Whenever I approached homeschooling my son he has always been interested but I would notice an air about him that seemed things weren't sinking in. I cast off this observation as "he's a boy." Or I would think I couldn't quite figure out what his learning style actually was. I would try all sorts of back-door approaches and fun motivators.
And all those attempts do appeal to him. He's ever-smiling and always wants to do his best. But he also gets frustrated easily. He often feels confused when he's reading, writing or working. His confidence in his academic abilities started to p.l.u.m.m.e.t. My concerns rose significantly. I kept "waiting" for his maturity to catch up to his capabilities. I kept waiting for his intellect to develop to the point that it would all finally come together.
We decided to have him formally tested for learning disabilities through our local school district. The majority of the people I consulted about this suggested avoiding the school district testing at all costs. Go private testing, I was repeatedly advised. Private testing is very, very expensive. I looked into it. It's too expensive for me to even pretend I could make affordable payments because my health insurance does not cover educational testing.
I made the dreaded call to the school district. Within 6 months my son sat in a school psychologist's office for all kinds of testing. He enjoyed himself. Yes, I said he enjoyed himself. He liked visiting the school. "They have tennis courts, a swimming pool and baseball fields, Mom." I laughed because we live in an affluent school district. I also laughed because I imagine he thinks he has all this at his disposal whenever he feels inclined to swim, or play tennis. I can just see him packing a bathing suit in his schoolbag in case he decides to go for a swim.
Their testing indicated that Jake does, in fact, have significant deficits between his IQ and his performance. They did assign him a label for special needs education if he were to attend the Middle School. The program that's designed especially for him (IEP) was presented to us in a meeting with the principal of the middle school, the school psychologist, a teacher representative from his grade and the special education teacher.
I was nervous and apprehensive to meet with the school personel. I've heard plenty of accounts of what personel "really" think of homeschoolers. I've heard absolute outrageous experiences about the treatment of some homeschool families by school staff.
I am happy to say this wasn't our experience, at all.
In fact, the principal was so encouraging and validating that I actually considered sending Jake to school! The teacher, who initially seemed a bit cold warmed up by the end of the meeting and offered helpful suggestions and encouragement before we left.
However, their "specially designed program" was not much different than what is being provided to Jake at home, if not moreso because he's getting individualized education to the extreme, no? Finding out the particular challenges Jake has in regards to how his brain processes information has been helpful to us and has eased the previous frustrations and anxiety that was present within Jake's homeschooling.
We are in the beginning of adjusting Jake's "individualized learning program." His needs are such that a formal tutor may be required. If the school offered services "cafeteria style" I would take them up on it.
I have met many homeschoolers who harbor as much animosity towards school as they feel is directed at them by the school. I am fortunate that the district in which I reside has not fostered any outward contempt towards my family for our choice. They didn't imply that if I had sent Jake to school that his challenge would have been caught sooner or that somehow homeschooling was a disservice to his budding intelligence.
I really did go into that meeting with armour ready, defense prepared. I never had to be defensive.
When I thanked the principal for his time his look was one of surprise and he replied, "He's a child in the district." That statement left me feeling that whatever this team's personal feelings for homeschooling were, good or bad, those notions didn't surface. They simply responded to my request. I don't know, it just put the whole thing into perspective for me.
If I send Jake to school or I don't send him he'll still have to learn to work and live around his challenges. He'll need to feel confident about his abilities to keep moving forward in pursuing his interests.
Not sure if going to school will make or break that process...and the same questions pops in my mind about homeschooling. I do know he's homeschooled right now and I need to maximize his experience and the ideas I learn about how to do that.
Showing posts with label Learning disability. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Learning disability. Show all posts
Friday, April 27, 2012
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Strategies for Learning Differences
My son has learning differences. In addition to his writing, which is formally labeled "dysgraphia," he has processing issues. He's quite a smart boy that processes information slower than the average bear. He needs extra think time when he's asked a question or reflecting. To help this think time move along he benefits from visual models and examples, like graphic organizers.
So far, this has helped Jake's writing process 100 percent. It's very exciting for both Jake and me to have a start to a writing project and see its progress. There's actually time for editing.
Example: Jake participates in a weekly writing workshop. I thought he needed a class without his sisters, he could write with others and share ideas and he could gain confidence by seeing his writing in print. Jake is a kid who needs a reason to write. He doesn't write for the fun of it like his sisters do (or his mom.) The workshop gives him that reason.
So. The group is putting together a weekly newspaper. His first contribution was a comic strip. It was well-done and the joke made sense. His next contribution is an article. He had the choice to write fiction or non-fiction. I really thought he'd choose the latter because non-fiction is easier for him to write....just reporting facts. But he always surprises me. It just reinforces that he's such a creative thinker and really enjoys a challenge.
The main challenge for him here was to start. For me, starting is simple. I have my own "prewriting" I do in my head, a little on paper, etc. and then I'm off and running. Jake doesn't do that. I googled graphic organizers for a newspaper article and downloaded two I liked. He worked well with the sentence starters.
Because Jake's dyslexia/dysgraphia combined with his processing speed his phsycial writing presents with spelling problems and almost unreadable script. What we do is dictation. Jake dictates his ideas to me, and I jot them down on the white board. Seeing his ideas on a large white board helps him clarify. I jot down ideas instead of writing complete sentences to model for him a prewriting strategy for him to use. By the way, Jake's writing frustrations are relieved when he uses dry-erase markers. I don't know why, but this helps.
After he has his ideas down and he's worked through sequencing and flow, he goes to the computer. Here he can type his article the way he thinks it should go. Typing removes the blocks that physically writing seem to cause for him.
Once he started I noticed he added a couple of other things he didn't mention initially. He brought in another "character" and dialogue. It's good progression for him. Writing is starting to take shape. After he types his first draft it helps Jake to take a physical break.
Lots of physical breaks in between brain power helps keep him moving through the day with a positive attitude and renewed energy.
We'll begin editing tomorrow using the whiteboard again. On Friday when we usually do a writing project together we'll do another newspaper article of some sort. Now that he's done a "walkthrough" he'll feel confident when our newspaper project is introduced on Friday.
I think we are both relieved to be noticing significant progress.
So far, this has helped Jake's writing process 100 percent. It's very exciting for both Jake and me to have a start to a writing project and see its progress. There's actually time for editing.
Example: Jake participates in a weekly writing workshop. I thought he needed a class without his sisters, he could write with others and share ideas and he could gain confidence by seeing his writing in print. Jake is a kid who needs a reason to write. He doesn't write for the fun of it like his sisters do (or his mom.) The workshop gives him that reason.
So. The group is putting together a weekly newspaper. His first contribution was a comic strip. It was well-done and the joke made sense. His next contribution is an article. He had the choice to write fiction or non-fiction. I really thought he'd choose the latter because non-fiction is easier for him to write....just reporting facts. But he always surprises me. It just reinforces that he's such a creative thinker and really enjoys a challenge.
The main challenge for him here was to start. For me, starting is simple. I have my own "prewriting" I do in my head, a little on paper, etc. and then I'm off and running. Jake doesn't do that. I googled graphic organizers for a newspaper article and downloaded two I liked. He worked well with the sentence starters.
Because Jake's dyslexia/dysgraphia combined with his processing speed his phsycial writing presents with spelling problems and almost unreadable script. What we do is dictation. Jake dictates his ideas to me, and I jot them down on the white board. Seeing his ideas on a large white board helps him clarify. I jot down ideas instead of writing complete sentences to model for him a prewriting strategy for him to use. By the way, Jake's writing frustrations are relieved when he uses dry-erase markers. I don't know why, but this helps.
After he has his ideas down and he's worked through sequencing and flow, he goes to the computer. Here he can type his article the way he thinks it should go. Typing removes the blocks that physically writing seem to cause for him.
Once he started I noticed he added a couple of other things he didn't mention initially. He brought in another "character" and dialogue. It's good progression for him. Writing is starting to take shape. After he types his first draft it helps Jake to take a physical break.
Lots of physical breaks in between brain power helps keep him moving through the day with a positive attitude and renewed energy.
We'll begin editing tomorrow using the whiteboard again. On Friday when we usually do a writing project together we'll do another newspaper article of some sort. Now that he's done a "walkthrough" he'll feel confident when our newspaper project is introduced on Friday.
I think we are both relieved to be noticing significant progress.
Friday, January 27, 2012
The Planets, Consonant blends, Home Ec., Bubbles
This week has gone off course in a good way in our homeschool.
We are studying History and Science on alternate weeks. This allows for a better flow of focus on our history/science topic and allows for more in-depth study of anything interesting that comes up, as well. Elaina has discovered the overlap between history and science these last two weeks.
Last week, our History week, we read about Copernicus and Gallileo. Learning that Copernicus is referred to the "Father of Astronomy" she took an interest in the planets. She's pulled some books off our shelves about them, googled them and is creating a poster display to hang on her ceiling following the activity in Story of the World. She's been working on this all week, our Science week, and so has put her animal study in Apologia aside.
On Wed. the kids attend an art class for 1 1/2 hours. This is the highlight of our week. My mother-in-law graciously offered to take them to and from and then have them at her house for the day. (One reason is the class takes place close to her house and far from mine.)
Because their classes are at different times, one in the AM and the other in the PM, Mom-Mom decided to give Tara some cooking lessons on her stand-by delivered meals; i.e. Shepards Pie & Chicken and Rice. She wants Tara to write down the recipes and then print them out and create a recipe book, "Grandma's Cooking" or something like that. There are so many things I love about this! The Home-Ec., the special time with Mom-Mom, the creativity and the prospect of what the final result will be, and having all our favorite home-cooked meals from Mom-Mom in one place! This is homeschooling at its best.
While they're at Mom-Mom's I put together some schoolwork for them to take. Usually it's just a math practice or a brain teaser puzzle with their library books or science/history reading. One of these puzzlers I packed used consonant blends as the focus. This was just a really fun way for Jake to practice his spelling using blends. He picked up on the pattern of the puzzle pretty quickly. It's like we unlocked a box with new ways to combine letters; str, skr, scr, spl, spr.
Now why at 11 1/2 years old is Jake just seeing these combinations? Because even though he has been shown these before he will still spell the word "spray" s-p-e-r-a-y. His learning difference is two-fold when it comes to writing. He's an excellent decoder therefore he can spell any word phonetically. He knows all the various sounds of the English language (ala The Writing Road to Reading). However, his dyslexic tendency is to mix up the letters when he writes them, for ex., "scratch" might look like s-c-e-r-a-c-h-t or "increase" might look like i-n-c-r-a-s-r-e. Though if he read them he would know they were incorrect. He could verbally spell them correctly, as well.
The other reason these consonant blends seem "new to him" is because his processing is such that he needs lots of model and practice of the same material over and over. However, once he "sees" it, once he knows it, it's never forgotten and always applied.
So, this silly little worksheet puzzle about 3 letter consonant blends did the trick...or at least all the stars were aligned and he was in a good frame of mind and he got it that day. So, I'll just give him more fun puzzles to practice other three letter combos and he'll notice it himself in his own writing. (Look Mom! There's a three consonant blend!)
While we've all been busy with these things Luke also wants to be busy, too. Making colored bubbles, suggested to me by my friend whose homeschool is Montessori-based, saved many of our mornings!
Not sure if I execute as she does as I am not trained in Montessori. But I put dishwashing soap into a bowl of water, he mixes it with a wisk to make bubbles then he takes droppers (I have pipettes) and transfers the colored water onto the bubbles.
This was so fascinating to everyone that as you can see in the picture, Elaina waited her turn and then I caught Jake in the kitchen at the end of the day:
That's our week and I'm glad to be back on track with my online homeschool record! (Please give me back Be Not Afraid, Google!!! Please????)
Linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
We are studying History and Science on alternate weeks. This allows for a better flow of focus on our history/science topic and allows for more in-depth study of anything interesting that comes up, as well. Elaina has discovered the overlap between history and science these last two weeks.
Last week, our History week, we read about Copernicus and Gallileo. Learning that Copernicus is referred to the "Father of Astronomy" she took an interest in the planets. She's pulled some books off our shelves about them, googled them and is creating a poster display to hang on her ceiling following the activity in Story of the World. She's been working on this all week, our Science week, and so has put her animal study in Apologia aside.
 |
| I came down this morning and she had her work space all set up for herself. |
 |
| Her planets painted and labeled, ready to be hung. |
On Wed. the kids attend an art class for 1 1/2 hours. This is the highlight of our week. My mother-in-law graciously offered to take them to and from and then have them at her house for the day. (One reason is the class takes place close to her house and far from mine.)
Because their classes are at different times, one in the AM and the other in the PM, Mom-Mom decided to give Tara some cooking lessons on her stand-by delivered meals; i.e. Shepards Pie & Chicken and Rice. She wants Tara to write down the recipes and then print them out and create a recipe book, "Grandma's Cooking" or something like that. There are so many things I love about this! The Home-Ec., the special time with Mom-Mom, the creativity and the prospect of what the final result will be, and having all our favorite home-cooked meals from Mom-Mom in one place! This is homeschooling at its best.
 |
| This picture is actually Tara in our kitchen making caramel apples....but it fits, doesn't it? |
While they're at Mom-Mom's I put together some schoolwork for them to take. Usually it's just a math practice or a brain teaser puzzle with their library books or science/history reading. One of these puzzlers I packed used consonant blends as the focus. This was just a really fun way for Jake to practice his spelling using blends. He picked up on the pattern of the puzzle pretty quickly. It's like we unlocked a box with new ways to combine letters; str, skr, scr, spl, spr.
Now why at 11 1/2 years old is Jake just seeing these combinations? Because even though he has been shown these before he will still spell the word "spray" s-p-e-r-a-y. His learning difference is two-fold when it comes to writing. He's an excellent decoder therefore he can spell any word phonetically. He knows all the various sounds of the English language (ala The Writing Road to Reading). However, his dyslexic tendency is to mix up the letters when he writes them, for ex., "scratch" might look like s-c-e-r-a-c-h-t or "increase" might look like i-n-c-r-a-s-r-e. Though if he read them he would know they were incorrect. He could verbally spell them correctly, as well.
The other reason these consonant blends seem "new to him" is because his processing is such that he needs lots of model and practice of the same material over and over. However, once he "sees" it, once he knows it, it's never forgotten and always applied.
So, this silly little worksheet puzzle about 3 letter consonant blends did the trick...or at least all the stars were aligned and he was in a good frame of mind and he got it that day. So, I'll just give him more fun puzzles to practice other three letter combos and he'll notice it himself in his own writing. (Look Mom! There's a three consonant blend!)
While we've all been busy with these things Luke also wants to be busy, too. Making colored bubbles, suggested to me by my friend whose homeschool is Montessori-based, saved many of our mornings!
Not sure if I execute as she does as I am not trained in Montessori. But I put dishwashing soap into a bowl of water, he mixes it with a wisk to make bubbles then he takes droppers (I have pipettes) and transfers the colored water onto the bubbles.
This was so fascinating to everyone that as you can see in the picture, Elaina waited her turn and then I caught Jake in the kitchen at the end of the day:
 |
| uh....could you just ignore the mess? yeah, thanks.... |
That's our week and I'm glad to be back on track with my online homeschool record! (Please give me back Be Not Afraid, Google!!! Please????)
Linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers
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