The latest in Abigail's schooling saga...Abby started out this year repeating first grade. Some of you may know that we held Madeline back last year to get strong in reading. So she was in Second grade while Abby was in first. At the end of first grade, Abby was reading at end of kidnergarten level, so we decided to hold her back this year. We realized that our kids just needed that extra year to develop into readers before we sent them on. So, Abigail is more socially aware, and really didn't want to be at school. Every morning she'd announce that she wasn't going, and then when it was time to get out of the car she'd cling to me and beg to stay with me. Poor thing. So, we started asking her all the usual questions about how she felt about school. Nothing specific seemed wrong...but I started to think about homeschooling. Will and I both thought it might be a good idea, and we asked Abby what she thought. She got all excited, but needed a couple days to think about it. In the end, we all felt it was best, and we started last week. I talked to her teacher at the parent teacher conference about it, and she could see the pros too. She gave me some input on what to practice, and I'm using the same phonics book they use in the class.
So, Abby and I are enjoying it. Since it is a repeat of first grade, it is pretty relaxing...my main goals are to get her reading and writing well, learn to hold her pencil correctly, and keep up in everything else. We do cooking projects once a week, and also go to the Palmdale children's library for lots of books to read to each other. It is nice to have time together that we havn't had before, and it's good for Abby and Sam to play by themselves too.
Another exciting event: Today Sam stuck a dry piece of rice in his ear, and was trying to get it out. I immediately started imagining the trip to the doctor, but thankfully I was able to get it out with tweezers while he sat very still. Whew.
6 comments:
Heidi, it sounds like the best thing for Abby. You are right to focus on reading, after that it will fall into place. When I try to remember learning specific information as a homeschooled kid, I can't come up with much, but I do remember reading a lot.
Oh dear, rice in his ear! I'm sure glad he's able to sit very still!
I think the way you and Bethany are homeschooling is very nice. That's how I did it... as needed, and it was great. You're not chained to it but it's an option if you need it. Heidi, you were never really interested in being homeshcooled but it was good for GG and Erin. Abby's situation sounds similar to Ariana's. I hope you have a wonderful year!
Both our girls will be the oldest in their classes, and the smallest, like Ariana. It was really interesting for me to learn from William as he got his credential. I realized that learning to recognize the letters and give them meaning and sound is a developmental issue rather than a training issue. It is not intuitive like verbal language learning. I'm happy that the trend has changed among parents and teachers to wait until kids are older to put them in school, or to have freedom to hold them back if they aren't doing well. When I was in school everyone was trying to skip forward grades. All the kids I knew who did that were stressed out, and had a harder time socially, even though they got straight A's.
Heidi-Hi\omeschooling Abby sounds brilliant. I loved it. i know she'll do great too, provided SHE doesn't start sticking her cooking projects in her ear! Have fun teaching..How Exciting!!
She has her mother's genes, so she will eventually grow to write well. It's a matter of time.
Thanks for all the comments everyone. It's so nice.
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