Advice for 8yo

[3boys2love]

Hi,
I have been reading the boards for the past 3-4 years, and can usually find an answer that helps me, but right now I'm stumped. My 8 yo ds is on week 27 of BHFHG after completing LHFHG and BLHFHG. He is enjoying Cheerful cursive, R&S 2 grammar and started dictation a few weeks ago. He easily reads and comprehends 4th-5th grade level. He enjoys the readings for history, science and story time, and his oral narrations are quite detailed. He can orally answer DITHOR level 2/3 questions and science experiment questions quickly and accurately. He struggles, however, with getting his writing pages done.

I believe this is a dawdling issue, not a processing issue, because he was able to write 2 pages for a lego book of his own imagination using correct spelling and punctuation (including quotation marks). There are times when our school day has taken 4 hours to complete, with me sitting right next to him to keep him on task. I am concerned with advancing him to PHFHG in the fall, since my 5 yo will be ready for LHFHG. LHFHG and BLHFHG were quite easy for him, and he loved them. In hindsight, I wish I would have spread out LHFHG, BLHFHG, and BHFHG over 4 years instead of 3, but hindsight is always 20/20. I can do that for ds #2.

Looking at the placement chart, I think he will be ready for PHFHG for all areas except for the physical amount of writing required. I don't want shortchange him and the richness of the program by skipping items (yes, I am a box-checker ). I have considered completing another program for next year, and then returning to PHFHG the following year, but I am concerned about losing momentum with the skills that he has learned. I would appreciate suggestions.

Thank you,

[lmercon]

Before changing programs, I would suggest that you just break the writing into smaller chunks. He may just be overwhelmed by the sheer number of words on the page, and that may be keeping him from getting going and staying on task. If you take the writing passage and mark it off in sections and tell him that he only needs to copy to this point, and then he may have a break, he may be much more willing to get it done in a timely fashion. I use Post-it notes to section off passages. Maybe intersperse copy work with other subjects and activities that he enjoys.
hth,
Laura

[Mom2Monkeys]

What if you slowed him down starting now? Perhaps finish out bigger at half speed, taking your summer break and stopping where ever you are in Bigger, starting back in the fall to finish up Bigger and then start Preparing half speed. And I'd go 4 days per week instead of 5. You can give him plenty of free time, pleasure writing that he can do to build more stamina and focus for writing, and train him in the character issues involved with the "extra" time. I know when I am consistently enforcing the virtues phrases with my kids, my oldest becomes less of a dawdler (as does my next child!) and will be more diligent. (there's a link to that in my siggy) They know they have to choose to use the virtue of diligence, and those reminders when things aren't tense are great. And slowing things down to let off some pressure has always been a huge help.

ETA: I like the above suggestion too...we were posting at the same time! I'd also consider writing the passages on the chalkboard or whiteboard for him to copy from for a bit. Might be less intimidating. If a boy doesn't see the end, he may lose the drive to finish b/c there's no obvious finite stopping point.

[LynnH]

If the only area that you think he is not ready for is the writing then I would go ahead and put him in Preparing. You can use the suggestions above to slowly increase the amount of writing. One thing Carrie has said before is that they don't have to be able to do everything perfectly at the beginning of the guide. They are supposed to have a few skills that are areas to improve on and grow in. I sometimes forget this, but I have seen this year after year. You could start Preparing at half speed. Many people do that. I know Julie has done that with a few of her boys so hopefully she will see this and chime in. You still do all the boxes, you just don't do as many each day. This also keeps him from getting to CTC too early when there really is a big jump in the amount of writing.

Another thing to keep in mind is that usually they are only copying 1 passage a day. Also the creative writing that goes with the poetry is very gentle at first. In fact he can dictate it to you and you write in on a whiteboard for him to then copy if that works better.

[my3sons]

I'm glad your ds is enjoying BHFHG, and thanks for sharing about him with such good detail! He sounds like a very typical boy to me. Writing is often not a boy's best friend. This part of your post stood out to me...

... I am concerned about losing momentum with the skills that he has learned...

This is a valid concern. I think you are wise to consider this. I do think momentum would be lost, and really there is no need to change programs, as this will not address his writing, certainly not in all of the areas HOD includes in an incremental way. The very best way to help ds grow in his writing is to have him continue his good learning in PHFHG.

Alternating the assignments that require him to write, with the activities that don't, is a great way to spread out the writing throughout the school day nicely. I love the ideas the ladies already shared as well, and each of these ideas will surely help as well. Many times, dc who are developing writers are concerned about using proper spelling and punctuation in their writing, so the idea of having him dictate his answers to you, having you write them on a markerboard as he says them, and having him copy them from the markerboard then, is a great one! You can also adjust the amount of writing in PHFHG as needed. For example, you can start by requiring just a few cards for vocabulary in PHFHG. You can ask him for just 3 sentences for his written narration. You can have him write just a small amount of his R & S English. As was mentioned, many of these skills start of with smaller amounts of writing anyway. The poetry, for example, starts with dc being responsible for just a few lines or so of writing. Keeping in mind that these skills are meant to be developed throughout the entire year is helpful to remember to - these are skills to grow into the whole year, not to be able to do immediately. I remind myself of this often!

Going half-speed is certainly a good option too. If you are thinking you could have done the previous guides 4 days a week instead of 5, slowing down by doing PHFHG half-speed is a doable plan too. You could do PHFHG and CTC over 3 years instead of 2 years by doing the start of each of those guides half-speed and then moving to full-speed, completing each guide in 1 1/2 school years total. I am confident your ds will grow in writing as he does PHFHG, and by moving onto PHFHG you will keep the momentum of his learning moving along steadily, as well as get to teach an amazing guide! HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

[3boys2love]

Thank you all for your insightful replies. I am just reading these after a busy weekend with house guests and car shopping. There are some great suggestions here to consider. I love the reminders that these are skills to grow into... I need to be hit on the head with that sometimes. I will talk about these suggestions with DH and pray for clear direction for the upcoming school year.
Thanks again,