azmomx3 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Ok, so I think I'm losing it! My DD is 8 and due to extreme bullying at a very small private school, and the horrendous public schools in our area...I'm homeschooling for the first time this year. She's not the problem, although I am becoming more annoyed the more I realize how much money I wasted the last 3 years...I mean seriously, my DD is still counting on her hands and struggling with basic subtraction!! Oh, and did I mention that she has ALWAYS been on honor roll! Are you kidding me! She can't do math but has somehow managed an A in the subject for the last 3 years! Obviously I've been a lazy parent, and completely trusted that the school was doing their job. What a waste of her time and my money! Ok, so as I said, she's not the problem. My other DD is 5, I started attempting to homeschool her in February when I realized that this might become the reality for my 8 yr old...I wanted to give myself a test run. I am an A type personality and let me just say THIS IS HARD!! It's teaching her to read that's killing me. She can know a letter sound for weeks and then all of the sudden it's like it's just fallen out of her head somewhere! The same with writing them, she know's them one minute and not the next. She doesn't display any signs of having a learning disability and my kindergarten teacher friend assures me that this is normal...but I feel like I'm failing! So I've sent her to her room to play with an electronic letter sound game, not as a punishment, just so that I can regroup! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! Ok, I'm going to go and find something to calm myself down...whether it's tea or wine is yet to be decided! And then it's back to the grind...wish me luck and thanks for listening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 Good luck! The first year is the toughest. Hang in there! :grouphug: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehon Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I know how frustrating it is AND your teacher friend is right. Your dd5 is completely normal. As I'm sure you know every kid develops on his/her own schedule and no amount of rushing them will alter that schedule one whit. Not sure if you're wanting any advice or not. If so, I would limit her lesson time to 5 minutes per subject. When my kids are this age I focus of reading, writing, and math. Everything takes maybe 30 minutes total. I also have plenty of wiggle time. Puzzles, tangrams, art supplies/paper, etc are great for little kids. Good luck and have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azmomx3 Posted September 29, 2011 Author Share Posted September 29, 2011 Thanks for the encouragement, and any advice that seasoned vetrans can offer is much appreciated!! Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaxMom Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 That's just a sign that it just hasn't clicked yet. It will. My 3 youngest have always been homeschooled. The reading has been my greatest source stress. At the beginning of the summer, my six year olds were still doing that same thing. It clicked around the end of July. Now they read chapter books. Their sister did the same, though younger. Weirdly, for the boys, it clicked with the "ampersand game". My husband said something about the "and symbol" and I corrected that it is called an ampersand. Once it had a name, they would spot them from the car and call them. There are soooooo many in random signage, though, we had to make the rule that they had to read the words on either side if they wanted to call them... Et voila! Suddenly, everyone can remember letter sounds, dipthongs, you name it. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bagel270 Posted September 29, 2011 Share Posted September 29, 2011 I would let the 5yo play with educational things, anything remotely connected to letters, numbers, shapes. Try again in a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 sometimes, it's just where they are at...they kind of stall, and then one day it just snaps into place. I remember my son driving me crazy learning his colors when he was 3 ish...I just gave up, and later it all came together for him. I really liked the leapfrog letter factory dvd for learning letters and sounds. Painless learning can be a good thing. :D hang in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brehon Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 sometimes, it's just where they are at...they kind of stall, and then one day it just snaps into place. I remember my son driving me crazy learning his colors when he was 3 ish...I just gave up, and later it all came together for him. I really liked the leapfrog letter factory dvd for learning letters and sounds. Painless learning can be a good thing. :D hang in there. I agree with this...and with sending said child into another room so I don't have to listen to the incessant sounds. The other thing that will really help your kids' reading ability is you reading aloud to them every day! I'm sure you do this already. Just thought I'd mention it. Reading books above their reading level can help kids' reading, vocabulary, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Oh, and did I mention that she has ALWAYS been on honor roll! Are you kidding me! She can't do math but has somehow managed an A in the subject for the last 3 years! Obviously I've been a lazy parent, . :grouphug: don't feel bad. The math curriculum my school district was using was used by another. One parent was a math professor, and he thought his son knew math. He had "A's", etc. Then he went to college and was in remedial math. The professor led the charge to get rid of the curriculum. He had no clue. Of course, his son wouldn't let him near any math text/homework. One 7th grade math teacher told my friend's husband how they "weren't concerned with does the child get the right answer". He replied to that with "I'm an engineer, if the math is wrong, the plane will crash". (or the uber expensive NASA Mars rover. ooops) Love being able to choose curriculum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pqr Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 It does get better, keep your eye on the target and keep pushing. The first months are difficult but the reward is worth all the effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bensmom Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I would let the 5yo play with educational things, anything remotely connected to letters, numbers, shapes. Try again in a few months. :iagree: When they are ready, they will learn. Snuggle and read a lot of great books to your children and allow your 5 yo to learn through play. It will be much less stress for you and the learning will happen naturally. Did I mention it will be much less stressful for you?;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 I'm having trouble getting my youngest reading. It is like 1 step forward and 2 steps backwards. One nice think is that he thinks he has no problems what so ever, and for the most part enjoys 'reading'. He is also my boy who once over a year ago could only read the letters "s" and "t" and said that was enough, and that he was reading and I should just get books that contained only those two letters. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Rat Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 It gets better. But, remember that you'll still have bad days. I've been homeschooling 7 years and I completely lost it yesterday. No, really. I'm quite embarassed. I was pushed, but I handled it terribly and we all ended up crying. Well, ds11 started crying first, and it went downhill from there......I always say bad days only last until midnight. Man, I'm glad that day is over! Good luck to you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momdm Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Hang on. It takes time and 1st year is always difficult. My kids have learned from watching TV, playing online games and books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
azmomx3 Posted September 30, 2011 Author Share Posted September 30, 2011 It gets better. But, remember that you'll still have bad days. I've been homeschooling 7 years and I completely lost it yesterday. No, really. I'm quite embarassed. I was pushed, but I handled it terribly and we all ended up crying. Well, ds11 started crying first, and it went downhill from there......I always say bad days only last until midnight. Man, I'm glad that day is over!Good luck to you! I'm sorry that you had a rough day yesterday too. It helps to know you're not alone, thank you so much for sharing! Thank you to everyone for your advice, I'm going to try a more laid back approach...here goes nothing! I'm also going to pick up that video, thanks for the suggestion! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joanne Posted September 30, 2011 Share Posted September 30, 2011 Feedback: It's not bad that your oldest uses her fingers to count. Yes, matering math facts through drill is "best", but it's a myth (at least most professionals now think so) that finger counting = bad. On your youngest and reading, what is happening is completely developmentally expected and common. Keep trying OR wait a bit. She'll get it. Does your type-A come with perfectionism? Because that can make YOUR experience as a homeschool mom very, very hard! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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