homeschooling
What if my child never learns to read?
This might be the single biggest fear of young homeschooling moms, especially when the kids don't naturally take to reading like their mommas! Or when the kids don't behave as you imagined that they would.
I'm a huge reader; my daughter is a reader;
John...not so much.
Let me tell you, I have worried.
Conversely my daughter is practically math-phobic and I can't help her with that. I'm the same way. She is also homeschool-phobic, lesson-phobic, being-told-what-to-do-phobic, won't-participate-in-your-idea-of-a-lesson-phobic, and not-having-a-choice-phobic.
She started her dual enrollment this past summer, half lessons at the local community college and half here. This fall she had a full class load. My biggest fear was that she would tank. The classes, the note taking, the organization, the syllabus, the deadlines, the testing, the strict attendance expectation, etc.
She has thrived! She has a 4.0 GPA.
She gets up on time, gets herself to class, has her work done, her reading done, her math lessons done, her papers written, her monologues ready for her theater class. Furthermore she is pushing herself and adding another class next semester, her choice.
So, of course, John can read.
He skipped the Magic Tree House level and went straight to reading his high school level textbooks...and ALGEBRA! It wasn't that he couldn't. It was that he wasn't interested, wasn't ready, and didn't freaking want to.
Don't worry, they're learning!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You Might Also Like:
He Just Doesn't Get It
Part One: How to Create Great Vocabulary and Spelling Lists
Part Two: What to do With the Spelling Words
Tape on the Wall
This might be the single biggest fear of young homeschooling moms, especially when the kids don't naturally take to reading like their mommas! Or when the kids don't behave as you imagined that they would.
I'm a huge reader; my daughter is a reader;
John...not so much.
Let me tell you, I have worried.
Conversely my daughter is practically math-phobic and I can't help her with that. I'm the same way. She is also homeschool-phobic, lesson-phobic, being-told-what-to-do-phobic, won't-participate-in-your-idea-of-a-lesson-phobic, and not-having-a-choice-phobic.
She started her dual enrollment this past summer, half lessons at the local community college and half here. This fall she had a full class load. My biggest fear was that she would tank. The classes, the note taking, the organization, the syllabus, the deadlines, the testing, the strict attendance expectation, etc.
She gets up on time, gets herself to class, has her work done, her reading done, her math lessons done, her papers written, her monologues ready for her theater class. Furthermore she is pushing herself and adding another class next semester, her choice.
So, of course, John can read.
He skipped the Magic Tree House level and went straight to reading his high school level textbooks...and ALGEBRA! It wasn't that he couldn't. It was that he wasn't interested, wasn't ready, and didn't freaking want to.
Don't worry, they're learning!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You Might Also Like:
He Just Doesn't Get It
Part One: How to Create Great Vocabulary and Spelling Lists
Part Two: What to do With the Spelling Words
Tape on the Wall
Thank you for this post. I worry about this a lot. No, I worry about this A LOT! Will they learn what they need to learn? Will they measure up to their peers? What if they aren't where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there? Maybe it's the ingrained scheduling/scope & sequencing/testing of my public school teacher years that rattles me so. Maybe deep down, I don't know what I'm doing. Maybe my child who says he doesn't like writing will never be able to write a smart, succinct persuasive paper as to why Julius Caesar should not be assassinated or an insightful biography about Abraham Lincoln. Worry, worry, worry. And then... I see him write his Christmas letter to Santa, a full 4+ sentences, with punctuation and help with just two words. And from there, he's writing lists and sentences about pictures he draws--all of his own volition... and I realize that perhaps it will be alright after all.
ReplyDeleteI understand...no, I UNDERSTAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteI promise you, I PROMISE YOU, it will all be OK!
I am the opposite, I suppose. I am homeschooling because I was worried that the school in our area could never measure up to my kiddos. The thing that I remember most about my public education was all the time spent doing nothing after I had finished my assigned work. And that was before the increased obsession with standardized testing. I want my kids to learn how to learn. When they learn how to learn, they can do anything. Plus, each kid is different. And each person needs different skills. I am a book nerd who earned an MS in library science. My brother is the most talented mechanic that I have ever met. Did we learn different things? You betcha! But just as his education in automotives would not help him in a library, my library education would be worthless in a mechanics shops. Homeschooling betters allows my kids to learn on their own paths, I think.
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