get in the practice. He does well with sight words and making up/matching words on a white board. He loves word bingo and he loves me to read to him. ( I will even read every-other sentence in his readers...I bounce around with the readers trying to find what he likes) It takes more time trying to get him to read than if he would just do it. Hes doing good in math and science. I guess I should mention that we are using Sonlight core 1 for hx and LA. For math we use MUS. He did PS K and was a great student with no problems.So I guess I'm feeling like I'm letting him down in a way... I would appreciate any advice and I hope this isn't too choppy Sleep deprivation is a terrible thing! Thanks in advance!! 2
Key word in your statements: HE Boys. They don't really like to sit still. Most of them!!!! LOL For my middle (who's a boy between two girls), I created TRACING for the first couple years of school. He and I would come up with the sentences together - so he was involved...but, he didn't have to come up with it on his own. You could also use a sentence or two from a book he's reading. That's helpful too. My son, now 4th grade FINALLY doesn't mind handwriting too much. Still not fond of forced creative writing either. I, personally, don't think 1st graders are ready unless their brain is hardwired for creative writing - and there are some that are. Not mine, mind you. Not mine. Add in other things that develop fine motor skills - playdough, coloring (if he can stand it, my son HATED coloring, still does), legos, K'nex, magnetix, small finger play toys work wonders. Cutting too - in 1st & 2nd grade I used the www.superteacherworksheets.com spelling. One day a week was cutting out and alphabetizing the words. All that cutting really worked wonders on his handwriting - and his strength to do it - all that fine motor work really helped it not hurt his hand too much. Another thing is grip. I was told by a friend of mine that he was holding his pencil wrong. Our world was turned upside-down after about a month of using pencil grips - he didn't mind writing at all - I think it was more comfortable for him - he was holding his pencil too hard, and wrong, so it hurt his hand when he wrote. With reading - try reading one page, then he reads the next. Or make a game of it - see how many times in the book a certain word is used. Boys need a treasure hunt! For me, writing was the hard thing for my son. Still is. Just didn't like it. His kinder, first, and even part of 2nd was very interactive, and very little seat work. Another suggestion for seatwork would be getting your son one of those balance balls to sit on while doing it. It requires him to move, but allows him to focus at the same time. I satisfies that need to be active - but allows the brain to focus. I also recommend Omega 3 supplements. My son, I'm sure, would be diagnosed with ADD or ADHD....but when he's solidly on his Omega 3's he does AWESOME. Anyway... HTH.
I agree with Krista! I have three boys 7, 6, and 16mos. My 7 year old HATES to read, and write. He loves being read to and he loves the stories we read, but he doesn't like to read himself. One thing that works for us is picture books! I read them to the big boys and we talk about them and make a lesson of them, then many times I'll catch my 7yo reading the same picture book to his baby brother later in the day/week. My 6yo reads at a 3/4 grade level, and he enjoys his reading most of the time, but he also Hates to write. I've recently decided that the writing isn't worth the fight, so when they write I'm happy and I accept it, if they don't write then I let them dictate and I do the writing. Sometimes I can get them to type, and so some of their writing is typed. I figure if they are doing something, then I'm happy. They are boys and their fine motor skills develop later than girls, it's ok and everything will even out in the wash so to speak.
Hi, my son is an avid reader. But not of picture books. He only will read information. He sees no point in reading stories. I should say though I don't make him read for school anymore. He reads books at bedtime to himself. And now that he is in grade two he reads to his little sister and is trying to help her. As for writing it also was awful for us in grade one. Like hours to get him to cooperate with writing one sentence. We went away from it for awhile. The I found dictation literally letter by letter helped. As well as copying from a board or page. Now in grade two I can get him to write short stories. My method is to have them tell me a story about what we are learning. I write it on the board and get him to copy it. That way the pressure of correct spelling isn't distracting from his creative thought process. He has come up with some great stories. My next idea is to get him to find nouns, verbs etc in his stories. Also another thing is maybe get him to help you write lists for shopping. That way it doesn't feel like work for him. Say 'Mommy is going to look in the cupboard and you write down what we need as I say it for you.' It will come.
I know what you mean about the 2 year old interruptions. My 6.5 year old first grader is interrupted by my 2 year old all the time. Many people try to do a bunch during the 2 year old's naptime, so that may be an option for you if you little one is still napping. I'm still trying to figure out how to keep my 2 year old occupied while my 6.5 year old is trying to concentrate. So far activities like stickers, painting, markers, stamps, etc have been successful. You mentioned that he is doing well with reading. Maybe instead of readers you can have him pick books of interest from the library or your bookshelves to read. This may make him more motivated. Are you using the Sonlight LA Grade 1 readers? I tried those, but had to skip to Dr. Seuss. My boys hated the books prior to that. For writing, maybe you can have him do some writing on the computer. My little guys have blogs that they use for writing assignments. It makes it a little more fun. Journaling back and forth has been motivating as well. They write notes to me in a journal and I answer them back in their journal. So the journal is one long communication between us.
When my oldest was in first grade he was struggling with handwriting. I ended up purchasing some fun preschool tracing/maze books and focusing on activities to help improve fine motor skills like playing with Play Doh. By the end of the school year he was doing fine with his first grade handwriting book. Now a couple years later he is doing very well with handwriting. Some boys just mature a little later. I would just spend some time giving his fine motor skills a workout using fun activities before going back to his first grade book.
Something else that works for us, instead of asking my boys to write a story I ask them to DRAW me a story. They do wonderful illustrations, and then I let them tell me about what's happening. Same thing with reading books, after they read they draw me a picture to tell the story.
Back when I worked in ps, some of the primary teachers used what they called the "experiential approach" to reading/writing. They would start the day with a group-narrated "story". Usually it started with: Today is (day of week), (month, date, year). It is a (description of weather - hot, sunny, cool, cloudy, cold, rainy, etc.) day. Yesterday, (add two to four sentences from individuals such as "the class studied about reptiles and amphibians. Bobby rode his horse after school. Jamie and her mother bought groceries. Lydia had a piano lesson." or whatever class members dictated). The teacher would write this on the board as it was dictated, correcting for wording and spelling as she went, simplifying or adding where necessary. Then the class copied it in their notebooks. First graders might do fewer sentences; second graders might do more or more detailed sentences. Then later in the year the teacher was able to start them off with the date and weather sentences and let them write some additional sentences of their own.
One idea I have for writing is to take three containers. Label one characters, one plot, and one setting. Then brainstorm all the characters he can think of that interest him, write them on small pieces of paper and put them in the characters box. Do the same for settings and plots. Then when you want him to write have him pick one from each box. He could end up with some really fun stories like the one my daughter just wrote about the cowboy picking apples on the moon. She had a lot of fun writing and illustrating that one.
