Son struggling in Bigger. Please help!

[sarahwalker143]

My 8 year old 2nd grade son is really struggling. He has successfully completed LHFHG and Beyond for Kindergarten and first grade. He's always been an energetic, distracted little guy, but he's bright and enjoys learning. Here we are in Unit 27 of Bigger and things have gotten pretty unmanageable. He has been able to narrate (albeit simply) since shortly after we began Bigger. Lately, after reading history or science, his narrations are just plain awful. He completely makes things up and he gets the actual details completely jumbled. As far as reading does, he reads aloud to me from the DITHOR 2/3 book pack and it's the same thing. I will ask him to tell me what he read and he gets everything completely wrong. I can't figure out what's going on for the life of me. I feel like it's not purposeful. He gets frustrated with himself that he's not getting the information at all. I've tried breaking down the readings into shorter sections (just one paragraph, or even less, at a time) and it doesn't seem to help. I just don't know where to go from here. I think he may need some additional time to take a break, gain some maturity perhaps, and come back. Afterall, we've been using Bigger for 2nd grade and I know it's often used for 3rd. I'm just not sure what to do in the meantime. Continuing to "plug away" as things are seems unwise as he will be ill prepared to move on to Preparing with the way things are now. If you've made it this far, THANK YOU! Any ideas?

[StephanieU]

First, one possible cause is spring fever! It is about the time public schools start taking spring break, and he might simply need a week or two off of formal school. I know my kids have always benefited from a break when I noticed things going south like you are. We still do some "fun" school - things that my kids don't complain about plus field trips, nature walks, videos, etc. When we start back up, my kids normally have made big gains in their learning simply because they are refreshed.
If that isn't an option or doesn't work, I would slow down to half speed for a little, adding in something like a foreign language or an interest-led study to round out the day. See if studying something of your child's choosing will increase the narration skills.

[sarahwalker143]

Thanks for those suggestions Stephanie! I really appreciate it!

[Jennymommy]

A few thoughts...As Stephanie said, maybe spring fever? Or, have you been busier/up later because of more daylight? Maybe he needs a little more sleep. Have you been eating differently, i.e more snacks containing additives or more sugar? Is he having a growth spurt? My guys also get spacy then, and more hungry and tired...I give an extra 500mg of good calcium each day for a week when that happens. HTH

[sarahwalker143]

A few thoughts...As Stephanie said, maybe spring fever? Or, have you been busier/up later because of more daylight? Maybe he needs a little more sleep. Have you been eating differently, i.e more snacks containing additives or more sugar? Is he having a growth spurt? My guys also get spacy then, and more hungry and tired...I give an extra 500mg of good calcium each day for a week when that happens. HTH

We haven't been busier or up later. He's getting a bit more exercise than usual because we spend time playing outside (rather than indoors) in the afternoons once we are finished with school. His sleeping and eating patterns haven't changed and he doesn't appear to be growing. It's just the strangest thing! Thanks for suggesting I evaluate those things though. Maybe he is more tired from playing outside more?

[hs.mama07]

Could you maybe let him read something that is easy and fun for him and let him practice narrating those books for a while? Maybe having a couple of weeks of successfully narrating will help things click when you start back at the more challenging level.

If you took a short time off from Bigger, you could keep going forward with math, english, spelling, and cursive (we are not in sync with the guide for those subjects and it hasn't been a problem at all). For reading, science, and history you could borrow some easy science, history, and fun books from the library--stuff that is below his reading level--and let him practice. You could also get a few science/history/fun books that are a easier than what he's used to listening to and have him practice narrating with those. For Bible, you could just read some fun Bible stories for a couple of weeks. Then, maybe start back into Bigger going half speed for a week or two and see how he transitions.

Oh, and I just thought...the reason we can get away with being out of sync in those subjects is b/c in math we use a different curriculum. For spelling we are doing dictation, so we just move forward one passage at a time...and for english we just do one lesson a day...and cursive just a page a day. Not sure if it will work for you or not.

[sarahwalker143]

Could you maybe let him read something that is easy and fun for him and let him practice narrating those books for a while? Maybe having a couple of weeks of successfully narrating will help things click when you start back at the more challenging level.

If you took a short time off from Bigger, you could keep going forward with math, english, spelling, and cursive (we are not in sync with the guide for those subjects and it hasn't been a problem at all). For reading, science, and history you could borrow some easy science, history, and fun books from the library--stuff that is below his reading level--and let him practice. You could also get a few science/history/fun books that are a easier than what he's used to listening to and have him practice narrating with those. For Bible, you could just read some fun Bible stories for a couple of weeks. Then, maybe start back into Bigger going half speed for a week or two and see how he transitions.

Oh, and I just thought...the reason we can get away with being out of sync in those subjects is b/c in math we use a different curriculum. For spelling we are doing dictation, so we just move forward one passage at a time...and for english we just do one lesson a day...and cursive just a page a day. Not sure if it will work for you or not.

Thank you Liz for those great suggestions! I think the things you're suggesting will help our situation tremendously. He does love to read library books that he finds interesting, so having him narrate those will be very natural! Also, I like your idea of moving forward with the basics still as he should still be doing math, English, spelling and cursive daily.