Still struggling about next year...

[tiffanieh]

I wrote this on my blog, but wanted to bring it hear to you folks as well.

I have been struggling for sometime now about where Ashton should be on the academic "grade" scale. There are some areas that he does really well despite his age. For instance, he can sit and listen to me read aloud for hours. He can listen to books on tape for a LONG LONG time. His antsy-ness goes away for these types of learning experiences...well beyond what he "should" be able to do for his age. His recall is incredible. He is the first to answer questions for comprehension and most often they are absolutely right on.

We are doing LHFHG and he has NO PROBLEM whatsoever keeping up with any of the activities. The "struggle" if you want to call it, lies in the phonics and math portion.

Then when I think about his reading ability...if he were in the private school that I pulled Ethan from he would be struggling to keep up I'm afraid. Yet, I purposefully delayed introducing a reading program b/c I saw that he wasn't ready. Fast forward to today and although we are "late" getting started, he is flying beautifully thru each lesson of 100 EZ lessons.

Math has been a high/low relationship. When we started the schoolyear I was advised to just allow Ashton to "listen" in on Ethan's 1st grade Math lessons b/c Saxon doesn't actually have a Kindergarden workbook, it's all just verbal and manipulative based. I really didn't research this further b/c at the time I wasn't really too concerned with Ashton since I was only counting this year as a practice Kindergarden year. I decided to have Ashton do Ethan's 1st grade work, but at half pace. He was keeping up just fine and the pace was easy enough for him to not get overwhelmed. We are now starting to get into more heavier type memorization, etc. that is required before we really can go any further into the book. Even with this being said though, Ashton is having a rough time even counting to 100 at this point. I've pulled out the cuisnare rods, we've practice counting cars, I've done flash cards, we've definitely been trying to do out of the box stuff. There are days that the light bulb goes on, and days I think it never will!

Today Ashton broke down in tears and even said to me that he wished he was never born! OH MY!! We were only doing some math drill facts! We stopped what we were doing and I held him. Asked him if he wanted to go at an even much slower pace than we were even doing now and he shook his head yes. We dried the tears and put math away. He happily wanted to do his reading lesson. He did it with flying colors and then school was done.

I'm not really sure why I am struggling with this. When I went into the school year I had every intention of just repeating Kindergarden with Ashton next year. I guess b/c he does so well in so many other areas that I just don't want to hold him back only to find out that he is several grade levels ahead later and can't graduate b/c he's officially one grade level behind.

One side of me thinks that all of a sudden this will all just click and it will have been a mute point, to just keep moving forward and allow him to be in 1st grade next year even though you may technically be doing Kindergarden work in some aspects for a bit of the year. And then part of me thinks he may very well be doing more than he would be doing anyways if he was in Kindergarden at the local public school.

Then the other side of me thinks to just chill WAY out and just make sure he has basic math knowledge (perhaps even get a different curriculum for him than Saxon...even though Saxon has been GREAT for Ethan, perhaps he just needs something different). Keep teaching him to read this year but have him do "Kindergarden" according to the state again next year so that we never feel like he is behind or having to catch up. I'd rather him have more time on his hands due to him conquering the subjects faster than always feeling behind the eight ball!

I really felt like today's tears were really confirmation of what I've been feeling inside, that he's just not ready.

(NOTE: before you say anything about him doing the 1st grade math....I bought the 1st grade math originally to work with Ethan on it b/c the other homeschool group we were going to go with required all first graders to start with 2nd level Saxon math. I wanted to review with Ethan over the summer so that when he started with them in the fall he'd be able to jump into the 2nd level without a problem or feeling way behind. The Kindergardeners start with 1st level (where Ashton would have been). We ended up not going with this homeschool group so making sure he was thru the book by summer did not have to happen. I ended up just doing the book at a fast pace with Ethan b/c it was a bit remedial for him (stuff he already covered at TFA) but wanted him to learn the Saxon way of doing things before we got him to a more appropriate 2nd grade level book. Since this is the book Ashton would have been starting in had we gone with this school, I thought going at half pace in the book was more than appropriate.)

I've already ordered my Beyond packages b/c I am most definitely sticking with HOD. Since Ashton will have already completed LHFHG along with Ethan I planned on doing Beyond with both of them as well. Does it matter if he is Kindergarden or 1st grade really for his success with Beyond?

Sorry for continually bringing this up...I always love the sage advise given here! Thanks again for responding to this...I so appreciate it!


Tiffanie
www.thehagefamily.blogspot.com

[deltagal]

Tiffanie,

Both of your boys are so young. Enjoy where they are - wherever that is. Readiness is such an elusive thing. Today they may not seem ready for something and next month they are 2 grade levels ahead. God's timing is always perfect. Trust your God given instincts and work with them where they are ( a little bit) not a lot. One day, very soon, they will be rocketing forward in math, reading, writing, etc. Probably not all at the same time, but "in time". Work with them using material and/or methods where they will succeed and learning is fun, you can ramp it up later

[crlacey]

It sounds like you have moved beyond a K level of math to me. Which of course is going to be tough for a K child. I'm not sure what school you are comparing your standards to, but most around here do not use Saxon 1 for a K program.
In PA, a kindergarten child only needs to know how to count to 50. Katie used to struggle with counting those higher numbers until we learned place value in Math-U-See Primer. And we spent almost 2 months on place value. It doesn't seem to be an easy concept to learn. So maybe you need to consider just staying put on lessons you have used in math right now (just review a little each day), or maybe a change in curriculum is what you need. Have you tried just using the activities that Carrie includes with the book? Then you'd be doing math activities to make math fun again (and boost his confidence level) instead of it being a source of frustration.
Those are just a few of my first thoughts. I hope others can help you out more.

[tiffanieh]

Thanks ladies for your responses...I've had a moment to calm myself and my momentary freak out! LOL

I've decided to change math curriculums. Even though what I thought was a slow paced program, I was still doing work that is designed for 1st graders. I went on Abeka's website (this is what my oldest did and LOVED the colorful pages, etc.) and realized that Ashton is actually doing just fine, or even a bit ahead with math compared to what he should know for Abeka's K math program.

I went ahead and ordered the workbook. As soon as that comes in we are going to start there. I'm hoping that it will give him a boost in confidence since it should be pretty easy.

I know that it's helped me to feel better about it all. I hate the fact that we have to check our children off on a grade level box. I wish we could do away with grade levels and just have course requirements only to graduate, whether that be at the age of 20 or 15!

Anyways, thanks again...I appreciate you all!

[crlacey]

I'm glad you were able to find something on his level that should boost his confidence. I hope he likes his new math book!

[water2wine]

Tiffanie I see you have reached some conclusions on your own. I just want to speak to you as a mom with a special needs child that really understands the frustration for the child and the parent when learning delays come and has customized HOD to meet her needs. I think you are seeing that what is most important is that he does have a love for learning but is just moving slower in some areas and that is OK what is important is not to destroy the love he has by pushing too hard. I can see that you have a good handle on that. I think stepping back may be a good idea. I might consider reading some of the books in the appendix of LHGH that you missed (there are a ton of great choices) and taking some time to find what is the best phonics and Math for him. Saxon would not be my choice for a child that is struggling. I am glad you are changing that. I might consider using Early Bird with him for a while and switch him over to Singapore. I know that is a thinking math but it also teaches them how to learn math as well and if moved slowly it probably will not stress him out and kind of trick him into learning. Phonics is a toughy. Sometimes it is a matter of using a few things and alternating as you hit road blocks. But one thing I want to really say is not to worry about when that kicks in he will catch up to where he would have been if he had been reading now when his mind is ready and one day it probably will be like you could not even tell it took longer. Your son is very young and still very much within the normal range for learning all these things. I want to encourage you that there is a lot of value in slowing things down for a bit and perhaps even separating programs for a while so he does not feel as much pressure to keep up. Or perhaps you can go through Beyond slowly at half pace and fill in gaps for your older son using some of the books in the appendix for LHFHG to keep him interested at half pace and still take pressure off the youngest. I have not done Beyond yet in full just parts of the LA and Math is all so someone else could give you better advice as to whether slowing Beyond down would work but I think slowing your youngest down and just taking time to learn the phonics and math at his pace would be a good idea. You might be able to just do the Beyond reading with him and let the rest be separate for your older child for now so you can meet the younger one at his needs then when they hit Bigger do the Beyond LA and Math with your younger son instead of what is in Bigger. I do this with one child and it works well to separate these things in Bigger for a child that is delayed in Math and LA.

Anyway not sure if any of this will help. It sounds like you are doing a great job and letting your kids show you what they need. That is a the sign of a great teacher.