Well, I'm back again looking for some suggestions. As you know, I share the homeschooling load of my grandchildren with my daughter. We have homeschooled her son for 4 years now and he is doing well. He has Aspergers Syndrome and has some ongoing issues that have to be dealt with, but basically he is doing really well. Her daughter had been in PS up until this year, she is in 4th grade and we are finding out HOW LITTLE SHE KNOWS.... it is scary! She seems to have little or no reading comp. and her basic reading skills are very limited also. I know it seems ridiculous that this is just surfacing now... but we were so consumed with the education of her son and his problems that we just assumed the PS was doing its job with her daughter... NOT!!! So, we are now struggling to pick up the pieces. Does anyone have a suggestion for a good reading program for her? She is nowhere near the level her brother was in 4th grade. We were using the same materials and discovered that she is totally lost. We are both thinking she may be dyslexic due to other symptoms she manifests. Any suggestions will be appreciated. Thanks....
Can I make a suggestion of some books at the library she might like. Arthur, Little Crittters, Franklin. If you find something she might really like it might help to get her to reading better. I hope this helps.
Is she still in public this year? or are you homeschooling her full-time? If she is still in public, I would suggest taking advantage of their resources and have her evaluated for possible learning disabilities. You can always talk to her doctor for other ways to find out. Just some preliminary ideas.....
Brooke, We are homeschooling her full time this year. Their pediatrician is not real helpful in the LD area....so we do alot of research and self-help books. The school did not pick up on this to begin with, so I'm sure there will be no help there. Plus, we went the PS route with her brother and that was a NIGHTMARE TO SAY THE LEAST. He is thriving in the homeschool environment and definitely needs the one on one attention. Obviously, she does too, as we are finding out. We had no clue she was so LOST!!!
I would suggest not bothering to "teach" read at all for the rest of this year. Instead, just read aloud good literature that is out there for children her age. "The Little Princess" for example, or "Black Beauty", "Little House" books, etc. Give her a language-rich environment. I think you ALL need time to relax and regroup.
Jackie, I think you are right! I think we do need to regroup and just relax... it has been a big change with both of them this year and a new baby in the family besides!! I think just reading to her will of the most benefit. THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT!
Joyce.... Poor thing! I hope she hasn't completely lost her love for reading! Do you believe in the *snuggle factor*? :lol: It works great in such a case. :lol: Basically, you take a wonderful book, a blanket and a good comfy couch, and just read!. I think Jackie made an excellent suggestion! She might sense she is behind, if she doesn't all ready know,kwim. Also, I know you mentioned it before, but I forget which curriculum you use...but I think you all ready break each component down, like grammar/writing/reading, is that right? Just don't tie anything together with reading except of course just orally going over what she gets and what you get from the story to help her comprehension. Our library also have wonderful books on tape! This is not substitution for the 1:1, but she can while your teaching the other one. Then look in Rainbow Resource catalog, and if you try to put a reading curriculum together they have TONS of literature/study guides to go with the books.. Not to mention the FREEBIES on sparknotes which is fast becoming one of my favorite websites.. Just print off the information for the book she chooses to read, and you have some vocabulary words and some reading comprehension exercises. Spark notes gives you a synopsis of the story, so you don't have to read EVERY chapter,a BIG help if you put some of your stuff together. I just used spark notes because ds just fnished reading Treasure island and I needed *chapter by chapter* account... Right now, try some of the snuggle factor. :wink: She will not get behind from hearing correct tone and enriching vocabulary... Does that help? Tina
My dd is in 5th grade. I am, again, homeschooling her this year; but she had been in ps from the middle of 2nd grade through 4th grade. I am not surprised to hear that you are having these problems with your granddaughter, as I was amazed at how much my dd had actually "lost" during her years away from me. She went into ps loving math- it was probably her favorite subject- she hates it now! I'm trying to change that, but it's difficult. We had alot of problems with the math teacher she had last year- she was stressing very different things of importance, and dd is just not up on the facts anymore. Without the basic facts, math is very difficult. As for her reading, I was amazed as well. I thought she had a good reading teacher last year. But, they weren't reading aloud much in class, and her reading skills are not the greatest (at least not what I think she could be doing for her age). The curriculum I'm using for reading this year (Abeka) has alot of timed reading comprehension exercises. She started out the year doing horrible on them. After a few, I decided to stop the timing- she can do much better if I give her all the time she needs. I think Jackie and Tina had some great ideas. I just wanted to say that "you're not alone"! Good luck- and enjoy reading "fun stuff" together with her! Heidi
Tina, what a neat place!!! I wish they had a sub-catagory for books more appropriate for kids, but that's OK! LOTS of Shakespeare! We'll use those this summer. Columbus has free Shakespeare in the park. DH and I have been going for YEARS (free date!!!). This past year, we wanted to take Rachael to "A Comedy of Errors", but weren't sure about the younger two. Well, our yearly newsletter came out, and they decided to have a Family Night for all the people (like the director's sister!) who doesn't go anywhere without her baby, but is afraid it will disturb others listening. So evryone who had younger kids could bring them this one day, and not worry about disturbing anyone. They even had some "special activities". We took all three, even Phillip at age 4. All three enjoyed the play. We warned Rachael that with Shakespeare, she shouldn't try to understand every word being said but to try and get the overall meaning. (They also had Mommy whispering in their ear what was happening at some places.) How did Treasure Island go? I've tried to read that book SO many times to myself, and never have been able to finish it. Are you familiar with H.Rider Haggard's "King Solomon's Mines"? If not, you should see if your library has it. (Quoting from the back "King Solomon's Mines tells of the search by Sir Henry Curtis, Captian John Good and the narrator, Allan Quatermain, for Sir Henry's younger brother George. He has been lost in the interior of Africa for two years in the quest for King solomon's Mines, the legendary source of the biblical king's enormous riches. The three companions encounter fearful hardships, fierce warriors, mortal danger and the sinister and deadly Gagool. "In one of the finest adventure stories of its age, Quatermain, with touches of humour and great excitement, tells the tale of tehir struggle through unmapped Africa in pursuit of unimaginable wealth." Anyway, a real BOY book! The sequel had this unbelievable dedication, about how it was written in hopes of helping young boys reach the highest obtainable goal...that of becoming an English Gentleman! (Or some such drivel! I got a kick out of it!)
Hi everyone! Thank you so much for your support and suggestions. They are so encouraging. Tina, the snuggle idea is great and we use that ALOT in this household!!! Hahahha...I liked your other suggestions as well. We have been doing similar things, I found a website that I really like to use with our reading program. It is: Linda's Links to Literature. A very helpful site. It sounds very similar to the one you talked about. You just look up the current book you are reading and it has all kinds of lesson ideas to go along with it. I will definitely check out the other sites you suggested also. Heidi, thank you so much for your input, also, it is reassuring to know that others have gone through the same thing or ARE STILL going through similar situations. It is very disturbing to me how "out of tune" the PS system is to the kids! They want all of them to fit into the same mold and manner of teaching...AND IT BECOMES MORE AND MORE OBVIOUS IT DOESN'T WORK. I've talked to so many parents that have kids in PS that are so frustrated and their circumstances do not allow them to homeschool. I feel so bad for the kids who are not getting an education at all, they are so lost and behind and they just keep pushing them through. No wonder the illeracy rate in this country is so high and the test scores in every subject keep going down... HELLO? Something isn't working here!!! Well, thanks again to all who have offered suggestions. Just knowing you are out there and supportive is a huge help! Joyce
Joyce, my son is in the 4th grade and is still reading on a 2-3 grade level. I like to read a lot to him. We are finding out now that the PS we had him in did not pick up on his dyslexia. His teachers were only concerned about AR (Accelerated Reading), and the scores their class was getting. Some teachers would read a book to the class then go over the questions with them, giving them the answers, so they all would make a 100 on the AR test. They really weren't concerned if a child really read the book or if they copyed from each other. I know this because I was once a teacher in the PS system. I was told by other teachers that we were suppose to keep our AR scores for the class at a certain number, or be fussed at by the principal. Thank goodness I taught K5. This is what is happing in our PS schools. Some teachers don't care if the students are learning, they only worry about the scores at testing time. You do have some teachers that are concerned about the students, but they are few and far between. Sometimes the teachers that care are put with the worst class, and they can't do anything with them. Thats because some PS kids have no home training. You also may have a 12 - 13 year old in a class with 9 -10 year olds. That is just too old to be put in with them, thats why you have some kids that have been in the past good students, now doing poorly. They are scared. Until the PS system gets fixed we will continue to have these problems. I think homeschooling is the perfect way to teach. My dd has learned more in the past 1 1/2 years then she did the whole time in PS. She is now reading on a 9 th grade level, and is doing math on a 8th grade level. She is only in the 7th grade. I have told my dh many times I wished we had never put them in PS. I hope and pray that we can HS for the rest of their school years. You and your daughter are doing what is right listen to these ladies they know what they are talking about.
Vicky, Thanks for the encouragement. Isn't it a shame the condition our PS systems are in? And our dear children are the ones that have to pay!! I am so thankful that we made the decision as a family to take the kids out of the system and homeschool them. I'm sure it is the best thing for them. Of course, there will be problems along the way, but nothing compared to the problems they would have if left in the PS. We suspect there might be dyslexia involved in this situation also, since there are some other symptoms that poiint in that direction. Time will tell... and further examination. It is good to hear the fine results you are having. Keep up the good work! Joyce
Hey Jackie... Little late on posting here, but we made a week long trip and just got back! Its EXHAUSTING to vacation :lol: You have to pack, then UNpack, then rest from all the resting.... :lol: Oh well...Ha.....I'm back......I can't take credit for spark notes....Ole *hound dog* Kathe turned me on to that one :wink: .....I Treasure Island WOWEE was great!!! If the book could have actually been eaten, he would have......He INHALED that book.... ME TOO :lol: Yes..I LOVE King Solomon's mines, but hadn't thought of that one for ds....So thats a good tip for me :wink: Its get harder as he gets older because of his reading level.. At this point, I don't care anymore about reading level (you know once you get them reading and you know its way above) I focus now on just keeping that love there,kwim? So Treasure Island was like a turning point for us, I just didn't know how he would do. But it was good book for going slow because of the action and mystery and still try to keep enhancing vocabulary,etc.. So Yeah a great read!
Joyce !!! Good to hear from you. I just noticed this because ... well ... uhhhmmm ... too much life going on around here lately and I just haven't been checking the board. Ask Becky ... or Tina. Anyway, don't fret over dgd because your loving attention is going to gradually smooth this over. I just wanted to take a minute to suggest some really lovely readers that I purchased this year just to "check them out." I've ended up really liking them ... or what I've used of them ... so far. They are the set of five Christian Liberty Nature Readers. They use nature to tell about God's creation, but the reading is so pleasant. My middle ds is in grade four and he is enjoying the first one. They would also be useful if you don't have much time to tie in formal science. The details they give about little creatures could be the groundwork to explore each creature further ... and THAT could be your science. I don't know about in the US, but in Canada they retail for about $8.40 each and are well worth it. WCL, Kathe
I have purchased a few of CLP's products in the past. I enjoy the nature readers, too. I can't remember their website, but I'll see if I can find it. They give a really good online discount when you purchase from the site.
Well, I did a search and now you can get to their ebiz site just by entering www.christianlibertypress.com.....everything should be that easy :wink: .
I saw the Nature Readers a few years ago and have been wanting to get them; they looked so good! Well, they're STILL on my Wish List..... Tina, my kids are right now in the middle of two good "boy" books! Animal stories, both of them. During my reading in the afternoon, we're reading "Rascal". It's the first time for me, and I'm enjoying it. So are the kids! Then Carl finally started "Savage Sam" at bed time. This is the sequel to "Old Yeller". They are captured by Indians, and Sam is tracking them. Little Arliss bites off an Indian's ear and accidently swallows it, then is scared that it will make him "part injun". Lots of adventure, and a must-read for any Texan, LOL!
Jackie.....what would I do without you :wink: Your WONDERFUL suggestions for boys reading are ALL well taken!...... Thank you so much! After you gave the suggestions on the time warp trios they promptly read them as fast as they could ALL they could find....and still looking for more in that series... Then, I decided I better go ahead and get Beowulf read......of course between Grendel and the hero it had them hanging on *every word*........ I think swallowing an *injun ear* is RIGHT UP there! :lol: Christian Liberty Readers sound like a must....I saw them at a show last year...and well if I can do science and read like Kathe said........then I must! Right now, my oldest is reading Child's History of the World . Did you ever see if your library could get it?.. Thats another WOWEE :shock: WE absolutely love that book! Of course, I was warned ahead of time that the first few chapters talk about evolution, :roll: . I went ahead and took that time to explain how other people feel, but I didn't waste time reading like Ch2 and Ch 3. We just skipped it, but after that it picks up right where it suppose to. We were suppose to read that in spare time, but ds wanted that to be part of our *interactive* reading lessons.. So it IS.....so he will be finished quicker this year. Since its part our assignment and free reading time. A must read!
Kathe, Thanks for your suggestions on the Nature Serie Readers. I will check that out. They sound like a nice series, especially since you can tie in Science with them. Neither of the kids are real thrilled with the Science books we are using this year... and quite frankly, I'm rather bored with them also. So, this might be a nice change for the second half of the year. Brooke, Thanks for inncluding the website!! That is a big help. I'll check it out. WCL Joyce
