Slow reader & worker...

[JudoMom]

I know, this is the high school board, but I'm really hoping to get some wisdom from those of you who have BTDT since I'm looking ahead to the future.

 

My oldest 2 boys are 13 months apart. My oldest is a slow worker. Very detailed and prone to wasting time a few minutes at a time. What I mean is he'll spend 5 minutes getting his books just so, get up to go to the bathroom, stop to tell his brother or me something, then sit down to work. These 5-10 minutes add up throughout the day (we're working on this, and he's way better than he was when he was 5...gotta look at the long term history for progress sometimes :lol:), and added to the fact he's a slow worker he ends up behind. He's a good reader with great retention, but he's slow, and he's more mathy (he's so excited to start Pre-Algebra this year he's been talking about it all summer :001_huh:).

 

My second son is a fast worker, but not as detailed. I really started cracking down on him last year, though, and I'm seeing improvement in the detail department. He's always been a "get 'r done" type of kid when it comes to school. He's also a fast reader with great retention, and while he's good at math, he wants to be an author and has always loved language and stories.

 

They are doing pretty much the same subjects this year, though my second son is at a lower level in grammar, math, and Latin. The amount of time required from both of them (on paper) is pretty much equal. In reality, though, my second son finishes and my oldest son doesn't.

 

My main concern (and the point of this rambling) is literature. We're doing Sonlight 6 for history/geography this year, which is heavy in reading. Next year I plan to do 7, then I plan to take them both into Omnibus. How would you handle the differences in speed? The ability is there with both of them. I really don't want to split them up and do 2 different programs because of the time factor for me (I've also got the 3 younger boys to teach), but it doesn't sit well with myself or dh to require less of the older than the younger, either. Both boys are really enjoying SL6, so that's another reason I don't want to switch.

 

I'm viewing the next 2 years as "training/preparatory years" for Omnibus, and I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with this issue? How did you handle it? Do you wish you'd done something different?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give :001_smile:.

[Susan C.]

I feel your pain. Ds was kind of methodical, had a lot of the little time wasters going on, but was a fast reader that devoured books. He is graduated now. Dd is such a slow reader that I have given up the idea of literature based anything. There just isn't enough day. We do a literature book with pieces of literature, and read a few whole books. (Believe it or not, she really enjoys reading in her free time, she just likes to take her time.) For history, I use a non-textbooky textbook (reads like a book, but is shorter). So I would say keep an eye on your boys, and make their homeschool to suit each of them. If they like what your are doing now, then just cut it back. Once they are through the hormones and the sleepy growth spurt, they will probably pick up their speed, especially in 11th and 12th grades. Those are the years that everything seems to come together for us.

[Cedarmom]

I only had one so regard or disregard my advice as you desire.:) My son was the slower worker and I used Omnibus to stretch him and make him work faster. We still didn't go as fast as Omnibus, but faster than he would like. He now says he's glad he had that challenge. I wanted to prepare him to be able to do college work. There were times when he was getting bogged down that I let him slow down though. As far as differant speeds, could you give your other son some additional books to read or books of his own choosing (I would make some requiremnts such as history or something he wanted to learn) I think I would take the middle speed road to stretch your son, and if your faster son was bored take the time to let him study something extra (probably of his own choosing-you don't want him to feel punished for being fast)