Sorry for the long post but here goes. First year h/s. DS11 starting 6th grade. He has had problems starting in 3rd grade. We were seeing signs of ADD (daydreaming, loosing things, refusing to turn in completed homework, etc) and last year we had him tested. We find out he is better than average in his ability to focus. We have taken him out of PS (not because of lack of learning) - when he got his grades, tests, homework, etc. he seemed to be learning at an average rate with the exception of math(failed FCAT in math, barely) I knew he learned NOTHING but science in 4th and barely that. But I thought he was catching up in 5th - grades were low but steadily increased thoughout the year. I have been assessing him to find out what he knows and does not know. I am WAY beyond dumbfounded. He will pop out with all these amazing facts. When you ask how he learned that, it is always "I read it in a book". He will do the work you assign him but wants to race the clock. I have done assessments to find out how he learns and they all point to "doing" BUT everything he remembers is from "reading". It is almost like he can remember higher level stuff but lower level he just can't "get" except math. He is way lacking there and it stopped at lower level. He can spell government but not "of". He can verbally answer questions about reading but if you ask him to write it down, he cannot answer it the same way especially if he has to think about the answer. I guess a few questions are: Do I just start from what he doesn't know 1st-2nd-3rd grade stuff & work up to what he does know? Or, do I try to teach him both lower and higher to catch him up? - Does that make sense? (Like assign sight words AND higher vocabulary words.) Any idea what style I should use to "teach" him - reading or doing? Both? Should I slow down Science and Reading (which he is about average with) in order to "catch up" on writing and math. Where do I spend my time? Is he being lazy or does he have legitimate problems with getting thoughts on paper and remembering facts? I guess I am just really, really overwhelmed and now starting over completely with my plans for the year. Any and all suggestions are helpful. Thanks Debbie
Personally, I think he's probably very high intelligence. To be quite honest, I'd let him explore topics that interest him on his own. Yes, he really does need to develop his writing skills, but I wouldn't spend too much time on it. Let him read, read, read. Have him tell you all about what he's learning through his reading. You might consider having him log what he's reading, and list it into different areas. IDK...just some ideas. But the goal is to keep learning fun and exciting for him.
My DS is also in 6th this year, but his writing skills are very far behind, so once a week we are doing paragraph writing skills at a second to fourth grade level. Hopefully that will improve his writing in his other LA activities. It's totally ok to do work on multiple grade levels and try to tie it all in together. If he likes to read, get him books about science, history, and whatever else he enjoys. Yo could have him summarize his reading orally, and record it, and then have him work on writing what be recorded by listening to it one line at a time. You're in Florida, right? (FCAT). Me too. My DS was a disaster at the beginning of last year (our first year HS). He couldn't write a paragraph to save his life! Like, the words would not manifest themselves and he would stare at the paper for an hour. It slowly but surely got better. Perhaps some copy work would help your son too? Good luck, and take it easy I had no idea what I was doing last year, and DS improved so much, that I was astonished when I had him evaluated. He was given a Peabody Achievment test and placed above grade level in every subject. Just breathe, it will work itself out as the year goes by.
I just purchased some Teaching Textbooks and if you get the books and not the DVD's only (I would still recommend the DVD's) but at some levels you have the options of only using the DVD's which in your case wouldn't be to his advantage. Anyway, I love that it teaching "WHY" for example how we came about with Roman Numerals and how it was developed. This may help him engage with math. As for writing, that is something I will be working on really hard this year with my children. But, have him write hypnosis on things he has read. Last year my kids were disappointed in the changes Burger King made in their menu. LOL So, I had them write a letter to Burger King. Now, that was a lot of fun for them, they didn't see it as writing but as expressing themselves. I don't know if any of our experience helps out but best of luck!
Ok, so you ds is not a paper and pencil sort of kid. That's ok, mine's not either. Have him read a book and then do a "news report" on the book. Film the "news report" and have him edit it. For example, correct the wording, put the report in sequential order matching the book,etc. After he's satisfied with the edits, have him do the news report again. If it's the type of book that wouldn't lend itself well to a news report, have him act it out as a one-man skit. Film it and go through the editing process. Film again when he's finished editing. Maybe have him critique the two versions. he could do this in writing like a movie review in a news paper. Just some ideas. Marty
Boys are generally slower to get to writing. My son is behind in writing too but I don't push it. Instead we are focusing on grammar. Writing can come later. Also we are using TT's math and he is loving it. I thought he may be bored with the video part but he loves that he can work independently and have them give him hints when needed. I love that it does the grading for me and I no longer need to make up my own math curriculum for him. Let him read. My son loves non fiction books so I make sure he has plenty. If he can read he is learning from those books. Find an interest he is into and buy him books on that subject. Its amazing what they can learn on their own.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I'm a planner and being without a plan just really makes me crazy. I feel like I have a plan with all the great ideas from you guys. Reading for most subjects looks like a good plan. To the library we go. He has some books but not enough and he can pick what's interesting to him. I really love the idea of a news program for reports on books. He worked the news station at ps last year and loved it. Now he can produce his own. I also already have him working on a newsletter (It was his idea!). My response - Great here's the camera get some pictures. @ TeacherMom yep TampaBay area. - Sounds like your ds had some of the same issues, maybe the way they have been taught? Thank you ALL again - I can breathe again now.
Perhaps a web page where he can post some videos of what he's learned? Freewebs (see my siggy) can set you up for free. They make it super-simple. Or he could always post them on YouTube!
I totally believe a big part of it is how they are taught. Florida schools are so lacking, that homeschooling really became our only option! Maybe it works for some kids, but if a child falls anywhere outside of the "norm", it doesn't work. My son has issues focusing, and was never taught 'how' to learn. It's been a struggle, but this year I have a much better idea of what works and what doesn't. I'm still grappling with the public school mentality. I need to learn to be ok with not doing every single page in every single book! It really does get easier, and the library can be a great curriculum. We were going to use only library books for science and history this year, but someone gave me Switched On Schoolhouse, so I figured we would try it and see if it works. Best of luck!
My DD did her first 4 years in ps and had serious writing phobia because she wan't good at doing it they way THEY wanted her to do it. I spent an entire year having her journal. I told her I wasn't going to grade her on how she wrote, just that she did it! She could write about her day, her friends, making cookies, coop, whatever she wanted . At first she had problems coming up with ideas so I'd give her starters, but soon she got over that and just wrote away. It really broke through her fear of writing. Then the next year we were able to start working on things like main topics and subtopics and outlining etc without the fear that was there before. So, long story short... give him some practice writing without worrying about the grade and he may surprise you! Good luck! Edie
My 11 year old is not crazy about writing anything long either. Except the poetry study we are doing they will write and write and write. They really like it!
You are probably better off letting hie interests run where they will. Try listening to him for his interests and then make sure you provide inspiring books, field trips, projects etc. to match. Also, one of the best ways to educate is to read the classics as a family. Set up a time for your family to read a book together and then pick a great classic. You will be surprised at how fun it will be and how much will be learned. Don't just read, talk and ask thought provoking questions. Eat pop corn. Make it fun!
Hey Guys - I'm still reading - still taking notes and still revising my hs experience. Thanks so much. After so many responses - I changed him over to strictly reading books for daily science and ss - took him to the library and left him alone for a few minutes(on purpose) to pick out books I told him to pick 5 of each. When I came back he had picked a couple out but they were small mostly picture type books. So I took the subjects on those & kinda guided him to the more substantial books on the same subjects. (One was a 9/11 pictorial so "he" found a Osama Bin Laden book to go with it). He has been devouring these books. So I think I'll just let him ebb and flow where he wants in these subjects right now and maybe a little later start guiding him a little. Math I'm not too awfully worried about. I'm confident teaching math and I think we can get caught up even if it takes a while. I'm just going to make sure he has each concept down pat before going on. He is remembering some as we go & we get through it very quickly. @homeschoolcoach - We did exactly what your saying on vacation this year and both ds loved Mom reading to them, when Mom got tired or had to do something we passed the book around. I'm just not too quick on good, indepth questions on que. For some reason my brain just won't do it. We do talk about it but not as much quality as I'd like so I have "preprinted" questions for the classics I have here. Writing - I have slowed down on the writing but I don't want to stop. I am trying to instill the fact that he is important and has something to say & his opinion is just as imp. as anyone elses. I think a lot of it is confidence and self esteem. I did try to have him sit and write exactly what came to mind no matter what it was. You know just don't stop writing. If he was thinking "This is stupid" write it down until something else popped in there. What I found unusual was instead of thoughts coming in sentences they seemed to come in just words or short phrases. Anway thanks again to EVERYONE-I am still reading and taking notes and up for anything. Debbie
Debbie, has anyone talked with you about Living Books? There are lots of excellent books, especially in history, that are fun to read and teach at the same time. So many non-fiction today are boring and read like textbooks. Many Living Books are historical fiction. One in particular that is science is called Archimedes and the Door of Science by Jeanne Bendick. If you're doing the Civil War, Two Miserable Presidents is a MUST READ. Very humorous, but filled with lots of stuff.
I have a great link for you! http://glencoe.com/sec/catalog/cgi-...ea=literature&category=productinfo&nameid=848 This has a list of middle school literature, and some of the books have links to guided reading assignments. I think it's very useful, and we will be doing a few of these this year. This is also helpful if you need to has paperwork for a portfolio.
In his defense, "government" makes sense...it follows the rules. "Of" does not make sense...in a perfect world it would be pronounced differently or spelled "uv". He's just using logic to try and decipher an illogical language!
okay, I was actually taught to sound things out as a kid and for years I kept getting in trouble for writing of uv, so give the kid some slack here and there, as Dr D used to say "Pick your battles" I spelled story for years with an E in there, because someone in my formualtive spelling years said Stor-ee when teaching us how to spell, it stuck in my head untill I was an adult.! Blocks are not fun! I spelled it s t o r e y through my whole 7th grade year, and my teacher was exhausted at trying to break my habit, to the tune of telling me to write the word out 500 times in my spelling book. Once I got to the second page it turned out I blanked on the correct spelling and wrote 400 times at least-- WRONG! He declared that from that day forward it was correct if it was spelled that way on MY papers only. I was so embarrassed cause I really had tried hard to spell it correctly but eventually I got it right in school work, and fixed it each time I could see it that way before turning things in. Mr Turner was a great teacher for me, he encouraged me in ways other teachers had not in my spelling and acting things most teachers would have just scolded me he actually taught us to be creative thinkers too. By giving me the power over the word not to worry if it was wrong I conquered it eventually, in my own time. I think I used this with my kids when they spelled wrong words, they wrote them out we sounded the word and talked about them, they are way better at spelling than me for the most part!
If you're going with a reading approach - see what online options your library has. Mine allows me to put books on hold from throughout the county. They are brought to my home library to check out. So if he wants to learn about a specific subject, pick up a ton of books about it, and keep them on the shelves, so he has a variety to choose from.
