Okay I kept dd10's 12 yr old friend yesterday because her private school had a day off. Well she joined in on geography with us in the morning and the three of us took turns reading. OH MY GOSH!!!!!! I was floored at the lack of just about everything important in reading. She read everything in a flat monotone voice with no feeling or expression and stumbled over just about every third word or so. I was dumbfounded. She would hurry across the words she didn't know and say them very quickly and quietly. I would gently correct her and tell her she's doing great but the whole time my heart was in the pit of my stomach. So later we do our read aloud and this term it is Oliver Twist. Now dd10 struggled with some quite a bit of it in the begining and I would get frustrated with her. Well the 12 yr old went off to play with dd4 after the first paragraph - I don't think she understood a word or what we read!!! Now while I feel so happy and proud that my 10 year old reads and comprehends on such a high level I am saddened by her friends reading skills. I mean she is 2 years older than my dd and I would put her on about a 3rd grade level for reading. And she was pulled from public school and goes to a christian private school with really small classes. So my question would be why haven't the teachers or her parents addressed this problem with her? With about 10 kids in a class you'd think the teacher would know she doesn't read well. SO what I realized is that I need to lay off dd10 big time because she is doing phenomenol (sp?)!!!!!!!!!!!
What you just described is the primary reason I pulled my kids from public school. My DS (age10) was behind where he needed to be to pass that iLeap test this year. But this new school placed him in their advanced reading class. When I tested him at home, he only placed as a 2nd grade level reader. I have known this forever. We had tutors for him where he was before and his previous schools were addressing it as well. But even after I told this new school, they still advanced him because he was a higher level then most of their other students. It is very sad that some schools (public or private) and just not see what is there or refuses to see it. OR worse, he really was one of the advanced ones in the school... Scary. We struggle daily, but the one on one with him is really improving his skills. It is also frying my nerves, but we will get there
I know EXACTLY what you mean. My 7 year old read for church on Sunday. (We do a home church, here in our house). She read BEAUTIFULLY, with diction and tonal inflection and everything. I remember last year, when we lived in Phx. my friends daughter (who was 12) read a passage - and it wasn't even one with lots of weird names or anything - and she was slow, stumbled every other word, took FOREVEr for her to read 3 or 4 verses. Hmmmmm....
It is not uncommon for us to see new homeschoolers with kids that are 6th grade level in ps getting straight A's and come home to find they are on about 4th grade level. Yep! Count your blessings!
The 2 boys that stay with us bring home straight A's, the 11 year old is very smart but the 9 year old has reading problems and math problems. I questioned the teacher about this and she didn't think he had any problems with math and reading. She has been sending home practice packets for an achievement test that he will be taking soon. Yesterday he had one and I let him do it on his own. The reading comprehension part was - read a paragragh and give pick the main topic - multiple choice. She sent it back today out of 15 he only got 3 right???? She wanted him correct his mistakes. Yesterday when he was doing these papers, I seen he had made the mistakes, but I wanted her to see them, so I didn't make him read them again. When he did them the second time, he still missed some, I went over them with him and he finally got them right. I also work with him on math. He is doing better. I could hs these kids really easy, but I will only have them another 2 months. They had Tues. off school and I made them join us for school, they really liked it and asked if they could be hs'd.
You know I am just really sad for my dd's friend. I guess I just didn't realize the difference since I began hs'ing until yesterday. We have issuse with this girl in other areas but we feel like she can benefit from being an extended part of our family and that is pretty much how I treat her. I hope she can get through the other things in her life but I just feel horrible that at age 12 she can't read a complete sentence.
I am always amazed at how kids read when I read them read in AWANA. I will admit though, my dd, doesn't read with expression...oh wait...yes she does, but only for her little sister. lol
