Ds can obviously not take any break from school (1st grader)

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

We realized over the summer that a summer break is out of the question for him. He lost EVERYTHING. We literally started over from square 1. Last week was the first break for him since summer break. We took the whole week off for Thanksgiving as a family, 1 week, and yesterday and today have been SO frustrating. Ds lost everything again. He forgot how to correctly form his numbers and letters. He forgot most of his letter sounds. He forgot how to space words (this we have always struggled with so that really was not a surprise to me) 1 week and again we are back to square 1. So, I plan to not give him breaks more than 2 days in a row (weekends) and we may even do a small amount on those days (like a math lesson, or a handwriting lesson) just to keep him on top of things.

 

My question is how do I do this without burning him out? I think on the weeks that my other dc have off I will do 1-2 subjects a day with him, just to keep him going. Do you think that will be enough to keep burnout down? Will that be enough to keep him from regressing so much? Should I load up on learning games for those weeks? Would that help? I have contemplated buying Right Start games for him but what level would I get him? He is doing Horizons 1st grade math book 1 but is only on lesson 8 and is doing Singapore 1A and is in unit 2 exercise 7. We are taking math slow because I am doing other stuff outside of his math books also (counting counters, skip counting, playing with MUS blocks to find number bonds)

 

TIA

[Dmmetler]

Maybe Evan Moor "daily practice" or Summer Bridge workbooks? Both give about a half page of practice in a given area a day, so would still give him most of the day off, while giving him consistent practice. I use those for keeping our routine stable when we're on vacation or when we have a ton of special events (like most of the next few weeks) because DD does so much better when she can check off "Math, reading, handwriting...." on her chart vs my trying to get her to just skip it, and I'm reasonably pleased with the variety available and the skills covered.

[Jennifer-72]

Does he have any special interests that you can incorporate?

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Does your child have a significant learning problem that would cause this? because frankly it sounds incredibly unlikely to me that a child could forget these things in a week.

 

More likely is the child hates what he is doing and would like to forget it.

;)

 

 

I would examine my whole approach if I were having this problem in absence of a real legitimate learning/ brain issue.

 

 

He is my child with HFA, he has sensory issues and he had some diagnoses in vision therapy. He has a few other issues but none that should affect learning and nothing that has to do with them memory (that we are aware of- he went through testing last winter) He LOVES school. I mean absolutely loves it.

 

We have stopped all phonics except for ETC and AAS because those are his 2 favorites. When its time for phonics those are the 2 he always asks to do. He is a math nut. I mean he could do math all day every day if I would let him. He likes playing with his MUS blocks (we are really using those to work on math facts right now and he sees this as a game)

 

Handwriting is handwriting. He doesn't love it but doesn't complain either, kwim? He does get alot of that with ETC also. I don't think its because he hates what he is doing. (I hope) Last winter when we got the diagnoses of HFA we met with an autism specialist that helped us with how to choose and implement curriculum based on his needs and things are going so much better now! There were tears before we found out but none since our changes. Infact, that is when he started talking about liking school and how school is fun ;)

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Maybe Evan Moor "daily practice" or Summer Bridge workbooks? Both give about a half page of practice in a given area a day, so would still give him most of the day off, while giving him consistent practice. I use those for keeping our routine stable when we're on vacation or when we have a ton of special events (like most of the next few weeks) because DD does so much better when she can check off "Math, reading, handwriting...." on her chart vs my trying to get her to just skip it, and I'm reasonably pleased with the variety available and the skills covered.

 

 

I will check those out! Thanks :001_smile:

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

Does he have any special interests that you can incorporate?

 

 

He loves legos lol! We use MUS blocks alot and that helps. We do some computer based learning games but not alot. Maybe I should do more of those because he loves playing games on it.

 

Anybody have any good websites? Other than pbskids.org and starfall.com?

[sbgrace]

Dreambox (which is a pay math site) has really helped here. My son has retention problems as well and, indeed, can forget letter formation and the like too.

 

We do school year round and do better without any significant breaks.

Edited November 30, 2011 by sbgrace

[prairiewindmomma]

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Edited November 10, 2021 by prairiewindmomma

[chiguirre]

Could you have your older 2 each take an activity or a workbook and do it with him each day? It could be their special activity to do with each other. It would make working during breaks more like playing and build their bond with each other.

[chiguirre]

Does your child have a significant learning problem that would cause this? because frankly it sounds incredibly unlikely to me that a child could forget these things in a week.

 

More likely is the child hates what he is doing and would like to forget it.

;)

 

 

I would examine my whole approach if I were having this problem in absence of a real legitimate learning/ brain issue.

 

STATING THE OBVIOUS: This is the Special Needs Board. All of the kids we're posting about here have learning challenges, some of them quite severe. We appreciate the understanding support we usually get here. It's nice to have a place where other hsers who face the same challenges can throw out their ideas and experiences to help us solve the problems we face in teaching our children the skills they'll need to be the best adult they can. Most of us still go through times of grief for all the things our children may never be able to do, it hurts deeply to have our best efforts dismissed so casually.

 

If you just goofed and thought this was the General Board, a simple apology is enough, we've all done something like that. But, please understand that you made me wince and I'm not even the OP, just a mom whose ds HAS forgotten his addition facts a couple of times.

[Kathryn]

STATING THE OBVIOUS: This is the Special Needs Board. All of the kids we're posting about here have learning challenges, some of them quite severe. We appreciate the understanding support we usually get here. It's nice to have a place where other hsers who face the same challenges can throw out their ideas and experiences to help us solve the problems we face in teaching our children the skills they'll need to be the best adult they can. Most of us still go through times of grief for all the things our children may never be able to do, it hurts deeply to have our best efforts dismissed so casually.

 

If you just goofed and thought this was the General Board, a simple apology is enough, we've all done something like that. But, please understand that you made me wince and I'm not even the OP, just a mom whose ds HAS forgotten his addition facts a couple of times.

 

Agreeing.

 

My first grader is also HFA and I realized a month into "summer break" that breaks weren't going to be helpful for him. He had forgotten so much in that short amount of time. We started back to school after a little over a month off from kindergarten. We had finished May 20 and started back on July 1. Before that, we had gone straight through without a break of more than two weeks since January of the previous year, so almost a year and a half (we had two weeks off during the summer and one at Christmas). I anticipate that when he's older and these skills are more ingrained, that he'll be able to break longer without losing skills. But, for now, any time we break for longer than the weekend I make sure we incorporate math skills, reading and writing into our days. It doesn't have to be sitting down and "doing" school. We play math games, make up word problems, drill math facts, write letters to people, make lists, and have daily reading time. We took off last week also, and although the transition to "school" on Monday was tough, it wasn't much worse this time than the transition EVERY Monday. He really thrives on a schedule and routine and weekends and vacations are tough for him.

[Mommee & Baba]

I just wanted to say we're a homeschooling family that is NOT a fan of breaks longer than 3 days. My kids don't forget EVERYTHING per say...but we have to spend the first part of the week playing review.

 

Our biggest break is during Fall & Spring break (week off each time). However we do UNIT studies during those breaks. Spending 30 minutes each day doing the unit study that includes a little bit of every subject. My kids enjoy this. They get to pick what we study.

 

If we didn't do the unit study during breaks longer than 3 days, my dc would have to spend a week just on review :(

[Critterfixer]

My son is also hFA and does not retain well if we take breaks. ( But it may be a male thing in general, because his brother also is a pill on that first day back!)

What we have been doing is taking our weekend (which is Thursday afternoon, and Saturday due to the work schedule) and THEN if we need a day we take it around Tues or Wed. On no account should we take Sunday, because Monday is even more so Monday-fied. That works for us. He can handle two days at a stretch, but boy if he gets a third day off it's just hard for him to get back into the swing of things. It's not so much the retention as it is just getting the wheels moving again.

[rafiki]

.

[Critterfixer]

I only have the two, but I find that taking more than a two day span off from school doesn't really seem to help me all that much. I actually do better teaching every day, and keeping to routine. More than two days off has me grouchy and unsettled, but then I've got some spectrum issues myself. (Free time scares me.:001_unsure:)

It's a real issue though with Ping-Pong, the older twin. He'd love to have a more playful, spontaneous Mum; but sadly, he's got a Mum that really, truly hates change in routine. It's a challenge, for sure; keeping his brother on track and happy, keeping me from wandering around the house with a lost look, and trying not to burn him out!