Six year old DD is going to make me gray!!!

[ErinC2100]

Hello,

 

I have a very bright DD6 who I pulled from Kindergarten in February of last year. This child has a will of iron. One of the reasons I removed her from school was that she was throwing temper tantrums of up to an hour every morning about attending (peeling her fingers one by one of the van door and carrying her bodily into the school was the last straw). That, along with many other reasons, finally made me take her out. Her behavior did dramatically improve upon her removal from school, however, now we are facing some different issues.

 

She taught herself to read at 4 and will read anything that SHE wants to read. Anything else, forget it. She is rapidly completeing her second math curriculum of the year, that is one thing she enjoys and will consistently do. She hates writing. Any task involving writing is met with terrible resistence. Her currency is the computer, so I do allow her on it sparingly.

 

Right now I can really only get maybe 30 minutes of seatwork from her and then she is gone. I force her to sit with her two older siblings for history and science, but it's painful for everyone. It's frustrating when I know she is capable of so much more. She really just wants to be off in her imaginary world all day with her stuffed animals. I have warned her that next year we will need to get a little more work done each day, but I am not sure how I am going to do that. My older two children are generally able to buckle down and do their work, but she will just refuse until the end of time. HELP!

[cmarango]

Well, you've got reading and math covered- that's not too bad.

 

As for writing, if her handwriting is legible, then there is not too much to worry about there either. Will she do small bits of copywork? My dd can do copywork and dictation, but still doesn't like the idea of writing original thoughts. Some people are just not born writers (such as myself).

 

And what does she enjoy reading? Will she read science and history books on her own?

 

I would plan on trying to work up to an hour of seat work. I try to spread our seat work throughout the day and even then we are rarely sitting in a seat. You will find us on the floor or on the sofa much more often.

[Mom2Two]

Sounds like my dd when she was that age. I would be reading to her and she would be rolling all over the floor, playing with her toys, you name it; but she was listening to every word I was reading. She could repeat word for word what I had just read and soar through the comprehension questions afterward. I had to work her up to sitting and working with me, it was a challenge and I had to use a variety of instructional methods to keep her motivated. Good luck to you, it is well worth it but I know you are exhausted.

[Tracy]

It sounds like you don't have to worry about math or reading. The only other thing she needs to do at 6yo is writing. At that age, my dd's writing included spelling dictation of 5 new words per day, and one sentence of copywork twice per week. If she is that strong-willed, I would tell her she could do what you choose, or she could choose some alternative (like writing a letter to grandma, for example), but that we wouldn't be allowed computer time until it was done. You could try a coupon system where she gets, say, a 10-minute computer-use coupon (or whatever length you deem best) for every writing assignment she completes. Then she can choose earn as many coupons as she wants and redeem her coupons whenever she wants. That may give her more perceived control over her computer time, rather than just feeling like mom is being unfair.

[kiwik]

Ok six is a bad age for our kids.

[ErinC2100]

Thank you for your thoughts! I didn't even think about copywork, I think she would probably do that. She just hates to come up with her own ideas. She will tell me stories if I write them down.

[Tracy]

Thank you for your thoughts! I didn't even think about copywork, I think she would probably do that. She just hates to come up with her own ideas. She will tell me stories if I write them down.

 

 

It is very common for children of this age to have difficulty writing down original sentences. I think it is even more common among the gifted. At 6yo, my dd would be brought to tears when attempting to write anything original, because what she could compose in her head was so too elaborate for her physical stamina and spelling skills. At 8yo, she is just now starting to write original work. Even then, I find myself very surprised at how "young" it seems compared with her verbal abilities.

 

WWE has been perfect for us. It endeavors to separate the different skills required for writing--handwriting, summarizing, original composition, etc.

[Tanikit]

Oh dear... mine is 5.5 and is also getting argumentative and not wanting to do much - and she still needs to get to 6. With her however if I give her something hands on to do first (a craft or something easy with her baby sister or a learning game outside) then she will be more likely to do seat work without complaining later. I have also wondered at times if the work is too difficult, but it isn't cause if I ask for the answer orally rather than written she'll sigh and tell me. She also never sits still when I read to her and when she reads to me she bounces around and needs me to keep her place a lot - she HATES it if I hand the book to her to read to me as then she has to read and keep her own place while bouncing, but she's quite happy for me to hold the book and she reads while she bounces.

 

For the writing mine does best if I first ask her what she wants to write and then let her copy it (or at least the words she will have trouble spelling) She will do plenty of writing if I do not require it though - so she'll make invitations to parties her sister and she are having, or write signs for her door or label her pictures and she'll write short sentences as notes to someone, but if I ask her to there is resistance. Maybe it is just an age thing - she's got more rude to me since she turned 5 and more resistant and also more tearful about small things (we get a lot of crying for small scarpes that we never used to get) - someone told me there was a hormone surge at this age that can affect these things?

[SKL]

My gifted 6yo is and always has been more stubborn than a mule. It has to be her idea or it's torture. Ugh. I don't homeschool and that is probably why my kid is still alive. ;) On the positive side, she is quiet about her protests, so if I could learn to not get so irritated by them, maybe progress could be made. In her case, though, she seems to thrive on competition with the other smart kids in her class. If she was in a class by herself, I could see her seriously lacking focus and discipline. Is there any way you could get her involved in, say, a writing competition? I know she's young, but . . . .

[shawthorne44]

Have you looked into the StartWrite program?

She could dictate something, while you type it into the program.

It makes a handwriting worksheet out of that in whatever style you are working on.

She uses the worksheet for her writing practice.

[kiwik]

My son seems to have trouble with the sit down at your desk a after lunch and write a story thing at school. It might work better if it was first thing in the morning but the other kids need to do maths while their brains are fresh. Does timing make a difference with your dc?