I was asked by a friend of mine if we are planning on homeschooling H1 due to all her LD issues. Plain and simple (so I thought) at this point, the answer is no.
No, I am not planning on bring her home, but we do so much work at home. She adores learning French and her classmates and her teacher.
I have toyed with it, but to do so, she would view it as punitive due to her learning disability. I do not want her to ever think she is being punished for having a LD.
She understands that her brain works in a different way "she sees things different" and that means that we have to do a lot of basic building block skills again and again at home.
The everyday math concepts that they are teaching are so "out there" for her. She actually told me - she "sees it backwards" during one frustrating session. To understand, that she knows she is seeing it backwards compared to what the teacher says is there, wow - what an eye opener. To bring the multisensory experience home in math I can only see will help her. And on the other hand, her teacher is amazing in coaxing her to stay focused and see things in a new light.
With the amount of teaching we do do at home, it makes me feel like it perhaps could be a better use of time to home school. We have an amazing HS community here and I have some good friends that are doing it. We work on her reading each night, (this is not just reading a book - there is sooooo much more) it is so hard, and her spelling. Her phonemic decoding skills transfer over from each language. She would be most likely not much further along than she is now, even without the 2nd language.
However, when it is all said and done, that choice does not seem right for us - on many levels, but most of all - protecting her love of learning. At this point, she still loves to learn, she is finding so many ways of doing different things in school and then I reinforce all the basic building blocks and that is working.
It is sooo frustrating. It is not enough to encourage her to learn, to provide her with the opportunity, to give her the right tools and excellent instruction. This is finding out the nitty gritty of what is not connecting in her brain (once again - I refer you to an article on this - there are long books, but this one really lays it out nicely - Structural Brain Differences in Kids with Dyslexia ) and how we can create that connection. It is super time consuming and honestly, it is extremely frustrating to work with her for hours and on some days see almost no progress. Literally that is what is takes for her to "get it". I understand that, I know this is what we are looking at for a few years until she can make that leap. I think it really helps to spread that out between different people and different settings (for her and for my own sanity). And while, I have no doubt about my ability to learn about what makes her brain tick and work to help her, it helps me to know that other professionals are working with her too.
Like I said, both she and Hunter adore going to school. I don't want to take that away from them. And of course, I being their mother want them to feel good about it.
It's late - I don't know if I really laid it all out there with everything - but this is kind of the gist at this point
3 comments:
It's funny that you perceive her staying in school as the way to protect her love of learning. (Funny-interesting, not funny haha) So many of us have that in our top three reasons for keeping the kids home. Because schools in general tend to be punitive, rank and file, because they have so many other things going on that have nothing at all to do with actually learning, kids get so burned out by third grade they begin to hate it all. They associate school with learning when it's really not quite the same. One is an institution, the other is like breathing.
I think it is a real testament to H1's school that she hasn't taken issue yet with any of these struggles and that she loves it as much as she does. They seem to be doing "it" right, from what you've related here.
However, I will address the economy of time issue you mentioned. It may seem counter-intuitive to you that less structure / time spent on academics might work better for someone with LD, but I do think that all the time you're putting into this would serve to make a kick-ass eclectic homeschool experience. I would worry how much time she gets being H1, and just H1, if she's FT in school and then homeschooling FT at home (you put in the same hours I do, I'd guess.)
You're sooooooo like me, as you've always noted. LOL. I don't envy you this decision, and I see it weighing so heavily on you. Read some Jon Holt. He really had a lot to say for smart smart kids like H1, who learn just so differently from others.
Thank you for sharing your honest thoughts - I hope you know how much I respect that.
I agree with what you are saying in that most schools wouldn't be the right place for her. Where she is now - is working and working beyond what I think I would be able to give her right now. It does seem counter intutive - but my gut is telling me this.
Like I said, my decision is a decision for today. I have no issues with reevaluating my decisions each day.
I am always seeking new information and the decision I made yesterday may not be the right one tomorrow.
You're the bomb.
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