Homeschool World Forum

alisarussell · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:45 am Post subject: Hi, I'm Alisa

Hi,

My name is Alisa and my husband and I are considering homeschooling. We have two children Andrew(9) and John(6). We moved here to Michigan 1 year ago from Greenville, SC. While my older one is doing quite well academically in school, my younger one has stuggled with getting his work in class completed, and it was just suggested to me last week that he needed to see a therapist because of unresolved issues from our move. He has not been unhappy at home; we think his unhappiness with school reflects not having enough time to finish his work. He has told us that he likes to have alot of time, and gets frustrated when they want him to finish his work so quickly. His teacher has said that his handwriting needs work, but that his academics are on par for finishing 1st grade. I think she is frustrated with his study skills. There are 26 children in his class so we are thinking that what he needs is one-on-one teaching. There are no behavior issues in the class--no suggestion about medication has been made--the teacher just seems to think he is sad.
Also, I am thinking that if we homeschool John, that we would probably end up homeschooling Andrew as well.
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

alisarussell · Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:47 am Post subject: I forgot

Sorry,

I forgot to say that John is a young 1st grader (will be 7 in August) so he is smaller than most of the children in the class, and he also wears glasses which might be reflecting some of his frustration as well.

Tabz · User Joined: 06 Feb 2006 Posts: 89

Time is a big factor for some students. Do you think he's a very organized, maticulous kind of person?
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alisarussell · Posted: Wed Apr 05, 2006 1:14 pm Post subject:

He's not very organized (with his schoolwork anyway), but is very meticulous. I wish I could get his teacher to send home what he doesn't finish for homework, but they're so afraid they're going to lose the workbooks, they won't do it for 1st graders.

Theodore

Why not just offer to buy used copies of the workbooks? They hopefully won't cost you that much, and he'll be able to work on the material he hasn't completed yet at home.
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momo3boys · User Joined: 14 Feb 2006 Posts: 574 Location: Western Mass

Alisa, My son is six and academically I am teaching him at a 1st and 2nd grade level, however, he is very particular about his handwriting which is not up to the same level. Our school systems want everyone to fit a mold and not everyone will. My son defintly doesn't, and as parents we have to realize that it is ok. It is age appropriate for boys to start their handwriting later. If you do take him home next year, you can let him grow in handwriting on his own time and let him do other things, like type, and sing and draw, and oraly tell you what he has learned and how to spell. You have that luxgery when you homeschool, to test them in anyway you want to. It doesn't have to be on paper! You can also teach him cursive, which comes easier to young children anyway. I hope this helps, just let him be who he was made to be, not what the school wants him to be.
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