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I am sick of the lack of control, I am sick of homework, I am sick of worrying about ds6s encopresis and the reaction of teachers and other kids, I'm sick of our time being wasted and rushing all the time. Ds4 starts school in 2 months and i am worried already.

 

Mostly I am worried that my incredibly gifted son does not appear to have been taught anything last year (school year Feb to Dec) and his reading and maths have been slowed while in his weak subject (writing) he appears to have been given no assistance. He has a great teacher this year but i am not sure that will be enough. I am truly annoyed with myself for not getting him away from that teacher last year (i thought i was being biased against him).

 

This is mostly just a whinge but if anyone knows how to help a kid who just can't work out what to write and simply isn't a story teller (he could never make up stories even when little) how to write on demand in class i would love to hear them. i am willing to afterschool - at the moment we are practicing with graphic organisers and when we are comfortable with that i will move on to translating them to a paragraph - but any and all suggestions are welcome.

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I'm right with you, my stress level is ramping up as my DD prepares to enter kindergarten in 6 months. I appreciate the accommodations the teacher is offering DS in first grade, but they are just barely adequate to keep him engaged, they're not really progressing him. I'm fine with no progress in first grade, but eventually we need to find something that will work better. And if they can barely handle DS what on earth will they make of DD, who is even more accelerated in skills? I'm really sorry about your DS and his medical condition not being met with empathy. What's the prognosis, will he be expected to do better over time?

 

Creative writing is an art, not an academic skill, and some students will just not excel in that particular art. They might be drawers or sculptors instead; forcing them to write creatively makes no more sense in an academic program than forcing them to do interpretive dance. SWB does what I think is a great job breaking down the individual skills of writing (mechanics, spelling, grammar, the ability to hold words in the head long enough to put them on paper) and describing how you need to give engineering-minded kids concrete materials from which to generate content -- summarizing things they've actually read, instead of making up a story or an opinion on the fly. Her lecture on the topic is just $3.99 and you might get some really good inspiration for doing copywork and dictation to build your child's skill set without frustrating him.

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I feel you!  I am not exactly sick of school, but it does give me white hairs!

 

And my advanced DD really learned nothing last year, except for whatever she read independently.

 

Writing is an issue for my advanced DD now.  She is creative, but she gets docked because her writing doesn't exactly answer the question asked.  And then she gets deflated, because she was proud of what she came up with.  So she is very resistant to working on writing at home.  I did buy a couple of workbooks and guide books.  After about a month of her resisting, she is finally willing to fill in a couple of pages that encourage different aspects of sentence writing.  She is supposed to be doing paragraphs, but I figure something is better than nothing.

 

My sister, who comes once a week, encourages her by drawing a picture of a silly family and asking her to keep a journal for one of the family members.  It can be as ridiculous as she wants, but she is supposed to write something every day.

 

I frequently repeat, for both of my kids, that the key to doing well is to read the question/prompt carefully, make sure you are answering the question asked, make sure your sentences have a subject and predicate, make sure you use capitals and punctuation, check your spelling, and then once again make sure you have answered the question asked in a proper sentence.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

 

Good luck!

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Sorry. I am right there with you. My DS got a B in creative writing while he maxed scores in all other areas of testing in school. And his handwriting is probably the worst in his classroom - I saw work samples put up by the teacher and my poor DS's work was pretty pathetic. My DS is so advanced in most things that the teachers do not realize that he needs actual help and instruction when it comes to writing which is his weakness.

I have looked at writing programs (especially Bravewriter that is so highly recommended on these forums) - but I simply don't have the time to implement it in our afterschool because we accelerate other things. I suggest that you search this forum for Bravewriter and The Arrow and read the reviews from forum members.

 

Now, I am using an informal approach to writing - Copywork of hard passages from current read alouds, dictation, spending more effort on book reports required in school, writing a journal and most recently, writing his own blog (with parental supervision for privacy reasons). It seems to help a bit as I have seen a lot of improvement over the past 6 months.

Good luck.

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Luckily his actual handwriting is OK. Last year the only writing instruction seems to have been "write about what you did in the weekend - look at how well X did , she wrote 6 pages". Ds thinks he has to write 6 pages but he can't comeup with the first line. This year's teacher does not ask them to write about the weekend - they had to write a letter to themselves about themselves so I read a section in a workbook on writing introductory letters and helped him brainstorm at home since he managed to do one point on a brainstorm at school while the other kids finished their rough drafts. The teacher said it helped. Last week they didn't do writing until about Friday when she put them in groups to brain storm "what is a country" I think he probably didn't contribute much.

 

We do WWE1 sporadically but the problem is he doesn't have 4 years to get there he has to do it now.

 

I would feel better about it if they appeared to be actually doing academics in some shape or form. They are at school 9 to 3 and even with 1.5 hours of breaks that leaves 4.5 hours. I would just like him to come home once and say he learned something new in maths. i have considered getting galore park (because it has the correct spelling for us) and just doing a complete English course at home. The problem is it is my weak subject too. I can do newspaper reports and lab reports and engineering reports but not creative writing.

 

Thanks for the sympathy it helps.

 

The medical condition should be better by now (well 90 %) but last year was considerably worse than the year before. The teacher thought he should just take responsibility himself and stopped the aide prompting him and at some point must have told him off for going to the toilet so often. (the aide wasn't his but was willing to prompt him and help if necessary while working with another child). When that child left he had no support. I should have done something but I keep getting told not to project my negative school experiences on to my children. We see the specialist again Monday and I am going to ask for allergy/intoperance testing and a referral to a counsellor. Ourday starts and ends with toileting arguements and ds4 is being affected negatively by the amount of stress caused and time taken dealing with it.

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So sad about the toileting problems.

 

My kids in 2nd grade have told me about 2 potty accidents that their classmates have had in school (one pee, one poop).  So it isn't unheard of at this age, and one hopes the teachers and others generally have the heart to handle it well.

 

As for the not learning anything new - if it makes you feel any better, my kids hardly ever have an answer when I ask what they did in school today.  I really would like to know, because it would help me to target my afterschooling, but they seem to forget it as soon as they move on to the next thing.  Not sure how concerned I should be about that....

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We have been homeschooling for two years after pulling both kids from public school in 2nd and 4th grade. I have often wondered how I might have after-schooled them or done enrichment over the summer. Everyone on these boards seem much more in tune to what their kids were doing in school. I was very involved, but had turned all the responsibility of content over to the school. It is a bit of wishful thinking though, with homework and activities, there simply was no extra time.

 

Life of Fred would be a great compliment to ps and would help with both math and reading.

WWE - would help with writing and if you use the teacher's guide and not the workbooks, you can pull from any reading he's doing in school. Oops, I see now that you've used WWE. You can go more quickly through the books. My son did all 4 years in one last year. 

 

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Thanks for the tips guys. It is Saturday here today and it has been a good day so I feel a bit better.

 

I might try WWE a bit quicker but as he is still 6 (7 next month) all 4 in one year might be pushing it. We have got behind though because we gave up on pretty much everything for the last term of last year so we could probably finish WWE1 and do part of 2 at least this year.

 

I have been meaning to listen to that SWB talk I just don't have reliable internet at the moment. Hopefully that will change soon.

 

Thanks again

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:grouphug:  It is so tough.  I have just started tutoring/mentoring a boy in year 9, and I have to use the school homework to teach the material I know he needs.  It is just not efficient --  I could do it so much faster using a different approach.  But that does not mean it is not possible. It can just be really frustrating. 

 

I hope you find some answers.

 

Ruth in NZ

 

ETA: I feel like I have asked you this before, but have you considered correspondence school administered through the school system?  It is not ideal, but it does work for some kids.

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We tried WWE 1 when DS was at first grade. It was very frustrating for him. School is using writer workshop for writing and he had hard time with it as well. I also think that he needs more guidance on how to write but not free writing or creative writing at this stage. Not surprised that he got 0 score at his final writing assessment because what he wrote was completely irrelevant to the topic teacher gave.

During summer, I dropped WWE and switched Evan Moore daily 6 traits and Winning with Writing 1. And I had him write a journal with at least 6 sentences with pictures on most of days. By beginning of 2nd grade, his teacher told me his writing surprised her. By looking at his first grade profile and comparing what she sees now, she thinks his writing is almost catching up at the 2nd grade level. I think WWW is working for him so I continue with WWW 2 this year and pair with growing with grammar. I may change to EIW for third grade.

 

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Luckily his actual handwriting is OK. Last year the only writing instruction seems to have been "write about what you did in the weekend - look at how well X did , she wrote 6 pages". Ds thinks he has to write 6 pages but he can't comeup with the first line. This year's teacher does not ask them to write about the weekend - they had to write a letter to themselves about themselves so I read a section in a workbook on writing introductory letters and helped him brainstorm at home since he managed to do one point on a brainstorm at school while the other kids finished their rough drafts. The teacher said it helped. Last week they didn't do writing until about Friday when she put them in groups to brain storm "what is a country" I think he probably didn't contribute much.

 

We do WWE1 sporadically but the problem is he doesn't have 4 years to get there he has to do it now.

 

I would feel better about it if they appeared to be actually doing academics in some shape or form. They are at school 9 to 3 and even with 1.5 hours of breaks that leaves 4.5 hours. I would just like him to come home once and say he learned something new in maths. i have considered getting galore park (because it has the correct spelling for us) and just doing a complete English course at home. The problem is it is my weak subject too. I can do newspaper reports and lab reports and engineering reports but not creative writing.

 

Thanks for the sympathy it helps.

 

The medical condition should be better by now (well 90 %) but last year was considerably worse than the year before. The teacher thought he should just take responsibility himself and stopped the aide prompting him and at some point must have told him off for going to the toilet so often. (the aide wasn't his but was willing to prompt him and help if necessary while working with another child). When that child left he had no support. I should have done something but I keep getting told not to project my negative school experiences on to my children. We see the specialist again Monday and I am going to ask for allergy/intoperance testing and a referral to a counsellor. Ourday starts and ends with toileting arguements and ds4 is being affected negatively by the amount of stress caused and time taken dealing with it.

 

I don't understand the bolded above, how is this up to the teacher?  Do you have a medical action plan in place for this with the school?  I have a friend who's son has a similar condition.  He has a plan that states he is allowed to go to the bathroom at any time he feels necessary without asking.  He also has a signal which lets the teacher know he is heading to a special bathroom in the nurse's office that he has access to, to minimize embarrassment.  He's even had some timed tests rescheduled so that he can take them when he feels that he would not need to rush out in the middle (although that can't always be predicted). She has been pleased that everything has been handled as discretely as possible.  Perhaps you should contact the school nurse and work out a similar arrangement?

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Yea I am getting there too. My dd isn't advanced but she is a strong reader and a natural speller. I don't think she made any progress in reading when she made rapid progress last year when her day was much shorter. In math she is doing okay but she gets very careless at times. I think she would benefit from more one on one time in math. It isn't her strong point. Science is barely a passing note and there is no history at school. Her handwriting is the weakest in her class and she is getting in trouble a lot for add type of stuff. I do like what her school is doing in writing and spelling though and it is really working for her so at least there is that.

 

My son starts next year. He is all over the place in his skills. He has definite strengths, some areas where it is hard for him and he is REALLY behind in his handwriting skills. My plan was to send him to dd's charter school for kindergarten and evaluate from there if he could handle 1st. The school has a very short day so I still have plenty of time to work with him at his level and they use Spalding phonics which he needs not what they neighborhood schools cobble together. I ran into the kindergarten teacher who I like a lot and told her my concerns about his handwriting and she thinks he will have a hard time making it through kindergarten. She was very concerned and told me to meet with the principal which I will be. This school has high handwriting expectations and he at this point has a long way to go before he can form a letter neatly in 3 lined paper. I tried to get him OT through the school but because he has no cognitive delays they can't help him even though they do see that he is struggling in that area. So much for a charter having good scores if the kids that are struggling don't make it there. I wanted him to go to at least kindergarten there and make my own decision on where he should go the next year and now I am getting the vibe that they don't want to handle him.

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I don't understand the bolded above, how is this up to the teacher? Do you have a medical action plan in place for this with the school? I have a friend who's son has a similar condition. He has a plan that states he is allowed to go to the bathroom at any time he feels necessary without asking. He also has a signal which lets the teacher know he is heading to a special bathroom in the nurse's office that he has access to, to minimize embarrassment. He's even had some timed tests rescheduled so that he can take them when he feels that he would not need to rush out in the middle (although that can't always be predicted). She has been pleased that everything has been handled as discretely as possible. Perhaps you should contact the school nurse and work out a similar arrangement?

We have a more ad hoc system here. I did get the public health nurse involved and she spoke to the school counsellor who spoke to the teacher who said it wasn't a problem as it was happening the minute school finished. He felt it wasn't his job to tell a 6 year old to go to the toilet. There is no funding for any other assistance and by then the teacher aide had been moved to another class. I was also trying to get appropriate maths work for as and the IEP the psychologist said he should have. The teacher said they never did IEPs for bright kids (he said he didn't use gifted and it isn't TRUE anyway) and suggested I take it up with my MP (member of parliment) if I had a problem. i should have gone to the principal and demanded a teacher change then but they would have only told me how important it is for boys without fathers to have male role models and tries to intimidate me. Last year was a bad year on many fronts and I dropped the ball - I will be more careful. Why do people find it so hard to understand that being male does not make someone a role model - they actually have to have traits you want your kids to develop?

 

I have Evan moor super sentences but it is really for once he can think what to write. He doesn't mind WWE1 I just need to make time.

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Ugh.  As one single mom to another, hang in there! 

 

I know the feeling of being afraid to speak up because the whole environment is against you - or so it feels sometimes.

 

You got a bad teacher last year, but hopefully you will have the exact opposite this year.  :)  And as your son gets older, he will be able to take care of himself better.  I predict that this year will be a lot better than last year.  :)

 

I'd just take baby steps with the writing - just keep encouraging him and give him an outlet where he can experiment without being criticized.  If he never ends up embracing composition, that is OK.  Some of the most successful people I know couldn't write a paragraph to save their lives.  ;)

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We tried WWE 1 when DS was at first grade. It was very frustrating for him. School is using writer workshop for writing and he had hard time with it as well. I also think that he needs more guidance on how to write but not free writing or creative writing at this stage. Not surprised that he got 0 score at his final writing assessment because what he wrote was completely irrelevant to the topic teacher gave.

During summer, I dropped WWE and switched Evan Moore daily 6 traits and Winning with Writing 1. And I had him write a journal with at least 6 sentences with pictures on most of days. By beginning of 2nd grade, his teacher told me his writing surprised her. By looking at his first grade profile and comparing what she sees now, she thinks his writing is almost catching up at the 2nd grade level. I think WWW is working for him so I continue with WWW 2 this year and pair with growing with grammar. I may change to EIW for third grade.

WWW would apparently cost $47 to post a quite cheap resource. I do have a friend visiting New York in s few weeks though. I don't suppose there is anywhere she could buy it? Getting it posted to a hotel during a narrow time frame would be too tricky i think.

 

Which Evan Moor would you recommend? he is just starting year 3 (second grade). I have the super sentence book which is fun but doesn't really work on getting started.

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Hugs to you kwik. And I am deeply sorry that you are suffering discrimination because you are a single mother.

 

I have btdt with encopresis, no academic progress, kid not wanting to write and unable to write creatively. It's not easy, and in the end we decided to pull our child out of school recently (he is 10 and was at school for one whole year, so I do feel we gave it a red hot go, but we're now glad to be back with home schooling), but hopefully you will be able to support your son to have a better school experience, if school is where you want/need him to be.

 

School and writing, well that is one of my beefs with the education system. Yes, every citizen needs to have functional literacy, including being able to write, say, a covering letter for a job application. But no, not everyone needs to write creatively. Many (most?) adults do not need or choose to pursue creative writing, so it is a mystery to me why kids are forced to do it at school for years even when they have no interest or aptitude.

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Hugs to you kwik. And I am deeply sorry that you are suffering discrimination because you are a single mother.

 

I have btdt with encopresis, no academic progress, kid not wanting to write and unable to write creatively. It's not easy, and in the end we decided to pull our child out of school recently (he is 10 and was at school for one whole year, so I do feel we gave it a red hot go, but we're now glad to be back with home schooling), but hopefully you will be able to support your son to have a better school experience, if school is where you want/need him to be.

 

School and writing, well that is one of my beefs with the education system. Yes, every citizen needs to have functional literacy, including being able to write, say, a covering letter for a job application. But no, not everyone needs to write creatively. Many (most?) adults do not need or choose to pursue creative writing, so it is a mystery to me why kids are forced to do it at school for years even when they have no interest or aptitude.

I think discrimination is a bit strong but I guess people would have to dig deeper if they couldn't blame every problem on insufficient male role models. I would remove them both from school if I could work out how to keep working enough to support us and afford childcare. It may just be possible if my mother would be prepared to come and stay from Mon morning until Tuesday night (or similar) during term time and if I can restructure my hours. I have to wait for her to retire first though.

 

I don't get the writing either but it is what it is. I wish the would start more structured and work towards creative rather that the other way though. A book report with a clear topic, content and structure would be easier than what they have to do.

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I wasn't trying to imply that you ought to be home schooling. I hope it didn't come across that way.

 

 

Yes, that "male role model = keep father around at all costs" idea seems to be very prevalent. I know of a mother who chooses to have her child spend time with his biological father in spite of this man not providing proper accommodation or even adequate food for his kids, and taking drugs when he is supposed to be looking after the child. Her answer to the question of why she even allows him to have access (there are other things I haven't mentioned which would allow her to legally refuse him access), is that it is just so important for a kid to have a father figure. Which makes no sense at all, because he is exactly the sort of man she wouldn't want the child turning out like.

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WWW would apparently cost $47 to post a quite cheap resource. I do have a friend visiting New York in s few weeks though. I don't suppose there is anywhere she could buy it? Getting it posted to a hotel during a narrow time frame would be too tricky i think.

 

Which Evan Moor would you recommend? he is just starting year 3 (second grade). I have the super sentence book which is fun but doesn't really work on getting started.

 

We used Daily 6 traits Grade 1 over the summer and it met public school expectation for writing. 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Daily-6-Trait-Writing-Grade-Practice/dp/1596732865

 

Everyday during summer, I asked him to draw the picture and then write down the topic he wanted to write. The writing framework starts with topic sentence for the beginning. Few sentences in the middle for details. And one last sentence for ending and it has to go back to the topic.

 

At first, I needed to prompt him for the sentence and reminded him the structure all the time. Toward end of summer, he can stick to the framework pretty well.

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Thank you Beishan and IsobelC. I didn't think you were telling me to home school but he really should be and I will later I hope. I really do need a couple more years out of school though.

 

I have added the Evan Moor book to the amazon order I am hoping to put through next pay (most of it is seventh birthday stuff). I need to set up a structure to give more time. Ds6 is the only one of us who is a morning person so I may try to get up with him and do 15 mins before ds4 (definately a night owl) wakes up. Ds4 and I often do a little bit of stuff after ds6 is asleep at night so that should work. On the plus side ds4 has neither encropresis or writing story problems - just a really explosive personality. Fun times ahead when he starts next term but luckily I the school has agreed to slight placement change which will I think help. I will report back.

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I hated kindergarten writing assignments that my son did last year. He went from being able to do a solid dictation sentence from All About Spelling 1 and 2 using capitol letters, punctuation, spelling correctly, etc. to "let me write whatever random thought enters my mind as long as I can keep writing to fill two pages without using proper spelling."  His teacher rewarded students for LENGTH NOT QUALITY. Ugh! I would rather he write one good sentence than 20 run-on, misspelled sentences. 

 

This year if first grade I love that his teacher is teaching them to write one paragraph using the same format over and over again so they can concentrate on punctuation, spelling, capital letters, etc.  She has taught the kids 

First sentence -restate the prompt

Second sentence "First, ...."

Third sentence "Next, .....

Fourth sentence, "Last, ....."

Fifth Sentence "Clearly," then restate first sentence or think of why you liked or thought the way you did.

 

He has completed 40 writing prompts that all are formatted the same way. It makes it much easier to write when you fill in the blanks. It works with most prompts. For example, he had to write about his dad and wrote something like:

 

My dad is great. First, he reads me books at night before we go to bed. Next, he plays soccer with me at the park. Last, he puts a band-aid on my knee when I get hurt. Clearly, my dad is a great dad."

 

When he had to write about an animal he wrote:

"Penguins are interesting animals. First they live in Antartica where it is very cold. Next, they are birds but cannot fly. Last, the dads stay with the eggs while the mama penguins go find fish. Clearly, there are many interesting things about penguins."

 

Can you teach your son a model like that so that he can write in the same format over and over? It makes it so much easier to concentrate on handwriting, spelling, punctuation, etc.

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I do not entirely agree with they way my kids are being taught writing.  First, no mature writer writes that way.  Next, it encourages inaccuracy.  Next, it discourages creativity.  Next, it is not appropriate for all purposes.  Last, it is not enjoyable to read.  As you can see, I do not entirely agree with the way my kids are being taught writing.

 

:P

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I hated kindergarten writing assignments that my son did last year. He went from being able to do a solid dictation sentence from All About Spelling 1 and 2 using capitol letters, punctuation, spelling correctly, etc. to "let me write whatever random thought enters my mind as long as I can keep writing to fill two pages without using proper spelling." His teacher rewarded students for LENGTH NOT QUALITY. Ugh! I would rather he write one good sentence than 20 run-on, misspelled sentences.

The school my kids go to has its issues but I do love how they teach writing. They don't do lots of creative writing. They don't do quantity over quality allowing creative spelling. The school uses a method similar to WWE and First Language lessons although it isn't quite that. They teach them to write through lots of dictation and copy work and give regular grammar lessons. The kids learn about spelling, punctuation and capitalization and the structure of a sentence. This year in 1st my dd barely gets any creative writing and when she does get assignments like that it was given as homework because it isn't expected that they can write a paragraph completely correctly all on their own.

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SKL did you send a note back?

 

 

Nart I am trying a slightly looser approach but similar. Get your organiser (I will print them), write down your topic, then 3 points then a couple of details for each points (maybe just adjectives). The topic is your title, write a sentence for each point. Write a conclusion or some sort eg. We had a great day at the beach or whatever.

 

They edit it the next day so then he can correct any errors and make word changes if he wishes.

 

I agree that the idea of getting them just to write seems to cause problems although like everything I guess it works for some.

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No, I don't really know what to say that wouldn't sound nasty.  And it's not that I'm upset, I just don't know what she wants me to do.  Whatever they are doing at school, I don't have any real way to supplement at home.  I would use an entirely different approach, assuming I had time and assuming my kids would actually write for me.  :/  Baby steps is all I can do right now.

 

One thing I do have is a video about writing for standardized tests.  I didn't realize that was what it was when I ordered it, but I have played part of it for my kids.  It does give some good ideas for how to come up with something to write, how to organize it, introduce it, etc.  I will play it some more, but time is the issue.  I also have some books that I bought for Miss E to read at her leisure to get some ideas.  Story writing, letter writing, etc.  I wasn't planning on making that into an afterschooling lesson.  I also have some MCT materials, but MCT goes on about sentences for a long time before it touches paragraphs.  If I'm going to follow that method (haven't started yet), we won't get to paragraphs for quite a while.  I can look into some other stuff that I have in my "someday" stash.  But again, it goes back to what I have time for and what the kids will do in the evening.  Miss E is a pain in the butt.  It's not as easy as just telling me to work with her on paragraphs.  :/

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I guess it wouldn't be very diplomatic to ask he to come and do your job for a while so you can do hers.

 

while I like doing stuff with my kids I would rather do interesting stuff like maths and history than try and make up for their strange methods of teaching writing. I wish I could remember how I learnt but it is a complete blank. I remember struggling to write on the line then not much before about age 10.

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Yeah, I don't remember learning how to write a paragraph in primary school.  It seems I was a lot older when they introduced all that introductory sentence, summary, and everything in between.  The whole idea of introduction / expansion / summary of your own thoughts seems a little out there for 7yo.  Naturally it's going to come out awkward if at all.  Heck, there are a fair number of 7yos who can't even read at the level they are asking these kids to write.

 

Miss A kind of likes the formulaic structure (even if I don't).  But Miss E acts like her eye is being gouged out.  I joked that she mistook the word "writing" for "writhing" because that's what she does whenever the topic comes up at home.

 

Well, at least it's nice to know that we have company in this writing hell.  ;)

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I hated kindergarten writing assignments that my son did last year. He went from being able to do a solid dictation sentence from All About Spelling 1 and 2 using capitol letters, punctuation, spelling correctly, etc. to "let me write whatever random thought enters my mind as long as I can keep writing to fill two pages without using proper spelling."  His teacher rewarded students for LENGTH NOT QUALITY. Ugh! I would rather he write one good sentence than 20 run-on, misspelled sentences. 

 

This year if first grade I love that his teacher is teaching them to write one paragraph using the same format over and over again so they can concentrate on punctuation, spelling, capital letters, etc.  She has taught the kids 

First sentence -restate the prompt

Second sentence "First, ...."

Third sentence "Next, .....

Fourth sentence, "Last, ....."

Fifth Sentence "Clearly," then restate first sentence or think of why you liked or thought the way you did.

 

He has completed 40 writing prompts that all are formatted the same way. It makes it much easier to write when you fill in the blanks. It works with most prompts. For example, he had to write about his dad and wrote something like:

 

My dad is great. First, he reads me books at night before we go to bed. Next, he plays soccer with me at the park. Last, he puts a band-aid on my knee when I get hurt. Clearly, my dad is a great dad."

 

When he had to write about an animal he wrote:

"Penguins are interesting animals. First they live in Antartica where it is very cold. Next, they are birds but cannot fly. Last, the dads stay with the eggs while the mama penguins go find fish. Clearly, there are many interesting things about penguins."

 

Can you teach your son a model like that so that he can write in the same format over and over? It makes it so much easier to concentrate on handwriting, spelling, punctuation, etc.

 

 

This methods is called "Step Up to Writing". It is popular in the public schools in Nor Cal. My DS did this program in K last year. It was impressive that K and 1st graders could output paragraphs upon paragraphs in a short time. This method also uses a color coded system - I saw the teacher use red, green, yellow colors to implement this when I volunteered in her class last year. Apparently, this method was designed by a public school teacher and it has become very popular.

Found a link to it: https://www.asdk12.org/MiddleLink/LA/writing/StepUp/

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So sad about the toileting problems.

 

My kids in 2nd grade have told me about 2 potty accidents that their classmates have had in school (one pee, one poop).  So it isn't unheard of at this age, and one hopes the teachers and others generally have the heart to handle it well.

 

As for the not learning anything new - if it makes you feel any better, my kids hardly ever have an answer when I ask what they did in school today.  I really would like to know, because it would help me to target my afterschooling, but they seem to forget it as soon as they move on to the next thing.  Not sure how concerned I should be about that....

 

One reason I REALLY like homework is that my son can't verbalize what he is learning. But over the course of the year I can see the improvement in the work he is doing and how quickly he comes to his answers.

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One reason I REALLY like homework is that my son can't verbalize what he is learning. But over the course of the year I can see the improvement in the work he is doing and how quickly he comes to his answers.

 

Unfortunately, my kids' homework is not correlated with their school curricula.  The teacher sends home these common core worksheets that she finds online.  They are all over the board.  I don't find out what they are doing in school until the finished and graded work comes home, usually the next week.  Sometimes not even then, because only some of the work is sent home.

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Unfortunately, my kids' homework is not correlated with their school curricula. The teacher sends home these common core worksheets that she finds online. They are all over the board. I don't find out what they are doing in school until the finished and graded work comes home, usually the next week. Sometimes not even then, because only some of the work is sent home.

Yes. Ds6 usually has basic facts (this week is +3 for ##@ss sake), spelling words that he mostly knows how to spell and a busywork exercise. This week he has two weeks to choose and do a presentation on a country. I am tempted to go and explain to his teacher that I do not have the time to enforce busywork. He is six and does not need to do PowerPoint presentations or design posters when he is at home. Anyway in most cases the parents will google a country and print out some stuff which the kids will colour, cut and paste. What purpose does this serve that could not be achieved in a more efficient way?

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LOL, I'm with you on the projects for six-year-olds.  :)  I loved it when my kids' 1st grade teacher gave this long list of criteria and then said it had to be ALL the child's OWN work.  (That was about animal classifications, some of which they had not even covered in school yet, like reptile / amphibian).  Blah.  Why not wait until they are a little older, so they can actually organize, research, assemble, and write their project on their own?  And even learn something?

Though, I made sure my kids learned by forcing them to read all the books we had on the house about those topics.  LOL.  I might be a little sadistic... or masochistic ... or both.

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For writing you need the institute for excellence in writing program by Andrew Pudewa. It was developed in Canada by others and he adapted it and put the training on video. The main program is their Teaching Writing with Style and structure.

 

Full disclosure, I am an IEW teacher and I would be happy to chat with you about how i handle it with my second grader. My name is Christina and I am in Oregon US. My info is on the site.

It's Teaching Writing with Structure and Style, and it is quite expensive and labor intensive for what the op needs. The style of the program is maybe not what the teacher is looking for. I would look at something cheaper and more streamlined with PS expectations.

 

Evan-Moor has a workbook called How to Teach Nonfiction Writing that covers narrative, expository, persuasive, and reports. Get a list of writing prompts and work on a paragraph a day. I think that is a much more efficient idea.

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I think the formulaic approach is a very helpful idea. First, it explains very simply how a paragraph works, with the first sentence introducing the topic and subsequent sentences elaborating on it. Next, it eliminates the 'blank page writers' block' so often experienced by reluctant writers: enabling them to produce a coherent paragraph is a vast improvement on having them resist writing anything at all, and refining the technique to produce more elegant prose can come later. Last, the formula could be made optional, so that those who need it may use it, while the more confident writers are free to organize their paragraphs more flexibly. Clearly, this type of approach to writing, implemented sensibly, is a valuable tool. 

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I think a formula approach is fine in this case too but the school would probably object if he used the same one every time. I am thinking of a general approach with perhaps a couple of options depending on the situation.

 

IEW is certainly too expensive. I think I will start with the grade 1 6 trait writing workbook recommended then move on to the grade 2 non fiction writing. Hopefully I will be able to do the first one a bit quicker because it will be one on one and some will be revision. Will let you know how it goes.

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As an afterschooler, I'm struggling with the idea of finding time for writing instruction.  It seems to me that this requires both time and clarity of mind for creative thinking and organizing one's thoughts.  If we tried to do this most evenings, we would have time for nothing else.  It might be OK for Miss E (if I can get her to cooperate), but not for MIss A.  For Miss A, we could do it 2x per week at best.  Unless we get to the point where I could ask them to do it independently during aftercare.

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Right there with you.  I homeschooled for 3 years and giving up the control has been so hard for me.  We are going back to homeschool sooner than later, but this time with a better plan for helping my kids with their particular needs.

 

Oh, and I HATE, hate, hate homework.  You have my kid for 7 hours and you can't get it all done?!?!  Homework eats into so much of our enrichment/afterschooling time.

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It is odd I really don't think we had homework. We brought home the little readers and had spelling and times tables tests but I don't remember doing anything else. We came home, ate and played outside until tea. Maybe I just didn't study until high school though.

 

Our schools are only 9 to 3 and 1.5 hours of that is break but surely they could find time in the remaining 4.5 hours to do a little writing, reading and maths each day and not send stuff home. Until this year we have been able to ignore homework but now he has to present stuff that might not work. Oh and as a bonus this year they have stopped streaming for maths and replaced it with group work. Now he gets to show up his worst skills while not really getting challenged.

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