Struggling with my son

[~Amanda~]

I think I'm going to have to "drop him down" a bit. He's in 6th; DD is in 7th. I'm doing the same for most of their work; both in WWS, AG, VL, HO, ESBL.

 

He's having trouble with the grammar and the writing. I'm thinking I'm going to have to drop him down to WWE3/4 and Jr AG instead of doing the same as DD; she is flourishing and learning, and he seems to be stuck, or being stubborn and refusing to move forward I don't know.

 

They were in PS through 3rd/4th grade, we did 4th/5th in homeschool, they went back to PS for 5th/6th, and halfway through the year last year we pulled them back out. So his learning at this point I guess has been a little sketchy. He needs lots of work on his handwriting (at the end of the year in 3rd, he came home and told me teachers were "freaking out" because they had only 2 weeks left to teach cursive. o..0. Um, no not really. they had the whole year to teach cursive; they just focused on whatever that state test is they take at that time. This was one of the reasons we chose to pull them out of school and homeschool; because all the schools cared about were the tests, to the detriment of other areas. They would give out candy for rewards for doing well in math; and also took practice tests repeatedly. He got a 100 on his first one, but didn't move on to learn anything new... still given the same practice tests as everyone else. .... moving away from my rant now)

 

 

Anyway, I guess I need to know what should I do? Should I give him more time? we've only been at it about a month, but he's really not doing very well in either subject.

[Jaz]

I think you're smart to move him to another level. I would even consider using a different curriculum/something new with him.

 

My ds is using AG in 8th grade. It's an excellent program (as you know) but very advanced for 6th. Have you looked at something more basic? My ds at that age enjoyed The Language Mechanic as it has quite a bit of humor in it. He learned a lot too.

 

My ds started WWS in 7th grade. He would not have been ready in 6th. I often see a big jump in maturity in boys between those ages. From what you've shared I think WWE 3 would be a good fit for your ds. My ds used it and was able to move to WWS without using level 4 of WWE.

 

HTH! :)

[~Amanda~]

thank you. I've struggled with my grammar choice; decided on AG, have Jr AG here also, but anything else just didn't seem quite what I wanted. Was contemplating killagallon as well.

[...................]

I would try WWE 3 or 4. You'll have to look at samples, but it's deceptively challenging.

 

As far as grammar, in this case I would suggest something that requires teacher interaction but is gentle, so...I've never used it, but have you considered FLL?

 

My other idea is Easy Grammar. I really like it but in our home it didn't work because there wasn't enough review. However, if you were consistent with doing some orally and being very involved, maybe it's another idea.

 

I don't know anything about JAG.